Interview: “The year that the shoe dropped”
I spoke with Kelly Geraldine Malone for an end-of-year story by the Canadian Press. Read the article here.
Posts from the ‘Adaptable Country’ Category
Dec 26
Panel discussion at UC Berkeley
I’ll participate in a panel discussion organized by the Canadian Studies program at UC Berkeley on November 4, 2025. My co-panelist will be Professor Evert Lindquist. Details about the discussion here. I’ve written a Substack column to go along with this discussion: “The US and Canada: Two Crises of Federalism.”
Lecture for Lifelong Learning Niagara
On February 17, 2026, I’ll give a lecture for Lifelong Learning Niagara as part of their Winter 2026 Lecture Series. Details here.
Interview with Shaye Ganam
On September 18, 2025 I spoke with Shaye Ganam of QR770AM Calgary about my Globe and Mail oped on the need for a national conversation about Canada’s future. Listen here.
Op-ed in G&M: A vision for Canada
My op-ed, “We’re missing a vision for Canada,” ran in the Globe and Mail on September 17. Read it here.
Finalist for Shaughnessy Cohen Prize
My book The Adaptable Country has been selected as a finalist for the Writers’ Trust 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Details here. The jury citation says: “It is popular to claim Canada is broken. Public frustration builds as governments seem reluctant or unable to effectively address the everyday problems Canadians face. Alasdair Roberts expertly suggests the problem is that our institutions lack a plan to adapt to the changes the future is bringing. His evidence includes the short-term focus of politicians; no regular, constructive federal-provincial engagement on policy issues; and a public service drowning in rules and layers of bureaucracy that stymies action. In a cogently argued, tightly focused, very accessible 141 pages, The Adaptable Country outlines how Canada can fix what is broken. It’s a timely guide for rebuilding trust and efficacy in Canada’s institutions and should be required reading for all Canadians, particularly those presently sitting in parliament and provincial legislatures.”
CBC article on first ministers’ meetings
I spoke with Aaron Wherry of the CBC for his article on the revival of first ministers’ meetings in Canada. The article draws on my book, The Adaptable Country.
“Adaptable Country” recommended by Choice
Choice, which is part of the American Library Association, has included The Adaptable Country in its June 2025 list of Top 75 Community College Titles. The complete list is here.
The Choice review says: “”Governments, like living organisms, must adapt to their environments or they will die. This is the premise of Roberts’s timely book. Roberts argues that Canada needs both regular and monumental Royal Commission–style efforts to discuss, weigh, plan, and execute ideas to help it adapt to rapidly changing conditions at home and abroad. [H]is analyses of the problem should be given very serious attention.”
Interview on Shaye Ganam Show, 880 CHED
I spoke with guest host Angela Kokott about my op-ed in the Globe and Mail about the need for an annual Canada Summit. Listen here.
Op-ed in Globe and Mail
My op-ed on the need for annual meetings of Canada’s first ministers and Indigenous leaders was published in the Globe and Mail on June 9. Read it here.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
