Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Owen Jones writes that a stunning Green by-election win in the UK can be traced to their offering meaningful hope that things can get better while Labour has chosen a strategy of reactionary centrism. And G. Elliott Morris highlights how the problem U.S. Democrats face with voters is one of being perceived as weak rather than falling offside of people's values. 

- George Tsakraklides discusses the myriad ways in which our existing systems and structures are being wrecked - as well as the need to build up again from the wreckage. 

- Seth Klein points out the desperate need for public investment as part of Canada's economic reorientation, including through new or revitalized Crown corporations. But Taylor Noakes reports on yet another instance of Mark Carney instead serving the interests of dirty capital, this time by facilitating the development of fossil fuel-powered data centres following a flurry of lobbying. And Darius Snieckus reports on Investors For Paris Compliance's warning that the capital class' push to lock us into fossil gas infrastructure represents a losing bet for Canadian savings. 

-  Finally, the Norwegian Consumer Council offers a painfully apt take on the enshittification of our world:

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Inae Oh weighs in on the neo-royalism fueling Trump's sense of divine right. Seva Grunitsky points out that a hubristic belief that might makes right has caused the downfall of empires before as it likely will for the U.S. And Ryan Cooper discusses the prospect of countering the Trump regime by punishing the uber-rich who have lent their wealth and power to him - though the difficulty in trying to do so speaks to the dangers of their accumulated wealth.

- Owen Jones calls out Trump's "Board of Peace" as combining rank neocolonialism with yet another grift. Daniel Beland and Klaus Petersen discuss why the people of Greenland (like those virtually everywhere) want nothing to do with Trump's rule. And Luke O'Neil notes that the fear of Trump arises precisely from his refusal to recognize anybody but his immediate circle as human and deserving of any respect or consideration. 

- Reuters reports on new U.N. research showing that most of humanity is already facing dangerous water supply limitations - with much worse to come. And David Thurton reports on Environment Canada's warning that 2026 is likely to be yet another of the hottest years on record. 

- Finally, Matt Simmons and Lauren Walsh report on LNG Canada's excessive flaring which has made an already-polluting operation into far more of a climate bomb than promised. And Maxine Joselow discusses the Trump administration's choice to value human lives at zero in order to facilitate industrial pollution. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sherrilyn Ifill examines how resistance to the Trump regime has developed and influenced events over the course of the first 100 days. But Peter Shamshiri laments that the corporate media continues to try to invent favourable narratives about Trump in the face of a decade of evidence establishing that they're utter nonsense.

- James Hardwick discusses how the housing crisis is primarily the result of commodification resulting in distorted distribution of resources, rather than a mere supply-and-demand issue that can be meaningfully addressed by catering to capital. Megan Carullo reports on new research showing that the gap between stagnant wages and a rising cost of living continues to grow in the U.S. And Reuters reports that the Trump regime's plans to squeeze citizens even further include dismantling any effort to track corporate offenders. 

- Adi Robertson warns about the dangerous pairing of AI and other technology designed to attract sensitive user information, and a surveillance state with no scruples about seizing and misusing personal data. And Danyaal Raza weighs in on the connection between privatized health care and the commercial sale of personal health information. 

- David Corbeil discusses Quebec's positive steps in ensuring that both new and existing buildings are set up to enable the use of electric vehicles. And Marc Lee warns against British Columbia's plans to pour public resources into fossil gas extraction and exports rather than investing in a clean energy economy. 

- Curtis Fric notes that the same Canadian public which just delivered its most polarized election result in ages has no desire to be stuck with a two-party system on an ongoing basis. And Christo Aivalis discusses how Mark Carney's prioritization of corporate interests over the working class is betraying progressive voters who were vital to his retaining power - while one of his cabinet members confirms the corporate mindset of the Lib government:

Wayne Long, newly-minted secretary of state for Canada Revenue Agency, tells reporters in Ottawa today: "I think we're going to see our government run like a corporation, which I think is long overdue."

