Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Cassandra Willyard writes about the dangers of repeat COVID-19 infections. Kieren Williams reports on new research confirming how COVID-19 stiffens arterial walls, resulting in an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Erin Prater reports on Deborah Birx's observation that COVID will almost certainly evade the effect of Paxlovid (and lead to another spike in an already-alarming fatality rate) if it's allowed to run rampant. Sanjiv Gandhi, Cameron Morhaliek and Joe Vipond highlight why masking in hospitals and other health care facilities should still be a must. And Shihan Deng et al. find a strong connection between improved ventilation in schools and reduced illness-related absences. 

- Crawford Kilian discusses a new book on the commercial determinants of health, and the need to be better aware of the effect of corporatism on the well-being of people. And U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy writes about the harms of an epidemic of loneliness - and the need to rebuild social connections as a matter of public health

- Eric Carlson writes about the tragedy of parking, as the U.S.' habit of catering to cars has rendered communities inaccessible for any other form of transportation. 

- Roshan Abraham reports on a worthwhile effort to allow tenants to rate their landlords - offering the prospect of at least somewhat evening out the power imbalance between the people who need housing and the owners in a position to deprive them of it. 

- Finally, Don Braid points out how privatized lab services have resulted in far longer waits for Alberta patients - even as the UCP pushes to extend the corporate model to more areas of health care. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Eric Reinhart discusses the importance of approaching public health from a collective perspective, rather than presuming health is simply a matter of individual-level choices. And Michael Hiltzik highlights the usual combination of dishonesty and ignorance behind yet another set of talking points intended to undermine masking as a protection against COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.

- Daphne Bramham writes about the dangers of allowing the corporate sector to take over health care, while Alex Ballingall and Raisa Patel report on the apparent big pharma takeover of Canadian prescription drug policy. And Ryan Gabrielson and J. David McSwane offer an appalling look at what happens when for-profit healthcare meets a religious-based immunity from regulation. 

- Armine Yalnizyan writes that the most important headwind facing Canada's economy is a lack of affordability, rather than any concern about inflation. But Peter Armstrong reports that the Bank of Canada is bent on hiking interest rates with the theoretical intention of meeting inflation targets - no matter how much damage it does to people, and how little it accomplishes as corporations continue to profiteer.

- Stefan Gossling and Andreas Humpe examine the carbon emissions of the wealthy, and find that millionaires alone stand to eat up over two-thirds of humanity's remaining carbon budget by 2050.

- Finally, Don Braid discusses how Danielle Smith and the UCP are determined to squelch any criticism of their plans to take pensions and policing under politicized provincial control. And Howard Leeson writes that the spin being used to push Scott Moe's plan to expel the RCMP from Saskatchewan (again in favour of a provincially-controlled police service) doesn't hold water.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Dr. Christopher Applewhaite, Kerri Coombs, Dr. Susan Kuo and Protect Our Province BC respond to the reckless attempt to declare "back to normal" in the midst of an ongoing pandemic (with other severe illnesses also circulating at dangerous levels). And Lori Culbert reports on the difficulty health providers are having in trying to treat patients' long COVID symptoms, while Qiangru Huang et al. find that long COVID symptoms tend to become an ongoing issue after the first month rather than getting better with time.

- Katherine Scott discusses the crisis in a care economy where workers are facing increasing demands, constant illness and government-imposed wage cuts from what was already a starting point of austerity.  And Peter Friedrichsen writes about the ongoing collapse of Saskatchewan's health care system under a government operating in deliberate ignorance of people's suffering.

- Gregory Beatty discusses how Scott Moe and Danielle Smith are insisting on driving their respective provinces off a cliff. And Don Braid notes that Smith in particular has made it alarmingly clear how she intends to abuse power based on the positions she's promoted when given the platform of a radio show. 

