Building Better Democracies

With the changing face of western democracies – particularly in the United States – and with elections on the home front, we look to the politically astute to help guide us in choosing worthy leaders. Conservative mainstay Preston Manning used his post-politics position to create a leadership ecosystem. After serving as Leader of the Reform Party from 1987 to 2000 and as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament from 1997 to 2000, he went on to create the Manning Centre for Building Democracy (now known as the Canada Strong and Free Network). When he joined us at ideacity in 2012, he decried the lack of training for our would-be leaders. To his point, it takes 30-hours of training to become a Starbucks Barista, but none at all to work in Canada’s House of Commons. He shared how he was working to change this phenomenon.