The Open Canada Podcast

In this episode, Ruth speaks with a leader looking to make the world embrace diversity. Meredith Preston McGhie is the secretary general for the Global Centre for Pluralism, and has worked for decades in Africa and Asia on the frontlines of diplomacy in some of the world's most troubled regions. She's looking to spread the principles of pluralism across the globe. Pluralism is, at its core, a resp...

Ruth speaks with a Canadian Senator looking closely at issues of ethics and accountability.   Senator Ratna Omidvar recently sponsored Bill S-222, the Effective and Accountable Charities Act, which aims to improve the nonprofit sector's "resource accountability", as well as the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act which proposes to stem the tide of corruption by ensuring Canada can repurpose stolen or ot...

When he ran for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, Michael Ignatieff laid out a bold plan to place the promotion of democracy at the heart of Canadian foreign policy. 17 years later, Ignatieff outlines how his time in politics and his wariness of the many failed attempts at democratization that ended in flames. He now proposes instead that Canada and other democracies "tend our own gardens...

En route vers 2023, un premier épisode en français pour réfléchir sur un problème persistant : un déséquilibre commercial dramatique existe toujours entre l'Afrique et les pays occidentaux comme le Canada. C'est une manifestation d'une structure de l'économie mondiale qui maintient une inégalité permanente entre le nord mondial et le sud, selon Maïka Sondarjee, professeure en développement interna...

There is no single issue that undermines the credibility of democracies worldwide more than perceptions that those in power are misusing public funds. Corruption is a transnational problem but in order to properly address it, Open Canada's invited experts argue, we must confront our own lax track record at home.   Ben is joined by Susan Côté-Freeman, President of Transparency International - Canad...

The agenda to support democracy around the world requires efforts to make the entire global system more democratic, not just at the national level. While the Global South remains disempowered, conversations about the rights of the citizens of those countries are necessarily limited. Ruth welcomes a guest who has extensive experience studying both global governance and democracy in the Caribbean an...

​The world's supply of refugees is greater than it has been in recent history, yet the Global North's collective willingness to resettle them is at an historic low. New Open Canada Podcast co-host Ruth Mojeed Ramirez speaks with Craig Damian Smith, a researcher studying migration and politics, and the founder of Pairity, a data-driven platform to facilitate community-based refugee integration. Vis...

As we approach the third anniversary of the global pandemic, Ben examines the cost of vaccine inequity. The hardest hit societies remain in the global south and are not receiving the vaccine doses needed to get the virus under control.   Jean-François Tardif is a development economist and founder of Results Canada . Along with Robert Greenhill of the Global Canada Initiative, Mr. Tardif conducted...

Do Latin America's autocracies deserve a seat at the Summit of the Americas' table? Some democratically-elected governments say they do.   Host Ben Rowswell, Canada's former ambassador to Venezuela, discusses dilemmas of diplomacy in the Americas with Maxwell A. Cameron, professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at University of British Columbia, and author of the forthcoming boo...

Canada has only produced one document outlining a comprehensive national security strategy, in 2004. Open Canada host and CIC president Ben Rowswell was on the team of experts that designed it. His guest Wesley Wark, a national security expert and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance (CIGI), recently completed a year-long proposal on how to revise the strategy – and to outline...

Open Canada co-host and Canadian International Council Distinguished Fellow Jeremy Kinsman was Canada's Ambassador to Russia from 1992 to 1996.   In this special episode, new co-host and Open Canada Editor-in-Chief Kareem Shaheen speaks with Kinsman about the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine, his antagonism toward Europe and why he refuses to let go of the past.   Visit OpenCanada.org for r...

Are Climate Change Conferences of the Parties (COPs) resulting in policy wins for the planet or only "blah, blah, blah"? Joining former Ambassador Jeremy Kinsman is Jen Allan, a Canadian climate policy specialist who lectures at Cardiff University and the author of The New Climate Activism: NGO Authority and Participation in Climate Change Governance. Visit OpenCanada.org for reflections on Canada...

Social networks have become agencies of disinformation, warns co-host Jeremy Kinsman, asking how citizens can manage their democracy when they are being exposed to such different versions of reality.   The former ambassador is joined by Ulrike Klinger, professor of digital democracy at European New School of Digital Studies and associate researcher at Berlin's Weizenbaum Institute.   Visit OpenCan...

The notion that democracy is a form of government native to a certain part of the world, whether it be Europe or North America, that it's somehow endemic or culturally-aligned with certain societies, seems to fly in the face of the evidence. Some Western countries are moving away from democracy, while many Asian, African and Latin American countries have proud, resilient democracies. Ben speaks wi...

The challenge of rebuilding a global democratic alliance to manage complex new transnational problems must be addressed outside of traditional circles and by an increasingly diverse array of actors, argues Thorsten Benner, co-founder and director of Germany's Global Public Policy Institute, who joins Ben from Berlin. Visit OpenCanada.org for reflections on Canada's place in the world. Special than...

As neighbouring countries exhibit growing populist and nationalist tendencies, Germany and Canada find themselves more likeminded than ever, on foreign policy as well as in domestic affairs. German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser and co-host Jeremy Kinsman, Canada's former ambassador to the EU, Italy and Russia, explore what the two countries could accomplish together. Visit OpenCanada.org for reflec...

Welcome to The Open Canada Podcast , a program that puts citizens at the heart of global affairs with exclusive access to international policymakers, hosted by veteran diplomats Ben Rowswell and Jeremy Kinsman, respectively President and Distinguished Fellow at the Canadian International Council. Climate change policy must be considered in tandem with issues of equality and social cohesion because...

Welcome to The Open Canada Podcast , a program that puts citizens at the heart of global affairs with exclusive access to international policymakers, hosted by veteran diplomats Ben Rowswell and Jeremy Kinsman, respectively President and Distinguished Fellow at the Canadian International Council.   Beyond our borders, the pandemic rages on. Among low-income countries, less than 10 percent of the p...

Welcome to The Open Canada Podcast , a program that puts citizens at the heart of global affairs with exclusive access to international policymakers, hosted by veteran diplomats Ben Rowswell and Jeremy Kinsman, respectively President and Distinguished Fellow at the Canadian International Council.   In the inaugural episode, Ben speaks with Dr. Ayelet Shachar, Professor of Law, Political Science an...