Can the Centre Hold? A Lecture by Justice Malcolm Rowe

In this episode of Runnymede Radio, we share a live recording from a student chapter event hosted by the Runnymede Society’s Osgoode Hall Chapter, featuring Malcolm Rowe of the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Rowe’s lecture, titled “Can the Centre Hold?”, draws on W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming to reflect on the pressures of an increasingly polarized society and the importance of moderation in public life. Blending political and legal philosophy, the lecture explores how these traditions intersect to shape a balanced constitutional order, and what it takes to maintain that balance in unsettled times. Recorded live at Osgoode Hall, this episode offers a thoughtful and measured reflection on polarization, moderation, and the ideas that hold a constitutional democracy together.