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Jailing anti-war activists just one way government supports Israel
I was recently arrested for social media posts critical of Israel and spent five days in jail to win the right to respond to Dahlia Kurtz, the Zionist influencer who pursued harassment charges against me. My experience fits in with a long history of Canadian police and intelligence services targeting critics of Israel—and includes close ties to their Israeli counterparts.
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Canada’s job market is worse than you think
A weak labour market is always bad for workers. But it is an even bigger problem as we deal with Trump’s attacks on Canada’s economy. Canada’s current unemployment rate is 6.6 percent, down from a recent high of 6.9 percent. However, it is well above the 4.8 percent achieved in 2022, or even the 5.5 percent reached in 2019.
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The end of carbon pricing isn’t a climate win
Carbon pricing is far from an ideal policy, but the shift away from directly challenging any part of Canada’s emissions-intensive mode of living may be disastrous for achieving our already weak international climate commitments. The government’s focus on “big polluters” conveniently ignores the urgent task of widespread decarbonization for crude political gain.
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Trudeau’s parting gift to Ukraine is a mistake
The confiscation of Russian funds in not only legally dubious, it is risky for Canada. The freezing of Russian assets at the start of the war demonstrated just how quickly finances could be weaponized. If countries can be coerced by having assets they have invested in other countries frozen, then, perhaps, they shouldn’t invest their assets in those countries.
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Canada has no excuse left: it’s time for a wealth tax
Canada has a choice to make. We can continue to let the wealthiest among us hoard resources while ordinary Canadians struggle with rising costs, or we can take bold action to build a fairer, more just society. It’s time for Canada to ditch the excuses and implement a wealth tax and other progressive tax measures. The future of our economy, and our democracy, depends on it.
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Free Yves Engler
Those who stand up for just social and economic causes have long faced repression by the Canadian state. In this moment, the struggle for Palestinian liberation is the most unifying cause for people who want to build a better world. For this reason, it is no surprise that anti-genocide activists like Yves Engler are being targeted.
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F*ck Big Book
The usual list of the Left’s corporate enemies, just like the list that was on my t-shirt, never includes multinational book publishing corporations. Lefties generally give Big Book a free pass. As politically savvy consumers grapple with overlapping calls for boycotts and buycotts, it seems like a good time to talk about this blind spot.
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Sociologist against the grain: a tribute to Michael Burawoy (1947-2025)
At Berkeley, while in his mid-40s, Michael Burawoy would deliver his talks wearing the same red shirt. He would walk briskly across the podium full of passion for what he was about to discuss. On his office door, he proudly displayed the logo that marked the relaunching of the South African Communist Party in 1990, a testament to his unwavering commitment to social change.
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On life as a single mom working in the construction industry
In that time of morning that seems like the dead of night, I quietly get dressed. My six-year-old stirs and I ask her to climb onto my back like a tiny monkey. I leave my apartment unit and carry her downstairs to another unit where my neighbour is waiting. It’s so early and I’m so tired and my day has just begun. Who was this system designed for, and who is it working for?
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Bob Rae’s NDP and the fight to pass an anti-scab law
The following is an excerpt from The Left in Power: Bob Rae’s NDP and the Working Class by Concordia University professor Steven High. Based on extensive archival research and interviews, the book revisits the heartbreaking years of Bob Rae’s Ontario NDP government to uncover what we can learn from one social democratic party’s mistakes about how to govern from the left.