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Thursday, July 17, 2025

Liberal MPs accuse Roman Baber of being “alt-right” after winning Conservative nomination

By
Noah Jarvis
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The former Ontario MPP and Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership candidate Roman Baber has been nominated as the Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of York Centre, drawing scrutiny from Liberal MPs.

In an announcement posted to X (formerly Twitter), Baber thanked York Centre’s Conservative membership for nominating him as their candidate and committed himself to flipping the seat from Liberal to Tory.

However, backbench Liberal MP Gerretsen took issue with Baber’s nomination, accusing the Conservatives of selecting an “alt-right” candidate too extreme for Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives.

“Just so we are clear how far @PierrePoilievre has taken the federal Conservative Party to the alt-right: This guy is his candidate,” said Gerretsen.

“@fordnation: I know we are a populist party and generally embrace wild conspiracy theories to garner votes, but there is NO WAY we can keep Baber in our caucus – he is even too alt-right for us!”

The nomination of Baber gives the Conservatives another high-profile candidate going into the next general election as Baber has served as an MPP for York Centre in the past while also being nationally recongnized as a result of his leadership campaign.

Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed piled on to Gerretsen’s attacks, adding that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is building a “pro-convoy, anti-science, misogynist, rage-farming coalition.”

Baber took to X to rebuff the attacks against him, warning of anti-semitism in the Liberal Party for attacking a Jew as being “alt-right.”

“So a Jew whose family suffered in the Holocaust, is an alt-right misogynist for saying no one should be forced to inoculate against their will? Anti-semitism thrives in the woke 

@liberal_party,” said Baber.

The term “alt-right” refers to an alternative form of far-right politics committed to the goals of white nationalism and extreme identity politics, and is opposed to the conventional beliefs of liberals and conservatives.

Baber had built his image in politics advocating for civil liberties and his belief in “democratic conservatism.”

In 2018, Baber was elected as a Progressive Conservative MPP before he was expelled from caucus in 2021 after publicly advocating for a balanced response to the Covid-19 pandemic and an end to lockdowns and mandates which he viewed as harmful.

After Erin O’Toole had been turfed as the CPC’s leader in Febuary 2022, Baber had launched a campaign for the CPC leadership, centring his message on democratic values and civil liberty concerns. 

Despite Baber losing the Conservative leadership to Pierre Poilievre, the two have remained close political allies, leading to Baber announcing he would be seeking the Conservative nomination for York Centre in April 2023.

Despite securing a high-profile candidate for the York Centre riding, Baber faces an uphill battle, as the Liberals have won York Centre 20 times in the past 21 elections and in four successive elections.

Currently, the seat is held by Justin Trudeau’s minister of mental health Ya’ara Saks who had won re-election in 2021, beating the second place Conservative by nearly 10 points. 

However, 338Canada.com, the polling aggregator site, estimates that if an election were to be held today, the outcome would be a toss-up, giving the Conservatives a 53% chance to win and the Liberals a 47% chance to win.

The Daily Brief | Convicted sex offender released from jail – again

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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A convicted sex offender who lived at an autistic childcare centre in Ontario has been released from jail – again.

Plus, a British Columbia tribunal has sided with a daycare that ejected unvaccinated children during the pandemic.

And rent in Canada continues to spike as the housing crisis worsens.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Elie Cantin-Nantel!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF 

LAWTON: Climate catastrophism has to stop (ft. Joe Oliver)

By
Andrew Lawton
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Source: Flickr

We’re told not to question the government’s global warming narrative because “the science is settled.” Except it isn’t – not when the “science” is often just politically charged climate catastrophism. Former finance minister Joe Oliver joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to explain why the science is not, in fact, settled, and how overblown climate policies are leading to unnecessary economic strain.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

LEVY: The TDSB’s “culture of terror” under Colleen Russell-Rawlins

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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Lawyer Julian Falconer called out the “culture of fear” at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in his $1-million report in 2008.

Respected education consultant Margaret Wilson reiterated that sentiment following her review in 2015, stating that the “culture of fear” is so endemic to the board that many staff are too afraid to use board email addresses out of concern of being monitored.

That was when Donna Quan was director and left only two years into her term amid allegations of financial mismanagement– walking away with a $600,000 payout.

Fast forward to 2023. 

It seems that was nothing compared to the environment under the current black activist education director Colleen Russell-Rawlins, sources insist.

