Assorted content to end your week.
- PressProgress crunches the numbers on tax loopholes and finds that more and more revenue is being lost to the most glaring loopholes every year. And Andrew Jackson hopes for a sorely-needed response from the federal government to rein in tax avoidance by the wealthy.
- Sam Cooper reports on Vancouver's embarrassing status as a poster child for criminal money laundering.
- Wanda Wyporska highlights the importance of fighting for greater equality rather than allowing it to overtake social cohesion and individual well-being.
- Anna Patty reports on a new study showing how an improved minimum wage could create jobs in addition to boosting standards of living in Australia. And Scott Brown writes about the B.C. NDP's first steps toward including all workers in basic employment protections (including the right to a minimum wage).
- Mark Winfield warns of the risks of panicking about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, though Mike De Souza reveals that the Libs have made a habit of leaping into reckless action at Kinder Morgan's behest. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes that we should be focusing on a just transition for both resource sector workers and their communities, while Mitchell Anderson discusses how the Trans Mountain expansion would only exacerbate a trend seeing refinery jobs leaked south of the border.
- Finally, CBC reports on Justin Trudeau's lack of interest in following the UK's ban on single-use plastics.
Since you provide some links on the Trans Mountain pipeline, I'm curious to get a SK perspective on how this controversy is playing in your province. From here in BC, all that we've heard about is the ranting of the new Premier. What about the new leader of the NDP? I certainly hope that he shows more courage than his predecessor, whose statement of support for Keystone XL was almost the first thing that he did after winning the NDP leadership in 2013. As someone with fond memories of Grant Notley from my student days in Edmonton in the '70s, the horrific petro-mutation of his daughter has been pretty sad. So I hope that the NDP in your province avoids the same fate. In general, the NDP is not handling the climate change / energy file very well - too much fence-straddling which shows that they just don't grasp its reality.
ReplyDeleteSo far the Saskatchewan NDP has criticized Moe and his party for their grandstanding and threats, but also called for the pipeline to be built (with the federal government bearing responsibility for that). I'd prefer to see a stronger challenge to the "pipelines = economy" worldview, but there is a substantial proportion of the NDP's membership which has generally kept the party's policy in line with the position it's taking.
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