— Steven Chase (@stevenchase.bsky.social) May 14, 2025 at 9:06 AM

- Finally, Marc Edge's review of Laurent Carbonneau's At the Trough highlights how Canadian corporate subsidies primarily result in windfall profits for foreign shareholders rather than any economic development. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Mariana Lenharo discusses the arduous process of trying to recover from the trauma and destruction of a fossil-fueled climate disaster. Karl Mathiesen reports that in the case of Spain's unprecedented flooding, any attempt to survive and rebuild has been complicated by pitifully unprepared emergency alert systems (resulting from the political choices of the anti-science right). And Zach Colman and Jessie Blaiser write that the majority of a three-year-old U.S. fund for resilience measures is still sitting unspent. 

- John Woodside discusses how any case for liquid gas exports is crumbling as the environmental costs of fossil gas production become more obvious while the price of clean alternatives plummets. Sharon Riley reports on the rural Alberta residents warning of the risks of an eleven-figure carbon capture project being rammed through without any consideration of environmental effects or Indigenous rights. 

- Charlie Mather and Gerald Singh point out that industrialized food systems are becoming dangerously fragile. And Patrick Greenfiled reports on the warning from experts that governments are continuing to destroy vulnerable ecosystems at alarming rates even after committing to work on protecting biodiversity. 

- Rumneek Johal calls out the Trudeau Libs for scapegoating immigrants for political gain. And Arwa Madhawi offers a reminder that Elon Musk and other wealth hoarders will never face the restrictions and punishments they campaign to impose on mere commoners. 

- Jason Koebler writes that the recent spate of tycoon-driven stifling of endorsements of democracy in the U.S. presidential election confirms that we need to view billionaires as a threat to free media. 

- Finally, Angela Hennessy reports on the growing recognition that the same collusion and price-fixing already being investigated in the U.S. has also been applied to Canada's rental housing market. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Christopher Nardi reports on Liam Iliffe's unwitting revelations about how fossil fuel companies regularly thumb their noses at lobbying requirements and other rules while pulling the strings of compliant Canadian governments. Amanda Follett Hosgood discusses the growing push to ban at least blatantly false greenwashing, while John Woodside notes that it's telling that only the oil and gas sector is screaming bloody murder over a standard of accuracy which would apply to all kinds of business.  And Genevieve Guenther examines the new language of climate denial (which will sound painfully familiar in the Canadian political context). 

- Eric Ralls reports on a new study finding that air pollution is responsible for a nine-figure death toll since 1980, while Joao Medeiros laments the reality that such an ubiquitous killer is barely even recognized. And point out that the damage from forest fires includes multiple harms to lakes and waterways.

- Simon Wren-Lewis discusses the importance of highlighting how right-wing attacks on public revenue are the cause of the crisis in public services - and the reality that more and fairer taxes are a must to build the public institutions people want and need. And Kim Siever points out that strong public-sector jobs are good for the economy - meaning that the perpetual right-wing drive to make them privatized or precarious is all about waging class warfare against workers. 

- Finally, Gabriel Zucman offers a proposal (PDF) for a coordinated wealth tax to ensure the global ultra-rich can't evade any responsibility to the social sources of their profits. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Novinite surveys the numerous countries facing unprecedented heat warnings as the most extreme effects of the climate crisis hit earlier in the year than ever before. And Matt Simon discusses the release of black carbon from wildfires as yet another dangerous climate feedback loop. 

- Emma Cooper-Smith and Hannah Lindell-Smith highlight how liquified natural gas is a climate menace rather than a solution. But Christopher Bonasia reports on a Con-affiliated lobby group's insistence on running ads which have been found to be misleading as their fossil fuel fanaticism outweighs any interest in accurate information, while Rob Miller calls out the oil and gas industry for its spin and propaganda seeking to expand dirty energy production and consumption alike. 

- Geraint Harvey and James Wallace point out that employers are consistent foisting the costs of neglecting workers' health and welfare on the public purse. And Adam King notes that the Trudeau Libs have rendered the right to strike nugatory for rail workers by using bureaucratic mechanisms to prevent unions from using their bargaining power. 