- Finally, Clare Watson writes about the difficulty of calling out greenwashing in a country where giveaways and excuses for fossil fuel barons are taken as normal by those in power.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Patrick Wood and Mary Louise Kelly write that we still need to be managing COVID risk budgets to avoid contributing more to community transmission than necessary. Helen Branswell discusses some lessons learned through the pandemic so far. And Morgan Lowrie reports on the folly of pushing to keep COVID-positive workers on the job, while Don Braid comments on the dubious choice to restrict public health reporting when it's most obviously needed. 

- Katherine Wu highlights that anybody counting on individual-level vaccines to avoid infection is looking at years of changing boosters to try to keep up with a mutating virus. And Texas Children's Hospital announces that it has developed a non-patented vaccine which is being made available for international manufacturing and distribution - providing hope of actually suppressing the virus worldwide.  

- The UN Food and Agriculture Association discusses how land and water resources are already stretched to a breaking point. And Jeff Goodell reports on the prospect that a single collapsing glacier in Antarctica could swamp hundreds of millions of people in a matter of years. 

- Meanwhile, Ketan Joshi writes about the delay and denial being pushed by fossil fuel companies to avoid a transition to a liveable future. 

- Matt Bruenig writes that there's no good reason to refuse to provide income supports to people who need them. And Branko Marcetic highlights the dangers of limiting support for the poor to what's acceptable to the rich. 

- Finally, Colin Dacre reports on the permission granted to CN to engage in private prosecutions to unleash the power of the criminal justice system against protesters even after Crown prosecutors have concluded charges aren't in the public interest. And Matt Stoller calculates that 60% of the inflation being used as an excuse to cut social investment has in fact been siphoned off into corporate coffers through expanding profit margins. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Don Braid discusses how Alberta's health care system and polity are both collapsing under the weight of a UCP government which has utterly failed to protect either from readily-preventable damage. And Emily Pasiuk reports on Jason Kenney's continued excuses for letting COVID-19 run rampant rather than doing anything to stop a catastrophe in progress. 

- Meanwhile, Allison Jones reports on the comparative success of continued public health measures in reining in a fourth wave in Ontario. Carly Weeks reports on the new research confirming the reality that children are far more vulnerable to the Delta variant than to previous iterations of the coronavirus, while Ontario's Science Table studies the lasting symptoms and disabilities facing people who suffer from long COVID. 

- David Pugliese reports on the latest revelations showing that Canada's military treated the pandemic as an opportunity to push a propaganda and surveillance campaigns against citizens without authorization or oversight. 

- Jongsay Yong et al. study how Australia's push to privatize long-term care predictably resulted in worse results for residents. And the AP reports on Berlin's move to bring thousands of apartment units under public control to ensure they're used to benefit people. 

- Rest of World surveys the realities facing gig workers around the globe. And Laura Lam and Kam Phung discuss the need for Canadian labour and employment policy to respond by empowering the workers involved. 

- Finally, Robert Reich offers a reminder as to why "corporate social responsibility" is a delay tactic aimed at allowing capitalists to continue their exploitation, not a means of solving social problems. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Umair Haque discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has been turned into a cash cow to be extended for profit, rather than a public health emergency to be ended for the sake of people's safety. And Jay S. Kaufman notes that science alone can't fully answer a pandemic where social trust and cohesion have broken down in ways that prevent people from working toward a common end.

- Don Braid writes that both the UCP's political plans and the provincial health care system are collapsing in Alberta, while PressProgress points out the shortage of ambulances in Calgary and Edmonton as one example of how the COVID crisis is affecting the health care system as a whole. 

- Guy Queeneville reports on Scott Moe's cuts to contact tracing just as the fourth wave began to rise, while Jessie Anton reports on the Saskatchewan Health Authority's restrictions on services due to the unchecked pandemic. Zak Vescera reports on the existence of modeling showing that mandatory masking could reduce community transmission by 50%. And Jason Warick discusses why Scott Moe can't be bothered to take even that basic step to keep people healthy and safe, while Phil Tank points out the giant load of nothing that was Moe's announcement yesterday.

