“A transparent process that delivers the best candidate into the upper chamber of Canada's Parliament is something that is desperately needed,” wrote Bruce Hicks, Visiting Fellow at York University’s Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, in the Montreal Gazette May 13. “Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has promised, if he becomes prime minister, to create just such a process. Ironically, the sitting prime minister, Stephen Harper, has already designed such a process. He is just not using it for Senate appointments.” Read full story.
Why Rob Ford isn’t done yet
“I think Ford and Tory are going to cut into each other’s vote, and Chow’s going to win,” predicted York University political science Professor Denis Pilon in Maclean’s May 13 (he spoke to Maclean’s before Ford checked into rehab, but had predicted the mayor’s recent crash). “It was a coalition that propelled Ford to power and he is going to lose key parts of that coalition.” Read full story.
St. Catharines asks Ambrose to intervene in shutdown of cancer-drug maker
Despite concerns serious enough to halt operations at the plant, Health Canada did not recall any of the paclitaxel already on hospital shelves. “I found that, actually, pretty strange,” said York University Professor Joel Lexchin in The Globe and Mail May 14. “If they think that the plant should no longer be manufacturing it, then I don’t know why they wouldn’t recall the drugs that the plant had been making.” Read full story.
The story behind the sakura cherry blossoms of High Park
The tradition came to Toronto in 1959. That year, the Japanese ambassador gave us two thousand sakura trees – a gift from the people of Tokyo to the people of Toronto, reported Spacing May 13. . . . Since then, the Japanese government has continued to give them to us as gifts. They bloom all over the GTA and the Golden Horseshoe. You can find them at York University, at U of T, at McMaster, at Exhibition Place, in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Hamilton and Burlington, at Niagara Falls. Read full story.
Argonauts shake things up at CFL draft
The Argonauts begin training camp next month at York University, but the players could walk out if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached by then, reported the Toronto Star May 13. The current deal expires at the end of the month. Read full story.