Drug reviews mostly stay secret

Health Canada is keeping secret the vast majority of the drug reviews it conducts despite a clear promise from the federal minister to publish this critical safety information. . . . “This reflects the skewed priorities Health Canada has in thinking commercial confidentiality is more important than patient safety,” said York University Professor Joel Lexchin in the Toronto Star April 3. Read full story.

Markham interested in being home to York U campus
What has a better ring, Markham University or Vaughan University? During Tuesday’s development services committee meeting, Markham council announced its willingness to be the home of a future York University campus, reported the Markham Economist & Sun April 2. Read full story.

April 3: Canada’s PISA bragging rights – and other letters to the editor
“In December, your front-page headline proclaimed: ‘National Emergency’ As Canadians Fall Out Of Global Top 10 In Math,” wrote York University Faculty of Education instructor Jerry Diakiw in The Globe and Mail April 3. “Weeks of media lament about our ‘devastating’ decline followed. Yet, on Wednesday, you relegated the impressive new PISA results to an inside page (Canadian Teens Ace OECD Test).” Read full story.

Terence Corcoran: Flash Boys’ rigged tale ignores high frequency trading’s revolutionary effect on markets
Study after study has shown that high frequency trading has produced uncountable benefits to stock investors, making the prices they pay for stocks more accurate and less prone to manipulation than they had been in the past. Douglas Cumming at the Schulich School of Business at York University, working with associates, has produced a couple of those studies, reported the Financial Post April 2. Read full story.

Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario
Drawing on the artists’ own personal experiences during the London Blitz, the exhibition examines how confinement and angst fostered their extraordinary creativity and unique visions, reported Canadian Architect April 2. Guest curated by Dan Adler, professor of art history at York University, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty is the first Canadian exhibition of Bacon’s work. Read full story.

Giving an invaluable resource new energy
Suzanne Cook, who teaches in York University’s Department of Sociology, has extensively researched career development, meaningful work and activity during later life and how they contribute to personal growth, health and well-being while strengthening community. Just recently in Peterborough, Cook spoke on The New Retirement: How Older Adults Are Renewing the Community and Their Sense of Self, reported Peterborough This Week April 2. Read full story.

University of Toronto targets non-traditional university students
Only a few Canadian universities have transitional programs that offer access to people who wouldn’t normally qualify for university. One of the oldest is the Transitional Year Program at the University of Toronto, reported University Affairs April 2. Other universities with similar programs include Dalhousie University, which started around the same time as U of T and mainly focuses on increasing participation of Black and Aboriginal students, and York University, which started its program more recently, consulting with U of T on its development.” Read full story.

Don’t lose sight of the benefits of high-frequency trading by focusing on the abuses
“Overall, there is much evidence that indicates that high frequency traders provide significant benefits to exchanges and their investors in terms of enhanced market efficiency and quality,” wrote Douglas Cumming, professor and Ontario Research Chair at York University’s Schulich School of Business, in the Financial Post April 3. “Michael Lewis’s recent book focuses on the rogue element of HFT, which is part of the HFT story, but not the complete picture.” Read full story.