- Luke Savage rightly makes the case for John Horgan's government to take the lead in legislating paid sick days for all.

- Finally, Peter Kalmus writes that both halves of a "net zero emissions by 2050" target represent grossly inadequate levels of concern for the preservation of our living environment. And Umair Irfain summarizes the IPCC's main scenarios for climate change going forward - with the "middle of the road" scenario in which countries fulfill their existing commitments and cooperate somewhat on environmental goals resulting in a catastrophic 2.7 degrees of warming.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Nora Loreto points out the thousands of deaths known to have been caused by the spread of COVID-19 in Canadian hospitals - and the virtual certainty that the numbers available to date represent a significant undercount. Allan Massie discusses the spread of COVID-19 through the majority of the attendees at a party where every guest was fully vaccinated. Vincent Del Guidice reports on Idaho's stark rise in cases among babies and toddlers. And Don Braid calls out the UCP for axing even the most uncontroversial and necessary of public health measures to limit COVID transmission. 

- Scott Gilmore argues that we're past being able to rely on rewards and bribes to try to get people vaccinated, and need to start instead limiting holdouts' access to the "normal" they claim to value as long as they make it needlessly more dangerous. 

- David Wallace-Wells writes that a climate breakdown happening at an unforeseen speed is leaving us with the choice to either adapt or die (while still needing to limit the amount of damage to be taken into account). And the Globe and Mail's editorial board rightly recognizes that there's no point in banking on liquified natural gas exports which are far from viable both environmentally and economically. 

- Finally, Tom Parkin writes that the Governor-General has a legitimate role to perform in determining whether an election call is necessary where the prime minister relies on laughable assertions of non-confidence. And Andrew Jackson points out that the Libs may not be on the safe ground they're expecting in trying to plunge Canada into a mid-pandemic election. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Duncan Cameron discusses how right-wing nationalism is contributing to the destruction of our planet and the exploitation of people. Don Braid highlights how right-wing fringe politics and governance are damaging Alberta. And Murray Mandryk notes that Scott Moe's reliance on an anti-science and anti-social base is the only explanation for his refusal to call out white nationalists.  

- Meanwhile, Meghan Grant reports on the choice by the Kenney and Moe governments to make it more difficult to enforce federal quarantine rules. And David Pugliese reports that instead of protecting against the actual threats posed by public health objectors and violent racists, Canada's security apparatus has used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to put Black Lives Matter organizers under surveillance.

- Kim Mackrael discusses how British Columbia's action to control the spread of COVID-19 variants is being looked at as a model around the globe. Gary Mason contrasts that against Alberta's newfound status as North America's COVID hotspot (as well as the home of Canada's highest concentration of anti-vaxxers), while Melanee Thomas points out that it's not fair to treat the anti-science movement as a matter of urban vs. rural populations. And Alison Durkee reports on a study showing how school reopenings (absent needed precautions) increased the spread of the coronavirus even in the fall before the variants of concern emerged.

- Sarath Peiris rightly argues that if Moe were remotely reasonable, he'd happily sign on to the federal child care plan - though the next evidence that the Saskatchewan Party values benefits for the public over picking fights with Ottawa will be the first.

- Rebecca Solnit makes a cautious case for optimism in averting the worst of a climate breakdown. Joanna Partridge reports on new research suggesting that electric vehicles will be less expensive to manufacture than combustion vehicles within a matter of years. And Emma Graney reports on the IEA's observation that renewable energy is growing at a historic rate.

- Finally, Charles Smith calls out the Libs' contempt for the Charter right to strike reflected in their legislation (supported and eagerly waved through by the Cons) to allow employers at the Port of Montreal to impose longer hours without any collective bargaining recourse.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Don Braid calls out Jason Kenney for allowing his government's MLAs and officials to gallivant around the world on vacation while demanding that the rest of Alberta stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19. James Keller reports on new research showing a direct connection between strict measures to stop viral spread, and lower spikes in COVID-19's second wave (which then allowed for greater economic stability and continuation). And George Fallis notes that the coronavirus is just another case where a comparison to the U.S. alone can cause Canadians to miss how we're failing compared to most of our international peers.

