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National Advisory Board
The National Advisory Board is comprised of prominent Canadians from a wide variety of backgrounds and political viewpoints. Appointed by the National Council, the members of the Advisory Board provide advice, assist with strategy and contacts, and publicly support Fair Vote Canada. The members of the Advisory Board are:
Several members of the National Advisory Board passed away in recent years - Max Ferguson, Lincoln Alexander, Allan Blakeney, Pierre Berton, Bernard Ostry, Claude Ryan and June Callwood - whose support was greatly appreciated.
Rick is CEO of ASCI-Anderson Strategic Consulting Inc, an executive consulting firm, providing strategic advice on public positioning, issues management, marketing, communications, government affairs and crisis communications. Rick has also served as campaign manager or strategic advisor for numerous general election and leadership campaigns and candidates in the Liberal and Reform parties. He provides regular media commentary and analysis on public affairs and politics, including weekly appearances on CBC-TV's Politics show and a weekly column in the Toronto Star.
Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, PC, OC, OM
President of the University of Winnipeg, a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Past-Director of the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues. He was first elected to Parliament in 1979, and served as Minister of Employment and Immigration, Minister of Transport, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification. His most recent book is Navigating a New World: Canada’s Global Future.
Distinguished Professor at the University of British Columbia. She chaired the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, which led to legislation in Canada. She recently chaired the Premier's Council on Aging in BC and is vice chair of the Board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She is an officer of the Order of Canada.
Activist, author, policy critic, and volunteer Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization supported by more than 100,000 members. From 1983 to 1984, she was Senior Advisor on Women's Issues to former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. With the Council of Canadians, she was credited with leading the fight to defeat the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. She is a Director of the International Forum on Globalization and author of 11 books.
Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto and widely published author and media commentator. Specializes in areas of Canadian, American and British politics. Her books include Women on the Defensive: Living Through Conservative Times (1998); Toeing the Lines: Women and Party Politics in English Canada (1993); and True Patriot Love: The Politics of Canadian Nationalism (1991). She served as President of the Canadian Political Science Association (1993-94). She is a fellow of University College and Senior Fellow of Massey College.
An internationally acclaimed artist and naturalist, Robert Bateman has also supported many ecology and conservation causes. His work appears in many public and private collections and art museums. His one-man museum shows throughout North America often attract record-breaking crowds. Three books of his art The Art of Robert Bateman, The World of Robert Bateman and Robert Bateman: An Artist in Naturehave set sales records. He has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates.
He worked as a journalist in Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Ontario, and lawyer in Toronto before entering Parliament as a Progressive Conservative MP for Lakeshore Etobicoke in 1984 and 1988. In 1992, he was awarded the Queen's Counsel designation for significant contributions to Canadian law. His books on the Canadian political system include The People's Mandate: Referendums and a More Democratic Canada. Toronto (1992), Election Law in Canada (1987), Money and Message (1983), Lawmaking By the People (1982) and Political Rights (1981).
Dr. Bountrogianni is currently President and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Board of Governors and is the former Ontario Minister for Democratic Renewal. She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1999. In October 2003, she was named Minister of Children’s Services and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. In June 2005 she became Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister for Democratic Renewal.
The Hon. Edward Broadbent, PC, CC
Visiting Fellow in the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs at Carleton University and co-chair of the Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission. From 1990-1996, he was the first President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. He served in Parliament for 21 years, and was Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. He was also chair of a national inquiry on Governance and Accountability in Canada’s Voluntary Sector, which submitted its report in 1999. He was re-elected to Parliament in 2004.
Dean, Civil Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. She is a past President of the Law Commission of Canada and led the Commission’s electoral reform project, which recommended to Parliament the adoption of a mixed-member proportional voting system for Canada. She is a past president of both the Canadian Law Teachers Association and the Association des juristes d’expression francaise de l’Ontario.
Family law lawyer, writer, media commentator and recipient of numerous awards, including the Law Society Medal and the Ontario Bar Association Distinguished Services Award. As a legal reformer, she has contributed to the expansion of women’s rights in family law. She wrote a column in Chatelaine for 25 years and her most recent book is Every Canadian’s Guide to the Law.
