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J.B. McLachlan revisited
History does not allow for a great deal in the way of direct instructions, but it is capable of identifying the times and places where people disturbed the complacencies of their time. In doing so, they brought about changes that were necessary but never inevitable. These struggles did not fully succeed, but their influence continues to be felt, and this too is one of McLachlan’s legacies.
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Mulroney: Not all good
Much deserved praise has been heaped on Brian Mulroney’s legacy, but the universal lauding of NAFTA misses the mark. Mulroney made major contributions by pushing Washington to cut acid rain wafting across the border, was key to fixing the ozone layer in the Montréal protocol and took international leadership in helping end apartheid in South Africa.
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The myth of the ‘nanny state’
Those who promote right-wing solutions for societal ills have long argued for minimal state interference with the play of market forces. It has often been suggested that all attempts to constrain unbridled profit-making are just so many barriers to ambition, hard work and prosperity. The sexist term “nanny state” is often pressed into service to make the point.
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Actors are getting organized after being locked out of commercial work in Canada
In May 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike. Just two months later, the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined them on the picket lines. Yet, while Hollywood suddenly ground to a halt due to these strikes, production continued and continues in “Hollywood North” without resolution.
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While Canadian workers struggle, CEOs keep getting richer
While the bank accounts of Canada’s richest executives and CEOs bloat with money that should be equitably distributed to all, food prices, housing costs, and homelessness are spinning out of control, disproportionately impacting the marginalized and oppressed: Indigenous peoples, people of colour, women and LGBTQ+, and the working class in general.
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Argentina is not for sale: Unions respond to privatization
Argentines weary of annual inflation soaring above 140 percent and a poverty rate that reached 40 percent have elected right-wing libertarian economist Javier Milei. He had campaigned on the promise to privatize state-owned enterprises, slash government spending, dollarize the economy, eliminate the central bank, and close key ministries, among them health and education.
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Can Wab Kinew mark a new dawn for Manitoba under self-imposed constraints?
Those seeking an economic and industrial policy agenda that will reduce inequality, empower workers, and support a just transition in Manitoba can look to capital spending, legislative reform, and opportunities in the Crown corporation sector as areas where progress is possible, even if the narrow fiscal policy battle may have been temporarily lost.
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Profits, paycheques and the financialization of Canada’s grocery chains
Canada’s growing food insecurity crisis requires solutions that go beyond asking grocery store CEOs to bring down prices. Policies from windfall profits taxes, to price controls, to city-owned grocery stores would do much more to help with food insecurity, while backing labour’s struggle for wages and working conditions.
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How is the Canadian labour movement responding to Israel’s attacks on Gaza?
Since Israel began its brutal siege of the Gaza Strip, Canada’s labour unions have come out in vocal support of the Palestinians. Ranging from calls for an immediate ceasefire, to opposition to Canadian arms sales to Israel, and statements opposing violence “on both sides,” unions have increasingly lined up to call out Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza and the West Bank.
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What can the new Manitoba NDP government do?
It has been decades since NDP governments anywhere in Canada have undertaken such a bold approach to governing, and this particular NDP government faces fiscal constraints. Nevertheless, this is the kind of reform program that the incoming Manitoba NDP government should commit to doing. Implementing such an agenda will take vision, determination and courage.