2026 Sylvia Ostry Lecture – Geopolitics, Disruption, and the Way Forward

2026 Sylvia Ostry Lecture with Bob Rae, Matthews Faculty Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen’s University

C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.

Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.

Bob Rae, Matthews Faculty Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen’s University

Bob Rae has been deeply engaged in a full range of public policy issues at the international, national, and provincial levels of government throughout a career that stretches for more than half a century. 

Most recently he served as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York from 2020-2025, including a term as President of the Economic and Social Council, one of only three Canadians elected in their personal capacity to preside over UN Charter bodies since 1945. 

Mr. Rae served as Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995, and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011-2013. He was elected to federal and provincial parliaments 11 times between 1978 and 2013. He has been honoured by the alumni of both bodies for his distinguished service. 

Mr. Rae was educated in Ottawa, Washington DC, and at the International School of Geneva. and received his Honours B.A. in Modern History from the University of Toronto, an M.Phil in Politics as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College in Oxford University, and graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1977.

Bob Rae is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario, and has numerous awards and honorary degrees from around the world. He is married to Arlene Perly Rae, a writer and public advocate on issues affecting women and children. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.