Innehållsförteckning för Noember 2024 från Maclean's

This past summer, the residents of Banff voted to remove their seasonal pedestrian-only zone, created during COVID to allow for social distancing. It had become unpopular. The town is so busy in the summer that the crowds can feel oppressive—like a giant street festival, every day of the week. Residents complained that car congestion spilled into side streets. Then, after the horrific fire in Jasper, the human bottleneck started to look like a safety issue, too. How do you evacuate a throng in a hurry? I’ve been visiting the Canadian Rockies for roughly 20 years, and I’ve sworn off the town of Banff. It’s a jam-packed zoo. I stay with family in nearby Canmore and hike in less-popular areas further south. Over the past decade, the number of people visiting…

It’s not just about coursework or future job prospects—affordability, or a lack thereof, is becoming a key consideration when it comes to making decisions about post-secondary education. In fact, high costs can be enough to deter students from pursuing their chosen path, according to new data by TD.1 Fifty-four per cent of post-secondary students who took part in a new survey by TD say that even if they were accepted into their desired program, they would not consider it if the costs were too high. But a little planning can go a long way, helping students and their families determine what they need and connecting them with the right financial tools that can assist in preparing them for success. Here are the answers to some top student budgeting questions. Why…

TIRED OF THE ENDLESS SWIPING and superficiality of dating apps, Canadians are gravitating toward mixers, faceto-face speed-dating events and other interest-based groups in their quests for love. Among them are Evelyn Poole, a master’s student at McGill (above left) and Katy Dmowski, a med student at the University of Calgary (above right), who met at OUTrun, a queer running club in Montreal. They have been dating since December of 2022 and recently took their relationship long-distance. Here, Dmowski and Poole spill their online-dating war stories and share how a light jog changed everything. Evelyn Poole: I joined dating apps when I turned 18—first Tinder and Bumble, then Her, an LGBTQ+ app. I’d use the apps for months at a time then delete them whenever I got into a relationship. There…

RANKING 1 MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY, a quaint liberal arts and science institution in Sackville, New Brunswick, stands out as the best undergraduate university in the country by offering something larger schools cannot: a desirable student-to-faculty ratio of 16 to 1, with a remarkable lineup of professors who are also groundbreaking artists, chemists, historians and community leaders. It’s the seventh time in eight years Mount Allison has taken the top spot and the 25th time in total, more often than any other school in our rankings. Nearly 40 per cent of the 2,300 students at Mount Allison are New Brunswick locals, while the rest come from across Canada and 85 countries around the world, all to experience a learning environment tailored to their individual goals. The school offers more than 50…

CHEAP SHOT Our September cover story showcased 10 relatively affordable cities where it’s possible to buy a house for under the national average of $700,000. Many readers took issue with the word “affordable.” Less than $700k is called affordable???!!! Only in Canada! Equal_Ordinary_7473, Reddit You’d still need a household income of $200 to $233k to reasonably afford these places and also raise a family and save for retirement. Very, very few families in Canada are making $200k, and the percentage of families in the 10 cities listed here making that kind of income is piti-fully small. This isn’t sustainable. DonkaySlam, Reddit Delete this, dawg. We don’t need more Ontarians moving to the Maritimes to mess up our housing markets. M0bin16, Reddit Obviously, “affordable” is subjective. I agree that the market…

THE FORMER FISHING VILLAGE of skʷəkʷtɛ’xʷqən, now known as the city of New Westminster, B.C., was historically a lush, wooded gathering place for the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm-speaking peoples. Then, over time, officials slowly backfilled the area’s vast ravine to accommodate development. By 2021, however, the city was keen to pull a reverse–Joni Mitchell, unpaving one specific parking lot at the request of 3,000 community members. They had a few ideas for how to fill the space: a replacement for the nearby (decaying) Canada Games pool, along with recreational facilities for local kids and celebrations (like powwows) and a restoration of the original green space. Over the next three years, construction workers and architects from HCMA excavated the ravine, encountering buried car parts and such poor-quality soil that a structural engineer had to tweak…

IN AUGUST OF 2023, I visited the Athabasca Glacier, high in the Alberta Rockies, for the fifth time. The experience is never less than profound—a chance to experience one of Canada’s most beautiful places up close. But my most recent visit was a little different. The meltwater flowing through the glacier’s crevasses was moving at a faster clip and, for the second year in a row, an eye-watering haze from nearby wildfires obscured the bright blue Alberta sky. Though you couldn’t tell by simply standing there, the volume of the ancient and enormous glacier was just a little smaller than it had been the year before. I’m an associate professor in the department of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and, over the past several summers, I’ve brought…

RANKING 1 WHAT DO ARTIFICIAL blood cells, search engines and atomic physics have in common? They were all born at McGill University, a 200-year-old institution well-regarded for its safe and accessible downtown Montreal location and diverse student body. Roughly one-third of its students hail from 150 countries around the world, the highest percentage of international students at a medical doctoral university in the country. Exactly who should be a student at McGill became a hot political topic last year, when the Quebec government announced a tuition increase for out-of-province students. The move was an effort to decrease the number of English-speaking students at the school—and in the province as a whole. McGill was quick to fight back, reiterating that English-speaking Canadians were an important part of McGill’s student body and…

