National unity and trade in an era of Trump – David Peterson at Queen’s University
On October 1, 2025, the Queen’s Institute of Intergovernmental Relations held its annual Kenneth MacGregor Lecture at the Donald Gordon Conference Centre in Kingston. This year’s Lecture took the form of a fireside chat between former Ontario Premier David Peterson and former Globe and Mail national affairs columnist Jeffrey Simpson. The conversation covered a range of topics, including the legacy of the Meech Lake Accord, Ontario’s role in the federation, free trade, and Canada’s increasingly challenging relationship with the United States.
The MacGregor Lecture was the highlight of two days David Peterson spent on the Queen’s campus October 1-2, accompanied by former Liberal cabinet ministers Sean Conway, Charles Beer and Greg Sorbara
The visit began with an informal discussion with half a dozen political science students around coffee and baked goods first thing on Wednesday, October 1. The lecture (actually a conversation between Peterson and Jeffrey Simpson) followed at the Donald Gordon Centre on campus in early afternoon in front of an audience of about 40 political science and intergovernmental affairs students with some faculty members on hand as well. A spirited question and answer session wrapped up the formal event.
Peterson then headed to a large lecture theatre on campus to speak to about 300 first-year undergraduate political science and politics students. As at the MacGregor lecture, he responded to questions from the first year students after his comments. A group of them stuck around after the class had ended to continue the conversation with Peterson.
The long day ended with a dinner at the Queen’s University Club for close 20 including faculty members from the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations and Department of Political Studies. Following yet another round of questions and discussion, the day wrapped up about 8:30 pm.
The second day was shorter with Peterson, Conway and Beer at 90-minute morning session with about 30 graduate students from Intergovernmental Affairs and Political Studies in a large room at Robert Sutherland Hall. Not surprisingly the questions were a little more specific and detailed as expected from graduate students, several of whom clearly had already been some political experience.
The visit highlighted how the issues that dominated federal-provincial relations between 1985 and 1990 continue to be relevant today as Ontario and Canada confront many of the same concerns that led to the policy initiatives of the Peterson government almost 40 years ago.
