In a CBC interview, Pearl Eliadis criticized Quebec’s Bill 94, arguing that the government is fully aware the legislation violates the Canadian Constitution. She pointed to the use of the notwithstanding clause as proof, saying it allows the government to override fundamental rights because it knows the bill wouldn’t hold up in court. Eliadis described the law as a political tactic by the Coalition Avenir Québec to win support by outdoing the Parti Québécois on issues of identity and language.

April 9th, 2025 | Aengus Bridgman from the Media Ecosystem Observatory was interviewed by CBC’s Farah Nasser, where he highlighted the dangers of unregulated social media during elections. With a vast, active audience and minimal oversight, social media platforms have become prime spaces for information manipulation. Bridgman discusses how misinformation spreads on these platforms and shares key insights on what to look out for in social media feeds as the election approaches.

March 31, 2025 | MPP '25 Nickson Mugabi’s wrote that while Uganda has made efforts to improve fiscal transparency, weak institutions and lack of accountability continue to undermine public trust. Drawing on Niall Ferguson’s warning that transparency without reform can deepen cynicism, Mugabi points to Uganda’s low budget transparency score and high-profile corruption scandals as evidence.

April 1, 2025 | Professor Taylor Owen spoke on the new social media regulations as the elections approaches closer. If social-media companies wanted to help improve election integrity, they could share what’s happening on their platforms with researchers, said Owen. X used to give researchers access to its application programming interface (API), or data, but now its most in-depth access level costs about $40,000 a month, mentioned Owen, which effectively shuts out Canadian researchers.

March 31, 2025 | Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), spoke with The Gazette about the threats of fake news, deepfakes and foreign interference infiltrating your social media feed have never been higher. He cites an evolving geopolitical landscape, a reduction of safeguards by the main social media platforms and the advent of generative AI as game changers in the lead-up to election day on April 28.

March 30, 2025 | Professor Jennifer Robson is the 2024-25 McConnell Visiting Scholar. For the last 20 years, there has been no limit to how much you can invest outside of Canada in tax-preferred savings accounts like TFSAs and RRSPs. In a largely stable, rules-based, and tightly-integrated global market, that probably made sense for an open economy like ours (Canada). 

March 24, 2025 | With trust in journalism eroding, disinformation once fringe is now mainstream. Much of it is spreading on social media. Professor Taylor Owen says the online media environment in Canada is more fragile and vulnerable to manipulation than ever before. A dangerous situation at the best of times even more so during an election.