- Joan Westenberg discusses how trickle-down economics have always been a miserable failure toward their asserted goal of improving general welfare through wealth building - though they've worked wonders in concentrating the wealth that does exist in the hands of a perpetually greedier few. 

- Finally, Elizabeth Smythe examines how the UCP is following a worn and predictable playbook to dismantle democracy. 

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. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Paola Frelich writes about the uber-rich whose habit of being strictly isolated from anybody else has allowed for life to continue as usual while workers face the risks of a pandemic. And Dominic Rushe comments on the split in the U.S.' economy between those with concentrated wealth which is only growing thanks to massive capital injections, and those scrambling to make ends meet as minimal benefits have been allowed to expire.

- Patrick Butler reports on the results of an inquiry finding a direct link between poor housing and COVID-19 death rates in the UK.

- Lynn Giesbrecht reports that Saskatchewan's pediatricians are just the latest group of experts to raise the alarm over the province's lack of a plan to ensure student and staff safety as schools reopen. Arthur White-Crummey reports on the concerns of Saskatchewan teachers about the risks of poorly ventilated schools. Kristin Rushowy reports on Doug Ford's rejection of any attempt to reduce class sizes to protect against the spread of COVID-19. And Rachel Mendleson and Jennifer Yang highlight the need to ensure that before- and after-school programs don't become an unaddressed source of viral spread. 

- Finally, J David Hughes discusses how massive subsidies to British Columbia's liquid natural gas industry have proven disastrous both for the environment and the economy. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jonathan Aldred highlights how COVID-19 has laid bare the folly of a neoliberal economic structure which encourages insecurity, fragility and illusions of control over the unforeseen. And Merran Smith and Michel Letellier discuss how a rebuilding program centred on clean energy will be superior to pouring money into the status quo from an economic perspective and well as an environmental one.

- Meanwhile, Cathal Kelly argues that it's foolish to prioritize the resumption of professional sports at a time when so much of our ability to engage with the world remains at risk due to an ongoing pandemic.

 - Dustin Godfrey reports on the decisions of two of TransMountain's insurers to wash their hands of involvement in pipeline construction. And the Energy Mix notes that Shell is joining other oil giants in writing down assets which aren't likely to be extracted, while Carl Meyer reports that liquid natural gas terminal operators are likewise recognizing they're relying on dubious bets about fossil fuel consumption.  

- But as dirty energy becomes ever less practical based on any fair evaluation, Emily Atkin writes about the cynical efforts of the sector (which has regularly imposed the burden of environmental destruction on minority communities) to associate clean energy with racism.

- Robert Sweeny writes about the Parliamentary Budget Office's most recent findings indicating that racial and economic inequality are worse than ever. Nimalan Yoganathan discusses how Jagmeet Singh's punishment for exposing actual racism in Parliament signals how racial inequality remains entrenched in our political system. And Sajmun Sachdev highlights how Singh's treatment mirrors the plight of many who have been told to apologize for calling out racism.

- Finally, Naomi Lakritz warns about the dangers of returning to the austerity and corporatism of Ralph Klein's Alberta. And Laurie Macfarlane discusses Boris Johnson's anti-democratic plan to put rebuilding in the hands of private developers interested in nothing but further building their own obscene wealth.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Don Pittis writes about Thomas Piketty's take that Bernie Sanders may be exactly what the U.S. needs.

- Laurie Penny wonders whether we're yet capable of overcoming the culture of complicity around the powerful men daring the justice system to hold them to account for immoral abuses of others. Laura Bassett questions why Mike Bloomberg expects a pass on dozens of examples of harassment and discrimination. And PressProgress calls out Andrew Wilkinson for minimizing the harm suffered by survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

- Elisha Dacey reports that after seeing the benefits of a strong film industry, Manitoba is making its film tax credit permanent. And Zak Vescera reports on Scott Moe's willingness to forgo federal health care funding in order to leave Saskatchewan on the hook for the privatization of medical services which has led to a doubling of waitlists.

