This week @ rabble.ca: Lots of surprises in the Quebec election
- Details
- Published on Friday, 14 March 2014 13:40
- Written by editor
s17 r18.
14 Mar 2014
Hey rabble readers!
The Quebec election kicked off last week and it's full of surprises already, from statements of nationalism by the Liberals to the introduction of Parti Québéçois star candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau. We're following all the political twists and turnson the road to election day April 7. You can get the latest on the campaign on our elections page here.
In federal politics, this week Olivia Chow announced her Toronto mayoralty run and resignation from Parliament. Karl Nerenberg writes about the effect her departure will have on Parliament and Canada in his latest Hill Dispatches. And in the book lounge, Cathy Crowe delves into Chow's memoir My Journey, which inspires readers to believe in the power of community and a politics of hope.
Tomorrow, March... 15, is a big day for grassroots political action. Whether you're rallying with Canadian postal workers, supporting Bottled Water Free Day, standing up for the International Day Against Police Brutality, or all of the above, we've got all the tools to support your activist efforts! Check out our roundup of tools and resources from the Activist Toolkit.
Go independent! From March 21-23 The Dialog newspaper at George Brown College in Toronto is hosting the Be Alternative: student and independent media conference, focused on bringing together campus and community journalists working in alternative and independent media. rabble.ca's own editor-in-chief Meagan Perry and own labour beat reporter H.G. Watson will both be presenting!
This week's top news
B.C. teachers' math lesson: workers + labour rights = stability
Negotiations between B.C. and its teachers' union is one more example of how governments create instability by dismantling labour rights.
By H.G. Watson
Photos: Emergency Toronto #MMIW vigil and rail blockade
Yesterday in Toronto a rail blockade was held in solidarity with Tyendinaga and Shawn Brant and their demands for a full, meaningful public inquiry into Canada's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
By rabble staff
On using homophobic slurs: Yes, you're being oppressive
When are homophobic words not homophobic? Never, that is when. Regardless of political status, when homophobic words are hurled as insults, you're being homophobic.
By Peter Goffin
Mammograms save lives, despite what flawed research reports
Regular mammograms find cancers earlier and save lives. For many, this is conventional wisdom. Yet, despite being widely discredited, the Canadian National Breast Screening Study still haunts us.
By Paula Gordon
Line 9 will 'snake' across Ontario and Quebec waterways
Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline has been approved by the National Energy Board leading to outrage among environmental activists across Canada, protests in Ontario and calls for an environmental assessment.
By Meg Borthwick
Remembering people's journalist Ali Mustafa
Justin Podur remembers photojournalist Ali Mustafa as a person who always went there with a story and put himself with the people instead of above the people he was writing about.
By Justin Podur
Women's Day blog censored by Canadian Museum for Human Rights, says author
A blog post was approved and posted by the Museum for Human Rights on March 4, 2014. Then it was withdrawn, due to a line critical of federal Conservative government policies on women.
By Veronica Strong-boag
This week's top blogs
'Mother Canada' is the dystopian war monument we deserve
Stephen Harper has decided it's a good idea to build a 30-metre statue memorializing Canada's military history along the rugged coastline of Cape Breton. Perhaps it's nothing less than we deserve.
By Michael Stewart
Alberta partners with oilsands to develop kindergarten curriculum
The province of Alberta has recently released a development plan for public schools that enlists Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada in the creation of future Kindergarten to Grade 3 curriculum.
By Carol Linnitt
Students across Canada organize for Israeli Apartheid Week 2014
Student organizers focus on awareness, solidarity and action for IAW, now in its tenth year.
By Christina Turner
Lessons that can save Canada Post
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is a radical union that has learned how to organize for sustained success. Activists can use these lessons to save Canada Post!
By Steffanie Pinch
The Double Rainbow Dodgeball League: Creating inclusivity in team sports
Fun-loving Vancouver dodgeball fans and community builders alike, come out to play! If you haven't heard of the Double Rainbow Dodgeball league, read on.
By Tania Ehret
Fair Elections Act = voter suppression, says Ed Broadbent
For many months, the Conservative government has blatantly attacked Canadians' rights and the Fair Elections Act is just the latest. Ed Broadbent discusses its attack on democracy.
By Ed Broadbent
Ukraine on the brink
The current Ukrainian-Russian standoff is a shadow play of 19th-century imperialism conjoined to mystical, slavophile, pan-Slavic dreams. Here is a prescription for a resolution to the crisis.
By Christopher Majka
This week's top columns
From Rabaa to Maidan: Political hypocrisy travels far
The same political and security stakes played out in Egypt as in the Ukraine, but with very different responses from Western governments.
By Monia Mazigh
Democracy whipped: The roots of Canada's grain transportation crisis
Problems in getting wheat to market may not be a top-of-mind issue for Canadians living east of the Prairies, but could have a significant impact on the next federal election.
By Ole Hendrickson
How the mainstream steals our stuff
There is a sad history of media invented and grown by amateurs becoming the domain, at least in the public eye, of the mainstream.
By Wayne MacPhail
Top 5 Quebec election surprises so far
The 33-day campaign until Quebec election day on April 7 kicked off last week. Here are the top surprises so far.
