On March 25th, 2026, onlookers gathered at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Downtown Kelowna to watch the annual Roger Watts Debate. The event aims at putting undergraduate debate talent on center stage while highlighting the most pressing issues facing the world today.
The Roger Watts Debate is an event held in the memory of Roger Watts, a personal injury lawyer from the Okanagan with a long and successful career where he was able to help many people. He previously guest lectured at UBCO, and supported many students who were aiming to become trial lawyers. The endowment fund supporting the Roger Watts Debate was set up to support other aspiring advocates for years to come.
This year’s panel of community judges consisted of individuals from a variety of industries in Kelowna, and they all volunteered their time to select a winning team. Wendy Thiessen is an experienced commercial litigator who works in contract, property, real estate, and construction disputes, and she has done a lot of work before the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Max Walker is a lawyer with a taxation practice, where he works with clients on income and sales tax matters, estate planning, and issues related to the British Columbia property transfer tax and sales tax. Sarah Murdoch is a librarian who has worked in school and medical libraries, and the topic of censorship is of great interest to her. Gavin Dew is the Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission, a business leader, and an entrepreneur with vast experience in the realm of public policy.
This year’s debate centered on the motion: “be it resolved that Canada create a national drone program for civilian and military use.” Following the parliamentary model of debate, the two teams consisted of government and opposition, which both had two members.
The government consisted of Prime Minister Kamran Ismayilov, a fourth year PPE Honours student and Vice President Events for the Pre-Law Society at UBCO. Member of Government Ava Rothmaier is a third year Political Science student from Kincardine, Ontario, the co-founder and co-President of the Political Science Student Association, and the Vice President International for UBCO’s Runnymede Society.
The opposition was composed of Leader of the Opposition Dhayven Khabra, a first year student with lots of previous debate experience considering a major in International Relations and planning on pursuing a legal career. Member of Opposition Nicole Menard is in her final year of a BA in Philosophy, and she currently co-runs the Philosophy Course Union at UBCO.
The debate was very lively, and many students I spoke with commented on how entertaining they felt the event was. Going into the debate, I expected moral questions about how soldiers' lives could be spared in drone warfare, but I was pleasantly surprised by the approach taken by both sides. A lot of focus turned to how drones could be useful within Canada in times of peace.
Rothamier gave a compelling case of how drones could be used to assist in search and rescue missions, delivering supplies to remote communities, and for wildfire detection. The opposition, especially Khabra, were concerned about the costs of implementing a national drone program and whether or not it would even be worth it.
In rebuttal, Ismayilov insisted that developing a domestic program and utilizing resources within Canada would not only be great for the job market, but would allow Canada to no longer be dependent on countries with strong military institutions. Menard continued a defense of the opposition’s position and continually asserted that this program is a quick fix to the many systemic issues Canada’s military faces presently.
All in all, despite both teams arguing with passion and precision, the Government was awarded as the winning team of the debate. After a poll from the audience, Rothmaier won the people’s choice award for her outstanding performance.
Rothmaier commented to me that she was “so happy we all got to come up front and debate together. The four of us have been practicing since September, which was a lot of fun. We are also very grateful to Professor Garner for leading those practice sessions.”
For those interested in watching the full debate, a recorded version will be available on UBCO’s Department of Economics, Philosophy, and Political Science website.
.png){kind=small}
