Latest news with #GlobeAndMail
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Former AHS CEO denies defamation claims from Alberta premier's ex-chief of staff
Former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos is denying defamation allegations from a previous chief of staff to Alberta's premier. Marshall Smith, who left his position as Premier Danielle Smith's top aide in October 2024, filed a lawsuit against Mentzelopoulos in the wake of her own wrongful dismissal lawsuit against AHS and the provincial government. While they have the same last name, Marshall Smith and the premier are not related. Smith alleged Mentzelopoulos made false and defamatory statements about him in court documents filed as part of her wrongful dismissal suit. His statement of claim also names the Globe and Mail newspaper, its Calgary reporter Carrie Tait, and an unnamed man who is believed to be a former board member for the health authority. He is seeking $12 million in damages. In a statement of defence filed in Court of King's Bench of Alberta last week, Mentzelopoulos said she hasn't defamed Smith, nor has he suffered damages as a result. The legal filing calls Smith's allegations "invented attempts to allege harm." It also says his lawsuit appears to try to "distance Smith himself from certain members of the private sector and to downplay the nature of his role in the history of events appropriately recounted by Ms. Mentzelopoulos in her action against the Crown and AHS." The statement of defence also says Mentzelopoulos's statements are shielded from defamation action because they were made in the course of judicial proceedings. None of the allegations in Mentzelopoulos's original lawsuit, or in the subsequent statement of claim and defence related to the Smith lawsuit, have been proven in court. Mentzelopoulos claims she was fired because she'd launched an investigation and forensic audit into various contracts and was reassessing deals she had concluded were overpriced with private surgical companies she said had links to government officials. AHS and Adriana LaGrange — the former minister of health who is now the new minister of primary and preventative health services — have denied Mentzelopoulos's claims in statements of defence that allege she was fired due to her job performance. The province has appointed a former chief judge from Manitoba to conduct a third-party investigation into procurement. The auditor general and Alberta RCMP are also investigating the matter.
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Globe and Mail
AI's cost to critical thinking
This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up to receive it in your inbox. School may be out for the summer, but the conversation around artificial intelligence in education is heating up. Joe Castaldo, a Globe and Mail reporter covering AI and technology, recently joined The Decibel podcast to discuss how AI may be dulling students' critical thinking skills and answer the question, 'What are we losing when we rely too much on AI?' To set the scene, Mr. Castaldo retold a story from Swiss business professor Michael Gerlich: Mr. Gerlich was sitting in a university auditorium behind a student who was using ChatGPT during a lecture to generate questions that the student would go on to ask the guest speaker. The problem was they were questions the speaker had already extensively answered. 'The student wasn't even paying attention,' Mr. Castaldo says. It's one small example of a growing trend that sparked a study by Mr. Gerlich. Mr. Gerlich surveyed more than 600 students to explore the connection between AI usage and critical thinking. 'He found the higher somebody's AI use, the lower their critical thinking skills,' Mr. Castaldo says. 'And it was most pronounced for younger people, like under 25.' While the study didn't prove causation, it raises flags among educators. Some professors reported seeing students who couldn't make even basic academic decisions without consulting AI. However, it's not just students leaning on AI, knowledge workers are too. According to a survey by workplace technology platform OwlLabs and Pulse, nearly 67 per cent of companies are using AI and 46 per cent of employees report they're either heavily using AI at work or somewhat reliant on it. This surge brings a cost. A study by Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon surveyed 319 knowledge workers and found the more confident someone was in AI's abilities, the less critical thinking they reported. The survey revealed a few motivational barriers that cause workers to opt-out of critical thinking, including: These barriers contribute to a broader pattern: even well-intentioned or capable knowledge workers may opt out of critical engagement when organizational structures or task demands don't support it. Microsoft's research suggests that without motivating workers to critique outputs, AI tools tend to shift cognition from production to oversight — and that can be a slippery slope. 