Polymarket bettors think the USA is more likely to invoke the Insurrection Act than charge federal agents for shooting Minnesota civilians before 31 March. 34% Insurrection Act invoked 29% Charges for 23 Jan death 13% Charges for 7 Jan death polymarket.com/event/minnea...

My @brocku.ca is hiring Research Chairs in: - Human Mobility & Wearable Technologies - Climate & Environmental Change - Sustainable Grape & Wine Agriculture - Healthy Development Across the Lifespan Applications due 13 Feb. 🧪 brocku.ca/brock-news/2...

Canada & other countries have soldiers serving on exchange duties in US military units. That's become a problem. (Paywalled article) FYI @steffanwatkins.bsky.social 🪖

"Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said ‌on Tuesday it would sell off its holding of U.S. Treasuries, worth some $100 million, by the end of this month, blaming ‌weak U.S. government finances." 💲 #EconSky www.reuters.com/business/dan...

"the U.S., through its 2018 CLOUD Act, has claimed the right to exercise control over data collected by U.S. companies, even if it’s stored outside the country" By @bhaggart.bsky.social 🖥️

Study: Almost all Trump tariff revenue came from US consumers. "Foreign exporters absorbed only about four percent of the tariff burden, 96 percent passed through to US buyers." www.kielinstitut.de/publications...

"Beer sales are down across the board and the number of breweries in Canada has started to decline, a shift driven by a mix of cost pressures and changing consumer tastes and social habits." 🍺 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The @brocku.ca Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship workshop series starts on 20 Jan. It's free to attend online but pre-registration is required. brocku.ca/linc/entrepr...

'Kinew stated that there was “no sense” in saying that “this Canadian worker’s job requires us to hurt another Canadian worker’s job ... “It’s not the type of thing that’s in keeping with our Team Canada approach right now"' 🥃 www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

"the U.S. booze ban could have far-reaching impacts on consumers ... They are going to be less likely to purchase that Californian wine, because now they've tried what Ontario has to offer" 🍷🍸 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Underfunding means Ontario's university students get "larger class sizes, less course selection, and deteriorating facilities and services. At the beginning of 2025, 14 of Ontario’s 23 universities were projecting deficits" www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

Public health metrics for USA, Denmark, & Canada Life expectancy, years 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 USA 80.9 DEN 82.2 CAN 84.2 Maternal deaths / 100K births 👩 USA 17.0 DEN 4.0 CAN 12.0 Infant deaths / 1K births 👶 USA 5.0 DEN 3.1 CAN 3.8 Tobacco use, % of adults 🚬 USA 22.1 DEN 14.3 CAN 10.1

'The show focuses on staff and faculty efforts in an era of budget cuts and attacks on what the billionaire investor calls “pointless subjects” like art history and philosophy.' theconversation.com/a-man-on-the...

It's tempting to think of lies as aiming to deceive, so that an unconvincing lie is an unsuccessful lie, and an obvious lie is an incompetent one. This piece, co-authored with Jennifer Saul, gives a primer on the usefulness of obvious lies for authoritarian politics.

The estimated number of Canadians who visited the USA by land was about 30% lower in 2025 than in 2024. 🚗 #EconSky

Atlantic province liquor stores are clearing out their US product inventory. 🍸🍷 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"Between 2011 and 2019, researchers per 1,000 people employed in Canada dropped from eighth in the OECD to 18th" 🧪⚛️ www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

"Public funding in Ontario, in particular, is well below the national average" "The federal government also needs to do its part by providing stable funding for research" 💲🧑‍🎓 www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

The 2026 @brocku.ca Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute Lecture Series begins on 14 Jan. The weekly presentations on grapes and wine are free to attend in person or online. 🍷🍇 brocku.ca/brock-news/2...

“Every drop of Crown Royal is made in Gimli, Manitoba using Manitoba grains and pure Interlake water. Our farmers and Crown Royal employees in Gimli are proud of their award winning whisky, Canada’s number one spirits export,” nationalpost.com/news/canada/...

At a time when official statistics are under political pressure elsewhere, Canada has an opportunity & a responsibility to strengthen its own commitment to open, reliable labour relations data. Adam King & I explain why: theconversation.com/why-canada-n... #cdnpoli #canlab

'"I had to present some of those facts that Crown Royal is proudly made-in-Manitoba whisky. It's Canada's number 1 export spirit," Bezan said.' www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites in Toronto are not associated with long-term increases in local crime, McGill University researchers have found. 🔗 https://mcgill.ca/x/5ob | @mcgillumedia.bsky.social

Stock market gains for USA & major trade partners during 2025, measured in $US terms: 💵💰 +56% Mexico +44% Taiwan +38% China +38% Canada +37% EU +25% Japan +18% USA #EconSky www.msci.com/indexes

After Canada legalized cannabis, police caught more drunk drivers policinginsight.com/feature/opin...

