In a 2024 policy brief for the Collectif québécois pour la prévention de l’itinérance (CQPI), Pearl Eliadis, alongside Melissa Shemirani and Angelina Freeman, highlights the urgent need for increased investment in second-stage shelters for women and children fleeing domestic and intimate partner violence. Building on a 2022 recommendation from CQPI’s Gender Research Stream, the team conducted a rapid literature review that found second-stage housing plays a vital role in bridging the gap between emergency shelters and permanent housing.


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.

MPP '25 Husein Pumaya Yakubu highlights the limitations of transparency in Ghana’s post-pandemic governance. While former president Nana Akufo-Addo’s transparent communication during COVID-19 initially unified citizens, Yakubu argues it masked deeper issues like economic mismanagement and rising debt. Drawing a parallel with Canada, Yakubu suggests that transparency, while crucial during crises, must be sustained through regular financial updates, stronger oversight, and grassroots participation.

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.

April 7th, 2025 | Taylor Owen and Helen A. Hayes wrote an opinion piece arguing that Canada’s failure to regulate its digital space is no longer just a tech policy issue—it’s a national security concern. With rising disinformation and direct interference from the U.S., Canadians now view the United States as a greater foreign threat than China or Russia. Although the Trudeau government introduced several digital policy bills, including those addressing online harms, AI regulation, and cybersecurity, most were abandoned after Parliament was prorogued.

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 3, 2025 | Professor Vincent Rigby and Norman Hillmer, wrote about the lack of strategic approach of Canada to world affairs and how it has been slow to react to rapidly changing threats.

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.

April 1, 2025 | Chris Ragan, explained that the end of carbon tax and how it will be affect Canadians in an news article at CBC. Ragan says the drop in prices could be more gradual, though he agrees it is coming. "One of the less charming attributes of capitalism is that prices tend to fall more slowly than they rise," Ragan said.

How disinformation, fake news and foreign interference threaten Canadian election | Montreal Gazette
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 31, 2025 | Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), explains about the state of the major platforms in Canada in 2025, how our information ecosystem is vulnerable to misinformation, and what we should be doing about it. A contributor to studies on information issues in multiple federal and provincial elections, he is one of Canada’s leading experts on misinformation, digital activism, and the politics of digital media.

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 11, 2025 | Director Jennifer Welsh spoke about Canada surviving under Trump administration on TVO Today. Canada's foreign policy has long been influenced by the USA. So an important question arises now, how does Canada navigate in this new political climate? And how independent can Canada really become from the USA?

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.

March 21, 2025 | Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), explains what worries him about the information voters are getting online this election and how to make sure one doesn't get duped on a podcast The House with Catherine Cullen. Since the last election social media landscape has changed a lot since the online news act came into affect.