Alert! Radio was Canadian Dimension’s weekly podcast which ran from September 2005 - May 2012. It was recorded and broadcast first on CKUW 95.9 FM at the University of Winnipeg, and later on 101.5 UMFM at the University of Manitoba. It was also available on the Rabble Podcast Network.

Our show covered politics, economics, issues of social and environmental justice; featured interviews, commentaries, profiles of people in the news; had features on music, media, the arts; as well as special shows dedicated to new ideas or significant events.

Our entire show archive is presented here.

• Episode 205 (February 29th 2012)

  Sara Flounders, Director of the International Action Centre debunks the myth that Iran poses a nuclear threat and reveals that money and oil and containing Iran’s role as a regional Middle East power are the real motives behind the interventions under discussion. Noted Canadian author Yves Engler discusses Canada’s interest in working with other powers to crush Iran.

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• Episode 204 (February 22nd 2012)

  Lindsey Pinto, Communications manager of OpenMedia.ca. discusses the Harper government’s on-line spying bill and why opposition to it is so fierce. Tom Walkom, national affairs columnist for the Toronto Star, disputes the very premise of he Drummond Report—that Ontario faces an imminent fiscal crisis unless it cuts back its entire government infrastructure and government services including both health and education. He looks at the impact these cuts would have, especially on lower income Ontarians. York University politics professor David McNally who recently visited China, discusses that country’s state capitalist system, its economic successes and its gigantic income inequalities.

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• Episode 203 (February 15th 2012)

  Who will make the best leader of the NDP and does it matter? Some surprising answers from Murray Dobbin, Corvin Russell, Simon Tremblay Pepin, Josh Brandon, Herman Rosenfeld, Stefan Christoff.

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• Episode 202 (February 8th 2012)

  Micheal Vonn, Policy Director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association discusses soon-to-be introduced “lawful access” bills to expand police surveillance powers. The federal government has announced that it will soon be introducing legislation to increase the ability of police to intercept private communications and access more personal information stored electronically. Steven Staples, President of the Rideau Institute takes on pro-war lobbyists at the Conference of Defence Associations, part of an increasingly powerful National Security Establishment in Ottawa. Canadian Dimension labour columnist Herman Rosenfeld analyses the anti-union campaign shaping up in Canada and laments about the weak state of the labour movement’s opposition.

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• Episode 201 (February 1st 2012)

  Noted health care analyst Pat Armstrong reflects on what lies behind Harper’s new health care policy. It’s not just a matter of numbers. Pensions expert Andrew Jackson shows why Harper’s pension policy is fiscally unnecessary and devastating, especially for low income seniors. Investigative journalist Martin Lukacs talks about Harper’s tar sands agenda and his efforts to sell it in Canada, the USA and Europe. He comments on the counter campaigns led by indigenous resistance movements in alliance with environmentalists, other activists and municipalities.

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• Episode 200 (January 25th 2012)

  Carlo Fanelli analyses what was accomplished at Toronto City Hall to limit the regressive measures introduced by Mayor Rob Ford and the shape of the battles still to come. Political scientist Dennis Pilon reflects on the history of municipal amalgamations that bring to power right-wing mayors like Rob Ford in Toronto and Larry O’Brien in Ottawa largely owing to votes from once independent outlying middle class and wealthy suburban communities that swamp the votes of those residing in the city proper. Political economist Sam Gindin unravels the European debt crisis and austerity agendas of governments everywhere and their impact on a stagnating global economy. He examines the limitations of resistance movements as they emerged in 2011 and suggests new strategies for 2012.

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• Episode 199 (January 18th 2012)

  The National Energy Board’s Northern Gateway hearings just began and are expected to carry on through the summer and beyond. Ben West of BC’s Wilderness Committee takes us through the process and tells us what to expect. Is the lockout of CAW workers at the Electro-Motive plant in London, Ontario, the beginning of an assault against private sector unionism in Canada? Labour commentator Doug Nesbitt discusses this question and offers some radical strategies for the labour movement, including occupation. What’s the real story behind the accusation that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapons capacity? Reporter Alex Kane comments from New York.

