A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media this week

August 21, 2020 by A&S News

From discussing Chrystia Freeland’s recent appointment as Canada’s first female federal finance minister, to exploring the censorship of international apps, scholars from a range of disciplines across the Faculty of Arts & Science are sharing their expertise on a variety of issues in the media.

Here’s some of what A&S scholars had to say this week.

August 14, 2020

August 17, 2020

  • Dimitry Anastakis, a professor in the Department of History and the Rotman School of Management comments on the history of income inequality and the current wealth gap in Canada in the Toronto Star (paywall).
  • Christopher Parsons, a senior research associate in the Citizen Lab at the Munk School explains why a Huawei-built data centre in Papua New Guinea didn’t succeed in a Globe and Mail (paywall) article. Parsons says, “Some of the issues being raised are not particularly advanced problems to have identified and then remediated. The fact they weren’t is unfortunate and speaks poorly of the security culture that Huawei has.”
  • Scot Wortley, a professor at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies comments in a National Post (paywall) article about a drop in Canada’s inmate population during the early days of the pandemic. Wortley says, “To the extent that it was able to curb the spread of COVID within correctional institutions, I think [releasing some inmates] was probably a positive move.”

August 18, 2020

  • The Toronto Star (paywall) highlights a new report on the ”disproportionate” use of force on Black Torontonians led by the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies’s Scot Wortley. The report says, “The gross over-representation of Black people in police lower-level use of force incidents raises concerns of systemic racism or anti-Black racial bias.”
  • Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School comments on the U.S.’s censorship of Chinese apps in the New York Times (paywall). Deibert says, “A wholesale ban will undoubtedly trigger retaliation and may contribute to the type of fracturing of the internet that we have witnessed in recent years, and which authoritarian governments favor.”
  • Lynette Ong, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the Munk School weighs in on how Canada can assist victims of China’s crackdown in Hong Kong in the Toronto Star (paywall).
  • Political science professor Nelson Wiseman is quoted in a CBC News story on finance minister Bill Morneau’s resignation. Of Morneau’s exit, Wiseman says, "I don't think his departure was a product of policy differences, although the prime minister's office would like to make it so appear."

August 19, 2020

  • Dan Breznitz, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Munk School is quoted in a Globe and Mail (paywall) story about manufacturing personalized protective equipment in Canada. Breznitz says, “I highly urge our governments at both the federal and provincial level to seize this opportunity and make it happen.”
  • Professor Sylvia Bashevkin of Political Science and the Munk School comments on Chrystia Freeland’s new position as the first female federal finance minister in the Toronto Star (paywall). 
  • Nelson Wiseman of political science discusses Chrystia Freeland’s appointment in the Washington Post (paywall). Of Freeland, Wiseman says, “She’s risen quickly because she is smart and competent. She impressed Trudeau in the NAFTA negotiations. It is still too early to speculate about a successor to Trudeau, but there is little doubt that she is currently the favorite with Liberal voters and, probably, the Liberal backbench.”

August 20, 2020

  • Wilson Prichard, an associate professor at the Munk School and the Department of Political Science writes about the financial burden of COVID-19 and who should bear the costs of the pandemic in an op-ed for the Hill Times (paywall).

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