By Ms. T. Lee, Debate Coach

The Oxford Union Society's annual schools' competition is the largest British Parliamentary schools level competition in the world. Over a thousand schools in the UK, Ireland and Canada are invited to participate every year in qualifying regional tournaments; last year’s finals day had 550 teams competing to attain one of the 88 spots available for Finals day. Canada is eligible to send the top two teams (from different provinces) from North America’s Oxford Cup tournament. This year’s Oxford Cup was hosted by Gray Academy in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The top provincial teams from nine provinces competed in an intense two-day tournament that tested students’ knowledge of international issues and global affairs.

West Point Grey Academy debaters Iqbal Kassam, Jonathan Carson, Ashley Bowron and Sophie Bird stepped up to the challenge of debating diverse topics such as North Korea’s nuclear power, tougher immigration policies, Somalian piracy and foreign aid policies. All rounds were impromptu so teams had 30 minutes to prepare their cases before each round of debate. After the six preliminary rounds, we were thrilled to hear the announcement that both WPGA teams had advanced to the semi-finals. Facing top teams from Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, our two teams handily advanced from their semi-final rounds to compete in the final round held at the Shaarey Zedek synagogue.

Congratulations to Sophie Bird & Ashley Bowron who took the 2nd and to Oxford Cup champions, Jonathan Carson and Iqbal Kassam who will represent Canada in the 2010 Oxford Finals. Kassam & Carson will be the third West Point Grey senior team to debate at the Oxford Finals.