2026 Stanfield Conversation
Maxwell Cameron
Professor of Political Science
The University of British Columbia (panelist)
Lynette Ong
Professor of Chinese Politics
The University of Toronto (panelist)
Sanjay Ruparelia
Professor of Political Science
Toronto Metropolitan University (panelist)
David Cochrane
Host of CBC's Power & Politics (guest moderator)
After the Rupture: Democracy and Diversification in a Post-liberal World
We are living through a rupture in the liberal international order, in which the United States - the order’s main architect and Canada’s most trusted post-war ally – is increasingly going rogue. Never has the need to diversify our international relationships been more urgent, but doing so often means getting closer to countries where democracy and human rights are eroding or even absent. This year’s Stanfield Conversation explores some of the dilemmas that come with building these new partnerships, focusing on the challenges and opportunities of deepening relations with Asia’s two rising great powers – China and India.
Stanfield Fellow
The Stanfield Fellow for 2026 is Rachael Johnstone. Prof. Johnstone is an expert on Canadian politics, public policy, and law. To date, her research has focused primarily on reproductive rights, exploring the ways they have been shaped through federalism, the Charter, public policy, and social movement activity. Most recently, she has begun exploring reproductive politics as it is experienced by politicians themselves through a project on family-friendly legislatures, which asks what family-friendly legislatures can and should look like.
Master Class
Each year, the Stanfield Fellow hosts a Master Class for graduate students, providing a unique opportunity for small-group discussions with the panelists from the Stanfield Conversations. This year, the graduate cohort is excited to engage with Wayne MacKay and Asha Rangappa. We are grateful for the support of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, which has enabled us to extend this event to students from other Atlantic Canadian Universities and Trudeau Scholars.
