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People still wearing face masks while walking in the pedestrian lane along the intersection of Taft Avenue and Pedro Gil Street in Manila City on Wednesday (Sept. 14, 2022). OCTA Research
shows that a big chunk of the Filipino population will continue to wear face masks even if the spread of Covid-19 will be controlled.
PH, KSA agree to lift
deployment ban
starting Nov. 7
BY MARITA MOAJE
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have
signed an agreement lifting the ban on
the deployment of Filipino workers to
the Middle Eastern country starting No-
vember 7.
In a virtual press briefing on Tuesday
evening, Department of Migrant Work-
Contact Your Toronto Area Dealer
CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER FORDTO.CA
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 507
MASKS ON
ALFRED FRIAS / PNA
18
Maria in Vancouver:
Introducing The Next Big
ers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople said Filmmaker: Emir Khan Bautista
she signed a memorandum of agreement
with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Human
Resources and Social Development Ah- 24
mad Bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi after a bilat-
eral discussion. `
Charles III faces challenges at
“We are grateful to Minister Al-Rajhi
and the government of Saudi Arabia for home, abroad – and even in
sharing our concern for the rights of our defining what it means to be king
workers. Likewise, we intend to move Quiet quitting is a new
PAGE 13 name for an old method of
❱❱ PAGE 7 PH, KSA agree industrial action
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2 SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY

PRESTO
GIVES YOU MORE WAYS TO PAY!
Now hop aboard with the simple tap of your credit card on a PRESTO device.

No PRESTO card, no problem! Metrolinx has made paying for
transit more convenient using contactless credit card pay-
ment options.
There’s good news for transit riders in the Greater Golden
Horseshoe. You can now pay for rides on Brampton Transit,
GO Transit, MiWay and Oakville Transit by simply tapping
your
credit card, including cards on your phone or watch, directly
on a PRESTO device. Only on GO Transit, please remember
to tap off as well, with the same card, phone or watch you
used to tap on. Or you might be charged twice for one trip.
On GO Transit, you will be charged the equivalent of an adult
PRESTO card fare. On Brampton Transit, MiWay and Oakville
Transit, the fare charged will be the same as a cash fare.
The introduction of this new credit payment option follows a
successful pilot on UP Express where riders can tap on and
off with a credit or debit card, including cards on their phone
or watch. And before you ask, yes, PRESTO does have plans
to roll out more credit and debit payment options to other
transit agencies in the future. Until then, if you’re transferring
to a transit agency that doesn’t accept credit cards you will
need to pay with another accepted form of payment.
Why pay twice for one trip?
If you tried tapping on with a credit card and the PRESTO
device indicates the payment was not accepted, try adding
your credit card to the mobile wallet on your phone or watch
to pay. If you’re still having trouble, please check with your
bank to ensure your credit card is ready for use on transit.
Transaction History – Credit Cards
Your credit card transaction history becomes available within
a day on the PRESTO website or app. There are two ways to
sign in using your credit card:
1. With a PRESTO Account: create a registered PRESTO
account to safely remember your login info for quick and
easy access to the last 180 days of your transaction history.
2. Anonymous: you’ll need to enter your card identification
each time you sign in to see the last 7 days of your transac-
tion history.
If you’ve tapped with a debit card in a mobile wallet on UP
Express, you can check your bank account to see your
charges. Your transaction history will not be available on the
PRESTO website or app.
For more information about using contactless credit cards on
transit, please visit contactless.prestocard.ca.

Tapping How-to
The PRESTO devices on Brampton Transit, GO Transit, MiWay
and Oakville Transit can accept both PRESTO cards and
credit cards, and UP Express PRESTO devices also accept
debit cards, including cards on your phone and watch – so
tap only the card you want to use to pay your fare. To make
sure the PRESTO device reads the correct card, it’s important
to take the card you want to pay with out of your wallet,
purse or phone case and then tap only that card onto a
PRESTO device. Taking your card out to tap ensures you pay
with the right card.
When travelling on GO Transit or UP Express, please remem-
ber to tap off at your destination with the same card, phone
or watch you used to tap on. For example, if you tap on a
credit card, you must tap off with the same credit card. If you
tap on with your phone or watch, tap off with the same
phone or watch using the same card set up in your mobile
wallet. This avoids any possible duplication of fare payment.

www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
PBBM extends state of calamity until year-end
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has
signed a proclamation extend-
ing the period of state calamity
throughout the Philippines due
to the coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19) until Dec. 31, 2022.
“Now, therefore, I Ferdi-
nand R. Marcos Jr., President
of the Philippines, by the virtue
of the powers vested in me by
the Constitution and existing
laws, do hereby further extend
the declared State of Calamity
throughout the Philippines ef-
fective 13 September 2022 to 31
December 2022, unless earlier
lifted or extended as circum-
stances may warrant,” Marcos
said in Proclamation No. 57.
Marcos enjoined all govern-
ment agencies and local gov-
ernment units (LGUs) to con-
tinue rendering full assistance
to and cooperation with each
other and mobilize the neces-
sary resources to undertake
PBBM OKs EO halting DBM warns
land amortization, interest public against
payments of ARBs fraudulent
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency solicitation schemes
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
has made true his promise of
unburdening farmers of their
debts with the signing of an
executive order (EO) imposing
a yearlong moratorium on the
payment of land amortization
and interest payments.
In a press release, the De-
partment of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) announced that Mar-
cos signed the EO on Tuesday,
which is also the day he cele-
brates his 65th birthday.
“Marcos, Jr. today signed the
Executive Order imposing a
year-long moratorium on pay-
ments on the annual amorti-
zation and interest payments
of ARBs for agricultural lands
distributed under the Compre-
hensive Agrarian Reform Pro-
critical, urgent, and appropri-
ate disaster response aid and
measures in a timely manner to
curtail and eliminate the threat
of Covid-19.
He also directed all law en-
forcement agencies, with the sup-
port from the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, to continue under-
taking all necessary measures to
ensure peace and order in affect-
ed areas, as may be necessary.
Marcos signed Proclamation
No. 57 on Tuesday following the
recommendation of the Nation-
al Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council to fur-
ther extend the declared state
of calamity “in order for the na-
tional government and LGUs to
continuously deliver Covid-19
related interventions, such as,
but not limited to Covid-19 vac-
cination program; utilize ap-
propriate funds, including the
Quick Response Fund, in their
disaster preparedness and re-
sponse efforts to contain the
spread of Covid-19; monitor
and control prices of basic ne-
cessities and prime commodi-
gram (CARP),” the DAR said.
DAR Secretary Conrado Es-
trella III said the EO was signed
in preparation for the possible
passage of a law that would con-
done unpaid amortization and
... will receive
it “without any
obligation to pay
any amortization,
interests of agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs).
“We always think about the
farmers’ welfare. The one-year
moratorium and condonation of
farmers’ loan payment will lead to
A man receives his second Pfizer shot from a health worker at the Marikina City
Mega Vaccination Facility on Sept. 7, 2022. (RICO H. BORJA/PNA)
ties; and provide basic services
to the affected populations.”
On March 16, 2020, former
President Rodrigo Duterte
signed Proclamation No. 929
declaring a state of calamity
throughout the country for a
period of six months due to
Covid-19.
Duterte later extended the
period of state calamity for
one year from Sept. 13, 2020, to
freedom of farmers from debts,”
Estrella was quoted saying.
He also expressed willing-
ness to work and cooperate
with the Congress in amending
Section 26 of Republic Act 6657
or the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law of 1988.
It was during Marcos’ first
State of the Nation Address
(SONA) where he announced
that he intends to issue an EO to
impose a yearlong moratorium
on the payment of land amorti-
zation and interest payments.
“A moratorium will give the
farmers the ability to channel
their resources in developing
their farms, maximizing their ca-
pacity to produce, and propel the
growth of our economy,” Marcos
said in his SONA on July 25.
Marcos also appealed to
Congress to pass a law that will
amend Section 26 of RA 6657
❱❱ PAGE 7 PBBM OKs EO
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
Sept. 12, 2021, through Procla-
mation No. 1021.
He extended the state of ca-
lamity declaration for a third
time--from Sept. 13, 2021 to
Sept. 12, 2022, through Procla-
mation No. 1218.
On Monday, Press Secretary
Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the
state of calamity may be extend-
ed for “possibly three months
but only for the purpose of pre-
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Budget and Management
(DBM) on Monday warned
the public against falling for a
fraudulent solicitation scheme
involving people claiming to
be DBM officials or personnel
to collect money supposedly to
allow faster release of funds for
programs and projects.
In a press statement, the
DBM said some scammers have
been drafting documents and
asking local chief executives to
sign the requests, identify con-
tractors, and ask for money, un-
der the false pretense that the
release of the subject funds will
be expedited soonest.
“The DBM, under the lead-
3
serving the benefits under it
such as but not limited to the
indemnification, emergency
procurement, special risk allow-
ance for healthcare workers.”
Citing government data,
Cruz-Angeles said the country
is already “6 percent away from
the wall of immunity.”
Marcos earlier approved Ex-
ecutive Order No. 3 allowing
the voluntary wearing of face
masks in outdoor settings, par-
ticularly in open spaces and
non-crowded outdoor areas
with good ventilation.
Those who have yet to com-
plete their primary Covid-19
vaccination series, senior cit-
izens, and immunocompro-
mised persons are still “highly
encouraged” to use face masks.
Data from the National
Covid-19 Vaccination Dash-
board as of Sept. 12 showed that
over 72.7 million Filipinos have
completed their first and sec-
ond dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
Meanwhile, more than 18.6
million Filipinos have received
their booster shots. ■
ership of Secretary Amenah F.
Pangandaman, condemns such
fraudulent claims and activities,
and vows to coordinate with
proper authorities to investigate
and determine swiftly those who
are involved in this scam,” the
agency said in a statement.
“We shall neither tolerate
nor condone false represen-
tation and solicitation of this
nature in any way, form, oppor-
tunity, and manner, as the same
is considered illegal and unlaw-
ful,” it added.
The DBM said it is currently
coordinating with pertinent au-
thorities in conducting a thor-
ough investigation into these
illegal activities.
“We shall exert all efforts,
within the fullest extent of the
❱❱ PAGE 6 DBM warns public
4 Philippine News
Senate orders
DOLE to solve
perennial wage,
benefits issues
BY LEONEL ABASOLA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Labor and Employment must
look into persistent reports of
underpayment and lack of ben-
efits particularly in the private
sector, the Senate ordered on
Monday.
Senator Raffy Tulfo likewise
pushed for transparency in la-
bor disputes and strict moni-
toring of labor conditions, with
some workers reportedly still
receiving salaries below the
minimum wage.
At the organizational meet-
ing of the Committee on La-
bor, Employment and Human
Resources Development, Tulfo
said he has received complaints
of workers receiving daily wag-
es of PHP250, instead of the
minimum of P570, in the Na-
tional Capital Region.
“Hanapin nyo po ang mga
tao na hindi makakatanggap ng
maayos na sweldo. Karamihan
sa mga factory, patahian, con-
struction. PHP570 po ang min-
imum wage natin pero PHP250
po ang sahod nila. Sana ma-
achieve natin. Hindi po ito im-
posible (We have to look for
workers who are still receiving
PHP250, instead of PHP570.
They can be found in factories,
sewing companies, construc-
tion sites. I hope we can achieve
this. It is not impossible” Tulfo
told DOLE Secretary Bienveni-
do Laguesma.
Senator Raffy Tulfo (BIBO NUEVA ESPAÑA / SENATE PRIB VIA SENATE OF THE PHILIP-
PINES/FACEBOOK)
Other perennial labor prob-
lems are lack of benefits, haz-
ardous working conditions, no
13th-month pay, and non-re-
mittance of Social Security Sys-
tem contribution, Tulfo said.
He likewise urged DOLE to
conduct more transparent ne-
gotiations in dealing with labor
disputes, noting that it is a com-
mon practice for labor arbiters,
company representatives, and
complainants to meet behind
closed-doors, thus making it
impossible for the laborer to as-
sert his or her rights.
“Ang nangyayari po kasi,
sasabihin ng labor arbiter sa
complainant na tanggapin
na lang ang alok, kasi walang
transparency (What happens is
the labor arbiter will force the
complainant to accept the of-
fer of the company, because it is
not transparent),” Tulfo noted.
He suggested that DOLE in-
structs companies to post notic-
es, such as wages, working con-
ditions, overtime computations,
holiday pay, and other basic in-
formation, so as not to dupe the
workers, especially those com-
ing from the provinces.
Tulfo advised Gerardo
Nograles, the Administrator of
the National Labor Relations
Commission (NLRC), to rid the
agency of fixers and lazy sheriffs
who cause delays in solving cases.
Nograles, who has been with
the NLRC for 16 years, said he
has already initiated reforms to
remove fixers and for the sher-
iffs to shorten labor cases. ■
Filipino learners need to
catch up on science,
mathematics
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Expertise in sci-
ence and mathematics is a key
to economic progress, prompt-
ing Senator Sherwin Gatchalian
to file a measure that will estab-
lish high schools specializing in
these subjects in all provinces
nationwide.
Gatchalian said Senate Bill
No. 476 or the Equitable Access
to Math and Science Education
Act is aligned with the adminis-
tration’s directive to strengthen
focus on Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) in basic education.
“This specialized academ-
ic preparation opens doors to
critical thinking, financial lit-
eracy, and evidence-based deci-
sion-making and is highly crit-
ical to the improvement of the
nation’s economy as it relies on
a workforce proficient in math
and science,” Gatchalian said in
a news release on Monday.
Under the measure, all prov-
inces which do not have at least
Postponement of village,
SK polls hurdles 2nd
reading at House
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The House of
Representatives on Tuesday
passed on second reading a
measure seeking to postpone
the barangay and Sangguniang
Kabataan elections (BSKE)
scheduled on Dec. 5, 2022 to
Dec. 4, 2023.
During the plenary session,
the chamber approved via viva
voce House Bill 4673, which
proposes to allow the defer-
ment of this year’s BSKE and
move its date to the first Mon-
day of December 2023.
Under the measure, the sub-
www.canadianinquirer.net
one public math and science high
school shall work with the De-
partment of Education (DepEd)
to put up such institutions.
The schools shall implement
a six-year integrated junior-se-
nior high school curriculum
that focuses on advanced sci-
ence, mathematics, and tech-
nology subjects under the guid-
ance of DepEd and Department
of Science and Technology.
Graduates from the math and
science high schools shall be re-
quired to enroll in fields such
as Pure and Applied Sciences,
Mathematics, Engineering, tech-
nology or any other field deemed
appropriate by the Commission
on Higher Education.
Gatchalian pointed out that
based on the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cul-
tural Organization (UNESCO)
Institute of Statistics data, there
are only 186 researchers per
million inhabitants in the Phil-
ippines, one of the lowest among
Southeast Asian countries.
Thailand and Malaysia have
963 and 2,054 researchers per
sequent synchronized BSKE
was also set on the first Monday
of 2026 and every three years
thereafter.
House Majority Leader Man-
uel Jose Dalipe said the cham-
ber is determined to approve the
bill by Oct. 1 and have it signed
into law by President Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr. before
the scheduled BSKE on Dec. 5.
Once passed into law, incum-
bent barangay and SK officials
will retain their position on hold-
over capacity “unless sooner re-
moved or suspended for cause.”
Dalipe said Speaker Martin
Romualdez is supportive of the
proposal because this would al-
low the Commission and Elec-
tions and the local government
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
million inhabitants, respectively.
He lamented that based on
the 2018 Programme for Inter-
national Student Assessment,
Filipino learners ranked sec-
ond to the last in Mathematics
and Science from among other
learners in 79 countries.
The Philippines also came
out last in both Mathemat-
ics and Science in the 2019
Trends in International Math-
ematics and Science Study out
of 58 countries, according to
Gatchalian.
In the Southeast Asia Prima-
ry Learning Metrics 2019, only
17 percent of Filipino Grade
5 learners met the minimum
standards in Mathematics, he
added.
“To fulfill our collective goal
to be the next Asian tiger econ-
omy, we must address these
skills shortage through strate-
gic human capital investments
focused on the fields of Mathe-
matics and Science,” Gatchalian
said. (With a report from Leonel
Abasola/PNA) ■
units to better prepare for clean
and orderly barangay polls and
provide the government ample
time to apply corrective adjust-
ments to the honoraria of poll
workers.
“We need to pass this law
ASAP because time is of the
essence. The barangay and SK
elections are just a few months
away so we are hoping that we
can approve this in the House
on or before Oct. 1. Hopefully,
the Senate will do the same so
that we can have an approved
measure in time for the Presi-
dent’s signature before the elec-
tion period,” Dalipe said.
The last barangay and SK
elections were held on May 14,
2018. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 5

