You can’t libel the dead – but you can disparage them, wrote The Globe and Mail Oct. 10. In the most demagogic moment of the federal election campaign, NDP Leader Jack Layton erroneously compared Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper with R.B. Bennett, the Conservative prime minister during the Great Depression (1930-1935).
As historian Michiel Horn, professor emeritus at York’s Glendon College, observed in the Globe only a week ago, "the wily and able" [Liberal prime minister] Mackenzie King seriously misjudged the first months of the Depression. "Unemployment was rising but it always rose in the winter," Horn noted. "Periodic downturns in the business cycle were familiar events. [King] faced the election without fear." King was "unconcerned."
Bennett, on the other hand, called the Depression "the great dark days" of Canadian history, wrote the Globe. He won the election with his promise "to take whatever action is necessary to end [unemployment] or to perish in the attempt."
Schulich professor sees capital difficulties for BC infrastructure projects
James McKellar, professor of real property and infrastructure in the Schulich School of Business at York University, agreed on Thursday that P3s will continue to be the prevailing model for large construction, but was not as optimistic about the future, wrote The Vancouver Sun Oct. 10 in a story about the impact of the world financial crisis on provincial infrastructure building projects.
"The P3 business model was predicated on access to capital at fairly low interest rates and we’re now going to come out of a long period of low interest rates, and a little more volatility," he said. "I do think that what’s happening in the capital markets today is going to affect access to capital," he added. "I think some governments may be scaling back for a year or two."
Admissions staff promote York in Kirkland Lake
This past Wednesday was a big day for the students of Kirkland Lake District Composite School who were thinking of attending university after high school, wrote the Kirkland Lake Northern News Oct. 10.
Twenty-one universities from Ontario [including York University] had made an appearance inside the school’s cafeteria, and students and parents were invited to this event. The event provided information for every student’s questions and helped more than one student make a decision that wasn’t so easy to make before.
Osgoode student volunteers with the Basketeers
Over the past nine years, Basketeers has grown from 14 baskets and one Toronto shelter to more than 600 baskets in 15 shelters in Halton Region and the cities of Barrie, Stratford and Hamilton, as well as Toronto, wrote the Toronto Star Oct. 10 in a story about the volunteer group that that makes gift hampers for abused women starting new lives.
York student Tanya Nayler was working at a L’Oreal sale four years ago when she saw a woman buying an inordinate number of items. It turns out, the woman was stocking up for Basketeers. Intrigued, Nayler went to the Web site and asked her mom, Christine, about doing a basket for their annual Christmas project together. Tanya, 21, is now attending York’s Osgoode Hall Law School and continues to organize the Christmas Basketeers drive.
On air
- Alan Middleton, marketing professor in the Schulich School of Business at York University, spoke about the NDP advertising campaign strategy on CBC Radio (Sudbury) Oct. 9.