Canadians eager to slake Brazil’s thirst for everything

Talk to just about any Canadian business leader eyeing Brazil these days, and an unexpected theme emerges: optimism, wrote The Globe and Mail Jan. 26…. And increasingly, Canadians want in.

“Brazil is a long-term market,” said [Professor Emeritus] Ed Dosman, a senior research fellow at York University [York Centre for International & Security Studies], who has studied Latin America for more than four decades. He cites Molson Coors Brewing Co.’s money-losing purchase in 2002 of the Brazilian brewer Kaiser as an example of what can happen when companies lack a deep knowledge of the market. Read full story.

Publicly funded clinics aid weight loss: Study

The introduction of publicly funded weight-loss clinics is key to helping Canadians like [Toronto Mayor] Rob Ford, according to a York University researcher, wrote the Toronto Sun Jan. 26. “Obesity is a medical condition, not just a social problem, therefore the Canadian health-care system should have some responsibility in treating it,” said Dr. Sean Wharton, lead author of a newly released study on obesity management and member of York University’s Faculty of Health. Read full story.

  • Obesity specialists from York University have written a new article, calling upon the public healthcare system to pay for obese people to receive weight management treatments, wrote CBC News Jan. 26, in the introduction to an audio clip of an interview with Dr. Sean Wharton, adjunct professor in York’s Faculty of Health and director of Wharton Medical Clinic. He explained why he’s making the argument. Listen.

Shoot early for better success in NBA, study finds

Tom Oliveri, head coach of the York University Lions, says statistics lie in the case of a new study that says NBA players are better off shooting than passing, reports the Toronto Star Jan. 26. “I think it’s ridiculous,” Oliveri says with a laugh. “The bottom line is basketball, by the essence of its nature, is a team sport.” Read full story.

 Métro a no-go for disabled travellers

Laurence Parent [MA’10] advances her motorized wheelchair to the top of the escalator at Beaubien métro station and gazes down at the platform far below, wrote the Montreal Gazette Jan. 26, in a story about the graduate of York’s graduate studies program in Critical Disability, who is also vice-president of the Regroupement des activistes pour l’inclusion au Québec. The group has lodged complaints with Quebec’s Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, writes the Montreal Gazette Jan. 26. Read full story.

‘Dirty oil’? Nonsense: It’s a bargain

I recall federal Environment Minister Peter Kent branding the tarsands “ethical oil”, wrote Albert Koehl, an environmental lawyer and professor of natural resources law at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in a satirical article for the Hamilton Spectator Jan. 26. This puts a smile on my face. I’m not supporting some evil Middle Eastern dictator – I’m doing my part to make the world a better place. Read full story.

‘One of the most rocking folk albums of the year’

One of Gareth Auden-Hole‘s recurring childhood memories involves his mother’s determined efforts to cultivate jack pine at the family cottage in Northern Ontario, wrote the Ottawa Citizen Jan. 26, in a story about the York grad [BA Hons. ’04] and his band, Jack Pine and the Fire, and their self-titled album. Read full story.

COBA offers true rhythm

The Collective of Black Artists, or COBA was founded 20 years ago and is still growing, wrote The Caribbean Camera Jan. 25. “Our mandate from day one was to present the finest traditions of African aesthetics,” says BaKari Lindsay [MA ’04, BEd ’06]. Read full story.

Voyeur chased from washroom

In what Toronto Police believe to be the voyeur’s third-known stakeout of women’s washrooms, a man was chased Tuesday evening from the Steacie Science Library, wrote the Toronto Sun Jan. 26. “It’s disturbing, it’s heinous…a sick one,” Wallace Pidgeon, spokesperson for the 55,000-student University, said Wednesday. Read full story.

  • The suspect’s description matches that of a man, left, who allegedly spied on women in campus washrooms earlier this month, wrote 24 Hours, Jan. 26.