Media releases

• Panel discussions to demystify federal election

  Thursday, October 10, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 October 2019 – R00156

  Two panel discussions hosted by Brock University’s Department of Political Science are aiming to demystify the upcoming federal election.

  Each panel will designate time for experts in policy, labour, race, gender, immigration and municipal issues to offer general remarks before opening the floor to questions.

  “The panels are a chance for people to hear from experts who follow these issues very closely from various perspectives,” says Blayne Haggart, Associate Professor of Political Science and organizer of the two events.

  On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Associate Professor Charles Conteh and instructor Tim Fowler will be joined by Erin Tolley, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga, who is one of the country’s leading experts on elections and gender. The panel, titled “The 2019 federal election preview: The leaders, the issues, the stakes,” will examine what the election could mean locally and nationally.

  “Whoever is in charge in Ottawa after Oct. 21 will help determine how a region like Niagara grapples with economic development, public health, social housing and policing,” says Conteh, an expert on public policy and economic development. “All of these issues are beyond the technical capacity or financial resources of any regional or local government to tackle alone.”

  On Wednesday, Oct. 23, three more Brock experts will help make sense of the election results at “Unpacking the federal election: What happened, why and the future.”

  Associate Professor Tamari Kitossa of the Department of Sociology will join Associate Professor Livianna Tossutti and Professor Emeritus David Siegel of the Department of Political Science for a breakdown of how the election played out and what the implications might be.

  Tossutti, an expert in Canadian politics and immigration, plans to look at available polling data to see how issues, leaders and events resonated with the public in the pre-election and campaign period, and to review general turnout trends.

  “Youth and Indigenous electoral mobilization played a big role in the Liberals’ majority victory in 2015,” says Tossutti. “I will be watching to see if that pattern holds in 2019.”

  She’s also interested to see how election results affect representation of females and racialized minorities in the House of Commons.

  Haggart says the department has a long tradition of offering public talks during election season, but that the 2016 U.S. presidential election showed how the follow-up discussion can be just as engaging as the pre-election speculation.

  Both events will be held at 7 p.m. at the St. Catharines Public Library, which is co-sponsoring and hosting the panels. While they are open to the public, seating is limited. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to RSVP online for Oct. 16 and Oct. 23.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Policy brief strives to strengthen cross-border economies

  Monday, October 07, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 4 October 2019 – R00155

  If provinces and states along the Canada-U.S. border agree to pool resources, they could set up a cross-border fund for collaborative start-ups, says new research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).

  Academic researchers wishing to create joint research projects could also access this fund, according to the NCO’s latest policy brief, Cross-Border Innovation Corridor Dialogue: A conversation on how to support, strengthen and sustain cross-border economic innovation ecosystems. Released to the public this week, the brief looks at ways to increase regional economic growth between the two countries.

  It notes that the U.S. has a “larger and more innovative” market with a greater labour force as compared to Canada, whose market is younger, faster-growing and more technically trained.

  “Canada and the U.S. are stronger together not despite their differences, but because of them,” says the policy brief co-written by Kathryn Friedman, Research Associate Professor of Law and Planning at the University at Buffalo, NCO Director Charles Conteh and NCO Research Co-ordinator Carol Philips.

  “Achieving economic growth and prosperity depends on the ability of multiple and interconnected actors — governments, entrepreneurs, the private sector, universities and the non-profit sector — to work together effectively in an environment we envision as being an innovation ecosystem,” says Friedman, who is the policy brief’s lead author.

  The policy brief summarizes discussions that took place at the Cross-Border Innovation Corridor Dialogue event earlier this year, where representatives from the public, private, non-government and academic sectors examined ways to build innovation ecosystems in three cross-border areas: Vancouver, Seattle and Portland (known as the Cascadia Innovation Corridor); the Detroit-Windsor corridor; and the Buffalo-Niagara-Hamilton-Toronto corridor.

  “One of the major themes was that cross-border economic integration is not the wonder work of a just few so-called champions,” says Conteh. “It is based on strong connections among post-secondary institutions, entrepreneurs, public sector officials and others to build trust, share ideas and formulate concrete goals.”

  A number of recommendations on what can be done to support, strengthen and sustain cross-border economic innovation ecosystems outlined in the brief include:

  • Ensuring that a wide range of stakeholders from both countries participate strongly and come to agreement in cross-border planning
  • Aligning regulatory policies of the Canadian and American federal governments so that cross-border innovative ecosystems can develop, with high potential in the artificial intelligence, life sciences and advanced manufacturing sectors
  • Aligning educational standards and professional credentials to support access to talent
  • Setting up an office of staff whose role is to support and strengthen the cross-border innovation ecosystem

  Sixteen per cent of U.S.-Canada truck and rail trade crosses the Buffalo-Niagara Corridor, whose key export to the U.S. was automobiles and main export to Canada was machinery and electrical equipment.

  Interviews with the policy brief authors are available to members of the media.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases