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Is International Women’s Day a catalyst for change or just a symbolic gesture?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, Queen’s University, Ontario Listen to this articleInternational Women’s Day occurs yearly on March 8. The United Nations argues that international days are powerful tools for advocacy, awareness and action. On women’s rights and equality issues, action and awareness are badly needed, at home in Canada and around the world.But does International Women’s Day actually accomplish anything? Are these types of public recognition events helpful? What can governments do better on this front?One danger of international observances is they can become window dressing where the symbolic action of one single day covers for unsubstantive efforts on the other 364 days of the year.This year’s celebrations may seem exaggerated, or even performative, when juxtaposed against governments’ political records on gender issues. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court removed constitutional guarantees of reproductive freedom with the repeal of Roe v. Wade.In Canada, rates of domestic...

Analysis: Canada’s decision to ban TikTok from government devices is bad news for the NDP’s election strategy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

By: Aidan Moir, University of Toronto Listen to this articleNew Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, the most prolific Canadian politician on TikTok with almost 900,000 followers, has deactivated his profile in a move that will undermine his party’s attempts to engage with young voters through social media.On Feb. 27, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced TikTok would be banned on all federal-issued government devices due to security concerns over the Chinese-owned platform.Trudeau’s decision follows similar bans in the United States by governments at the federal and state level, and numerous universities last December.Singh has characterized his deactivation as “taking a pause” from the app, leaving open the possibility of reactivating his TikTok account in the future once the security concerns are addressed.But in the meantime, a government ban on TikTok poses significant challenges for politicians and political parties, like Singh and the NDP, that use the platform for digita...

Students push Ontario pension giant to ditch dirty investments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

By: Isaac Nay, Local Journalism Initiative ReporterWhen Aishwarya Puttur was a Grade 10 student in Oakville, Ont., she was shocked to learn her teachers’ pension fund had invested in the greenhouse gas emissions of air travel.“Teachers are teaching us for a better future and because they want us to be successful,” Puttur said. “But how can we be successful and how can we continue to live on a dying planet when their own pension plan is investing in something that will be affecting us on a global scale?”Puttur joined a number of other Ontario classmates to protest the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s (OTPP) ownership in the Bristol Airport in North Somerset — a region in England about a two-and-a-half-hour drive west of London.OTPP, the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada, is a majority shareholder in the airport. For more than four years, the airport has tried to build a larger terminal. Local authorities, environmental groups and Ontario high school students have oppos...

Compensation available for affected CarOne customers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

CarOne customers who have been impacted by the recent closure of the business’ two locations may be entitled to financial compensation. The company abruptly declared bankruptcy in late January closing its Belleville and Kingston stores, and now the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) says customers could be entitled to up to $45,000 for losses.The money comes from the Motor Vehicle Dealer’s Compensation Fund (MVDCF), a pool of a collection of one time $300 fees paid by dealers when they register with OMVIC. Maureen Harquail, CEO and Registrar with OMVIC, says that fortunately the fund is in a healthy state right now. She says the fund is available to protect consumers in the wake of a very significant purchase.“For most consumers buying a vehicle is either their first or their second largest purchase that they’ll make,” Harquail said.“It’s a big deal.”In order to be eligible to access the fund customers need to have suffered ...

Opinion: Companies oversell the self-driving capabilities of their cars, with horrific outcomes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

By: Francesco Biondi, University of Windsor In mid-February, Tesla announced the recall of over 350,000 vehicles — more than 20,000 in Canada — due to a problem with its “Full Self-Driving Capability” system. This self-driving feature was found to possibly cause vehicles to misbehave when entering intersections or exceed the speed limits, posing a risk for safety.This is just another instance of vehicles equipped with automated driving technology falling short of their safety expectations. In September 2022, a driver on the Queen Elizabeth Way near St. Catharines, Ont., was caught asleep at the wheel of a Tesla. The vehicle appeared to be operated by a semi-automated system with no monitoring from the driver, which is in direct violation of the requirements for these systems. https://www.youtube.com/embed/WRmGa6A25Lg?wmode=transparent&start=0 Inside Edition reports on two recent deadly crashes involving Teslas.Numerous incidents involving Teslas have been reported recently. Thes...

