Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jim Stanford offers a reminder of the problems with treating raw GDP as a proxy for well-being or social development. Dario Radley highlights new archaeological research showing that inequality is a policy choice rather than an inevitability in larger and more complex societies. And William Finnegan discusses how the U.S.' one-time promise that work would lead to some measure of economic security has been swapped out for a system designed to facilitate extraction and precarity at every turn. 

- Joe Perticone notes that the Trump regime's combination of deliberate climate destruction and elimination of emergency supports may push people to demand climate action. And Mark Blyth and Nicolo Fraccatori write that the short-term impact of tariffs likely won't hold a candle to the inflation and shortages caused by a climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, Jill Filipovic discusses how many U.S. elites have capitulated to - or happily embraced - the human rights abuses of the Trump regime. And Thomas Zimmer writes about the continued rise of despotism under Trump. 

- Stephen Council reports on Mark Zuckberberg's belated recognition that Facebook is fundamentally broken now that it serves primarily as a conduit for misinformation. And Paris Marx notes that Canada's techbros seem perfectly happy to see Mark Carney (and his utterly credulous take on AI) rise to power even if it means their personally-sponsored Cons aren't elected. 

- Finally, Code Black writes about the dangers of health care privatization - and the need to stop conservatives determined to make health secondary to profit motives. John Woodside and Natasha Bulowski report on the deep ties between the Cons and dirty energy lobbyists as a strong indication of whose interests will - and won't - be taken into consideration if they get a chance to determine federal policy. And Emily examines a number of the Cons' connections to MAGA world, while pointing out the risks of allowing their worldview to dictate Canadian choices. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Blake Murdoch discusses how long COVID is harming a large number of children - and getting worse as constant reinfection has become the norm. Carly Cassaela discusses new research identifying the brain stem as a crucial site for its worst effects. And Heather Mallick writes about her experience with long COVID.

- Meanwhile, Sarah Boden writes that the public health measures taken at the start of the pandemic appear to have caused one strain of influenza to go extinct - showing again that the steps taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 also helped avoid other public health threats.

- Leslie Hart and Miranda Dziobak examine the growing body of knowledge as to the spread of toxic microplastics - which can be breathed in through the air as well as taken in through food and water. And Sandra Laville reports that most soft plastic collected for the ostensible purpose of recycling is instead burned, while Sean Amato reports on Alberta's choice to adopt the Beaverton's energy policy and encourage the burning of used tires. (Needless to say, the actual spin that "it's no worse for people than burning fossil fuels!" should be taken as a compelling reason to rein in the latter, not a basis to support the former.)

- Finally, Mary Stuart reports on the deep connections between the Flu Trux Klan and the BC Cons, while Peter Smith examines the sources of some of the conspiracy theories being peddled by the corporate class' choice of parties. And Pratyush Dayal reports on Scott Moe's sudden campaign announcement that using the power of government to bully trans kids is far higher on the Saskatchewan Party's priority list than such trifling considerations as health, welfare and affordability.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Kevin Jiang reports on the results of the largest-ever study into the effects of COVID-19 vaccines - which concludes they've been extremely safe (while serving to prevent far worse outcomes). But Gregg Gonsalves laments that public health authorities are under attack by the forces of ignorance - and taking a dangerously defensive posture as a result. And sadly, Patrick Butler's summary of issues facing children in England reinforces the false and anti-health message that the effects of a pandemic on child development should be blamed solely on public health measures to control the spread of COVID, rather than the dangers and effects of the disease itself. 

- Leigh Phillips discusses how wealthy countries are sabotaging work on a global pandemic treaty by insisting that drug manufacturers' profits take precedence over people's health. And Helen Santoro reports on new research showing that big pharma has made over $70 billions in profits off of $11 billion in public research expenditures to develop ten drugs - and has the gall to be demanding that it be entitled to avoid negotiating those drugs' prices to make them remotely affordable to patients. 

- Mark Olalde and Nick Bowlin examine how the oil industry's profits are similarly based entirely on extracting subsidies from, and dumping environmental costs on, the general public. 

- Matthew Rosza weighs in on the need to stop treating ineffective recycling programs as an excuse for permitting the mass pollution generated by plastics. And Gerry McGovern notes that the default assumption that we should accept waste in the name of convenience serves as a source of easily-avoidable energy use. 

