Canada needs more homes. Prefabricated houses could fill the void

Building inside a factory lets workers do their jobs away from the elements, which makes for a better quality build, according to architect Paul Dowsett. (Jennifer Keene/CBC)

When Terra Page found tree roots growing in the pipes of their 100-year-old house in Toronto, she and her family decided their best move would be to demolish the house and build anew. That's when their contractor suggested a "prefab" house — one that would be built off-site, then shipped to the lot. 

She was sold on the fact that it would be less of a nuisance for her neighbours, and it could be done much faster. And Canada needs a lot of new homes.

During the election campaign, Mark Carney and the now-elected Liberal Party promised about $25 billion in loans to the prefabricated homes industry. 

According to a 2022 report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the country needs an additional 3.5 million homes built by 2030 to keep up with housing demand.

"We need to be building more housing faster and we need to build it better," said Toronto architect Paul Dowsett. "Just building more crap houses is not an answer."

Cannabis can be used as a psychedelic in therapy, but it's not for everyone, some mental health providers say

Some patients may respond to therapy sessions assisted by cannabis, but there is not a lot of definitive research on this approach, doctors say. (Terry Roberts/CBC)

Some Canadians who suffer from mental illness are turning to psychedelic therapy that utilizes cannabis instead of better-known psychedelics, such as psilocybin.

In psychedelic therapy — an emerging field, no matter the substance — patients use drugs that alter their consciousness, under supervision of a trained therapist, to try to help with hard-to-treat conditions.

Under the right conditions, cannabis can be a useful tool in therapy, says Vancouver registered psychologist Hillary McBride, including that it is easier to access than some psychedelics. 

Not only is cannabis legal in Canada for people 19 and over, but there is familiarity with prescribing it, she says, "which means that people can go to their doctor … and talk about drug interactions and talk about health risks."

But therapists and researchers warn this approach is not suitable — or safe — for everyone, and research is still in its infancy.

Seasonal allergies are getting worse, but newer medications could offer relief

Seasonal allergy sufferers who've noticed their symptoms getting worse aren't imagining things. (PhotoMediaGroup/Shutterstock)

Most people with seasonal allergies have likely noticed an uncomfortable trend over the past few years. In parts of Canada, allergy season not only seems to be lasting longer, it seems to be more intense. 

Dr. Anne Ellis, chair of the department of allergy and immunology at Queen's University, says the roughly one-in-five Canadians who experience respiratory allergies aren't imagining things. The past few years have brought some seasons with a lot more pollen than Canadians are used to.

"Definitely last year's birch pollen season, and it looks like this year is going to be a doozy as well, has certainly been higher than we've seen in the last 10 years," said Ellis.

Thankfully, newer medications and treatments, including allergy tablets that dissolve under the tongue, are offering seasonal sufferers more relief.

The internet is full of misinformation. That's by design, experts say

A study of videos on TikTok about ADHD found that half of the top 100 videos were promoting false information about the disorder. (Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Images)

This year, the global data sphere is expected to reach 181 zettabytes — or 181 trillion gigabytes — up from just two zettabytes in 2010. Some studies say that there is now more data out there than there are stars in the observable universe.

But all this information comes at a cost.

"We have access to more information now than ever before in human history," said University of Alberta law professor Tim Caulfield. "Despite that, we've never been more misled, more confused."

According to a 2023 Statistics Canada survey, 43 per cent of Canadians feel that it's getting harder to decipher what's true and what's fake — and that was even before the rise of artificial intelligence-generated content and digitally manipulated images and videos we're seeing today. 

"Our information environment is completely manipulated, and often people don't realize the degree to which that is the case," said Caulfield.