The Ford government’s public health priorities have failed almost unceasingly to deliver the results we need to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo from Twitter. As the third wave wreaks havoc on the province, popular discontent with the Ontario government’s pandemic response has reached a fever pitch. Friday’s
Continue readingAuthor: Dan Darrah
Canadian Dimension: Grocery’s long war: Part I
Workers participate in Manitoba’s 1987 Westfair strike. In the summer of that year, grocery store workers at 12 Westfair stores went on a bitter 125-day strike against a company push to drive down the standards established by collective bargaining. Photo courtesy of Rankandfile.ca. In 2013, Toronto Life magazine ran a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Basic income is on the table in Canada. Is it the fight we want?
While the pandemic economy is far from behind us, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)—Canada’s chief unemployment benefit—is soon coming to an end. Many on the left have since begun actively refusing a post-CERB world, calling instead for its extension, or, most recently, its conversion into a universal basic income
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Toronto Needs a Bailout for the Ages
Toronto skyline taken from the CN Tower. Photo by VV Nincic/Flickr. As the poster child for financial calamity, it should surprise no one that COVID-19 has essentially set Toronto ablaze. Carrying the costs of the pandemic, the city currently projects a budget shortfall to the tune of $1.5 billion, and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: In the Time of COVID, Laissez-Faire Comes to Bear in Ontario
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been praised for his government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, but his “hands-off-the-market” approach is simply a continuation of neoliberal, small-government ideas. Photo by Richard Lautens. It is possible that history will be kind to Ontario premier Doug Ford. Supporters and critics alike have thus
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Forget Basic Income—In Canada, the New Normal Should Bring a Public Housing Revolution
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Canada needs a public housing revolution more than ever. As of 2019, there were more than 66,000 empty houses in Toronto. Photo from Toronto Storeys. “I had like $500 left in my account,” my friend Jordan excitedly tells me. “I was seriously fucked
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