The Conversation – Canada – Page 34

November 3, 2025

Mark Carney’s apology to Donald Trump: Far from ‘elbows up,’ it seems Canada has no elbows at all

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Stewart Prest, Lecturer, Political Science, University of British Columbia

Canadians have learned in recent days that Prime Minister Mark Carney did indeed apologize for an Ontario advertisement that used Ronald Reagan’s own words to correctly portray the late United States president’s views on the importance of free trade.

The subtext to such an apology is clear: “Sorry Ontario accurately described Ronald Reagan’s stand on free trade, Mr. President. We understand those words hurt your feelings and challenged your version of the truth, which of course is unacceptable. We promise we won’t let the facts get in the way of our relationship again.”

Last spring’s election was all about building insulation to Trump, using phrases like “Elbows up” and “Canada Strong.” But the attitude of both the federal government and the Official Opposition, then and now, has often been conciliatory to the point of obsequiousness.

Far from elbows up, Canada too often seems to have no elbows at all.

Implications of the apology

Carney apologized for something he didn’t do — and something that was completely defensible, at least in a normal period of Canada-U.S. relations.

Critics of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and defenders of Carney — often the same people — will say the ad should not have happened in the first place.

They would point out, not incorrectly, that though the ad accurately recounted Reagan’s words, those words aren’t relevant to Republican views anymore and that the ad unnecessarily poked the bear. This may be true, but it doesn’t justify the apology.

In normal times, there would be nothing wrong with the ad airing in the U.S. Traditionally, Americans have valued and encouraged free speech and reasoned argument, and respected the views of allies and partners. Canadian governments, accordingly, may resort to public advocacy south of the border to get the attention of decision-makers in the complex U.S. policymaking apparatus.

When institutions are working as they should in the U.S., power is disaggregated between federal and state levels and between executive and legislative branches, making advocacy a complex, multifaceted affair.

But we are not in that world anymore. The U.S. must be handled as a regime, not a democracy. As The New York Times editorial board accurately described things recently, democracy in the U.S. is under sustained threat due to the actions of Trump and his supporters. There are still democratic elements within the country, but the U.S. no longer responds to normal diplomacy.

The ad was therefore an unnecessary risk. The apology, however, was an unnecessary own-goal. An apology is due when someone has done something wrong, but that is not the case here. The ad might have been ill-advised, but it was not wrong.

Dealing with a bully

When dealing with a bully, don’t say or do anything you’re not willing to stand beside, even if it provokes a presidential fit of pique. Every climb-down is a defeat and an admission of weakness. Better to say nothing than to say something you have to take back. And if offence is taken, an apology will only make things worse in the long run.

It has been obvious for a long time that the only thing Trump respects is power, and the only thing he may be persuaded by is a transactional, personal payoff. While an apology might seem to provide a personal payoff him, what it really does is communicate a lack of power. That in turn invites further demands.

Bullies don’t stop bullying when you make it clear you’ll do what they ask. They stop when it’s clear that you won’t. As long as outrage is rewarded, Canada can expect more of the same.

The truth doesn’t matter

What’s more, Carney’s apology makes clear that truth won’t be an obstacle to Canadian compliance, not unlike when the country took the imagined fentanyl border crisis seriously. In both cases, Canada’s response communicated that its actions will be tailored to suit Trump’s version of reality, not facts on the ground.

Such deference is not only a betrayal of Canadian dignity, sovereignty and interests, it’s also not going to work. There is now ample evidence backing this up.

Retract the ads, and the tariffs go up anyway. Apologize, and the tariffs stay in place. Spend billions on cross-border security, including fentanyl interdiction, and the tariffs remain. Spend additional billions on defence spending, and the tariffs stay put. Fly to Mar-a-Lago as a supplicant and get a series of 51st state taunts for your pains.

Would-be autocrats thrive on the subjugation of facts to their will. Canada simply can’t afford to keep giving in to Trumpian demands or to allow the truth to be whatever the American administration says it is.

Public diplomacy in the Trump era

Canada’s best option, instead, is to stay consistent with a single message: it stands ready to be a partner. The two countries have always benefited from working together, and can again do so. Canada is not out to antagonize, but neither should it apologize for simply speaking the truth.

Going forward, it’s clear that Canada’s premiers must work more closely with the federal government on a single forceful message, not freelance in whatever direction suits their particular political interests at the moment. Canada needs one foreign policy, not 14. Multiple messages simply create opportunities to divide and conquer.

Similarly, Canada must deepen links with other allies and partners around the world as quickly as possible. Bullies pick on the weak and the isolated. Canada can’t afford to be either.

Above all, when the U.S. takes offence, or gives it, the country must politely but firmly stand its ground. Canada cannot allow the freedom to speak the truth or stand up for itself to become the latest casualties in Trump’s trade war against all.

Stewart Prest does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Mark Carney’s apology to Donald Trump: Far from ‘elbows up,’ it seems Canada has no elbows at all – https://theconversation.com/mark-carneys-apology-to-donald-trump-far-from-elbows-up-it-seems-canada-has-no-elbows-at-all-268856

November 2, 2025

The anguish of losing: The Blue Jay fan’s guide to dealing with feelings of despair

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Craig Greenham, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. This tidy maxim has been used for years to describe sports outcomes.

This polarized expression, however, oversimplifies fan reaction to events like the Blue Jays’ World Series loss, ignores the complicated emotional terrain of fandom and fails to recognize the psycho-social forces at work.

So, why are many Canadians so deeply invested in the Blue Jays?

Fans develop parasocial relationships with players, teams and even broadcasters — evident in the outpouring of emotion surrounding Jays’ announcer Buck Martinez’s cancer journey — through repeated media exposure.