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6 Philippine News
Filipinos opt to continue wearing
face masks: OCTA survey
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A survey by OCTA
Research shows that a big chunk
of the Filipino population will
continue to wear face masks
even if the spread of coronavi-
rus disease 2019 (Covid-19) will
be controlled.
OCTA Research fellow Ranjit
Rye presented the recent sur-
vey of the group following the
issuance of Malacañang Palace
on the voluntary wearing of
face masks in outdoor settings.
“(This is) also probably the
reason why very few reactions
from the people against the
new policy of the President,
is because 30 percent of the
adult population will contin-
ue to wear masks six months
after Covid-19 is declared con-
Marcos eyes rice allowance
for gov’t workers
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
is eyeing to provide rice allow-
ance for government workers,
citing the need to ease their
daily expenses amid the rising
prices of basic goods.
“I’m going to initiate, at least
for the government workers,
the rice allowance. Part of the
sweldo, ang pagbayad is in rice
para nakakatiyak tayo (Part of
their salary is giving of rice so
we can ensure that) everybody,
every family will have rice,”
Marcos said in an interview
with TV host-actress Toni Gon-
zaga aired on ALLTV Channel
on Tuesday.
Marcos, who also heads the
Department of Agriculture,
said the rice that will be distrib-
uted will be bought by the gov-
ernment as this is cheaper than
what is sold at market prices.
He said this initiative will
also benefit rice producers due
to the expected increase in de-
mand for rice.
“What’s going to happen is
trolled,” Rye said during the
Pandesal Forum Tuesday.
Twenty-eight percent of the
respondents said they will con-
tinue wearing face masks a year
after Covid-19 is declared con-
trolled, 16 percent said they will
continue it even after two years,
and 18 percent said they will
continue wearing face masks
Commuters wearing face masks board a public utility jeepney along Elliptical
Road in Quezon City on Sept. 14, 2022. (ALFRED FRIAS/PNA)
magkakaroon ng demand kasi
bibili ng marami yung gobyer-
no e (there will be a demand
because the government is go-
ing to buy in bulk) and then we
will talk to other corporations.
Marami naman sa dun malal-
aking korporasyon mayroon na
silang rice allowance e (There
are a lot of corporations that
give rice allowance). So we will
institutionalize it. So at the very
least, mayroon tayong ganun
(we have that),” he added.
Marcos said the government
must change how the poor are liv-
ing at the subsistence level or the
condition of just having enough
food or money to stay alive.
“It should not be at a subsis-
tence level, they should not be
spending 60, 70, 80 percent of
their income on food. That’s far,
far too much,” he said.
“They have nothing left for
anything else. They cannot send
their children to school, they
cannot pay for electricity, for
water. All of these things they
need to pay for. So that’s really
the scope of the problem and
that’s the way I see it,” he added.
P20 per kilo rice
Meanwhile, Marcos main-
five years after the coronavirus
is deemed controlled.
“These are huge numbers.
There seems to be a consen-
sus among adult Filipinos that
masks are important and we
don’t need to encourage them.
They will wear masks because
of their belief that it is for their
own safety,” Rye added.
tained that his goal of slashing
rice prices to as low as PHP20
per kilo is “possible” but admit-
ted that it may take some time.
“There’s a way to do it but it will
take a while. We have to return
NFA [National Food Authority] to
its old function,” he said.
Should the government suc-
ceed in fixing the country’s
value chain, Marcos expressed
hope that bringing rice prices
down to PHP20 per kilo can be
done in three years.
“Pag mabuo natin yung val-
ue chain (If we fix the value
chain), we will make savings at
every step…and then the world
market will slowly be better, we
might just make it to PHP20.
But it’s a long road there. It’s
not gonna be easy,” he said.
Marcos also underscored the
important role of agriculture in
“transforming” instead of re-
covering the economy.
“I don’t want the economy to
recover to what it was in 2019.
I want to transform the econ-
omy to be ready for the shocks,
the difficulties that we will face
from 2022,” he added. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
He said the survey result jives
well with the new policy of Pres-
ident Ferdinand “Bongbong”
Marcos Jr. on outdoor masking.
“We don’t need to mandate
it. People will wear it and the
big chunk of the population will
continue to wear it even after
Covid is declared gone,” he said.
Developmental delays on
children
In the same virtual forum,
OCTA Research fellow Fr. Ni-
canor Austriaco cited the re-
cent findings of Dr. Leana Wen
-- CNN medical analyst, phy-
sician, and professor at the
George Washington University
Milken Institute School of Pub-
lic Health in the United States
-- that masking has an effect on
the development of children.
Austriaco said Wen discov-
ered that her four-year-old son
had developmental delays, spe-
DBM warns public...
❰❰ 3 law, to identify, ap-
prehend and file the
appropriate charges
against these deceitful individ-
uals and groups,” the DBM said.
The agency is also working
with the Department of the In-
terior and Local Government
(DILG) for the latter’s issuance
of a memorandum cautioning
and advising local government
units to take measures against
such illegal undertaking.
“We at the DBM and its at-
tached agencies do not, and will
not, authorize any person or
group to negotiate and solicit
money from the public in ex-
change for favors,” it added.
The DBM said it strongly
upholds integrity, diligence
and transparency and follows
the provisions of existing laws,
People queue up at a sidewalk along Anonas Street in Quezon City on Jan. 5,
2022. (RICO H. BORJA/PNA)
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
cifically language development,
because of masking more than
two years being in a pandemic.
He said that even when stu-
dents have returned physically
to school, the interaction can be
considered as “mask-to-mask”
rather than “face-to-face”
classes as children still have to
wear face masks.
Austriaco said the country
should move to the normal
face-to-face classes, without the
masks, the soonest time possible
to prevent developmental delays
among the young population.
“I urged that the entire coun-
try is vaccinated and boosted
as soon as possible. If not pos-
sible, because they do not want
to, then we should remove the
masks and allow them to live
as adults with consequences of
their choices in order to protect
their children,” he said. ■
rules, and regulations on the re-
lease of funds.
“Our mandate to manage our
people’s money, and its process,
are clearly outlined in our Cit-
izen’s Charter, which is promi-
nently placed in our offices and
premises, and in our official
website,” the DBM said.
Meanwhile, the DBM urged
the public to report similar
fraudulent activities through
(02) 735-4847. The agency as-
sured that callers’ identities
will be kept confidential.
“The DBM urges the public to
be more vigilant and discerning,
and to report similar cases or
any other suspicious undertak-
ing using the name of the DBM,
its Secretary, or any other offi-
cial to advance their personal
agenda and interest,” it added. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
PBBM OKs EO...
❰❰ 3 as it is seen to eman-
cipate the ARBs from
the debt burden.
“In this law, the loans of agrar-
ian reform beneficiaries with
unpaid amortization and inter-
est shall be condoned,” he said.
ARBs set to receive their
awarded land under the CARP
will receive it “without any ob-
ligation to pay any amortiza-
tion,” he added.
Marcos said the condonation of
the existing agrarian reform loan
would cover PHP58.125 billion.
It will also benefit 654,000
ARBs involving a total of 1.18 mil-
lion hectares of awarded lands.
Under EO 75, all government
PH, KSA agree...
❰❰ 1 forward by working
together on imple-
menting mechanisms
that would ensure the protec-
tion of our workers’ rights and
welfare,” Ople said.
She also thanked the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
and the Philippine Embassy in
Saudi Arabia for their guidance
and support throughout the bi-
lateral talks.
Ople said it was the directive
of President Ferdinand Marcos
Jr. for the DMW and the DFA to
“work together and speak with
one voice.”
Both countries committed
to a joint partnership in pro-
tecting the rights of Filipino
workers and to working togeth-
er against the trafficking of mi-
grant workers, which is another
priority of the current adminis-
tration, she added.
In their joint statement, both
countries expressed appreci-
ation for the “significant con-
tributions of overseas Filipino
workers to the Saudi economic
and social development.”
“The DMW recognizes the
labor reform initiatives of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to fur-
ther enhance protection of mi-
grant workers consistent with
fundamental and technical
ILO Conventions it has ratified
and the UN Global Compact on
Safe, Orderly and Regular Mi-
gration,” the statement read.
During the bilateral talks,
the two countries agreed to
constitute a Technical Working
Group composed of representa-
tives of both parties to monitor
the implementation of labor
reforms and jointly resolve the
concerns of workers.
agencies, bureaus, departments
and instrumentalities to turn over
agricultural lands to qualified
agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Currently, the government
has a total of 52,000 hectares
of unused agricultural lands
which will be distributed to
landless war veterans, landless
surviving spouses and orphans
of war veterans, and landless
retirees of the Armed Forces of
the Philippines and the Philip-
pine National Police.
Graduates of college degrees
in agriculture who are landless
will also benefit from the agri-
cultural lands acquired through
EO 75. ■
They also agreed to imple-
ment a blacklist and a whitelist
of Saudi recruitment agencies
and employers, and implement
a fully automated recruitment
process in both countries.
The Philippines and the KSA
also agreed to revise the stan-
dard employment contract of
OFWs to reflect all guarantees
under the Saudi Labor Reform
Initiatives, including insurance
for unpaid wages, timely release
of salaries through electronic
payments, and a pre-termina-
tion clause.
They will also convene regu-
lar joint committee meetings to
ensure full compliance with the
agreements and address chal-
lenges in implementing these
labor reforms.
Both countries will also sign
a memorandum of understand-
ing on combatting trafficking
in persons, investigating and
prosecuting offenders, and pro-
viding support to OFW victims
of trafficking.
The Saudi Labor Ministry
also committed to studying a
proposal to reduce the duration
of the employment contract of
domestic workers to one year
with the possibility of exten-
sion fro another year, provided
both parties agreed.
“In the end, our shared goal
must be to present to the world
a unique and enduring partner-
ship that will serve as the gold
standard in how labor migra-
tion governance must and can
be done,” Ople said.
Since last year, a deployment
ban was ordered over reports
that OFWs working in Saudi Ara-
bia were victims of unfair labor
practices and exploitation. ■
DOJ releases 371
PDLs ahead of prison
decongestion agenda
BY BENJAMIN PULTA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The sweet taste
of freedom finally came for
371 persons deprived of liberty
(PDL) who were released Mon-
day, even as the Department of
Justice (DOJ) also submitted
the names of 300 other PDLs
to Malacañang for the possible
grant of executive clemency.
“The 371 released were a result
of the DOJ and Bureau of Cor-
rections’ (Bucor) computation
(of time served) with the help of
Public Attorney’s Office (PAO)
lawyers,” DOJ spokesperson
Mico Clavano told reporters.
Clavano said DOJ Secretary
Crispin “Boying” Remulla, PAO
Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, and
Bucor Director General Gerald
Bantag “collaborated to make
this possible. Today, 300 more
are up for executive clemency.”
The 240 majority of the 371
PDLs released already served
their maximum sentence, 98
qualified for parole, while 31
were acquitted and two quali-
fied for probation.
At least 191 PDLs, were from
the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in
DOTr to continue tie-up
with OVP to fund
‘Libreng Sakay’
BY RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Transportation (DOTr) is
eyeing a continued partner-
ship with the Office of the Vice
President (OVP) to continue
its ‘Libreng Sakay (free ride)’
program after no funds were
allocated for the program in the
2023 proposed national budget.
In a statement on Wednes-
day, DOTr Secretary Jaime
Bautista said the free ride pro-
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
Muntinlupa, 37 from the Cor-
rectional Institute for Women
(CIW), while 143 PDLs came
from other prison and penal fa-
cilities run by the Bucor.
Forty-five including four
women were senior citizens.
Remulla, who has announced
the prisons’ decongestion as a
top priority of his office person-
ally visited the NBP.
“Marahil ito na ang biggest
mega prison sa buong mundo, dito
po sa Bilibid Wala na ho ganitong
pasilidad sa ibang bansa kundi
dito na lang na ganito karami ang
nakapiit (This may be the largest
mega prison in the world. There
may be no other facility with this
number of inmates),” he said.
Remulla said consultants place
the ideal capacity of NBP at 2,500
individuals. “Ang average ac-
ceptable (sa) correction facility,
pupwede raw ay hanggang 2,500
lamang ang laman. Mahigit sam-
pung ulit nun ang nandito sa New
Bilibid Prisons (The ideal number
in a prison facility is around 2,500.
We have more than 10 times that
number here in Bilibid),” he said.
Remulla said subsequent
release of qualified PDLs will
follow in the following months.
“Ito ay simula pa lamang ng pro-
gram provided “transport re-
lief” during the pandemic but
its long-term viability cannot
be argued due to constraints in
the national budget.
“We recognize that budget
allocation for ‘Libreng Sakay’ is
within the prerogative of DBM
(Department of Budget and
Management) in accordance
with government’s fiscal priori-
ties and with due approval from
Congress,” Bautista said.
However, the DOTr chief
said he is “more than willing”
to collaborate with the OVP to
continue its free ride program
7
gramang ito. Hindi po ito katapu-
san. Gusto ko po kung papalarin
tayo sa October may batch ulit,
sa November may batch ulit,
at sa pasko ay may isang batch
ulit (This is just the beginning,
we plan to release PDLs in the
coming months. If we get lucky,
there will be a batch of PDLs to
be released in October, another
batch in November, and another
batch by Christmas),” he said.
Remulla said they are eyeing the
possible digitalization of inmates’
“carpetas” or prison records.
“We are trying to digitalize the
carpeta system so all the infor-
mation will be under fingertips
para hindi na natin kailangan
mag-research pa. Daily kailangan
yan mag-ping, sabihin sa yo itong
taong ito pwede na palayain (so
we won’t need to research and
manually compute, there would
be daily pings informing when a
person is due for release). We’re
trying to work that out,” he said.
Acosta, meanwhile, said the
plan is to grant clemency to up
to 3,000 qualified PDLs by the
end of the year.
“Ang target namin hanggang
December 2,000 to 3,000 (Our
target until December is 2,000
to 3,000,” she said.■
launched on August 3 with five
buses to help commuters in
Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao.
On Tuesday, DOTr Under-
secretary for Road Transport
and Infrastructure Mark Steven
Pastor said the DOTr has pro-
posed a PHP778 million budget
for public utility vehicle (PUV)
modernization in 2023 -- which
includes funding for the free
ride program -- but the proposal
was rejected by the DBM.
On the other hand, the OVP
has allotted PHP32.5 million
for its free ride program.■
8 Philippine News
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Member
Covid-19 vax for kids aged 4,
below still under study: DOH
BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department of Health
(DOH) is still studying the vaccination
of children four years old and below
against the coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19).
In a media forum on Tuesday, DOH
officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria
Rosario Vergeire said such vaccination
would need to go through the process
of evaluation before it could start in the
country.
“Patuloy pa rin pong pinag-aaralan ito
ng ating mga eksperto, although, nabab-
alitaan na natin at nababasa sa ibang
Food security tackled in
7th Cabinet meeting
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and members of
his Cabinet discussed on Monday efforts
being done to achieve sustainability
and food security in the country, Mala-
cañang announced Monday.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles
said the Departments of Agriculture
(DA), Transport (DOTR), Interior and
Local Government (DILG), and National
Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) presented reports that identi-
fied factors hindering the country’s food
security during the 7th Cabinet meeting
convened by Marcos at Malacañan Pal-
ace in Manila.
“Nagkaroon tayo ng (We had a) Cabi-
net meeting today and we discussed pri-
marily food security. We are identifying
the factors that hinder our food security
and several agencies were there to re-
port),” she said in a Palace press briefing.
She said the government is aiming to
achieve food security “in general”, but
with a focus on the supply of rice, pork,
fish and vegetables.
Topics identified for possible policy
review and legislation were the barriers
to efficient transportation, red tape, per-
mit system, and the crossing of boundar-
ies between local government units.
“We’re also looking at a review of pol-
icy and possible legislation to balance
importation with local production and
to address the issues of over and under
production,” she said.
www.canadianinquirer.net
bansa ngayon (Our experts are studying
this, although, we’ve heard and read in
other countries now) that they already
have evidence,” she added.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel
Salvaña said the United States has ap-
proved the Covid-19 vaccination for
children five years old and below.
He noted this measure is “very im-
portant”.
“Habang may butas po tayo sa ating
immunity wall, lalo na doon sa mga be-
low five years old, pwede po iyan maging
parang reservoir ng virus at pwede pong
nagmu-mutate diyan iyong virus (If we
have a hole on our immunity wall, espe-
cially among below five years old, that
could be a reservoir of virus at the virus
“There are quite many overlaps so all
departments will be working together
on the policy review, assessment review,
and proposals,” she added.
Cruz-Angeles said she would make
further announcements once details are
completed but noted that recognizing the
problem is the first step of addressing it.
“These are what we are going to set either
if it’s for priority legislation and if we’re going
to look at policies that do not require legis-
lation we’re going to that immediately. The
various agencies just need to work out the
standards between themselves,” she said.
Meanwhile, she assured the public
that the DA has never been remiss in
providing information about the coun-
try’s agriculture industry.
In his first month as President and ag-
riculture secretary, Marcos gave a march-
ing order to boost the production of rice,
corn, vegetables, pork and poultry.
Seventh Cabinet meeting (BONGBONG MARCOS/FACEBOOK)
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
can mutate there),” he said.
“We’re thinking that it’s just a matter of
time na maaprubahan dito and hopefully
maru-rollout na rin para mas mabawasan
iyong pwedeng mahawa at magkaroon
ng severe Covid dito sa Pilipinas (for that
to be approved here and hopefully rolled
out to lessen the ones who could be in-
fected and have severe Covid-19 here in
the Philippines),” he added.
As of Sept. 12, almost 72.8 million Filipi-
nos have been fully vaccinated. Of the tal-
ly, more than 9.9 million are adolescents
while 4.9 million are young children.
More than 18.6 million individuals
have received their first booster dose
and more than 2.5 million have received
their second booster shots. ■
He also called for the review of the
rice tariffication law and how it affected
local farmers.
Marcos said one of the “main drivers”
that would push growth and employ-
ment in the country would be the agri-
culture sector.
The Marcos administration’s pro-
posed 2023 national expenditure plan
is seeking to improve the performance
of the agriculture sector with a proposed
budget of PHP184.1 billion for the DA, its
attached corporations, and the Depart-
ment of Agrarian Reform.
Earlier, Marcos said the Philippines
may tap Indonesia as among its non-tra-
ditional sources of fertilizer supply fol-
lowing his three-day state visit to the
country from Sept. 4 to 6.
He said Indonesia has also agreed to
help improve the Philippines’ fisheries
sector and export coal to the country. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Police implementation of the Charter of Rights
BY TROY RIDDELL,
DENNIS BAKER
Policy Options
More training, better data
and feedback, clearer stan-
dards, and disciplinary mea-
sures for serious or repeated
breaches are needed.
The Toronto Star’s recent
“Unchartered” series highlights
hundreds of cases where
judges exclude evidence
from trial after finding that
police have violated an ac-
cused’s Charter rights. Police
forces do not track Charter
breaches. Any repercussions
to officers in terms of disci-
pline or guidance tend to be
haphazard and dependent
on other factors, including
media attention.
The Star reporting iden-
tifies systemic problems in
terms of police implemen-
tation and accountability
around Charter rights. Our
research complements that in-
vestigation and highlights some
nuances as well. In our study,
there is a clear need for im-
provements to police training
on the Charter. As well, police
organizations, Crowns and pro-
vincial governments need to do
a better job of collecting data
and providing feedback. To the
extent that the Canadian Char-
ter of Rights and Freedoms
is knowingly and repeatedly
breached, disciplinary mea-
sures should be taken. Hope-
fully these incidents are made
less frequent by more effective
training and communication.
We spoke to police officers
in three different-sized forc-
es in Ontario. Many expressed
a strong desire for additional
training in the Charter around
such issues as search and sei-
zure, right to counsel and
protection from arbitrary de-
tention. Limited Charter edu-
