On June 18, the government of Canada declared a national climate emergency. The next day, the same government approved the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX), which will be able to move almost 600,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to the Port of Burnaby in British Columbia. If this seems like a contradiction, you...
For the most part, politicians do put their money where their mouths are. A recent study of U.S senators and representatives finds that the more liberal a politician’s voting record is, the more likely the politician is to invest in socially responsible stocks. “Socially responsible investments refer to investments in companies that reflect traditionally liberal...
Thousands of police departments have adopted body-worn cameras over the last few years. Previous research on acceptance of the cameras has yielded mixed findings. A new study that examined how Tempe, Arizona, planned and carried out a body-worn camera program found that adhering to federal guidelines helped ensure integration and acceptance among police, citizens, and...
When the FBI filed a court order in 2016 commanding Apple to unlock the San Bernandino shooter’s iPhone, the news made headlines across the globe. Yet every day there are tens tens of thousands of of other court orders asking tech companies to turn over Americans’ private data. Many of these orders never see the...
This month Saudi Arabia will put an end to its ban on women driving, opening the way for millions of new drivers to navigate a country three times bigger than Texas. While the policy shift provides relief to women who lacked freedom of mobility, the long-term effects of ending the ban are far from clear...
A quarter of the seafood tested from Metro Vancouver grocery stores, restaurants and sushi bars is not what you think it is. A new UBC study used DNA barcoding to determine that 70 of 281 seafood samples collected in Metro Vancouver between September 2017 and February 2018 were mislabelled. Researchers from UBC’s Lu Food Safety...
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in the Senate are pushing through nominations for federal judges at an unusually fast pace ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. That’s when the GOP could lose its majority and end the easy path to confirmation for Trump’s nominees. As political scientists who study diversity and the federal...
The latest G-7 summit, held June 8 to 9 in Quebec, was one of the most contentious in years. That’s because Donald Trump and his counterparts from six other industrialized countries have been at loggerheads over the president’s aggressive but unstable trade policy. Trump’s renunciation of the Iran nuclear deal, his efforts to renegotiate NAFTA...
Once upon a time, there was a prominent, powerful man in government who cared deeply about integrity and following the rules. He said, “You cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgment, not till he’s shown his colors … Experience, there’s the test.” Leaders have a sacred obligation to those they...
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last week that the 2020 census will include a question about citizenship. Ross argued that such a question is required for a “complete and accurate” count of Americans. Others in the Department of Justice have argued that the knowledge produced would be useful in ensuring against voter fraud. Much recent...