- Charlie Smith points out that liquid natural gas projects too make little sense from a sheer business perspective even if one assigns zero value to both Indigenous rights and environmental protection.

- Finally, Scott Schmidt discusses the importance of speaking out against harmful government choices rather than silently acquiescing in social destruction - and while his focus is on the UCP, the message is one worth applying generally.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Leach and Martin Olszynski go into detail about the calculations around the Teck Frontier mine - and particularly how any pricing assumptions which could make development viable are far out of date.

- Kate Yoder points out how the fossil fuel industry has been producing massive amounts of fake news among its other forms of pollution. And Jen Gerson weighs in on the laughable propaganda emanating from the UCP's war room.

- Meanwhile, PressProgress documents the connections between the kamikaze campaign which helped install Jason Kenney in power, and the UCP's attempts to have the federal government foot the bill for orphan oil well liabilities which would otherwise fall on some high-profile party funders.

- Martin Lukacs and Shiri Pasternak report on the nearly immediate attempt by businesses and the B.C. government to abolish Aboriginal title as soon as it was recognized by the Supreme Court. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how Canada's colonial legacy continues in the forcible takeover of Wet’suwet’en land.

- Finally, David Moscrop writes about the need for protest to challenge injustice built into the status quo. And Emily Riddle offers a reminder that we can fully expect police forces to defend entrenched power.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Fiona Harvey writes about the perfect storm of environmental crises leaving us at risk of societal collapse. And Tim Flannery calls out the deception and denial from Australia's government after it has contributed to setting its own country ablaze.

- Mark Olalde and Ryan Menezes report on California's old and abandoned wells - signalling that the problem of the public being forced to foot the bill for the exploitation of oil resources goes far beyond Alberta.

- Steve Lambert notes that Scott Moe's scheme to ship oil through Manitoba has been suggested - and rejected - before. Vassy Kapelos and John Paul Tasker report on the latest estimates showing the cost of Trans Mountain to be ballooning. And Cameron Fenton makes the case against approval for the Teck Frontier tar sands mine.

- PressProgress points out the unwillingness of Public Safety Canada, CSIS and the RCMP to properly label far-right extremism and terrorism. And Andrew Nikiforuk laments the choice of colonialism over reconciliation as both the B.C. and federal governments push a natural gas pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en land.

- Finally, Emily Needham reports on Scott Banda's choice to ally himself and the Co-op system with bigots and white nationalists in order to attack the workers who have made his corporation massive profits. And David Climenhaga examines Jason Kenney's propaganda network which is now being turned against health care workers.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Justin Nobel exposes the toxic - and even radioactive - side effects of the oil and gas industry. Reuters reports on the widespread presence of permanently-dangerous chemicals in drinking water in cities across the U.S. The Canadian Press reports on charges against an Alberta company arising out of a hydrogen sulphide leak. But Inyat Singh notes that Alberta's provincial auditor is just about to begin a review of one of the lasting environmental harms being dumped on the public in the form of orphan wells - and Sharon Riley writes that Alberta's government has buried the facts on that front before. And Paul Cowley discusses the likely-futile attempt of Alberta municipalities to secure the power to require oil and gas operators to pay their tax bills, even as Jason Kenney declares they're far more deserving of sympathy and public financial support than, say, people living with disabilities.

- Duncan Cameron points out how the corporate elites at Davos are prioritizing oil profits over a liveable planet. And Adam Scott and Patrick DeRochie discuss the folly of gambling public pension funds on fossil fuel infrastructure such as the the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

- Umair Irfan reports on the protest by Harvard law students against the firm working on helping Exxon and other oil giants escape any consequences for their contribution to the climate breakdown. But Joshua Sealy-Harrington points out how a combination of soaring tuition and limited options upon graduation is making it difficult for law school graduates to pursue work in keeping with their values.

