A Rare Moment of Cross-Partisan Consensus: Elite and Public Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada | Canadian Journal of Political Science
April 16, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic has placed nearly unprecedented pressure on policymakers and citizens alike. Effectively containing the pandemic requires a societal consensus. However, a long line of research in political science has told us that polarization tends to occur on highly salient topics because partisans “follow the leader.” Elite consensus is thus essential to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
The Causes and Consequences of COVID-19 Misperceptions: Understanding the Role of News and Social Media | OSF Preprints
May 4, 2020 | This research investigates the relationship between media consumption, misinformation, and important attitudes and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Professor Taylor Owen, co-author of this article, finds that comparatively more misinformation circulates on social media platforms, while traditional news media tend to reinforce public health recommendations like social distancing.
Anti-intellectualism and Information Preferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic | OSF Preprints
May 14, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates widespread voluntary and sustained public compliance with expert-guided public health directives, like social or physical distancing. Understanding which citizens seek out and engage with expert messages regarding COVID-19 is thus of central importance. Anti-intellectualism - the generalized distrust of experts and intellectuals – is likely to be a dominant factor.
Prospective Economic Costs Undermine Expectations of Social Distancing | OSF Preprints
May 20, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an extraordinary burden on governments and citizens alike. In order to contain the spread of the pandemic and limit its effect on health care systems, citizens have been asked to forego social and economic activity to protect others at a tremendous cost to themselves.
Forget about schools – open the summer camps in spring | The Globe and Mail
May 6, 2020 | Camps are the solution to many of the problems the school reopening is designed to solve, while significantly mitigating the risks of exposure and transmission. Going to camp gets children out of the house and lets their parents return to work.” Andrew Potter, Associate Professor at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, explains how mass childcare and summer camps are a precursor to restarting the economy in the face of COVID-19.
The coronavirus is costing us more than just our health and economy | The Conversation
May 6, 2020 | “Civil liberties are not designed only for times of peace and stability. They assume special, even critical, importance during public emergencies.” In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and emergent lockdown policies, Pearl Eliadis discusses the importance of upholding civil liberties.
Do not allow Saudi Arabia’s flogging ban to distract from the repression that still exists | The Globe and Mail
April 30, 2020 | In this op-ed, Irwin Cotler argues that while the recent reforms in Saudi Arabia should be welcomed, the international community, Canada included, cannot give Saudi Arabia a pass.
Give me liberty, and give me death? The enduring legacy of America’s penchant for freedom | The Globe and Mail
April 23, 2020 | For centuries Americans have battled others, and each other, in the name of freedom, sometimes weaponizing the word, sometimes twisting the notion out of recognition. David Shribman comments on the shifting definition of American liberty, and what it means in the context of the current protests against COVID-19 lockdown measures.
A Post-COVID-19 Digital Bretton Woods | Project Syndicate
April 17, 2020 | The digital age has completely disrupted global governance. Now that COVID-19 has disrupted nearly everything else, it is time to start planning for what comes next, say Max Bell School professor Taylor Owen and Rohinton P. Medhora.
Opinion: The dangers of governing Quebec by decree | Montreal Gazette
April 22, 2020 | History has shown that human rights do not co-exist easily with states of emergency. With Quebec’s declaration of a state of emergency, Pearl Eliadis expresses the need to consider how these extraordinary measures will impact the most vulnerable among us.
Chris Ragan on Climate Change and Carbon Pricing | Culture at Crossroads
April 16, 2020 | With climate change being one of the most contentious issues in the 2019 federal election, it has become evident that Canadians are concerned with reducing the national carbon footprint. Despite this, policy responses to this issue have not been united. In this podcast, Max Bell School Director Chris Ragan elaborates on the nuances of environmental policy, and how it serves both the economy and the climate.
It's not a crime to disagree with health officials | National Post
April 15, 2020 | In public health discourse, there is a lack of contrarianism, dubbed heterodoxy, that is almost completely missing from the national conservation. Andrew Potter elaborates on the need to question the official response to the pandemic, and the narrowness of the options that we are being given for getting back to normalcy.
COVID-19 is helping to unite Canadians like nothing has in years — and we'll need unity for what's to come | CBC News
April 9, 2020 | Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic stands in marked contrast to that of the United States, and the crisis seems to be helping to unite Canadians like no other event in years. Read what Peter Loewen, Taylor Owen and Derek Ruths had to say.
We are at war with COVID-19. We need to fight it like a war | The Globe and Mail
April 8, 2020 | From restrictions on civil liberties, to the command economy, to the rationing of key supplies, to the hoarding of food and medicine, to the daily body counts — the world is gearing up to fight the war against COVID-19. Andrew Potter discusses the framing of this idea, and the potential for readjusting our resources and mindsets.
As Ottawa moves to cushion the economic blow of COVID-19, what shape will the stimulus package take? | The Globe and Mail
March 16, 2020 | In an attempt to alleviate the blow that COVID-19 has taken to the Canadian economy, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has plans to release a fiscal stimulus package. Kevin Page, Canada’s First Parliamentary Budget Officer, discusses how this stimulus package will come into fruition.
