David MacNaughton, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States, will deliver the keynote address in this year’s Allan J. MacEachen Annual Lecture Series in Politics at StFX.
Mr. MacNaughton will deliver a talk entitled, “Difficult Choices for Canada in a Chaotic World,” at the event, which takes place Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at StFX’s Schwartz Auditorium. All are welcome to attend.
This annual lecture series was established in 1996 through the generous support of friends and associates of the late Hon. Allan J. MacEachen.
Over the years, speakers at the MacEachen Lecture have included four former Canadian prime ministers, the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, the Rt. Hon. John Turner, and the Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien, as well as a number of distinguished academics, politicians, journalists and a justice of the Supreme Court. Past speakers have also included Linden MacIntyre, Preston Manning, the Hon. Bob Rae, the Hon. Frank McKenna, Dalton Camp, Senator Jerry Grafstein, the Hon. Roy Romanow, Dr. Margaret MacMillan, Dr. Jennifer Welsh, the Hon. Flora MacDonald, Senator Lowell Murray, the Hon. Dr. Donald J. Johnston, Allan Gregg and the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin.
David MacNaughton
David MacNaughton was recently appointed President of Palantir Canada. He will head up the Canadian operations of Palantir Technologies, the Silicon Valley-based data integration and analytics software giant. Prior to joining Palantir Canada, Mr. MacNaughton was Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. He presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on March 3, 2016. In the 1980s, Mr. MacNaughton transformed the public affairs industry by building an organization that comprised government relations, public opinion research and public relations. After selling his business in 1989, Mr. MacNaughton became president of Canada’s largest government and public relations firm and subsequently North American president of the world’s largest public relations firm. From 1995 until 2003, Mr. MacNaughton was President of Strathshore Financial and was an advisor to one of Canada’s leading investment banks. Mr. MacNaughton’s public sector experience includes work at both the federal and provincial levels, including as advisor to the Minister at the Departments of Transport, Industry and Foreign Affairs. He was principal secretary to the Premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2005 and the chairman of StrategyCorp from 2005 until his appointment. Active in community affairs, Mr. MacNaughton has served on the boards of the North York General Hospital, the Stratford Festival, the National Ski Academy, TV Ontario, the Toronto French School and the Toronto International Film Festival.
