Ed Broadbent’s Vision
“Social democracy remains the form with the greatest potential, no more, no less, for liberating the creative, cooperative and compassionate possibilities of humanity and offering dignity to all.”
“Social democracy remains the form with the greatest potential, no more, no less, for liberating the creative, cooperative and compassionate possibilities of humanity and offering dignity to all.”
« La social-démocratie reste, ni plus ni moins, la forme qui offre le plus grand potentiel pour libérer les possibilités créatives de concertation et de compassion de l’humanité et pour assurer la dignité à tous et à toutes. »
The 2024 Ellen Meiksins Wood Lecture was delivered by economist Isabella Weber, demonstrating how economic shocks and corporate profits have affected our affordability crisis. From gas to groceries, this lecture provides valuable context and a policy toolkit for helping ordinary Canadians through economic crisis.
The 2023 Ellen Meiksins Wood Lecture was delivered by economist Armine Yalnizyan—a leading voice on Canada’s economic scene.
By decommodifying health services, pensions, the right to unions, and other social services, they showed that with political will in these aspects of life the power of the market could be and should be broken if real democracy is to be achieved.
It’s not right for us to think that we Canadians are immune to a radical right wing fanning intolerance and hate. We cannot be complacent. We need to change the game.
“If a blind faith in unfettered markets continues to prevail, I believe the social foundation for our democracies will continue to be shaken.”
In September 2016, the Broadbent Institute hosted Progress Summit BC to chart a progressive path forward for the province in this critical election year. The first keynote was delivered by Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria, Val Napoleon.
Global experience has also shown that a proportional system has other important benefits: it can help elect more women and other underrepresented groups; it can drive an increase in voter turnout; and there’s even evidence that it can foster more egalitarian societies.