Critical urban and economic geographer studying the marketization of education and other social institutions (he/him). https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=S265d9kAAAAJ&hl=enhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mz4cxzxjzc2nCanada's deal structure for the Federal equity investment into the AI company Cohere is interesting. This is not simply we want a stake in the company ala Trump. It includes specific conditions (on job creation in Canada, etc.) that are built into the staged release of funds along returns30 Oct 2026 17:36 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mz4cxzxjzc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mz2jq2qyv223So I guess we're just doing the worst form of state capitalism now, eh? $1.6 billion of public capital to buy a stake in an AI company while the public sector gets slashed. What does Canada get for this besides a vague notion of sovereign AI? [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Oct 2026 00:31 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mz2jq2qyv223https://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mxwd6la7x22gFor the Queen's financial forum since questions were hidden: Over the past three years, Queen's total surplus was $296 million ($76, $60, $160) and its operating surplus was $124 million ($20, $16, $88). Last year, even w/o investment income above budget, the operating fund was in the green.15 Oct 2026 14:58 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxwd6la7x22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mwnw6uxajc27The gap between my uni's budget projections and year-end actuals was $114 million (a $26 million deficit to an $87 million surplus). Of course the hiring freeze continues and campus is filthy. Capital reserves grew from $164 to $306 million during the freeze. They'll likely build a supercomputer.29 Sep 2026 13:19 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwnw6uxajc27https://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mw4d3nujtk2zThe DraftKings case is the most depraved example of an economy-wide practice combining algorithms and big data to, as one company in our research described, move "from carpet bombing to personal strikes" in precisely targeting consumers isolated through apps, etc. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/business/draftkings-ai.html22 Sep 2026 13:22 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw4d3nujtk2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mw4d3nujtk2zThe DraftKings case is the most depraved example of an economy-wide practice combining algorithms and big data to, as one company in our research described, move "from carpet bombing to personal strikes" in precisely targeting consumers isolated through apps, etc. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/business/draftkings-ai.html22 Sep 2026 13:22 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw4d3nujtk2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mvlovzosc22dMeanwhile, the Carney government is also seeking to privatize Canada's largest airports (as signalled while launching the Canada Strong Fund). While airport privatization has been a disaster elsewhere, Carney says that's actually a good thing for Canada because we can learn from mistakes.15 Sep 2026 22:39 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvlovzosc22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/dancohen.bsky.social/post/3mvlnbj7pkk2dI'm a cynic and even I am absolutely floored at how quickly Carney has shown he doesn't give a shit about the climate after building his identity as being the climate friendly banker. New 'productivity mega deduction' (real name) will cut taxes on oil and gas pipelines https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/09/15/prime-minister-carney-introduces-new-productivity-mega-deduction15 Sep 2026 22:09 +0000at://did:plc:d65xek34lsofgp7feozumi4o/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvlnbj7pkk2d