Two centuries ago, clergyman Thomas Malthus expounded the proposition that population always outruns food supply. He said population increases geometrically while food supply increases, at best, only arithmetically. Half a century ago the Green Revolution, enabling massive increases in agricultural production, allayed such fears. Arguably, however, it will be impossible to repeat that revolution. Even…
A better future awaits if we use this period of uncertainty to work on our mental, physical and career well-being
Dread isn’t too strong a word to describe the feelings many have about the winter about to start. The COVID-19 virus is reason enough to worry. There’s not much individuals can do about that except follow all the good advice about staying safe. However, there are two other major depressing impacts of COVID-19 that we…
Kevin Zentner turned his academic career around by getting involved, working with the less fortunate
In the weeks before his first University of Alberta classes in 2016, Kevin Zentner nervously paced the campus, trying to keep the acronyms straight. “I had no idea what everyone was saying when they said SUB or HUB or CAB or whatever else,” said Zentner. “It sounds funny but that anxiety was massive for me.”…
Many people take a long time to launch on adult life because they've never been taught to spend less than they make
“The first responsibility of adulthood is paying your own bills,” according to Jamaica Finance Minister Peter Phillips. That country has worked hard to wean itself of dependency on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is in a position to stand on its own feet economically. Paying your bills is a definition of adulthood that applies…
There’s already a strong engineering, finance and transportation capability in the province. We need to build on that in the new economy
A new study related to abandoned coal mining in the United Kingdom and the movement of displaced workers offers insight for Albertans. Not many of us read the online peer reviewed academic journal Nature Human Behaviour. That’s why occasionally perusing the back pages of The Economist makes sense. The Oct. 26, 2019, Economist reviews an…
Mounting student debt and irrelevant fields of study have left us with a frustrated and unproductive young population
Last summer, the federal government paid employers more than $200 million and up to 100 per cent of compensation to get them to hire students. If these young adults are Canada’s best and brightest – enjoying taxpayer-funded education – why are they so unappealing to employers that they have to be discounted to half price…
Editor’s note: Online health and safety training is a booming industry, but how can trainees be assured that private information that they must share is protected? In the second part of a series, Troy Media investigates the complex world of online proctoring, and what it might mean to people who take online courses and exams.…
The world has changed a lot but we still try to convince youth that they must go to expensive schools and take on debt that will burden them for years
The dream of future success is fading for many North American youth as higher education cost keeps rising. For example, according to official data, United States student loan debt increased from US$619 billion to US$1.56 trillion during the last decade. Canadian student loan debt exceeds $3 billion right now. Who’s at fault for the student…
That means we need corporate tax reductions and we must ease the regulatory path for businesses
There has been a lot of concern over the slow increase in living standards of the average Canadian over the past few decades. In the long run, economists say that the key to increasing real – corrected for inflation – wages is to increase productivity of those in the labour force. How to actually do…
There are still plenty of jobs at the low end of the pay scale. But wouldn't it be a better idea to simply upgrade your skills?
One day you head out to your favourite store and it isn’t there anymore. It could be a local specialty shop, part of a major chain or even a department store like Sears, whose stores and catalogues have been around seemingly forever. Retail outlets are disappearing all over, along with the jobs they provide. In…