Toronto

• IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDXX), a global leader in pet healthcare innovation, today announced the election of Irene Chang Britt, a former executive at Campbell Soup Company, to the Company's Board of Directors, effective July 11, 2023.
• "We are pleased to welcome Irene to the IDEXX Board of Directors," said Larry Kingsley, the Company's Independent Non-Executive Board Chair.
• "I am excited to join the board of a purpose-driven company focused on pet healthcare innovation," said Ms. Chang Britt.
• Ms. Chang Britt currently serves as an independent director of Brighthouse Financial, Inc., a provider of annuities and life insurance, and Victoria’s Secret & Co., a clothing and beauty retailer.

• Three events have recently marked a powerful inflection point in Canadian journalism.
• First, Google and Meta announced they will no longer share Canadian news links on their platforms in response to the new Online News Act, Bill C-18, designed to make them pay for their use of Canadian journalism.

What’s at stake?

• At stake is the nature of the country’s communications ecosystem, affecting how Canadians get news and information that matters to them.
• As former journalists, researchers and co-founders of The Conversation Canada, a national not-for-profit news organization dedicated to sharing insights from academics, we support the emergence of the best possible journalism ecosystem given the conditions.

The role of Google and Meta

• For now, Canadians won’t notice anything different as Google says the changes will take place when the law comes into effect over the coming months.
• Similarly, Meta plans to phase out news by the end of the year.
• Google also announced that it would close down its Google News Showcase program, launched in 2021.

Act expected to take six months to be in place

• These moves by Google and Meta were precipitated by the Online News Act, which became law on June 22.
• It is likely to take six months to come into force as the Department of Canadian Heritage works out the details on how to enforce it.

How we got here

• The main focus of Google’s activities has involved funding individual organizations through direct payment deals for content on Showcase.
• The company has also provided funding for digital innovation and training, oriented within their own proprietary systems, and boot camps for startup entrepreneurs.
• For example, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google provided $1.5 million to 230 Canadian newsrooms.

Why now?

• This is separate to its support of the CBC, the country’s public broadcaster.
• And this is where the proposed moves by media giants Postmedia, Nordstar (publisher of the Toronto Star) and Bell come in.
• The larger questions for Canadians are about the nature, amount and quality of journalism and who controls its communications infrastructures.

Impact of Postmedia-Nordstar merger

• Examples such as the proposed merger of Postmedia and Nordstar illustrate one of the trade-offs under consideration about the amount of journalism content and who is doing it, in addition to journalist economic conditions.
• The last time the two companies made a deal to swap papers in 2017 resulted in 291 job losses and continuing centralization of content.
• How we understand what is happening now and how we got here is necessary to make sound policy decisions moving forward.

• TORONTO, June 27, 2023 /CNW/ - The City of Prince George, B.C., has been selected as the municipal winner of the 2022 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy.
• "There is a clear pattern of behaviour in Prince George that cannot be allowed to fester any longer," said Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
• In particular, this year's Code of Silence jury was particularly disturbed by multiple examples of what it determined to be "egregious" actions.
• The first example focused on the city's plans to demolish the Moccasin Flats homeless encampment in November 2021.

• Simultaneously, Ontario was also the first province to take action moving towards recognition of a gun violence awareness day.
• These declarations represent a significant step to mitigate the growing risk of gun violence.
• To reduce gun violence risks, the inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence promotes prevention, intervention and healing.

Chicago origins

• Gun Violence Awareness Day are related to a specific shooting in Chicago.
• She was one of at least 412 gun violence deaths in Chicago that year.
• Given that this shooting occurred less than one mile from Obama’s Chicago home, the presidential family took a special interest in this tragedy.

Canadian impact

• Rather, it grew out of the recognition that too many Canadians are being impacted by gun violence, and is related to a combination of factors.
• Organizations ranging from the Danforth Families for Safe Communities to the Zero Gun Violence Movement support this nascent social movement.
• Media coverage of the inaugural day reflected the reality that any discussion regarding the role of guns in Canadian society is a political lightning rod.

Formal recognition

• His announcement was backstopped by a formal Federal Government Proclamation.
• In addition, Ontario was the first province to take concurrent action with a formal Day Against Gun Violence.

Disaster mitigation

• The increasing number of Canadians who are being directly and indirectly impacted by gun violence is a disaster unfolding in slow motion.
• The inaugural National Day Against Gun Violence in Canada can be considered as a form of disaster mitigation.
• In general, disaster mitigation includes a wide variety of measures taken before a disastrous event occurs.