Treasury Board president and former Conservative MP Stockwell Day will be part the Future of Canadian Conservatism panel organized by a UBCO student's group.
Image Credit: WIKAMEDIA COMMONS
April 02, 2025 - 4:45 PM
A group of students from UBC Okanagan has set up a forum this week to look at how right-wing politics in Canada is evolving.
Amar Khaira is the vice president of UBCO’s Philosophy, Political Science and Economics Student Association which has organized the Future of Canadian Conservatism panel at the Ramada Hotel at 6 p.m. on April 4.
The panel will include Dr. Ian Brodie the former chief of staff for Stephen Harper’s government, Treasury Board president and former Conservative MP Stockwell Day, National Post columnist and reporter Tristan Hopper and senior editor of the Quillette Jonathan Kay.
Khaira said that the questions posed to the panel will have a non-partisan angle even though all the panelists are well known conservatives.
“I think it's the framing of the questions that really determines how partisan or non-partisan an event is,” Khaira said. “We've worked really hard to curate questions... about why conservatism in Canada is the way it is, because we do believe it exists in this very unique sense.”
READ MORE: UBCO student union backpedals on Conservative club after political backlash
He said the questions are meant to compare the current state of conservatism in Canada with the past, as well as comparing the Conservative Party of Canada to its American counterpart the Republican Party.
“I've seen that rhetoric online as well, that says, that this is just four white males who are speaking on this half, but I don't think that necessarily equates to it being a right-wing event,” he said.
There have been roughly 60 tickets sold already but Khaira said the association is hoping for 200 people to attend. General admission tickets are available online ahead of the event for $10, but it’s free for UBCO students and faculty.
Khaira said the event is unrelated to UBC’s Okanagan Conservative Club that was the subject of headlines recently after the school’s student union denied approval then backpedaled on the decision.
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