'It's not that the tools themselves are bad, it's how we use them. We can use them in good, effective ways, but a lot of that comes down to the individual's motivation,' Mr. Castaldo says. From boardrooms to classrooms, the real test will be how leaders cultivate environments where AI challenges us, not just does things for us. 76 per cent That's how many employers are already using some kind of personality and skills tests in assessing job candidates, according to a recent report from TestGorilla. Read more Many hiring managers have been faced with the same challenge: when a new role pops up that demands new skills, do they recruit new talent or retain and retrain the people already on the team? This article says that the classic '50-per-cent rule,' popularized by Robert Townsend, still holds weight – especially in today's fast-moving skills landscape. The rule advises giving proven internal candidates a shot, even if they only meet half the job's requirements. The missing piece? Support. With mentorship and a strong learning culture, employees can grow into roles while boosting retention and engagement. Read more 'This stage of life has largely been ignored. That's an injustice that we need to change, particularly when you think about not just the impact to one's own personal health, but the impact to the economy and to society over all. This is an issue that demands urgent attention and action,' says Janet Ko, co-founder of the Menopause Foundation of Canada. In this article, The Globe explores how the lack of menopause awareness and support doesn't only affect women at work, but the broader economy. It also covers some of the positive changes we've seen at Canadian workplaces and how we can create more inclusive, productive workplaces. Read more Canada is witnessing a growing trend of high‑earning individuals leaving the country. Tax advisors report a sharp uptick in wealthy Canadians exploring or finalizing non‑resident status – a significant jump compared to a decade ago. Read more
Globe and Mail
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Why the Calgary Stampede is this summer's biggest political event
The 113th Calgary Stampede is in full swing. But the 10-day festival wouldn't be complete without the biggest names in Canadian politics and business walking the grounds in cowboy cosplay. Politicians are flipping pancakes, corporate parties are packed, and with Prime Minister Mark Carney pledging to make Canada an energy superpower, oil patch optimism is on full display. But tensions between Alberta' and Ottawa persist, despite Carney announcing this week that a new Canadian oil pipeline proposal is highly likely. Emma Graney is the Globe's energy reporter based in Calgary. She'll tell us about all the politicking on the grounds, the energy deals getting made, and how separatist sentiment is playing out at this year's Stampede. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@
Globe and Mail
07-07-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
Globe Climate: Another tick-infested summer
If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Climate and all Globe newsletters here. Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada. Award-winning photographers Shane Gross and Cristina Mittermeier are using their images to aid global marine and freshwater ecosystem conservation efforts, and to bring public attention to the importance of our oceans. Gross and Mittermeier joined journalists Jenn Thornhill Verma and Ryan MacDonald in a pair of conversations at a Globe and Mail event in Toronto in partnership with Rolex. Catch on up their discussion about the power of photography to spur change, responses to some of the best-known images, and current areas of focus. Now, let's catch you up on other news. For this week's deeper dive, Nova Scotians watch their backs – and each other's. Health science reporter Jennifer Yang writes that as temperatures warm, tick populations, and their diseases, do as well. With each year that passes, Canadian seasons are getting warmer, for longer, and ticks are expanding their range. And as tick populations have taken off, so, too, have the diseases they can spread through their bites. Nova Scotia's South Shore has become home to some of the country's densest populations of blacklegged ticks – a vector for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. 'People who haven't even seen ticks before are seeing them, and seeing many,' says Donna Lugar, founder of the Nova Scotia Lyme Disease Support Group, which she formed in 2013. 'I've never heard such horror stories as I've heard this year.' And climate change is making this a reality for more and more people. 'Canada's heating probably faster than anywhere else in the world, and the ticks are moving into those places as they warm,' says Nick Ogden, director of the modelling hub division with the Public Health Agency of Canada, who has studied ticks and Lyme disease since the 1990s. 