Many working for the board say they now face a “culture of terror.”

Russell-Rawlins came to the TDSB in the summer of 2021 from the Peel District School Board where sources say during her one year as interim director, she permitted black activists with the Peel Black Lives Matter movement and “anti-oppression” consultant Kike Ojo-Thompson to call the shots with their toxic anti-white agenda.

The terror is so profound, say a series of principals who wish to remain anonymous out of concern for their jobs, they are often left “frozen in fear” that they might be called out for some unsubstantiated act of racism or microaggression.

I met with four TDSB principals recently in the wake of the tragic suicide of their colleague Richard Bilkszto, which they say has left them reeling but not surprised that a TDSB educator could be driven over the edge.

The 24-year principal took his own life in mid-July. 

His family and his lawyer, Lisa Bildy, have claimed he suffered from immense stress and anxiety after he was humiliated in front of 200 of his peers and board administrators by Ojo-Thompson.

At the two 2021 DEI sessions during which he was targeted by the KOJO Institute director as a white supremacist and a “weed,” not one of his peers rose to his defense, Bilkzsto’s much publicized court claim says.

Even though an WSIB adjudicator ruled that the speaker’s conduct was “abusive, egregious and vexatious” and could be considered “workplace harassment and bullying” the highly celebrated educator was subsequently isolated and shut out of several part-time contracts by a series of superintendents under Russell-Rawlins’ leadership.

The four principals who met with me say they’ve either been subjected to the same toxic treatment and egregious punishment by administrators who want to make them scapegoats. Or they’ve observed it meted out to others.

“All of us are terrified,” the four principals agreed. “We sit in our offices afraid (we could be next.)”

They painted a picture of a board culture where gaslighting is common; incestuousness is rampant, hiring and promotional activity is based on skin color and adherence to the woke mandate and white principals are left hung out to dry (often for manufactured issues) with little recourse. 

I sent a series of questions outlining their concerns to Russell-Rawlins through board spokesman Ryan Bird.

He said that while they appreciate the opportunity, they don’t have any further comment “beyond existing statements from the past week or so.”

One statement on July 27 announced that the board has launched an investigation into the Bilkszto affair using their own contractor. That made it obvious the real problems at the board – which stem from Russell-Rawlins’ leadership and that of her acolytes – would not be investigated.

That was reinforced by a clearly tone deaf statement from Russell-Rawlins the very next day, reinforcing their commitment to anti-black racism training.

One principal said there have been several principals and vice principals sent home under the director’s leadership–certainly more than the 10, the director has claimed. They have been forced to cool their heels with no communication for months or years, the principal said.

This principal said they’re off for “ridiculous accusations of racism” and are unable to defend themselves because every time they do they are “called racist.”

A number of them are off due to stress and fear of potential allegations.

“The culture of terror is real,” this principal said.

Another principal, who attended our meeting, said they were left to sit at home for months while the board investigated an event at their school for which they had no connection.

Despite that, the principal, who had an exemplary record, was disciplined. “You’re just sent home and completely isolated in a hole that you can’t dig out of,” they said.

Like Bilkszto, this principal also contemplated suicide.

In three decades with the board, one principal said they’ve “never ever seen anything like it.”

“Colleen Russell-Rawlins has made the system so divisive,” they said.

“They’re like Mean Girls,” said the long-time principal of the largely racialized administrators hired since Russell-Rawlins came to the board.

“They’re not professional at all… they don’t do their jobs, they just squash you and silence you in meetings.”

Another principal took a stress leave last year after being harassed repeatedly by black activists in the community (empowered by the board’s senior management team)  for an incident that occurred at school.

The principal jumped through hoops to rectify the situation and said that at meetings the activists chastised, demeaned and ridiculed them while their superiors stood by and let it happen.

With everything that has happened and the Ontario Principals Council being weak and ineffectual, they say they have to “protect each other.”

I asked them how they manage to do their jobs everyday with so many distractions and so much fear of saying or doing the wrong thing.

They all said they give it their best despite that being like a “band-aid on a jugular bleed.”

“We do our best to protect our kids,” they agreed. “We have to make sure they’re learning and are safe.”

Former CSIS officers call for all documents to be handed over to foreign interference inquiry

By
Quinn Patrick
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Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officers are calling for all transcripts and documents to be handed over to the public inquiry into alleged Chinese interference in Canadian elections, should it be officially launched.

