This week @ rabble.ca: Is it time to ditch strategic voting?
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- Published on Friday, 22 May 2015 13:15
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22 May 2015
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The new political and public opinion alignment significantly weakens the argument for holding one's nose and voting Liberal just to get rid of Harper. Parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg explains why it's time to ditch talk of strategic voting once and for all. Get his take here.
It has been nearly a decade since the Conservative party came to power. Since then, the government has embarked on controversial reforms with devastating effects on refugees. Read Suha Diab's two-part series on the refugee system which shows how, since 2006, the Harper government has transformed Canada from a country with a humanitarian tradition, into one that fears and distrusts refugees.
Davenport MP Andrew Cash is calling for a national strategy for urban workers, to reflect the changing nature of work in this country. This week, MPs had their first opportunity to debate the issue of precarious and freelance labour in Parliament. Learn more in Ella Bedard's special report.
Join us on May 23 at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue for a free afternoon of inspiring speakers and performances at our next #FierceVoices event, to inspire, amplify and celebrate young women's voices through media. Mingle with like-minded young women and allies at the media fair, and find ways to get your #FierceVoice heard!
This week's top news
March for jobs, justice and the climate launched in Toronto
Save the date: July 5. Coinciding with the Climate Summit for the Americas, that's the day the campaign for climate, jobs and justice is making a splash in Toronto. rabble.ca attended the launch.
By Megan Devlin
This week in labour: The precarious workers edition
All the news that's fit to post on one of the fastest growing workforces in Canada.
By Ella Bedard
When saving lives does not count and government promises are not fulfilled
The Harper government has transformed Canada from a country with a humanitarian tradition of welcoming outsiders and providing sanctuary into one that fears and distrusts refugees.
By Suha Diab
Closure of Somali remittance firms hurts the poor
Closing Somali remittance firms in Kenya in response to Al-Shabaab cuts off a pro-poor financial system and only hurts the poor.
By Hodan Mohamed
How can a Canadian mining company sue El Salvador for $301 million?
What you don't know about free trade: the uses and abuses of investor-state arbitration. Or, how a Canadian company is suing El Salvador for $301 million.
By Ella Bedard
Who's living the GoodLife? Organizing a fitness empire.
What we can learn about precarious organizing from a Toronto fitness instructors' union drive.
By Ella Bedard
Syriza is facing down resistance
A clash between the Greek government and the European establishment is drawing nearer. How will Syriza resist?
By Tom Voloumanos
This week's top blogs
Who's your special interest now? Federal parties ignore women voters at their peril
Women aren't a special interest. They are half the population. Women voters are paying attention to this election -- it's time for political parties to pay attention to them.
By Kate McInturff
Liberals vs. liberties: Why Trudeau supports Bill C-51
Trudeau's support for Harper's Bill C-51 is a continuation of Liberal tradition, revealing the coalition between the twin parties of corporate Canada.
By Jesse McLaren
Native women's voices silenced by federal government
Let's bring Native women with the lived experience of domestic violence, family violence, gendered abuse, addiction and mental health issues to the table before we cancel beneficial programs.
By Doreen Nicoll
Unite for our rights! Take action to stop Bill C-51
It may seem like the fight to stop Bill C-51 has run its course since it recently passed in the House of Commons, but it's not a done deal yet.
By Dylan Penner
Dissenting judge in B.C. teachers case gives hope for Supreme Court appeal
In a 38-page dissenting opinion in the recent 4-1 B.C. Court of Appeal ruling which ruled in the government's favour, Justice Ian Donald provided a ringing defence of free collective bargaining.
By Rod Mickleburgh
Rachel Notley can lead Alberta out of the carbon trap
Alberta was stuck in a 'staple trap': an economic monoculture where a single, profitable resource dominates the economy at the expense of diversification. The NDP can finally bust out of it.
By Mel Watkins
Omar Khadr, feminist dialogue and troll-slaying: Your weekly dose of rabble.ca blogs
This week's blogs roundup includes posts on Omar Khadr, Israel Apartheid Week, child-care space, Shauna Hunt, Metro Vancouver's Transit Referendum, rape culture and consent, and Greg deGrrot-Maggetti.