cation is provided to officers be-
fore they hit the street and not
much training is provided af-
ter. However, there is typically
additional training offered for
specialized units, such as drug
enforcement.
Canada News
In the absence of any direc-
tion from the province, indi-
vidual police forces are left to
respond to rulings as they are
decided, when and if they do
become aware of them. There’s
little accountability regarding
any follow-up. Some, but not all,
forces are helped by networks
such as the Canadian Associa-
tion of Chiefs of Police and their
own legal department. Howev-
... there is a
clear need for
improvements to
police training
on the Charter.
er, the quality of information
going to line officers varies.
Some departments have
electronic bulletin boards with
cases and others do not. Most
departments send out bulle-
tins about important cases, but
some are little more than legal
recitations of the decisions and
some provide just a link to the
decision. Others more helpfully
try to put the decision in plain
language and provide scenari-
os about what can or cannot be
done according to the decision.
Respondents in our research
noted that they rely on each
other (and the media) to keep
themselves informed about
Charter jurisprudence. But this
means that the communication
of often complex judicial deci-
sions in this fashion may result
in misperceptions and add to
officer confusion. Better infor-
mation and better training will
not fully address intentional
Charter infringements, but it
could – at the very least – limit
excuses that an officer “didn’t
know any better.”’
Gaps in training are exacer-
bated by something the Toron-
to Star also noted: the sporadic
feedback officers receive about
how they collected evidence.
In some instances, Crowns will
inform officers or their supe-
riors about problems with the
collection of evidence or report
on a judge’s decision to exclude
evidence. At other times, police
might learn about the exclusion
only once it hits the media.
The feedback process appears
to vary both within and between
police organizations, often
depending on individual of-
ficers and Crowns and their
informal relationships. A
more systematic feedback
process would help officers
to be better aware of where
their actions violated the
Charter. For example, the
Saskatchewan RCMP ap-
pears ready to implement
just such a system in a re-
form that is overdue. Our
research suggests officers
would welcome a practice of
more regularized feedback.
More training and feed-
back are particularly important
given that judicial decisions and
the rules surrounding police in-
vestigations are often complex
and murky, something the Star in-
vestigation did not fully acknowl-
edge. Legal scholar Kent Roach
recently wrote, “[t]he Supreme
Court of Canada’s jurisprudence
on police powers is massively
complex and difficult for law pro-
fessors, let alone the police, to fol-
low and understand.”
A good illustration of how
Charter rules surrounding po-
lice investigations can be con-
fusing involves whether an
individual has been arbitrarily
www.canadianinquirer.net
detained. Determining if a “de-
tention” has occurred requires
considering “three non-ex-
haustive factors that can aid in
the analysis.” These factors all
have to be viewed within con-
text of the encounter.
One is the circumstances that
gave rise to the encounter, and
another is the particular char-
acteristics of the accused (such
as race and age). A third factor is
the nature of the police conduct.
This includes assessing such
matters as the proximity of po-
lice to the accused, the language
used by the officer in addressing
the accused and the aggressive-
ness of the police actions.
If a detention has occurred,
another set of considerations
is used to determine whether
it was “arbitrary.” Judges often
disagree amongst themselves
on these issues. Take for exam-
ple, R. v. Le, when a trial judge
found no Charter breaches in
the arrest of Tom Le, a 20-year-
old man. In his case, the police
entered the fenced backyard of a
Toronto townhouse after a secu-
rity guard for the housing co-op
directed them there. They were
told there were concerns about
drug trafficking in the backyard.
They started asking ques-
tions of a group of five racialized
young men when one of the of-
ficers noticed Le nervously at-
tempting to conceal a small bag.
This prompted the police to ask
what was in it. Le ran and when
apprehended was found to have
a loaded gun in his satchel, and
was also carrying cocaine.
Two judges of the Ontario
Court of Appeal agreed with the
9
trial judge, but one judge wrote
in dissent that Le’s Charter rights
had been violated due to the un-
lawful entry and “intimidating
and oppressive” police conduct.
At the Supreme Court of Cana-
da (2019 SCC 34), three judges
voted to overturn the trial judge
and the Ontario Court of Appeal,
while two judges in dissent con-
cluded that the evidence should
be admitted at trial.
Was it a “momentary” and
“technical” infringement out-
weighed by the societal need to
get guns and drugs off the street,
as two judges saw it? Or was it a
more serious violation that so-
ciety has an interest in disavow-
ing, as the majority perceived it?
It’s hardly surprising then
that in our survey, police had a
wide variety of responses to a
scenario of arbitrary detention.
Its context-specific nature and
the fact that judges themselves
disagree on applications mean
there is a lot of ambiguity.
The recent Supreme Court
decision in R. v. Lafrance, which
featured a 5-4 split, did not help
to clarify the rules around po-
lice detentions. Part of the dis-
agreement amongst the judges
was whether Lafrance – a 19-
year old Indigenous man sus-
pected of involvement in a mur-
der – was “detained” when a
group of police officers searched
his home and then asked if he
would go to the police station to
answer questions. The majority
argued that the initial search
and subsequent questioning
in a controlled environment
❱❱ PAGE 11 Police implementation
10
The Bank of Canada’s own policy is the
reason why inflation is so high
BY APOSTOLOS SERLETIS,
University of Calgary
The Conversation
The Bank of Canada has
raised interest rates again in
an effort to quell inflation. The
central bank raised its policy
rate by 0.75 percentage points
on Sept. 7, bringing its bench-
mark overnight rate to 3.25 per
cent. Economists are expecting
the central bank to raise it again
before the end of the year.
By now, it’s clear that the
Bank of Canada did not antic-
ipate the current rate of in-
flation. When inflation first
started increasing last year, the
central bank was slow to start
tightening monetary policy.
Now that inflation is persistent,
the Bank of Canada is making
up for lost time by aggressively
raising its policy rate to get the
inflation rate back on target.
Monetary policy has a de-
layed impact on the economy,
meaning that a change in mon-
etary policy today will affect the
economy about 12 to 18 months
Food insecurity during COVID-19: 2SLGBTQ+
people talk about challenges and support
BY PHILLIP JOY, Mount
Saint Vincent University
The Conversation
Many people grow up without
enough food to eat, even within
Canada; a G7 country with one of
the world’s most advanced econ-
omies. The Government of Cana-
da defines food insecurity as the
“inability to acquire or consume”
a diet that is adequate in quality
and quantity, or “the uncertainty
that one will be able to do so.”
Living with food insecurity
negatively impacts both mental
health and diet-related chronic
disease.
A social justice issue
Food insecurity is a social jus-
tice issue. It is intimately tied
to the social determinants of
health, including income, em-
ployment and working condi-
tions, education, gender and rac-
Canada News
The Bank of Canada has raised its interest rate for the fifth time since the be-
ginning of the year. (BANK OF CANADA - BANQUE DU CANADA/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
from now.
Although supply chain prob-
lems, high energy prices from
the war in Ukraine and labour
shortages have exacerbated in-
flation, the unprecedented ex-
pansionary monetary policy by
the Bank of Canada last year is
an important source of the high
inflation we observe today.
Getting back on track
The goal of Canada’s mone-
tary policy, jointly determined
by the Government of Canada
ism. This places people who are
part of historically marginalized
groups at greater risk of food in-
security. This includes Two-Spir-
it, lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and oth-
er sexually and gender diverse
(2SLGBTQ+) groups.
Cis-heteronormativity, or
the assumption that all people
are straight and identify with-
in binary gender norms, leads
to many of the social issues
that impact food security for
2SLGBTQ+ people. For exam-
ple, there is a social epidemic
of homelessness for 2SLGBTQ+
youth in the United States.
According to the National
LGBTQ Task Force, the reasons
many youth leave their homes are
rooted in homophobia, transpho-
bia and stigma. Many 2SLGBTQ+
youth have families that do not ac-
cept them and are faced with vio-
lence both at home and at school.
In Canada, the leading cause
and the Bank of Canada, is to
keep the inflation rate within a
range of one to three per cent,
with two per cent being the
most desirable rate.
In early 2021, all key inflation
indicators started to rise dra-
matically, and as of now, are all
well above the two per cent in-
flation target.
The total consumer price
index inflation rate was 8.1 per
cent in June 2022 and fell to 7.6
per cent in July 2022, mostly
of homelessness for 2SLGBTQ+
youth is reported to be family
violence, an issue that has been
exacerbated by the COVID-19
pandemic.
COVID-19 study
Globally, the COVID-19 pan-
demic has not only worsened
family violence, but it has also
led to food shortages, social isola-
tion, job losses and new econom-
ic vulnerabilities. All of these
factors negatively impacted food
insecurity as a whole for many
people. Evidence shows that food
insecurity in Canada increased
during the COVID-19 pandemic,
usually for historically marginal-
ized and stigmatized groups.
The aim of my qualitative re-
search study was to explore the
food experiences and nutrition-
al supports of self-identifying
2SLGBTQ+ Canadians during
the mandated health protec-
tion orders in response to the
www.canadianinquirer.net
because of a decline in gaso-
line prices. The core consumer
price index inflation was also
well above five per cent in July.
Inflation also rose in the
United States, Europe and the
United Kingdom, with annual
inflation in these countries now
running at around 9 per cent
and central banks flagrantly
missing their inflation targets.
At the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic in March 2020, the
Bank of Canada rapidly lowered
the policy rate to near zero and
kept it there until early 2022.
Since then, the Bank has been
steadily increasing the policy
rate until the most recent hike.
According to the central
bank, it could be years before
its policy rate is back to normal
levels. Currently, the Bank of
Canada estimates that inflation
will decrease to about three per
cent by the end of 2023 and re-
turn to the two per cent target
by the end of 2024.
But this remains to be seen.
In this regard, back in 2020 the
Bank was expecting the policy
rate to remain at 0.25 per cent
COVID-19 pandemic.
In this study — carried out at
Mount Saint Vincent University
— 70 people responded to an on-
line open-ended questionnaire.
Approximately one-third of
participants noted that they did
not have any support systems
in place to help them with their
nutritional needs during this
time. This is despite the fact that
many believed that having sup-
ports from nutritional experts
and dietitians would have been,
in the words of one participant,
“insanely helpful.”
“I would have liked to see a
nutritionist, but COVID didn’t
really allow for that. My part-
ner has been very supportive and
pays for most of the bills.”
A theme of financial supports
Some participants spoke in
terms of financial supports. A few
said they felt privileged to be able
to work from home. Some partic-
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
until 2023, but is now at 3.25
per cent and rising.
Bank of Canada assets
In response to the COVID-19
pandemic, the Bank of Can-
ada introduced a large num-
ber of lending programs and
used non-interest rate tools
— known as nonconventional
monetary policy — to provide li-
quidity to the financial markets
and stimulate the economy.
This led to an unprecedented
increase in the Bank of Canada’s
balance sheet, with the central
bank buying more than half a
trillion dollars of financial as-
sets, primarily in the form of
Government of Canada securi-
ties. Before the pandemic, the
Bank of Canada’s holdings of se-
curities were about $100 billion.
The expansion in the Bank
of Canada’s balance sheet led
to a huge injection of liquidity
in the financial system and led
to an increase in the reserves
that commercial banks have in
their accounts with the Bank of
Canada. In fact, these reserves
❱❱ PAGE 14 The Bank of Canada’s
ipants spoke of family members
and partners who helped ease
their financial burdens stemming
from things such as job layoffs and
increasing food and rent prices.
For example, one participant
said,
“She, my partner, makes a
living wage and I don’t so that’s
been a big change for me. Pool-
ing our income has allowed me
to eat much ‘better’ more nutri-
tionally dense foods, and foods I
want to eat.”
Another participant said,
“I didn’t have to pay for my
own food. That was the main sup-
port. I was living with my family
and my parents paid the grocery
bills which removed almost all
nutritional concerns for me.”
Other participants, however,
did not have such family supports
to help them with the financial
❱❱ PAGE 12 Food insecurity during
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Interregional planning is key to Canada’s
hopes for successful energy transition
BY PHILIP MARTIN
DUGUAY
Policy Options
The Liberals promised a
Pan-Canadian Grid Council and
the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act
just provided its mandate
Interprovincial planning,
not “silver bullet” technolo-
gies such as small modular re-
actors, will create the power
grid that Canadians deserve.
However, the Trudeau govern-
ment has not yet launched the
much touted “Pan-Canadian
Grid Council” announced in the
2021 Liberal election platform.
The US$369 billion Inflation
Reduction Act of 2022, signed
into law by President Biden last
month, ups the ante for Cana-
dians. It earmarks $100 million
to unite state governments,
regulators, utilities, genera-
tors, transmission developers
and civil society in a process of
creating “a planned national
transmission grid” to enable re-
newable energy and other clean
power technologies.
This type of work is called
“interregional transmission
planning” in industry circles.
Canadians lack any form of
co-ordination in this arena
now, but it would be prudent
for provincial governments to
closely read the fine print of
the Inflation Reduction Act
and adjust their decarboniza-
tion strategies to closely match
that of Canada’s greatest ally,
trading partner and No. 1 power
customer. With this lens, it be-
Police implementation of...
❰❰ 9 at the station consti-
tuted a “detention,”
which meant that po-
lice should have informed La-
france of his right to “retain and
instruct” counsel under s.10(b)
of the Charter. The dissenting
judges disagreed, emphasizing
that the police explicitly told
Lafrance that he need not speak
to them and was free to leave.
They worried that the court’s
latest guidance “risks turning
every common police encoun-
ter into a detention and creat-
ing situations where police are
unable to control whether they
comes clear that interregional
planning is key to the success of
our energy transition.
Canadian utilities, regulators
and politicians have not put any
planning mechanisms in place
by which to accomplish major
transmission projects across
provincial boundaries or the Ca-
nadian-American border. Rather,
if they are advanced at all, devel-
opments happen on a piecemeal
basis, more or less in a planning
vacuum, and often without much
consultation or any competitive
tension involved. Is this how
we really want to plan multibil-
lion-dollar projects?
Until recently, it would have
been easy to diagnose the U.S.
with the same problem. Yet in
April, the Federal Energy Reg-
ulatory Commission (FERC),
which is responsible for regulat-
ing interregional transmission
and power trading, released a
raft of proposed transmission
regulations. Then in June, FERC
launched a related joint feder-
al-state regulatory task force.
These efforts and funding from
the Inflation Reduction Act are
designed to kickstart interre-
gional planning processes, ease
development and permitting,
and get transmission projects
to construction while creating
major ratepayer, environmental
and social benefits.
At its heart, the concept of
interregional planning is rel-
atively simple. The Inflation
Reduction Act funds diverse
actors to come together across
state lines and between regions
to plan power transmission
breach Charter rights.”
The Supreme Court’s reli-
ance on balancing competing
contextual factors means that
police must predict how other
criminal justice actors will per-
ceive their actions. Our survey
respondents viewed individual
judges and Crowns as differing
from one another in what con-
stituted a Charter breach and
whether evidence should be
withheld or excluded.
Some studies suggest that de-
cisions to exclude evidence vary
in statistically significant ways
based on judges’ professional
to enable the widespread de-
ployment of renewable energy
and specifically offshore wind
– a resource poised to remake
the North American grid in
the next decade. Interregional
planning can also help define
the interplay between bulk
power resources such as hy-
droelectric dams, utility-scale
battery storage and wind farms,
and distributed energy resourc-
es such as residential solar and
district energy systems.
A modest investment in
such planning will help Ca-
nadian provinces catch up to
and co-ordinate with Ameri-
can states, harness financing,
and remain competitive on the
global stage as our society de-
carbonizes. Yet in Canada, fed-
eral transmission policy work
has largely ended up with the
Canada Infrastructure Bank
(CIB). The CIB’s approach to
transmission, while well-inten-
backgrounds and region. Mean-
while, public opinion suggests
that while Canadians are sup-
portive of Charter rights, they
favour the admission of evidence
more than judges typically do
when considering the nature of
the crime and the police con-
duct. In our research, a number
of police respondents expressed
frustration with ever-shifting
and overly burdensome Charter
decisions, particularly in drink-
ing and driving cases.
The complexities surround-
ing the Charter rules should
not, however, detract from the
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
tioned, has fallen short of pro-
ducing investment-grade proj-
ects. Case in point: at the end of
July, Fortis-ITC announced its
intention to cease development
of the proposed Lake Erie In-
terconnector for which the CIB
promised funding.
This is the problem when
one advances a project without
a solid framework for develop-
ment, but the CIB is not alone
in its frustrations. Hydro-Qué-
bec has also learned the hard
way in Maine and New Hamp-
shire that cross-border devel-
opment is a very tricky endeav-
our, facing fierce pushback on
much-needed power transmis-
sion projects that were poorly
perceived by the local citizens.
All Canadian provinces face
similar market access and trade
issues. Interregional planning
will help move Saskatchewan
wind power to Chicago, Bay of
Fundy tidal energy to Boston,
systemic problems uncovered
by the Star and the often-shock-
ing actions of officers described
in the article. The seemingly
deliberate practice of non-com-
pliance by some services is
troubling and requires a stron-
ger policy response. And, of
course, the differential impact
of police conduct on racial and
marginalized groups – as the
Toronto Police recently self-re-
ported – remains a pressing
matter of concern.
It is in everyone’s interest –
including the police themselves
– for the difficult job of polic-
11
or Newfoundland offshore wind
resources to Montreal. The tech-
nologies and engineering skill-
sets exist here but planning and
regulations need to catch up.
The economics of doing this
work collaboratively with our
American neighbours are ex-
tremely compelling, saving rate-
payers billions over time. Our
electrical forefathers realized
this and put aside their differenc-
es to plan and build binational
power projects such as the Saint
Lawrence Seaway and Power
Project; the James Bay project
(which was largely financed on
Wall Street and built by U.S. firm,
Bechtel); or the Columbia River
Treaty process, which under-
pinned the construction of flood
control and dams to harness im-
mense hydroelectric resources
in the Pacific Northwest. It’s now
time to double down on the Ca-
nadian-American clean energy
relationship.
Interregional planning is the
policy tool which will help us
sharpen our focus, avoid boon-
doggles (think Muskrat Falls!),
and propel the types of proj-
ects we need to successfully
navigate the energy transition
in North America. Canadians
should launch the Pan-Canadi-
an Grid Council with a strong
mandate to contribute to the
interregional planning dialogue
as the honest brokers we pride
ourselves to be. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
ing to be supported by organi-
zational changes in training,
data collection, feedback and,
in cases of repeated or flagrant
breaches, discipline by police
organizations. There is an op-
portunity here for provincial
governments to provide di-
rection toward consistent im-
provements in policing. The po-
lice and the communities they
serve deserve nothing less. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
 12
A bridge to nowhere: Natural gas will not
lead Canada to a sustainable energy future
BY AMY JANZWOOD,
University of British Columbia,
HEATHER MILLAR,
University of New Brunswick
The Conversation
The Canadian government has
used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
and the removal of Russian natu-
ral gas exports to justify increas-
ing natural gas production in
Canada. Much of the necessary
infrastructure for producing and
transporting this liquefied nat-
ural gas (LNG) would, however,
take years to develop, locking
Canada into an emissions path-
way that is incompatible with the
1.5 C climate target.
How policy-makers talk
about energy production hints
at governments’ plans for our
transition from carbon-based
energy sources like oil, coal and
natural gas to renewables like
wind, solar and geothermal.
Stakeholders on both sides of
the energy transition — fossil
fuel companies and climate ac-
