“The Ugly Canadian: Justin Trudeau’s foreign policy.”
Lecture by prolific Canadian political writer and author, Yves Engler
Where: McMaster University, LR Wilson Building (LRW) 2001
When: Wednesday, March 15th, 2023, 5:30 pm
FREE ADMISSION!

Back in 2012, Yves Engler authored a book entitled, “The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper’s Foreign Policy.” With the election of Justin Trudeau’s government in 2015, many Canadians, concerned about Harper’s ugly foreign policy, breathed a sigh of relief. But was this sigh of relief justified?

The Trudeau government has expanded the military while ignoring international efforts to restrict nuclear weapons proliferation. Flouting its climate commitments, the Trudeau government also failed to follow through on its promise to rein in Canada’s controversial international mining sector. In this talk we will discuss how successive Canadian governments continue to violate international law and spurn efforts to overcome pressing global issues. What do the current global wars tell us about Canada’s “ugly foreign policy”? What is the way forward?

Author of 12 books, Yves Engler is the leading critic of Canadian foreign policy. Largely excluded from the dominant media, he has written hundreds of articles for the alternative press. Engler has been dubbed “Canada’s version of Noam Chomsky” (Georgia Straight), “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left” (Briarpatch), “in the mould of I.F. Stone” (Globe and Mail), “part of that rare but growing group of social critics unafraid to confront Canada’s self-satisfied myths” (Quill & Quire), “ever-insightful” (Rabble), “Chomsky-style iconoclast” (Counterpunch) and a “Leftist gadfly” (Ottawa Citizen). In recent years, he has been active with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Solidarité Québec-Haiti, Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix, and Disruption Network Canada. Website: yvesengler.com

McMaster’s LR Wilson Building (LRW) is easy to find because it is the very first building on your left as you enter the campus at the Sterling Street entrance. It contains underground parking (at $6 for the entire evening) and there is also surface parking available at nearby lots and some free parking a few streets away in Westdale. Several HSR buses stop right close by LRW and run frequently from the HSR’s MacNab Street Terminal downtown.

Bring some cash: Copies of Engler’s newest book, “Stand on Guard for Whom?” and his eleven previous books will be available at very attractive prices!

This event is organized by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop The War. It will be recorded and posted online at our website (hcsw.ca) with links on both Facebook and Twitter.