On January 26th, in spite of much speculation that the Bank of Canada would be hiking interest rates, the Bank instead held the overnight rate at its current .25 percent. Like other central banks globally, the bank of Canada slashed its core lending rate  in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, to ensure that consumers and businesses had access to cheap lending in order to keep the economy afloat. However, two years of low lending rates have contributed to inflation which rose almost 5% in December.  That rise sparked expectations that the Bank of Canada would lift the overnight rate, but it has decided against that, again keeping the .25 per cent rate intact, but with the caveat that it intends to lift the rates later this year.

In this segment, we chat with Eugene Lang from the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University and Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute about this announcement and the impacts of inflation and impending rate hikes for consumers, homeowners and the Canadian economy.

On January 14th, 2022 Queen’s University announced a new study, being led by Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) and Queen’s that is looking to find answers to the question of access to urgent medical care equipment in remote communities through the use of a portable MRI, a brand new technology now available in Canada. Developed by Hyperfine, the unit was recently delivered to Weeneebayko General Hospital in Moose Factory, Ontario and is the first unit of its kind in Canada to be used for patient care.

Dr. Omar Islam, Head of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Queen’s University joins us in this segment to discuss this critical new project.  Islam sheds light on obstacles to diagnostic health care for communities like Moose Factory, Ontario, the work KHSC and Queen’s have been conducting to provide specialized health care services to remote communities over the years, and the impacts of the study for portable MRI use in remote communities, emergency rooms, NICUs and ICUs.

Matt Salton, Executive Director of the Reelout Queer Film Festival joins us in this episode to chat about this year’s festival!  Reelout, celebrating its 23rd year of independent queer cinematic presentation, features many great films and shorts across genres that will be easily accessible online.  Matt chats about this year’s theme, “International Points of View”, the challenges and opportunities COVID-19 has presented for the Festival, how folks can get virtual passes and also learn more about how to volunteer with and donate to Reelout.

Visit Reelout’s website to see the festival lineup and get tickets!

On Tuesday January 11th, Quebec announced plans to impose a health tax on residents who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccination for non-medical reasons as a new wave of the coronavirus overwhelms the province.

Premier François Legault announced the new “contribution” for the unvaccinated on Tuesday, as the province reported 62 new deaths, bringing the total number of people killed by Covid-19 in the province to over 12,000.

Legault stated that “A health contribution will be charged to all adults that don’t want to get vaccinated” and that “Those who refuse to get the shot bring a financial burden to hospital staff and Quebecers. The 10% of the population can’t burden the 90%.”

The move follows the abrupt resignation of Quebec’s senior health director, Dr. Horacio Aruda amid mounting anger across the province over new lockdown measures, hospitals at capacity and the slow rollout of vaccine boosters.

In this episode of The Scoop (airing Monday January 17th on CFRC 101.9 FM at 4:30 PM EST), Dr. Udo Schuklenk, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics joins us. Dr. Schuklenk comments on the province’s motivations and goals to tax the unvaccinated, the philosophical questions and ethical issues that Quebec’s plans pose, and the real impacts for vulnerable and marginalized groups the province’s plans may have.

In this segment of The Scoop, Taylor Welsh chats with the organizers of Kingston Youth Climate Action and attendees of the Climate Emergency: Plan Like It! Campaign Kick-Off Rally!

In this segment of the Scoop, Prerna sits down  with Yara Hussein, Equity Commissioner ASUS to discuss recent happenings at HOCO at Queen’s, resources for sexual violence on campus and possible steps for Queen’s to take to enact concrete change on campus!

Prerna sits down with Jane Mao who spearheads GAAP to discuss the project’s bursary options, resources needed for Gender Affirmation and the need for Gender Affirmation assistance at Queen’s University.

Professor Jonathan Smallwood from the Department of Psychology here at Queen’s University joins us in this segment.  He was recently involved in a research study with several British Universities on the impact of prolonged social isolation and changes to work opportunities on people’s thought patterns.  Like Canada, the first UK lockdown caused huge disruption to people’s social and work lives. As part of the study, researchers analysed people’s thought patterns to see what effect these changes had on our everyday thoughts and learned more about he important role our social and working lives play in shaping what we think, and how we think, as we go about our everyday lives.

Listeners with access to scholarly publications are invited to read the full article Dr. Smallwood’s work contributed to, published in PNAS.

In this episode of The Scoop, we are joined by Geoffrey Sirett, Artistic Director & General Manager of Cantabile Choirs of Kingston.  He sheds light on the exciting new in-person concert, After the War taking place November 6th & 7th at The Spire in Kingston while sharing much about his own time with Cantabile and how members of the community can get involved with the Choirs.

In this segment, we sit with Professor Ali Na from Film and Media Department to discuss Squid Game and situate it in the context of late capitalism, South Korean Cultural Industry and History.