-
The ‘ugly Canadian’ is on the march: Trudeau is its new face
Two years into their mandate the Trudeau regime has yet to follow through on their repeated promises to rein in Canada’s controversial international mining sector. Despite this commitment, they have adopted no measures to restrict public support for Canadian mining companies responsible for significant abuses abroad. The ‘ugly Canadian’ is running roughshod across the globe and pretty boy Justin is its new face.
-
Canada is missing its chance to shut the gate on nuclear weapons everywhere
In April of this year, Chrystia Freeland issued the following statement to mark the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention: “Twenty years ago today, the international community was united in denouncing the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance.” Isn’t it time for the same to be said about nuclear weapons?
-
It’s not just Québec: the NDP leadership race and racial dog-whistles
We have to trust that those people and many others—regardless of the result—can be engaged with a democratic socialist platform based on equality, fairness, and freedom for all Canadians. But if the narrative is that these Singh supporters are seen as little more than ‘ethnic interlopers’ into the party, who could blame them if they don’t feel welcome?
-
One NDPer’s position on the leadership contest
This list and its rationale is my personal opinion and should be taken as such. Nevertheless, it is my hope that this helps participants shore up their list, even if they disagree with my ultimate interpretation. Any of the four hopefuls will make a great leader, and will have three people willing to help them implement their vision for a just Canada.
-
NDP needs to leave its comfort zone
Candidates seek to strike a series of sensible balances between the economy and the environment, between free and fair trade, between husbanding taxpayer’s dollars and meeting social needs. There is nothing wrong with balance as a principle, but these are not equivalencies, and treating them as such will mean the former always undermines the latter. This is not a path to the radical passion that has propelled recent electoral success on the Left.
-
Five vital issues facing the Left in Canada: Questions for NDP leadership contenders
CD approached the candidates running for the leadership of the New Democratic Party—Niki Ashton, Guy Caron, Jagmeet Singh, and Charlie Angus—with what we felt were some of the most important questions facing both the party and the country. Here we present our reasons for asking these particular questions, followed by the answers from all the candidates
-
For the 150th, let’s also re-make our economic myths
Every society needs its myths. But as much as myths and stories can empower, they can also be damaging. Here are three economic myths about Canada that could use re-writing. The first economic myth to remake is that we are “hewers of wood and drawers of water” — or, in more contemporary terms, extractors of some of the dirtiest fossil fuels known to humankind.
-
Unhappy birthday
As Canada commemorates its sesquicentennial with a festival of propaganda, the gulf between this country’s reality and its image—prettily packaged at home and exported around the world—has perhaps never been wider. For evidence, we needn’t look further than the August cover of Rolling Stone exhibiting a photo of Justin Trudeau alongside the question “Is he the free world’s best hope?”
-
Coverage of Winnipeg’s Rooster Town blockade reveals media’s anti-Indigenous bias
Much of the media coverage of the situation has frequently regurgitated blatant colonial biases. These range from allotting a disproportionate percentage of word counts to the arguments of the developer and his lawyer, deploying the language of capitalist conceptions of property ownership, and refusing Indigenous defenders the ability to self-define.
-
Rolling Stone’s new cover article on Trudeau is barefaced propaganda
The Rolling Stone cover story was particularly unique in demonstrating how corporate media works to maintain and strengthen liberal hegemony by building a compelling personal narrative, using fascists as foil characters, and inadvertently disclosing profoundly racist and capitalist biases in both author Stephen Rodrick and main source, Trudeau himself.