- Liz Theoharis writes about some of the lessons from the pandemic about the dangers of the concentration of wealth and privilege (and corresponding poverty and deprivation) which should be applied to policy choices in general. And Antoine Bozio, Bertrand Garbinti, Jonathan Goupille-Lebret, Malka Guillot and Thomas Piketty highlight how greater equality in pre-distribution is necessary to achieve sustainable fairness in income and wealth distribution.

- Geoff Dembicki warns U.S. climate activists against making the same mistake as their Canadian counterparts who wrongly assumed the election of a centrist government willing to speak sweet nothings would result in climate action. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board points out that we're still falling short of ensuring that climate harms are included in economic decision-making.

- Finally, Michael Coren writes about Marc Perez' research showing that solar power has become cheap enough that there's no more viable energy strategy than to build as much as possible - even if it can't all be used immediately. (Which of course makes it all the more asinine that so many Canadian governments are determined to instead hype nuclear vaporware in order to put off the transition away from fossil fuels.)

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Fran Quigley interviews Joanne Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox about the entirely feasible steps which could be taken to eliminate poverty in the U.S.:

FQ

You devote a good deal of the book to reviewing the data and the stories that describe US poverty, but you always circle back to solutions, refuting the idea we often hear that “the poor will always be with us.” Why do you think we can, as your subtitle promises, end poverty in the United States?

JG

Because poverty is simply not having enough money to meet your needs. There is nothing more complicated about it than that. And we live in the richest nation in the world, where there is plenty of money. So if we have the political will, we could end poverty.

There are lots of different ways to do it. A living wage is necessary, and a universal basic income can help. We talk in the book about universal health care, housing supports, about making water and electricity and heat a public good. Other countries do all this, and there is no reason we could not do so as well. If we just tax people appropriately, we can have the money to do all this.

CS

We write about challenges in affording car insurance in places where you need a car to get to work, the difficulty in keeping the lights on, not being able to afford medicines. Being in poverty is like walking across a rotted floor — there are so many ways you can fall through. And it all comes down to money.

- Meanwhile, Amanpreet Brar, Maria Daniel and Gurbaaz Sra point out how Amazon's warehouse workers have been put at additional risk by COVID while being silenced in efforts to protect their health and safety. 

- Don Braid points out that racists are attaching themselves to the antisocial principles behind anti-public health rallies to try to recruit adherents and claim legitimacy. And Georgina Alonso discusses the importance of Black Lives Matter - and the harm done by systemic racism it seeks to challenge - in rural Canada.

- Burgess Langshaw-Power writes about the folly of relying on a new generation of false promises and pipe dreams from nuclear power proponents. 

- Michael Barnard calculates how planned increases in the federal carbon price figure to clean up Alberta's power grid by incentivizing the replacement of natural gas power with renewable energy. But Lisa Schick reports on the Moe government's evisceration of Saskatchewan's residential solar sector even as it leaves no stone unturned in pushing further fossil fuel development.

- Finally, Kendall Latimer reports on the "quiet revolution" which has followed the more prominent initial discussion of #metoo in Regina.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Diane Peters discusses how everybody has a stake in the safe reopening of schools this fall. And Masks4Canada is tracking cases of school infection across Canada while Support our Students does the same for Alberta in particular - though Don Braid rightly questions why we need crowdsourcing to provide that information for want of open and effective public reporting.

- Meanwhile, Zak Vescera reports on the Moe government's appalling stinginess with essential care workers in Saskatchewan who received less than half of the money trumpeted as a wage supplement.

