Podcast for Inquiry S02E18: SciComm in the time of Covid, with Tara Moriarty

Dr. Tara Moriarty (@MoriartyLab) was happy being a research scientist, studying how Lyme disease bacteria travel to different parts of our body using the bloodstream. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and she saw a vast need for disseminating accurate information to the public. So she founded COVID-19 Resources Canada and learned on the fly to become a science communicator. Dr. Moriarty describes the reaction from the scientific community and the public, and shares some surprising statistics about the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

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Podcast for Inquiry S01E05: The State of Democracy in the World with Mariam Mufti

I speak with Dr. Mariam Mufti, an Associate Professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, in the fifth episode of Podcast for Inquiry. We discuss the various waves of democracy in the past century, and the backlash to them. We talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and how most democratic countries have united against it (at least so far). We also look at what has led to the recent decrease in trust in public institutions, and why democratic voters support authoritarian leaders like Bolsonaro, Modi, Erdogan, and Duterte. Mariam provides suggestions on what citizens and countries can do to protect democracy, and discusses whether there is an inherent contradiction between Islam and democracy. Miriam does her best to convince me that, despite recent setbacks, democracy is not a lost cause around the globe.

Listen to our conversation here:

The episode is also available on YouTube (due to a technical glitch, video is not available):

Toronto Star columnist makes bold claims with no evidence

Frank Stronach is the retired founder of Manga International, and recently became a Toronto Star columnist. His second article for the paper, entitled Canada is over-governed, overtaxed and overregulated, calls for an eventual reduction in taxes by first "reducing the cost of government." 

Though Stronach wants to "institute a program of targeted cuts in government spending", he provides no insight into what the targets should be. Reading his broad claims with no specifics prompted me to write the letter below to the editor of the Toronto Star; they decided not to publish it. 

Re: Canada is over-governed, overtaxed and overregulated, Feb. 1

Frank Stronach makes a bold assertion in his February 1 essay in the Star: "The reduction in government spending could be done without jeopardizing safety, the environment, education or health, by reducing government spending by five to 10 per cent per year over a period of five years."

Given his entire argument hinges on this proposition, I had expected some argument, some example, or some direction to show how tens of billions of dollars can be cut without anyone feeling any pain.

Stronach provides none, and with no such corroboration his entire essay becomes a flight of fancy with no more connection to reality than Harry Potter.