Weekly Quiz: Trump’s Climate Attacks, Carney’s Tentative Truce, and Locked Up Labour Data

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const title = "Trump’s Climate Attacks, Carney’s Tentative Truce, and Locked Up Labour Data"; const date = "August 23, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WEB_TrumpAndClimate_AUG25.jpg", title: "Trump’s Attacks on the Climate Are an Opportunity for Canada", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/trumps-attacks-on-the-climate-are-an-opportunity-for-canada/", question: " US president Donald Trump’s attacks on the climate offer Canada an opportunity to harness our leadership potential in clean energy. As renewable energy becomes a significant focus under Mark Carney’s signature legislation, Bill C-5, what does The Walrus contributing writer Arno Kopecky believe will be crucial for the government to invest in?", options: [ "Tidal energy projects", "Offshore wind farms", "Critical mineral supply chains", "Hydrogen fuel production facilities", ], answer: "Critical mineral supply chains", correct: "Securing “critical mineral supply chains”—that is, the metals required for clean energy production and storage, of which Canada has enormous reserves—has emerged as a key priority for the Carney government. He made it a dominant theme at the G7 summit in June. Soon afterward, he named critical minerals as a major component of the increased North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military spending he committed Canada to in Brussels. In Carney’s telling, our vast supply of critical minerals provides several opportunities at once: Canada and its NATO allies need them for everything from batteries to war planes; the cost of building export infrastructure will count toward our NATO tab; there’s money to be made, jobs galore, and the promise of true “energy sovereignty” that comes with developing our own clean power.", incorrect: "Securing “critical mineral supply chains”—that is, the metals required for clean energy production and storage, of which Canada has enormous reserves—has emerged as a key priority for the Carney government. He made it a dominant theme at the G7 summit in June. Soon afterward, he named critical minerals as a major component of the increased North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military spending he committed Canada to in Brussels. In Carney’s telling, our vast supply of critical minerals provides several opportunities at once: Canada and its NATO allies need them for everything from batteries to war planes; the cost of building export infrastructure will count toward our NATO tab; there’s money to be made, jobs galore, and the promise of true “energy sovereignty” that comes with developing our own clean power.", }, { title: "Who Owns Canada’s Labour Data? (Hint: Not Canada)", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/canada-labour-data/", question: "While Canada has allowed US platforms to become the stewards of our real-time labour market pulse, our own government’s labour data remains out of date. What is one promising way that writer Vass Bednar suggests Canada could push back against the private sector takeover of employment data?", options: [ "Making data escrow, or public data storage, mandatory", "Modernizing open data portals", "Investing in direct data collection methods like surveys", "Launching a national employment data task force", ], answer: "Making data escrow, or public data storage, mandatory", correct: "Bednar points to mandatory data escrow, which would require any platform with a certain proportion of the job ads market to deposit anonymized, machine-readable postings and wage data in a public vault daily. Privacy would be preserved, but policy makers would gain access to better signals. And job ads should be accessible via an interoperable API. That way, dominant job boards would be required to publish an open API to smaller sites or even to a system overseen by a government, which could syndicate listings in real time. This would diminish the power of network effects as a competitive moat.", incorrect: "Bednar points to mandatory data escrow, which would require any platform with a certain proportion of the job ads market to deposit anonymized, machine-readable postings and wage data in a public vault daily. Privacy would be preserved, but policy makers would gain access to better signals. And job ads should be accessible via an interoperable API. That way, dominant job boards would be required to publish an open API to smaller sites or even to a system overseen by a government, which could syndicate listings in real time. This would diminish the power of network effects as a competitive moat.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Singh_CarneyModi_1800-1536x1025.jpg", title: "Canada and India Are Getting Along Again. The Peace Won’t Last", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/canada-india-peace-is-temporary/", question: "Despite ongoing investigations into foreign interference, Mark Carney invited Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 summit, a decision that ultimately led to domestic fallout. What does journalist Sushant Singh cite as the main dilemma policy makers face in regard to Canada’s relationship with India?", options: [ "Protecting Canada’s electoral integrity while avoiding accusations of racial or religious bias", "Balancing the pursuit of criminal justice while prioritizing the country’s economic interests", "Advancing Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy while minimizing tensions with China", "Preserving Canada’s international reputation for human rights while strengthening military co-operation with India", ], answer: "Balancing the pursuit of criminal justice while prioritizing the country’s economic interests", correct: "Canadian policy makers need to balance moral imperatives about securing criminal justice in Canada with the country’s economic requirements in an increasingly complex global landscape. Carney’s invitation was likely driven by the stark reality that India represents the world’s fifth largest economy and a crucial link in global supply chains for Canada. Still, the Ottawa-based World Sikh Organization called it “a direct insult to the Sikh community and a grave threat to the integrity of Canada’s institutions.” Some politicians accused the prime minister of undermining Canada’s reputation for human rights, though others, like international trade minister Maninder Sidhu and parliamentary secretary for international trade Yasir Naqvi, supported the decision as necessary for economic diversification in the face of Trump’s trade war and annexation threats.", incorrect: "Canadian policy makers need to balance moral imperatives about securing criminal justice in Canada with the country’s economic requirements in an increasingly complex global landscape. Carney’s invitation was likely driven by the stark reality that India represents the world’s fifth largest economy and a crucial link in global supply chains for Canada. Still, the Ottawa-based World Sikh Organization called it “a direct insult to the Sikh community and a grave threat to the integrity of Canada’s institutions.” Some politicians accused the prime minister of undermining Canada’s reputation for human rights, though others, like international trade minister Maninder Sidhu and parliamentary secretary for international trade Yasir Naqvi, supported the decision as necessary for economic diversification in the face of Trump’s trade war and annexation threats.", }, { title: "The Film on Palestine Everyone’s Talking About but Few Can See", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/no-other-land/", question: "Despite a sold-out run at TIFF and an Academy Award for best documentary feature, the documentary No Other Land has been called everything from antisemitic to Palestinian propaganda, leading to initial shutouts from major US distributors and festivals like Hot Docs. But independent cinemas are taking a chance on the film—and it’s paying off. Approximately how much has the film grossed across North American box offices since March 2025?", options: [ "$1 million (US)", "$1.8 million (US)", "$2 million (US)", "$2.4 million (US)", ], answer: "$2 million (US)", correct: "Michael Tuckman, founder of the theatrical booking company that No Other Land worked with, said that, as of March, the film was shown or set to play in about twenty-five independent cinemas across Canada. He added that, at the time, its gross box office yield across North America was over $2 million (US). This is a remarkable feat for a documentary, says Sonya Yokota William, director of the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors. But indie cinemas can’t be expected to show No Other Land indefinitely. To reach the widest possible audience, the film needs access to a broadcaster or a streamer. No Other Land can be streamed in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, but it remains unavailable on streaming platforms in Canada and the US. And it won’t be the last Palestinian film to face such hurdles.", incorrect: "Michael Tuckman, founder of the theatrical booking company that No Other Land worked with, said that, as of March, the film was shown or set to play in about twenty-five independent cinemas across Canada. He added that, at the time, its gross box office yield across North America was over $2 million (US). This is a remarkable feat for a documentary, says Sonya Yokota William, director of the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors. But indie cinemas can’t be expected to show No Other Land indefinitely. To reach the widest possible audience, the film needs access to a broadcaster or a streamer. No Other Land can be streamed in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, but it remains unavailable on streaming platforms in Canada and the US. And it won’t be the last Palestinian film to face such hurdles.", }, ];