tivists — are now eagerly com-
peting to make them use their
preferred language.
Lately, the fossil fuel industry
has begun referring to natural
gas as a “bridge fuel” or an essen-
tial part of a low-carbon energy
transition. Climate researchers
stress that natural gas bridges
can often lead to nowhere. Re-
liance on natural gas can lock
countries into fossil fuels, crowd
out low-carbon technologies and
risk stranding assets — assets like
coal mines and hydrocarbon re-
serves that drop in value as a re-
sult of energy transitions.
Our research finds that this
bridge narrative is growing in
Canada and making inroads in
climate policy, and fossil fuel
Food insecurity during...
❰❰ 10 burdens that impact-
ed their access to food.
They talked about the
high costs of nutritious foods, as
one participant said:
“It has been costly to maintain
healthy foods.”
Some of these participants
had used government supports
and food banks to help them.
However, these were not always
Canada News
companies are winning the bat-
tle on how we talk about natural
gas expansion.
Bridge fuel narratives
There are at least two main
bridge fuel narratives or frames
in Canada — each one tied to a
particular regional economic
and political reality as well as
where each region is located
along its unique decarboniza-
tion pathway.
First, the conventional bridge
fuel frame emerging from Al-
berta acknowledges that nat-
ural gas electricity production
contributes to greenhouse gas
emissions but positions it as
a lower-carbon alternative to
coal. The Alberta government
opposes a managed transition
away from oil and gas and in-
stead focuses on trying to re-
duce emissions released during
the production and transmis-
sion of natural gas.
Second, the bridge fuel narra-
tive in British Columbia focuses
on the argument that expanding
LNG production and exports
could reduce emissions overseas
— what we refer to as the “glob-
al bridge narrative.” The global
bridge frame positions the prov-
ince’s LNG industry as a way for
other countries like China to re-
duce their reliance on coal.
The life-cycle of methane
emissions — the emissions from
production to consumption
— from natural gas could actu-
ally result in higher life-cycle
emissions overall. This framing
also overlooks the significant
underestimation of methane
emissions from LNG produc-
tion in Canada (and sidesteps
B.C.’s position as the leading ex-
porter of Canadian coal).
But the global bridge narra-
tive has been incredibly durable
in B.C., so much so that the Ca-
solutions for the participants.
“Food banks don’t have the
proper food that I need when I
couldn’t afford food, however I
was able to get a grant during
that time which helped pay for
my food for a month.”
Although food banks can help
in many ways, this participant
noted food banks were not al-
ways a solution for them. In
nadian LNG Alliance contends
that the fossil gas industry can
even contribute to meeting
B.C.’s climate targets.
However, increased produc-
tion will instead add emissions
not accounted for in B.C.’s cli-
mate policy.
Uncertain position of nat-
ural gas in regional climate
plans
On the other side of the coun-
try, the natural gas narrative is
more muted.
Despite Newfoundland and
Labrador’s continuing offshore
oil and gas production and New
Brunswick’s petroleum refining
industry, the Atlantic provinc-
es are less confident about the
transition benefits of natural
gas. Instead, they are focusing
on switching home heating from
oil and diesel fuel to alternative
methods such as heat pumps, al-
though natural gas has emerged
as a potential replacement for
coal-fired electricity.
Other provinces like Man-
itoba that are less reliant on
natural gas are also planning to
navigate the energy transition
many countries, food banks may
also be affiliated with religious
organizations. This can have im-
plications for some 2SLGBTQ+
people. Other researchers noted
that religious-run food banks
in America created barriers for
trans and gender nonconform-
ing people to accessing help due
to fear, minority stress and an-
ti-LGBT discrimination.
www.canadianinquirer.net
without a natural gas bridge,
while Ontario’s bridge narra-
tive positions natural gas main-
ly as an energy source for trans-
portation and home heating.
The uncertain position of
natural gas in regional climate
plans affects the speed of future
decarbonization in Canada and
beyond.
Though oil and gas industry
associations are powerful ac-
tors, their economic interests
are not always aligned with one
another. And we are seeing ev-
idence of diverging interests
in the oil and gas industry in
Canada. For example, the Cana-
dian Association of Petroleum
Producers is yet to embrace
the bridge fuel frame, doubling
down on the idea of natural gas
as Canada’s “destination fuel.”
Meanwhile, other industry as-
sociations like the Canadian Gas
Association are more open to a
wider range of transportation
and heating fuels, not just natu-
ral gas. Anti-fossil fuel advocates
can leverage these tensions to
challenge the idea of natural gas
as a bridge or destination fuel.
Food insecurity is an im-
portant issue
This study was not designed
to capture the scale of food in-
security in 2SLGBTQ+ groups
in Canada, nor to make gener-
alities about their experiences.
The study does, however, offer
a starting point to discuss this
issue with government and
health leaders.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
Climate delay
While traditional climate
denialism has fallen out of po-
litical favour in Canada, our re-
search finds that climate delay
is alive and well in policy dis-
cussions.
Climate delay acknowledges
that climate action is necessary
but obstructs rapid change,
justifying minimal action. Our
research finds that bridge nar-
ratives reinforce climate delay
by reassuring citizens that de-
carbonization will happen in
the future while entrenching
support for ongoing natural gas
production today.
For many provinces, natural
gas expansion provides an allur-
ing solution to the pain of tran-
sitioning away from petroleum,
one which says that we can
scale up oil and gas production
and decarbonize our electricity,
transportation and housing sec-
tors without any losses.
However, decarbonization
will have real costs for oil pro-
ducing provinces and successful
policy-making needs to address
these impacts up front. Talking
about real costs also means
establishing credible commit-
ments regarding the anticipated
pace of energy transitions.
Bridge fuel narratives dis-
tract us from considering how
long our decarbonization jour-
ney will take. An honest conver-
sation about our energy future
must include proven non-emit-
ting technologies, such as scal-
ing up wind, solar and geother-
mal production and building
inter-provincial transmission
lines rather than locking in our
dependency on natural gas. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
A few participants even
highlighted the need for more
research to explore the con-
nections between income, food
insecurity, food banks and the
nutritional needs of 2SLGBTQ+
individuals. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Charles III faces challenges at home, abroad –
and even in defining what it means to be king
BY TOBIAS HARPER,
Arizona State University
The Conversation
Charles III became the King
of the United Kingdom on Sept.
8, 2022, having spent almost
all of his 73 years preparing for
this role, watching the example
of his mother, Elizabeth II. Yet,
he faces an uncertain course as
monarch.
The legacy of Charles’ mother
is complex. While her presence
was a source of stability, the so-
cieties over which the British
monarchy rules – both in the
U.K.‘s four home nations and 14
additional countries in the Com-
monwealth – changed much over
the 70 years of her reign.
Charles will have to make
new choices about what it
means to be a modern mon-
arch, just as his mother adapt-
ed to the rapidly changing cir-
cumstances of the post-World
War II years. His tenure on the
throne will be defined by how
he responds to new tensions in
the relationship between sover-
eign, nations and people.
Challenge I: A global king?
Elizabeth was not just the
queen of the United Kingdom.
She was also the queen of Ja-
maica, New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea, Canada, Tuvalu,
Australia and more than half a
dozen other countries. Com-
bined, more people live in these
nations than in the U.K. All are
now subjects of the new king.
Whether all these countries
accept the new king in the same
manner in which they accepted
his mother remains to be seen.
Many became independent
nations near the beginning of
Elizabeth’s reign during an era
of rapid decolonization in the
1950s and 1960s. A majority
of Britain’s former colonies,
including India, Pakistan and
all Britain’s African colonies,
became republics right before
Elizabeth took the throne or in
the early years of her reign. In
many of these places, the Brit-
World News
ish monarchy was associated
with the worst inequities of the
empire. For example, the Brit-
ish Empire in India drew heavi-
ly on the symbolism of the Brit-
ish monarch as a paternalistic
empress or emperor at the top
of a power hierarchy that left no
room for Indian sovereignty or
political agency.
The post-colonial states that
retained the monarchy did so
for a number of reasons. It gave
new governments a borrowed
sense of legitimacy and con-
stitutional flexibility because
they could use ambiguity about
the power of the queen’s rep-
resentative, the governor gen-
eral, a role that can potential-
ly wield more power than the
monarch can in Britain. In the
former settler colonies – Aus-
tralia, New Zealand and Cana-
da – many citizens still spoke of
Britain as “home” in the 1950s.
This sentiment faded in subse-
quent decades, although it nev-
er entirely disappeared.
The tie to the monarchy also
held the promise of promoting
ongoing economic and political
ties with the U.K. This prom-
ise was usually illusory: Eliz-
abeth being Grenada’s queen
did nothing to stop the United
States from invading it in 1983.
Toward the end of Elizabeth’s
reign, countries in the Caribbe-
an in particular were beginning
to reassess their relationship to
the British crown. In late 2021,
Barbados removed Elizabeth
as queen and become a repub-
lic. In early 2022, Prince Wil-
liam and Kate Middleton were
met with protesters when they
visited the Caribbean, calling
for reparations from the U.K.
over its role in the transatlantic
slave trade. Elizabeth’s death
may serve as an opportunity
for other nations to reexamine
their relationship with the Brit-
ish monarchy and follow the
Barbadian example, once the
mourning period ends.
The head of the monarchy
resides in Britain, supports
primarily British charities and
King Charles III (DAN MARSH/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
sits at the top of British society.
Royal members seemingly enjoy
visiting their other realms, and
many in those nations – espe-
cially traditional elites – enjoy
the visits. But what these rela-
tionships mean is increasing-
ly unclear, especially at a time
when many countries are re-
evaluating their colonial pasts.
Challenge II: A British
king?
It isn’t just the relationship
with countries of the former
British empire that has changed
over the seven decades of Eliza-
beth’s rule. The monarchy un-
der Charles will need to adapt
to social, political and genera-
tional upheaval in Britain itself.
The U.K. is made up of almost
70 million people in four deeply
divided nations. They are divid-
ed by class, generation, geogra-
phy and economics.
The British political system
generally hides these divides
more than it reflects them – it is
centered in London, with a par-
liament representing the peo-
ple of the four home nations:
Wales, England, Scotland and
Northern Ireland.
Brexit exposed many of these
fractures, renewing the sepa-
ratist aspirations of Scottish
nationalists and republicans in
Northern Ireland.
The royal family loves Scot-
www.canadianinquirer.net
land. Their estate at Balmoral,
Scotland – where Elizabeth died
– is their retreat from affairs of
state. But it’s not clear that Scot-
land loves Charles back.
Many critics believe that
Charles lacks the qualities that
endeared Elizabeth to Britons
of all social classes. People who
met Elizabeth when receiving
honors or at Royal Garden Par-
ties projected themselves onto
her. Stories in memoirs, arti-
cles and autobiographies about
meeting her often described her
as simultaneously special, but
also “like us.” Under Elizabeth,
the royal family pushed a public
narrative that they are inclusive
of all people in their realms.
This image of a royal family
for all Britons also took a hit
with the departure and the fe-
rocious press attacks on Prince
Harry and his American wife,
Meghan Markle. Reports of ra-
cially insensitive comments by
a senior royal suggested that
the U.K.’s pervasive culture of
passive-aggressive racism goes
all the way to the top.
Charles now faces the difficult
task, if he wants it, of presenting
himself as a monarch for all Brit-
ons, regardless of race, social
class and nationality.
Challenge III: A neutral
king?
Finally, Charles faces ques-
13
tions about his political neutral-
ity. Elizabeth was careful not to
reveal her political beliefs or per-
sonal feelings. She was simulta-
neously the most public and most
private of individuals in Britain
during her reign. Her known en-
thusiasms – her piety, patronage
of various charities, corgis and
horse racing – were seldom con-
troversial or politicized.
Charles has a different public
reputation. He has been out-
spoken in controversies about
architecture, farming, health
and the environment – some of
which connect to ongoing po-
litical and cultural debates. In
2015, the Guardian published
letters showing that Charles
had lobbied Tony Blair’s gov-
ernment directly over issues
of personal interest to him, in-
cluding his enthusiasm for al-
ternative medicine.
In being less discreet than
his mother about his political
views, Charles risks compro-
mising his constitutional role
as a monarch who reigns but
doesn’t rule. Under Elizabeth,
the monarchy was flexible and
fluid: becoming or appearing
to become what British politi-
cians, traditional elites and its
many other publics wanted it to
be. If Charles tries to be more
proactive than his mother in
the political sphere, he will like-
ly alienate people.
A poisoned chalice?
If being king in 2022 sounds
tricky, it’s because it is. Charles
will struggle to serve all his con-
stituencies well. There are many
ways he can fail. It’s not even
clear what “success” means for
a British monarch in the 21st
century. Is it influence? Harmo-
ny? Reflecting society? Setting a
good example? Survival?
For King Charles III, the
most meaningful choices may
be about letting go as much as
holding on. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 14
Iran and the US appear unlikely to reach a new
nuclear deal – leaving everyone more unsafe
BY NINA SRINIVASAN
RATHBUN, USC Dornsife
College of Letters, Arts and
Sciences
The Conversatioin
Iran’s standoff with the Unit-
ed States over its potential nu-
clear weapons program is un-
likely to ease anytime soon.
The U.S. and Iran launched
talks in 2021 to renew a now-de-
funct political deal that would
curb Iran’s nuclear program.
But the window for Iran and
the U.S. to rejoin and return to
compliance of the lapsed 2015
nuclear deal, called the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action,
is quickly closing. China, France,
Germany, Russia, the United
Kingdom and the U.S. all agreed
to the plan with Iran in 2015.
The U.S. pulled out of the deal in
2018, effectively derailing it.
But U.S. officials told Isra-
el’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid
on Sept. 7, 2022, that despite
ongoing talks in Vienna, it was
unlikely the group of countries
would sign a deal anytime soon.
European Union Foreign
Policy Chief Josep Borrell pre-
viously emphasized on Sept. 5,
2022, that efforts to reach a new
agreement are “in danger” due
to recent divergences between
the U.S. and Iranian positions.
I have worked and researched
nuclear nonproliferation and
U.S. national security for two
decades. When diplomacy fails
to prevent nuclear prolifera-
tion, particularly by a state like
Iran that engages in malicious
acts throughout the region, ev-
eryone in the world is less safe.
US and Iran reach a deal –
temporarily
The U.S. and its allies have
been concerned about Iran’s
possible pursuit of nuclear
The Bank of Canada’s...
❰❰ 10 increased by more
than 1,500 times their
pre-COVID amount.
Such increases in bank reserves
are generally considered to be
inflationary.
Restoring faith in the Bank
of Canada
The Bank of Canada’s recent
aggressive monetary tightening
World News
weapons since intelligence un-
covered its covert nuclear pro-
gram, suspended since 2003.
Iran’s possession of nuclear
weapons would undermine U.S.
and its allies’ security and de-
stabilize the Middle East, likely
encouraging more Middle East-
ern countries to try to develop
the weapons themselves.
After decades of disagreement,
the U.S. and Iran signed a deal in
2015 that halted Iran’s develop-
ment of nuclear technology and
stockpiling of nuclear material in
exchange for lifting multiple in-
ternational economic sanctions
placed on Iran.
This was significant because
it lengthened the amount
of time it would take Iran to
stockpile the nuclear material
to build a nuclear bomb to over
a year. It halted Iran’s develop-
ment of more advanced enrich-
ment capabilities.
It also gave the International
Atomic Energy Agency, a nucle-
ar watchdog organization that
is part of the United Nations,
more oversight over Iranian
nuclear activity, letting U.N. in-
will be transmitted to the real
economy through higher inter-
est rates and lower asset prices
(including housing prices), and
will most likely kill the post-
COVID economic expansion.
With inflation seemingly
out of control, central banks
appear to be losing credibility.
The public trusts central banks
spectors regularly observe all of
Iran’s nuclear sites.
But the deal fell through in
2018 when the U.S. withdrew
from the agreement under for-
mer President Donald Trump
and reimposed hundreds of
economic sanctions on Iran.
Iran waited until 2019 before
it officially broke the 2015 agree-
ment by enriching uranium en-
richment above the permitted
3.67% purity levels set by the
deal. This alone did not substan-
tially rule out eventually return-
ing to the 2015 agreement.
Since then, however, Iran has
developed its nuclear technolo-
gy – but has not developed actu-
al nuclear bombs.
Returning to the 2015 deal
If Iran rejoined a nucle-
ar agreement with the U.S., it
would need to export its stock-
pile of enriched uranium, allow
the U.N. nuclear watchdogs to
oversee all of its nuclear facili-
ties and stop research into nu-
clear weapons.
It is extremely difficult to re-
turn to a diplomatic agreement
in which one side has to make
to protect the buying power of
money, but the increasing cost
of living is eroding this trust.
The Bank of Canada, and oth-
er central banks including the
Federal Reserve, the Europe-
an Central Bank and the Bank
of England, are all desperately
trying to fight inflation and re-
store their credibility.
www.canadianinquirer.net
additional concessions and re-
turn to a previous status quo.
When I worked in multilat-
eral nuclear diplomacy for the
U.S. State Department, we saw
talks fail regarding North Ko-
rea’s nuclear weapons program
in 2009, after six years of on-
and-off progress.
Unfortunately, Iran seems to
be on a similar path.
In April 2021, an explosion
that caused a blackout occurred
in Iran’s Natanz uranium en-
richment facilities. Iran then
began enriching uranium to its
highest level of purity ever docu-
mented, above 60% – a level that
is very close to what is required
to get weapons-grade uranium.
Iran’s decision over the past
few years to reduce access to
the International Atomic Ener-
gy Agency’s monitoring equip-
ment and to begin research into
uranium metals, necessary for
weaponization, also moved it
further away from the possibili-
ty of returning to the 2015 deal.
Iran today
Iran currently has the tech-
nical ability to produce a nu-
clear bomb within a few weeks,
though not the weaponization
knowledge necessary to build it.
A different kind of technology
is needed to actually design and
manufacture a bomb, which
may take Iran about two years
to develop.
Iran’s technical ability to de-
velop a nuclear weapon reduces
the value for the U.S. government
of returning to the 2015 deal
since Iran’s knowledge cannot be
put back into Pandora’s box.
A return to the agreement,
however, could help the U.S.
and Iran step back from the
edge, build trust and perhaps
develop better political rela-
tions. Both sides would bene-
fit from this stabilization: Iran
In Canada, this restoration has
involved the unprecedented in-
creases in the Bank of Canada’s
policy rate that have taken place
since the beginning of the year.
Curiously, other countries
that are facing the same supply
chain problems and higher en-
ergy prices as us are not strug-
gling with inflation as high as
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
economically from being rein-
tegrated into the international
system, and the U.S. from a veri-
fiable lengthening of the time it
would take Iran to break out.
None of this is guaranteed.
While both sides expressed
support for a return to the 2015
deal in early 2021, and continue
to do so, there remain a number
of sticking points that prevent
progress.
Priorities for Iran include the
U.S. removing the Iranian para-
military group Islamic Revolu-
tionary Guards Corps from its
list of foreign terrorist organi-
zations and getting a guarantee
that no future U.S. president
would renege on the renewed
nuclear deal.
The main issues for the U.S.
center around the American
hostages currently held in Iran
and the desire to lengthen the
time it would take Iran to stock-
pile material for a nuclear bomb.
The European Union’s final
text for the proposed agree-
ment from August 2022 pres-
ents a last-ditch attempt to map
out a return to the advantages
of the nuclear deal.
Unless Iran accepts Europe-
an reassurances, a deal seems
increasingly unlikely. Unfor-
tunately, Iran is then likely to
increase its nuclear capabilities
toward weaponization and fur-
ther undermine the Interna-
tional Atomic Energy Agency’s
monitoring of its program. Such
escalations would precipitate
increasingly confrontation-
al responses, making any new
agreement extremely unlikely,
while heightening tensions and
increasing the possibility of re-
gional conflict. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ours. For example, the inflation
rate in Switzerland is 3.4 per
cent, in Japan is 2.3 per cent,
and in China is 2.4 per cent. But
why this is the case is another
conversation entirely. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 15