Over time, these constant encounters foster a sense of familiarity and emotional intimacy, as if a genuine personal relationship exists. In a way, it makes sense: over the course of a long season, many Blue Jays fans see and hear more from slugger George Springer than from some of their real-life friends.

Personal pain

Jays losses therefore feel personal — and so, too, does the team’s success. This connection is captured by the concept of what’s known as BIRGing — basking in the reflected glory — when fans feel a sense of personal triumph when their team performs well, as though there’s a twinning of fates.

The phenomenon was playfully illustrated in a 2024 A&W promotion — “Blue Jays Win, You Win” — that offered free or discounted food after each victory, literally tying fan rewards to team success.

Of course, the opposite is true too. When the Jays fall short, fans feel lacerated. The more crucial the game, the deeper the cut. Given this emotional investment, it’s no surprise that Blue Jays fans felt like a bundle of nerves heading into Game 7 and were devastated by the result.

The nature of the Game 7 loss inflames the emotions further — a game the Jays were leading until the ninth inning. There were opportunities to increase that lead that went maddeningly unrealized, embattled relievers yielded home runs to Dodger lesser lights, there were near-collisions in the outfield that could have jarred loose a key run from an outfielder’s glove, and a play at home plate that required frame-by-frame analysis to determine an outcome ultimately unfavourable to the Jays.

Canadians understand the description “sudden death” as a hockey term, but there’s no denying that Game 7 created a similar profound sense of loss, not just in Toronto but across the country.

In the sports realm, the ninth inning events resembled a funeral for Jays fans. The finality and closure was symbolized by the final out; the loss of routine and community created a void and disconnection for fans; feelings of mourning a dream amid the vanquished hope as the team fell just short of the ultimate World Series goal; and an unknown future that brings with it the anxiety of not knowing which players will return and an understanding these opportunities are rare.

Players and fans have to navigate and negotiate their way through the loss. The tears on the field and in the clubhouse mirrored those in the stands and living rooms across the country, a vivid reminder that fandom is as much about emotional commitment as the scoreboard.

Haunted by the Maple Leafs

Of course, Blue Jays fandom isn’t siloed — especially for those in Ontario. Many of the club’s loyal supporters are equally passionate about the forlorn Toronto Maple Leafs, who have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967.

The hockey club has put the fan base through the proverbial wringer with prolonged periods of ineptitude, mixed with inexplicable collapses and controversial playoff defeats.

The fragility of this fan base is palpable — excited in hope, but also braced for doom because of its frequent visits. Toronto sports fans aren’t used to being favoured by fortune. That’s why moments like the Joe Carter World Series home run in 1993 or the Kawhi Leonard buzzer-beater baseline jumper in the 2019 NBA playoffs have been immortalized.

Kawhi Leonard’s iconic buzzer beater in 2019. (NBA)

They’re outliers, those precious times when the fan base evaded the grim reaper’s scythe and grasped the greater glory.

The rarity of these victories elevates them to mythic moments — reminders that even in a history full of sports heartbreak, there are flashes of transcendent jubilation that justify the fan’s emotional investment.

Five stages of grief

Sports fans are nothing if not resilient, however, and Blue Jays fans are working themselves through the classic five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

What has likely expedited the process and softened the blow for some is the fact that the Blue Jays weren’t expected to challenge for the World Series at all in 2025. The club finished last in its division in 2024 and surprised the baseball world with its rise to prominence.

This process is called framing and it explains how people interpret and give meaning to events. It’s the lens. So instead of focusing on the anguish of Game 7, diehard fans emphasize team growth, memorable moments and optimism for next season.

Naturally, nothing in baseball is guaranteed and a Blue Jays return to the World Series in 2026 will require the personnel, performance, health and luck necessary to have success. Fans, meantime, will use the off-season to emotionally steel themselves for, potentially, another wild ride. Spring, after all, is the season of hope when anything seems possible.

Craig Greenham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The anguish of losing: The Blue Jay fan’s guide to dealing with feelings of despair – https://theconversation.com/the-anguish-of-losing-the-blue-jay-fans-guide-to-dealing-with-feelings-of-despair-268756

November 2, 2025

Lasting peace and recovery in Gaza depends on local participation, not just ceasefires

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mahmood Fayazi, Assistant Professor and Head of Disaster and Emergency Management Program, Royal Roads University

Two years into the Israeli war in Gaza, world leaders recently gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to deliberate on a long-awaited peace plan to end the conflict.

As part of this plan, both Israel and Hamas agreed to another ceasefire agreement — the latest in a series of truces that have repeatedly collapsed since the war began in late 2023.

The meeting, involving Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States, marks the most concerted diplomatic effort yet to halt a conflict that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israel. It’s also displaced nearly 400,000 Palestinians.

Yet even if the fighting does stop, fundamental questions persist: how, when and by whom will Gaza be rebuilt? The recovery and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will undoubtedly be an immense and complex undertaking, but the history of past conflicts sheds light on the way forward.

The scale of destruction

A February report from the World Bank estimated that recovery and reconstruction needs in Gaza and the West Bank will cost US$53.2 billion. Around US$20 billion of this is required to restore essential services, rebuild infrastructure and revitalize the economy — an amount exceeding the annual GDP of Belarus and Slovenia.

The scale of devastation is staggering. An estimated 84 per cent of the Gaza Strip and up to 92 per cent of Gaza City has been destroyed, with satellite data showing 292,904 homes destroyed or damaged. More than 60 million tonnes of debris — equivalent to 24,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — is awaiting removal.