'Ottawa Police Service (OPS) charged 27 drivers with "impaired-related offences" during their Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) program from Nov. 27 to Dec. 31. That's compared to only four drivers during the 2023 holiday RIDE campaign, and seven in 2024' www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The falling US Dollar: Change in exchange rates for currencies of major trade partners, 2 Jan 2025 to 2 Jan 2026. -13.3% Mexico -12.6% EU -4.7% Canada -4.5% Taiwan -4.3% China -1.9% South Korea -0.6% Japan #EconSky www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10...

At 7:20 on Wed morning I'll chat with Steph Vivier on CKTB St Catharines about Canada's alcohol & drug impaired driving rates. 🚔🍺💊

'He clicked on an ad and ordered a few grams of cocaine. Pretty soon he had a Canada Post tracking number. Days later he received a message that his package had arrived. "I go to the mailbox. I opened the package and I was like, OK, it's real"' www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Currently, the whiskey sold here is a "Product Of Canada: distilled in Manitoba & bottled in Ontario. After the change, the whiskey sold here will still be a "Product of Canada": distilled in Manitoba & bottled in Quebec. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

"Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) released data from the holiday RIDE Program that showed 1,268 people had been charged with impaired driving in December." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

On Tue I'll join CBC Radio Ontario morning shows to discuss how impaired driving rates changed after Canada legalized cannabis. 🚓🍺🥬 Times: 6:10 Toronto 6:20 Ottawa 6:40 Windsor 7:10 London 7:20 Thunder Bay 7:50 Kitchener Preview: theconversation.com/after-canada...

Please do this 5-minute survey which asks how you feel about people who use cannabis: qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_... One of my excellent undergraduate research project students has designed the study, and needs more participants. Thanks!! Fully anonymous. No payment.

If you plan to avoid or reduce consumption of alcohol in the new year, there’s an ever-expanding universe of non-alcoholic beer, wines and spirits to consider. Here are three recommendations to buy now www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/260a807...

“Canada’s alcohol trade landscape is highly fragmented. Each province and territory maintains its own regulatory frameworks, licensing requirements, markup structures, and distribution systems,” www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

"I think that people have been trying to find bourbon and trying to find Canadian whisky that tastes like bourbon," he said, "and in the process, they have been tasting a lot of Canadian whiskies and wishing they had given them a chance sooner." www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

Here in Canada: "If researchers can understand the social effects of alcohol, it’s possible that we could find other ways to encourage the social lubricant effect" 🍸🍺 www.cbc.ca/documentarie...

Canadians spent less on US products in 2025, including alcohol, orange juice, & travel. 🍸 🍊 ✈️ www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"In Nova Scotia, spirits distilled in the province or blended and bottled in the province have markup percentages that range from 50 to 80 per cent, while all imported and non-Nova Scotia spirits have a markup rate of 160 per cent." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

In Ontario a temporary 15% discount on LCBO wholesales to bars, restaurants and convenience stores will end on 31 Dec. 🍸 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Jim Bean's main Kentucky facility will halt production for all of 2026 as the firm faces surplus inventory & fallen exports. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Interested in exploring the origins of beer this #NationalLagerDay? 🍺 Melania Zingarello investigates the power of beer in the ancient Near East in her #BookReview of Tate Paulette's 'In the land of Ninkasi: a history of beer in ancient Mesopotamia' (£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

This @ca.theconversation.com article summarizes my study of how impaired driving rates changed after Canada legalized recreational cannabis & enhanced enforcement in 2018. In short: rates grew but mostly unrelated to legalization. 1/7 #EpiSky 🧪 theconversation.com/after-canada...

Under Trump's orders, cannabis is about to become illegal across the USA in a way that is completely different from the way it is illegal right now. 🤔 www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/p...

After Canada legalized cannabis, police caught more drunk drivers

"Canopy Growth Corp has signed a deal to buy Quebec-based MTL Cannabis Corp in a transaction valued at about $125-million. The deal is expected to help boost Canopy Growth’s position in Canada’s medical cannabis market." www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

Thanks to CBC Moncton & CBC Calgary for interviewing me last week about the legal cannabis industry.

Alberta collects more cannabis taxes per capita because it has many licensed stores & charges a higher excise tax than any other province. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Since recreational cannabis became legal in 2018, the Canadian government has collected $1.2 billion in taxes while the provinces got $4.2 billion. Ontario got the largest total $ amount, while Alberta got the most per capita. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

"Alcohol is still a direct or indirect state monopoly that generates money for the province. And so the removal of those barriers threatens their ability to make money." www.cbc.ca/news/busines...