Munk Debates
The Munk Debates are a semi-annual series of debates on major policy issues held in Toronto, Canada. They are run by the Aurea Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Gold, and his wife Melanie Munk. The debate series was founded in 2008 by Munk and Rudyard Griffiths, who moderates most of the debates.
The Munk debates are held in Toronto, at steadily larger venues as they have proven popular. Tickets are sold to the general public, and sell out shortly after being made available.
At each debate a poll is taken of the audience both before and after the debate. The winner of the debate is determined by how many people are persuaded to move from one opinion side to the other.
The debates have been broadcast on CBC Radio's Ideas as well as CPAC. The more recent ones have also appeared on international broadcasters including BBC and C-SPAN.
Debates
| Date | Topic | Pro | Con | Winner | Swing | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2008 | The world is a safer place with a Republican in the White House | Charles Krauthammer and Niall Ferguson | Samantha Power and Richard Holbrooke | Pro | 17% | Royal Ontario Museum |
| Dec 1, 2008 | If countries like Sudan, Somalia and Burma will not end their man-made humanitarian crises, the international community should | Gareth Evans and Mia Farrow | John Bolton and Rick Hillier | Con | 9% | Royal Ontario Museum |
| June 1, 2009 | Be it resolved foreign aid does more harm than good | Hernando de Soto Polar and Dambisa Moyo | Stephen Lewis and Paul Collier | Pro | 2% | Royal Ontario Museum |
| Dec 1, 2009 | Climate change is mankind's defining crisis, and demands a commensurate response | George Monbiot and Elizabeth May | Bjørn Lomborg and Nigel Lawson | Con | 8% | The Royal Conservatory of Music |
| June 7, 2010 | I would rather get sick in the United States than Canada | Bill Frist and David Gratzer | Howard Dean and Robert Bell | Con | 7% | The Royal Conservatory of Music |
| Nov 26, 2010 | Religion is a force for good in the world. | Tony Blair | Christopher Hitchens | Con | 13% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| June 17, 2011 | The 21st century will belong to China. | Niall Ferguson and David Daokui Li | Henry Kissinger and Fareed Zakaria | Con | 22% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| Nov 14, 2011 | North America faces a Japan-style era of high unemployment and slow growth. | Paul Krugman and David Rosenberg | Lawrence Summers and Ian Bremmer | Con | 19% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| May 25, 2012 | The European experiment has failed. | Niall Ferguson and Josef Joffe | Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Peter Mandelson | Con | 17% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| November 26, 2012 | The world cannot tolerate an Iran with nuclear weapons capability... | Amos Yadlin and Charles Krauthammer | Fareed Zakaria and Vali Nasr | Con | 18% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| May 30, 2013 | Tax the rich (more) | George Papandreou and Paul Krugman | Newt Gingrich and Arthur Laffer | Pro | 12% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| November 15, 2013 | Be it resolved men are obsolete... | Hanna Rosin and Maureen Dowd | Caitlin Moran and Camille Paglia | Pro | 28% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| May 2, 2014 | Be it resolved state surveillance is a legitimate defence of our freedoms.... | Michael Hayden and Alan Dershowitz | Glenn Greenwald and Alexis Ohanian | Con | 13% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| November 5, 2014 | Be it resolved Obama’s foreign policy is emboldening our enemies and making the world a more dangerous place… | Bret Stephens and Robert Kagan | Anne-Marie Slaughter and Fareed Zakaria | Con | 11% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| April 10, 2015 | Be it resolved the West should engage not isolate Russia… | Stephen F. Cohen and Vladimir Posner | Anne Applebaum and Garry Kasparov | Con | 10% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| Sept 28, 2015 | The Munk Debate on Canada’s Foreign Policy | Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau | – | – | Roy Thomson Hall | |
| November 6, 2015 | Be it resolved humankind’s best days lie ahead... | Steven Pinker and Matt Ridley | Alain de Botton and Malcolm Gladwell | Pro | 2% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| April 1, 2016 | Be it resolved, give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... | Louise Arbour and Simon Schama | Nigel Farage and Mark Steyn | Con | 22% | Roy Thomson Hall |
| September 30, 2016 | Be it resolved, Donald Trump can make America great again... | Newt Gingrich and Laura Ingraham | Robert Reich and Jennifer Granholm | Pro | 6% | Roy Thomson Hall |