www.canadianinquirer.net
16 World News SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY

Ukrainians are not willing to give up

territory or sovereignty – new survey
BY JANINA DILL,
University of Oxford, CARL
MULLER-CREPON, London
School of Economics and
Political Science, MARNIE
HOWLETT, University of
Oxford
The Conversation
Kyiv’s counteroffensive in
the north-east of Ukraine ap-
peared to take everyone by
surprise, not least Russia’s war
planners who had been mov-
ing troops south to meet an of-
fensive in the Kherson region
which Ukraine had been trum-
peting about for several weeks.
Ukraine’s president, Volody-
myr Zelensky, is claiming that
his military has won back 700
square miles of territory, in-
cluding key Russian supply bas-
es Kupiansk and Izium.
Ukraine’s military success
must have equally surprised pol-
iticians and pundits around the
world who have, over the last six
months, urged Ukraine to offer
concessions in order to secure
a peace settlement with Russia.
Giving up territory in the east
or pledging to remain neutral
would save Ukrainian lives and
reduce the risk of a Russian nu-
clear strike, they argue. But this
has raised the question as to
what sort of settlement would
be acceptable to Ukrainians and
whether they would support
ceding territory or sovereignty
to end the violence.
Ukraine has a just cause for
war – self-defence. Russian opin-
ions excepted, this is something
most of the rest of the world
agrees on. But even a war with
a just cause may not be worth
fighting. Moral philosophers
and lawyers caution that a war
of self-defence must still be pro-
portionate – the projected costs
should not exceed the benefits.
Calls on Ukraine to negotiate
or surrender often echo this ar-
gument. Ukraine can’t expect
to defeat its large neighbour in
the long run, so it should give
up self-defence now to limit the
costs of the war. But should re-
sistance to aggression really be
constrained by such cost-bene-
fit calculations?
You could just as easily think
about self-defence in absolute
terms. Some outcomes are un-
acceptable – regardless of how
costly it is to resist. The many
reports of war crimes in Rus-
sian-occupied territory could
well motivate Ukrainians to
want to fight to the end to resist
Russian control.
What is victory worth?
To find out how Ukrainians
think about self-defence, in
late July 2022 we surveyed a
representative sample of 1,160
Ukrainians in all regions not
contested by Russia. We asked
our respondents about what
concessions they might accept,
offering various scenarios.
Some of these included up-
front territorial concessions,
while others didn’t. What’s
more, the scenarios featured
strategies with different pro-
jected costs and benefits after
three more months of fighting.
They varied regarding project-
ed military and civilian deaths,
the risk of a nuclear strike and
the likely political outcomes.
We found that Ukrainians
strongly prefer strategies that
preserve Ukraine’s political
autonomy and restore its terri-
tory, including Crimea and the
Donbas region. This is the case
even if making concessions
would reduce projected civilian
and military deaths, or the risk
of a nuclear strike over the next
three months.
Of the people we surveyed,
79% opposed all options that
would lead to a Russian-con-
trolled government in Kyiv.
Importantly, the minority of
people who accepted a Rus-
sian-controlled government
did so because they prioritised
restoring Ukraine’s territory in
the choice they faced.
Russian control of the gov-
ernment in Kyiv or of territories
in the east would put the lives of
many Ukrainians at risk, as it is
well documented that Russia
has committed widespread hu-
man rights violations in tempo-
rarily occupied territories.
One way to interpret our
findings is that Ukrainians re-
ject Russian political control or
territorial concessions because
they prefer the immediate costs
of self-defence – civilian and
military fatalities and nuclear
risk – over the long-term costs
of Russian control. But our
findings suggest that not giving
in to Russia is about more than
the important aim of saving
Ukrainian lives overall.
How many extra deaths or in-
creased nuclear risk after three
months would lead to a similar
rejection by respondents as a
Russian-controlled govern-
ment? The answer we found
❱❱ PAGE 21 Ukrainians are not

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 17

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www.canadianinquirer.net
18
Introducing The Next Big
Filmmaker: Emir Khan Bautista
BY MATTE LAUREL-ZALKO
Streaming giant platforms
such as Vimeo, Netflix, Amazon
Prime, and Hulu are all doing
their bit on helping new and
exciting filmmakers showcase
their fresh talents — a huge re-
minder that cinema is definite-
ly not dying! Au contraire, the
movie world is thriving with the
emergence of budding directors
with their attention-grabbing
short films.
One fine young talent I stum-
bled upon was the gifted vid-
eographer Emir Khan Bautista,
who is currently working with
Vancouver’s top Filipino-Ca-
nadian photographer, William
Orsua, owner and CEO of Soul
Mate Productions. I was so
impressed with Emir’s work
at Soul Mate Productions, so
I decided to do some research
on his works. Please bookmark
this article and re-read it three
to five years from now because
this up–and–coming filmmak-
er may be the next big thing in
filmmaking! Let’s get to know
this young creative!
Tell us more about yourself.
Who is Emir Kahn Bautista?
“I am Emir Kahn Bautista, 37
years old, married, and a grad-
uate of Bachelor of Science in
Nursing from Ateneo de Zam-
boanga. I am a registered nurse
and currently a film director
here in the Philippines.”
“I started my interest in pho-
tography. I proceeded to fol-
low my passion for art as my
outlet of expression, focusing
on life events, celebrity pho-
toshoots, and advertising. In
the year 2011–2012, I took a
16-week short film course in
Directing and Cinematogra-
phy from Hollywood caliber
programs of NYFA (New York
Film Academy) in New York,
U.S.A. I have worked as a free-
lance filmmaker/photographer
with one of the major TV net-
works of the country (ABS-
CBN productions) and recently
worked with GMA TV Network
as a professional consultant for
photos and videos for shows
like KMJS, AHA, and SONA.
The last project we produced
for CNN was DOST Science
Documentary that aired for two
seasons. I was also employed as
the Program Director for Film-
making at Philippine Centre for
Creative Imaging (PCCI) and
was in partnership with Events
Finest of Fernwood Gardens
as their official photographer
and video supplier for over nine
years and now a fresh graduate
of Film Art in Film Directing at
Langara College in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada.”
What drives you as a per-
son, as a filmmaker, as a hus-
band, and as a father to three
children?
“Being a father to my three
lovely daughters with a deep love
for storytelling and cartoons is
no joke. I began to develop my
interest in voice acting through
our daily night routine of bed-
time stories that started my cu-
riosity towards making my own
characters for my films. I am so
much of a people person and en-
joy the company of many kids. I
enjoyed collaborating ideas with
kids, especially with my eldest
daughter who also has an imag-
inative mind and likes fantasies.
Some of the projects I worked
with are ‘Paano maging super-
hero (How to be a superhero)?’
an animated short film, ‘Elon’s
way,’ ‘Coffee meets Kaiju,’ and
‘Interscape.’ I am more than
ready to direct my mainstream
Sci-Fi movies and I’m currently
building my work as a director.”
What are the toughest as-
pects of making a film today?
“Number one is health scare
which is COVID. I remember
we needed to move one week
of shooting dates because of
infections that caused a lot of
time and resource adjustments.
Second is distribution; though
it’s a big market of distributors,
we need to find the right people
to help you move forward with
your film career. And the most
critical part is finding your au-
dience. What’s next!”
What projects are you
working on next?
“I am writing a feature film
titled ‘Fairy Grandmothers,’ a
comedy/drama about a young
entrepreneur seeking great Ca-
nadian opportunity through Stu-
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
dent Pathway. While looking for
a house and a part-time job, she
meets three Filipino senior citi-
zen immigrants who work as full-
time cleaners in big shopping
malls. The three grandmothers
talk about life, love/sex, and ca-
reer. The lead protagonist will be
up for the best adventure of her
life by learning to live like the 80’s
Filipino style dating game.”
“Also, we are writing a sequel
to our Sci-Fi short film, ‘Inter-
space: Unconscious Minds of
the World.’”
“We are also gearing to create
amazing corporate, lifestyle, (EMIR KHAN BAUTISTA)
advertising, and heart-warming
stories with William Orsua of
Soulmate Production. 2022–
2023 will be an inspiring year
for me as a filmmaker.”
Were there any funny an-
ecdotes from your filmmak-
ing process?
“The Immortals’ look was an
accident. One of the Immortal
actors came in just a plain shirt
and pants. Due to a last-minute
shoot, we cannot afford to delay
it anymore. During the post-ed-
iting, we tried to do a composite
and change his skin tone to a
more powerful look. Surprising-
ly, it turned out great. Checking With Vancouver’s top Filipino-Canadian photographer William Orsua, owner
our deadline, we proceeded to and CEO of Soul Mate Productions. (EMIR KHAN BAUTISTA)
composite everyone and make
them into amazing immortals.” Bautista, Luis Pedron, Arjan- my visual effects application.
Where do you see the film mar Rebeta, and Ella Mage. Plus, you always made sure
industry going in the next They have different specialties that we understood sound and
one year? I know I can fuse and blend in sound mixing since I knew it
“Entertainment is everyone’s my next film writing.” was my weakest.”
relaxing pill. It will be amazing Please tell me more about What skills set are you try-
as ever. The strong diversity your experience studying at ing to acquire?
made it more accessible and Langara College. “Filipino filmmaker doing a
available for everyone to cheer. “We have standout teachers Hollywood feel film. Isang Fil-
Let’s enjoy this for the next few because of their sheer dedica- ipino film student gumawa ng
years to come.” tion to us (students), especial- mala-hollywood na short film.”
Who are your filmmaking ly when they are teaching the “It was very clear during my
influencers? importance of collaboration first months here in Langara
“I am a big fan of Steven among peers, teaching both that I want to combine both
Spielberg and Marvel/DC film- technical and valuable infor- Filipino and Western Styles of
makers. Canadian Filmmakers mation about films. As a direc- filmmaking. I am happy and
Jonas Quastel, who did a lot tor and collaborator, it helped glad about the output I learned
of Sci-Fi films, Katrin Bowen me work with different creative during the entire process. Fili-
for her deep execution of her people. Also, the school helped pino talent is world-class.”
stories, and Cinematographer me appreciate the value of lis- What’s a movie you’ve seen
Danny Nowak for his creative tening and adapting. As the pro- recently that you liked?
visual eyes. Philippines has a lot gram reached its end, I was able “Two of Netflix’s big hits: Ko-
of great directors that inspire to have a better understanding rean hit Squid Game and Mon-
me like Lav Diaz, Brilliante of its value. On the other hand, I ey Heist. I enjoyed the films,
Mendoza, Ricky Lee, Paul Sori- learned new technical skills like but what I love the most is the
ano, and Emmanuel Dela Cruz, assistant camera work, gaffing
and filmmakers like Harlene and gripping, and fine-tuning ❱❱ PAGE 20 Introducing The Next
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Entertainment
Teenage misfits, messy emotions and joyous
discussions on consent: Heartbreak High is a
bright new piece of television
BY ALEX HENDERSON,
University of Canberra
The Conversation
Few settings invite drama,
messy emotions and chaos like
a high school.
The original 1990s Heart-
break High ran for seven sea-
sons and was broadcast in over
70 countries including the UK,
US, Germany, Argentina, Mex-
ico, India and Indonesia. The
show followed a cast of students
at a multicultural Sydney high
school and became an icon of
Aussie TV. It stood out as an hon-
est and gritty depiction of teen
life, especially compared against
the “squeaky clean” visions in
other dramas of the time.
Now, a new reboot under
showrunner Hannah Carroll
Chapman revisits the fictional
Hartley High in 2022, dealing
with issues and themes relevant
to a contemporary audience.
Heartbreak High will find its
place alongside series like Net-
ABS-CBN wins two Silver Quill Awards
from IABC Asia Pacific
ABS-CBN
“Kapamilya Himig Handog”
makes three-peat at IABC’s glob-
al, regional, and local awards
programs
ABS-CBN’s “Kapamilya Himig
Handog” songwriting contest
and “Act As If You Have the Vi-
rus” internal communications
campaign bagged top honors
at the prestigious 2022 Silver
Quill Awards given by the In-
ternational Association of Busi-
ness Communicators (IABC)
Asia Pacific.
flix’s Sex Education and HBO’s
Euphoria exploring the often
grimy realities of modern ado-
lescence with style and humour.
But here we have a uniquely
Australian take on the current
wave of teen dramas.
A new class
Amerie (Ayesha Madon) and
Harper (Asher Yasbincek) have
been ride-or-die best friends
since childhood. Their greatest
project is a map of all the hook-
ups and romantic entanglements
at Hartley High, drawn in a se-
cret, out-of-bounds stairwell.
When the map is discovered,
Amerie gets blamed, and an
unlikely group of students find
themselves stuck together in
“Sexual Literacy Tutorials”.
As if that wasn’t bad enough,
Harper turns up to school with
a shaved head and a mysterious
vendetta against Amerie.
With her social life turned
upside down, Amerie falls
in with class misfits Darren
(James Majoos) and Quinni
(Chloe Hayden). From here,
ABS-CBN’s “Kapamilya Himig
Handog,” an employee song-
writing contest that led Star
Music to launch the “OPM Fresh
Songwriters Series Vol. 1” EP
featuring songs written by aspir-
ing employee composers and in-
terpreted by famous artists, won
an Award of Excellence.
With the Silver Quill Award
win, “Kapamilya Himig Han-
dog” completes a three-peat in
IABC’s international, regional,
and local awards programs. Pre-
viously, it received a Gold Quill
from IABC in New York and a
Philippine Quill Award from
she must repair her reputation,
figure out what’s wrong with
Harper, and navigate the rocky
terrain of romance, sexuality
and heartbreak.
The series is an echo of con-
temporary teen culture. Pop
culture references and slang
like “unalive” and “flop era” will
date the episodes, but for now
Heartbreak High is an effective
mirror of modern life.
Cast of Heartbreak High (@AYESHAMADON/INSTAGRAM)
IABC Philippines. The program
was cited for enabling the com-
pany to discover fresh talents
among employees whose dream
is to have their works produced
and heard. The winning compo-
sitions are currently streaming
on Amazon Music, Apple Music,
Deezer, Spotify, and YouTube.
ABS-CBN’s “Act As If You
Have the Virus” internal com-
munications campaign, which
had earlier earned an interna-
tional Gold Quill Award from
IABC, also bagged an Award of
Excellence. It was commended
for its creative use of arresting
Much like the original series
gave us a diverse set of char-
acters, this series refreshingly
reflects the diversity of today’s
high schools.
Our heroine Amerie and her
two love interests, long-time
crush Dusty (Josh Heuston)
and sweet new boy in town Mal-
akai (Thomas Weatherall), are
all characters of colour.
Darren is non-binary, out and
imagery and persuasive lan-
guage to remind employees
about the significance of health
and safety protocols in the
workplace.
The two awards won by ABS-
CBN are among the seven win-
ning entries from the Philippines
in this year’s Silver Quill Awards,
an annual awards program of the
IABC Asia Pacific that honors
the outstanding works of com-
munication professionals across
the region. A total of 23 entries
by business communication
professionals in Australia, India,
and the Philippines have been
19
proud but dealing with parents
who complain Darren’s gender
identity and singular they/them
pronouns are “too confusing”.
Quinni is queer and autistic,
with one episode sympatheti-
cally exploring her difficulties
with dating and trying to mask
and appear “normal”.
These teenagers all face their
own unique issues, but also
find themselves dealing with
universal ups and downs every
viewer will be able to relate to.
Let’s talk about sex
As the Hartley High hook-up
map would imply, teen sexuali-
ty is at the core of the story.
Heartbreak High uses this
plot device not just for love
triangles and drama, but as a
chance to interrogate how we
talk to teenagers about sex.
The Sexual Literacy Tutorials
– or “SLTs”, which the students
point out ironically sounds like
“sluts” – provide some wonder-
fully awkward scenes.
❱❱ PAGE 20 Teenage misfits, messy
recognized as Award of Excel-
lence winners for demonstrat-
ing strategic acumen, innovative
thinking, and creative skills that
deliver important results and
strategic outcomes.
The winning entries, which
were entered in the 2022 Gold
Quill Awards, meet the IABC’s
7-point Global Scale of Excel-
lence as evaluated against a
stringent set of rubrics by sea-
soned communication profes-
sionals from around the world.
Each winner will receive a 2022
Silver Quill Award certificate. ■
20
Sneezing with hay fever?
Native plants aren’t
usually the culprit
BY JOHN DEARNALEY,
University of Southern
Queensland
The Conversation
Hay fever is a downside of
springtime around the world.
As temperatures increase, plant
growth resumes and flowers
start appearing.
But while native flowering
plants such as wattle often get
the blame when the season-
al sneezes strike, hay fever in
Australia is typically caused by
introduced plant species often
pollinated by the wind.
A closer look at pollen
Pollen grains are the tiny
reproductive structures that
move genetic material between
flower parts, individual flowers
on the same plant or a nearby
member of the same species.
They are typically lightweight
structures easily carried on
wind currents or are sticky
and picked up in clumps on the
feathers of a honeyeater or the
fur of a fruit bat or possum.
Hay fever is when the human
immune system overreacts to
allergens in the air. It is not only
caused by pollen grains but fun-
gal spores, non-flowering plant
spores, mites and even pet hair.
The classic symptoms of hay
fever are sneezing, runny nos-
es, red, itchy, and watery eyes,
swelling around the eyes and
scratchy ears and throat.
The problem with pollen
grains is when they land on the
skin around our eyes, in our
nose and mouth, the proteins
found in the wall of these tiny
structures leak out and are rec-
ognised as foreign by the body
and trigger a reaction from the
immune system.
So what plants are the
worst culprits for causing
hay fever?
Grasses, trees, and herba-
ceous weeds such as plantain
Lifestyle
are the main problem species
as their pollen is usually scat-
tered by wind. In Australia, the
main grass offenders are exotic
species including rye grass and
couch grass (a commonly used
lawn species).
Weed species that cause hay
fever problems include in-
troduced ragweed, Paterson’s
curse, parthenium weed and
plantain. The problematic tree
species are also exotic in origin
and include liquid amber, Chi-
nese elm, maple, cypress, ash,
birch, poplar, and plane trees.
Although there are some
native plants that have wind-
spread pollen such as she-oaks
and white cypress pine, and
which can induce hay fever,
these species are exceptional in
the Australian flora. Many Aus-
tralian plants are not wind pol-
linated and use animals to move
their clumped pollen around.
For example, yellow-co-
loured flowers such as wattles
and peas are pollinated by in-
sect such as bees. Red- and
orange-coloured flowers are
usually visited by birds such
as honeyeaters. Large, dull-co-
loured flowers with copious
nectar (the reward for pollina-
tion) are visited by nocturnal
mammals including bats and
possums. Obviously Australian
plant pollen can still potential-
ly cause the immune system to
overreact, but these structures
are less likely to reach the mu-
cous membranes of humans.
What can we do to prevent
hay fever attacks at this time
of the year?
With all of this in mind, here
are some strategies to prevent
the affects of hay fever:
1. stay inside and keep the
house closed up on warm,
windy days when more pollen is
in the air
2. if you must go outside, wear
sunglasses and a face mask
3. when you return indoors
gently rinse (and don’t rub)
your eyes with running water,
change your clothes and show-
er to remove pollen grains from
hair and skin
4. try to avoid mowing the
lawn in spring particularly
when grasses are in flower (the
multi-pronged spiked flowers
of couch grass are distinctive)
5. when working in the gar-
den, wear gloves and facial cov-
erings particularly when han-
dling flowers
6. consider converting your
garden to a native one. Grevil-
leas are a great alternative to rose
bushes. Coastal rosemary are a
fabulous native replacement for
lavender. Why not replace your
❱❱ PAGE 26 Sneezing with hay
www.canadianinquirer.net
Introducing The Next...
❰❰ 18 stories behind the re-
jection and failures
before it hit big on tele-
vision worldwide. Squid Game
got rejected for a year as no one
wants to see this kind of dark
games and Money Heist was cut
to a second season because there
is not much interest from the lo-
cal viewers. In the height of the
pandemic, these two films ruled
the world of streaming.”
Name a movie that has had
an impact on your life and why.
“Two of my favourite animat-
ed films are Finding Nemo and
Lorax. I may start with Finding
Nemo; this story is about learn-
ing to trust and let go. This film
made me stronger both as a kid,
who needed to be very careful
with my decision to gain my inde-
pendence, and as a father to three
daughters to learn to understand
and respect my children’s inter-
ests and pride. Finding Nemo is
my biggest inspiration in writing
and telling stories.”
Teenage misfits, messy...
❰❰ 19 The school’s sex edu-
cation curriculum is full
of outdated language
and knowledge gaps, leaving the
staff woefully (but amusingly) un-
prepared for nuanced discussions
about sex with their students.
Long-suffering teacher Jojo
(Chika Ikogwe) tries to mix up
the curriculum by injecting some
sex positivity, inclusive language
and nuanced discussion of con-
sent – to mixed results.
As the bright pink dildo stuck
to the school’s basketball court
proves, sex is very much pres-
ent and unavoidable in the high
school environment, whether
the scandalised school board
likes it or not.
The question is how to
broach the topic in a nuanced
way that keeps those vulnerable
students safe.
Heartbreak High’s writing
follows from Jojo’s example.
When sex is depicted between
the characters, the dialogue
emphasises the importance
(and joy) of consent. The fram-
ing makes the scenes intimate
without sexualising the teenag-
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
“Lorax, on the other hand, is a
highly political animated film that
tackles corruption, power, and
greed. This gives a strong frame-
work on how the system works in
one innocent community.”
“All these films have strong
subtexts that help me develop
my story writing skills.”
Please share tips with
young students out there who
want to go into filmmaking.
“If I KAHN do it, they KAHN
do it too. Nothing is impossible
for people with a strong will to
achieve their goals. Finding the
right people can lead you to the
right career path. Always keep
the ‘What’s Next?’ attitude.” ■
Matte Laurel-Zalko is a for-
mer restaurateur and hotelier,
a mother, a wife, a health and
wellness aficionado, food and
wine enthusiast, a dog-lover, and
lifestyle columnist exclusively
for Philippine Canadian Inquir-
er (PCI).
ers themselves.
The frank depiction of female
sexuality and queer sexuality is
also refreshing, whether it’s co-
medic scenes of Amerie being
too horny to concentrate, or a
matter-of-fact discussion of the
average labia size.
Complicated, messy lives
This reboot is a bright new
piece of Australian television,
running on an engaging blend
of comedy and drama.
It doesn’t shy away from se-
rious topics such as drug use,
youth crime or discrimination.
But it also provides plenty of
moments of levity, letting its
characters joke around about
everything from astrology, to
erections, to bad haircuts.
Heartbreak High avoids cli-
che and shows its teen heroes
as complicated, messy people
the audience can root for – even
when they make mistakes.
Heartbreak High is streaming
on Netflix from September 14. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Weight loss: the time of day you eat your
biggest meal has little effect – new study
BY JONATHAN JOHNSTON,
University of Surrey, ALEX
JOHNSTONE, University of
Aberdeen, PETER MORGAN,
University of Aberdeen
The Conversation
Some of the most popular
diet advice in recent years has
centred around the idea that
the right timing for your meals
can make a big difference in the
amount of weight you lose. It
was long said that if you wanted
to lose weight it was best to eat
a large meal at the beginning
of the day and keep any later
meals smaller.
The logic behind this theory is
understandable, especially given
that almost every cell in the body
follows the same 24-hour cycle
that we do. Circadian clocks are
found throughout the body and
regulate the daily rhythms of
most of our biological functions,
including metabolism.
Because of these metabolic
rhythms, scientists have proposed
that the way in which we process
meals varies at different times of
the day. This field of research is
called “chrono-nutrition”, and it
has great potential for helping to
improve people’s health.
Two studies from 2013 sug-
gested that consuming more
Ukrainians are not...
❰❰ 16 after extrapolating
our statistical analysis
is it would take about
12 million additional civilian
deaths or more military fatal-
ities than the country has in-
habitants (44 million) – or the
certain prospect of a nuclear
attack – for Ukrainians to react
as strongly as they reject a Rus-
sian-controlled government.
Clearly, this is unrealistic –
no realistic strategy for self-de-
fence could have such costs after
three months. So these calcu-
lations reveal that Ukrainians
take an absolute stance: they
categorically reject Russian con-
trol and territorial concessions
– regardless of the costs.
Why does it matter what
Ukrainians think?
We conducted this study be-
cause the voices of ordinary
Ukrainians have been absent
calories early in the day and few-
er calories in the evening helps
people lose weight. Yet a major
new study has found that while
the relative size of breakfast and
dinner influences self-reported
appetite, it has no effect on me-
tabolism and weight loss.
To investigate the link between
the size of breakfast and dinner
and their effect on hunger, a team
of researchers at the universities
of Aberdeen and Surrey conduct-
ed a controlled study in healthy
but overweight people. The par-
ticipants were fed two diets, each
for four weeks: a big breakfast
and a small dinner, and a small
breakfast with a big dinner. We
kept lunches the same.
from the intense international
debate about whether – and how
– Ukraine should defend itself.
We worked closely with the Ilko
Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives
Foundation and the Kyiv Inter-
national Institute of Sociology
to gather reliable data while en-
suring the safety of interviewers
and respondents.
It’s difficult to conduct sur-
veys in a war zone, but we have
at least three urgent reasons
to care about what Ukraini-
ans think. First, the costs of
self-defence, but also the costs
of potential concessions, are
primarily borne by ordinary
Ukrainians. They deserve a say
in which of many difficult paths
their country takes.
Second, we cannot prop-
erly judge what is at stake in
Ukraine’s defensive war with-
out understanding how strong-
We provided all of the meals
so we knew exactly how many
calories study participants
were consuming. We measured
the participants’ metabolism,
including monitoring how
many calories they burned.
All study participants under-
took both diet conditions so that
the effect of meal patterns could
be compared in the same people.
We predicted that a big
breakfast and small dinner
would increase calories burned
and weight lost. Instead, the re-
sults of the experiment found
no differences in body weight
or any biological measures of
energy usage between the two
meal patterns.
ly Ukrainians oppose Russian
control and how highly they
value territorial integrity. A
cost-benefit calculation from
afar is unsound.
Third, it is dangerous for the
international community to
pressure Zelensky and his gov-
ernment to pursue a strategy
that contradicts what Ukrainians
want. Trying to go against the
wishes of the people could desta-
bilise the government and would
ultimately be unsuccessful.
Put simply, it is neglect-
ful, unsound and unwise to
judge Ukraine’s defensive war
against Russia – and make po-
litical demands based on such
judgments – without under-
standing how Ukrainians think
about the costs and benefits of
self-defence. Back in April, the
philosopher and linguist Noam
Chomsky urged Kyiv to settle,
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
Measures of energy usage
included basal metabolic rate
(how many calories your body
uses at rest), physical activity,
and use of a chemical form of
water that enables assessment
of total daily energy use.
There were also no differenc-
es in daily levels of blood glu-
cose, insulin or lipids. This is
important because changes of
these factors in the blood are as-
sociated with metabolic health.
Our findings are consis-
tent with short-term (one to
six days) meal-timing studies,
where participants live in a lab-
oratory respiratory chamber (a
small, air-tight room equipped
with basic comforts) for the
duration of the experiment.
Together, the research suggests
that the way our bodies process
calories in the morning versus
the evening does not influence
weight loss in the way that has
been reported in other studies.
In our study, the only dif-
ference was a change in the
self-reported feeling of hunger
and related factors, such as the
quantity of food they want-
ed to eat. Across the day, the
meal pattern of big breakfast
and small dinner caused par-
ticipants to report less hunger
throughout the day. This effect
may be useful for people look-
even if it meant territorial con-
cessions, famously asserting
that Ukraine and its western al-
lies should “pay attention to the
reality of the world”.
As Ukrainian troops bravely
advance east, we have a fuller
picture of this reality. Ukraini-
21
ing to lose weight, as it may help
them better control their hun-
ger and eat less.
As with all research, there
were some limitations to our
study. We only studied partic-
ipants for four weeks for each
meal pattern. Past research has
shown the largest differenc-
es in the effects of early versus
late energy intake after four
weeks. However, the fact that
neither calories eaten nor cal-
ories burned changed over four
weeks shows that body weight
is unlikely to have changed if
the study was longer.
Participants in the study
were also allowed to choose the
exact time of each meal. De-
spite this, there was a negligi-
ble difference in timing in each
meal pattern.
Chrono-nutrition remains
an exciting research area and
there’s increasing evidence that
meal timing can play an import-
ant role in improving the health
of many people. However, our
latest research indicates that
the time of day you eat your
biggest meal is not as import-
ant for weight loss as previously
thought. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ans categorically reject Russian
control and territorial conces-
sions – regardless of the imme-
diate costs of resistance. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
22 SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY

