This week @ rabble.ca: Fighting the Liberal free trade agenda

Details: Published on Thursday, 18 February 2016 17:30; Written by editor

04 Feb 2016

Hey rabble readers!

The rabble media project started nearly 15 years ago with a vision to transform the media landscape in Canada. rabble.ca's founders wanted to create national independent media coverage that is completely free to access, non-profit and relies on grassroots reporting of the individuals, groups and movements fighting for social change in Canada. We started by covering the anti-Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) protests in Quebec City in 2001 and haven't looked back.

You've probably heard that the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau just signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this week. This reckless act will cost the Canadian economy 50,000 jobs. But you may not have heard about the changes being made to the already signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The changes are fundamentally flawed and will undermine public services and will stop buy-local policies. If you did read about CETA this week, it was probably in The Globe and Mail, which published a ridiculous editorial asking: "Where do we sign?"

Corporate media is an integral part of Trudeau's free trade agenda. rabble.ca is actively fighting it. We need independent media now more than ever. Support our coverage with a monthly donation and receive your choice of either This Changes Everything, the new film by Avi Lewis, Indigenous Nationhood by Pam Palmater, or The Best of rabble 2015 Edition.

Workers struggling to make ends meet are battling to find a solution to low-wage woes. In part 1 of our new series on the minimum wage in Canada, labour reporter Teuila Fuatai examines what the minimum wage is and how it applies to different workers. You can read it here, and watch for future installments on our labour page.

Make 2016 a leap year for the climate justice movement. Join author and activist Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben from 350.org for the first Leap Manifesto event of 2016. Avi Lewis will moderate a conversation and Q & A with Asad Rehman from Friends of the Earth and other special guests. This is the first of many film screenings, actions, teach-ins and other events to help leap toward a post-carbon future, pursuing economic and social justice for all.

This week's top news

Attempted justice: Four lessons from the Forcillo verdict
A week after the Forcillo verdict, we can draw some lessons from the trial and verdict for both the developments to come in this case and police accountability more broadly.
By Irina Ceric

Increased growth of Aboriginal incarceration must be addressed by Canada
As the growth in the Aboriginal prison population comes under scrutiny, past recommendations are echoed once more.
By Cory Collins

Putting democracy back in the NDP
How can the NDP bridge the gap between its members and the party centre? Make the party "less fucking boring" advocates Brian Topp.
By Sarah Beuhler, Tristan Markle

Labour activists fight devastating cuts to Ontario's health services
Hundreds of workers protesting nine years of cuts to Ontario's health-care budget gathered at Queen's Park yesterday.
By Teuila Fuatai

Need for national food policy intensifies as costs soar and food insecurity remains
There should be no one suffering from food insecurity in a country as rich as Canada, yet this is a big issue. Here is why we need a national food policy that focuses on sustainability.
By Raksha Vasudevan

Arguments against Canada's bombing mission exist, but Trudeau hasn't uttered them
Canada's federal government must stand strong in its position to end its combat mission in Iraq and Syria. So why hasn't Trudeau uttered any arguments against the bombing missions?
By Paul Weinberg

Thousands of signatures against Trans Mountain pipeline delivered to NEB hearings
As the NEB hearings continue for Kinder Morgan's proposed Trans Mountain pipeline, activists deliver thousands of signatures opposing the project.
By Alyse Kotyk

This week's top blogs

A love letter at the closing of our grocery store
My love letter to all the wild-tongued dreamers in kisiskâciwan; those who built the Good Food Junction, those who are fighting for food wherever others are growing rich off our hunger.
By Erica Violet Lee

Grits in Ottawa and Dippers in Edmonton: Far from the worst combination for keeping Alberta's economy in motion
Can you imagine how much more difficult getting this stimulus ball rolling would be with an austerity-obsessed conservative government still camped in Edmonton or Ottawa?
By David J. Climenhaga

Mansbridge to Trudeau: 'It's 2016. Isn't it time for a national daycare program?'
Parents cannot find and afford good quality child care for love or money. Child care is in short supply. Quality is all too often weak, and fees are too high for most low- and middle-income families.
By Martha Friendly

The struggle for responsible investment continues: UBC committee votes against divestment
Despite many successful international examples, credible financial advice, and strong student and faculty support, the University of British Columbia has voted not to divest from fossil fuels.
By Jen Halsall

Jian Ghomeshi made me remember all the times I was sexually violated
Jian Ghomeshi goes to trial today. And so, in a way, do Canadian women. This trial is not only about a man and four cases of sexual assault, but whether we, as a society, trust women who tell.
By Svea Vikander

Police violence in Ontario has reached a crisis level and we should be very upset
Gang rapes, murders and planting evidence: it's not a new Netflix series, it's Ontario policing.
By Pamela Palmater

This week's top columns

Why I still worry about auto job losses under a TPP
There is little conceivable upside to Canada's auto industry in this trade deal. The TPP as currently written would eventually stimulate a significant offshoring of North American auto production.
By Jim Stanford

