The conservative Saskatchewan Party is heading to its fifth election victory, even after 17 years of misrule. The Sask Party led by Brad Wall, “the demon barber of the prairies,” defeated the NDP in 2007. Over the years the government has carried out a fairly standard conservative austerity agenda of low corporate taxes, resistance to […]
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Socialist Alternative #30 This is a bumper 20-page issue! Contents include: Subscribe to Socialist Alternative! You can now subscribe to Socialist Alternative’s magazine for a modest $2 a month or $24 a year and receive each printed issue delivered to your mailbox. With an additional donation, you can become a sustainer of our magazine and […]
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“I was manhandled by RCMP officers, my ceremonial dress, which has never been defiled since my grandfather’s time, will never be the same again.” These words by Chief Na’Moks, Hereditary Chief of Wet’suwet’en, express the outrage at the RCMP’s actions at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of RBC, held on April 5 in Saskatoon. Indigenous […]
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Sixty years ago, North America’s first socialist government, in the heart of the Canadian prairies, Saskatchewan, enacted one of the demands outlined in its manifesto: a free, public health care system. This new program was enacted on July 1, 1962. However, this was not without a struggle, as on the first day of its enactment, […]
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Defeat this Victorian Lunch Tax! The Saskatchewan Party’s latest attack is to levy a charge of $100 per elementary school child to supervise them during lunch time. Yes, you read that correctly; charge not for the food but to supervise children. And what happens if the parent can’t afford it? Dustin Duncan, the Sask Party’s […]
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Now that the convoy has been cleared from Ottawa’s streets, it is worth remembering when desperate workers tried to take their protest to the federal government in Ottawa in 1935. The “On to Ottawa Trek” saw unemployed men housed in military relief camps travel by rail from Vancouver, stopping at towns along the way gaining […]
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On Friday, November 5, there was a demonstration at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon campus, predominantly involving Indigenous students. The second demonstration within a month was this time centred on the scandal involving Dr Carrie Bourassa who had been feigning Métis heritage while a professor in the department of community health and epidemiology at the […]
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On October 8, after once again University of Saskatchewan campus security failed to protect a female student from being sexually assaulted, students held a rally in Nobel Plaza holding signs such as “Silence is Violence,” “Stop Victim Blaming,” and “Consent is a Basic Human Right.” Despite the solidarity shown among Caucasian, Indigenous and Transgender students, […]
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On June 22 2020, after a gruelling 6 month lockout, members of Unifor Local 594 who operate the Co-operative Refinery Complex in Regina reached a settlement with their employer, Consumer Co-op Refineries Limited (CCRL). The lockout was an often bitter and at times hostile dispute involving 730 workers. The settlement that was approved by 89% […]
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Whether we like it or not, whether it’s safe or not, and whether we’re comfortable with it or not, Canada is beginning to reopen. After roughly two months of comprehensive social and economic shutdown, the provinces are loosening restrictions despite widely varying COVID-19 circumstances. Québec is reopening, including sending children back to school on May […]
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