CUSID crowned new National Champions at Dalhousie University this past week. Congratulations to Monica Ferris and Jon Laxer of the University of Toronto’s Hart House Debating Club, who defeated Paul-Erik Dash Veel and the National Best Speaker Richard Lizius, also from Hart House, in a debate on laws pertaining to Blackmail.

Congratulations also go to the new Novice Champions, Hart House’s George Trotter and Giorgio Traini, who defeated the University of Alberta’s Ian Burch and Byron Tse in a round on Telecom Immunity. Canada’s Top Public Speaker is McGill’s Vinay Kumar Mysore, who defeated Hart House’s Alexander Levy by explaining his absence from the American presidential campaign. The Top Novice Speaker was Giorgio from Hart House.

The new CUSID Executive includes Adam Coombs from Carleton University as President and Rudi M. Lof from York University as Treasurer. Joining them are the returning Executive Director, Alex Amar, from the University of Ottawa; Guelph’s Shaughnessy Hawkins as the new Vice-President for the Central region, Alberta’s Emily Cliff as the new Vice-President for the West, Matt Edmonds from St. Francis-Xavier as Vice-President for the East, and Carleton’s Yannick Veilleux-Lepage as the Director of French Language Debates.

Other business from the Annual General Meeting included the allocation of the 2007-2008 National Championships to the University of Saskatchewan and the ratification of Saint Mary’s University as CUSID’s newest member.

The Central Region General Meeting granted the 2007-2008 Central Canadian Novice Championships to Carleton University, and the L?ger Cup to Toronto’s Trinity College.

Many thanks and congratulations to Dalhousie University for an impeccable tournament.

The North American University Debating Championships were held this past January 25th-27th, at Carleton University, with a Banquet at the National Arts Centre and a Grand Final held in the Mayfair Theatre. Congratulations to the new North American Champions, Jason Rogers and Jon Laxer from the Hart House Debating Club at the University of Toronto, as well as the finalists, Mark Samburg and Kyle Bean from Harvard University.

Congratulations to the novice champions, Andi Wilson and George Trotter, also from Hart House, and the novice finalists Jeremy Larkins and Emmett Soldati from York University.

Josh Bone from Yale University was the Top Speaker and Vinay Kumar Mysore from McGill University was the Top Public Speaker. Princeton’s Zayn Siddique was Top Novice Speaker and 2nd Speaker.

CUSID was well-represented at home and abroad this holiday season: at the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate, the Queen’s University teams of Sarah Sahagian and Robert Embree, and Christine Wadsworth and Sheldon McCormick, both finished as quarter-finalists. Invitations to WUPID were only extended to the Top 30 Debating Institutions in the world.

At the World University Debating Championships, hosted this year by Bangkok’s Assumption University, the Hart House teams of Nick Shkordoff and Jeremy Opolsky, and Gordon Shotwell and Richard Lizius, finished as octo-finalists. Gordon was 13th speaker at the competition; Richard was 9th. The McGill team of Padraic Scanlan and Catherine Evans found themselves 33rd in the competition, joined in missing the break on speaker points by Leon Grek and Vinay Kumar Mysore, also from McGill; Christine Wadsworth and Sheldon McCormick from Queen’s University, Alan Cliff and Julia Lisztwan from the University of Alberta, and Amir Mohareb and Rudi M. Lof from York University. The University of Toronto’s Jason Rogers won the public speaking competition, with the University of Alberta’s Sharon Ohayon as 1st runner-up, and Hart House’s Monica Ferris placed third at Comedy Night. Finally, University of Toronto Alum Joanna Nairn served as a Deputy Chief Adjudicator and judged the Grand Final, won by Oxford.

Finally, CUSID alumni are faring well in the CBC’s Next Great Prime Minister challenge – Rahim Moloo (Queen’s, UBC) and Meg Wilcox (University of Ottawa) have advanced to the Top 10.

CUSID congratulates Adam Coombs and Garnett Genuis, of the Carleton University Debating Society, for their victory at the National British Parliamentary Debating Championships, defeating the hybrid team of Carleton’s Ian Freeman and the University of Toronto’s Nick Shkordoff, Michael Rose and Ben Ferguson from the University of Alaska, and Brent Kettles and Julia Lisztwan, from Calgary and Alberta respectively. The top speaker was Ian Freeman, also from Carleton University, and the tournament was hosted by the University of Alberta.

Attendees debated on the merits of making mandatory the HPV vaccine, the gathering of evidence from social networking sites, the existence of beauty pageants, the response of the West to China’s investment in Africa, the role faith-based arbitration, the US support of the Musharraf regime, and fertility assistance to the poor.

CUSID is pleased to ring in its new year and congratulate Giorgio Traini and George Trotter from the Hart House Debating Club at the University of Toronto for their hard-fought victory at the Central Canadian Novice Debating Championships, defeating Michael Stepner and David Rudin from Marianopolis College, Adam Hetherington and Megan Vanden Hof from Queen’s University, and Kalim Kassam and Doug Sarro, also from Hart House. The top speaker was Sean Stefanik, from McGill University, and the tournament was hosted by the Osgoode Debate Society at York University.

Attendees were treated to a show round on the topic of granting amnesty to illegal aliens, and debated on the merits of religious symbols in schools, Canada’s role in Afghanistan, the abolition of jury trials, the right of parents to genetically engineer their children, the advertisement of prescription drugs, the legitimacy of assassination as a tool of foreign policy, allowing prisoners to run for office, and the mechanics of child support payments.