- Andrew MacLeod reports on both the corporate push into British Columbia's primary health care system, and the shift toward private health care generally with the goal of diverting comparatively easy work from an increasingly strained public system. And Jason Warick reports on the audit showing over 200 separate problems with the Sask Party's P3 hospital in North Battleford - even as the Moe government continues to insist there's nothing wrong with a brand-new facility being unsafe and unsanitary.

- Michelle McQuigge reports on UNICEF's rankings showing Canada ranking toward the bottom of the world's wealthier countries in caring for children.

- Amy Harder writes about the climate feedback loops which make it all the more urgent to stop adding to our ongoing carbon pollution. And Keith Stewart points out the positive developments in investors electing not to fund further climate damage. But Mia Rabson reports that the Libs are once again breaking a promise to reduce Canada's methane emissions.

- Finally, Matthew Rosza looks at the latest research showing the connection between wealth and an inability to empathize with others.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the public's lack of familiarity with exponential growth which is proving lethal in its application to both COVID-19 and climate change. Jillian Horton points out the importance of continuing to treat the coronavirus as the emergency that it is rather than letting our guard down. And Sophie Black writes about the fear hanging over Melbourne as a second wave hits what had previously been a relatively lightly-affected country.

- Doyle McManus discusses his experience with Canada's quarantine rules and enforcement to curb the spread of COVID-19.

- Rob Breakenridge writes that universal masking is essential to any hope of avoiding another COVID-19 lockdown. But Don Braid notes that masking is merely necessary, but not sufficient, to avoid the spread of the coronavirus in schools. Megan Ogilvie and Rachel Mendelson report on the school safety recommendations of the Hospital for Sick Children - which include control over class sizes as an essential element. And Leyla Asadi points out that a responsible plan to reopen schools should include careful consideration as to what other means of community transmission can be minimized.

- Pete Evans reports on the effects of the pandemic on large businesses which are seeking creditor protection to try to weather the storm. And Don Pittis writes that we shouldn't mistake consumer spending supported by relief efforts for a full economic recovery - though we should be even more careful about thinking we can afford to turn off the tap.  

- Finally, Rick Smith sets out a path toward recovery which includes a needed transition to a green economy.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Trish Garner comments on the need to acknowledge the humanity of people living in poverty - which leads to the inescapable need to use readily-available resources to ensure a reasonable standard of living. And Arindrajit Dube studies the effect of an increased minimum wage in helping to pull people out of poverty.

- Meanwhile, Robert Benzie reports that Doug Ford's choice to attack workers is leading to a substantial drop in public support.

- Jim Tankersley and Matt Phillips report that the Trump Republicans' giveaway to the wealthy has produced negative results on multiple fronts - including a net reduction in the workforce of the large employers targeted for extra freebies. And Derek Thompson discusses why it's long past time to put a stop corporate relocation incentives. 

- Helen-Maria Vasiliadis points out the important returns - in both fiscal and human terms - from investing in universally-accessible mental health care.

- Tom Perry discusses how a proportional electoral system can lead governments to reflect and listen to a wide range of voices, rather than being motivated solely to stick to a single party line. 

- Finally, Don Braid weighs in on the demonization of minority groups - and particularly LGBTQ people through John Carpay's consistent attacks - in Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Eric Levitz discusses the glaring gap between Americans' policy preferences, and the outcomes from a political system which falls far short of representing most people in the face of the influence of the ultra-rich. And Matthew Yglesias comments on the hack gap between the U.S.' two main political parties. 

- Robert Reich highlights how Donald Trump has only further enriched the wealthy while making life more precarious for the rest of the U.S. Mike Crawley reports on Doug Ford's plans to strip Ontario workers of their already-minimal gains in wages and employment standards. And Don Braid comments on Jason Kenney's promises to run roughshod over Alberta workers and consumers in exchange for corporate cash.