Sports
EJ Obiena caps outdoor 700 triathletes
season with Golden Fly gold expected to join
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
NCC’s Sept. 25
5.71 meters.
The silver medalist, United
States’ Olen Oates, could only
pic Committee president Bam-
bol Tolentino believes it will
not take long before Obiena be-

MANILA – EJ Obiena added

triathlon event
another gold medal to his col-
lection this year as he ruled the
Liechtenstein leg of the Golden
Fly Series early Monday (Phil-
ippine Time).
In his last outdoor event for
the year and the penultimate
this season, the world No. 3 pole
vaulter easily edged his oppo-
nent as he leapt the highest at
jump to as high as 5.61 meters.
With the championship al-
ready in the bag, Obiena, who
stunned the world earlier this
month when he pulled off a giant
slaying against world No. 1 Mon-
do Duplantis, tried to duplicate
what the Swedish champ could
do on a regular basis prior to his
huge off-night that led to the Fil-
ipino’s win, leaping at six meters.
Obiena fouled on all his three
attempts, but Philippine Olym-
comes the first Asian to breach
the elite mark.
“It was really that close,” To-
lentino said, pertaining to Obi-
ena’s third try. “No problem, he
still wins the meet with 5.71m.
EJ’s beat years is ahead of him.”
Austrian pole vaulter Ric-
cardo Klotz won the countback
against Americans Austin Mill-
er and Nate Richartz for the
bronze as they all reached 5.51
meters each. ■

Alexandra Eala makes RLC Residences New Clark City Triathlon race director Jumbo Tayag (middle)

history, wins US Open

announces the holding of the event in a press conference at the New Clark
City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac on Sept. 12, 2022. He said around 700
triathletes are expected to run in the Sept. 25 event with some of them flying

girls’ singles title

from other countries to join. (JOEY O. RAZON/PNA)

BY IVAN STEWART from other countries to join.