The conflict has devastated Gaza’s economic sectors. Up to 96 per cent of agricultural assets and 82 per cent of businesses were damaged or destroyed, halting production and eliminating key income sources.

Years of Israel’s blockade on Gaza — which predates Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel — have further restricted the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza, severing access to international markets and vital raw materials. As a result, there has been near-total economic collapse and the private sector faces complete paralysis.

Beyond the physical and economic devastation, Gaza’s population faces severe psychological trauma. High rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, coupled with displacement and community breakdown, risk creating an intergenerational cycle of suffering through the psychological and epigenetic transmission of trauma.

Trump’s controversial peace plan

In an attempt to jump-start Gaza’s recovery, U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a 20-point peace plan envisioning interim governance by a committee of Palestinian technocrats under a “Board of Peace.” Authority would later be transferred to the Palestinian Authority following institutional reforms.

The plan outlines an economic development program to be designed by experts who “helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.” It also includes the creation of a “special economic zone” and temporary security provided by International Stabilization Forces made up of U.S., Arab and international partners.

Under the proposal, Hamas, which has governed Gaza for nearly two decades, would be expected to disarm, accept amnesty and transfer control to international forces. Yet even if Hamas disarms, experts estimate up to 100,000 members could remain in Gaza’s political landscape and reconstitute under new forms to maintain influence.

While the peace plan outlines a framework for recovery, past post-conflict settings shows that externally designed plans rarely succeed without active local engagement.

Learning from past failures

As an expert in disaster and emergency management, I am conducting an ongoing systematic literature review (not yet published) analyzing recovery processes across post-war settings in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate that it’s naive to assume economic, administrative and security frameworks can succeed without genuinely engaging the local population.

This research shows that externally driven recovery plans often fail, and underscores the importance of adapting lessons from places where recovery has been effective.

My developing review suggests several critical factors for sustainable recovery:

Developing local capacities
Building strong and transparent institutions
Implementing gradual and sequenced reforms
Ensuring there is a deliberate transition from external to local leadership

Conversely, over-relying on external powers, neglecting capacity-building and failing to address social exclusion and power imbalances can undermine long-term outcomes.

Rebuilding hope through local participation

A common theme across nearly all the studies I looked at is the importance of restoring household livelihoods. This can be done by revitalizing economic production, supporting small businesses and implementing reforms that empower communities and restore hope.

After financing more than US$6.2 billion across 157 post-conflict operations in 18 countries, the World Bank concluded in 1997 that “without economic hope, we will not have peace.” This underscores the central role of economic recovery and livelihood restoration in post-war reconstruction.

An analysis of 36 post-civil war peace episodes (1990–2014) highlights the need for co-ordinated international efforts focused on administrative restructuring, judicial reform and local government elections.

Successfully integrating diverse political voices in post-war governance promotes transparency, accountability and local ownership, while helping to restore hope among populations affected by war.

In contrast, top-down reforms implemented without local engagement, as seen in Cambodia and Pakistan, can deepen divisions and undermine peace and development.

Toward a people-centred reconstruction

Although each post-war context is unique and requires its own approach, research consistently shows that actively including survivors in recovery efforts is essential.

Gaza’s reconstruction will only succeed if its people regain hope and play a central role in shaping a safe, peaceful and prosperous future for themselves and their communities.

Any international coalition or political initiatives aimed at rebuilding Gaza must recognize that survivors are not passive victims. They are central agents of their own recovery, whose voices must guide the reconstruction process.

Once immediate humanitarian needs are met through international support, all subsequent decisions about Gaza’s long-term development must be made through inclusive, democratic processes.

Fair and transparent elections must follow the urgent restoration of security, food, clean water, health care and education. Only through such an inclusive and locally grounded process can Gaza move toward genuine recovery, lasting peace and sustainable development.

Mahmood Fayazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Lasting peace and recovery in Gaza depends on local participation, not just ceasefires – https://theconversation.com/lasting-peace-and-recovery-in-gaza-depends-on-local-participation-not-just-ceasefires-268176

November 2, 2025

What’s the No. 1 MBA? Why business deans invest in rankings, knowing they miss a lot

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Catherine Heggerud, Associate Professor (Teaching), Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary

When Harvard Business School tumbled to sixth place in the U.S. News MBA rankings in 2020, the reaction was swift. Critics questioned the methodology, picking up on earlier critiques of rankings.

Some ranking skeptics continue to point to low response rates — for example, in 2025, U.S. News disclosed that approximately only half of the ranked schools participated in peer assessment surveys, which gauge how top administrators regard other institutions.

Yet behind closed doors, business school deans across North America have nuanced conversations about rankings — ones that reveal an uncomfortable truth about how rankings shape their institutions.

I interviewed four Canadian business school deans about the influence of MBA rankings on strategic planning during 2021-22, using semi-structured questions. These deans represent about a quarter of management schools from research-intensive universities in Canada. I discovered something striking: these leaders simultaneously dismiss rankings as flawed measures, while dedicating significant institutional resources to improving them.

The ranking obsession is real

Despite their public skepticism about rankings, every dean I interviewed could point to concrete ways their schools invest in them.

One noted that “all the data collection happened within the school” and identified a dedicated data analyst whose job centres on ranking submissions. Another described having “a senior staff member who is in charge of gathering the data” and co-ordinates with media relations teams.

The contradiction becomes starker when you examine what deans say versus what they do. In interviews, I heard statements like “we can never rank so it’s a waste of our time” and “the ranking itself, if that aligned with your mission, who cares?” Yet these same leaders described conducting internal “education campaigns” to help stakeholders understand rankings and carefully select which ranking systems to participate in based on where their programs might perform well.