- Meanwhile, Sally McManus writes about the need for more fairness for Australian workers:

The problem of excessive corporate power and greed is far wider than two or three industries. Across the economy, we have seen wages go backwards in real terms over the past year, whereas profits grew 9.7 per cent, seasonally adjusted, based on the National Accounts. This is no accident – we have lost the power needed to bargain for fair wages because big business now has too much power.

Increasingly workers' capacity to bargain for better pay and conditions is hampered by a system that allows employers to frustrate the process.

Even the International Monetary Fund has pointed to the disempowerment of workers to negotiate fair pay with the deregulation of the labour market, saying this has underpinned the sluggish global recovery for workers’ wages since the global financial crisis.
...
There are a lot of changes required to fix the broken rule book of Australia’s workplace relations system, but the reforms should be built around laws that rebalance the system and give working people a fairer share of the wealth they create.

Our laws should give working people power, to negotiate fair pay and job security and create a balance between the power of the employer to say “no” and the needs of working people to have job security and decent pay for decent work.

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the spread of non-disclosure agreements as a means of forcing the people able to expose issues of public importance to refrain from doing so.

- Finally, Andrew Simms and Peter Newell propose a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. And we can only presume that anybody trying to deflect from any action at home in favour of reducing global emissions will be entirely on board.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Eli Wolfe discusses new research confirming how unions have saved thousands of workers' lives - and how workers stand to pay the price for political attempts to undermine collective action:

The new study focuses in particular on the extent to which state “right to work” laws — which barred mandatory union dues for non-union members even before Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling — translate into more workplace deaths. Using mathematical modeling techniques, the study found that the rate of job-related deaths among U.S. workers from 1992 through 2016 was 14.2 percent higher than it would have been if union membership had not been undercut by right to work laws.

That equated to roughly 7,300 extra workplace deaths over the 25-year period, according to author of the analysis, Michael Zoorob.
...

There is a small but growing body of research highlighting the health benefits of unions. Zoorob’s study cited a 2016 report in the American Journal of Public Health that union contacts provide, among other benefits, protections against workplace hazards.

“The overarching point is that unions are important in workplace protections, and the fact that they’re declining because of public policies like right to work is concerning,” he added.

- Alastair Sharp and Dylan Waisman explore the integration of oil giants and other business interests into Canada's national security apparatus - and the resulting infiltration of activist groups for corporate benefit. And John Hua notes in contrast that under the Libs, British Columbia gaming regulators and security officers were ordered not to investigate loan sharking and other systemic illegal activity. 

- Meanwhile, Jessie Hellmann reports on Novartis' special position as the author of the U.S.' new rules on drug pricing while funneling money to Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen.

- Finally, Gary Mason discusses the deceit behind the Clark Libs' attempt to cling to power. And Don Braid points out how Doug Ford's immediate campaign of destruction offers a preview as to what Alberta can expect if it allows Jason Kenney to take control of its government.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Yves Engler discusses how Justin Trudeau is now the face of the exploitation of poor countries and workers by the Canadian mining industry. And Penny Collenette writes that governments and business should both bear responsibility for human rights - though it's worth being skeptical of her use of that theme to try to undercut what little corporate accountability currently exists.

- George Monbiot examines some options for a more participatory democracy - with a particular focus on public involvement in policy decisions on a far more regular basis than elections alone. And the Mound of Sound notes that many of Monbiot's criticisms would be met by a more fair and proportional electoral system.

- Meanwhile, Kenneth Andrews takes a look at how protest movements can bring about social change.

- Don Braid points out that Jason Kenney's latest attempt to whitewash history involves laying claim to the legacy of Peter Lougheed after shrieking hysterically about it through most of his political past. And Justin Ling exposes how Andrew Scheer is trying to build his party using Rebel Media's model of fomenting hate while denying any connection between the two.

- Finally, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood points out how Donald Trump's NAFTA posturing offers a much-needed opportunity to extricate Canada from some aspects of corporate rule. And Michael Geist likewise notes that life after NAFTA means far more freedom to set intellectual property policy in the public interest.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Tom Parkin writes about the growing opposition to a Lib infrastructure bank designed to turn public needs into private profits at our expense:

Paying higher fares, fees and tolls because of a political decision to use more expensive private capital would be a “massive transfer of wealth to the wealthy,” says [Guy] Caron.