By Lenée Son
This week's top columns
Kathleen Wynne sells one public asset to create another
When she ran, Wynne seemed committed to new tolls or taxes -- to expand public transit. Then she backtracked, and decided to sell off parts of Hydro One instead.
By Rick Salutin
A victory for nuclear disarmament: Plowshares activists released from prison
For the first time, convictions for sabotage for Plowshares activists in the U.S. have been reversed, a historic moment for nuclear disarmament.
By Amy Goodman
Who funded Harper's rise to power? And other questions about election financing.
With a federal election looming, two pressing questions involving the role of money in Canadian politics are attracting surprisingly little media attention.
By Linda McQuaig
Why the World Wide Web is like an ice shelf
These days the World Wide Web looks a lot like Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf -- a large, open mass disintegrating at the edges because of human interference.
By Wayne MacPhail
The noble dream of Quebec independence has an unlikely new champion
The newly elected leader of the Parti Québecois, 53-year-old Pierre Karl Péladeau is on a mission: make Quebec an independent country.
By Duncan Cameron
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This week's top podcasts
Adrienne Rich remembered
"When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her." A documentary portrays Adrienne Rich's history, activism and poetry.
By Frieda Werden
Bill C-51 extends attack on Muslims to all Canadians
Itrath Syed says many of the provisions of Bill C-51 have already been visited upon Canada's Muslim communities. She spoke at Go Vote For the Change You Want in Vancouver last month.
By Redeye Collective
Opposing militarism outside Canada's largest arms fair
Ria Heynen, Jo Wood and Matthew Behrens talk about organizing against CANSEC, Canada's largest weapons fair.
By Scott Neigh
Jigme Thinley on Gross National Happiness, selfishness and social change
Jigme Thinley on "enlightened selfishness," creating living conditions that matter, how to control our greed and about universal aspirations and the ultimate good.
By Face2Face
Maude Barlow: Fall 2015 will be a watershed election
Maude Barlow believes Stephen Harper will be gone after the next election, as long as people mobilize to vote him out. She tells a Vancouver audience why the Conservatives have to go.
By Redeye Collective
This week's top books
Cabalcor: The rise and fall of a mythical tar sands boom town
Can spoken word change the world? Sun Belt are hoping so as their new genre-defying book 'Cabalcor' takes a deep look at the ramifications of the tar sands.
By Nathaniel G. Moore
In this issue
Upcoming events
OrangevilleIndigenous Women Rising Symposium
Indigenous Women Rising is a special fundraising event where Indigenous women will share their stories, songs and dancing.
By Dufferin County Cultural Resource Circle, CFUW Orangeville and District and DAREarts First Roots
VancouverMarch Against Monsanto Vancouver
Vancouver is joining cities across the world in protesting against agricultural company, Monsanto.
By March Against Monsanto Vancouver
HamiltonUp For Debate at the Hamilton Public Library
Join us on May 27 for Up For Debate, an event that will create dialogue about important issues leading up to the 2015 federal election.
By YWCA Hamilton
This week's top in cahoots
Health and scientific community bands together to make nutrition a priority
More than four out of five Canadians support health warnings on unhealthy foods, legislated sodium reduction and subsidies on fresh fruits and vegetables.
By Food Secure Canada
Health-care advocates expect federal leadership
Health-care advocates are making it clear to MPs that health care will be a vote-deciding issue in the upcoming federal election.
By Canadian Health Coalition
Where does Newfoundland and Labrador stand now on CETA?
In January, the provincial government announced that it was "suspending all participation in, and commitment to be bound by the outcomes of any trade agreement currently under negotiation by Canada."
By Council of Canadians
Bombardier: We need mass transit not mass layoffs
Due to reduced demand of business jets, Bombardier is laying off 1,750 workers -- including 1,000 in Montreal and nearly 500 in Toronto -- at a time when we need thousands of climate jobs.
By Socialist Worker
Active babble topics
Northern Québec is hungry
By lagatta
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