- Gil McGowan writes that the UCP's corporatist zealotry represents a grave threat to basic public services. And Joan Westenberg calls out "side hustle" culture for seeking to squeeze even more out of workers while the rich accumulate more and more unconscionable fortunes. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow offers a much-needed response to the establishmentarians who spout "horseshoe theory" to falsely equate work at building equality with its polar opposite. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Maura Hohman discusses how the U.S. is going through one of its most severe waves of COVID-19 (with very little attention), while Henna Saeed points out the spate of respiratory illnesses in Alberta. And Ashleigh Furlong reports that an attempt to work out a World Health Organization treaty on pandemics is stalling out as COVID minimizers and profiteers hijack any attempt to keep people healthy. 

- Les Leopold highlights how U.S. health care is increasingly being shaped to serve the interests of capital rather than the health of patients. And Susan Zielinski's report on Red Deer's patchwork ERs and Patrick Swadden's report on an Ontario newborn waiting 5 hours to be seen by a doctor serve as appalling examples of how Canada's public health care system is being grossly neglected to allow corporate operators to move in. 

- Graham Readfearn points out how the same types of "cranky uncles" who believe their ignorance to trump scientific fact (generally with prompting from businesses who profit as a result) have been major forces in spreading misinformation about COVID and the climate crisis. 

- Gregor MacDonald discusses how merely adding clean energy on top of continuing fossil fuel operations will fall far short of averting climate disaster. And Owen Jones calls out governments for responding to a climate breakdown in progress by persecuting the activists calling for desperately-needed action. 

- Finally, Mehdi Rizvi writes about the need for policy aimed at building social connections to counter an increasingly atomized and lonely world.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Lauren Krugel reports on a push by Alberta doctors to avoid the further lifting of public health restrictions which will increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Sarah Zhang notes that we're just now seeing a return to widespread recognition of the importance of ventilation in protecting against community spread - though of course more forward-thinking people have been pointing it out since last summer, particularly in trying to keep schools safe. And Jennifer Yang reports on research showing that vaccinations targeted by postal code as well as age can be far more effective in improving health outcomes.  But Robert Hiltz writes that conservatives have effectively given up on doing anything to stop the pandemic, choosing instead to focus on finger-pointing and false hopes that vaccines alone will restore us to normal.

- Robinson Meyer writes about the obvious planning failures which left Texas unprepared to cope with foreseeable changes in weather. And Molly McCracken responds to Brad Wall's attempt to push Manitoba toward the type of privatized and fragmented power system which led to that tragedy.

- Colin Gordon rightly questions the subsidies the U.S. hands out to agribusiness giants.

- Nicholas Kusnetz highlights how the UCP's anti-environmental inquiry mirrors the worst of the U.S.' climate denialists.

- Gary Mason writes that Alberta's claim to have some inherent fiscal advantage has been exposed as a lie. And Scott Schmidt points out that we shouldn't trust right-wing excuses to use deficits as a basis to slash needed services and supports.

- Finally, Amira Elbaghawy discusses how the reported data on hate crimes - worrisome as it is is - severely understates the real damage hate groups inflict on communities. And Osita Nwanevu warns that it's wrong to presume white supremacism and conspiracy theories are spreading only among lesser-educated populations.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren and Michael Stepner study a myriad of issues about COVID-19 and its public reaction - with a focus on how social insurance relieving against the effect of closures has accomplished far more (both for well-being and for economic indicators) than attempts to force businesses to stay open. And Brad DeLong points out the folly of austerity even under normal conditions - and its particular danger in a time of crisis.

- Adam Miller and Amina Zafar discuss the lessons that we should be taking from the Canadian provinces which have best controlled the coronavirus. Laura Glowacki highlights the role that indoor air plays in the community spread of COVID-19. And Zoe Hyde writes that there's little evidence to suggest a lower level of infection or transmission among children as opposed to adults.

- David Hughes highlights the factors which make the TMX pipeline an absolutely useless endeavour at this point. And Mia Rabson reports on the Canada Energy Regulator's conclusion that the same applies to Keystone XL.

- Meanwhile, Simon Enoch weighs in on Saskatchewan's pitiful placement as the least energy-efficient Canadian province.