A person in front of a screen showing various metrics indicators. — Deans described different ways of investing energy and resources in rankings.
(Ruthson Zimmerman/Unsplash)

What rankings miss

The deans’ skepticism is founded. Current MBA ranking methodologies have significant blind spots that leaders recognize but feel powerless to address.

Take the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, which heavily emphasizes post-graduation salary data and international diversity. Or QS World University Rankings that weighs “thought leadership” through media mentions and research publications. These metrics favour certain types of programs while potentially disadvantaging schools serving different missions or regional economies.

One dean told me bluntly: “The faculty that understand the rankings care less.” This observation cuts to the heart of the problem — those closest to the educational mission see rankings as measuring the wrong things.

Rankings measure what’s easy to count, not what matters. Teaching quality, mentorship, curriculum innovation — none show up in the formulas. Neither does information on whether graduates become ethical leaders or build meaningful careers over decades rather than months.

As the Rockefeller Institute found, when schools chase rankings, they end up “working toward improving their performance as measured by ranking factors rather than toward actual improvement of the academics and educational experience.”

Academic research shows ranking systems distort institutional behaviour, while studies of business schools demonstrate rankings “blindly follow the money,” ignoring social impact and educational quality.

The financial pressure driving the paradox

So why do deans continue playing a game if they know it’s flawed?

Canadian universities increasingly depend on international student tuition as government funding has declined. Between 2000 and 2021, tuition revenue at Canadian universities grew from 14.4 per cent to 25.6 per cent of total revenue.

For MBA programs, while program costs vary, international students pay significantly more than domestic students: for example, at Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, domestic students pay around $70,000 while international students pay around $109,000.

As one dean explained to me: “By accepting international students, we are helping domestic students from the funding cuts.” Another noted that “rankings are mostly important for international students” who use them as key decision-making tools when evaluating programs from abroad.

This creates a compelling justification: pursue better rankings to attract international students, whose higher tuition subsidizes domestic students and program quality. It’s a rationale that allows academic leaders to reconcile their intellectual skepticism with market reality.

As deans make sense of the landscape where they lead, they interpret the ranking landscape — while also shaping how stakeholders understand it. This reflects a broader paradox: deans must simultaneously embrace contradictory demands — dismissing rankings publicly while investing privately. A dynamic tension persists.

What this means for the future

Rankings have transformed from a strategic choice into an operational necessity. What began as optional marketing has become embedded in how business schools function and communicate.

For prospective MBA students: treat rankings as one data point among many. Review official employment reports, which detail hiring companies and placement rates. Connect with alumni through LinkedIn or school events to hear about actual experiences. Investigate which companies recruit at different schools and which program culture matches your preferences.

For business education more broadly, the ranking paradox reveals a system increasingly shaped by external accountability measures that may not align with core educational missions.

Until ranking methodologies evolve to better capture what makes business education valuable — or until institutions find ways to communicate quality that don’t depend on rankings — deans will continue walking this tightrope, publicly dismissing what they privately work hard to improve.

Catherine Heggerud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. What’s the No. 1 MBA? Why business deans invest in rankings, knowing they miss a lot – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-no-1-mba-why-business-deans-invest-in-rankings-knowing-they-miss-a-lot-266556

November 2, 2025

How the physics of baseball explains Blue Jay Kevin Gausman’s signature pitch

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Patrick Clancy, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University

There are few sports more exciting than playoff baseball, but behind every pitch there is also a fascinating story of physics. From gravity to spin, the science shaping the game can be just as compelling as the action on the field.

When the World Series returned to Toronto for Game 6, right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman took the mound for the first six innings. Gausman’s best pitch is the splitter, an off-speed pitch that looks like a conventional fastball but travels more slowly and drops more sharply before it crosses the plate.

Physicists consider the flight of a baseball as an example of projectile motion. The trajectory of the ball depends on several forces: the force of gravity (pulling the ball downwards), the drag force (slowing the ball as it moves through the air), and the Magnus force (which causes the ball to curve if it spins as it travels).

Why splitters are so hard to hit

So why is the splitter so difficult to hit? Start with speed. The average speed of Gausman’s fastball is 95 miles per hour (or 42.5 meters a second). Since the distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate is 18.4 meters, this means that it takes 430 milliseconds, or less than half a second, for Gausman’s fastball to reach the batter.

In contrast, the splitter, which travels at an average speed of 85 mph (or 38.0 m/s), takes 490 milliseconds. That 60 millisecond-difference may seem small, but it can be enough to separate a strike from a base hit.

For context, a typical swing for a major league batter takes approximately 150 milliseconds. This includes time for the batter’s eye to form a picture of the ball leaving the pitcher’s hand, for their brain to process this information and send signals to the muscles in their arms, legs and torso, and for their muscles to respond and swing the bat.

This means a batter has roughly a quarter of a second to judge the trajectory of a pitch and decide whether to swing. Considering that it takes approximately 100 milliseconds for a blink of the human eye, it’s remarkable that batters can hit any major league pitch at all.

The importance of the drop

The second secret to the splitter is the drop. All baseball pitches drop as they travel towards home plate due to the force of gravity, which causes a baseball (or any object in freefall) to accelerate downwards.

If there were no other forces acting on the ball, this would cause Gausman’s fastball to drop by about 92 centimetres on the way to home plate, and his splitter to drop by approximately 115 centimetres.

In practice, however, there is another important force that acts on the ball to oppose the effect of gravity — the Magnus force. The Magnus force arises from the rotation or spin of an object (like a baseball) as it passes through a fluid (like air).