The Pillar Society, an organization for retired CSIS officers, has been joined by former members of the RCMP who also believe that a public inquiry could only be properly executed with complete access to any evidence that may prove Prime Minister Trudeau was in fact informed about election interference in 2019 and 2021. 

The Pillar Society believes that further delays in calling for a public inquiry will only hurt the possibility of it eventually happening.  

“The momentum that was there in the spring may have lapsed a bit and I think Canadians won’t be well-served if we don’t end up having an inquiry,” said Dan Stanton, a member of the Pillar Society’s board of directors. “I think we will find the answers of whether anyone briefed the Prime Minister or not.”

“Did he get wind of the fact that these ridings were being targeted by the PRC [People’s Republic of China] because they were Conservative and I think those answers are going to be possibly in the cabinet papers. To simply say he wasn’t briefed doesn’t really answer the question of was he aware of it,” said Stanton.

There is frustration within the intelligence community, according to Stanton, saying it’s due to cabinet ministers and senior officials denying that they read secret documents that explained the magnitude of PRC election interference.

“What was really disheartening in the testimony that was given where it seemed that very senior people including cabinet ministers didn’t read the reports because nobody phoned them to say. ‘You need to read this,’” said Stanton.

In July 2021, CSIS issued an assessment warning to Trudeau’s national-security advisor at the time, saying that Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and his relatives were being targeted by the PRC. The warning was also sent to three deputy ministers. 

In June, a parliamentary committee spoke with the three deputy ministers as well as Trudeau’s then security advisor regarding the warning. Under testimony, the three deputy ministers all claimed to have never read the assessment. 

David Morrison, Trudeau’s security advisor at the time said he did read the July, 2021 memo however he didn’t relay the information to Prime Minister Trudeau because he didn’t feel the warning was a call to action.

In May, 2021, Bill Blair, who was then acting public safety minister, received a top-secret document regarding threats to Chong but said he never read the document nor recalls receiving it. Blair claims that CSIS director David Vigneault ultimately was responsible for informing Trudeau of the problem.

Chong believes that the Pillar Society is correct in identifying that the Liberal government’s key failure was not handling these threats with the severity of the risks they posed. 

“These are not documents written by an academic or civil society group. These are documents presented to the government by the head of our national-security agency,” said Chong. “And that is why we need an independent public inquiry.”

The Liberal government does seem to be slowly taking foreign interference more seriously, according to Stanton, who commended the newly created cabinet committee on national security. 

The official launching of a public inquiry has been in talks for almost two months following David Johnston’s resignation as special rapporteur on Beijing’s interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. The delayed launch is primarily due to the difficulty of finding someone to act as its commissioner, with at least 6 sitting or retired judges declining the offer so far. In addition, the Liberals have to appoint someone in agreement with the opposition parties.

Average rents spike to $2,078 nationally: report

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The average rent in Canada reached a high of $2,078 in July, according to a new report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. 

This is an increase of 8.9% from the same month last year, and the highest rate of growth reported in three months.

The report also found that rent also rose by 1.8% from June to July, the largest monthly jump in the last eight months. Compared to July 2020, the average asking rent was up by 21%, or $354 extra per month.

The report cited several factors behind the rising rents, such as the high demand from post-secondary students who are looking for housing before the fall semester, the influx of new residents and worsening affordability of home ownership as interest rates have increased.

“Canada’s rental market is currently facing a perfect storm of factors driving rents to new highs,” said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation.

“These include the peak season for lease activity, an open border policy for new residents, quickly rising incomes, and the worst ever home ownership affordability conditions.”

This is the second month in a row where prices have edged even higher.

Rental.ca’s June report found a 1.4% increase in rents from May.

“The 1.4% increase in rents from May represented the fastest month-over-month increase so far this year, causing the annual rate of rent inflation to accelerate to 7.5% from the 6.5% annual rate recorded in May,” wrote Rentals.ca.

“Annual rent inflation in June remained below the double-digit growth experienced during most of 2022 and early 2023. However, additional upward pressure on rents occurred as the population expanded at a record pace, the unemployment rate remained near a record low, and homebuyers became more cautious with more interest rate increases.”