- Finally, Jonathan Watts discusses the rise of land inequality among farm operations around the globe. And Marc Montgomery points out how that phenomenon is playing out in Canada's prairie provinces. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Armine Yalnizyan discusses the prospect of a shift in how we approach our economy as our usual monetary and fiscal policy assumptions have proven to fall short of meeting social needs. And Taylor Scollon writes that while there's some value to be found in a modern monetary theory model, we shouldn't treat it as an excuse to avoid needed conversations about raising revenue from the people who have it to contribute.

- PressProgress exposes the Libs' plans for future infrastructure to be built on a user revenue model, resulting both in costs at the point of use and a bias toward projects which produce profits rather than positive outcomes. And Iain Sherriff-Scott reports on the push by Jagmeet Singh and Andrea Horwath to ensure that nursing homes operate for residents' benefit rather than to boost corporate interests.

- Lauren McGill writes about the many ways in which we're imposing undue mental health burdens on our children.

- Brian Kahn reports on Exxon's familiar pattern of handing out money to shareholders while simultaneously laying off workers. Andrew Nikiforuk writes about David Hughes' finding that the Trans-Mountain pipeline is nothing more than a waste of money. And David Roberts offers a reminder that any hope of keeping the oil industry booming by developing plastics represents little more than wishful thinking.

- Finally, Joel Millward-Hopkins, Julia K. Steinberger, Narasimha D. Rao and Yannick Oswald study how it's possible to secure a decent living for everybody while cutting our energy use by 95%.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Resource Movement offers a handy primer on wealth taxes (and the value of applying them).

- Jean-Benoit Legault reports on new research showing that pregnant Inuit women are exposed to significantly more contaminants than their counterparts elsewhere.

- David Climenhaga discusses how generations of conservatives have warped any discussion of energy issues in Western Canada by vilifying the National Energy Program and anybody even tangentially associated with it - even when that means blatantly lying to the public. But Simon Enoch notes that with the rest of the world moving past any acceptance of petropropaganda and austerity politics, this year's Saskatchewan election may have been the last one under the province's current conventional wisdom. 

- Meanwhile, David Sirota and Andrew Perez report on the oil industry's embarrassment at its own actions, as one company going bankrupt is setting a precedent by attempting to conceal its political donations from the bankruptcy process.

- Finally, Angus Reid finds overwhelming support among the Canadian public for a universal pharmacare program. And Saad Ahmed makes the case to build our drug manufacturing capacity in order to assure that supply limitations don't prevent people from getting the medicine they need.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Heather Scoffield writes that a genuine commitment to fighting climate change could resolve multiple major issues facing Canada - while delay serves only to exacerbate them:

At the core of today’s western alienation and of today’s search for prosperity is a much larger issue: the future of energy in a warming climate.

It wasn’t on the agenda for the ministers and was only mentioned in passing in the prime minister’s mandate letter of marching orders for federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. And that’s a missed opportunity to tackle the challenges of a carbon-based economy head-on and amplify what so many other key players in Canada are leapfrogging each other to act upon.
...
In an economy that depends so deeply on resource extraction, energy production and the financing and services around those sectors, climate change is primordial. In a recent paper from the Bank of Canada that sets out where central bank researchers need to assess the impact, the author points to oil and gas of course, but also real estate, agriculture and transportation. Electricity generation, infrastructure and any industry that uses a lot of energy are also on the front lines. Insurers, banks, pension funds, investment funds and real estate trusts are also in flux.

And from a consumer point of view, climate is affecting the price of everything, as well as the way we heat and cool our houses, drive our cars, clothe our children and prepare our food.

Global warming, and its fix — decarbonization — touches almost every corner of what we do, and the risks to the economy are enormous, starting now. At stake are our profits, our businesses, our governments’ tax revenues and our very quality of life

- But Marieke Walsh points out the gap between Canada's actions and its already-insufficient emission reduction commitments. And Keith Gerein discusses the utter lack of substance behind the anti-carbon-tax bleatings of the UCP and their right-wing allies.

- Jaskiran Dhillon and Will Parrish exposes the lethal violence authorized by the RCMP against peaceful land defenders in the interest of pushing through pipelines.

- Stuart Thompson and Charlie Warzel examine the information that can be gleaned - and the risks that can be created - from a single set of cell phone location data.

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes about the Libs' extension of EI sick leave benefits, while noting the need to go much further in filling in the gaps in our social safety net.

