Author: Chris George

As we begin to discuss how the current climate will impact debate in the coming year, we are excited to announce that the National Seminar will be moving online for Fall 2020! As a result, please find attached the application to the Seminar which will take place online from September 24 – 27, 2020.

For those who are not familiar with it, the National Seminar is a non-competitive debate seminar which includes a debate tournament, model parliament event, and debate workshops. The exact schedule and events are not yet available as the event adapts to an online platform. This is an event tailored to newer debaters, or those wishing to hone their skills – it is not an event recommended for advanced or highly competitive debaters. We encourage debaters to seize the opportunity to participate in this event tailored to improving skills at a lower cost and time commitment than it may otherwise be when taking place in person! This is a fantastic opportunity!

If a student wishes to attend, they must follow the process outlined below – please note this is an individual event, and your application does not guarantee you a spot, the OSDU Board will be selecting its delegation based on strict criteria established by the host, which may include diversifying students across multiple schools, regions, and language categories.

1. Fill out the attached application, and send it to osdupresident@gmail.com by 9:00 pm on July 10, 2020. Please select in which language category you are most interested in attending. Note that students willing to participate in French or Bilingual may be given priority.
2. The selection committee will review all applications, and will select a limited number of students divided amongst the english, french, and bilingual categories. We will inform you of our decisions by July 20th, 2020.

Students interested in applying must be in Grades 9-12 as of September, 2020, and may not have attended a National Championship event, or the National Seminar in previous years.

Please note that at this time, only up to one student per school will be selected. This may be subject to change depending on the delegate pool and available spots for Ontario.
Download Application

As we kick the Spring debate season into high gear, OSDU is happy to announce that the selection process for the 2020 Canadian National Debate Team is now open.

Each Province is eligible to send a restricted number of delegates to the Team Canada try out, which will be taking place in Winnipeg, Manitoba either before or after Senior Nationals in April 2020 (more information to come for those who are selected).

In order to determine who Ontario will send to represent us at the tryout, OSDU will be hosting a two-part selection process.

1. Interested students must fill in the attached application and email it back to me by Friday, February 14th, 2020 (approximately two weeks from now).
2. A qualified panel will review applications, and will contact the top six students among those who completed the application to attend a one-day mini tournament, to be held on the weekend of February 29 or March 1st, 2020 in Toronto. From there, the top 3 students will be chosen to attend the National tryout.

More information regarding criteria and requirements can be found in the attached invitation. Please pass this along to your students that you feel might be interested.
Download Information

The prepared motion for the 2020 Senior Provincial Championships will be:

This House (as the Canadian Government) would fully allow foreign-owned telecommunications companies into Canada.

For those participating in the Bilingual debate category, please find below the prepared motion in French. This should also assist you with the recommended translation of key terms in the debate.

Cette chambre (en tant que le gouvernement canadien) permettrait entièrement les entreprises de télécommunications étrangères d’opérer au Canada.

SOME IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING THE MOTION:
We understand that this motion is conceptually quite broad. It is up to the government team to model the case as they see fit. In order to help guide you to some of the key issues in the debate, there are several resources below which may assist in beginning your preparation. It is strongly encouraged that you look into more than just these. Please note that while some resources do direct you to the current 5G infrastructure headlines, this is not the only key consideration of the debate, but may be a consideration for some teams.

English Resources:
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf09920.html
https://www.stikeman.com/fr-ca/savoir/droit-canadien-communications/canadian-government-to-loosen-foreign-ownership-restrictions-in-telecommunications-sector
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/susan-rice-huawei-canada-trump-impeachment-election-1.5346263

French Resources:
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/fra/sf09920.html
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/fra/lois/T-3.4/page-1.html – this may assist with key terms
https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/techno/201905/21/01-5227019-reseau-5g-huawei-espere-encore-convaincre-le-canada.php