UB, Brock University Team Up to Educate Government Staff on Both Sides of the Border

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo and Brock University in Ontario will co-sponsor an intensive five-day seminar, "Binational Executive Seminar on Canada-U.S. Relations" June 13-17 at UB and Brock, and at border sites in Fort Erie, Ontario, and Niagara Falls.

The event is not open to the public but aimed at legislative and political staff members of the federal, state and provincial governments of Canada and the U.S., says Munroe Eagles, PhD, professor of political science and director of the Canadian-American Studies academic program at UB, who is directing the seminar.

Local legislators or staff members who wish to attend should contact Eagles at eagles@buffalo.edu or 716-983-9884 Additional information including the program can be found at http://www.binationalexecutiveseminar.cas.buffalo.edu.

"We have lined up a blue-ribbon panel of experts who will enhance participants' understanding of their counterparts from across the border," Eagles says, adding that seminar sessions will focus on, among other things, the history of the bi-national relationship, the differing institutional and political contexts in each country, the diplomacy of CANAM relations, shared governance of the Great Lakes and cross-border dimensions in a series of policy sectors.

The first two days of the seminar will be held at UB and will look at the origins and evolutions of North American political differences, the parliamentary and presidential systems and federalism, patterns in U.S.-Canadian relations, trade disputes, the International Joint Commission and Boundary Waters Treaty and shared governance of the Great Lakes.

This will be followed by sessions on June 15 at the Promenade of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ontario; on June 16 at Brock University and on June 17 in the boardroom of the Buffalo-Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority in Fort Erie, Ontario. Fellows completing the seminar will receive a certificate issued by UB and Brock University.

Speakers will include such leading experts in Canadian-American relations as Christopher Sands, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a specialist in Canada and U.S.-Canadian relations and economic integration; Donald Abelson of the Canada-U.S. Institute and the Centre for American Studies at the University of Western Ontario; and Geoffrey Hale of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta.

Presenters also will include some of the foremost commentators on Canadian-American relations from both nations:

-- Nik Nanos, CEO of Nanos Research, research associate professor of Canadian studies at UB, and a pollster for the Toronto Globe and Mail/CTV News

-- Scotty Greenwood, former chair of the Canadian-American Business Council, a senior adviser with McKenna, Long and Aldridge, Washington, an international firm of attorneys and public policy advisors.

-- Kelly Johnston, vice president for government affairs at Campbell Soup, where he coordinates federal, state and local government relations in the U.S., and oversees activities with the company's trade associations.

-- James Blanchard, former governor of Michigan; James Peterson, former Canadian minister of international trade; and a Brigadier General from the U.S. NORAD/NORTHCOM and Lieutenant-General Marcel Duval, deputy commander NORAD.

Eagles says, "A dozen fellows from legislative and executive branches of the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Connecticut and New York, as well as from Toronto, Ottawa and Washington D.C., will take part in the seminar along with graduate students from UB who will receive graduate credit toward UB's advanced graduate certificate in Canadian Studies."

Sponsorship and support come from the Consulate of Canada in Buffalo, the Buffalo-Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, Hodgson Russ LLP and Phillips Lytle LLP.