- And finally, Erica West comments on the multiple meanings of the term "emotional labour" - and the reality that all of them reflect the perpetuation of gender imbalances.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Will Hutton discusses how the U.S.' monopolistic economic system threatens anybody who becomes subject to its whims. And Eric Levitz points out how a wealth tax which ensures that everybody is required to contribute to the price of a functional civilization should appeal to "law and order" voters - particularly when the alternative is to be told that the wealthiest people are too rich to be subject to the rules.

- Katy Jones writes about the reality of the working homeless who can't find any housing despite holding down regular employment. And Christine Rankin reports on Feed Ontario's findings about increased food bank use and continued poverty. 

- Markham Hislop examines Efficiency Canada's provincial policy scorecards, showing Saskatchewan second from the bottom. And Bryan Eneas reports on the dozens of people out of work due to Scott Moe's destruction of the solar sector, while CBC News reports on Moe's insistence on instead pouring more public funding into nuclear power with no regard for the cost or environmental dangers.

- Meanwhile, Alex MacPherson reports that the Saskatchewan Party is also including foreign junkets on its list of spending priorities even as Saskatchewan's residents are stuck with deteriorating services.

- Finally, Mark Maslin writes about the five corrupt pillars of climate change denial.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Roger Eatwell writes that the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment can be traced back largely to the sense that elite-dominated governments have failed to take care of citizens generally, while David Leonhardt likewise notes that inequality can all too easily lead to easily-exploitable resentment. And Geoff Sharpe is rightly worried that Canada's regressive conservatives are destroying any consensus on the value of cultural diversity.

- Richard McKellar offers his list of reasons why British Columbia voters should cast a referendum ballot for proportional representation. David Suzuki points out the importance of reflecting an increased diversity of viewpoints. And Seth Klein discusses why a proportional and cooperative system stands to produce improved policy outcomes.

- Stephen Tweedale argues that the NDP's focus should be on good policy more than populism. And the Notley government's move to ensure that social assistance keeps up with inflation represents a small but useful example.

- David Climenhaga points out how large tar sands operators have booked tens of billions of dollars in profits even while continuously extending demands to governments for still more giveaways and concessions. And while Diego Arguedas Ortiz' observations as to what every person can do about climate change are worth a read, they shouldn't take away from the urgent need to break free from political control by the resource sector.

- Meanwhile, Alex Hern reports on new research showing the gross waste of resources resulting from the "mining" of bitcoin and other alternative currencies.

- Finally, Eric Newcomer discusses the hidden costs of working in the gig economy.

On the social environment

Having written my column this week on one of the more glaring areas of increasingly alarming neglect from the Saskatchewan Party under Scott Moe, I'll take a moment to point out the other single policy change that I find most striking.

D.C. Fraser has reported on a reduction in funding to climate change programming, with that choice having been the subject of some commentary. But a cut in what was already a pathetically small budget line for ministerial operations stands out particularly in the light of one of the few (if tiny) additional revenue sources the budget actually includes:

Saskatchewan Finance Minister Donna Harpauer announced the PST exemption on both light used vehicles and Energy Star appliances will be discontinued. 
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The Finance Ministry says energy savings already provide a strong financial incentive to buy Energy Star appliances. The removal of this exemption is expected to generate $3 million in revenue.

That explanation is especially noteworthy in treating individual financial considerations as effectively the only reason to value energy-efficient appliances. 

Never mind the seemingly obvious advantages of energy conservation for the purposes of reining in climate change, or minimizing the load on the province's power system. Moe has decided that he doesn't care about those issues - and only wants people making positive consumer choices where (and to the extent) they're based on purely individual financial considerations. 

Of course, that position is entirely on brand with the Saskatchewan Party's hostility toward any policy oriented toward broader environmental issues. And indeed, the removal of incentives for greener consumer purchases can be seen as a mirror image of Moe's intractable refusal to discuss responsible carbon pricing (or any other form of greenhouse gas emission reduction).

But by singling out energy efficiency for higher taxes even while applying his party's boilerplate anti-tax rhetoric elsewhere, Moe is making clear that his party is determined to make the complete rejection of environmental responsibility into a foundational principle - a view which is also consistent with the slashing of the province's already-meager climate change branch. And voters who recognize that we have a common interest in a liveable environment have every reason to push back.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Larry Elliott discusses how the stock market is reacting with disgust against rare good economic news for workers and the general public. Asher Schechter interviews Angus Deaton about the connection between monopolies, rent-seeking and burgeoning inequality. And Bill Kerry writes that we have ample reason to ask what use the rich are to society at large when their wealth is hoarded and sheltered.

