This week, Ontario passed Bill 5 that aims to speed up mining projects, despite opposition from First Nations and environmental groups. Last week, B.C. passed Bill 15 intended to speed up major projects, including critical mineral mines - which is being met with similar pushback in that province. So what do critical minerals mean for the future of the Canadian economy, and what are the environmental impacts of these projects? To answer your questions about critical minerals, Just Asking spoke to two experts. Mark Cameron is a Public Policy Forum fellow and Warren Mabee is the Director of the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy.

Last month, Utah became the first state to introduce a law to regulate mental health chatbots, arguing these bots cannot present themselves as regulated health professionals or therapists. At the same time, clinicians are researching ways to integrate AI into mental healthcare to make it more accessible. So what do patients need to understand about talking to a chatbot vs. a therapist? How can privacy be protected, and is there an ethical way to integrate AI into therapy? To answer your questions, Just Asking talked to two guests. Dr. Betsy Stade is a clinical psychologist and research scientist at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. Dr. Janine Hubbard is a child psychologist.

There's a growing body of research pointing to the therapeutic applications for psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin, along with ketamine which was approved for therapeutic use in 2020. The promise of a new frontier in treatment for depression, anxiety and PTSD is an appealing one for researchers and patients desperately looking for solutions in a mental health crisis. But with all the excitement around psychedelics in therapy, where does the research stand, and what risks should patients be aware of? To answer those questions, Just Asking brought out two guests. Leah Mayo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary and the Parker Research Chair in Psychedelics. Ron Shore is the Interim Assistant Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute of Military and Veteran Health Research and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at Queen’s University in Kingston.