This FREE Zoom event examines the role of climate change in the outcome of the U.S. election & how the new administration's environmental priorities could impact Canada. Followed by a live audience Q&A!
John Podesta (former advisor to Presidents Clinton and Obama, founder and Chair of Center for American Progress) sits down with Canada's Minster of Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, in a conversation moderated by Hon. Rosa Galvez (Canadian Senator, Ph.D Environmental Engineering, and one of Canada’s leading environmental experts).
We will have live French translation on Zoom.
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John Podesta
John Podesta is the founder and Chair of the Board of Directors for the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for American Progress, a founder and Chair of the Board of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and an advisory board member of the group Climate Power 2020.
Podesta served as counselor to President Barack Obama, where he was responsible for coordinating the administration’s climate policy and initiatives. In 2008, he served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition team, where he coordinated the priorities of the incoming administration’s agenda and spearheaded its appointments of cabinet secretaries and senior political appointees. Podesta served as White House Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton, where he was a member of the president's cabinet and served on the National Security Council.
A Chicago native, Podesta is a graduate of Knox College and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he is currently a visiting professor of law and is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson has served as the Member of Parliament for North Vancouver since 2015. Raised in Saskatchewan, Minister Wilkinson spent more than 20 years in the private sector, holding leadership positions with a number of companies dedicated to the development of green technologies.
Minister Wilkinson’s work as CEO of both QuestAir Technologies and the former BioteQ Environmental Technologies (now BQE Water Inc.), in addition to his role as senior Vice-President of Business Development with Nexterra, provided him with extensive experience in the energy and environmental technology sectors. He also previously worked at Bain & Company, a leading global management consultancy.
A Rhodes Scholar, Minister Wilkinson made use of his educational background in public policy when he worked as a constitutional negotiator and a federal-provincial relations specialist for former Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow. He has served on several industry and charitable boards, including the United Way of the Lower Mainland, the B.C. Technology Industry Association and the BC chapter of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association. He also served as a board member and treasurer of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation.
Minister Wilkinson has deep roots in North Vancouver, where he is raising his family alongside his wife, Tara.
Hon. Rosa Galvez
Rosa Galvez, originally from Peru, is an environmental engineer, professor, pollution expert, and independent senator from the province of Quebec since 2016. In the first session of the forty-third parliament, she was a member of the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance which provided oversight for the federal government’s emergency COVID-19 response.
She recently organized a webinar series on a clean and just recovery for parliamentarians and government decision-makers with six experts including Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel prize in economy, and has released a white paper on the same topic. She was the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources from 2017 to 2019.
Senator Galvez has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and has been a professor at Laval University in Québec since 1994, heading the Civil and Water Engineering Department from 2010 to 2016. She specializes in water and soil decontamination, waste management, and impact and risk assessment of infrastructure projects.
Senator Galvez is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and a Fellow of Engineers Canada. Her research has led her around the world to countries such as France, Italy, the UK, Japan, China, and many South American countries. Throughout her career, she has been requested by private, governmental and community organisations to offer expert advice. She has also advised a number of international organizations including on Canada-US and Quebec-Vermont agreements regarding the protection of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. She also conducted an impactful research study on the catastrophic oil spill at Lac-Mégantic.
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