The ball’s rotation makes air move faster over one side than the other. On the side spinning in the same direction as the airflow, air speed increases; on the opposite side, it slows down. This difference in air speed creates a pressure imbalance, generating a force that acts perpendicular to the ball’s path.

This is an example of Bernoulli’s Principle, the same phenomenon that generates lift as air passes around the wing of an airplane.

In the case of a fastball, the pitcher creates a strong backspin by pulling back with their index and middle fingers as they release the ball. This rotation results in an upwards force, which causes the ball to drop far less than it would under the effect of gravity alone. The faster the rotation, the stronger this lift force becomes.

Gausman’s signature pitch

Gausman’s fastball typically drops 25 to 30 centimetres on the way to home plate — less than one third of the drop experienced by a “dead ball” without spin.

On the splitter, he changes his grip to dramatically reduce the amount of backspin, weakening the Magnus force and allowing the ball to fall much farther, about 50 to 75 centimetres, before it hits the plate. The result is a pitch that doesn’t reach the batter when or where they expect it to be.

Kevin Gausman explains the art of the splitter. (Toronto Blue Jays)

While the Blue Jays failed to win a third World Series title, Gausman’s splitter offered an example of how physics can shape performance in elite sport. Understanding the science behind the pitch offers a new way to appreciate the game.

Patrick Clancy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How the physics of baseball explains Blue Jay Kevin Gausman’s signature pitch – https://theconversation.com/how-the-physics-of-baseball-explains-blue-jay-kevin-gausmans-signature-pitch-268732

November 2, 2025

Why DEI needs depth, not death

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Marycarmen Lara Villanueva, PhD Candidate, Department of Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

The Conservative Party of Canada and leader Pierre Poilievre have begun circulating a petition calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the reinstatement of “the merit principle,” arguing DEI spending and government waste “need to die.” The petition echoes Elon Musk’s infamous “DEI must DIE” social media post two years ago.

Similarly, in 2024, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani launched a petition to end DEI and focus on affordability, without acknowledging that inequity and unaffordability are deeply connected. Building on this momentum, Jivani has since launched his Restore the North Tour, which seems like a Canadian version of Charlie Kirk’s movement, given its aim to appeal to disaffected young men.

Inevitably, commentary on these measures has cast them as Canada’s version of America’s culture wars. While there are obvious parallels, this framing obscures Canada’s own history of injustice.

Systemic inequality

DEI initiatives, like all frameworks for social change, are not perfect. Pointing to their perceived limitations to revive the illusion of meritocracy and historical denial is hardly new. But these criticisms are being weaponized at a moment when equity work is needed most.

Recent portrayals of DEI as “anti-merit and anti-individual,” “hollow signalling” or “flawed and illiberal” are textbook examples of what the late American philosopher Charles Mills described as “white ignorance” — a deliberate and organized refusal to see how systemic inequality works.

The late Charles Mills delivers a speech on racial injustice and liberalism in 2012 (Stony Brook University).

They suggest a refusal to acknowledge well-documented histories of Indigenous dispossession, gendered and racial injustice, institutional racism and generations of what geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore terms “organized abandonment” — when the state and capital abandon communities through neglect, privatization and degradation of the environment.

In other words, these criticisms do not represent an innocent ignorance, but a dangerous refusal to know.

Economics versus equity

The Conservative petition claims that $1.049 billion was wasted in DEI funding. This claim conceals a deeper truth about the way public money actually circulates.

In 2023, the total operating budget for all police services was $19.7 billion, an increase of six per cent from the previous year. Policing in Canada has a long history of surveillance and criminalization, from Indigenous land defenders to Muslims and pro-Palestinian supporters.

Fatal encounters with police also disproportionately affect Black and racialized people and continue to rise.

Other forms of public spending go almost unquestioned — from billions in fossil fuel subsidies to the steady expansion of border surveillance — resulting in environmental injustice and border violence, respectively.

In contrast, DEI’s $1.049-billion price tag was spent over several years. The claim of wasteful equity spending reflects a broader pattern of scapegoating DEI for systemic economic failures. What is deemed a waste may reveal who, and what, our society values.

Racial capitalism

What’s known as racial capitalism — a system where racial inequality is built into how wealth and power are produced and shared — sheds light on how class exploitation and racial domination are interconnected. As Black radical theorist Cedric Robinson explained, capitalism did not emerge separate from racial hierarchy, but through it.

Understanding racial capitalism helps explain why equity work must extend beyond representation and inclusion. British-American race scholar Arun Kundnani has argued that DEI programs focusing on unconscious bias, racial awareness training and increasing representation do not tackle the economic and institutional root causes of inequity.

DEI programs therefore need to address racial capitalism; if they don’t, they may end up supporting it by using racialized people as resources and judging success only by numbers.

In other words, the economy cannot be “fixed” without unraveling the racial, classist, ableist and gendered hierarchies that it requires to function. Inequality is not really a flaw in the system but its organizing principle.

Sharper DEI

Policymakers should work to defend DEI initiatives from far-right attacks, Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and economic scapegoating. But DEI measures also need to be critiqued and improved in ways that honour their historical trajectory and acknowledge their limitations.

Doing so requires confronting and untangling the deep layers of injustice and exploitation that are the foundation of many organizations and institutions.

Anti-DEI rhetoric can be considered an expression of anti-Blackness and, by extension, other forms of racism. It is also bound up with sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia and classism.

Instead of abandoning DEI, Canada should strengthen and reshape it to better promote the structural equity our communities deserve.

The future of equity in Canada depends on moving beyond simply counting racialized people in power and must instead examine how power works, upholds injustice and can be collectively transformed for real systemic change.