By Duncan Cameron
How safe is your pension?
Many retirees have found out that the pension they earned over decades of contributions to plans turned out to be less secure than they had assumed.
By Pat Kerwin, Retiree Matters
What's really at stake in Ukraine
Murray Dobbin examines the high stakes behind the casual acceptance by the West of an illegal, coup-installed regime in Kiev populated by neo-Nazis and anti-Semites.
By Murray Dobbin
MORE FROM...
Naomi Klein, Linda McQuaig, Rick Salutin, Duncan Cameron, Wayne MacPhail, Murray Dobbin and others! Read columns...
JOIN rabble.ca.: Put your money where your mouse is!
This week's top podcasts
Loretta Ross on claiming our bodies through the human rights framework
Loretta Ross has a 25-year history in ending violence against women and promoting reproductive justice in the U.S. and internationally. Here, she connects women's health and human rights claims.
By Migrant Matters Radio
An unusual local and an unusual lockout?
Saira Chhibber talks about her local, CUPE 1281, and about a recently ended lockout of some of its members.
By Scott Neigh
Canadian music site launches distro for emerging artists
In 2011, Weird Canada won the CBC Radio 3 Searchlight competition for best music site. Weird Canada just launched WYRD Distro, a distribution service for new Canadian musicians.
By Redeye Collective
The misogyny factor in films about technological innovation
Ariana Barer speaks with Caity Goerke about her recent blog post published on the F Word site called, "What do Her and The Social Network have in common? A lot about him."
By The F Word
What is rape culture?
Talking about rape culture in our communities -- what it is, where we find it, and how to start changing the conversation.
By Megan Stacey
This week's top rabbletv
Poor People's History of East Downtown Toronto
This tour explores how Toronto's "skid row" came to be established. Now, infrastructures are being threatened by the city to make room for Toronto's more affluent residents.
By rabble staff
This week's top books
Olivia Chow's 'My Journey' is the antidote to political despair
Olivia Chow's memoir 'My Journey' brings hope to the currently jaded Canadian political climate. Chow's successes and hardships inspire readers to believe in the power of community.
By Cathy Crowe
In this issue
Upcoming events
MaynoothSeedy Saturday in Maynooth
A gathering of seed nuts, garden wall flowers, dirty farmers, their beneficiaries and admirers.
By Seedy Saturday in Maynooth
TorontoPublic talk and learning event: What water means to us
You are invited to bring your stories and your ideas to this public talk, networking and learning event. We aim to come together to expand and discover the role of water in all our lives.
By Sustainability Network
OttawaTalk: Guatemalan lawyer Rafael Maldonado on mining injustice and corporate accountability
We are pleased to host lawyer Rafael Maldonado from the Guatemalan Centre for Environmental, Social and Legal Action (CALAS).
By MiningWatch Canada, America’s Policy Group, Public Service Alliance of Canada Social Justice Fund, CNCA
This week's top in cahoots
Sign the petition to stop the killing and enforce the law
More than 1,000 workers each year are killed at work, but police and prosecutors are not utilizing the Westray amendments that hold corporations, their directors and executives criminally accountable.
By United Steelworkers
Canadian auto industry threatened by free trade deal with Korea
We cannot stand by a deal that secures a one-way flow of Korean auto imports into the Canadian market, undermining the jobs and industry on which so many Canadians depend.
By Unifor
No room for shaming in public health system
Nova Scotia's Health Minister Leo Glavine floated the idea that people should have to demonstrate healthy lifestyles before accessing our health-care system. Here's why such an idea will fail.
By Upstream
Talk must lead to action on farm safety
A legitimate agenda for addressing farm safety must include addressing the gaping legislative holes in the safety net for agriculture workers.
By United Food and Commercial Workers
Active babble topics
Parliamentary committee's report on violence against Indigenous women 'sanitized'
By epaulo13
CRTC survey on the future of TV in Canada
By jas
Are the Alberta PC's revolting??
By Hurtin Albertan
Get rabble daily
Support our work
Put your money where your mouse is and donate to rabble today.
This week's top tool
Support Postal Workers
Events, materials and other aspects of the "Save Canada Post" efforts.
Poll
How do you feel about Big Oil in children's classrooms?
The province of Alberta has recently released a development plan for public schools that enlists Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada in the creation of future Kindergarten to Grade 3 curriculum. Oil giant Cenovus will partner in developing curriculum for Grades 4 to 12.
How do you feel about Big Oil in children's classrooms?
Choices This is blatant agenda-pushing by the government. How are they getting away with this? Energy literacy sounds like a good idea, but not when it is taught by Big Oil. We should have someone else. This is just like the Energy IQ debacle. Only a portion of the story will be told! What are they going to teach, "Sharing: for every block I give you, I keep ten. (Just kidding, I don't give you any blocks.)?" That's it! I'm moving to Denmark! None of the above.Forward to a friend
Know someone who might be interested in the email? Why not r12.
rabble.ca • Suite 400, 215 Spadina Avenue • Toronto, ON M5T 2C7 • Canada
