Laxer, James, 1941-

James Laxer is a political economist, educator, author, and commentator. He was born in 1941 and educated at the University of Toronto where he completed an Honours B.A., and at Queen's University where he earned an M.A. and pursued doctoral studies in history, completing all requirements except his thesis. In 1969, Laxer was one of the founders of Canada's largest New Left political movement known as the Waffle. In 1971, he ran second for the national leadership of the New Democratic Party. During the mid-1970s, Laxer was a leading crusader against the multi-national petroleum companies and his activism helped lead to the creation of the nationally owned oil company, Petro Canada. Between 1978 and 1981, he hosted a Canadian public affairs television program. Laxer then served as research director of the federal New Democratic Party. At the end of his two year term, he wrote a controversial critique of the party's economic policies. In 1984, the National Film Board of Canada hired Laxer to be host for the award winning programme 'Reckoning', a series of documentaries concerning Canada's place in the changing global economy.

Since 1986, Laxer has been a Professor of Political Science at York University, where he lectures on the post-war global economic and political order, as well as the Canadian political economy. In addition to teaching, Laxer has written extensively about global and Canadian politics, and has published over ten books including "The border : Canada, the US and adventures along the 49th parallel," "Stalking the elephant : my discovery of America," "Red diaper baby : a boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism," and "Tecumseh and Brock : the war of 1812" among others.