Now the chorus of think-tanks voicing concern includes the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Broadbent Institute, C.D. Howe Institute and the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, which is headed by former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page.

The idea for the Bank followed a curious path. The Liberal-appointed advisory council which recommended a private Infrastructure Bank included executives whose investment funds stand to profit from it. That process is now subject of a conflict of interest complaint by Democracy Watch.
...

As more Canadians see the Infrastructure Bank as an inside job to drain their wallets and enrich the rich, the sharpness of opposition attacks continues to grow.

Perhaps Trudeau thought an Infrastructure Bank would hitch his star to powerful people. Maybe he’s anchored himself to a sinking sack of cement.

- And Randall Bartlett asks why Trudeau is so eager to privatize profits while forcing the public to bear the risks and costs of projects. 

- Meanwhile, Don Braid examines how Rachel Notley's NDP is establishing desperately-needed consumer protections in areas ranging from payday lending to homebuilding - and being challenged every step of the way by businesses who had grown accustomed to being able to exploit the public. And Rachel Reeves argues that now is the time for the financial transactions tax on offer from the UK's Labour Party.

- Claire Cain Miller discusses how motherhood contributes to the persistent pay gap between women and men. And Jordan Press reports on the wealth-based gap in access to child care outside Quebec, while Andrea Gordon points out how Ontario students (particularly in rural areas) are losing access to music programs due to austerity budgeting.

- Finally, Ian Bremner warns against treating the defeat of a couple of far-right leaders as an indication that we can afford to accept business as usual.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrew Jackson makes the case for a review of Canada's tax system focused on boosting revenue from the wealthy people and corporations who can readily afford it:

These tax loopholes are costly. Partial inclusion of capital gains in taxable income costs the federal government alone $3.6 billion per year; partial inclusion of stock options costs $725 million per year; and special tax treatment of dividends costs $3.7 billion per year.

Realistic reform of these three tax preferences would likely limit them rather than eliminate them entirely. For example, the stock options deduction might continue, with a capped value and some exemption for employees in start-up companies. One might contemplate an increase in the capital gains inclusion rate to, say, 75% where it stood before 2000, with some protection for inflation, or a cap on the total amount of capital gains accrued.

Nonetheless, it is clear that significant additional tax revenues could be gained by limiting federal tax loopholes on capital income, and that this could lower the proportion of after-tax income received by the most affluent Canadians and promote greater income equality.

- Will Denayer highlights how concentrated wealth can result in centuries of inequality. And Josh Boak discusses the issue of income inequality as it's been addressed in the U.S.' election campaign.

- Eric Holthaus weighs in on the need for immediate action to rein in climate change - along with the danger that we've already caused more damage than our planet can handle.

- Meanwhile, Ben Parfitt exposes BC Hydro's recognition that fracking and its resulting earthquakes could cause severe damage to hydro dams and other existing power infrastructure. And Derrick O'Keefe suggests that if fracking can't withstand a factual debate about its impacts, we should be hesitant to allow it at all.

- Finally, while some try to argue as to the main label to be affixed to the NDP, Don Braid nicely sums up what the party stands for at all levels:

The NDP always sees Alberta from the bottom up: from the street rather than the executive suite.

That simple fact explains how Premier Rachel Notley’s government behaves. It’s a useful lens for those still deeply disoriented by the first non-conservative government since, oh, early 1935.
...
The PPA dispute is just the most dramatic example of this instinctive sympathy for the underdog. More than a dozen policies reflect this, in every area from the workplace to the marketplace, from worker safety and consumer ripoffs to relations with First Nations.