- The Broadbent Institute lists the Filthy Five worst tax loopholes which cost Canada eleven figures worth of revenue every year for no discernible social benefit. And PressProgress zeroes in on the business entertainment loophole in particular.

- CBC reports on a new study finding that nearly a million Canadians skimped on food or other necessities of life in order to pay for prescription drugs, while 1.6 million took less than the medicine they were prescribed due to an inability to afford it.

- The Local reports on Germany's proposal to make public transport free in order to cut down on pollution from vehicle use.

- Finally, Gordon Laxer writes that it's long past time for Canada to extricate itself from NAFTA rules requiring it to continue producing and exporting dirty energy.

Leadership 2018 Links

The latest from the Saskatchewan NDP's leadership campaign as the January 19 membership deadline approaches.

- CBC and Colton Praill each reported on this weekend's debate in Moose Jaw, with both reports focusing on a combination of general similarities with slight nuances.

- Devin Wilger reported on Trent Wotherspoon's visit to Yorkton, while the Parkland Review noted his time in Nipawin.

- Meanwhile, Brian Zinchuk interviewed Ryan Meili in some depth about about his plans for energy and the resource sector, while Meili also launched an updated version of his book A Healthy Society. (For those interested, I've discussed the first version in previous blog posts.)

- Finally, Jason Hammond offers his take on how the Saskatchewan Party's leadership process might influence NDP voters - and theorizes that the styles and backgrounds of the two candidates could have substantially different effects depending on the Sask Party's choice of leaders.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Joseph Stiglitz writes about the need to learn from past mistakes in order to build a sustainable economy for the future:

To someone like me, who has watched trade negotiations closely for more than a quarter-century, it is clear that US trade negotiators got most of what they wanted. The problem was with what they wanted. Their agenda was set, behind closed doors, by corporations. It was an agenda written by, and for, large multinational companies, at the expense of workers and ordinary citizens everywhere.

Indeed, it often seems that workers, who have seen their wages fall and jobs disappear, are just collateral damage – innocent but unavoidable victims in the inexorable march of economic progress. But there is another interpretation of what has happened: one of the objectives of globalisation was to weaken workers’ bargaining power. What corporations wanted was cheaper labour, however they could get it.

This interpretation helps explain some puzzling aspects of trade agreements. Why is it, for example, that advanced countries gave away one of their biggest advantages, the rule of law? Indeed, provisions embedded in most recent trade agreements give foreign investors more rights than are provided to investors in the US. They are compensated, for example, should the government adopt a regulation that hurts their bottom line, no matter how desirable the regulation or how great the harm caused by the corporation in its absence.
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American capitalism in recent years has been marked by unbridled greed – the 2008 financial crisis provides ample confirmation of that. But, as some countries have shown, a market economy can take forms that temper the excesses of both capitalism and globalisation, and deliver more sustainable growth and higher standards of living for most citizens.

We can learn from such successes what to do, just as we can learn from past mistakes what not to do. As has become evident, if we do not manage globalisation so that it benefits all, the backlash – from the New Discontents in the north and the Old Discontents in the south – is at risk of intensifying.

- Meanwhile, Martin Wolf comments on the Republican tax plan which is built to benefit nobody besides plutocrats. And Michelle Goldberg notes that there's every reason for millenials to hate a capitalist system which is creating nothing but obstacles to basic security and personal progress.

- Heidi Shierholz discusses the Trump administration's latest move to reward the worst of the worst exploiters, this time by allowing employers to pocket employees' tips.

- Brian Doucet and David Hulchanski both write that the Libs' much-ballyhooed "housing strategy" falls far short of earning that title.

- Finally, Mike Crawley reports on the massive amounts of consumer money going to Ontario's private power generators for inappropriate expenses. And Don Pittis discusses how Canada's electrical system is already far over the amount of generating capacity it needs - with the public purse bearing the cost of old and inefficient generation through corporate-friendly fixed contracts.

Leadership 2017 Links

The latest on the NDP's leadership campaign.

- Karl Nerenberg sees the youth debate in Montreal as having shown more differences in style than substance, while Christo Aivalis identifies some more clear distinctions. And James Munson examines the candidates' positions on economic development, innovation and the social safety net.

