Canada’s public health care system is under existential threat. Recent moves by right-wing premiers from Alberta to Manitoba to Ontario and Québec signal the impending privatization of an array of health care services. In this focus, we look at the creeping danger of outsourcing, and why the preservation of our universal system must be a key priority for the left.

In advance of the 2022 Ontario general election, Canadian Dimension asked some of our regular contributors—as well as first-time writers—to weigh in on what’s at stake in the vote. Despite years of scandal and failure under the premiership of Doug Ford, the Conservative leader strolled to victory again. How could this have happened? What got us to this point?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 plunged Europe into its most serious crisis since the end of the Cold War. But the conflict has also exposed longer-standing tensions within the broader regional security order, threatening war between nuclear powers. What will this mean for Ukraine and Russia, and their people whose history is perilously intertwined?

COP26 kicked off in Glasgow, where negotiators were faced with the urgent need to get the world to end its addiction to fossil fuels and secure a livable future. The event marked a critical juncture in the struggle to avoid climate catastrophe, but how did the world respond? In this collection, we gathered perspectives from across the left on what this moment means for the climate and our species.

On August 16, Justin Trudeau called on the governor general to dissolve parliament, setting the stage for a national election. It will be the shortest campaign allowed by federal law, yet it will also be held under the shadow of a nearly two-year long pandemic that has profoundly reshaped our lives, and the global economy. What will it mean for Canada and the Canadian left?

We asked NDPers, current and former, to weigh in on the state of social democracy in Canada, and on Avi Lewis’s recent decision to pursue the party’s nomination in West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country. This is the first component of our coverage in advance of the upcoming federal election in fall 2021.

Violence carried out by the far-right is now the most frequent and deadly form of extremism threatening Western nations, and it is growing in stride with the increasingly emboldened anti-lockdown community. In this collection, we look at the roots of white supremacism and far-right groups in Canada, and how the left can fight back against this revanchist movement.

Canadian Dimension is heartbroken at the loss of Leo Panitch, Professor Emeritus of Politics at York University and editor of the Socialist Register. An early pillar of our publication, Leo was a leading thinker of the global left and a comrade to the many. In this collection, we pay tribute to Leo and his indispensable contributions to socialist thought in Canada and around the world.

The deterioration in relations between China and the United States is gathering steam, creating new uncertainties and dangers. Will Joe Biden ratchet up tensions with the world’s emerging economic superpower? How will Canada respond? In this collection, we analyze why increased rivalry with China is beginning to resemble a new Cold War.

The 2020 US election is over, and after a tight race, Joe Biden has won. But what was at stake in this vote? What could it mean for Canada and the Canadian left? The election is about much more than Donald Trump, and it provides some food for thought for socialists. In this collection, we take stock of this historic event, and what it could mean for America and the world.