IIGR Newsletter
September 2021
|
|
Director's Update
By RMC Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership Christian Leuprecht
|
|
As the Canadian federation and other federal countries try to find some sense of normalcy amid the ongoing disruption brought on by the pandemic, the role of intergovernmental relations is proving vital to a coherent, coordinated political response among, between and across jurisdictions. The Royal Society of Canada’s COVID-19 Task Force under the leadership of Tom Marrie has been doing excellent work at mobilizing and transferring expert knowledge in key policy areas. The IIGR is partnering with the Task Force to identify key dimensions and lessons for intergovernmental relations that are emerging from some of these studies.
The IIGR’s partnership with the Electoral Integrity Project is in its initial stages. The EIP recently held its first workshop under the new leadership of IIGR fellow Dr. Holly Garnett on intergovernmental dimensions of electoral integrity in Canada and other federations. This newsletter contains a separate brief on that workshop.
Dr. Garnett also directs the electoral security theme of the new Human-Centric Cybersecurity Partnership. That Partnership has a total of ten themes. I direct the policy and governance theme, in which the IIGR is playing a significant role, picking up on my earlier work on cybersecurity in select federal systems with the Centre for Governance Innovation. In the coming months I also hope to be able to announce IIGR partnerships with two other national research networks. In collaboration with IIGR fellow Nadia Verrelli, we are also laying the groundwork for a new multiyear IIGR research program, with the aim of reinvigorating expertise and policy research on pressing intergovernmental priorities.
I also congratulate IIGR fellow Professor Christopher Cotton for his initiative as co-director of the One Society Network, which received funding from PHAC and NSERC to build collaborations between economists and epidemiologists working to understand the impact of pandemics. The network is being run out of the Institute for Health Economics at the University of Alberta and includes researchers from across Canada. I cheerfully accepted an invitation to sit on the advisory board of this innovative effort. You will learn more about Christopher and the One Society Network in an upcoming newsletter.
Over the coming months, the newsletter will introduce you to a host of new IIGR faculty across multiple faculties and disciplines, some of which had not had much previous visibility in intergovernmental affairs, their research programs, and their synergies with the IIGR.
I am also delighted about IIGR fellow Dr. Stéphanie Chouinard’s appointment as a fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
I am currently working on a new strategic plan for the IIGR on which I shall be soliciting stakeholder input. In that context, I shall be reaching out to many of you, but I also invite you to reach out to us proactively on anything that you might like to bring to our attention.
Finally, the IIGR’s long-time loyal administrative assistant Mary Kennedy and I have spent several months working with the Queen’s communications and web team to redesign the IIGR web site and communications. You should be seeing the fruits of that labour shortly, which should greatly enhance the IIGR’s ability to mobilize and transfer knowledge.
Plans are to hold the postponed IIGR AGM and conference mid-April 2022 in Ottawa on the topic of intergovernmental dimensions of financial crime, at which point we also plan to launch the 2022 State of the Federation on this topic, which is coming together quite nicely and, in the aftermath of the final report of the Cullen Commission on Money Laundering in British Columbia to be delivered in December 2021, promises to break novel ground on a number of fronts.
|
|
|
Electoral Integrity Project
The Electoral Integrity Project hosted two virtual workshops this summer. The first, our annual workshop, was on the theme of "Delivering Trusted Elections: New Challenges in Electoral Integrity," and co-chaired by IIGR Research Fellow Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College of Canada), Toby S. James (University of East Anglia) and Carla Luis (Centre for Social Studies). Panellists and participants alike contributed to vibrant discussions on the future of Electoral Integrity Research, highlighting the importance of cross-disciplinary research that draws on both practitioner and academic knowledge, the need for evidence-based solutions to electoral threats, and new insights on how a voter’s experience could be improved. If you wish to see more about the conference, you can download the workshop papers on the EIP website, as well as watch video recordings of the opening panel.
On September 10-11, 2021, the EIP co-sponsored a workshop on “Security, Truth and the Crisis of Democracy,” co-chaired by IIGR Research Fellow Holly Ann Garnett (Royal Military College of Canada/Queen’s University), Natalie Jester (University of Gloucestershire) and Jeffrey Whyte (University of Manchester). Presenters gave a stimulating set of papers and discussants, including IIGR Chair Christian Leuprecht, provided much food for thought on issues relating to transparency, trust, power, and the challenges associated with regulation. Presenters comprised a range of career stages and stages of completion. A video of the keynote by David Murakami Wood (Queen’s University) will be available shortly on our youtube channel. This workshop was made possible thanks to our partners at the British Academy and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
|
|
|
2021 Canadian Federal Election: Post-Election Panel
Thursday, September 23, 2021 | 2:30 – 4:00PM | Zoom – Registration on Eventbrite
Join four political scientists from Queen's University and the Royal Military College of Canada for an analysis of the 2021 Canadian federal election. The panelists will address a range of issues, including electoral integrity, Canadian foreign policy, gender issues, and more. Bring your questions!
Panelists:
- Dr. Stephanie Chouinard
- Dr. Holly Ann Garnett
- Dr. Kim Richard Nossal
- Dr. Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant
- Dr. Jonathan Rose (Moderator)
The event is co-sponsored by:
- Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity (CSDD), Queen's University
- Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP), Queen's University
- Department of Political Studies, Queen's University
- Institute of Intergovernmental Relations (IIGR)
- School of Policy Studies, Queen's University
- Royal Military College of Canada (RMC)
Please direct any questions about the event to polscomms@queensu.ca.
|
|
|
|
|
|
