Aug 20 2019 — Dianne Saxe — The Conversation — There is a serious erosion of democracy underway in Canada. Elections Canada is preventing environmental charities from telling the truth about the climate crisis during this fall’s election, when it will be a critical issue. Elections Canada’s job is to run elections that are fair and trustworthy so that the government chosen by Canadians will […]
Aug 15 2019 — The Conversation — Have you ever read something online and shared it among your networks, only to find out it was false? As a software engineer and computational linguist who spends most of her work and even leisure hours in front of a computer screen, I am concerned about what I read online. In the age of social […]
Aug 14 2019 — The Conversation — The 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War is approaching. It’s important to understand how the conflict and the Holocaust could have happened — and how we can prevent such atrocities from happening again.
Jul 31 2019 — Natasha Tusikov — The Conversation — During Sidewalk Labs’ approximately two-year public consultations, privacy and control over data quickly emerged as flashpoints. A July 2019 survey by The Forum Poll found that while only 38 per cent of Torontonians were familiar with the smart-city project, 60 per cent of those people did not trust Sidewalk Labs to collect data on its […]
Jul 12 2019 — Wasem Alsabbagh — The Conversation — I was recently discharged from the hospital after a heart attack. I needed the blood thinner ticagrelor, in addition to several other essential medications. The first bill at my pharmacy was more than $300. I earn a good income as an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo but I would have found the cost […]
Jun 28 2019 — The Conversation — The China-Canada relationship has been deteriorating following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei chief financial officer. She faces possible extradition to the United States on charges of helping Iran evade American sanctions. Apart from detaining two Canadians in retaliation, the diplomatic rift has also had negative consequences for bilateral trade between Canada and China. […]
Jun 26 2019 — David Taylor — The Conversation — When Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer unveiled his long-awaited climate plan, he said he could eliminate the federal carbon tax and still meet Canada’s emissions targets by focusing on investments into green technology. Tech, not taxes, he said. Under the plan, major emitters would not pay a carbon tax and would, instead, have to invest in […]
Jun 19 2019 — The Conversation — The Canadian government has announced it’s going to restart the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. There are several Indigenous groups hoping to purchase an equity interest in Trans Mountain. Project Reconciliation, an Indigenous-led consortium of all Western Canadian First Nations who would like to participate, is proposing to purchase a majority share of the Trans […]
Jun 11 2019 — James L. Anderson — The Conversation — Canada-U.S. relations sit at a low point, eroding in recent years over everything from steel tariffs to Cuba and the Arctic. The current relationship between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump is more similar to the frosty Lyndon Johnson-Lester B. Pearson years than the storied bromance between Trudeau and Barack Obama.
Apr 23 2019 — The Conversation — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s threatened defamation suit against Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer over the SNC-Lavalin affair is just the latest in a rapidly growing list of Canadian political mud-slinging matches that have taken a litigious turn. Scheer had already employed some overheated rhetoric at earlier stages of the controversy, accusing Trudeau of exerting “frankly illegal […]
Apr 10 2019 — Nicole Goodman — The Conversation — The year’s federal budget included a slew of boutique policy promises suggesting the government is targeting specific groups of voters gearing up for the October election. Likewise, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has been capitalizing on the SNC-Lavalin drama and the release of the federal carbon tax. One recent analysis suggests that if Scheer wants to […]
Apr 10 2019 — Nicole Goodman — The Conversation — Canadians are still forced to travel to polling stations and line up to vote. Online voting would save time and money. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Nicole Goodman, Brock University The year’s federal budget included a slew of boutique policy promises suggesting the government is targeting specific groups of voters gearing up for the October election. […]
Apr 3 2019 — Kathryn Harrison — The Conversation — The federal carbon tax is now in effect in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. The tax increases the cost of fossil fuels in order to reduce consumption, thus lowering Canada’s carbon emissions. Many Canadians are confused about the carbon tax and how it will affect them. Here are some answers to common questions about […]
Mar 30 2019 — The Conversation — Climate change might be the most urgent issue of our day, both politically and in terms of life on Earth. There is mounting awareness that the global climate is a matter for public action. For 11,500 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations hovered around 280 ppm (the preindustrial “normal”), with an average surface temperature around […]
Mar 18 2019 — Sukanya Pillay — The Conversation — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government remains in hot water over SNC-Lavalin. Even anti-bribery officials from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are “concerned” and watching the situation. But the controversy has resulted in some misinterpretations of the legal mechanism at its heart: Deferred prosecution agreements, known as DPAs. Jody Wilson-Raybould is a career […]