Marycarmen Lara Villanueva does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why DEI needs depth, not death – https://theconversation.com/why-dei-needs-depth-not-death-268136

November 1, 2025

Do mega-sporting events like the World Series pay off? Here’s the economic reality behind them

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University

Whether it’s the World Series, the FIFA World Cup or the Olympic Games, the hope for hosting mega sporting events is that the economy will emerge as the true winner.

A quick search shows how expensive World Series tickets are, or how much it costs for accommodations, food and transportation. Similar spending patterns can be predicted for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which Canada is hosting with Mexico and the United States.

Visitor spending provides direct economic benefits, generating revenue for businesses and providing jobs. There are also indirect benefits through suppliers and staffing, and induced benefits as staff spend their wages locally.

Mega-events can also generate significant reputations benefits for host cities and countries, including heightened global media exposure, enhanced national branding and greater confidence among international investors who see the city as capable of managing large-scale events.

These intangible outcomes can translate into sustained tourism growth, increased economic vitality and a lasting “feel-good” effect that boosts civic pride among residents and visitors.

While hosting large sporting events appears to be great for communities, research suggests the actual financial outcomes are often more modest than anticipated. Nonetheless, many politicians remain eager to host them.

The math doesn’t always add up

Tourism and event scholars suggest being cautious about the so-called multiplier effect. This is the idea that mega-events ripple throughout the economy, providing benefits for others.

Meta-analyses of such events show highly variable economic outcomes and frequent overestimation of long-term benefits. A lot of spending is lost due to export leakage, where additional gain goes to non-local businesses, event organizers and ticketing agencies instead of local businesses.

Often, mega sporting events cause tourism displacement, as regular tourists avoid the destination due to crowds and high prices, sometimes even after the event finishes.

Politicians, tourism offices and event organizers are quick to claim large economic benefits when bidding for and hosting events.

Yet some academics warn that “most economic impact studies are commissioned to legitimize a political position rather than to search for economic truth.” In other words, government-commissioned studies are often biased toward positive results.

A World Series boost — but for how long?

The Toronto Blue Jays post-season run and the World Series has produced a concentrated burst of spending: sold-out home games, fuller hotels at higher prices, restaurants and bars crowded for watch parties and heavy merchandise sales.

Local media and business surveys commonly report measurable upticks in hospitality and retail during playoff runs, and small business owners cite increased footfall and merchandise revenue.

Sports economists, however, urge caution in extrapolating short-term spikes into lasting gains. They describe playoff-driven forecasts as “overstated,” pointing to limited duration, substantial leakage and limited job creation beyond temporary hospitality shifts. While people may spend more on a game night, they often spend less elsewhere, meaning net spending is usually smaller than headline numbers suggest.

A World Series may be excellent for civic morale and a short retail bump, but it rarely transforms a city’s economic trajectory on its own.

Canada’s FIFA World Cup moment

The FIFA World Cup is a multi-week, globally televised event with millions of spectators and huge international attention. For Canada’s co-host role in 2026, official and municipal assessments project substantial economic benefits.

A City of Toronto impact assessment projects roughly $940 million in positive economic output for the Greater Toronto Area, including hundreds of millions in GDP and several thousand jobs from June 2023 to August 2026.

British Columbia also estimates significant provincial output and thousands of roles tied to hosting in Vancouver. These are significant short-term impacts that reflect visitor spending and operational expenditures.

But will hosting the World Cup add much to cities that are already well-known? Some are doubtful, but the visibility can help achieve tourism marketing objectives and support bids for future international events often central to destination strategies.

Counting the real costs

Mega-events often come with significant financial and environmental costs. While they can create jobs, these are typically short-term, low-wage positions concentrated in hospitality and service sectors.

Public funds directed at event staging or stadium upgrades could finance affordable housing, transit or health services with potentially higher social returns for local residents. There have also been repeated cases where promised mega-event legacies failed to materialize.

Environmentally, mega-events produce significant carbon footprints from global fan travel, temporary construction, energy use and waste, with many events having more negative than positive environmental outcomes. This is particularly relevant for transnational tournaments that attract long-distance travellers and temporary stadium retrofits.

Cities seeking to maximize gains should prioritize local community benefits and measure net economic impact, not gross receipts, by accounting for displacement and export leakage.

For the World Series, that means leveraging short-run enthusiasm into repeat visitation and accrued local spending habits. For FIFA 2026, the focus should be on converting global attention into long-term tourism and business flows while ensuring community benefits and limiting environmental costs.

Only then will the reputational windfall translate into durable economic value.

Measuring the real impact of mega-events

Sports events can deliver meaningful short-term revenue, reputational exposure and long-term benefits, but those outcomes are neither automatic nor evenly distributed.

Thoughtful policy design, transparent evaluation and binding community and environmental safeguards determine whether a World Series run or a World Cup week becomes a fleeting headline or a lasting city asset.

The main benefactor of the World Cup will be FIFA, not host cities. As The Economist noted in its review of economist Andrew Zimbalist’s Circus Maximus, there is “little doubt that under current conditions, prudent city governments should avoid the contests at all costs.”

Canada is now in it as the World Series returns to Toronto. How it plays out remains to be seen, but at a minimum, we will certainly host a good party.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Do mega-sporting events like the World Series pay off? Here’s the economic reality behind them – https://theconversation.com/do-mega-sporting-events-like-the-world-series-pay-off-heres-the-economic-reality-behind-them-268447

October 30, 2025

How the physics of baseball could help Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays win the World Series

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Patrick Clancy, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University

When the World Series returns to Toronto for Game 6, right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman will take the mound. Gausman’s best pitch is the splitter, an off-speed pitch that looks like a conventional fastball but travels more slowly and drops more sharply before it crosses the plate.

