After taking a week off, Open Sources Guelph is now forced to talk about Justin Trudeau again. The new Prime Minister is “Designate” no more, and he revealed his first cabinet to an excited throng of over 3,500 people at Rideau Hall yesterday. Meanwhile, the countries going to hell in a hand cart. (Thank Justin.) Ontario’s got more than 99 problems and now has two new ones. Meanwhile, buying a house in certain parts of the country is getting more and more expensive, and money maybe having too much influence at one of Canada’s universities.
This Thursday, November 5, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
1) Meet the News Bosses… As if the weather itself were choreographed for the occasion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his new cabinet on a sunny walk up the driveway of Rideau Hall. An interesting mix of veteran MPs and accomplished rookies, as well as equal representation of regions and gender parity, this group has a lot of hard work ahead, but are they up to the task? We will parse the list.
2) Ontario Problems. As Federal Liberals celebrate, Ontario Liberals are boxed in by scandal once again. On one front, there’s the growing concern about the plan to privatize part of Hydro One and warnings that it will hurt rather than help the bottom line. On the other, there’s the labour dispute with teachers, a protracted showdown not helped by the bizarre new negotiating structure and accusations that the Government of Ontario was covering the negotiating costs of the teachers’ unions. Is there any win here for Kathleen Wynne?
3) Too Hot to Handle? Concerns about the overheated housing market in Canada’s biggest cities got louder this week, when an informal survey of recent home buyers in Vancouver seemed to indicate that most of them were coming from mainland China. Fueled by rock bottom interest rates, home ownership remains attractive, but more and more people seem to be being priced out of the market. Meanwhile speculation that Canada is on the cusp of its own housing crash continues to grow. What, if anything, can be done?
4) A Slick Deal at U of C? Corporate donations to universities came under the microscope this week when professors at the University of Calgary raised concerns about a $2.2 million donation from Enbridge to the Haskayne School of Business in 2012. The issue is shining a light, not just on the cozy relationship between public institutions in Alberta and oil industry, but also on increasing corporate funding to Canada’s universities, a worrying trend as these institutes look for more needed funding. Is academic freedom in Canada under threat?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
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