This week @ rabble.ca: Its counterintuitive, but tax the rich, not the poor

Details: Published on Monday, 08 June 2015 01:00; Written by editor

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05 Jun 2015

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Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, released his final report this week. As people across the country came together to honour residential school survivors, they were accompanied by calls for action. In a powerful article, Christina Gray reflects on her time at the TRC, and says it's time for us to take up reconciliation. You can find all of our coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's closing events, and the next steps forward, here.

In a dramatic turn today, Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu resigned from the Conservative caucus after learning that he is the subject of an RCMP investigation into his expenses. With one of the key supporters of Bill C-51 no longer a member of the government-side caucus, it could present a problem for the bill. Get all the latest on this news from our Parliamentary reporter, Karl Nerenberg.

Libby Davies, long-time MP for Vancouver East, won six elections in a row, but will not run next time. On Tuesday she chose a unique way to say goodbye to the House and her constituents in Vancouver. Read about this symbolic moment in Karl Nerenberg's report right here.

The Internet enables us to transcend our physical restrictions and travel the world. But now lobbyists for old media conglomerates have a plan to restrict where we travel online, by censoring links across the Internet. Learn more about the new link censorship schemes -- and what you can do to stop them -- in our latest Digital Freedom Update column.

You snooze, you lose the news. Come to Victoria's first annual Media Democracy Day on June 6 for a full day of discussion to probe how media choices affect democratic interests. Speakers include Andrew MacLeod of The Tyee, Director Mady Leith, Briony Penn of Focus Magazine, and rabble's own blogs coordinator Michael Stewart. More info here.

This week's top news

Canadians are stopping cuts to Canada Post now to stop privatization later
As Canada Post continues to report profits, many question why changes to services, mainly removing door-to-door delivery and increasing stamp prices, are still in place.
By Mattha Busby

This week in labour: Unions gear up for a summer struggle
With several strikes ongoing and the federal election on its way, this is shaping up to be a riotous summer.
By Ella Bedard

Time for reconcili(action)
The week prior to the closing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I thought to myself: "This is the last one, there's not going to be another one of these again."
By Christina Gray

Unions resist as federal government seeks changes to employee sick leave provisions
Sick days should be collectively bargained for, not legislated. Federal public sector unions say that the budget implementation bill violates their Charter rights.
By Ella Bedard

Canadian doctors have a plan to save Gazan lives: Solar power
Power outages kill Gazan hospital patients. Canadian doctors have a plan to help: solar.
By Paul Weinberg

In Memoriam: The transformations of Abraham Rotstein
Rotstein may have ultimately lost more political battles than he would have liked, but what a witty and determined exemplar this intellectual warrior was.
By Toby Zanin

I came to Canada for asylum, but I still feel lost here
The Harper government has been spending millions on employment services, while hypocritically devaluing and underfunding support systems for immigrants and migrant workers in Canada.
By Viji Murugaiyah

Have you Reddit? A Conservative MP's letter on C-51 'concerning'
A letter from Conservative MP Lois Brown explaining the reasons why she voted in support of Bill C-51 causes concern with "Jihadi terrorist" references.
By Megan Devlin

This week's top blogs

When it comes to Israel, Canada's love is blind
Canadians should be concerned about our politicians' hypocritically uncritical view of Israel.
By Scott Vrooman

Conservative 'warrior nation' mythology glorifies Boer War against evidence
In their bid to brand Canada a "warrior nation," Stephen Harper's Conservatives seek to glorify Canadian military history, regardless of its horrors.
By Yves Engler

Time to face the uncomfortable truth about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
Canadians often wonder how we have become a nation with 1,181 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. All we have to do is look to our history.
By Doreen Nicoll

Harper's record belies any pledge to 'reconciliation' with First Nations
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports on Tuesday June 2. There will be solemn promises of action. But Harper's high-handed approach to Indigenous needs should make Canadians skeptical.
By Karl Nerenberg

Photos: Thousands gather for Truth and Reconciliation Commission's closing events
Final presentation and events of the Truth and Reconciliation, in Ottawa, between May 3 and June 3, 2015.
By Ben Powless

Not having all the answers: Caring for our stories through the burden of representation
Understanding the constant crossing of boundaries Indigenous peoples face in everyday interactions.
By Samantha Nock

To the Conservatives who voted down a national plan to end violence against women
The Conservatives' refusal to pass a bill regarding violence against women is a symptom of a system that continues to fail survivors.
By Lucia Lorenzi

This week's top columns

A sea change is coming to the politics of corporate tax rates
The political calculus of corporate taxes has changed dramatically. Canadians' willingness to watch corporations receive favourable treatment, while delivering less economic effort, has evaporated.
By Jim Stanford