Author and professor emeritus in the Department of English, University of Toronto, she won the Governor General’s Literature Award (1965) for John Addington Symonds. Her other books include Havelock Ellis (1980), ed. Memoirs of John Addington Symonds (1984), Melanie Klein: Her World and Her Work (1986), Margaret Meade: A Life of Controversy (1989), The Secret Ring: Freud’s Inner Circle and Politics of Psychoanalysis (1991), Byron: The Flawed Angel (1997). She has held numerous fellowships and had articles published in the New York Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and Review of English Literature.
Long-time electoral reform supporter and former leader of the Green Party of Canada. Under his leadership the party increased voter support, membership, potential voter pool and budget 7X, 14X, 45X and 100X respectively to a point where in 2006, 35% of all electors were considering voting Green.
Jim’s most recent book, Blindsided!, published in 80 countries, is a #1 international bestseller. His second book, The Learning Paradox, was nominated for the National Business Book Award. Jim also co-authored the national bestseller The 100 Best Companies to Work for in Canada.
Author, publisher and one of Canada’s best-known economic nationalists. He published the highly acclaimed Canadian Encyclopedia. A founding member of the Committee for an Independent Canada, he later became founding chair of the Council of Canadians. His first book, The Betrayal of Canada, was the best-selling book in Canada in 1991. He received the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award (1988) and has numerous honorary degrees.
Professor emeritus at Laval University, he has published several works on political parties and groups. Since the 1970s, he has been interested in reforming the voting system. In 1991-1992, he was president of the Association canadienne de science politique/Canadian Political Science Association.
British Columbia political commentator, broadcaster, lawyer, author and former provincial cabinet minister. He was the B.C. minister responsible for constitutional affairs leading up to the patriation of the Canadian constitution. His popular radio shows and commentary have been very influential in the political arena. He has written a number of books, including Canada: Is Anyone Listening?; Rants, Raves and Recollections; Still Ranting; and Rafe: A Memoir.
Leader of the first National Party of Canada, an independent party founded in 1979. An active member and cultural critic for the Waffle movement in the NDP. He has written books and articles on Canadian intellectual history, Canadian politics, culture and literature. A founder of the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa he is known for his work to Canadianize curriculum and personnel in Canadian universities and colleges. He has published plays, poems, and short stories, and has lectured internationally.
She was leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1989 to 1995. She was the first female leader of a political party with representation in the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first federal political party leader to represent an electoral district in a Canadian territory. She is an honorary patron with Canadian Crossroads International, a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. She published an autobiography, A Woman's Place: My Life and Politics, in 1992. In 2000, she joined the National Democratic Institute, an organization that promotes democracy and peace in developing nations and travelled to Kosovo to help women there to run in the country's first democratic election. McLaughlin has also served as the President of the Socialist International Women and as special representative for the Government of the Yukon on Circumpolar Affairs.
A leading expert on electoral reform in Canada, he teaches political science at the University of Montreal and Umea University in Sweden. He is editor of Making Every Vote Count and Steps toward Making Every Vote Count, author of Civic Literacy: How informed Citizens Make Democracy Work, Research Fellow at the IRPP, and co-publisher of Inroads.
The youngest MP to be elected in Canada’s history in 1968 at age the age of 22, he has been the NDP critic for finance, employment, food, agriculture, trade, regional development and the Constitution. In 1992, he was appointed to the Privy Council. He ran for the national leadership of the NDP in 1975 and 1995. He represented the Saskatchewan riding of Regina-Qu'Appelle and was NDP critic for Finance and Democratic Reform, as well as the NDP's Deputy House Leader until 2004.
Dr. Sylvia Ostry, CC, OM, FRSC
Currently Distinguished Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, she has held numerous federal government posts, including Chief Statistician, Deputy Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, and Deputy Minister International Trade. She was Chairman of the Economic Council of Canada and head of the Economics and Statistics Department at the OECD in Paris. She has more than 80 publications to her credit and has been awarded 18 honorary degrees in Canada and abroad.
Currently Vice President, External, Legal and Community Relations at the University of British Columbia, he has had a noted political and legal career. He served as Deputy Attorney General in British Columbia and was Vice-President of the Law Commission of Canada. Elected to Parliament in 2000, he held a number of cabinet positions in the Liberal government.
Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Victoria, specializing in Canadian and BC politics as well as comparative elections and electoral reform. He is the author of The Politics of Voting: Reforming Canada's Electoral System and co-editor of British Columbia Politics and Government. Over the past two decades he has researched and published extensively on Canadian and comparative voting system reform, as well as engaged in considerable public speaking and media interviews on the subject.
Former Executive Director of the Ontario Arts Council, President of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and Dean, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Trent University, he has served both as an MP and MPP, and was Deputy Leader of the Ontario NDP. He has been president of Canadian Civil Liberties and president of Canadian Association of Adult Education. He has an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and is an Officer, Order of Canada and a Member, Order of Ontario.
One of Canada’s best-known feminists and political commentators, she is the publisher of rabble.ca, author of Imagine Democracy, host of CBC Newsworld’s Straight from the Hip and writes a weekly column for the London Free Press, CBC Online and a monthly column for Elm Street magazine. From 1990 to 1993, she was president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada’s largest women’s group with more than 500 member groups.
A Principal with Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs Inc, he is also a former federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (1997-2003). In various capacities, he has conducted more than 10,000 media activities, testified before federal, provincial and municipal legislative committees and delivered over 100 national and regional speeches. He spearheaded a three-year campaign to re-index the tax system to inflation, winning praise from national media observers and the federal Finance Minister in February 2000. He has written guest opinion editorials for all major national and daily newspapers in Canada and currently writes for Sun Media and Transcontinental media.
Associate Professor, Political Science, at the University of Victoria, he is a specialist in and a frequent media commentator on electoral systems, British Columbia public policy, and federal/provincial relations, as well as author of several studies on British Columbia politics and public policy. He is a Past President of the British Columbia Political Studies Association and a former member of Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for British Columbia. Prior to his academic career, he was a Treasury Board budget and management analyst.
A Conservative Senator from Ontario appointed in 2005, Nancy Ruth is a well-known social activist and philanthropist. She founded the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and the Canadian Women’s Foundation, and is a benefactor of hospitals and art galleries across Canada. She is a Member of the Order of Canada.
Author, playwright and award-winning columnist with the Globe and Mail. His plays include Les Canadiens, winner of the Chalmers Award, Best Canadian Play. He has written four non-fiction books and two novels. He was Chairman, Guild of Canadian Playwrights (1978) and Maclean Hunter Chair in Communications Ethics at Ryerson Polytechnic University (1993-1995). He is an editor of This Magazine and lecturer on Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto.
Appointed to the Senate in 2005, he has been President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) since 1999. Hugh is a Professor of Public Policy at Queen's University. He sits on the boards of numberous public and private companies. Hugh was a former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the first-ballot runner-up in the 1998 national Conservative leadership race. He is a former columnist for the Toronto Star and the Financial Post and a network panelist on CTV, CBC and PBS. He has authored three books on politics and public policy.
Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. David is well known as the host of the popular CBC-TV series Nature of Things. He is an internationally respected geneticist, author of more than 30 books, recipient of 15 honorary doctorates and is professor emeritus with the University of British Columbia's Sustainable Develpment Research Institute. He has received a UNESCO prize for science, a United Nations Environment Program medal and the Order of Canada.
Fellow of the Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa, an active media commentator and a retired political science professor. He is a former Secretary General of the International Political Science Association, former Executive Director of the Social Science Federation of Canada, and founding president of Dialogue Canada. He has written extensively on federalism and international organizations, and has authored a forthcoming book Modernizing the United Nations System: From International Relations to Global Governance.
Former Canadian Alliance MP for North Vancouver, he was born in New Zealand, before immigrating to Canada in 1979 and becoming a citizen in 1982. He and his wife started and managed a successful business. An early activist with the Reform Party of Canada, he played an active role in developing the party and amending its constitution at various national assemblies. Mr. White was elected MP for North Vancouver in 1993 and re-elected with an increased majority in both 1997 and 2000. As an MP, his main legislative goals were related to democratic reform.
The Very Reverend The Honourable Lois M. Wilson, CC, O.Ont
Author, minister, internationally-known authority on human rights issues and former Senator. She was the first woman Moderator of the United Church of Canada, the first woman President of the Canadian Council of Churches, and the first Canadian President of the World Council of Churches. Dr. Wilson has served on the board of Amnesty International and as chair of the board of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. She is currently President of the World Federalists (Canada), Vice President of the World Federalist Movement (International) and Vice-President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.