'The range expansion of the tick has happened faster than the modelling we did a decade ago. Because it's actually warming faster than the climate models were telling us back then.' Communities like Lunenburg County in Nova Scotia offer a glimpse of what lies ahead for many other swaths of the country, where temperatures are rising and the ticks are inching in. Meanwhile, nationally reported cases of Lyme disease have climbed from 522 in 2014 to a preliminary count of 5,239 last year. Until a vaccine is a possibility, Canadians are finding other ways to fight back. Pesticides are being developed and could help, if it too can adapt to warming temperatures. Cathal Kelly: Under blistering summer temperatures, sports power through Peter Kuitenbrouwer: With classroom temperatures soaring, schoolyards need more trees Steve Flamand: Ottawa, bring back Canada's EV incentive program Clayton Thomas-Müller: Wab Kinew's development dreams threaten our people's way of life Trump's green-bashing is precisely why it's a good time to buy green When you live so close to Washington it can feel like it sets the world's agenda, but on the energy transition, it doesn't, writes John Rapley. He says that while Trump rambles on anti-renewables, the energy transition proceeds. Plus, the reduction in the price of assets and products (because of Trump) creates a golden opportunity for both investors and consumers. We've launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers' questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions. We want to hear from you. Email us: GlobeClimate@ Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOLDSTEIN: Questioning Canada's immigration policies is not racist
The Mark Carney government will be performing a public service to Canadians if it abandons the reflex position of the Justin Trudeau government that any questioning of federal immigration policies is racist. A report by The Globe and Mail that said 17,600 foreigners had their criminal convictions forgiven by the Immigration Department over 11 years, up to and including 2024 — thus removing a ban on them coming to Canada — is a case in point. If five years have passed since a foreign criminal's conviction or completion of a sentence, the Immigration Department has the power to deem them 'rehabilitated,' meaning they can apply to enter Canada through work and study visas, as permanent residents or visitors. Last year alone, 1,390 people had their criminal convictions forgiven, while 105 applications were refused, according to The Globe and Mail report. There can, of course, be legitimate cases where, for example, an individual has been convicted by a dictatorial foreign government on false or trumped-up charges of criminal offences or where the convictions are for relatively minor offences. Lax immigration vetting makes Canada prime target for Iranian infiltration, says Secure Canada Federal minister plans to hold consultations this summer on immigration intake But the problem is the Immigration Department won't provide any breakdown of what crimes were forgiven, other than to say that in the most serious offences the immigration minister would be involved in the decision. As Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner told The Globe and Mail, this lack of transparency has to end 'if the public is going to have any confidence in the immigration system's vetting process.' (Also of note here is that since the data covers an 11-year period up to and including 2024, it means it was in place during the Harper Conservative government, which was in office up until 2015, although the bulk of the decisions would have been made under the Liberals.) This isn't the first time Canadians have had a reason to ask legitimate questions about who is allowed into Canada and why. Last year, in answering an order paper question by Conservative MP Laila Goodridge, which was reported by Postmedia, the Canada Border Services Agency responded that the federal government had lost track of almost 30,000 people who failed to appear for deportation proceedings. Similarly, auditor general Karen Hogan reported in 2020 that the federal government had lost track of the whereabouts of over 34,000 foreigners ordered deported from Canada, including almost 3,000 criminal cases. All the way back in 2003, then-auditor general Sheila Fraser reported that Ottawa had lost track of 36,000 people the federal government had ordered deported, adding that mismanagement of deportees was encouraging illegal immigration. Obviously this is a chronic problem within the federal government that never gets resolved, but concern about losing track of foreign deportees is but one reason to be concerned about Canada's immigration system. In 2024, for example, internal government documents obtained by The Canadian Press revealed that in announcing a significant boost to its immigration targets in 2022, the Trudeau government ignored warnings from its own public servants that doing so would increase the cost of housing and negatively impact Canada's already beleaguered health-care system. That, of course, is exactly what happened with then-prime minister Trudeau eventually conceding the higher immigration targets had gone 'far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb' and was 'something that we need to get back under control,' which the Liberals belatedly attempted to do. One presumes Trudeau and the Liberals didn't consider themselves to be racists in doing so.