Spotlight: The movie, the web and the state of journalism
Fifteen years after the Internet disrupted journalism, the spotlight is now falling in the wrong place. The web is hardly an upstart, though many newspapers act like the threat was born yesterday.
By Wayne MacPhail

Taking dietary action to stop climate change
Today's vegans and vegetarians are increasingly making positive connections between food and the environment. Can eating less meat help limit damage to the planet?
By Ole Hendrickson

NDP Premier Rachel Notley lives the bitumen bust
From 2000 to 2015 the supply of Alberta oil increased by 400 per cent. Now with fracked U.S. oil flowing, the bitumen sands investments are being mothballed, and more than oil royalties are at stake.
By Duncan Cameron

Why is Netflix cracking down on essential privacy tools?
When Netflix announced recently that the company would be cracking down on users who employ privacy tools while using the service, you could practically hear the groans reverberate across the globe.
By Digital Freedom Update, Meghan Sali

Patients need real solutions to a health system in crisis
Patients don't want sympathy, we want solidarity. We don't want "reasonable" solutions that disregard the destruction of social services over decades.
By Julie Devaney

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

Queers against gentrification
Helen Lenskyj and Liisa Schofield talk about the group Queer Trans Community Defence and the struggle against gentrification in Toronto.
By Scott Neigh

Sophie Harkat, B.C. Enbridge pipeline and 'Harvesting Freedom'
On this episode: Sophie Harkat, Justicia for Migrant Workers launch their campaign 'Harvesting Freedom' and the B.C. Supreme Court ruling against the Northern Gateway pipeline.
By GroundWire

What we wear matters, and why
Clothing matters. Attire choices tell others about who we are. And what we choose to buy has impact through the purchasing system -- from field to landfill.
By Kelly Okamura

Organizing a precarious world
A look at the world of precarious work and some creative organizing models for workers.
By Victoria Fenner

Seven reasons Rick Mercer got Energy East wrong
Rick Mercer upset tons of people this week by doing a rant in support of the Energy East pipeline; we respond.
By Daryn Caister

This week's top books

'Mountain City Girls' honours the eccentric kin that shaped Canadian music
Step into the family history of Canadian music trio Kate, Anna and Jane McGarrigle and explore quirky family characters and the ever-present influence of music.
By Jessica Rose

In this issue

Upcoming events

VancouverGrand Mamas: Artists and activists talk about their grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughter and chosen family
The primary intention of this event is to raise money to support Warriors Organizing Women and community elders, families and friends of the Missing and Murdered Women remembered on February 14.
By Heartwood Community Cafe

OttawaA Basic Income Guarantee For All: The Time Has Arrived with Robert Rainer (Community Classroom)
Income inequality is a profound characteristic of our current political and economic system.
By Octopus Books

TorontoToronto Black Film Festival
Five days of film screenings sharing stories and celebrating diversity within Black communities.
By Toronto Black Film Festival

This week's top in cahoots

CETA changes make investor-state provisions worse
Critics say it's an oversized public insurance scheme for companies that are unwilling to assume the normal risks of doing business. The Globe and Mail says: "Where do we sign?"
By Council of Canadians

Saudi Arabian college fiasco tied to underfunding in Ontario
Algonquin is one of at least three Ontario community colleges, including Niagara and Centennial, that have established campuses in Saudi Arabia to make up for government funding shortfalls.
By National Union of Public and General Employees

Trans-Pacific Partnership hides significant health costs, according to two new studies
As Canada prepares to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand this week, two new studies from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reveal significant risks.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Active babble topics

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Canada's military
By Pondering

Chrystia Freeland to sign TPP deal in New Zealand: Is this a fixed game?
By NDPP

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This week's top tool

The fight to build Martin Luther King Jr. Day
First celebrated by all the U.S. states in 2000.

Poll

Do you think Trudeau is backing away from his election promise to First Nations?

Justin Trudeau was very vocal during his 2015 federal election campaign that his government was committed to a renewed relationship with Canada's First Nations.

Trudeau also promised that First Nations would have "veto power" over natural resource projects on their lands.

At a recent press conference in Alberta, when asked if a "First Nation's 'no'" on the proposed Energy East and Trans Mountain pipelines meant a no from Canada, Trudeau ambigously responded he respected inherent and treaty rights, as reported by APTN.

Do you think Trudeau is backing away from his election promise to First Nations?

Choices Yes. His lack of reiterating First Nations' veto power makes me question his commitment. Not sure. He definitely seemed less adamant about it than on the campaign trail. Of course! Election promises are never kept. Yes. I think he is buckling under the pressure to approve pipelines to "better" the economy. No. I think he just used vague wording. Not sure. The economic situation in Alberta is complicated. But we should move away from pipelines and listen to First Nations. None of the above.