This week @ rabble.ca: An NDP without Libby Davies

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rabble.ca - News for the rest of us

12 Dec 2014

Hi rabble readers,

Today, long-time lefty NDP MP Libby Davies announced that she will not be seeking re-election. What will this mean for the party? Read Fred Wilson's thoughts on an NDP without Libby Davies.

It was an eventful year in federal politics, from a Middle East trip to temporary foreign workers. In part one of a Hill Dispatches overview, Karl Nerenberg looks back at the highs and lows in Canadian politics, from January to June 2014. Looking for more reporting from the Hill? Support our Parliamentary work to keep the Hills Dispatches coming!

Harperism has been sweeping Canada! How did we get here, and more importantly, will we ever get out? Read contributing editor Amira Elghawaby's review of Donald Gutstein's book, Harperism: How Stephen Harper and his think tank colleagues have transformed Canada, for some possible answers.

Shopping for that special feminist someone in your life? We've got you covered, with the feminist killjoy holiday gift guide, curated by Anne Theriault! Get your holiday gift-giving inspiration right here.

Our featured Indie Inside artist is Kimmortal, whose first album "Sincerity" is a courageous community-based piece delving into facets of life often untouched by dominant culture. For a chance to win a free download of the album, retweet @rabble.ca with hashtag #indieinside or answer the following question: at what point in the video do you see a lock? Email answers to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This week's top news

Parliamentary roundup for the week of Dec. 8-13
This week's major headlines from House of Commons debates. Notable entries include the addition of public service jobs, anxieties over the growth of CSIS, and Election Act amendments.
By Francella Fiallos

Tensions run high as Nova Scotia's Bill 1 arbitration hearings come to a close
The fate of Nova Scotia health-care unions hang in the balance until the Jan. 1 decision on Bill 1.
By Ella Bedard

Without Libby Davies, what course will the NDP chart?
Libby Davies will not run again in 2015. This puts one of the NDP's most secure seats in play, and leaves a gaping hole on the portside of the party.
By Fred Wilson

Latin Americans pay the price for corporate climate destruction
Why aren't corporations being held accountable for the climate damage they cause in developing countries -- damage that those countries are held accountable for?
By Nick Fillmore

New research helps advocate for a national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Advocates for an inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls can now use a compendium of reports and recommendations. Will this finally spark action from the government?
By Megan Pearce, Pippa Feinstein

Parliament's new harassment prevention policy announced today
Speaker of the House Andrew Scheer has approved the implementation of a new harassment prevention policy, which will apply to MPs and their staffers.
By Francella Fiallos

What Canadians are learning from Ferguson
Do Black communities have similar experiences of racism in Canada? Answer: Yes.
By Ashley Splawinski

Whose contempt? Burnaby Mountain, Kinder Morgan and the law
It felt like a victory, and it was, but a week later the wages of victory are hard to grasp. A lawyer looks back on her work with the protesters of Burnaby Mountain.
By Irina Ceric

CLC program aims to build social justice and activist leadership
The Canadian Labour Congress Young Workers Department and Educational Department are delivering training to advance social justice activism and activist leadership training.
By Celyn Dufay

This week's top blogs

In defence of the 'F' word: Why we need feminism now more than ever
Sexism still abounds. Both in the ways it always has and in completely new ways. This is the first post in a series about how sexism impacts girls today and how feminism can help.
By Kaity Cooper

The Canadian torture state
Horrified by the revelations south of the border? Time for us to take a look in the mirror.
By J. Baglow

Ontario universities take first steps in combatting sexual assault
Ontario universities are developing policies to better support survivors.
By Jessica Prupas

Socks are not enough: Social justice lies upstream from charity
The Upstream Downstream parable guided Cathy Crowe in her work as a street nurse. She shares a simple formula for how to act on social justice issues such as homelessness that goes beyond charity.
By Cathy Crowe

Changing the course of the Canadian Federation of Students
By emphasizing campaigns and organizing, the time is now to renew the CFS.
By Nora Loreto

The reassembly of First Nations
Daniel Wilson examines the challenges facing the next National Chief of the AFN and the broader forces at play driving toward a reconstruction of the original Indigenous Nations.
By Daniel Wilson

It was lonely at the B.C. Fed
Rod Mickleburgh recounts what it was like to be the only labour beat reporter at the B.C. Federation of Labour convention.
By Rod Mickleburgh

This week's top columns

Hiding torture from us
Despite ongoing strategies, tactics and hiding games, the ugly truth surrounding the War on Terror is slowly emerging from the darkness into the light of day.
By Monia Mazigh

COP 20: You can't spell 'climate' without L-I-M-A
The COP 20 climate summit in Peru is the last high-level meeting before the December 2015 climate summit in Paris. If the devil is in the details, it's in Lima that the details are being worked out.
By Amy Goodman

Trickle-down economics? It's a scam, confirms OECD
A surprisingly strong report just released by the prestigious OECD may cause the public to regard neoliberal snakeoil salesmen peddling a trickle-down scam more skeptically in the future.
By Linda McQuaig

What happens when oil prices go down instead of up
Because of low oil prices and weakened commodity prices generally, resource exploitation, the motor of economic growth for the Conservatives, is slowing down. Can the Harper government recover?
By Duncan Cameron

Five things we can do with cheap oil
It's likely that oil supply will remain high and prices will remain low for the immediate future. What can we do with cheap oil? Here are five suggestions.
By Ole Hendrickson

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This week's top podcasts

The Pom Bombs: Radical Sass Cheer Troupe
Dressed in turquoise, silver and lots of glitter, the Pom Bombs take their political chants out into the streets to raise energy, start dialogue and have fun.
By Redeye Collective

The Red Hand Coalition and the fight against austerity in Quebec
Joël Pedneault talks about the Red Hand Coalition, one of the main anti-austerity formations in Quebec, and the rising tide of struggle heading into the spring.
By Scott Neigh

Ellen Gabriel speaks at the Peoples' Social Forum
Ellen Gabriel discusses Canada's colonial history and the ways in which apathetic governments and cynical corporations perpetuate that legacy of Aboriginal oppression.
By Moira Donovan, Victoria Fenner

GroundWire | December 8, 2014: Commemorating the École Polytechnique Massacre
This is a special edition to commemorate the École Polytechnique Massacre that occurred in Montréal on December 6, 1989, and more broadly, the ongoing violence against women.
By GroundWire

This week's top r12.

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