Inflation is soaring and devastating workers’ living standards. Every trip to the food store brings a new shock. Canada’s official inflation rate was an 8.1 percent increase in June over May, the painfully worst increase in 40 years. To add to the pain, the Bank of Canada raised its prime interest rate from 1.5 percent […]
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One unelected Supreme Court judge has overturned the democratic decision of the City of Vancouver. The ruling backs the greed of landlords over the need of people. In November 2021, Vancouver council agreed, with only one vote against, to implement rent control on Single Room Accommodation (SRA). These small units, about 100 square feet and […]
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Workers Win Pay Raise and Cost of Living Agreement After 136 days, the strike of transit workers in the Whistler area ended on June 14. The lack of any public transit in the area caused real hardship, especially for low-paid workers, as well as to the 80 striking workers. The workers took strike action on […]
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Gas prices have soared around the world, adding to inflation that is hitting workers’ living standards. Vancouver, like its overinflated housing market, has Canada’s highest gas prices. The price of gas in Vancouver rose from $1.60 a litre in December 2021 to $2 a litre in March and over $2.30 in May. In most of […]
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Liberals Plan to Boost Climate Change The federal Liberals’ decision to give the go-ahead to a major new oil field off the coast of Newfoundland shows their climate change policies are a dangerous fraud. The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states the world faces a “now or never” time […]
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The “freedom” convoy has faded into the background. The war in Ukraine, inflation, and warmer weather are top of mind. But the convoy provoked a decisive change in Canadian society and politics that will not go away. The right wing is pumped as they successfully spurred a section of society to the right. Tory MPs […]
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After six years of BC’s public health emergency due to poison drugs things are much worse. The health emergency was declared following 474 deaths in 2015, yet in 2021 there were at least 2,232 drug fatalities. In contrast, there were 1,522 COVID deaths for all of 2021. After six years deaths are nearly five times […]
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It would be a grave mistake for the NDP and union leaders to assume that everything is back to normal now that the convoy has ended. It isn’t. The convoy provoked a decisive change in Canadian politics, with the alt-right pumped after the successful encampment and US border blockades. But more importantly, these actions have […]
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Lead is a well-known poison. Its harmful effects have been known for 2,000 years. Dioscorides wrote that “Lead makes the mind give way.” Yet 100 years ago, car manufacturers and oil companies started a mass lead poisoning. Researchers at General Motors found that by adding a lead compound, tetraethyl lead (TEL), several problems with internal […]
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On Friday November 12, the last day of COP26, a peaceful rally of several hundred for climate justice was disrupted by over-the-top action of the Vancouver Police Department. An Indigenous man, as part of a ceremony, placed red handprints, representing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, on the building that houses Canada’s Department of […]
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