Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief is the School of Policy Studies' weekly speaker series. It brings leading policymakers, scholars, and practitioners to Queen’s University to explore the most pressing public policy challenges facing Canada and the world.
Featured speakers include former cabinet ministers and Premiers, senior public servants, municipal leaders, health policy experts, legal scholars, and internationally recognized academics who draw on real‑world experience to bridge theory and practice.
These speakers offer timely, evidence-based perspectives that deepen public understanding of complex policy issues and encourage informed debate beyond the headlines.
Past Events
Apr
02
Thursday
*POSTPONED* How Resilient are Contemporary Democracies to Backsliding and Breakdown?
Dr. Sanjay Ruparelia | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Mar
26
Thursday
Celebrating Tom Courchene: A Symposium
Mar
20
Friday
Stability in an Uncertain World
Hon. John Hannaford | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Mar
19
Thursday
The Physician Role in our HealthCare System
Dr. Lisa Tannock | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Feb
26
Thursday
10 Things I Learned as Health Minister that I Wish I Had Known Before I Started
Dr. Deb Matthews | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Feb
12
Thursday
Machine M.D.: The Governance of Health-Related AI
Colleen M. Flood | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Feb
05
Thursday
Indigenous Law and Environmental Governance in Canada in 2026
Lindsay Borrows | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Jan
29
Thursday
Book Launch | Chrétien and the World: Canadian Foreign Policy from 1993 To 2003
Jack Cunningham & John Meehan | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Jan
22
Thursday
Whither (wither) Healthcare?
David Walker | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Jan
15
Thursday
From Life Inside the Prime Minister's Office to the World of Government Relations
Jonathan Kalles | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Jan
08
Thursday
The Rise and Fall of "Visible Minority" in Canada
Debra Thompson | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Nov
27
Thursday
Beyond the Consensus: Structural Issues Reshaping Canadian Immigration
Mireille Paquet | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Nov
13
Thursday
Navigating Municipal Politics
Gregory Ridge | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Nov
06
Thursday
Book Launch: A New Blueprint for Government: Reshaping Power, the PMO, and the Public Service
Kevin Lynch & James Mitchell | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Oct
30
Thursday
Cycles of Change in Social Policy: Does the Past Point to the Future?
Keith Banting | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Oct
09
Thursday
Is the global trading system broken? Why the fate of the WTO and CUSMA matter for Canada
Robert Wolfe | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Oct
02
Thursday
Women, Peace, and Security at 25: Implications for Canada and NATO
Stéfanie von Hlatky | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Sep
25
Thursday
The Carney Agenda: Challenges and Opportunities
Lori Turnbull | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Sep
18
Thursday
Canada-US Relations in a Post-American World
Kim Richard Nossal | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Sep
11
Thursday
Team Based Primary Care
Catherine Donnelly | Policy Matters: Beyond the Brief
Sep
05
Friday
Big Trends, Hard Realities: Setting the Context for Public Policy Change in Canada
Kathleen Wynne, Don Drummond, Eugene Lang, Robert Wolfe