Opinion pitches (May 31)

Opinion pitches, hot of the press! 📰

May 31, 2022

Have no fear, Opinion pitches are here!

Have no fear, opinion pitches are here!

Hey everyone, Taylor here!I hope all of you have been able to get some sun and relax a bit as we lead into the end of May! For all you fellow Star Wars nerds out there, I hope you indulged in some Star Wars binging!I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I will be posting a poll in Discord so that we can plan the best time for our first Opinion group night! There will be one poll for the best day/time that works for everyone, and then there will be one poll for what activity everyone wants to do. Keep an eye out!If you haven't joined our Discord yet, here's a link: https://discord.gg/xeR9bhcy

As always, if you have any pitches for me, feel free to reach out!And now, without further ado, the pitches!

Bill 17Currently being discussed by the government of Alberta, the changes to Bill 17 would make it so that graduate students would not be able to choose their own representation and grant exclusive bargaining rights to the Graduate Students' Association. The GSA posted this statement on May 19. What would this mean for the future of grad students here at U of A? Should this pass, why or why not?

Athabasca University's board chair, Nancy Laird, lost her job May 26 after a dispute between herself and the Advanced Education Minister about possible ways to increase revenue at the university. What do you think of this dispute? What could this mean for U of A? Should politics mix with university?

Monkeypox Extra! Extra! A new outbreak has reached Canada! With cases currently in Ottawa and Quebec, is Monkeypox going to be the next COVID-19? What does this outbreak mean for the future of medicine? How is this going to affect society?

Alberta employment ratesAlberta's unemployment rate currently towers over other provinces in Canada, making the unemployment rate roughly the same as it was during the 2015 recession. What could this mean for the future of U of A graduates (among other university students)?

Self-driving carsTesla is having (mostly) self-driven cars test driven by people, including a handful of Canadians. You type in the address, and the car is programmed to take you there. Is this a good idea? Could there be set backs? Is this the future of transport? What's your take?