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NDP Suppresses Palestinian Solidarity Again
Canadian PoliticsFor those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, ask yourself these two questions: Since polling reveals a higher percentage of Canadians support Palestinian rights than vote for the NDP federally, why won’t party officials allow a clear statement of support for Palestinian liberation? Is there a point when explicitly antidemocratic behavior that contributes to Palestinian subjugation will no longer be tolerated in a party claiming the mantra of social justice? It is time the NDP leadership listened to its membership.
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Why the Canadian Government is Confronting Venezuela
Canadian PoliticsSince the attempted U.S. coup against Venezuela on January 23, backed by the Lima Group of which the Justin Trudeau government is an active member, Canada’s corporate media have joined in a chorus of hate and disinformation against the Bolivarian Revolution, with the criticism focusing on Nicolás Maduro, the country’s constitutionally elected president. At the same time, a debate has arisen among workers, trade unionists, and social and political activists.
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Liberals use ‘human rights’ to push coup in Venezuela
Canadian PoliticsAs part of their effort to overthrow Nicolas Maduro’s government, Ottawa has funded and promoted a slew of groups and individuals critical of human rights in Venezuela. And a recent report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights gave a boost to Canada’s faltering coup bid in that South American country. Overseen by former social democratic Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, the report paints Venezuelan security forces as extremely violent and the government as politically repressive.
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The Koch Brothers and the Tar-Sands
Canadian BusinessCanada is attacking itself on all levels without knowing it. China has imprisoned two Canadian citizens and blocked long-standing major agriculture imports to our increasing public humiliation. The US, the actual cause of the problem, has done nothing to resolve it, and all the while, a deeper self-destruction of Canada unfolds to serve US Big-Oil demands. The usual leaders of Canada’s branch-plant culture in politics, media news and ‘expert’ commentary just continue their barking.
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Canada adopts Israel lobby’s contested definition of anti-Semitism
Canadian PoliticsCanada has announced that it will formally adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that could characterize Palestinian rights campaigning as anti-Jewish bigotry. The definition is contained in the Canadian government’s new strategy to “combat racism and discrimination in its various forms.” The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association says the definition is “is extremely vague, open to misinterpretation” and a “threat to freedom of expression.”
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Ugly Canadian supports status quo in original banana republic
Canadian PoliticsOver the past decade Ottawa has reinforced Honduran impoverishment and political dysfunction. Ten years ago, Ottawa tacitly supported the Honduran military’s removal of elected president Manuel Zelaya. During the past decade Canada has strongly allied itself to those backing the coup who continue to rule the Central American country. It was not until almost every country in the hemisphere denounced the June 28, 2009, coup that Ottawa finally did so but Canada did not explicitly call for Zelaya’s return to power.
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Trudeau should cut his losses on the Trans Mountain pipeline
Canadian PoliticsIn 2015, Trudeau made a deal with Alberta. He would get an oil pipeline built to a coast if the province joined his pan-Canadian climate plan. After his election this past April, Conservative Alberta Premier Jason Kenney ripped up Alberta’s side of the bargain and declared war on Trudeau’s climate plan. What should Ottawa do now after being jilted by Alberta? Should the Liberal government proceed with the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to the Vancouver area and lose credibility as a climate warrior?
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Meet the hired gun Ottawa is using to overthrow the Venezuelan government
Canadian PoliticsRecently Global Affairs Canada tendered a contract for an individual to coordinate its bid to oust President Nicolás Maduro. Canadian taxpayers are paying a hardline pro-corporate, pro-Washington, former diplomat hundreds of thousands of dollars to coordinate the Liberal government’s bid to oust Venezuela’s government. Surely, there is someone in the House of Commons willing to inquire about Canada’s Elliot Abrams?
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Trudeau government squeezes Cuba
Canadian PoliticsRecently, the Canadian Embassy in Havana closed its Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship section. Now most Cubans wanting to visit Canada or get work/study permits will have to travel to a Canadian embassy in another country to submit their documents. In some cases Cubans will have to travel to another country at least twice to submit information to enter Canada. The draconian measure has already undercut cultural exchange and family visits, as described in a Toronto Star op-ed titled “Canada closes a door on Cuban culture”.
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B.C. Green’s anti-worker biases expose the party’s contradictions on climate change
Canadian PoliticsInstead of helping provide a basis for worker solidarity and grass roots mobilizations against the economic system that caused climate change, Green Party policies emphasize shallow concepts like “innovative enterprise” and “sustainable business.” The B.C. Greens use those buzzwords to distinguish themselves from other major political parties, but in practice such terms indicate the same thinly veiled pro-employer and pro-market biases as the neoliberal mainstream.