BY JEAN MALANUM
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – No. 10 seed Alex-
andra Eala of the Philippines
lifted the US Open junior tro-
phy after a 6-2, 6-4 victory over
second seed Lucie Havlickova
of Czech Republic in the girls’
singles final on Sunday at the
USTA Billie Jean King National
Tennis Center in New York.
The 17-year-old Eala needed
68 minutes to conquer Havlick-
ova, the world No. 3 and reigning
French Open girls’ singles reign-
ing champion and make history
as the first Filipino to win a ju-
nior Grand Slam singles title.
“I think I played very well
and was mentally strong and
I am happy I was able to keep
my composure throughout the
match,” said Eala during her
post-match press conference.
About her historic triumph,
Eala said, “it’s very overwhelm-
ing right now. But I think this is
a huge step for me personally as
well. I am super happy to repre-
(@ALEX.EALA/INSTAGRAM)
sent my country and do some-
thing worth for the big platform
and being able to inspire other
younger people.”
Eala, who improved her ju-
nior ranking to No. 167, said
she learned a lot about herself
during the competition.
“I am very happy with the
way I handled each and every
point. I had a lot of moments
in this tournament where I was
down, and I could have lost a set
and could have gotten mad easi-
ly but I didn’t. I think my behav-
ior throughout the whole week
was something I can be proud
of,” said the 5-foot-9 Eala, who
is based at the Rafa Nadal Ten-
nis Academy in Mallorca, Spain
for the past four years.
To reach the final, she beat
No. 8 Australian Taylah Pres-
ton, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); No. 14 Rus-
❱❱ PAGE 27 Alexandra Eala makes
www.canadianinquirer.net
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
CAPAS – The New Clark City
(NCC) Sports Complex looks to
further build its portfolio as the
country’s new triathlon hub as
it will host a full triathlon event
on Sept. 25 in partnership with
Robinson’s Land Corporation
(RLC) Residences.
Following the success of its
duathlon event last July, the
NCC will now be staging a com-
plete triathlon race, marking its
return after a three-year wait
amid the coronavirus disease
2019 pandemic.
“The RLC Residences New
Clark City Triathlon is our sev-
enth race this year since the
government allowed us to hold
events last April. We are grate-
ful to be able to organize events
that cater to people that exhibit
an active lifestyle,” said Jum-
bo Tayag, the race director for
GoClark Sports and Events, the
main organizer of the event.
Tayag said around 700 tri-
athletes are expected to run the
event with some of them flying
He added that it’s going to be
a fair game in terms on who gets
the golds in the event, that is,
the foreign runners are eligible
to win it all whether they will
join the elite category, where
they will likely face members of
the national triathlon team, or
in the age group divisions.
The racers will first swim for
900 meters or 18 full lengths of
the swimming pool inside the
NCC Aquatics Center before
biking for 50 kilometers with-
in the entire Clark Economic
Zone including areas under the
jurisdiction of the Pampanga
cities of Angeles and Mabalacat,
where the Clark International
Airport is located.
The triathlon will culminate
with a 12-kilometer run around
the NCC Athletics Stadium be-
fore running back to the finish
line at the Aquatics Center.
As an appetizer, an age group
aquathlon event will take place
on Sept. 24 also at the NCC,
while a half-distance triathlon
race is also set for Sept. 25 as
well as a three-man relay event.
(with reports from Marna Da-
gumboy Del Rosario/PNA)■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Premier League’s record spending could help
make English football fairer and more
competitive – but it depends on Liz Truss
BY CHRISTINA PHILIPPOU,
University of Portsmouth,
ADAM COX, University of
Portsmouth
The Conversation
Many industries are under-
standably cautious at the mo-
ment, as they steel themselves
for more tricky economic times
ahead. But it seems that no-
body told the English Premier
League – which has just bro-
ken its own record for spending
money on football players – to
the tune of £1.9 billion.
Of the top 20 most expensive
European club signings this
summer, 15 were in the Premier
League (four were in Spain’s
La Liga, and one in Germany’s
Bundesliga). Overall, the Pre-
mier Lea
gue spent more than the top
divisions in France, Spain and
Italy combined.
This level of spending is not
new. In the 2017-2018 season,
the Premier League spent £1.86
billion, equivalent to more than
£2 billion today. But what might
be different this time is the po-
tential impact on increasing the
level of competition through-
out the league.
For the (financial) value of
playing talent is now more
evenly distributed across Pre-
mier League clubs, which in
theory could lead to more
Noli Eala vouches for sustainability of
PSC’s programs to Senate
BY IVAN STEWART
SALDAJENO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Philippine Sports
Commission (PSC) Chairperson
Noli Eala on Monday revealed to
the Senate the agency’s plan un-
der his new leadership.
In an inquiry called by Senate
Committee on Sports chair Bong
Go, Eala said his program “will
competitive balance. Figures
suggest a large net transfer of
spending by clubs outside of
the “big six” (Manchester City,
Manchester United, Chelsea,
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur
and Liverpool).
In particular, West Ham,
Newcastle and newly promoted
Nottingham Forest have been
some of the bigger spenders,
to the extent that the estimat-
ed market value of Premier
League clubs is now more even-
ly distributed than in any of the
last ten seasons.
Historically, more even dis-
tribution of playing talent
means a more even distribution
of league points, so the compet-
itive balance of the league may
well be about to improve.
That’s all very well for the 20
clubs in the top tier of English
football, but the gulf between
the Premier League and the
second tier, the Championship,
is now larger than ever. The
gap in transfer spending is now
£1.3bn, three times what it was
ten seasons ago.
That gap gets even greater
when you move into the third
and fourth tiers (League One
and League Two), which re-
spectively have estimated mar-
ket values of just 2.4% and 0.9%
of the Premier League. This
creates significant financial
barriers to entry to the top tier,
which should be a real concern
ensure that when our athletes
win, the entire country wins.“
“This is the theme on which
my administration will center
on,” he added.
Eala then pleaded for the
senators to help him in making
his plans for Philippine sports a
success.
“I’m seeking to ensure sustain-
ability and the success of our pro-
grams for the long term. It is our
mission to carry out the mandates
for both clubs and football fans.
For English football has a sys-
temic problem when it comes to
financial sustainability. A large
number of clubs spend many
times more than what they earn
and frequently require cash in-
jections from their owners. And
while there are various financial
rules in place for football clubs,
every team is well aware of the
direct correlation that exists be-
tween spending on players and
the chance of winning matches.
A tactical approach
So victory is expensive. But
overspending can be ruinous, as
fans of clubs which have gone
into administration, like Wigan
and Derby County, will attest.
Our research showed that even
big clubs’ resilience to economic
shocks has been historically poor,
so football is far from immune to
current global difficulties.
given to us by law to develop and
promote sports in the grassroots
as a tool towards nation-building
and unity, and to ensure full and
enhanced support for our (elite)
athletes in their continued quest
to bring honor and glory to our
country,” Eala said.
The Senate panel assured
him of the support in terms of
the PSC’s budget for next year
as well as the hosting of the
FIBA World Cup, something
www.canadianinquirer.net
Sports
Last year, the fan-led review
of football governance was pub-
lished, followed by a govern-
ment response which aimed to
bring greater financial stabili-
ty to all English clubs, provide
the lower leagues with more
financial support, and encour-
age the development of English
footballers. One of the key rec-
ommendations was the intro-
duction of an independent reg-
ulator with monitoring powers
over football’s poor finances.
However, it has been re-
ported that the new UK prime
minister, Liz Truss, may not
be inclined to implement
these recommendations. If she
doesn’t, more clubs may well be
at risk from an imbalance that
brings grave risks for the small-
er and poorer clubs.
But the big spending in the
Premier League has benefits
that he is elated about.
“I am heartened that this
committee has provided so
much support to Philippine
sports, not only in legislative
initiatives but also in terms of fi-
nancial assistance,” Eala added.
Go confirmed the nod, say-
ing, “Investing in sports not
only enable us to develop
world-class athletes, but it also
helps us in keeping our youth
away from illegal drugs and oth-
23
that we should not ignore. The
league itself funds grassroots
football and charities, and has
recently increased spending on
women’s football development.
Meanwhile, the clubs each
have a charitable foundation or
trust, which contribute towards
youth education schemes and
other positive social causes.
The money earned by well run
clubs can be put to good use.
Transfer spending is a cost,
yes, but it also brings significant
financial benefits to the club
which sells a player, and those
benefits can be far reaching.
Whether these levels of spend-
ing are sustainable and fair in the
long term is another matter – and
that must surely be the goal. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
er harmful vices.”
Also present during the in-
quiry were Senate committee
on sports vice chair Alan Cay-
etano and his sister Pia; Senate
Majority Leader Joel Villanue-
va; Senator Sonny Angara, also
the chair of the Samahang Bas-
ketbol ng Pilipinas, where Eala
was once the executive direc-
tor; and Senators Francis To-
lentino, Ronald Dela Rosa, and
Mark Villar. ■
24
PH CEOs’ business outlook remains rosy
BY KRIS CRISMUNDO
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Chief executive
officers (CEOs) in companies
operating in the Philippines re-
main optimistic in the next 12
months, the PwC and Manage-
ment Association of the Philip-
pines (MAP) 2022 Philippine
CEO survey showed.
According to the survey, 87
percent of the CEOs are con-
fident that their firms will re-
cord growth in revenues over a
year amid the new leadership in
the government and while the
country is still recovering from
the coronavirus disease 2019
(Covid-19) pandemic.
Quiet quitting is a new name for an old
method of industrial action
BY JONATHAN LORD,
University of Salford
The Conversation
The average UK worker now
carries out approximately 22
days’ worth of overtime a year.
Meanwhile, inflation is at a 40-
year high of 10.1%, and real pay is
dropping 2.8% – the fastest de-
cline since records began in 2001.
In response, the trend of “qui-
et quitting” is emerging. This
attitude encourages employees
to fulfil their job duties without
subscribing to “work is life” cul-
ture to guide their career and
stand out to their managers.
The idea of putting in just
enough effort to not get fired,
but without going above and
beyond, has a long history in
the labour movement. A con-
cept called “work to rule” has
been used by workers around
the world for centuries, and is
a popular method of industrial
action in the UK.
Historically, working to rule
has been an effective – and legal
– tool for unions to disrupt the
operations of a company during
Business
PwC and MAP said the num-
bers demonstrated that busi-
nesses remain confident with
the country’s economic recov-
ery and resiliency.
Surveyed CEOs said key
growth drivers for the Philip-
pines in the next 12 months are
infrastructure development (62
percent), domestic consump-
tion (59 percent), and govern-
ment spending (49 percent).
Firms’ top executives also
consider the United States,
China and Japan as important
countries that could impact
their companies’ overall growth.
The survey also reported
that 35 percent of the surveyed
CEOs said their firms still have
not recovered from the Covid-19
trade disputes by slowing down
operations. When the French rail-
ways were nationalised in 1938,
strikes were forbidden. However,
railway workers were aware that
French law required engineers
to assure the safety of any bridge
over which the train passes.
If any doubt remained after a
personal examination, the engi-
neer had to consult other mem-
bers of the train crew. Working to
rule isn’t just about minimising
workload, it can be used to frus-
trate the operations as well – in
this case, workers called for every
bridge to be inspected, consult-
ing every crew, leading to none of
the trains running on time.
In 1968, more than 2,000 Air
Canada passenger agents and
communications personnel
implemented work to rule over
a labour dispute. Represen-
tatives at the time stated that
their members would usually
take whatever “shortcuts” they
could to keep passengers mov-
ing at maximum speed. Howev-
er, they abandoned these short-
cuts, working strictly to the
airline’s rules and regulations,
until a settlement was reached.
pandemic as the global health
and economic crisis still has
continuing impact on their busi-
nesses, such as higher material
costs (48 percent), supply chain
constraints (45 percent), labor
constraints (37 percent), and ac-
celerated inflation in other ter-
ritories (26 percent).
On the other hand, most of the
surveyed CEOs said factors that
will hamper their companies’
growth and recovery from the
pandemic are the threats of new
Covid-19 strains and potential
lockdowns (50 percent), talent
constraints (44 percent), and the
ability to keep up with the chang-
ing innovations (26 percent).
It added that majority of
companies’ business plans
With the rise of quiet quitting, could the days (and nights) of staying late at the
office be over?
In May 2021, the UK uni-
versity college union took “ac-
tion short of a strike”, which
often describes a work to rule
approach. Staff still carried
out their jobs, but interrupted
the normal operations of work
through eight forms of action:
1. boycott of marking and as-
sessing
2. not covering for absent or
unavailable colleagues
www.canadianinquirer.net
post-pandemic include tech-
nology and digital upskilling,
introducing new strategies for
talent retention and develop-
ment, improving customer ex-
perience, and increasing invest-
ments in innovation.
“The CEO survey results tell
us the journey that we should
take, as well as a mirror on where
we are. The collective insights of
leaders give everyone a level of
confidence on how to plan their
journey, where they are lagging,
as well as what could set them
apart,” PwC Philippines chair-
man emeritus and ESG leader
Alex Cabrera said.
Meanwhile, CEOs said the
Marcos administration should
prioritize accountability and
3. not using the university’s
online systems on a Friday
4. not rescheduling lectures,
classes, appointments, meet-
ings or other tasks cancelled
due to industrial action
5. not engaging in meetings
longer than 50 minutes
6. not sending emails before
9:00 am and after 5:00 pm
7. not volunteering ideas or
for additional tasks
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
transparency, fight against cor-
ruption, and attracting more
foreign investments for the gov-
ernment to help in the recovery
and growth of businesses.
The survey also showed the
top concerns of CEOs that
could delay the country’s eco-
nomic recovery. These include
corruption, lower domestic and
investments, political uncer-
tainty, uncontrolled inflation,
and rising oil prices.
“I also hope the government
will take heed of these senti-
ments as the private sector is
simply an invaluable and indis-
pensable partner to achieving
success in nation building and
global competitiveness,” Cabre-
ra added. ■
8. not undertaking work be-
yond that contracted.
This demonstrated to the
employer that the university
could not function without staff
routinely going above and be-
yond what their jobs actually
require.
In August 2022, members of
the National Union of Journal-
ists, include those at the Daily
Mirror, Daily Express and Man-
chester Evening News voted
88% in favour of action short of
a strike. Amid ongoing, all-out
strikes in several industries,
there is clearly still an appetite
for disruption in the workplace.
Is quiet quitting a form of
industrial action?
Industrial action in the UK is
changing. A younger and more
diverse labour market wants
change in the workplace over
inequality and pay gaps, but
their approach is less about
working class solidarity than
that of previous generations.
This is evident in the decline
in trade union membership, es-
pecially among younger people.
❱❱ PAGE 28 Quiet quitting is
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Ads are coming to Netflix soon – here’s what
we can expect and what that means for the
streaming industry
BY OLIVER EKLUND,
Queensland University of
Technology
The Conversation
Ads are coming to Netflix,
perhaps even sooner than an-
ticipated.
The Wall Street Journal has
reported that Netflix has moved
up the launch of their ad-sup-
ported subscription tier to No-
vember. The Sydney Morning
Herald, meanwhile, is reporting
that Australia is amongst the first
countries likely to experience ads
on Netflix later this year.
Netflix first announced they
would introduce a new, low-
er-priced, subscription tier to
be supported by advertising in
April. This was an about-face
from a company that had built
an advertising free, on-demand
television empire. Indeed, it
was only in 2020 that Netflix
CEO Reed Hastings ruled out
advertising on the platform,
saying “you know, advertising
looks easy until you get in it.”
The change of heart followed
Netflix’s 2022 first quarter
earnings report which saw a
subscriber loss for the first time
in over a decade. The addition
of ads to the platform is a clear
sign of the emerging period of
experimentation across the
streaming landscape.
How will it work?
It’s important to note that not
every Netflix subscription tier will
carry advertising. The current
plan is there will be one newly
introduced and cheaper subscrip-
tion tier supported by advertis-
ing, targeting in the US market
around USD $7-9 a month as the
price point. This will represent a
discount from the current cheap-
est plan of US $9.99 (AUD $10.99)
a month. These prices will be
adapted to the different currency
markets Netflix operate across
and the existing price points in
those markets.
By bringing a hybrid adver-
tising/subscription tier, Netflix
is adopting a business model al-
ready present on other streamers
like Hulu. Netflix is keeping this a
hybrid tier, meaning while the
new tier will be cheaper, it will
not be free, like ad-supported
streaming available on Peacock.
Advertising presents complex
new technological and business
challenges for Netflix, which has
not worked in this market be-
fore. To enter this new market,
Netflix announced advertising
would be delivered through a
partnership with Microsoft.
Partnering with Microsoft al-
layed some fears around Netflix
entering a new media market
and gives Netflix access to Mi-
crosoft’s extensive advertising
delivery infrastructure.
Netflix has announced that
original movie programming
may stay free of ads for a limit-
ed period upon release, and that
both original and some licensed
childrens’ content will remain
free of ads.
As well as staying away from
children’s advertising, which
in Australia is highly regulated
by government and industry
codes, Netflix is also avoiding
any advertising buyers in cryp-
tocurrency, political advertis-
ing, and gambling.
Advertising will run around
4 minutes per hour of content -
for context Australian commer-
cial free-to-air TV networks are
limited on their primary chan-
nels to 13 minutes per hour
and 15 minutes per hour on
multi-channels between 6am
and midnight.
Netflix will also have limits
on the number of times a sin-
gle ad can appear for a user and
there is expectation that ads for
movie content will be delivered
in a pre-roll format, not inter-
rupting the feature.
Advertising in the stream-
ing sector
Netflix is not the only sub-
scription service to announce
advertising as part of new pric-
ing strategies. Earlier this year
Disney announced a highly suc-
cessful quarter from a subscrib-
er uptake perspective, growing
by 15 million subscribers, how-
ever streaming-induced losses
were $300 million greater than
estimated.
Disney also announced that
an ad-supported Disney+ sub-
scription option will become
available in December. The Wall
Street Journal reported that
the December timeline given by
Disney is what drove Netflix to
bring forward their ad plans.
TV consumers are histori-
cally well accustomed to ad-
vertising in television - in Aus-
tralia, commercial free-to-air
networks Seven, Nine, and
Ten carry advertising, public
broadcaster SBS carries a lim-
ited amount of advertising, and
even pay-TV provider Foxtel
is supported by both subscrip-
tion fees and advertising. Ad-
vertising itself is not new to
audiences, but it has not been
present on a number of premi-
um streaming platforms like
Netflix before.
Streaming platforms like
Netflix and Disney+ are seek-
ing ways to both reach new au-
diences and to maximise their
revenues from each user. There
is a belief amongst top execu-
tives that providing a cheaper
ad-supported tier will tap into
the market of audiences who
both do not mind advertising
and see current subscription
prices as too high.
There is also evidence from
other streaming platforms,
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
such as Hulu and Discovery+,
that have offered ad-supported
subscription tiers, that these
tiers can generate greater av-
erage revenue per user (ARPU)
than higher priced subscrip-
tion-only tiers.
The ARPU is a metric used
in the streaming industry that
looks at how much money a
company makes from each sub-
scriber after deducting busi-
ness costs. Having higher rev-
enues from a subscriber can be
driven by increasing subscrip-
tion prices, driving subscribers
to more expensive subscription
tiers, reducing business costs,
or by adding additional revenue
streams like advertising.
In 2021, Discovery CEO
David Zaslav noted that Dis-
covery+ was generating more
revenue per subscriber from
their cheaper ad-supported tier
than their more expensive sub-
scription-only tier thanks to
the advertising revenue. Zaslav
commented that advertisers
were keen to reach an audience
that was largely not accessible
through other television means.
With this in mind, Netflix
and Disney are betting that
their ad-supported tiers can
perform similarly and increase
25
the revenue they can generate
per subscriber.
Experimentation across
the streaming sector
Experimentation around es-
tablished business strategies
is ruling the current streaming
landscape.
HBO Max, under newly
merged corporate parent War-
ner Bros. Discovery, is now
switching to licensing content
in select markets rather than
streaming on its own platform.
With the airing of The Lord of
the Rings prequel The Rings of
Power, Amazon Prime Video is
discovering whether its exper-
iment with the most expensive
television production ever at US
$715 million (AUD $1.05 billion)
will pay off with audiences.
There is experimentation
across the streaming industry
in licensing strategies, spectacle
television, pricing models and
beyond. The results of this ex-
perimentation will take time. But
what the arrival of advertising on
Netflix signals is that established
strategy no longer rules the
streaming landscape. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 26
Apple’s PassKeys update could make
traditional passwords obsolete
BY PAUL HASKELL-
DOWLAND, Edith Cowan
University, STEVEN
FURNELL, University of
Nottingham
The Conversation
Sometimes it seems like pass-
words have been with us forev-
er, and yet every year we’re re-
minded how we still don’t use
them properly!
The annual publication of the
“worst passwords” list shows
we haven’t become much more
password savvy over the de-
cade. And while several replace-
ments for the humble password
have been proposed, none have
come close to the ease of using
the traditional method.
But this changes today with
the introduction of Passkeys –
an update in Apple’s latest iOS
16 operating system. Passkeys
could be the long-awaited solu-
tion to password malpractice,
and the near-constant problem
of compromised credentials.
What’s wrong with pass-
words?
The problem with passwords
has been well documented. We
choose weak ones, write them
down (for others to see), share
them, and re-use them on mul-
tiple websites.
The last of these is particu-
larly problematic. Once your
details are breached (and sub-
sequently leaked), they’re vul-
nerable to “credential stuffing”
– where cybercriminals take a
set of login credentials and try
them on multiple websites.
“But I use a password manag-
er,” you might say.
Sneezing with hay...
❰❰ 20 liquid amber tree with a
fast growing, evergreen
and low-allergenic lilly
pilly tree?
If you do suffer a hay fever
attack
Sometimes even with our
best efforts, or if it’s not always
Technology
Well, that’s good. The stan-
dard advice for years has been to
use password managers such as
1Password or LastPass. These let
you create unique passwords for
each website or service you use. So
even if a website is compromised,
only one password is revealed.
But this approach requires
the ability to synchronise across
all your devices – a feature not
all password managers provide.
And even with a password
manager, our passwords are
still stored on the remote web-
site we’re accessing. Although
