There was that old Victorian, moralistic saying of drink being the curse of the working classes. Oscar Wilde wittily turned it around to read that work is the curse of the drinking classes. Can we consider work as a curse? A recent US survey found that 36 percent loved their job and was meaningful, nearly […]
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Update, November 25: Twelve days ago Kenney finally recognized the threat of COVID, and took some limited steps. However, it was too little and today he was forced to take more thorough actions. Even still his actions are too little and too late. Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary emergency room physician, stated “Now that our […]
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The Ford government in Ontario, using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse, has launched an attack on the principle of union seniority as it pertains to the hiring of new teachers. The seniority principle, often simplified to “last in, first out” has been incorporated into the language of union collective agreements going back to the […]
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Among the many failings of our economic and political realities revealed by COVID-19, the most visible one is the fact that the pandemic is accentuating all the pre-existing inequalities. In fact, it has a much more devastating impact on oppressed sections of society who are already in fragile financial positions and living off precarious jobs. […]
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On Friday, October 2, a BC Supreme Court judge killed hopes of saving Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). Usually courts rule in favour of the owners of property against other claims – such as granting an injunction to Coastal GasLink that led to the RCMP’s invasion of Wet’suwet’en lands. But in the MEC case the owners, the […]
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After a pause due to COVID restrictions, Socialist Alternative has produced a new 20-page bumper issue. For Socialist Reconstruction Canada “Reopens” to Uncertain Future For Climate and Jobs The Pandemic for Women’s Oppression The Dire State of Canadian Youth Police: A Tool of the Capitalist State Against Indigenous Peoples Capitalism Made COVID Disaster Kenny’s Attack […]
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Tim Heffernan and Martin LeBrun are Ontario and BC educators. They say that school days are the best days of our lives. This may be debatable at the best of times. But as the topic of this year’s return to school dominates media and family discussions, one thing is certain: everything is uncertain. With the […]
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Alberta has a long and proud history of community support, cooperatives and working-class struggle, yet in taking a page straight from the political playbooks of the US right wing, the United Conservative Party (UCP) continues to dismember, subdivide and undersell our province’s wealth and security, bankrupting current and future generations. Jason Kenney recently announced a […]
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Workers across the province are facing an uncertain future. Many of us were temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and under the current Employment Standards Act those layoffs will become permanent and accrued benefits lost unless we are among those “lucky” enough to be called back before 6 months has elapsed. Although some […]
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World Depression Canada and the world are in the worst economic depression in at least 90 years. At the start of 2020, the world was on the edge of a deep recession – COVID-19 plunged the economy over a precipice. Canada is facing years of high unemployment and extremely low growth. Weak domestic and foreign […]
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