The Bank of Canada hiked its overnight rate to a 22-year high in July as it continues to try to meet its 2% inflation mandate by curtailing consumer spending. 

While the BoC credits the surge of newcomers to help with labour shortages across the country, it states immigrants are adding to the demand for housing.

“Strong population growth from immigration is adding both demand and supply to the economy: newcomers are helping to ease the shortage of workers while also boosting consumer spending and adding to demand for housing,” wrote the central bank in a news release on Wednesday.

Inbound migration into Calgary making the city unaffordable

By
Quinn Patrick
-

Calgary is a city that is becoming increasingly difficult to live in when it comes to the cost of housing; even finding a place to rent is a challenge unto itself. 

The Trudeau government has expanded its immigration targets which has not only brought more people to the city but also caused a spike in interprovincial migration. 

The pandemic also played a role in people wanting to move to cities that can offer a larger living space, adding pressure to cities like Calgary.

In Calgary, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment rose by 14.5% in July compared to July 2022, a higher spike than seen in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. Citywide, rents have gone up by 25%, according to data from the City of Calgary. Rent for a two-bedroom place had previously only increased by 16.3% from 2012-2021.

In order to afford a two-bedroom apartment, one would have to earn $29.51 per hour which is almost double the minimum wage in Alberta.

According to the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB), median home prices are also on the rise, up almost 16% from 2021, whereas they had only increased 28% over the previous 10 years.

The City of Calgary assembled a housing and affordability task force to gain insight into the problem and advise on policy recommendations. The task force discovered that over 80,000 households in Calgary are paying at least one third of their income on housing and that a tenth of residents are at risk of homelessness.

Those who earn less than $87,000 annually can only access about 40% of the city’s housing market, according to the task force. 

StatsCan said that in 2020 the median individual income was $44,250 with 75% of residents earning under $80,000 per year. 

The task force is recommending that the city increase and diversify housing supply, strengthen their ties with the housing sector and improve living conditions for those who rent. 

In June, City Council rejected their recommendations leading to a large backlash from Calgary residents which forced them to reverse their initial decision. Calgary city council said they will review the recommendations again later this fall. 

Calgary has received more than 100,00 new residents in the last 4 years and another 110,00 are expected to migrate in the coming 4 years, said the task force. 

“If the federal government is bringing in half a million immigrants per year and we know that a healthy vacancy rate is what helps to keep supply-side housing in an affordable place, you better be building half a million houses,” said Coun. Courtney Walcott, whose ward consists of both established and inner city neighbourhoods. 

Walcott said he would like to see a “wartime effort” approach to building new homes in Calgary. 

“Purpose-built rentals will always be in demand because it is a housing style that is protected from the ebbs and flows of the economy. … Affordable rental is the backstop that is required for the entire economy to not lose housing as a basic need.” he said. 

Alberta has received around 46,000 interprovincial migrants between 2022 and 2023, a record high, according to StatsCan.

Post-secondary students are also having trouble finding appropriate accommodations as well. At least 740 students are currently on a waitlist for on-campus housing at several of the city’s universities and colleges. 

There are 50 students on a waitlist for on-campus housing at Mount Royal University, which Mark Keller, director of residences services for the university calls “unprecedented.”

“I think the main driving factor is the rental market in Calgary. I think a lot of students who would be looking to live off-campus are finding it harder to find accommodations off-campus, particularly affordable accommodations,” said Keller. 

“Students often live at the edges of the city so that they can simply afford to be here, and they’ll bear the cost of transportation because they can at least divert that to a later point,” said Walcott. 

“I want them to be able to live a high-quality life near those institutions, near the amenities, instead of having to drive as far as they can just to make sure they have a roof over their head.” he added.

Detective who investigated safety of Covid shot continues to fight to clear her name

By
Jason Unrau
-

Even as evidence has emerged about the Covid vaccine’s dangerous side-effects, particularly for expectant and nursing mothers and their babies, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) are going ahead with prosecuting their own detective for investigating links between the vaccine and nine sudden infant deaths (SIDS) in the region.

On Monday, detective Helen Grus of OPS’ child abuse unit will attempt to defend herself against the July 2022 discreditable conduct charge without several key pieces of evidence, namely related autopsy reports and internal investigation particulars against her, which have been denied by retired superintendent Chris Renwick, acting tribunal trials officer.

