The Canada-China investment treaty (a.k.a. the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement) is a questionable deal for Canada, wrote Gus Van Harten, a professor at 91ŃÇɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in Oct. 23. Most important, it has key implications for the constitutional role of the provinces, first nations and superior courts.
Lincoln Alexander, the son of a hotel maid and railway porter who became Canada's first black member of Parliament and first black cabinet minister, died on Friday in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 90, reported Oct. 23. After working as a machinist and being a wireless operator for the Royal Canadian Air Force, he studied history and economics at McMaster University in Hamilton, graduating in 1949. He earned a law degree in 1953 from Osgoode Hall Law School of 91ŃÇÉ«. He was a partner in one of Canada's first interracial law firms before winning election to Parliament.
It may be true, as Montreal executive committee chairman Michael Applebaum said recently, that in a city with 29,000 employees there are bound to be a few who are corrupt and dishonest, reported Oct. 23. Or as 91ŃÇÉ« law professor and organized-crime expert Margaret Beare put it, “Whenever you’ve got an opportunity to make a lot of money, people are going to be corrupt.”Â
The trouble is, writes Margaret Wente in Oct. 23, we have unwittingly bred the most successful, most competitive raccoons in the history of the species. 91ŃÇɫ’s Suzanne MacDonald, an expert in animal behaviour, calls them ĂĽber-raccoons. “Urban raccoons have had many generations of dealing with opening garbage cans, prying open windows, eavestroughs, pet doors, garages and the like,” she told me. Thanks to these evolutionary pressures, they’re getting smarter faster than we are.
Better get your bowties and wind machines ready. Psy, the Korean pop star behind huge hit Gangnam Style, is making his debut in Toronto on Oct. 30 at a concert to celebrate the release of Samsung's Galaxy Note 2, reported Oct. 22. We also hope that 91ŃÇÉ«'s infamous Gangnam Style dancer David Kim makes an appearance. Ten years ago, Martha Jack’s profession didn’t exist.
Catering to the demands of the marketplace can have a profoundly negative effect on Canada’s postsecondary education, according to Paul Axelrod, professor in the Faculty of Education at 91ŃÇÉ«, reported Oct. 22. Axelrod’s book, Values in Conflict: the University, the Marketplace, and the Trials of Liberal Education, stresses that the constant focus on being technologically advanced and producing “knowledge workers” has put liberal arts education at risk – and these degrees have great value.
Canada’s biggest schools, such as the University of Toronto, 91ŃÇÉ« or the University of British Columbia, appear to have better opportunities to connect with employers – they can simply reach more students from more programs on one campus, reported Oct. 22.