The list includes minimum wage hikes; strict new controls on predatory payday loans; child tax benefits; investigating the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council; the controversial farm safety bill; a review of condo deals; allowing victims of family violence to break residential leases; an apology to victims of mistreatment in residential schools; recognizing gender identity and expression; and a post-secondary tuition freeze.
...
That’s how the NDP sees the world — from down below. After decades with a government that was more comfortable with a corporate view, it takes getting used to.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Steven Hill discusses some of the most glaring problems with an economy based on precarious work. And Tim Harford rightly asks whether a shift away from steady employment will necessitate more public delivery of social benefits:

Details vary but most advanced countries have a list of goodies that must be provided by employers rather than the government or the individual. In the UK a full-time worker is entitled to 28 days of paid leave. In the US the default provider of health insurance is your employer. In many countries, employees cannot be sacked without long notice periods and a decent pension is the preserve of people with a decent job. As for freelancers, they may enjoy flexibility and independence and sometimes even a good living — but as far as social protections go, they are on their own.
...
(W)e should end the policy of trying to offload the welfare state to corporations. It is a policy that hides the costs of these benefits, and ensures that they are unevenly distributed. Instead we should take a hard look at that list of goodies: healthcare, pensions, income for people who are not working. Then we should decide what the state should provide and how generously. To my mind, there is a strong argument that the state should provide all of these things, to everyone, at a very basic level. What the state will not provide, individuals must pay for themselves — or seek employers who provide these benefits as an attraction rather than a legal obligation. Call it libertarianism with a safety net.

- Meanwhile, Noam Schieber and Patricia Cohen report on the shadow tax system which has allowed the wealthiest Americans to avoid contributing to the country around them.

- Omar Arias and Dorota Chapko highlight the massive impact of early childhood education on brain development - with particular emphasis on the contrast between more efficient child care funding and the far-less-controversial job training measures which have significantly less positive economic effect.

- James Wood reports on the Alberta NDP's plan to make affordable housing one of its key priorities in the new year.

- And finally, both Gillian Steward and Don Braid highlight Rachel Notley's work to make Alberta into a constructive participant on the Canadian political scene rather than a rogue province.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Roderick Benns interviews Scott Santens about the effect of a basic income:

Benns: Why is the concept of a basic income guarantee so important at this point in our societal development?

Santens: We’re living in a paradox of absurdity, where we’ve created truly incredible levels of technology, growing at exponential rates, and yet we’re not using it to propel our civilization forward. Technology has from the moment the first tool was ever created, been intended to reduce human labour and enable us to do so much more than we ever would without it. And yet here we are working 47 hours a week instead of 40, and working nine hours a day at the office despite not actually working for four of them. We’re encouraging people to work in jobs they hate instead of doing work they love. We’ve increased the risks of failure, putting a counterproductive brake on innovation. We’re increasing inequality, hampering our economies. We’re reducing bargaining power by decreasing the ability to say no. And we’re replacing human workers with technologies that don’t buy anything. None of this makes any sense if our goal is for technology to work for us instead of against us. So let’s do that instead.

- Don Braid explains why it's taken an NDP government to provide Alberta's farm workers with protections they've lacked for a century. And Ben Spielberg and Jared Bernstein offer a fact check against the U.S. Republicans' hostility to a reasonable minimum wage.

- Murray Dobbin considers the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be a test of Justin Trudeau's willingness to offer meaningful change from the Harper Cons. But PressProgress points out that there's a real question as to whether the Libs are even willing to allow for the public debate they've promised. And Duncan Cameron notes that we don't seem to be getting much but conservative economic philosophy from the Libs.

- Laura Best explains why Canada should have little trouble meeting its commitments to assist Syrian refugees. And Remzi Cej discusses how he'd describe Canada to newcomers looking to escape war and poverty - offering a standard we should absolutely work to meet.

- Finally, David McGrane recaps a conference honouring the memory and work of Allan Blakeney by setting out a few of the challenges we need to meet in order to be able to claim a functioning democratic political system.