Google and the next billion users
What if the next billion Internet users don't own a computer? Those are the kind of questions that Google asked at its I/O conference keynote last week.
By Wayne MacPhail

Last chance for sustainable development?
The global effort to adopt sustainable development goals has received virtually no attention in Canada, but other countries are actively consulting stakeholders as part of the process.
By Ole Hendrickson

It's counterintuitive, but tax the rich, not the poor
In Canada, the small amount of income redistributed to the poor has long been a matter of public debate. Today, accepting that the rich should pay a fair share of taxes would constitute progress.
By Duncan Cameron

The future of the Internet is on the line
The Internet enables us to transcend our physical restrictions and travel the world. But now lobbyists for old media conglomerates have a plan to restrict where we travel online, by censoring links.
By Digital Freedom Update, Meghan Sali

Harper shows hints of desperation as election showdown approaches
Will the Harper Conservatives' high expertise in propaganda, manipulation and wedge politics be enough to frustrate the clear will of two-thirds of the electorate this time?
By Ralph Surette

MORE FROM...
Naomi Klein, Linda McQuaig, Rick Salutin, Duncan Cameron, Wayne MacPhail, Murray Dobbin and others! Read columns...

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This week's top podcasts

Another politics: Movement-building in the 21st century
Chris Dixon talks about his new book, which explores an emerging radical political current in North American social movements.
By Scott Neigh

rabble radio episode 165: Brave New Alberta
Reflections on what the May 5 Alberta NDP win means -- from the perspective of two Albertans.
By Victoria Fenner

Jeffrey Deaver on writing villains, gore and outlines
From the Ottawa International Writers Festival, bestselling crime author Jeffrey Deaver offers advice on writing fantastic villains, the Post-it system, the etiquette of gore and more.
By Catherine Brunelle, Kevin Johns

Poet and scholar Rita Wong on colonization and water
Wong spoke of walking the tar sands, learning our relations to oil and water, and how both missing and murdered women and missing and murdered watersheds are results of colonization.
By Frieda Werden

This week's top rabbletv

Watch: Josephine Grey tells us why we need to #StopC51
Human rights activist Josephine Grey spoke at the May 30 Stop C-51 rally in Toronto. Watch her full speech.
By Rebel Sage

This week's top books

Amber Dawn connects luxury and logic between body and soul
Amber Dawn's first book of poems 'Where the Words End and My Body Begins' is infused with literary technique, emotional logic and luxurious desire.
By Tiana Reid

In this issue

Upcoming events

VictoriaMedia Democracy Day in Victoria
A day of talks and panels designed to probe how our media choices affect our democratic interests, for better or for worse.
By Media Democracy Day - Victoria

VancouverSouth Granville Seniors Centre - Summer Bazaar
Shop for used and vintage goods while supporting a good cause!
By South Granville Seniors Centre

OttawaOttawa day of action to stop hospital cuts and health-care privatization
Take a stand against the privatization of our health care.
By Ontario Health Coalition

This week's top in cahoots

Public service unions unite to condemn Bill C-59
Bill C-59 gives the Conservative government the power to amend certain provisions in federal government employee contracts unilaterally without having to negotiate changes with their unions.
By Public Service Alliance of Canada

Union demands straight answers from Canada Post
Canada Post management re-confirmed with Hamilton local CUPW leadership today that there is no set date for implementation of their service cuts in Hamilton.
By Canadian Union of Postal Workers

National action plan to address violence against women voted down in Parliament
A motion to create a national plan to address the rising problem of violence against women was introduced in the House of Commons on May 28 by NDP member of Parliament Niki Ashton.
By National Union of Public and General Employees

TFSA analysis in Budget 2015 does a number on Canadians
The federal budget's claims regarding who would benefit from doubling the Tax Free Savings Account annual contribution ceiling exclude key contextual data thereby leading to erroneous conclusions.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Active babble topics

Jacques Parizeau, former Quebec premier, dead at 84
By Debater

A new oil refinery for Alberta?
By NorthReport

Auditor-General's report on Senate
By jerrym

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This week's top tool

Talking about residential schools
The 100 years of loss app and message board.

Poll

Do you think Canada will be in a recession by election time?

Canada's first-quarter GDP report just came back, and it is "atrocious," says Stephen Poloz.

The total real GDP shrank at an annualized rate of 0.6 per cent, and if the second-quarter number is also negative, then Canada will be in a recession... just in time for the election.

Do you think Canada will be in a recession by election time?

Choices Yes. Those numbers look terrible and the austerity agenda will make things worse. No way to tell. Those numbers are just predictions. We'll just have to wait and see. No. I think we have areas of growth, like consumer consumption and oil production, that will bounce back. Oof. I don't know, but things are really looking terrible for Harper these days, eh? None of the above.