President of the European Commission to visit Kingston next week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

The President of the European Commission has announced a transatlantic trip to Canada and the US next week where she will be making several stops to discuss transatlantic relations, trade, strategic sectoral partnerships and cooperation in support of Ukraine. Just two of these stops will be in Canada, with one taking place in Kingston and the other taking place in Ottawa, Ontario. The upcoming visit was discussed in detail in an itinerary posted on the Prime Ministers Official website on Thursday. During the visit, Prime Minister Trudeau and President von der Leyen will build on “close, enduring transatlantic relations between Canada and the European Union (EU)” and will drive progress on shared priorities, including continuing to work together on advancing clean energy and clean technologies, creating good middle-class jobs, and driving economic growth, most notably through the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Canada-EU Strategic Partn...

Kingston Transit will begin offering it’s reduced rate Affordable Bus Pass in April

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

The City of Kingston has announced that beginning in April, community members who are supported by the City of Kingston’s Municipal Fee Assistance Program (MFAP), will pay 50 per cent less when purchasing their Kingston Transit Affordable monthly transit passes. “High inflation and the rising cost of living have made it harder for households to make ends meet,” says Mayor Bryan Paterson. “Reducing the cost of public transit is one way the City is directly supporting those who need help the most.”  The April 2023 monthly passes will see adults pay $20 per month and youth/seniors will pay $14.88 per month. The 50 per cent reduction to the affordable transit pass program will also apply to registered clients of Kingston Access Bus (KAB). The announcement comes following a Kingston City Council decision to reduce fees for the program by as low as 50%. While there were options presented to council to lower the regular bus fare, city staff determined that this would co...

Queen’s University set to open satellite campus in northern Ontario

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Last Updated on March 6, 2023 by YGK News StaffThe Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), Queen’s University, and the Mastercard Foundation have formed a partnership that they say aims to transform healthcare in Northeastern Ontario.The Queen’s Weeneebayko Health Education Program was officially announced on Tuesday, offering healthcare training to communities on the western shore of James Bay, with a specific focus on providing opportunities for Indigenous youth and promoting culturally-safe healthcare. The vision of this partnership is to establish a training site in Moosonee that will serve coastal community sites like Moose Factory and Attawapiskat. Moosonee is a community only accessible by plane or winter ice road, it has the smallest population of the five western shoreline communities and is over 300 kilometres north of Timmins, Ontario. While WAHA is currently based in Moose Factory, a new hospital will be built in Moosonee which will effectively make that the Health Aut...

Analysis: Why universities need to look beyond grades when admitting international students

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Last Updated on March 3, 2023 by YGK News StaffBy: David Baidoo-Anu, Queen’s University, Ontario; Christopher DeLuca, Queen’s University, Ontario, and Liying Cheng, Queen’s University, Ontario International students play an instrumental role in the development of Canada’s current and future economy.One recent indication of the importance of international students for Canada’s labour force and knowledge economy was an announcement by Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Fraser announced lifting the cap on off-campus work hours for international students due to labour shortages.Despite the significant contributions made by international students, the total number of international students enrolled in Canada’s post-secondary education institutions only represents less than about one-fifth of total post-secondary student enrolment. This situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.But inequitable admission processes for international st...

Kingston music community hopeful but skeptical as music strategy process begins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

The City of Kingston hosted an open house for the music industry on February 16, providing an opportunity for musicians and other members of the Kingston music scene to learn about the city’s music strategy which is currently taking shape, and to voice their opinion on the needs of Kingston as a music city. While the city taking a step to support growth in the industry is warmly welcomed by those within it, some question whether the one being taken -spending $83,400 on a consulting fee to help come up with an overarching music strategy- is the correct place to start.Jonas Anthony, a longtime member of Kingston’s music scene as the lead singer of The Wilderness among other roles in the industry, said he’s happy to see the city stepping up to support an industry in dire need, but he’s skeptical about paying for outside ideas as essentially a first step. “When informing and writing the policy that will eventually effect and impact musicians in Kingsto...