Outspoken Onley a new viceregal model

“Ontario’s lieutenant-governor explained why he agreed to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s controversial prorogation request and the sky has not fallen.[…]Lt. Gov. David Onley justified his controversial decision in some detail. Our viceregal representative asserted that he defended the Constitution and its conventions by upholding the traditions of responsible government,” co-wrote Lorne Sossin, dean of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in the Ottawa Citizen Jan. 21. “In speaking out about prorogation, the lieutenant-governor knew that he was breaking with recent tradition. We commend him for doing so.” Read full story.

Do election attack ads work?
As much as people complain about negative political ads, one expert says they are effective. “They do have a limit,” admits Dennis Pilon, York University political science professor, in News1130 Jan. 21. “We’ve seen in the past where people are fed up with a government, no amount of attack ads is going to turn the tide.”…Pilon says the ads are very effective in reinforcing ideas that people already believe to be true about a political party, and they can also influence the all-important undecided voter. Read full story.

Laurentian, Ryerson see highest rise in university applications
Preliminary figures released Monday by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre showed that the number of high school students applying to first-year programs in the fall climbed by 2.4 per cent over the previous year, reported The Globe and Mail Jan. 21….Not every university saw applications increase, however. York University had a 1.8 per cent drop in applications from last year. Read full story.