Alert! Radio

Episode 155 (May 6th 2010)

ALERT’S last show of the season! Pensions sufficient to keep retirees from growing old in poverty are under frontal attack. Joel Harden of the Canadian Labour Congress Research Department and CD collective member Andrea Levy explain why. This week’s episode also celebrates MayDay week and discusses Canadian mining companies in the global south. And, as always, Mitch Podoluk is here with Music is the Weapon. You can subscribe to our podcast via iTunes and listen to past episodes by clicking the links below. A new season of ALERT will begin in September 2010. Download this episode (27 MB)

Show Notes

Pensions

Pensions sufficient to keep retirees from growing old in poverty are now under frontal attack. Pensions in Peril is the main focus of the May/June issue of Canadian Dimension. Alert has interviews with two of the authors, Joel Harden and Andrea Levy. Joel Harden is with the Research Department of the Canadian Labour Congress. The CLC has published a number of articles on pensions. Andrea Levy is a member of the Dimension collective. She is self-employed. Work issues are among the assignments she addresses.

Mayday

MAYDAY around the world celebrates the contributions of working people to improving the quality of our lives and developing our collective capacities to making this a better place to work and live. On this 2010 MAYDAY, in what shape do we find working people? And in what shape do we find their unions? In its special Mayworks issue, Canadian Dimension held a round table discussion on these very questions. Read Marion Pollack’s contribution here. We have also posted Mayworks events from across the country on our website.

Canadian Mining

Canadian mining companies are among the biggest in the world and they are invested throughout South America, Asia and Africa. They are also among the most reviled transnational corporations in the globe, especially among the villagers whose lives they have disrupted and whose lands they have despoiled. Sakura Saunders is an editor for protestbarrick.net. You can listen to another interview with Sakura here and read some older articles by Saunders published in The Dominion

Recent episodes:

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.
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.
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.