Six Albertans received the Order of Canada on Thursday, recognizing their contributions to the country.
Among them was Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor and a Canada research chair in health law and policy at the U of A.
A prolific author and science communicator, Caulfield has written four books for the general audience that take aim at pseudoscience, quackery, and scientific disinformation, and presented the documentary series A User’s Guide to Cheating Death.
Caulfield spoke to CBC News about his newly bestowed honour and his ongoing work on countering misinformation.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your reaction to becoming a member of the Order of Canada?
It came as a shock and I actually got the news when I was in Los Angeles.
I was in a crappy strip mall coffee shop and I’d had a tough week. I was at the end of my rope and so it was a really nice surprise, and it kind of really came at a good time in my life.
Your work on countering misinformation was cited as one of the reasons you were given this honour. What does this tell you about the state of public discourse?
Misinformation is a defining issue of our time. I think it’s good news that more and more people, including governments, are taking this battle against misinformation really seriously, because that’s what’s required.
Misinformation is killing people, it’s destroying our democracy. It’s leading to stigma and discrimination.
So, this is, I think, another element, another dimension, another layer, to this award.
How can experts and researchers counter misinformation without appearing snobbish?
There is growing recognition that it’s really important to engage with the public in a constructive and respectful manner.
In fact, I’ve seen a real shift throughout my career, my three-decade career, in that regard.
There really is this appreciation now that it’s important for academics to translate the work that they do to the public to make their work meaningful.
Also, I think it is really important to listen to the public, to get a sense of what their concerns are.
What kinds of counter-misinformation strategies would we be wise to adopt?
We’ve got to come out to this problem from every direction, right?
We’ve got to do pre-bunking – in other words, letting people know that misinformation is out there, we’ve got to debunk, we’ve got to use regulatory strategies, we’ve got to teach critical thinking skills, we’ve got to get the social media platforms involved.
That’s how we’re going to solve this problem. It’s not going to just be one tool.
How can everyday people be taught to spot misinformation?
We need to teach critical thinking throughout the life course – from kindergarten to elementary school to middle school to high school.
And I think it should be taught regardless of what degree you take at university.
In some capacity, we need to give people the skills to use critical thinking and media literacy.
It’s just become so fundamental to our society right now, especially in this incredibly chaotic information environment. And I also think it needs to be available to adults.
What role does pop culture play in the spread of misinformation, especially when it comes to scientific and medical subjects?
I’m fascinated by the role pop culture and celebrities play in this space. And it may sound frivolous, but it’s not.
We know that people like Joe Rogan and Gwyneth Paltrow and Jenny McCarthy, and I can just go down the list, have a huge impact on public discourse.
UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan speaks at the weigh in before a UFC event in this file photo. (Gregory Payan/The Associated Press)
People like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson, they legitimize fringe views and that’s why sometimes I just have to shake my head when people say, “Oh, we’re being silenced and we’re being cancelled.”
Can somebody who is deep down the rabbit hole be persuaded that their beliefs are a result of misinformation?
Once something becomes part of your personal identity, it becomes much more difficult to change people’s minds.
You want to promote that we’re trying to contain the influence of harmful lies and there is evidence that we can do that.
The studies tell us that there are strategies that work. We do need to listen. We do need to be empathetic.
We can give people a path to the truth and we need to be patient, and I’ve seen this play out. I’ve seen individuals change their minds on these topics.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