- Gernot Wagner offers a reminder that the oil industry was aware of the realities of climate science before most - and that it worked feverishly to suppress the truth and manufacture doubt in order to keep extracting profits. And Stephen Maher writes about Volkswagen's evasion of any criminal charges for its emissions fraud.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk debunks the myths being used to try to paint liquid natural gas and other fossil fuel expansion projects as a solution to climate change, rather than an aggravating factor.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Mike Pearl discusses the climate despair of people understandably having difficulty working toward a longer term which is utterly neglected in our most important social decisions. But Macleans' feature on climate change includes both Alanna Mitchell's take on what a zero-emission future might look like, and an editorial calling for far more action to get there than either the Libs or Cons is willing to even suggest (let alone deliver).

- Meanwhile, Gregory Meyer offers a reminder as to how methane leaks make natural gas a non-starter when it comes to maintaining a liveable climate. And Nerilie Abram, Matthew England and Matt King point out the dangers of instability in giant Antarctic ice sheets.

- But John McMurtry discusses how the Koch Brothers and other plutocrats are trying to buy public ignorance to ensure that environmentally destructive plans are permitted. And David Climenhaga writes that Jason Kenney is looking to distract from any issue worthy of public discussion by funding conspiracy theorists to write fiction about environmental activists, while Graham Thomson also calls out the lack of any rational basis for Kenney's McCarthyite project.

- David Macdonald offers a primer on tax fairness for Canadians examining their options in this fall's federal election. And the Canadian Press analyzes how British Columbia's anti-speculation tax has collected $115 million for a fund dedicated to affordable housing.

- Finally, Jolson Lim reports on the decision of human rights advocates and labour representatives to resign from a Trudeau-appointed advisory body which was falling short of offering anything remotely resembling corporate responsibility.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Roberts writes about the developing recognition that we all bear responsibility for consumption emissions - though even better would be a focus on limiting emissions produced, consumed and exported alike. Daniel Masoliver examines some of the steps we can take as individuals to rein in our own emissions - though those pale in comparison to the scale of the problem originating with large polluters. And Benjamin Neimark, Oliver Belcher and Patrick Bigger point out the massive emissions emanating from the U.S.' military.

- Marc Lee discusses the absurdity of trying to claim massive LNG developments as a credit rather than a cost in trying to avert a climate breakdown. And Paul Willcocks calls out Andrew Scheer's combination of magic asterisks, corporate giveaways and attempts to game emission credit systems masquerading as a climate plan.

- Katie Bach, Sarah Kalloch and Zeynep Ton point out how employers themselves benefit by treating workers with respect rather than contempt. And Michelle Cohen makes the case for employers to at least foot the bill for mandatory sick notes - though the more important question is the frequency with which they're required in the first place.

- CBC News reports on Hamilton's failure to take violent right-wing extremism seriously - as evidenced by the fact that police have been used to protect bigoted groups from peaceful activists. Martha Gill comments on the need for skepticism about supposed defences of free speech which amount to nothing more than attempts to ensure that ignorance and bigotry are allowed to be emitted unopposed. And Michael Coren offers a warning about Andrew Scheer's hatred and intolerance (however it's concealed while he seeks power).

- Finally, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman respond (PDF) to dubious questions about the effectiveness of wealth taxes in both increasing revenue and ensuring greater equality. And Byrd Pinkerton and Dylan Matthews question why deceased plutocrats are able to impose their will on the world from beyond the grave.

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Farhana Yamin discusses the need to answer the imminent threat of climate breakdown with direct action to force politicians to develop an adequate response (which, to be clear, does not include new pipelines or other subsidies for fossil fuels). Peter Armstrong reports on how a deteriorating climate is making homes uninsurable. And the Sprawl writes that Alberta can't afford continued climate denial.

- Meanwhile, Marc Lee points out the absurdity of pretending that the increased extraction and burning of natural gas will do anything but exacerbate our climate crisis. And Simon Lewis and Charlotte Wheeler note that monocultural plantations are no substitute for natural forest ecosystems in mitigating carbon pollution.

- The Guardian reports on the worldwide consequences of the U.S.' generation and disposal of plastic waste.

- Dave Meslin writes about the undue corporate influence on Canadian politics. And Amanda Follett Hosgood questions why the same RCMP which pays short shrift to disappeared Indigenous women can find the capacity to serve as a private army for pipeline construction.

