It has been almost 40 years since there was major debate in Canada about our relations with the United States. While the FTA was implemented after the 1988 election, a majority of voters supported a more active role by governments in shaping economic development. Today we are confronted with the very serious probability that the free trade era has come to an end.

Like our Palestinian allies in this struggle, we refuse to be patronized by Canadian policymakers. We refuse to be told that we are making a mountain out of a molehill. And we refuse to be told that we lack understanding by politicians who are in fact contradicting themselves. Our demands are simple and we will not stop pressing for them until they are realized.

Safer supply is a public health initiative meant to keep people alive and connected to care. It is a lifeline. A tether to the supports necessary to move towards wellness. If our goal is to end the opioid epidemic, safer supply, harm reduction services, and voluntary treatment must be supplements to a larger project of reconstruction.

The pandemic taught us the risk of relying on global supply chains. They are fragile and can be upset by political upheavals. Trump’s election upsets the apple cart. It’s time to recalibrate Canada’s place in the world. If we’ve lost one reliable friend, can we gain others? Will we take charge of our own economy so we can maintain democracy here?

The alleged assassination plot by members of Jair Bolsonaro’s inner circle is the latest indication of the Brazilian right’s intense hatred for their political enemies. For years, their attacks on the left have been supported by Washington and Ottawa, whose companies benefit from the policies implemented by these reactionary governments.

In spite of his prime ministerial law-and-order rhetoric, citizen Harper has no time for the International Court of Justice’s conclusions on Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza and Amnesty International on Israeli apartheid. The former PM still considers Israel a credible ally in spite of the IDF’s ongoing campaign of destruction and territorial expansion across the Middle East.

Israel and many of its supporters insist that a wide range of international organizations and bodies are antisemitic. And then Israel doubles down and the outrage against it grows and the outraged are denounced as antisemites. And on and on it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows. Perhaps until the “new” antisemitism turns into the “old” antisemitism?

There is an unwillingness to entertain a future in which Canada Post’s role can evolve to serve the needs of Canadians. The degradation of delivery work by Amazon is accepted as a fait accompli, instead of something we can reverse if the government is prepared to defend workers’ rights against a company whose business model is geared towards undermining them.

Canada is in the depths of a severe housing crisis. Nationally, rents have increased 21 percent in just two years. While some large landlords are reporting huge gains in income, it is estimated that fewer than one percent of rental units are both vacant and affordable for the average Canadian. So, in such a dire moment, why is Canada subsidizing landlords?

All across the country our political leaders are getting behind coercive intervention as the best possible response to the ongoing opioid epidemic. We are meant to believe that this is a bold, commonsense approach set to change everything. But forced treatment is not new in Canada. It’s already an integral and growing part of our health care systems.