(Notes for Second Annual Arnold Amber Memorial Lecture, Toronto, May 29, 2019) I am honoured to be celebrating the life and values of Arnold Amber. Celebrating social justice and human rights and a life of activism has never seemed more important. Thank you to Arnold’s family and to all for
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – CBC examines the obscene corporate subsidies doled out by Canadian governments – with Alberta ranking as the worst offender even as it also takes in less revenue than other provinces. And Jeff Gray reports on the growing gap between Doug Ford’s budget promises
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Star’s editorial board rightly criticizes Doug Ford for his propensity to announce massive cuts first, then begrudgingly acknowledge their unconscionable consequences later. Linda White, Elizabeth Dhuey, Michal Perlman and Petr Varmuza note that Ford’s cuts to child care will be particularly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – CBC interviews David Wallace-Wells and others about the need for collective action as the only viable response to a climate crisis and the despair it would otherwise produce: “Individual action simply can’t get us to zero [carbon] emissions,” [Wallace-Wells] told Tapestry host
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stewart Elgie and Nathalie Chalifour write about the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal’s recognition of the importance of action on our climate crisis. Alexis Wright comments on the need for global action to address the common global problem of impending climate breakdown. Brian Eckhouse
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Guardian offers a few expert perspectives on how to fix the U.S.’ broken economic system. And Hassan Yussuff writes that the centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike should remind us of the importance and power of mass political action. – Randy
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Karl Nerenberg writes that the ultimate test of the public’s willingness to facilitate a climate breakdown is fast approaching – but that the parties pushing delay and denial may be surprised with the outcome. Brett Chandler challenges the argument that we’re somehow entitled
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Tony Burman writes about the seismic change we can expect as the importance of our climate crisis – as well as the need to act on a global basis – starts to permeate our political decision-making. And KC Golden warns that the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Edward Keenan writes about the chaos being created by Doug Ford’s reckless and thoughtless slashing of crucial public services. CTV reports on one six-year-old cancer patient as just one of the many victims, while CBC News points out the global trend of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Emilie Prattico comments on the need to move past an economy that generates billionaires and widespread precarity in order to ensure that collective problems can be meaningfully addressed: While the public has never been as outspoken in its support of urgent and ambitious
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Robin Sears writes that it’s long past time for Canada’s wealthiest people and corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. And Leo Gerard points out how the U.S. has gone in exactly the wrong direction by slashing its corporate tax rates
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Roland Paulsen is rightly critical of the billionaire-funded take that we should ignore the ready availability of resources to end severe crises simply because they were worse on an absolute level in the past: To exclusively discuss social progress based on a certain
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the federal Liberals and provincial Saskatchewan Party are both unduly concerned with optics around “balance” rather than budgeting for the good of their constituents. For further reading…– Pamela Palmater writes that the Libs’ budget continues to neglect Indigenous women and children. Katherine Scott points out the absence
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda Givetash discusses how the consequences of climate breakdown include impending water shortages in the UK. But rather than recognizing and acting on that danger, Theresa May’s Conservatives are looking at Brexit as an excuse to do even less to protect the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney invites the tax-cut fairy back to Alberta! She’s bringing snake oil!
Oh for crying out loud! The tax cut fairy has returned to Alberta! She’s brought snake oil! United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, lately rebranded The Policy Guy ™, has promised a massive cut in business taxes to create jobs. In Calgary yesterday, Mr. Kenney vowed to slash the lowest
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Katrina vanden Heuvel discusses the importance of pushing toward universal child care in order to relieve avoidable stress on families. – Allison Jones reports that the Ford PCs are only making matters worse by ordering school boards not to hire to fill developing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn and Stacy Anderson write about the lasting effects of racial and regional inequality. – Samuel Stein discusses the lessons activists can take from New York’s successful pushback against Amazon’s demands for billions in public giveaways. And Joseph Stiglitz
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Shawn Gude comments on the choice Democratic primary voters will have between candidates seeking to regulate the economic system as it stands, and those pushing to fundamentally changing it. Ian Welsh points out the importance of supporting candidates such as Bernie Sanders
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Eric Holthaus writes that the Green New Deal which looks to be at the centre of Democratic policy development offers an important opportunity for the U.S. to make amends with a world bearing the brunt of its past pollution. But Rick Salutin discusses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Talia Lavin writes about the value of shifting the Overton window to enable serious discussion of higher tax rates on the people who have far more money than they could possibly need: I think about how we view the rich, so often
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