#Elxn44 Roundup

The latest from Canada's federal election campaign.

- Jim Stanford writes that the direction of our rebuilding from and after the COVID pandemic is one of the core issues at stake. Anna Desmarais highlights how people are suffering from the arbitrary rules the Trudeau Libs attached to CERB with unmanageable income reductions even as the COVID pandemic continues. And Kiavash Najafi discusses why ensuring the rich pay their fair share of taxes is a policy with appeal across all parties and ideological backgrounds, while Sheila Block rightly defends the practicality and desirability of a wealth tax against Philip Cross' attempts to paint the richest few as the truly hard-done-by.

- Anya Zoledziowski offers a summary of the climate change plans on offer from the major national parties. And Anjali Helferty and George Tjensvoll Kitching write that cutting off fossil fuel subsidies is a bare minimum to ensure that we're not funding the destruction of our own health.

- Meanwhile, the CCPA Monitor examines the Libs' platform - including its maddeningly ponderous incrementalism as compared to the NDP's commitments in areas like climate change and housing. 

- Justin Ling reviews the back-and-forth over racism in the first French debate, with Jagmeet Singh's contribution offering desperately-needed recognition of the realities of system racism:

“I’ve talked to people who lost their family member, because of police violence,” Singh told Blanchet.

“When I introduced a motion to deal with this racist discrimination, I didn’t see any MP say no—even the Conservatives didn’t say no—except a single MP,” Singh began, referring to Therrien. “When I looked at him, he did this-” Singh proceeded to make a sweeping motion with his hand, as though Therrien was brushing him off. “This is exactly the kind of thing which happens for Indigenous communities, like Joyce Echaquan,” Singh continued, before being drowned out by an interrupting Blanchet. 

It was a stunning moment, and a rare mention of Echaquan—or, indeed, any issues of systemic racism—on the campaign.

- Joyce Nelson discusses why military spending should be a significant election issue - and why neither the Libs nor Cons offer an acceptable plan to direct our resources toward peace and well-being rather than the military-industrial complex.

- Finally, David Molko reports on the continued embarrassments of Lib candidate Taleeb Noormohamed, who wants to be treated as an advocate for affordable housing while having made massive amounts of money carrying out the property flipping he pretends to decry.