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Putting Public Ownership Back on the Table
Canadian BusinessIf we are to build a just society, we require a just economy. And while that must include better social programs financed through redistributive taxation, the democratic socialist project is not encompassed by social programs alone; it must concern itself with the democratization of the economy. And while this shouldn’t be done solely through state ownership—worker, community, and consumer cooperatives all being viable mechanisms here—public control will nonetheless be a central plank.
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Settler-colonialism targets youth
Canadian PoliticsAs the world contemplates with horror the United States’ recent policy of separating immigrant and refugee children from their parents and detaining them for attempting to cross the border, it is important to see these disturbing events in a global context and to recognize them for what they are. Although such practices also take place in Canada, the reality is that anti-immigrant sentiment is pure hypocrisy in settler-colonial states like the United States and Canada.
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Ontario Election 2018: Right-Wing Populism Prevails Over Moderate Social Democracy
Canadian PoliticsAs the Ford government will certainly prove disastrous for cities, municipal elections across the province this fall also represent opportunities to elect left and progressive candidates and begin to form a network of ‘rebel cities’ in opposition to the Ford regime. Perhaps, if stronger community-based infrastructure can take hold and revitalized social coalitions form, the labour movement in Ontario might yet again return to leading social struggles and the political space for a radical opening suddenly appear.
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A call for the NDP to withdraw from the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group
Canadian PoliticsIn particular, we are dismayed that NDP justice critic Murray Rankin and NDP defence critic Randall Garrison serve as executive members of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group. NDP MPs Peter Julian and Gord Johns are also members of that organization. The Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group promotes “greater friendship” between Canadian MPs and members of the Israeli Knesset and has organized events with other pro-Israel lobby organizations.
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How to handle U.S. threats to Canadian trade
Canadian PoliticsOfficial Ottawa needs to recognize that Canada is better off working with other countries to build a reasonable multilateral trading world rather than depending on the goodwill of a Donald Trump to re-negotiate NAFTA, or betting that he will not be re-elected. It is past time for Canada to return to active support for improved multilateral trade arrangements instead of the Harper/Trudeau policy of pursuing bilateral or regional agreements.
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The State of Manitoba’s Activist Left
Canadian PoliticsThe Manitoba Progressive Conservatives under premier Brian Pallister have been implementing harsh austerity since their 2016 landslide victory, imposing emergency room and clinic closures, wage freezes, significant budget cuts, job cuts, harsh anti-labour legislation and more. Yet responses from the left have been largely muted and ineffective. Anyone who would suggest otherwise is lying to themselves.
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Canada’s Dirty $20-Billion Pipeline Bailout
Canadian PoliticsLet’s parse the fantastic numbers, because they will affect all of us. And the bill for taxpayers won’t be $4.5 billion as Morneau claims, but much closer to $20 billion, says economist Robyn Allan. The $4.5-billion purchase price only buys a leaking 65-year-old pipeline, an aging tanker farm not built to withstand earthquakes, and a port facility as well as engineering plans and permits for the twinning of a high-risk expansion project.
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Kinder Morgan bailout to cost north of $15 billion
Canadian PoliticsFinance Minister Bill Morneau announced on May 29 that the Government of Canada will buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline system from Kinder Morgan at a price of $4.5 billion. When asked about the cost to build the expansion, Mr. Morneau refused to explain that $4.5 billion simply buys Ottawa the rights to what exists today
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New Democratic Party MPs Should Withdraw from Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group
Canadian PoliticsGarrison and Rankin must immediately withdraw from the Canada–Israel Interparliamentary Group. If the NDP MPs refuse to disassociate themselves from the pro-Israel lobby organization, party leader Jagmeet Singh should replace them as (respectively) NDP defence and justice critics. Israel’s slaughter in Gaza should lead to an end of the NDP’s anti-Palestinian past.
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The Ontario Election isn’t about Deficits, and that’s a good thing
Canadian PoliticsHow big is your deficit? This Ontario election, no one seems to care. There is more and more light sneaking through the widening cracks in Canada’s austerity consensus. Hopefully, it will shine not only on the latest vote-buying scandal or bout of red-baiting but hit upon some of the big questions of economic policy. Here, the relevant question is not “how big is your deficit,” but “who will it benefit?” Or, put most expansively, “how are you going to transform the economy?”