This past April, Grus’ lawyer Bath-shéba van den Berg unsuccessfully argued at the Police Services Act tribunal for access to this evidence and to subpoena a local CBC News reporter to determine the source of an internal OPS leak that fueled reportage that van den Berg maintains precipitated formal charges against her client.

Grus’ official charge reads that she “acted in a disorderly manner prejudicial to discipline or likely to bring discredit upon the reputation of OPS (in a) self-initiated, unauthorized project” by accessing the infant death cases and attempting to determine the Covid vaccine status of a mother. At the April hearing, van den Berg disputed that this behaviour amounted to a breach of the Police Services Act.

“Ultimately the allegations in the discreditable conduct charge must answer the question precisely: what is it that Detective Grus is supposed to have done that was unlawful? Pursuant to what section of the OPS policy?” asked van den Berg at the April 28, 2023 motion hearing.

“It needs to be very specific. And if this question is not answered, with clarity, then the particulars are required and that’s what we’re asking. We’re asking for what is it exactly that she has done that’s unlawful. What, what policies has she breached?”

But OPS are only providing few specifics to Grus’ and her lawyer, the handful of journalists covering the case and for the wider public. Additionally, after a September 2022 hearing held in downtown Ottawa, without explanation OPS ceased its online simulcast of ongoing proceedings and since moved the tribunal to a police station located on the outskirts of the city in Kanata.

Further, in response to a request for Renwick’s decisions on van den Berg’s motions for evidentiary disclosure and to subpoena CBC Ottawa reporter Shaamini Yogaretnam, OPS claimed, “There are no written materials to share with the community at this time, except for the Notice of Hearing from last year.”

But that doesn’t seem to be the case, according to former Toronto Police sergeant and detective Donald Best who has been following the Grus’ case since she was suspended in February of 2022 for insubordination while an internal investigation of her SIDS detective work was already underway. Best has wrote an ongoing series of scathing articles about the case beginning in August that same year.

Best told True North that he was able to extract a batch of five documents from the OPS, which he shared for this story–including Renwick’s motion decisions–after writing directly to Renwick in July.

Both Best and van den Berg allege that the internal police leaks to Yogaretnam were illegal.

“Because police officers criminally gave (Yogaretnam) the information, which resulted in the public outrage, which resulted in Grus being charged,” said Best. “It’s as simple as that.”

The former police detective is also baffled that Grus was charged at all, given the investigative discretion bestowed to all police officers.

“Police can operate independently within the law and within the rules and politicians are not allowed to direct them. A fourth-class constable on his or her first day on the job has all the authority to initiate any investigation they want to from parking tickets to homicide,” Best explained.

“They may not have the experience. But they have the authority independently. So if anyone says to a police officer ‘don’t investigate this, or stop investigating that’ they better have a damn good, justifiable reason.”

Renwick’s motion decisions also dismissed van den Berg’s application that OPS investigate the source of the leaks and dismissed related applications for disclosure of internal investigation notes, including “details of meetings/ communications between personnel from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and OPS personnel.”

While van den Berg and her client have declined multiple media requests for comment throughout Grus’ trial-by-media and formal tribunal proceedings that followed discreditable conduct charge, CBC Ottawa has also gone silent on its coverage of Grus.

The last of three stories the Yogaretnam published for CBC Ottawa about Grus appeared on March 31, 2022. CBC did not respond to True North’s questions about the failed attempt by Grus’ lawyer to subpoena its reporter; the network’s radio silence on the story it originally broke or whether it or its journalists were aware of serious side effects that the Covid vaccine has already caused.  

PHAC has already admitted that the Covid vaccines are responsible for nearly 11,000 “serious adverse events” of which include five cases of “fetal growth restriction” and 88 “spontaneous abortions”, or miscarriages. 

In January 2022, a US court-ordered release of confidential Pfizer documents regarding its BNT162b2 Covid vaccine revealed that both the drug company and US Food and Drug Administration were aware of serious side effects for pregnant and nursing mothers. According to the documents, of 458 expectant mothers who received the shots, more than half experienced adverse events and 53 mothers (or 11.6%) suffered from miscarriages.

Of the 215 nursing mothers monitored by Pfizer after taking the shots for the company’s “Pregnancy and Lactation Cumulative Review,” 20% of the lactating women experienced adverse events, some as serious as lymphadenopathy (lymph node swelling), blurred vision and facial paralysis while six infants experienced swollen skin and rashes, suggesting the shots can transfer from mother to child via breast milk.