Why splitters are so hard to hit

The importance of the drop

This is an example of Bernoulli’s Principle, the same phenomenon that generates lift as air passes around the wing of an airplane.

Gausman’s signature pitch

Gausman’s fastball typically drops 25 to 30 centimetres on the way to home plate — less than one third of the drop experienced by a “dead ball” without spin.

Kevin Gausman explains the art of the splitter. (Toronto Blue Jays)

As the Blue Jays edge closer to third World Series title — their first in 32 years — Gausman’s splitter offers an example of how physics can shape performance in elite sport. Understanding the science behind the pitch offers a new way to appreciate the game.

– ref. How the physics of baseball could help Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays win the World Series – https://theconversation.com/how-the-physics-of-baseball-could-help-kevin-gausman-and-the-blue-jays-win-the-world-series-268732

October 30, 2025

Drinking tequila and mezcal sustainably on the Day of the Dead

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Brendon Larson, Professor, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo

People in Mexico and elsewhere will soon be marking the annual Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Nov. 2. Many will celebrate the day with the quintessential Mexican beverage, tequila; perhaps in the form of a slushy margarita or a shot.

Tequila comes from a single species, blue agave. Agaves are fleshy plants of arid lands that accumulate sugars over several years to power their sole blooming. To produce tequila, the leaves and flower stalk are removed, the agave hearts (called piñas) roasted, and their sugars fermented and distilled.

Tequila was intentionally branded for a global market in the late 19th century, and it’s become an industrial product. There are vast blue-gray monocultures of it across the state of Jalisco, centred around the namesake town of Tequila.

Yet, in the interest of ethical consumption, we must consider the environmental impacts of industrial tequila production. There are several issues here. In Jalisco, the region’s ecosystems are being destroyed and replaced by a uniform crop that is prone to pest outbreaks.

Tequila’s manufacturing process consumes huge amounts of energy, water and agrochemicals. While some in the tequila industry make lots of money (such as celebrities who have their own brands), those who harvest the crops make significantly less.

In addition, despite the marketing, most commercial tequilas taste alike given their uniform source, standard yeast and mechanical production, not to mention added sugars and artificial flavours.

The mezcal shift

People have recently been turning to mezcal, perceiving it as a more authentic, tastier alternative. After all, tequila is simply mezcal from Tequila.

Mezcal-making derives from a relationship between Indigenous Peoples and their landscape that goes back millennia. They learned that agave fibers have many uses, for architecture, medicines and textiles. They drank the sweet, non-alcoholic sap, known as aguamiel and realized it could be fermented.

This history is the basis of peasant communities’ continued harvest of agave to make mezcal. They collect dozens of types of wild agave or grow them among other crops. They roast the hearts for several days in an earthen pit, then ferment them in a homegrown bacteria-and-yeast soup.

The distillation appears to be a more recent, colonial addition to the process. The resulting spirit has vital cultural meaning, not least in festivals such as Día de Muertos, where it honours those who have died and connects people to them.

Traditional production is slow and varied. It distils the diversity of life and the people’s history into a delightful bouquet: not just smoky, as many people think, but floral, fruity, herbal, metallic and so much more.

Is mezcal sustainable?

Many consumers find the narrative of mezcal’s authenticity and sustainability appealing. Its volume is a blip relative to tequila, so surely it must be better for both people and the planet. It’s never simple to assess sustainability, though, and the rapid growth of the industry — with eight per cent more expected annually through 2030 — raises a flag.

Traditional practices have been co-opted, and the same powerful families and multinational brands that drove tequila’s rise grow the main agave used for mezcal, espadín, in large farms of clones.

The spread of commercial farming destroys habitat, specifically the tropical dry forest where many of Mexico’s restricted, native species occur. In San Juan del Río, an Indigenous Zapotec town in the state of Oaxaca, remote sensing has shown an increase in agave cover from six to 22 per cent in 26 years. In addition to soil degradation and loss, these cash crops supplant ones grown for local consumption and strain traditional governance.

From a biodiversity perspective, it’s an open question whether family-scale operations are better given the pressure to expand. Agave and the trees used for firewood for roasting and distilling are interwoven ecological hubs in this dry landscape, along with the bats who visit them for nectar. Overharvesting can lead to ecosystem strain, if not collapse.

Connoisseurs have worsened the problem by developing a taste for particular species like cuish, jabalí and tepeztate, some of which cannot be cultivated, take decades to mature or yield less mezcal.

There has been a documented decline in desirable species of agave, including tobalá, which is listed as vulnerable. Many agaves used for mezcal production are rare.

Sustainability concerns

A few studies have begun to quantify the broader impacts, reinforcing questions about sustainability. It takes two tobalá plants, which require 10-15 years to mature, to produce one bottle of mezcal. Ten kilograms of both liquid and solid waste are released. Even if firewood is used rather than fuel, its weight may match that of the hearts.

Overall, production of one bottle requires the equivalent of about five litres of gasoline. While this may be less carbon than tequila, it’s more than beer and wine.

Mezcal production may bring money into communities, but the interface with global markets brings its own issues. For example, mezcal is now controlled under a Denomination of Origin (DO) certification. While this geographic indicator was ostensibly intended to protect small producers, evidence suggests they’re struggling to meet its standards (and cost) while power and profits concentrate elsewhere.

If you are celebrating this Día de Muertos with mezcal, consider buying from a collaborative that still relies on traditional practices: caring for agave and the land by leaving some flowers for the bats, replanting, reducing chemical use and recycling waste. Bear in mind that growing human consumption is at the root of unsustainability, which just adds to the reasons to moderate one’s drinking.

