A class of pesticides that harms honeybees and other pollinators may be on the way out in parts of Canada, reported Takepart.com Nov. 25. Ontario could become the first province or state in North America to regulate the use of neonicotinoid-coated seeds…. “Anything that limits the unintelligent use of pesticide is a good move,” said Amro Zayed, a biologist at York University in Toronto who studies honeybees. “Food is important, but there is no good reason to use these pesticides all the time on our big cash crops when there might not be a need for them. They are costly to bees.” Read full story.
WestJet faces bumpy ride as flight attendants vote to reject deal
York University business Professor Fred Lazar noted that with 57 per cent of flight attendants voting against the agreement, it’s not impossible for the company to win over employees. “You don’t have to offer much more to get a majority supporting it,” he said in the Toronto Star Nov. 25. “If it were 75 per cent plus, that indicates there’s a problem.” Lazar added that while WestJet, which has been enjoying strong profits, touts its profit-sharing program with employees, he suspects payouts are not that large on an individual basis. That may result is some employee discontent. Read full story.
Digital revolution the next big employment opportunity for MBAs
The digitization of the media industries is one such business area in need of managers, reported BusinessBecause.com Nov. 26. Executives say there is a skills shortage on the horizon, and business schools have established specialist media management MBA programs. “There may be a major opportunity in big broadcast media.… An MBA with knowledge of the industry will indeed be a valuable asset,” says Rob Bolton, a lecturer on the arts and media administration at York University’s Schulich School of Business. Read full story.
Child poverty effort falls short
The problem of poverty, and specifically child poverty – and the fact the numbers are growing – should sound an alarm for governments and community leaders that this is an issue that needs to be faced, since it has larger implications on Canadian society as a whole, reported the Lethbridge Herald Nov. 26. Dennis Raphael of York University noted, “... Thousands of accumulated studies have come to the same basic conclusion: The incidence of poverty is a severe – if not the most severe – threat to the health and quality of life of individuals, communities and societies in wealthy industrialized societies such as Canada.” Read full story.
Poet Jennifer LoveGrove’s first novel gets longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize
Poetry writer Jennifer LoveGrove, who came to Toronto to study creative writing at York University, has made the leap to novel writing, a transition she says was “weird.” LoveGrove’s first novel, Watch How We Walk, is longlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize, recognition that has given the book a second life and provided its author “a confidence boost,” reported the Bloor West Villager Nov. 25. Read full story.
Is an MBA worth it? What business school can do for your salary in 2014
Desautels, Ivey, Rotman, Sauder and Schulich all cracked the top 100 on the Financial Times’ business school rankings in 2014. While FT’s list is the global standard by which programs are measured, determining the “best” business school is ultimately complicated and subjective, dependent on a plethora of metrics each individual can and should weigh differently, reported the Financial Post Nov. 26. Read full story.