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Dollars for destruction

Having recently declared the estimated future cost of Canada’s participation in the Afghan war a secret matter of national security, the Department of Defence reversed itself, revealing a price tag for the war on Afghanistan that — surprise, surprise — far outstrips original expectations. The cost for 2009-10 is estimated at $1.513 billion, and at $1.468 billion for 2010-11, while total costs for the 2001-2011 period are estimated at $9 billion. Mike Blanchfield of Canwest News Service reports:

• Canada’s ballooning Afghan war cost no longer national secret by Mike Blanchfield — The Ottawa Citizen

No new nukes for Ontario

The Ontario government will not be proceeding with plans to revamp and expand the nuclear energy sector, which accounts for half the province’s electricity needs. Here’s the Globe and Mail’s Karen Howlett with the story:

• AECL’s future in doubt as Ontario suspends nuclear power plans by Karen Howlett — The Globe and Mail

Stanford vs. Swift

It was a foregone conclusion that the financial crisis would be used as a pretext to attack what remains of the gains of organized labour. As billionaires are bailed out, the union-bashing, benefit-crushing chorus grows steadily louder. Last week, CBC radio’s The Current featured a debate between Canadian Auto Workers Union economist Jim Stanford and Canadian Federation of Independent Business President and CEO Catherine Swift about whether unions should be making greater concessions during the crisis. Listen to the argument:

• The Current for June 25, 2009 — CBC radio’s The Current

Not with a bang but a whimper?

Karl Marx and Leo Panitch may be gracing the pages of the Globe and Mail these days, but the question remains: Where’s the rage? In face of an ecological crisis that threatens humankind’s very survival and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, serious political protest should be staging a major comeback. But in the overdeveloped countries of the North resistance seems in surprisingly short supply. The perplexing silence of the left is the stuff of recent columns by Murray Dobbin on Rabble:

• Imagine: Prosperity without growth by Murray Dobbin — Rabble.ca

and Thomas Walkom of The Toronto Star:

• The silence of the left by Thomas Walkom — The Toronto Star