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17% of attendees changed their opinions during the debate

46% of Torontonians believe the world is a safer place with a Rep. in the White House



Toronto (May 27, 2008) – Forty-six percent of the 700 plus attendees at last night’s sold-out Munk Debate agreed with the resolution: “The world is a safer place with a Republican in the White House.” Fifty-four percent opposed the resolution.

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Before the debates began, 29 percent of the audience agreed with the resolution, while 71 percent felt a democrat was the better choice. Convincing arguments from those supporting the resolution caused 17 percent of the audience to cast a different vote at the conclusion of the debate. “The Munk Debates were designed to encourage public discussion on pressing issues of our time,” said Rudyard Griffiths, Co-Director of the Munk Debates with Patrick Luciani. “There is no question there is unprecedented interest in the U.S. primaries and the results of last evening’s polls indicate that Canadians are open to new ideas from some of the world’s leading political thinkers.” Arguing against the resolution was Samantha Power, a leading human rights scholar, Pulitzer Prize award-winning author and former Barack Obama advisor, and Hillary Clinton foreign policy advisor Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, one of the world’s premier negotiators. He is best known as the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Speaking for the resolution was Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, a psychiatrist-turned-award-winning-pundit whose writing has influenced U.S. foreign policy for a quarter century, and renowned British historian and prolific writer Niall Ferguson, a John McCain supporter who was singled out by Time Magazine as one of the world’s “one-hundred most influential people.” The Munk Debates is a signature initiative of the Aurea Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 2006 by Peter and Melanie Munk to support Canadian institutions involved in the study and development of public policy. Approximately $14,000 was raised at last evening’s event for Indigo’s Love of Reading Foundation. Rudyard Griffiths, and Patrick Luciani are Co-Directors of the Munk Debates. The next Munk Debates will take place in the fall of 2008 in Toronto. For more information on the Munk Debates visit [url=http://www.munkdebates.com/media]http://www.munkdebates.com/media[/url]


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