- Finally, Michael Salmato discusses how corporations and wealthy individuals pocketed the Trump tax giveaway while ensuring no benefits would trickle down to U.S. workers.

Friday Evening Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Kate Aronoff highlights the lack of realism on the part of "adult" politicians demanding that the existential threat of climate breakdown be met with a grossly insufficient response. And Anders Fremstad and Mark Paul write about the dangers of an ideology of climate inaction:

Climate wonks regularly warn that “business as usual” cannot avert climate change. But, while that is true, the phrase itself betrays a neoliberal obsession with making “business” fit for purpose – a tweak here, a nudge there – as if citizens were merely passive subjects of larger economic forces. We all have an active role to play in shaping the economy. But to do so requires that we first shake off the constraints that neoliberal thinking has placed on the public imagination.
...
The policies that have resulted from this mindset – defunding or otherwise curtailing public investment, deregulating the economy, and decentralizing democracy – have prevented the US from weaning itself off fossil fuels. Policymakers from both parties have refused to advocate, or even countenance, public investments in carbon-free alternative energy sources and infrastructure.

The belief that government can only ever impede economic dynamism represents a sharp departure from the Keynesian worldview that dominated policymaking from the 1940s to the 1960s. Policies based on the belief that government spending on public goods complements the private sector, rather than crowding it out, helped the US achieve unprecedented growth in the postwar era.

In a Keynesian economic regime, government interventions are regarded as necessary to solve coordination problems, which is precisely what climate change is. Sadly, a brief revival of Keynesian thinking after the 2008 financial crisis was quickly stifled by the politics of austerity across the West, foreclosing efforts to reduce GHG emissions through large public investments in transportation, green public housing, and research and development.

- Ben Parfitt rightly questions how subsidies for increased fossil fuel extraction can possibly be reconciled with a viable climate policy. Sarah Lawriniuk discusses the impact suburban sprawl is having in exacerbating carbon pollution. And Nicole Mortillaro reports on the progress some countries have made in actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

- Paul Adams laments the current single-issue hive mind in Canada's political media, particularly in contrast to the wide coverage once expected from any newspaper.

- But lest anybody think that this week's common focus hasn't given rise to some worthwhile commentary, Murray Mandryk argues that we should seek more political leaders willing to tell difficult truths. And Hayden King theorizes that Jody Wilson-Raybould's revelation of the rot in Canadian colonial politics could help lay the groundwork for something better.

- Finally, Luke Savage makes the case to abolish the extreme concentration of wealth in order to ensure that everybody is able to meaningfully participate in political decision-making.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jerry Dias writes that corporate greed is the common thread in numerous stories about Canadian workers being left without jobs or support. And Yves Engler points out that trade agreements have ultimately served little purpose but to entrench corporate power.

- Chris Doucouliagos reminds us that inequality is ultimately bad for everybody - no matter how hard the wealthy fight to preserve it in the false expectation of personal gain. And Denis Campbell discusses how austerity has exacerbated disparities in life expectancy in the UK.

- Juan Carlos Rivillas and Fabian Dario Colonia discuss the importance of the social determinants of health in ensuring (or limiting) health inequalities. And Kelly Hodgins discusses how false assumptions about low-income people results in a lack of access to healthy food.

- Tom Gunton sets out a few lessons from the failure of the B.C. Libs' LNG scheme. And Lindsay Kines reports on the Horgan NDP government's needed move to question the Libs' reliance on corporate-funded consultants make decisions on environmental assessments.

- Finally, Tom McIntosh offers a reminder that Brad Wall's departure merely confirms that he's led his party to a point where it can't defend its own actions while in office.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Angella MacEwen offers her suggestions as to what a fair and progressive trade agenda should look like:

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms are especially unpopular, as they prioritize investor rights over investor responsibilities. Canada and Mexico have had similar dismal experiences under NAFTA — while the US has never lost a NAFTA investor-state case. ISDS chapters should be eliminated from progressive trade agreements, and any new investor protections should be subsidiary to national judicial processes and privilege state-to-state settlements.

