Institute for Research on Public Policy

The IRPP published one of my term papers, “Two for One: Building a Versatile Canadian Priorities Agenda,” on their website.

Thanks to professors Dobson and Touhy for putting on a superb capstone seminar at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance.

Congratulations to Amy-Marlene, and all the best to Robert and Gabriel. Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way!

* UPDATE * Here’s the show!

The CNGPM Finalists: Gabriel Bran Lopez, Amy-Marlene Robichaud, Robert Marsh, and David Suk

My Friends,

I am pleased to announce that I made it to the final four in the Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister Competition! I hope you will be watching CBC television at 8pm local time on March 18th, 2009 to see Gabriel Bran Lopez, Amy-Marlene Robichaud, Robert Marsh, and I square off in front of Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark, Paul Martin, Kim Campbell, Alex Trebek, and a live studio audience.

Congratulations to all of the semifinalists. I am very glad to have befriended all nine of you during “boot camp.” You were all moving speakers and fierce debaters, full of intoxicating positive energy, and equipped with compelling visions for Canada. I hope that some of you who didn’t quite make the cut this time around will apply again in the years to come, I want to see YOU on TV!

My thanks to all of my supporters — friends, family, acquaintances several times removed, and passers-by that found my perspective a constructive one — that made this possible. I never could have made it this far without your advise, constructive criticism, and most importantly, encouragement. I am working to find somewhere here in Toronto for us to watch the show together, so please reserve the night of March 18th! Details to follow.

Best Wishes,

- David Suk

Dear Friends,

On Friday, CBC announced the ten semifinalists in the Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister Competition. Guess what - we made it! I will be among the ten contestants fighting it out at “CNGPM Boot Camp” in Toronto from February 6th - February 9th!

Boot Camp is the last stop before the final four contestants vie for the title of CANADA’S NEXT GREAT PRIME MINISTER on national television (CBC) at 8 PM on March 18th, 2009. Alex Trebek will be hosting this year’s show, and Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, and Paul Martin will be the judges.

My thanks to all of the people who have helped me with my campaign so far: Aaron, Andre, Anita, Annie, Emily, Gillian, Irene, Isabelle, James, Jesse, John, Kai, Kaleb, Kimberly, Ron, Shannon, and William. Thank you to everyone who commented on and rated my videos. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me along the way. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you, and I am going to be counting on you again over the next three weeks as I prepare for boot camp.

To the other nine semi-finalists, congratulations! I look forward to meeting all of you at boot camp. I would also like to congratulate all of the candidates that didn’t make it through to the semifinals. I enjoyed watching your creative and compelling videos over the past couple of months. I hope our paths will cross again.

This competition has been a blast so far, and I can’t wait for it to continue. Thanks for following my progress, and let me know what you think!

All the best,

- David Suk

And the question:

And here are the questions:

Here is the original question, from Justin Trudeau.

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, we (David Suk and Kaleb Ruch) held a community event on December 13th, 2008 as part of our participation in CBC Television’s Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister Competition. For all of you who didn’t get a chance to see us in person, we would like to share a little bit about what we did and why we did it!

We both believe that it is essential that Canada’s politicians engage with Canadians and each other in substantive and constructive dialogue on the issues that matter to Canadians. As such, we chose to hold a public debate at the Speaker’s Corner in front of Toronto City Hall.

One important theme in both of our candidacies is the economy, and these days, the Canadian economy is under strain. One symptom of tough economic times is that more Canadians have difficulty feeding their families. At the same time, food banks and soup kitchens find it more difficult to raise the money they need to run their activities. We both believe that the importance of Canadians coming together to support these organizations is beyond debate. As such, we made our debate into a session of “debate-busking.” We asked passers-by to listen to our ideas for a time, to ask our opinions on any issues that they were particularly concerned about, to give us their views, and finally, to leave a small donation for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Our event was a great success! In two hours of debating, we collected $60.17 for Daily Bread! Thanks to all of you who came out, and to those of you that didn’t we hope that you will consider making a small donation to a food bank or soup kitchen in your own community.

Sincerely,

Kaleb Ruch
David Suk

_______________________________________

Hello All,

Wow! CBC has harvested quite a crop of concerned Canadians. I am happy to see the many good ideas and compelling arguments that have appeared in this thread so far. Most of all, I am delighted to see my fellow contestants so passionate about building a better Canada. Our country needs all of us! Perhaps CBC would considering reworking this competition into “Canada’s Next Great Parliament” . . .

There is one theme that is missing from the thread, and I would like to bring it to everyone’s attention. Many of you have brought up the deplorable conditions on Canada’s reserves. But did you know that more than 50% of Aboriginal Canadians now live off reserve?

It can be tremendously difficult Aboriginal people living off reserve to access social services because of jurisdictional disagreements between Canada’s various levels of government. Provincial governments are hesitant to provide many services because they claim that Aboriginal people are the responsibility of the Federal government. The Federal government claims that once an Aboriginal person leaves his or her reserve, the provision of social services (such as health and education, for example) to that person becomes a Provincial responsibility. The result is an inadequate array of social services accessible to Aboriginal people living off reserve.

In my video-platform (http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/candidates/davidsuk.html) I suggested that “the three E’s” – Energy, the Economy, and the Environment – are a set of closely related challenges that Federal and Provincial governments must tackle as a package, together. Well a cooperative approach will be needed in other areas of policy as well, including Aboriginal affairs. All levels of Canadian government must come together to ensure that urban Aboriginal Canadians have equal access to adequately funded social services that take into account the disadvantaged position of Aboriginal people in Canadian society.

What do the rest of you think about the situation of Aboriginal Canadians living off reserve?

Best,

David Suk
http://www.cbc.ca/nextprimeminister/candidates/davidsuk.html