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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Canada’s deadliest mass shooting started after the gunman assaulted his partner. The shooting rampage on April 18 and 19 left 22 people dead. His partner was tied up and escaped into the woods. “This means that three of the deadliest mass killings in modern Canadian history – the 2018 Toronto van attack and the 1989 […]
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This article updates one from the same author from May 2019. The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, would have us believe that the deaths of 249 people (April 20) in residential care homes are just an unfortunate aspect of the COVID-19 crisis. In reality, it’s a case of a chronicle of deaths foretold. Step back […]
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Socialist Alternative interviewed Amanda Where do you work, and what is your job there? I work for a pharmacy, as a Community Mental Health Worker, in a medication monitoring program. My job involves going around to a list of patients in the community, who are certified under the BC Mental Health Act, to give them […]
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The COVID-19 crisis has shown a remarkable ability to lay bare any issues, inadequacies, and lacks in our provincial health care system. In order to better understand exactly how the pandemic is straining our health care system and revealing its flaws, I talked to Blake, a health care worker, about how his job has changed […]
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For most of my adult life, I have been living paycheque to paycheque working at minimum wage jobs. Most recently, I was employed at a boutique soap store (which continues to stay open as it falls under the designation of an “essential service”). A non-unionized workplace, roughly 85% of its employees have been laid off […]
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