When True North reached out to OPS for comment, they provided the same batch of documents that it earlier provided Best; documents it claimed were not available for public consumption.

True North will be covering the case and will be providing updates in the coming days.

The Rupa Subramanya Show | Cancelled for challenging the “science” (Ft. Simon Goddek)

By
Rupa Subramanya
-

During the pandemic, Canadians were told ad nauseam to “trust the science.” It didn’t matter if the rules didn’t make any sense – scientists knew best. But what happens when scientists start to challenge the “science?” That’s exactly what Dr. Simon Goddek did.

Dr. Goddek is a biotechnologist, author, researcher, entrepreneur, and citizen journalist, 2023 Brownstone Fellow and the CEO of Sunfluencer. Dr. Goddek was fired from various universities in Europe during the pandemic for publishing an academic paper on how Vitamin D could potentially treat Covid. He challenged the Covid narrative and as a result, his life changed forever.

Dr. Goddek joined The Rupa Subramanya Show to share his story. Tune in now!

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OP-ED: AI, the Destruction of Thought and the End of the Humanities

By
Christopher Snook
-

Diversity statements are one of the many things that go for a dime a dozen these days. Part of the application packages for professorial appointments at Canadian universities, these statements (supplemented by cover letters, CVs, teaching reviews, sample syllabi, etc.) ask candidates to affirm the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in higher education. Those keenly committed to DEI initiatives regard diversity statements as an indispensable tool for assessing whether a prospective candidate has a sophisticated grasp of institutional priorities. Cynics in the academic world view them as make-work projects whose lack of subtlety smacks of a moral purity test and is expressly hostile to the work of higher education.

Regardless of one’s viewpoint, an original diversity statement is hard to come by. As a quick Google search reveals, the best advice on diversity statements lacks much in the way of diversity. So too do the templates exhorting applicants to be honest and original while largely reproducing an uncontroversial set of rhetorical commitments: centring the de-centred voices of marginalized groups, exploding canons of taste, implicit or explicit critiques of colonialism, creating “safe spaces” in the classroom, aligning oneself with an historically disenfranchised community, and guarding against microaggressions.

Welcome to the machine: Many in higher education first considered AI technology like ChatGPT a threat, an excuse for students to outsource the hard work of research and writing; now it’s more often seen as a valuable labour-saving device and teaching aid. (Source of photos: Pexels)

In March of this year Patrick Hrdlicka, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Idaho, asked the world’s most famous AI platform, ChatGPT, to produce a sample diversity statement. Given the reputation of OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) for producing passable prose, it’s not surprising Hrdlicka’s prompt delivered an adequate DEI paper. ChatGPT’s highly readable diversity document captured the now-familiar catchphrases of universities, corporations and government bureaucracy: diversity is key to success, innovation depends on hearing every voice, we must be active listeners intentionally creating inclusive spaces, DEI is a way of life not just a way of work, and more. No critic of DEI initiatives himself, Hrdlicka’s brief post about his experience concludes by wondering whether new ways of measuring DEI commitment may be necessary in an AI-saturated world.

Concerns over AI saturation in the world of higher education had been echoing throughout the winter and into the early spring of 2023, though less with respect to AI and job applications than to student submissions. AI boosters hailed the new technology for its potential to help students struggling to produce essay drafts, outlines and thesis statements. Anti-AI “Cold Warriors” saw it as one more devastating technological blow to higher education that would undermine their efforts to help students acquire the habits of free and independent thought. Both sides were trying to determine appropriate methods of evaluation in a world where the production of AI texts by stressed, confused or uninterested students may soon expand from a trickle to a flood.

But while the debate over AI use in higher education – including in the classroom – has a certain practical urgency, the deeper risk lies in missing the extent to which AI is not merely a new tool but also a symptom of well-established trends in Canadian education. Namely, a largely unreflective accommodation of new technologies (even when they demonstrably undermine habits of learning) and a growing technocracy shaping the culture of campus conversation. From this perspective, ChatGPT’s aptitude for producing moralizing bureaucratic newspeak alongside passable papers on Shakespeare – largely inoffensive and generally uninspired – points to an existential crisis facing higher education in Canada.

Read the full op-ed at C2CJournal.ca.

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