James Laxer
Birthday: Born in 1941-12-22 in Montreal, Québec, Canada
Deathday: 2018-02-23
James Robert Laxer, also known as Jim Laxer, was a Canadian political economist, historian, public intellectual, and political activist who served as a professor at York University. Best known as co-founder of the Waffle, on whose behalf he ran for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 1971, he was the author of more than two dozen books, mostly on Canadian political economy and history.
TV Credits
Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada
Character: Self - Presenter
James Laxer, chairman of the political science department at Atkinson College, is the host for a five-part series examining Canada's role in the changing world economy. Produced by the NFB, the series explores free trade, the rise of the Japanese economy and the challenges posed by new technology....
Movie Credits
Shift Change
Character: Host
This documentary looks at the microchip, an American invention exploited by the Japanese that caused a second industrial revolution. The devastating effect on millions of human lives is related through interviews with some of the newly jobless in Hamilton, Ontario. Using the example of Japan for contrast, host James Laxer demonstrates that the cost of technological advances need not be so high if their effects are foreseen and planned for. Part 2 of the series Reckoning: The Political Economy of...
In Bed with an Elephant
Character: Host
This feature documentary provides a gripping retrospective of United States-Canada relationships through a study of successive presidents and prime ministers. Using archival film footage, it demonstrates that Canadian prime ministers, from John A. Macdonald down, all began their tenures by making overtures to their American counterparts. Attitudes and outcomes have varied widely. The almost comic antipathy between Kennedy and Diefenbaker, for instance, is as palpable here as is the folksy camara...