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Canadian Politics
The Waffle at 50
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Waffle was a key moment of my political education. I would not have realized until I wrote this that the Waffle remains so relevant to understanding our world today. I am delighted that the Waffle is being remembered and thereby lives on. It is fitting that this is happening in Canadian Dimension since the Waffle Manifesto was first published here 50 years ago.
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Globalization
How privatization became the economic dogma of our time
Based on the notion that the private market can always do things better, the doctrine of privatization has become so pervasive that it is rarely questioned or challenged, becoming a driving force in our politics. The benefits of privatization are routinely asserted with great confidence, although rarely with any proof. In fact, the evidence suggests the opposite: that privatization is costing us dearly in financial terms. It is also diminishing our collective power to own and control key aspects of our economy, our country and our lives.
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Canadian Politics
Manitoba’s NDP and unions are helping advance a police state
Having been in government for the majority of the last two decades, the NDP is largely responsible for Manitoba’s outsized carceral system, with the province home to the highest per-capita rate of prisoners in the country (roughly 70 percent of adults in custody are Indigenous). While in power, the NDP introduced a bail breaches policy and an Integrated Warrant Apprehension unit while also welcoming the Harper government’s draconian Bill C-10, which among many things introduced mandatory minimum sentences for many offenses.
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Education
Addiction and recovery: time for progressive strategies?
Canada is clearly in the middle of a severe addiction crisis. What is presently lacking is a coherent approach to what can be done to prevent so many of us from dying. Even though there are varied reasons why so many people die from addictions, predominant addiction and treatment models have, until recently, remained entrenched in approaches coming out of the 1930s.
