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High frequency talker

Jeffrey MacIntosh
Tuesday, April 15, 2014

"High frequency talker: Author of ‘Flash Boys’ has succeeded in demonizing an innovation that saves investors $9-billion a year"

Jeff MacIntosh, Special to Financial Post | April 14, 2014 7:51 PM ET
 

If high frequency traders are such bandits, why have so many gone out of business?

Michael Lewis’ book, “Flash Boys” – an ostensible indictment of high frequency traders (HFT) – has transformed Mr. Lewis into the undisputed heavyweight champion of the international talk show circuit. Media personalities around the world, including Canada’s own CBC, have been falling all over themselves to give Mr. Lewis a platform to carve up HFT in public. And, by-and-large, they have been uncritically swallowing his alarmist message that financial markets are “rigged.”

What a shame.

Perhaps the most important datum in this story is that alarmism sells. If Mr. Lewis had written a well-documented, impassioned defence of high frequency trading based on solid empirical evidence, his book would likely be well reviewed, sell a few thousand copies, and then quickly be forgotten. But who needs facts when you can get rich peddling soggy half-truths?

Follow the demolition on our live web feed

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Exterior demolition has begun for the Faculty of Law building project, and now you can follow the progress live on the construction live web video feed!

Getting to the bare bones

Friday, April 11, 2014
last standing wall of the moot court debris all around

Last wall standing from the Moot Court. But by the time you read this, it will likely be gone too. Debris is being sorted and cleared out each day as quickly as possible. And the exterior panels are coming off one by one.

 

Level three of the library has no exterior walls left, just foundation beams

Here's what the first level of the library looks like now.

 

interior shot of law library with demolished walls

The interior will be cleaned out by early next week and the structural demolition will continue. Live updates here.

Access to Pharmaceutical Data, Not Data Secrecy, is an Essential Component of Human Rights

Trudo Lemmens
Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Recent media reports rightly point to Canada’s abysmal record when it comes to transparency of pharmaceutical data; this notwithstanding numerous calls and recommendations for urgent action, including in a 2012 Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Report. A recent announcement by Health Canada that it was publishing a ‘summary report’ of data about the controversial acne pill Diane-35 (6 months after it announced it would do so) does little to reassure that we are really catching up with other countries.

In the pit

Monday, April 7, 2014
Excavator with shears tearing down Moot Court

The excavator is situated here in the pit of where the Moot Court used to be. You can get a better view from our webcam.

 

Photo: Sean Ingram

Moot Court demolished

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
View of Moot Court demolition and large excavator from Queen's Park Cresent

By mid-afternoon today, this is what remains of the Moot Court, as seen from across the street in Queen's Park.

 

Photo: Sean Ingram

 

Shears at work

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Shears on large excavator tearing materials down from law library exterior

Shears on this large excavator are tearing off materials from the exterior walls of the law library.


If you're walking along Queen's Park Crescent or along Philosopher's Walk, that crunching sound is the large excavator at work. Attached to it are the shears to tear off exterior walls from the Bora Laskin Library. Today, the south end is being torn down.

 

Law library steel foundation visible after the exterior wall materials were removed.

Here on the north and west side of the law library, the walls have been removed and site cleanup continues. Refuse is sorted, and salvaged whenever possible.

 

 

Photos: Lucianna Ciccocioppo

Building the construction road

Monday, March 31, 2014

Work has begun on building the temporary road that will enable demolition and construction vehicles and materials to be brought on-site. The road includes a "mud mat": an erosion control system to allow mud from site to be driven off the wheels prior to the trucks entering the road.

The much-anticipated demolition of the Moot Court Room will begin in a week or two.

Building the construction road

 

 

Getting ready for the next phase

Friday, March 14, 2014
Tree mulch being re-used on site

Tree mulch from the construction process is being re-used on site to protect the roots of the trees that have been preserved on the construction site.

Meanwhile, as preparation continues for the external demolition phase, the new steel frame for the air handling unit has been hoisted onto the roof. The air handling unit for Flavelle House had to be relocated for the construction process.

Steel frame fro air handling unit

First crane comes and goes

Monday, March 3, 2014
Crane removing the rooftop heating unit from library rooftop.

Weekend activity included the arrival of a crane to remove the rooftop heating unit on Saturday from the Bora Laskin library building to facilitate the new roofing system and exterior demolition. It will be relocated, and rest assured, Flavelle House offices will remain warm during this Winter. That. Never. Ends.

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