Locusts and Fires Raging fires in Australia and a plague of locusts in east Africa dominated global news at the start of 2020. These rapidly receded in consciousness as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted onto the world, already made dangerously vulnerable by capitalism. The climate devastation was mounting around the world. The world’s economy was […]
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Alexandra L is a member of Alternative Socialiste (ISA in Quebec). Nunavik, which comprises the northern third of Quebec, had 16 cases of COVID-19 by the end of April, of which 13 people have now recovered. Most of the cases, 14, were in the town of Puvirnituq. The northern communities have been concerned since the […]
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Canadian society is beginning to thaw from the COVID-19 induced deep freeze. Questions surrounding the reopening of businesses, schools, communities, and cities have shifted from when we will be able to do so, to how we are going to do it. Any conversation about completely “getting back to normal” depends on developing a vaccine – […]
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Relatively speaking, I have it pretty easy during this pandemic. I am working from home on my laptop, still getting paid, still able to pay rent. Self isolation has thus far been pretty easy, as I rarely need to leave the house. Of course, mental health demands that I do go outside from time to […]
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The path to remote teaching starts with cautious curiosity, goes through enraging frustration and ends with a tired, tenacious and uninspired slog. The Cautious Curiosity COVID-19 has shutdown physical K-12 classrooms across Canada. In BC spring break ended on March 30, not with a return to school but with teachers logging onto their computers to […]
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One of the most blatant examples of capitalism’s relentless pursuit of profits at all costs is being played out in High River, Alberta. Cargill’s meatpacking plant in High River has had the largest single-site outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada. With links to more than 1,200 COVID-19 cases as of April 29, 821 workers have tested […]
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Two months into COVID-19, Manitoba has gotten off relatively unscathed. By April 28, the province has had just 272 cases and 6 deaths, numbers more in range of the smaller Maritime provinces. However, Conservative Premier Brian Pallister isn’t looking to sit idly by while a perfectly good crisis goes to waste. Pallister has proposed wide-ranging […]
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Foodora Food delivery company that worked with 3,000 restaurants in 10 cities across Canada has announced the closure of its operations, effective mid-May. Foodora said it was unable to keep operating “without having to continually absorb losses.” It further said that it has not been able to reach a level of profitability in Canada that’s […]
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The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing all the more clearly the fundamental failings of the capitalist economic system that we live under. Even before the pandemic, capitalist states have allowed for growing inequality, mass poverty, environmental destruction, and oppression of poor and working-class people both at home and even more so in places subject to colonialism […]
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Alberta is, once again, being subjected to neoliberal policies that threaten our livelihoods, our economy and the future of our province. Led by the most recent iteration of conservative coalitions, the United Conservative Party (UCP) is a blend of the misnamed Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, and the short-lived right-wing populist Wild Rose Party. In […]
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