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• Episode 198 (January 10th 2012)

  Expectations for 2012—2011 was a tumultuous year in Canadian and world politics. ALERT asked on-the-ground activists to talk about their expectations for 2012: Judy Rebick on Canadian politics; Clayton Thomas Muller on Indian Country; Mathew Brett on the Occupation Movement; Saul Landau on US politics; Sam Bahour on the Middle East.

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• Episode 197 (November 30th 2011)

  Stephen Maher examines Egyptian politics on the week of the vote, Gerald Caplan questions why everyone but Iran can have nuclear weapons, Peter Kulchyski on Federal Legislation to disclose the salaries of First Nation Chiefs and Band Councillors.

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• Episode 196 (November 25th 2011)

  Patrick Bond dissects international climate talks at upcoming COP 17 conference. Vincent Mosco explains the historical significance of the Occupy movement and where it is headed.

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• Episode 195 (November 17th 2011)

  Organizer Matthew Brett addresses the current state of Occupy movement and the Quebec student strike. Gordon Laxer on the consequences of delaying the Keystone XL pipeline. Lesley Hughes on the most censored stories of 2011.

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• Episode 194 (November 9th 2011)

  Karen Devito on the Canadian boat to Gaza shares experiences of her group’s detention by Israeli authorities, Toronto Star columnist Thomas Walkom on the Eurozone’s bail-out efforts for Greece and Martine Elois of Échec à la Guerre explains the Remembrance Day White poppy campaign.

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• Episode 193 (November 3rd 2011)

  Roger Rashi discusses the potential political consequences of alleged ties between the Mafia’s involvement in the Quebéc construction industry and provincial political parties. Regina-based political economist and author, John Warnock, weighs in on Saskatchewan’s upcoming provincial election.

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• Episode 192 (October 27th 2011)

  James Petras discusses Greece, austerity and the European economic crisis. The Council of Canadian’s Trade Campaigner, Stuart Trew, updates us on Canada’s most recent rounds of trade talks with the European Union, and Winnipegger Ken Kalturnyk assesses Harper’s agenda for the Canadian Wheat Board.

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• Episode 191 (October 20th 2011)

  Jeff Halper analyzes the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN and prospects for a just Middle East peace. Erin Vosters of FemRev explains her group’s critique of Slutwalk. Paula Mallea dissects the Harper government’s Omnibus Crime Bill.

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• Episode 190 (October 13th 2011)

  Murray Dobbin examines the recent provincial election outcomes across the country. Derrick O’Keefe discusses the Occupy Wall Street movement as it develops in Canada. Student activist Dan DiMaggio discusses the movement from the streets of NYC.

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• Episode 189 (October 6th 2011)

  Haaretz reporter and author Amira Hass gives her thoughts and perspectives on the Isreali Occupation, the Palestinian resistance and last summer’s Arab Spring. Music is the Weapon features women heroes of the left.

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• Episode 188 (September 29th 2011)

  With another economic downturn threatening, York University Professor and author David McNally returns to explain how the decision to bail out banks at the expense of the public sector has lead to the current predicament and what social and labour movements can and should be doing to protect the interests of the working class Labour studies professors, David Camfield of the University of Manitoba and Herman Rosenfeld of McMaster University put into context the elections in Manitoba and Ontario respectively.

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• Episode 187 (September 22nd 2011)

  As protesters gather on Parliament Hill to mobilize against the TransCanada XL Pipeline, three campaigners address the question of using civil disobedience against the tar sands and other causes: indigenous tar sands campaigner Clayton Thomas Muller, Greenpeace organizer Mike Hudema and political/queer activist Gary Kinsman.

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• Episode 186 (September 15th 2011)

  Economist Jim Stanford explains why the economic recovery has stalled, that the causes of the economic crisis of 2008-9 have not really been dealt with, and that only radical restructuring of economic institutions can solve mass unemployment and prevent a return to economic turmoil. Ernest Drucker, of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York compares the structure of the US incarceration system—which has systematically imprisoned unprecedented numbers of men and women—to well-recognized epidemics from the past. Don’t go there, Canada, he advises.

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