Weekly Quiz: Militarized Aid, Misunderstood Wasps, and the Meltdown of the Condo Market

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const title = "Militarized Aid, Misunderstood Wasps, and the Meltdown of the Condo Market"; const date = "September 6, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WAL_Carney-COV_Aug25-005.jpg", title: "Who Is Mark Carney, Really?", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/who-is-mark-carney/", question: "Prime Minister Mark Carney has brought deadlines, hard choices, and an unforgiving to-do list to Ottawa, an approach that seemingly extends to his strategy for national defence. Up to what percentage of gross domestic product has Carney pledged to increase Canada’s military spending by 2035?", options: [ "3 percent", "5 percent", "7 percent", "9 percent", ], answer: "5 percent", correct: "Out of the blue at June’s G7 meeting, Carney committed to increasing Canada’s military spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035 and to bring Canada up to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 2 percent target this year. There’s some accountant’s sleight of hand to the military-spending increases. According to some sources, the government will lump veterans’ benefits into calculations of the percentage of GDP. About a third of the spending goes to infrastructure like airports that have civilian uses (a share of the money for Montréal–Trudeau’s $10 billion revamp, for instance, may be logged under NATO). Still, the military pledge will reshape the Canadian government and its priorities. “Guns or butter” choices will have to be made.", incorrect: "Out of the blue at June’s G7 meeting, Carney committed to increasing Canada’s military spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035 and to bring Canada up to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 2 percent target this year. There’s some accountant’s sleight of hand to the military-spending increases. According to some sources, the government will lump veterans’ benefits into calculations of the percentage of GDP. About a third of the spending goes to infrastructure like airports that have civilian uses (a share of the money for Montréal–Trudeau’s $10 billion revamp, for instance, may be logged under NATO). Still, the military pledge will reshape the Canadian government and its priorities. “Guns or butter” choices will have to be made.", }, { title: "Israel’s Supposed Aid Scheme Is Killing Palestinians", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/israels-supposed-aid-scheme-is-killing-palestinians/", question: "The militarized aid scheme set up by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been almost universally condemned by human rights groups for its violation of the principle of humanitarian impartiality and for what these groups have said could be a violation of international law. According to a report by Doctors Without Borders, what is one factor contributing to the deadly chaos at GHF aid distribution points?", options: [ "Disclosing information about opening times to the public with little notice", "Faulty storage infrastructure spoiling food before distribution", "Allocating aid packages by lottery rather than family size or need", "Shortage of personnel trained to organize queues and manage inventory", ], answer: "Disclosing information about opening times to the public with little notice", correct: "Crowds typically gather at aid distribution points hours in advance, often with no knowledge of when—or if—the gates will open. Why? The GHF posts opening times on social media, but these posts can sometimes appear in the middle of the night, with little notice, and sites can open and close within minutes. The report also describes extreme levels of violence and killings at GHF sites—primarily targeting young Palestinian men but also women and children. Danny Glenwright, president and CEO of Save the Children Canada, similarly describes a system in which Israel directs civilians into heavily militarized zones to access basic supplies, all under armed surveillance. There, people seeking aid—often corralled into fenced-in, densely packed areas—are routinely fired upon by the Israeli military. In late June, Save the Children reported that children had been killed or injured in more than half of the attacks on food distribution sites in Gaza since the GHF began operating.", incorrect: "Crowds typically gather at aid distribution points hours in advance, often with no knowledge of when—or if—the gates will open. Why? The GHF posts opening times on social media, but these posts can sometimes appear in the middle of the night, with little notice, and sites can open and close within minutes. The report also describes extreme levels of violence and killings at GHF sites—primarily targeting young Palestinian men but also women and children. Danny Glenwright, president and CEO of Save the Children Canada, similarly describes a system in which Israel directs civilians into heavily militarized zones to access basic supplies, all under armed surveillance. There, people seeking aid—often corralled into fenced-in, densely packed areas—are routinely fired upon by the Israeli military. In late June, Save the Children reported that children had been killed or injured in more than half of the attacks on food distribution sites in Gaza since the GHF began operating.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WAL_Chow-Condos_Sep25-001.jpg", title: "No One Wants to Buy a Condo", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/no-one-wants-to-buy-a-condo/", question: "Canada’s condo boom is finally a bust, in part because many condos built between the late 2010s and early 2020s were constructed not for living but for investment. Since 2000, Canada has seen a steady increase in the proportion of condos used as investment properties. What demographic is most likely to buy condos for this purpose?", options: [ "Single men over the age of sixty-five", "Middle-aged, middle-class couples", "Multigenerational families", "Wealthy couples in their thirties", ], answer: "Middle-aged, middle-class couples", correct: "To writer Kathy Chow’s surprise, most investors are not faceless corporations or foreigners. Research done by Statistics Canada shows that the typical condo owner is a middle-aged, middle-class Canadian couple. The reigning logic for the middle class was that buying a condo, renting it out to pay for the mortgage, and eventually selling the unit was a solid way to make money. This was especially true in the late 2010s, a period of low interest rates and weak rent control policies. Steady demand for housing, partially caused by increasing immigration, made real estate seem like a sure bet.", incorrect: "To writer Kathy Chow’s surprise, most investors are not faceless corporations or foreigners. Research done by Statistics Canada shows that the typical condo owner is a middle-aged, middle-class Canadian couple. The reigning logic for the middle class was that buying a condo, renting it out to pay for the mortgage, and eventually selling the unit was a solid way to make money. This was especially true in the late 2010s, a period of low interest rates and weak rent control policies. Steady demand for housing, partially caused by increasing immigration, made real estate seem like a sure bet.", }, { title: "In Defence of Wasps", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/in-defence-of-wasps/", question: "They sting. They swarm. They spoil our picnics. But if you ask The Walrus contributing writer Arno Kopecky, wasps get a bad rap. In addition to playing key roles in our ecosystem, wasps can also improve our physical health. What medical condition is wasp venom used to treat in China?", options: [ "Cancer", "Microbial infections", "Arthritis", "Hypertension", ], answer: "Arthritis", correct: "Wasp venom has an astonishing range of uses beyond inflicting pain, terror, and life-threatening anaphylactic shock on 1 percent of the population. In China, wasp venom has been used for centuries to treat arthritis; more recently, scientists have learned to separate anti-inflammatory compounds out of the venom, discovering many other uses in the process—as anti-coagulants, immunosuppressants, and more. “Wasp venom,” wrote the authors of one paper, “exhibited various pharmacological effects in the treatment of pain, inflammatory disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.”", incorrect: "Wasp venom has an astonishing range of uses beyond inflicting pain, terror, and life-threatening anaphylactic shock on 1 percent of the population. In China, wasp venom has been used for centuries to treat arthritis; more recently, scientists have learned to separate anti-inflammatory compounds out of the venom, discovering many other uses in the process—as anti-coagulants, immunosuppressants, and more. “Wasp venom,” wrote the authors of one paper, “exhibited various pharmacological effects in the treatment of pain, inflammatory disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.”", }, ];