OSDU Debating Workshop

Theo Caldwell's Opening Speech at McLeese OSDU Workshop.

Part 1 of 8: Introduction & McLeese Chair

Part 2 of 8: OSDU Introduction

Part 3 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

Part 4 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

Part 5 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

Part 6 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

Part 7 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

Part 8 of 8: OSDU Debating Workshop

2010 McLeese Debate on Health Care

Hazelton Hotel, Toronto, Ontario.

Part 1 of 8: Chair's Introduction

Part 2 of 8: Student Debate

Part 3 of 8: Student Debate

Part 4 of 8: Student Debate

Part 5 of 8: Student Debate

Part 6 of 8: Student Debate

Part 7 of 8: Student Debate

Part 8 of 8: Student Debate & Closing

The Health Care Debate on AM820

Theo Caldwell on the Health Care Debate, AM820, May 31, 2010

Student Debaters on AM1010

Student Debaters Diane Shnier and Harris Kaufman discuss Health Care with John Tory, AM1010.

The Great Health Care Debate

WASHINGTON, DC – Would you rather get sick in the United States or in Canada? The answer depends, perhaps, on who you are, and how sick you get. If, for example, you are a third-generation Canadian with a family doctor and the connections to jump hospital queues for treatment, the Great White North might be where you'd prefer to feel under the weather. If, however, you lack inroads and require urgent attention, you may want to head south and pay for health care in the Land of the Free.

On June 7, four celebrity doctors, including former Vermont Governor and US presidential candidate Howard Dean and former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, will argue the issue in Toronto as part of the semi-annual Munk Debates. Just prior to this event, four students from high schools in the area will tackle the same resolution. It says here that the students will present more cogent, circumspect cases than their older counterparts, but both debates will be streamed online so viewers across Canada and around the world can decide.

Press bookings have been brisk, especially for the eminently quotable Dean, he of the literal and figurative primal scream. As you might expect, Dean favours a socialized, single-payer system like Canada's, but he was refreshingly candid in explaining why meaningful tort reform – without which, lawsuits abound in the American system – was absent from the recently passed US health care legislation: "The people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers."

The fact that Dean is able to concede such a strong point augurs a robust debate. And one can be certain that the new American health regime, dubbed "Obamacare," will get plenty of airtime on June 7.

Munk Debate moderator Rudyard Griffiths has opined that it was "downright impressive" to see Americans "survive" the overhaul of their health care system over the course of a few months. Well, yes, "impressive" in the sense that an exploding star or massive earthquake might impress a person from a safe distance. As to whether the United States will survive, no one seriously suggested the Republic would crumble the moment President Obama took his Paper-Mate to the bill. Rather, it was the enormous and indefinite expense of the measure, combined with the spectre of rationing and the forcing of citizens to purchase health coverage under penalty of law that brought protests in cities across America.

Indeed, that may be the most "impressive" part of the process – the way in which ordinary Americans rallied, peacefully, against a costly, freedom-squelching initiative for which they did not vote, and which members of Congress did not read. 

One of the most eye-catching signs at the health care protests read, "If Obamacare passes, where will Canadians go for their health care?" An interesting point, that. Perhaps a single-payer set-up like Canada's can exist only in proximity to an open market, as in the US, where folks who have the means and cannot wait for treatment often go – as Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams did recently – thereby reducing strain on the socialized system. Canadians are proud to have universal health coverage – but "coverage" and "care" are rather different things.

Whether Canada's health care system is superior to that of the United States is, at best, debatable – and debated, it shall be.

theo@mcleesedebate.com 

Theo Caldwell is the McLeese Chair in Debating. 

Theo Caldwell & Lawrence Solomon Speak at UCC

Theo Caldwell and Lawrence Solomon speak to UCC students in assembly on the topic of global warming.

Theo Caldwell introduces Lawrence Solomon:

Lawrence Solomon addresses UCC Assembly:

Lawrence Solomon answers questions in UCC Assembly:

Theo Caldwell at the National Debating Championships, Victoria

More than 100 Grade 11 and 12 students from across Canada were in Victoria this weekend to debate in the national championships. The debaters qualified at the provincial level to make it to the event, and are participating in four rounds of impromptu debate and two rounds of prepared debate.

Theo Caldwell on the Art of Argument

Theo Caldwell and Arlene Bynon discuss the 2010 Winter Games, and the Art of Argument; AM640.

The Power to Persuade

Willis McLeese has accomplished a lot in his first 96 years. From his WWII service in the Navy, to his legendary and lucrative careers in refrigeration and power, to the resort community he is building at Cobble Beach, Ontario, he has made the most of every moment.

Along the way, he developed a myriad of skills, from thermodynamics to time management (a must, for someone who runs several companies). But a key lesson McLeese learned through his many experiences is: The power to persuade is essential to success. 

For all his philanthropic efforts, the cause to which McLeese has been most devoted is helping young people learn the craft of persuasive speaking. He has laboured at this for almost 40 years, particularly in support of the Canadian Student Debating Federation (CSDF). Most recently, he endowed the Willis S. McLeese Chair in Canadian Debating, based at Upper Canada College in Toronto and working with the CSDF, to bring young people across the country into this activity. The program is outlined at mcleesedebate.com.

McLeese's belief is that if students are given the skills and confidence to speak publicly and advocate positions, it will serve them well later in life. 

"Debating is a way to extend your influence," he avers, adding, "Canada will always need great leaders." He notes that being a leader doesn't require your name on a ballot. Leaders come in all sorts, in every profession. What they share is the power to convince and inspire.

A small percentage of student debaters will grow up to be politicians or trial lawyers (at least, one hopes it's a small percentage). But whatever careers kids pursue, someday they will have to answer questions like: What makes you different? Why should we do it your way? Why should I buy what you're offering? 

So much of life, and success, is about selling ideas. From Clarence Darrow to Don Cherry, if you can make a case, you can make a living. Teaching young people this craft is practical education at its best.

Personifying McLeese's faith in this philosophy is Chantal Jauvin. While a high school student in the mid-1980s, she approached McLeese at a national debating event and told him what the activity meant to her. The two have been close friends since and Jauvin credits her debating experience for her intercontinental legal career. When I spoke to her from Thailand, she pointed out, "The most important skill that I learned was to listen to what others were saying." 

Indeed, debating isn't just about saying what you think; it requires hearing what other people are telling you. McLeese echoes this, insisting debaters should argue every resolution from both sides: "They learn respect and tolerance for each other."

In a rare deviation from the shrewd judgment that made him a success, McLeese has asked me to take up the Chair that bears his name. My early debating made it possible for me to opine in the public square (for better or for worse), and one hopes I can help offer today's students the same opportunity. Our first step is a partnership with Rudyard Griffiths and his famed Munk Debates, commencing this spring. But whatever contribution I might provide, it could never compare with that of Willis McLeese, an extraordinary patron of the art of argument.

theo@mcleesedebate.com 

Theo Caldwell is the McLeese Chair in Debating.