This article was co-authored by Diana Pinzón, a forestry engineer and co-founder of Zinacantan Mezcal and Fondo Agavero Asociación Civil.

Brendon Larson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Ronda L. Brulotte has received funding from the U.S. Fulbright Program.

Raymundo Martínez Jiménez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Drinking tequila and mezcal sustainably on the Day of the Dead – https://theconversation.com/drinking-tequila-and-mezcal-sustainably-on-the-day-of-the-dead-268119

October 30, 2025

Rate my AI teacher? Students’ perceptions of chatbots will influence how they learn with AI

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Nandini Asavari Bharadwaj, Ph.D. Candidate, Learning Sciences Program, Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University

A “transformation” is upon us. After a multi-year procession of educational technology products that once promised to shake things up, now it’s AI’s turn.

Global organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as government bodies, present AI to the public as “transformative.”

Prominent AI companies with large language model (LLM) chatbots have “education-focused” products, like ChatGPT Education, Claude for Education and Gemini in Google for Education.

AI products facilitate exciting new ways to search, present and engage with knowledge and have sparked widespread interest and enthusiasm in the technology for young learners. However, there are crucial areas of concern regarding AI use such as data privacy, transparency and accuracy.

Current conversations on AI in education focus on notions it will upend teaching and learning systems in schools, teacher lesson planning and grading or individualized learning (for example, via personalized student tutoring with chatbots). However, when or whether AI will transform education remains an open question.

In the meantime, it is vital to think about how student engagement with chatbots should make us examine some fundamental assumptions about human learning.

Learning is a social affair

How students view their teachers and their own ability to contemplate thinking (known as metacognition) are tremendously important for learning. These factors need to be considered when we think about learning with chatbots.

The popularity of the Rate My Professors website in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom is a testament to the significance of what students think about teachers.

With AI’s foray into education, students’ conceptions of their AI tutors, teachers and graders will also matter for multiple reasons.

First, learning is a thoroughly social affair. From how a child learns through imitating and modelling others to engaging with or being influenced by peers in the classroom, social interactions matter to how we learn.

With use of chatbots increasing to more than 300 million monthly users, conversational interactions with LLMs also represent a new para-social interaction space for people worldwide.

What we think of interaction partners

Second, theory-of-mind frameworks suggest that what we think of others influences how we interact with them. How children interpret, process or respond to social signals influences their learning.

To develop this idea further, beyond other students or teachers as interaction partners, what we think about learning tools has an influence on how we learn.

Our sense of tools and their affordances — the quality or property of a tool that “defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used” — can have consequences for how we use the tool.

Perceived affordances can dictate how we use tools, from utensils to computers. If a learner perceives a chatbot to be adept at generating ideas, then it could influence how they use it (for example, for brainstorming versus editing).

New ‘social entity’

AI systems, at a minimum, represent the entrance of a new social entity in educational environments, as they have in the social environment. People’s conceptions of AI can be understood under the larger umbrella of a theory of artificial minds, referring to how humans infer the internal states of AI to predict actions and understand behaviour. This theory extends the notion of theory of mind to non-human AI systems.

A person’s theory of artificial minds could develop based on biological maturation and exposure to the technology, and could vary considerably between different individuals.

3 aspects to consider

It’s important to consider how student conceptions of AI may impact trust of information received from AI systems; personalized learning from AI; and the role that AI may have in a child’s social life:

1. Trust: In human learning, the judgments we make about knowledge and learning go a long way in acceptance of ideas inherent in learning material.

From recent studies in children’s interactions with conversational AI systems, we see that children’s trust in information from AI varies across factors like age and type of information. A learner’s theory of artificial minds would likely affect willingness to trust the information received from AI.

2. Personalized learning: Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) research has shown excellent results for how traditional ITS — without chatbot engagement — can scaffold learners while also helping students identify gaps in learning for self-correction. New chatbot-based ITS, such as KhanMigo from Khan Academy, are being marketed as providing personalized guidance and new ways to engage with content.

A learner’s theory of artificial minds could affect the quality of interactions between them and their AI chatbot tutor and how much they accept their learning support.

3. Social relationships: The artificial friend (the “AF”) in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun is a poignant literary example of the impact an artificial entity can have on a growing child’s sense of self and relationship to the world.

We can already see the detrimental effects of introducing children to AI social chatbots with the tragic suicide of a child who was allegedly engaged in emotional and sexual chat conversations with a Character.AI chatbot.

Social relationships with AI involve a serious renegotiation of the social contract regarding our expectations and understanding of each other. Here, relationships with children need special attention, foremost whether we want children to develop social relationships with AI in the first place.

Where do we go from here?

Many discussions about AI literacy are now unfolding, involving, for example, understanding how AI functions, its limitations and ethical issues. Throughout these conversations, it’s essential for educators to recognize that students possess an intuitive sense of how AI functions (or a theory of artificial minds). Students’ intuitive sense of AI shapes how they perceive its educational affordances, even without formal learning.

Instruction must account for students’ cognitive development, existing experiences and evolving social contexts.

The “rate my AI teacher” future is coming. It will require a focus on students’ conceptions of AI to ensure effective, ethical and meaningful integration of AI into future educational environments.

Nandini Asavari Bharadwaj receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Adam Kenneth Dubé receives research funding from Mitacs, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is the education leadership team member for the McGill Collaborative for AI and Society.

– ref. Rate my AI teacher? Students’ perceptions of chatbots will influence how they learn with AI – https://theconversation.com/rate-my-ai-teacher-students-perceptions-of-chatbots-will-influence-how-they-learn-with-ai-265163