York experts weigh in on global and local issues: from the Venezuelan election to the TTC's battle with birds
Weekly roundup highlighting York University faculty offering their academic expertise in the news
Since the contested election on July 28, Venezuelans have taken to the streets demanding that President Nicolás Maduro acknowledge he lost to an opposition that is claiming a landslide victory. Following a protest in Montreal last weekend, Professor Simone Bohn comments on the situation to CBC, saying the country could face more unrest and violence in the near future if Maduro remains in power. “Maduro doesn’t represent change, he represents continuity,” says Bohn, noting that the results he announced are not “evidence-based.” In another article examining the international reaction to the election, Professor Antulio Rosales weighs in on the geopolitics with China and Russia endorsing the incumbent Maduro while the U.S. supports the opposition. “China prefers a stable Venezuela, and what they identify as [a] credible source of stability at the moment is Nicolas Maduro,” explains Rosales to Voice of America.
[Pierre Poilievre] can't not talk to lobbyists, he can't not talk to industry groups. He has to — that's his job as a potential prime minister, to understand how to make the economy go in the right direction, how to create jobs, how to get industry to want to come to Canada.
Professor Ian Stedman
Professor Ian Stedman comments on The Narwhal’s findings that federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre and his staff were communicating with lobbyists, including those in oil and gas, while Poilievre was publicly denouncing interest groups. Stedman says Poilievre’s anti-lobby remarks go against what the job requires. “He can’t not talk to lobbyists, he can’t not talk to industry groups,” says Stedman. “That’s his job as a potential prime minister, to understand how to make the economy go in the right direction, how to create jobs, how to get industry to want to come to Canada.”
Professor Sheila Colla comments on the decline of pollinators in National Parks Traveler. Reasons for the decline range from increasing land use, agricultural controls, a changing climate, disease, and the influx of non-native species. In the case of the rusty patched bumble bee, a focus of Colla’s research, she believes that diseases introduced by honeybees are to blame, with hives trucked back and forth across the country: “Honeybees are brought to California to pollinate almonds, then [head] northeast for apples. Bees are being moved all over, they’re stressed out, and it’s not natural.”
Professor Eric B. Kennedy shares his perspective on the termination of the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program with CityNews, emphasizing its crucial role in understanding virus prevalence.
“Disaster movies remain an important popular culture phenomenon,” writes Professor Jack Rozdilsky about the movie Twisters. In his op-ed for The Conversation Canada, he explores what this genre of film can teach audiences, and what it often gets wrong: “Disaster studies scholars have considered disaster movies from many perspectives including their value for teaching people about disaster management and how these films shape the meaning and experience of disasters.”
Professor Gail Fraser weighs in on the noise cannons and netting successfully keeping seagulls from nesting on a TTC facility that houses streetcars. Due to health and safety concerns caused by a large amount of bird droppings, the Toronto Transit Commission installed the deterrence devices in March at Leslie Barns, near Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard E. “It wasn’t surprising to me that when a football-sized green roof showed up next to the Leslie Street spit that the gulls would start using it,” Professor Fraser tells CBC. She says it’s unlikely the birds will return to nest on the roof next spring because they’ll remember the failed previous attempts with the deterrence measures in place.
Elliott Rae, who coaches fencers at York, comments on the impact of Eleanor Harvey’s bronze medal finish in Toronto Star. It will go into the record books as Canada’s first Olympic medal in fencing, bringing national attention to the sport.
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