most websites store passwords
in a secure (hashed) format,
they are still routinely compro-
mised. It’s estimated more than
two billion sets of credentials
(including passwords) were
leaked online in 2021.
Along come Passkeys
Apple devices using the new-
est operating system release
(iOS 16 or MacOS Ventura)
will integrate a new password
mechanism called Passkeys.
Unfortunately iPad users will
need to wait a little longer for
the feature.
It’s worth noting you won’t
be forced to use Passkeys, but
your Apple device will prompt
you with the opportunity to
do so. Also, most websites will
continue to support password
access for people without the
latest devices.
You’ll also have the option to
use Apple’s secure cloud stor-
age, iCloud, to back up your
keys and share them across
your Apple devices.
How do they work?
The concept behind Passkeys
is relatively simple. Every web-
possible to stay at home, hay
fever can still creep up on us. If
this happens:
• antihistamines will reduce
sneezing and itching symptoms
• corticosteroid nasal sprays
are very effective at reducing
inflammation and clearing
site you elect to use Passkeys on
will securely generate a unique
pair of secret codes (referred to
as “keys”).
One of these is a public key,
stored on the website you’re
registered on. The other is a pri-
vate key stored on your device.
Both keys are related, but one
can’t be used to get the other.
When you attempt to log in to
the website, instead of entering
a password, your device will ask
you to verify your login using
your device’s biometric unlock-
ing mechanism. So you’ll either
scan your face or your finger.
This deliberately limits Pass-
keys’ functionality to devices
with biometric support (iPhones
have offered Touch ID since 2013
and Face ID since 2017).
Once your biometrics are ver-
ified, your device will use your
private key to prove your identity
to the website by tackling a com-
plex mathematical “challenge”
issued by the site. At no point is
your private key sent across the
internet to the website.
blocked noses
• decongestants provide
quick and temporary relief by
drying runny noses but should
not be used by those with high
blood pressure
• salt water is a good way to
remove excessive mucous from
www.canadianinquirer.net
The response from your device
can only be verified by the web-
site, using the public key gener-
ated when you registered. And
nobody can pretend to be you
without your private key, which
is safely stored on your device.
If a website is compromised,
the public key alone is useless
to cybercriminals.
Moreover, while biometric
technology can be compro-
mised, this is relatively difficult.
To exploit a biometrics/Pass-
Keys combination, a criminal
would first need to obtain your
device and then do a great job
faking your face or fingerprint
(or force one from you) – unlike-
ly circumstances for most users.
Usability barriers
Passkeys will initially launch
on Apple, but others are close
behind. Microsoft will likely
launch its own equivalent soon,
although it may not initially be
compatible with Apple’s imple-
mentation. This could be an issue
for people wanting to use both an
iPhone and Windows laptop.
the nasal passages.
Behavioural changes on
warm, windy spring days are a
good way of avoiding a hay fever
attack.
An awareness of the plants
around us and their basic re-
productive biology is also use-
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
Moving forward, it’s important
Apple, Google and Microsoft work
together to ensure maximum
compatibility across devices.
Until then, there are some
workarounds. If you need to
access an Apple Passkeys-pro-
tected service on your Windows
laptop (or any other device), you
can scan a QR code with your iP-
hone and provide your biomet-
ric login verification that way.
This means users will always
need to have their phone on
them when they want to au-
thenticate to a remote service
– whereas currently they can
just type out their password, or
use a password manager synced
across their devices.
For some users, needing to
have their phone all the time
could be enough to give Pass-
keys a pass altogether.
The long tail of adoption
The Passkeys approach has
the potential to make pass-
words obsolete, but this will re-
quire organisations around the
world to invest time, effort and
money into it.
Big players like social media
companies are well positioned
to adopt Passkeys early on, but
there will be millions of web-
sites that may take years to do
so – or may never.
Indeed, looking at the state of
play today, many leading sites
still fall short of applying existing
good practice around passwords.
So it’s hard to say exactly how
quickly, and how widely, Pass-
keys will be implemented. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
ful in preventing our immune
systems from overreacting to
pollen proteins that they are
not used to encountering. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Why household robot servants are a lot
harder to build than robotic vacuums and
automated warehouse workers
BY AYONGA HEREID, The
Ohio State University
The Conversation
With recent advances in arti-
ficial intelligence and robotics
technology, there is growing
interest in developing and mar-
keting household robots capa-
ble of handling a variety of do-
mestic chores.
Tesla is building a humanoid
robot, which, according to CEO
Elon Musk, could be used for
cooking meals and helping el-
derly people. Amazon recently
acquired iRobot, a prominent
robotic vacuum manufacturer,
and has been investing heav-
ily in the technology through
the Amazon Robotics program
to expand robotics technolo-
gy to the consumer market. In
May 2022, Dyson, a company
renowned for its power vacu-
um cleaners, announced that it
plans to build the U.K.’s largest
robotics center devoted to de-
veloping household robots that
carry out daily domestic tasks
in residential spaces.
Despite the growing interest,
would-be customers may have
to wait awhile for those robots
to come on the market. While
devices such as smart thermo-
stats and security systems are
widely used in homes today, the
commercial use of household
robots is still in its infancy.
As a robotics researcher, I
know firsthand how household
robots are considerably more
difficult to build than smart dig-
ital devices or industrial robots.
Handling objects
One major difference be-
tween digital and robotic devic-
es is that household robots need
Alexandra Eala makes...
❰❰ 22 sian Mirra Andree-
va, 6-4, 6-0; and No.
9 Canadian Victoria
Mboko, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).
Eala now has three junior
Grand Slam titles, including the
two doubles coming from the
2021 French Open with Rus-
sian Oksana Selekhmeteva and
the 2020 Australian Open with
to manipulate objects through
physical contact to carry out
their tasks. They have to carry
the plates, move the chairs and
pick up dirty laundry and place
it in the washer. These oper-
ations require the robot to be
able to handle fragile, soft and
sometimes heavy objects with
irregular shapes.
The state-of-the-art AI and
machine learning algorithms
perform well in simulated en-
vironments. But contact with
objects in the real world often
trips them up. This happens
because physical contact is of-
ten difficult to model and even
harder to control. While a hu-
man can easily perform these
tasks, there exist significant
technical hurdles for household
robots to reach human-level
ability to handle objects.
Robots have difficulty in two
aspects of manipulating objects:
control and sensing. Many pick-
and-place robot manipulators
like those on assembly lines are
equipped with a simple gripper
or specialized tools dedicated
only to certain tasks like grasp-
ing and carrying a particular
part. They often struggle to ma-
nipulate objects with irregular
shapes or elastic materials, es-
pecially because they lack the ef-
ficient force, or haptic, feedback
humans are naturally endowed
with. Building a general-pur-
pose robot hand with flexible
fingers is still technically chal-
lenging and expensive.
It is also worth mentioning
that traditional robot manipu-
lators require a stable platform
to operate accurately, but the
accuracy drops considerably
when using them with plat-
forms that move around, par-
Indonesian Priska Madelyn
Nugroho. She had a career-high
ranking of No. 2 in October
2020 following a semifinal ap-
pearance at the French Open
girls’ singles.
As a pro, Eala is currently No.
297 in the WTA rankings. This
year, she won her first ITF W25
title in Chiang Rai, Thailand and
ticularly on a variety of surfac-
es. Coordinating locomotion
and manipulation in a mobile
robot is an open problem in the
robotics community that needs
to be addressed before broadly
capable household robots can
make it onto the market.
They like structure
In an assembly line or a ware-
house, the environment and
sequence of tasks are strictly or-
ganized. This allows engineers
to preprogram the robot’s move-
ments or use simple methods
like QR codes to locate objects
or target locations. However,
household items are often dis-
organized and placed randomly.
Home robots must deal with
many uncertainties in their
workspaces. The robot must
first locate and identify the
target item among many oth-
ers. Quite often it also requires
clearing or avoiding other obsta-
cles in the workspace to be able
to reach the item and perform
given tasks. This requires the ro-
bot to have an excellent percep-
Who wouldn’t want a robot to handle all the household drudgery?
was a losing finalist at the ITF
W60 event in Madrid to reach a
career-high of No. 280 in July.
Eala debuted at the 2019 South-
east Asian Games held in the Phil-
ippines, winning the bronze med-
als in women’s singles, women’s
team event and mixed doubles
with Filipino-American Treat
Conrad Huey.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Technology
tion system, efficient navigation
skills, and powerful and accu-
rate manipulation capability.
For example, users of robot
vacuums know they must re-
move all small furniture and
other obstacles such as cables
from the floor, because even the
best robot vacuum cannot clear
them by itself. Even more chal-
lenging, the robot has to oper-
ate in the presence of moving
obstacles when people and pets
walk within close range.
Keeping it simple
While they appear straightfor-
ward for humans, many house-
hold tasks are too complex for
robots. Industrial robots are ex-
cellent for repetitive operations
in which the robot motion can
be preprogrammed. But house-
hold tasks are often unique to
the situation and could be full of
surprises that require the robot
to constantly make decisions and
change its route in order to per-
form the tasks.
Think about cooking or clean-
ing dishes. In the course of a few
‘Will go a long way’
Only 17 years old and already
an owner of one of tennis’s ju-
niors major title, Philippine
Olympic Committee President
Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolenti-
no said Eala would go a long way.
“Alex will go a long, long way
in her tennis career, which, is
just budding,” Tolentino said in
27
minutes of cooking, you might
grasp a sauté pan, a spatula, a stove
knob, a refrigerator door handle,
an egg and a bottle of cooking oil.
To wash a pan, you typically hold
and move it with one hand while
scrubbing with the other, and en-
sure that all cooked-on food resi-
due is removed and then all soap
is rinsed off.
There has been significant
development in recent years
using machine learning to train
robots to make intelligent de-
cisions when picking and plac-
ing different objects, meaning
grasping and moving objects
from one spot to another. How-
ever, to be able to train robots
to master all different types of
kitchen tools and household
appliances would be another
level of difficulty even for the
best learning algorithms.
Not to mention that people’s
homes often have stairs, narrow
passageways and high shelves.
Those hard-to-reach spaces
limit the use of today’s mobile
robots, which tend to use wheels
or four legs. Humanoid robots,
which would more closely match
the environments humans build
and organize for themselves,
have yet to be reliably used out-
side of lab settings.
A solution to task complex-
ity is to build special-purpose
robots, such as robot vacuum
cleaners or kitchen robots.
Many different types of such
devices are likely to be devel-
oped in the near future. How-
ever, I believe that general-pur-
pose home robots are still a long
way off. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
a statement on Sunday.
In his Facebook post, Tolentino
thanked Eala for bringing home
another honor to the country.
“We expect Alex to bring
more honors to the country,
and her accomplishment would
definitely inspire young Filipi-
nos to follow in her footsteps,”
he said. ■
28
Dinagyang festivities return to
Iloilo City streets in 2023
BY PERLA LENA
Philippine News Agency
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo’s Dinag-
yang Festival will resume all its
street events in 2023 after these
were temporarily halted for two
years due to the pandemic.
Joyce Ann Clavecillas, execu-
tive director of the Iloilo Festi-
vals Foundation, Inc. and serv-
ing as one of the organizers of
the annual festival, said events
would be back in person after
two years of going digital.
“This is our way of express-
ing our gratitude to Señor Santo
Niño that amidst being in a very
difficult situation, we are still
here, we are still thriving. We
are doing the things that we like
Baguio visitors warned of
false accommodation ads
BY LIZA AGOOT
Philippine News Agency
BAGUIO CITY – The City
Tourism Office here has warned
the public about engaging with
unknown persons advertising
“perfect” accommodation fa-
cilities on social media and ad-
vised visitors to contact their
Baguio City (SEBASTIAN HERRMANN/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
Travel
for the city, for our community.
There are plenty of reasons to
be thankful,” Clavecillas said in
an interview on Friday.
The festival will start on Jan.
13, 2023, with highlights set on
January 20-22.
“We made (our) announce-
ment early because we want
our tourists and visitors, as well
as Ilonggos, who for so long
were not able to come home,
especially during the pandemic,
to prepare already their travel
plans to Iloilo,” she added.
The organizers began meet-
ing with different stakeholders
in July, as well as with target
participants and committees.
The artistic group, which
will work on the concepts and
guidelines, especially the tribes’
office for free assistance.
Engr. Aloysius Mapalo, city
tourism officer, on Monday said
“we receive an average of five
complaints per day mostly on
the expectations from the ac-
commodation.”
He said when tourists transact
with a representative from the
accommodation facility, they are
assured that there is a parking
competition, has been formed.
Clavecillas said the tribes
would have barangay and school-
based categories although there
might be adjustments, depend-
ing on the setup of children-par-
ticipants, taking into account any
modification by the Department
of Education.
Festival organizers are also
prioritizing the return of the
food festival on the streets be-
cause it is a way of helping micro,
small and medium enterprises,
and startup businesses, she said.
The foundation is also con-
sidering bringing back the
Kasadyahan Festival, Search
for Miss Iloilo, and liturgical
activities, such as the religious
sadsad (merrymaking).
She said one big challenge for
space, an area for cooking, and
other facilities to entice them.
However, the clients would
sometimes find that these were
not true upon their arrival.
The absence of parking is a
major consideration by tourists
as the city strictly implements
the no obstruction ordinance,
prohibiting the use of roads,
even in the villages, for parking.
Hot water for bathing is also
among the most sought-after
services by tourists because of
the cold weather here.
“We have the visita app(li-
cation) where tourists can in-
quire, get information and we
will assist them if only to assure
that the city’s name will not be
tarnished by enterprising peo-
ple who make promises but
are not able to provide them,”
Mapalo said, adding that any-
one can simply Google-search
“Baguio Visita” to link up to the
city government.
❱❱ PAGE 29 Baguio visitors warned
www.canadianinquirer.net
next year’s staging is the source
of funds as they expressed ap-
preciation to their partners
The Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City, Philippines showcases ethnic tribes (Ati)
performances that are colorful, intense and mesmerizing. (FRANCISCO M. PAJAR-
ES, JR. - OWN WORK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quiet quitting is...
24 For workers aged 20–
❰❰
29, trade union mem-
bership is at 14.1%.
This falls by almost half to 7.5%
in the private sector, where
most young people work.
Many states (in particular
EU members or countries trad-
ing with the EU) have restricted
the freedom of employers and
workers to form contractual
arrangements, and to change
them as economic circumstanc-
es alter. Before state interven-
tion, industrial relations were
mostly voluntary arrangements
between employers, employees
and trade unions. With the de-
cline in trade union member-
ship and fewer opportunities
for industrial action, “quiet
quitting” and working to rule is
becoming more common.
The methods of removal of
labour may be similar, but the
overarching premise behind
them has changed. Working
to rule has historically been a
form of collective action over a
dispute, usually involving pay
and conditions.
The quiet quitting approach
has a far more personal and psy-
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FRIDAY
for continuous support even
during the difficult time due to
the pandemic. ■
chological attitude, tied to work-
ers’ individual desire for good
mental health. Psychologists
argue that this approach to work
can salve burnout, set healthy
boundaries, build a sense of con-
trol and help people prioritise
what really matters.
Employers will need to ad-
dress this issue to ensure pro-
ductivity is not affected in the
short or long term – but it will
be difficult to tackle. Work to
rule (and other industrial ac-
tion) is a known quantity for
employers. Workers are clear
about the terms of the dispute,
what the collective action is and
how long it will last.
On the other hand, as its
name suggests, quiet quitting is
a silent protest that employers
will have to solve by meeting
the demands of each employ-
ee, or by reengaging with trade
unions to create workplaces
that people want to engage
with. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Ultra-processed foods: it’s not just their low
nutritional value that’s a concern
BY RICHARD HOFFMAN,
University of Hertfordshire
The Conversation
In countries such as the UK,
US and Canada, ultra-processed
foods now account for 50% or
more of calories consumed.
This is concerning, given that
these foods have been linked to a
number of different health con-
ditions, including a greater risk
of obesity and various chronic
diseases such as cardiovascular
disease and dementia.
Ultra-processed foods are
concoctions of various indus-
trial ingredients (such as emul-
sifiers, thickeners and artificial
flavours), amalgamated into
food products by a series of
manufacturing processes.
Sugary drinks and many
breakfast cereals are ultra-pro-
cessed foods, as are more recent
innovations, such as so-called
“plant-based” burgers, which
are typically made of protein
isolates and other chemicals to
make the products palatable.
The intense industrial pro-
cesses used to produced ul-
tra-processed foods destroy
the natural structure of the
food ingredients and strip away
many beneficial nutrients such
as fibre, vitamins, minerals and
phytochemicals.
Many of us are well aware
that ultra-processed foods are
harmful for our health. But it’s
been unclear if this is simply
because these foods are of poor
nutritional value. Now, two new
studies have shown that poor
nutrition may not be enough to
Baguio visitors warned...
❰❰ 28 Overshooting
pre-pandemic arrivals
Bogus providers
of accommodation establish-
ments have started to prolifer-
ate in the city considering the
high demand. Baguio receives
an average of 50,000 tourists a
week, about 30,000 to 35,000 of
Food
Many everyday food products are ultra-processed.
explain their health risks. This
suggests that other factors may
be needed to fully explain their
health risks.
The role of inflammation
The first study, which looked
at over 20,000 health Italian
adults, found that participants
who consumed the highest num-
ber of ultra-processed foods had
an increased risk of dying pre-
maturely from any cause. The
second study, which looked at
over 50,000 US male health pro-
fessionals, found high consump-
tion of ultra-processed foods
was associated with a greater
risk of colon cancer.
What’s most interesting
about these studies is that the
health risks from eating a diet
high in ultra-processed foods
remained even after they had
accounted for the poor nutri-
tional quality of their diets.
This suggests that other factors
contribute to the harms caused
by ultra-processed foods.
them arriving on weekends.
Mapalo said the current
numbers are higher than
pre-pandemic, and even amid
the rainy season.
While hotels are available,
inns and transient houses have
also reopened to recover from
the losses brought about by the
It also implies that getting the
right nutrients elsewhere in the
diet may not be enough to cancel
out the risk of disease from con-
suming ultra-processed foods.
Similarly, attempts by the food
industry to improve the nutri-
tional value of ultra-processed
foods by adding a few more vi-
tamins may be side-stepping
a more fundamental problem
with these foods.
So what factors may explain
why ultra-processed foods are
so harmful to our health?
The Italian study found that
inflammatory markers – such as
a higher white blood cell count
– were higher in groups that ate
the most ultra-processed foods.
Our bodies may trigger an in-
flammatory response for any
number of reasons – for exam-
ple, if we catch a cold or get cut.
The body responds by sending
signals to our immune cells
(such as white blood cells) to
attack any invading pathogens
Covid-19 lockdown.
“If you recall, we were the
first to open borders to tour-
ists as early as September 2020
so we were prepared in terms
of the observance of the safety
protocols,” Mapalo said.
Responsible travel
Meanwhile, the official said
www.canadianinquirer.net
(such as bacteria or viruses).
Usually, our inflammatory re-
sponse resolves quite quickly, but
some people may develop chron-
ic inflammation throughout
their body. This can cause tissue
damage, and is involved in many
chronic diseases – such as cancer
and cardiovascular disease.
Many studies have found that
poor diets can increase inflam-
mation in the body, and that this
is linked to higher risk of chronic
diseases. Given that signs of in-
flammation were seen in partic-
ipants of the Italian study who
ate the most ultra-processed
foods, this could suggest that
inflammation may contribute
to why ultra-processed foods
increase disease risk. Some food
additives common in ultra-pro-
cessed foods (such as emulsi-
fiers and artificial sweeteners)
also increase inflammation in
the gut by causing changes to the
gut microbiome.
Some researchers have theo-
rised that ultra-processed foods
increase inflammation because
they are recognised by the body
as foreign – much like an in-
vading bacteria. So the body
mounts an inflammatory re-
sponse, which has been dubbed
“fast food fever”. This increases
inflammation throughout the
body as a result.
Although the US colon can-
cer study did not establish if
inflammation increased in the
men consuming the most ul-
tra-processed foods, inflamma-
tion is strongly linked with an
increased risk of colon cancer.
Research shows that oth-
er mechanisms – such as im-
the city is advocating for respon-
sible travel among the tourists,
urging them to manage and dis-
pose of their garbage properly,
and follow the ordinances.
“We all do not want to see
garbage and we ask the tour-
ists to properly dispose of their
garbage. Baguio is also a smoke-
29
paired kidney function and
toxins in packaging – may also
explain why ultra-processed
foods cause so many dangerous
health problems.
Since inflammatory respons-
es are hard-wired in our bodies,
the best way to prevent this from
happening is by not eating ul-
tra-processed foods at all. Some
plant-based diets high in natu-
ral, unprocessed foods (such as
the Mediterranean diet) have
also been shown to be anti-in-
flammatory. This may also ex-
plain why plant-based diets free
from ultra-processed foods can
help ward off chronic diseases.
It’s currently not known to what
extent an anti-inflammatory
diet can help counteract the ef-
fects of ultra-processed foods.
Simply reducing your intake of
ultra-processed foods may be a
challenge. Ultra-processed foods
are designed to be hyper-palat-
able – and together with persua-
sive marketing, this can make
resisting them an enormous
challenge for some people.
These foods are also not la-
belled as such on food pack-
aging. The best way to identi-
fy them is by looking at their
ingredients. Typically, things
such as emulsifiers, thickeners,
protein isolates and other in-
dustrial-sounding products are
a sign it’s an ultra-processed
food. But making meals from
scratch using natural foods is
the best way to avoid the harms
of ultra-processed foods. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
free city and we expect tourists
to abide. We also strictly imple-
ment the no obstruction and
illegal parking ordinances aside
from compliance to the traffic
and road rules,” he said.
He warned that violation of
city ordinances has a corre-
sponding penalty. ■
 SEPTEMBER
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