CHOOSING A UNIVERSITY is one of the most important decisions students make in their post-secondary careers. Another is deciding what to study. Often, the second choice informs the first, with students selecting a certain university because of a particular program it offers. In our 10th annual program rankings, we evaluate how Canadian universities measure up in the programs they offer in five popular fields in the sciences and social sciences, based on the programs’ reputations for quality and research strength. Maclean’s contacted faculty and senior administrators at universities across Canada, seeking their views in an online survey. We asked academics if their area of expertise was in any of the following five disciplines: business, computer science, education, engineering or nursing. If so, they were asked to list up to 10 universities…

New French-language learning opportunities focused on building indemand employment skills in rewarding and growing fields are emerging at the Université de l’Ontario français (UOF), a post-secondary school with a strong spirit of discovery and innovation propels students to excel in their chosen fields. This fall, Toronto’s university for French speakers will launch its bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (B.B.A.), while an undergraduate degree in Mental Health will accept students in September of 2025. Reflecting the institution’s commitment to trans-disciplinary education that is connected to current societal issues and trends, the programs will be delivered by sector professionals using current pedagogies and technologies in an engaging and stimulating environment. Aimed at developing students’ foundational knowledge and practical know-how through an ideal mix of classroom learning and experiential components, these programs will…

FROM THE TIME WE WERE KIDS, my sister Raema and I dreamed of creating better lives for ourselves. We grew up poor in Cavite, a city an hour away from Manila, in the Philippines. Our father was an engineer, but he didn’t earn enough to pay the bills: some Christmases, we had no food on the table. After our dad suffered a stroke in 2010, Raema and I had to support our family, including paying school tuition fees for our two younger sisters. By then, Raema had already moved to Toronto to study as a pharmacist, while I stayed home and worked as a project manager, earning $8 an hour. I wanted to follow her to Canada so I could make more money. In 2017, I finally secured a visa.…

Understanding Indigenous History: A Path Forward is hosted by award-winning Canadian broadcast journalist Lisa LaFlamme and features interviews with prominent First Nations leader Phil Fontaine, who is a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and internationally recognized human rights expert Kathleen Mahoney, as well as other special guests. The independently produced six-part series encourages Canadians to step out of their comfort zones, engage deeply with Indigenous history through compelling personal narratives, and actively participate in the truth and reconciliation process. “This is a history lesson that won’t feel like a lesson at all,” says LaFlamme. “It’s a conversation that we all need to engage in and I’m so grateful to Phil and Kathleen for leading the way.” Exploring Indigenous origins The series explores the oral history of…

WHEN I STARTED MY CHEMISTRY CAREER in the ’70s, I studied organic synthesis, the science of producing molecules (like vitamins) for the purpose of drug discovery. I worked with Raymond Lemieux—a University of Alberta professor and the first person ever to synthesize sucrose—and was part of a team that developed tests for blood groups. Then, in 1978, I got a research associate job at the National Research Council’s Prairie Regional Laboratory, which focused on agriculture. A seed was planted, so to speak, when I met Barry Milborrow, an Australian scientist who spent his time studying abscisic acid, or ABA. In every plant on earth, ABA functions like a hormonal traffic signal, controlling the opening and closing of stomata (or pores), which take in carbon dioxide. During drought conditions, ABA shuts the…

PHIL STARTED STARTED BETTING ON SPORTS when he was just 18. Back then, in the mid-’90s, the only legal way to do it was with a pen and a paper slip from Proline, the sports-betting game offered by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. He filled out the slips at his corner store in London, Ontario. Phil says it never became a problem. (He agreed to speak with me if I used a pseudonym.) Instead, his finances fell apart for other reasons as he got older: vacations, overspending, a heavy drinking habit. Despite a full-time job as a sales representative for a food company, he fell deeper and deeper into debt and seemed to have no way to pay it off. In 2022, he noticed that sports betting was everywhere.…

RANKING 1 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY may have been named after an 18th-century fur trader, but the school is decidedly pointed toward the future with solid academic programming, an abundance of work-integrated learning opportunities and a deep commitment to sustainability that touches everything from campus facilities to the school’s program offerings and its vision for its future. For the 16th time in 17 years, the Vancouver-area institution has taken the No. 1 spot in our rankings among universities in the comprehensive category. One of the factors that puts SFU on top: ample resources and support available to its 37,000 students across three campuses. Among them are a robust health and counselling service, with two medical clinics and on-staff doctors and nurses; a multifaith centre that fosters a diverse community and encourages…

WHEN MOLLY MILLER was growing up in Fredericton, she daydreamed about going away to university. She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to study, or where. She considered theatre in Toronto, which would put her 1,300 kilometres—and roughly a million miles, emotionally—from her hometown. She liked the idea of living on her own, though, and the arts and culture scene of a big city was appealing too. Then, toward the end of Grade 11, she did some math. Miller figured it would cost her $120,000 over four years, factoring in out-of-province fees, housing and all the other expenses that come with living on your own. Because she wasn’t set on a certain path—and the one she was toying with didn’t offer much in the way of a guaranteed career with…

IN 2016, BRAD AND LESLEY Wanchulak were living in a semi-detached home in Calgary with their two-year-old daughter, Ella. Their downtown semi was close to work—he’s a water management exec and she’s a health-care consultant—but space was tight. Brad grew up in the small town of Edson, Alberta, and had always wanted his kids to live in a community with plenty of outdoor room to roam. That year, Brad was searching the web when he found his dream property: a three-acre lot surrounded by poplars and pines in Springbank, a rural community west of the city. Lesley was reluctant to give up the conveniences of downtown living. But after they visited the property, she fell in love with the idea of her children playing in a wide backyard and waking…