The Canadian government is giving Volkswagen Canada (VW) $13 billion to build a massive new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in St. Thomas, Ontario. This is being hailed as a “game changer” for Canada’s auto sector as the ruling classes of various countries fight to secure investment in a broader and greener economy. Canada’s traditional […]
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On Wednesday, April 19, over 100,000 workers started their strike with pickets at least 250 workplaces. On Friday, April 7, 35,000 workers at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) voted in favour of strike action ahead of mediation talks set to take place later this month. On Thursday, April 13, they were joined by another 120,000 […]
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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arms spending around the world has soared. Germany and Japan have announced a doubling of spending on weapons of death. At the same time governments say there is not enough money to increase wages in line with inflation or to invest in the public health systems at risk of collapse. […]
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The Bank of Canada jacked up interest rates again to 4.5 percent. In less than a year the Bank has raised rates eight times from 0.25 percent, causing misery to millions with higher rent mortgages and debt charges. These actions make a recession, with higher unemployment, more likely. This article, written in late January, first […]
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Court Rules Wage Cap Law Illegal Two weeks ago Doug Ford suffered the first major defeat of his time in office when the strike movement of 55,000 CUPE education workers and the threat of an Ontario-wide general strike forced him to withdraw pre-emptive back-to-work legislation. That was the first black eye. The second one came […]
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The new movie from Danish director Ruben Östlund has the enigmatic title “Triangle of Sadness.” It derives from the suggestion made to Carl, in the role of a male model, that he gets Botox to rid himself of his “triangle of sadness” (the wrinkles that form in the area between one’s eyebrows) in order to […]
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“‘It’s going to bankrupt health care’: Spending on temp agency nurses up more than 550% since pre-pandemic at one Toronto hospital network,” ran the headline in the Toronto Star. “Ontario isn’t ruling out privatization in health care,” was a headline on CBC News. Temp Agency Nursing is Privatization Given the shortage of 15,000 nurses since […]
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On Friday, July 8, millions of Canadians woke up to find they couldn’t make phone calls, send texts or access the internet. Comments were going round social media, once the lines were reconnected, that it shouldn’t be such a bad thing if phone and social media were out for a day — maybe people would […]
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There’s the story of the guy who went to the gas station to pump up his car tires… they charged him 50 cents. He said, “it was only 20 cents last week.” The attendant replied, “that’s inflation for you.” Except inflation is no joke. When certain phrases get constantly used, they can lose their meaning. […]
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A joke currently doing the rounds: “Definition of a fossil fool — A politician who spends $9.1 billion on an emission reduction plan while spending twice as much to expand a tar sands pipeline.” No prize for identifying the fool in question. The foolishness is underlined by the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on […]
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