- The Tyee interviews Charlie Angus about the long road he's taking toward the leadership. And Cory Collins interviews Peter Julian about his plans for the leadership campaign and beyond.

- Speaking of which, Julian announced his plans for a Just Transition to clean energy (going a long way toward clarifying the previous brouhaha over pipelines), while also earning Erin Weir's endorsement.

- Meanwhile, the PBO has caught the Libs fudging the numbers on Guy Caron's private member's bill on small businesses.

- Finally, L. Ian MacDonald contrasts the Cons' comically childish excuse for a leadership race against the NDP's adult conversation.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Carol Goar writes about the need for Canada's federal government to rethink how we view taxes. And Simon Wren-Lewis tries to explain the resilience of austerian ideology even as it fails every test in the real world.

- Paul Krugman discusses how Donald Trump's greatest sin in the eyes of Republicans is his disruption of their own existing cons, while Matt Phillips interviews Branko Milanovic about the economic disparity behind the rise of Trump among other toxic leaders. And Joel Schlesinger writes about the growing number of younger workers who don't see retirement ever becoming a realistic option.

- Suzanne Goldenberg reports on the U.S.' publicly-funded work into new battery technology which is significantly outpacing private-sector research. And Valentina Ruiz Leotaud discusses the joint effort between the environmental and labour movements to develop a strong, sustainable renewable energy economy.  

- But Chris Hall writes that this week's much-ballyhooed federal-provincial meeting produced far less than promised, as nobody seems to agree on what was actually decided. And Michael Harris notes that the most retrograde of the politicians involved - and particularly Brad Wall - figure only to doom themselves and their provinces to obsolescence in the process.

- Finally, Mark Dance highlights the important role several public institutions have played in securing funding fairness for First Nations even at a time when the Harper Cons were doing everything possible to neuter them.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Katie Hyslop contrasts Canada's longstanding recognition that housing is a human right against the gross lack of policy action to ensure its availability:

Canada has signed and ratified the 1976 United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and in Article 11 it does recognize "the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions."

"Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right," the next sentence of the covenant says.
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Canada has also ratified the UN's International Convention on Women's Rights, and had a hand in drafting the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Both of these also mention a right to housing, either as part of a right to "a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family," or on a basis of equity with men who enjoy a right to adequate housing.

"Essentially, Canada has committed on the international scene to respecting a right to adequate housing for every resident in Canada," said Margot Young, law professor at the University of British Columbia.
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Evidence that Canada is failing to deliver on that right is in our overcrowded shelters, tent cities, or sidewalk camps, where an estimated 235,000 people experience homelessness every year. By definition, it would seem, their right to housing as guaranteed by the covenants Canada has signed, is being denied. 
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The Canadian Homelessness Research Network estimated in a 2014 report that a comprehensive national housing strategy that included maintaining and expanding social and indigenous housing, as well as rental and home owner subsidies, could be implemented for about $4 billion a year -- twice what the federal government has been spending on social housing in recent years. Offsetting that, however, would be annual savings in emergency and social services that the Network estimated at $7 billion.

But the pay off would be more than financial, Larkin says. "One of my hopes would be that it would change the social structure of our cities," she says, "to accept that we should have diversity in all of our cities, that people who are not the richest of the rich should also be allowed to live in Vancouver, and that people should be able to age in place."

Meanwhile, Canadians may have a moral right to adequate housing enshrined in international covenants -- and our federal government has signed on in principle. But 40 years later, it's still not ready to put that principle into action. Getting it to do so, experts agree, will be a job for politics rather than the law.

- Meanwhile, Vineeth Sekharan examines the connection between adverse childhood experiences and later homelessness. And Denise Leduc documents how the Wall government's attacks on Saskatchewan corrections conditions are leading to dangerous results for inmates and their children.

- Art Eggleton makes the case for Canada to test - and ultimately implement - a basic income. 

- Tom Randall discusses how a major shift toward electric vehicles may be just a few years away - and would fundamentally reshape our current level of reliance on oil.

- Finally, Jim Bronskill reports on Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault's call for cabinet offices to be included in Canada's access to information legislation. And Andrew Mitrovica points to a recent hearing with CSIS and RCMP officials as a prime example of how we can't leave oversight of state action solely in the hands of MPs.