The most effective way to compensate and transition people who lose out from economic shocks — whether from trade, automation or a variety of other sources — is to have a well-financed social safety net and universal public services. Employment Insurance and associated active labour market policies are important, but so are universal health care, child care, affordable housing and other elements of the welfare state. This is why public services must be fully carved out.

Transparency and accountability are missing from the current trade model. We need more than token stakeholder meetings or vague gender chapters to correct this gap. Environmental, human rights and gender audits can reduce exploitation and guide policy-makers toward better policy. Initial audits would be enhanced by a public system for regular monitoring and assessment of specific outcomes over time.

Finally, economic development strategies, such as strategic government procurement and community benefit agreements, must be available to domestic governments at all levels.

All of these areas represent untapped opportunities for significant improvements based on an alternative vision of a real “progressive trade agenda” — one that truly puts workers and the environment first.

- And Jim Stanford discusses how Canada is better off for Petronas having pulled away from its plans for a giant, unsustainable LNG project.

- Christine Saulnier takes a look at the lessons which should be learned from Nova Scotia's disastrous experiment with P3 schools. But Kelly Grant reports that the Trudeau Libs aren't much interested in being informed of the dangers of privatization run amok, as they pushed ahead with approvals for private plasma donations in the face of warnings from Canadian Blood Services.

- Which is to say that the Globe and Mail's understandable push for the Libs to put human rights ahead of profits when it comes to arms exports is likely to meet with something less than a receptive audience.

- Finally, Phil McDuff points out how a shift from first-past-the-post politics to a proportional electoral system would actually offer the public control whose absence resulted in the UK's Brexit vote (among other signs of citizen discontent).

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Cathy Crowe writes that there's no excuse for putting off action to provide housing to people who need it - not only because of the inhumanity of waiting, but because there's plenty of evidence as to what works:

Over the years big money, at least according to my standards, has gone to academics and health researchers who examine the social determinants of health. For 30 years, I’ve studied their work and quoted from their articles and reports. I believe them. Poverty, lack of housing or shelter, racism, unemployment or low wages negatively impact on health and increase the chance of an early death.
...
This week Toronto Public Health released a glimpse of the homeless death data they are collecting. The numbers are shocking: 46 people died while homeless between January and June of this year. That number now surpasses Toronto stats for death by homicide or in traffic accidents. The average age of a homeless person's death is 50. That’s 30 years younger than the Canadian average. Shocking, but it confirms all the social determinants of health research.

What's more alarming is what we're not being told, what is being contemptibly held back by Toronto Public Health until the one year mark of the research in 2018. This includes: What was the gender breakdown of deaths, how many were youth, what were the medical causes of death, how many were suicides, how many were overdoses, how many were traumatic deaths such as hypothermia, how many occurred outside or in a shelter or hospital? So much information collected by the city that could guide solutions today but no, the gap between research and action just widens.

One has to wonder if it’s ethical to not release data when there is such widespread concern but perhaps more frightening, who is influencing the decision to stay silent and why?

- But sadly, the CP reports that the same Saskatchewan Party government which can't be bothered to fund housing programs which more than pay for themselves is looking to nickel-and-dime social assistance recipients to death.

- Matthew Yglesias notes that the U.S. Democrats are making a sorely-needed push for renewed antitrust enforcement.

- Andrew Nikiforuk examines how Christy Clark's plan for permanent high prices as the basis for liquefied natural gas development went so wrong in the face of entirely predictable market realities. And Jacqueline Hansen offers a warning about Canada's unsustainable reliance on real estate transaction fees.

- Alan Broadbent and Noah Zon offer some important perspective on Ontario's employment standards by asking which elements of the employer-biased status quo are actually defensible. And Morgan Lowrie reports on continued calls for needed protections in Canada's temporary foreign worker system - for the benefit of both immigrant workers and domestic ones alike.

- Finally, Valerie Wilson, Janelle Jones, Kayla Blado and Elise Gould discuss the persistent wage gap facing black women in the U.S.