SACPA to host double-header

By Lethbridge Herald on December 11, 2025.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) will be hosting a double-header at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization today. At noon the topic will be “We won’t cancel us: How can we discuss gender and sexuality across the Liberal-Conservative divide?” 

The evening presentation will be: “Elbows Up, Elbows Down? Donald Trump and the future of Canada.” Both presentations are free and open to the public. 

Elbows up or elbows down? That’s the question that legal scholar and author Dr. Michael Byers is going to discuss from 6:30-8:30 PM at the LSCO.

Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected on a platform of standing up to Donald Trump, after the U.S. president adopted sweeping tariffs and threatened to make Canada the “51st state”. Since the election, however, Carney has become very deferential to Trump. 

What happens if President Trump does something that is truly damaging to Canada? When do the elbows come back up? At what point does deference become subservience? The question of whether Carney is being too deferential to President Trump is a matter of intense public debate and opinion in Canada, with no consensus reached.

“SACPA is lucky to have Michael Byers speak on Elbows Up, Elbows Down given his extensive experience with National and international affairs,” says SACPA board member Knud Pedersen. “His latest book ‘Who Owns Outer Space? International Law, Astrophysics, and the Sustainable Development of Space’ was awarded the 2023 $60,000 Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a Canadian. This made Byers only the second person to win the Donner Prize twice, with the other being Tom Courchene.”

During midday presentation, Brent Saccucci will talk about how “discussing, disagreeing, and determining our real thoughts about the evolving role of gender and sexuality in society can be scary—so scary that many people choose not to share their true beliefs for fear of being canceled or saying something politically incorrect.”

Byers is a professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law. He is a leading expert on the Arctic, climate change, and outer space, known for his work on how international law interacts with global politics.

Byers writes regularly about Canadian foreign and defence policy for the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Saccucci is a faculty member in the social contexts of education at the University of Lethbridge (UOL) where he also leads the Social Change in Schools Cohort.