Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Crawford Kilian writes about the profound and numerous forms of loss arising from the wildfires which leveled much of Jasper, while Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out the typical firestorm of disinformation which immediately followed from the anti-reality right. Edward Struzik discusses the need for a more general strategy to deal with wildfires and other climate calamities, while Jen St.-Denis reports on the federal government's plan to launch satellites aimed at detecting and tracking fires. And Liny Lamberink reports on a study showing that the fallout from last year's fires near Yellowknife include the release of hundreds of tons of arsenic.

- Gloria Dickie reports on Antonio Guterres' renewed call for climate action in response to yet another peak in extreme heat. Darius Snieckus discusses Canada's place on the list of petrostates dooming any hope of reaching the world's Paris commitments through constant fossil fuel expansion. And Marco Chown Oved notes that Canada is falling behind international peers in renewable energy development, while Paul Rogers writes that climate change is one of the areas where a new Labour government may lead the UK to be a more constructive actor. 

- James Dinneen reports on the collapse of forests as carbon sinks as the climate breakdown both limits carbon absorption and results in increased emissions. Vincent Gauci discusses new research showing that tree bark absorbs methane - making natural forests all the more important in trying to save a habitable planet. And David Stanway reports on a new study showing how climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. 

- Finally, Martin Lukacs writes about the reality that decades of soaring corporate profits in Canada have been pocketed by the wealthy few rather than being invested in workers or business development. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jillian Ambrose reports on a study showing that there's no reason to approve any new fossil fuel development to meet current demand forecasts - and every reason to reject new projects as they push us toward further climate breakdown. 

- Gordon McBean discusses the need to hold the oil and gas sector accountable for decades of lying about climate change. And Max Fawcett writes about the perpetual dishonesty of the dirty energy industry in misrepresenting scientific research - but as Amanda Follett Hosgood reports, the public is being punished for the release of findings of misleading advertising. 

- Meanwhile, Naveena Sadasivam reports on the dangerous quantities of methane being emitted by landfills. 

- Mariana Mazzucato weighs in on the immense waste of resources involved in using massive amounts of energy on AI data centres. And Asaf Tchazor et al. warn that inaccurate information in AI-generated agricultural advice could precipitate food shortages - though it's apparently not yet at the point of recommending Brawndo for irrigation purposes. 

- Dalmeet Singh Chawla reports on Japan's move to make all publicly-funded research subject to open access.

- Finally, Martin Lukacs writes about the class war pantomime which clouds any real discussion of wealth and power inequality in Canada - including the fact that the Cons' corporate backers know better than to take Pierre Poilievre's posturing seriously:

The establishment media, in turn, have either amplified his anti-corporate message, or reinforced it by bemoaning it. In the Toronto Star, Susan Delacourt tut-tutted about the unfortunate “demonization” of “big business” (before admitting she’s close buds with lobbyists).

They’ve thus let Poilievre wear his chosen mantle, despite all the contradictory evidence: nearly half his governing council are lobbyists, every other week he is hobnobbing and fundraising in their presence, and his main advisor owns not one but two lobby firms.

But he’s keeping up the schtick because it’s working. A few weeks ago, he continued the corporate bashing in an op-ed in the National Post, telling business leaders to “cancel your lunch meeting at the Rideau Club,” “fire your lobbyist,” and “go to the people.”

A rare journalist at iPolitics decided to solicit the view of lobbyists themselves.

“The entire public affairs community in Canada smiled knowingly reading that National Post article,” one veteran lobbyist said . “A government led by Pierre Poilievre with his ministers will absolutely continue to engage the way they have with corporate Canada.”

In other words, they got Poilievre’s message: rest assured, the circus is for the rabble.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Brian O'Boyle discusses how Ireland's choice to act as a tax haven for the ultra-wealthy has done nothing to help its citizens. And the Center for Working-Class Politics notes that a strong majority of Americans support a jobs guarantee, making it both a desirable means to boost worker interests and a political winner. 

- But then, Martin Lukacs highlights how Canada's media has gone far out of its way to manufacture sympathy for landlords at the expense of tenants. And Katya Schwenk reports on Wall Street's mass takeover of housing.  

- Cecilia Nowell writes about the dangers of ultra-processed foods - both in encouraging overeating, and in causing a variety of health issues. And David Barnett talks to Patrick Grant about the deteriorating quality of clothes (which isn't being matched by any lowering of prices).  

- The Canadian Press reports on new Leger polling finding a majority of Canadians to support the Loblaws boycott against profiteering and monopolization. 

- Cloe Logan writes about the work being done by labour activists to try to protect workers from the effects of extreme heat. 

- Finally, Tom Perkins reports on both new research showing the ubiquity of "forever chemicals" in the Great Lakes basin, and a study finding glyphosate in a majority of sperm samples at an infertility clinic. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- William Becker rightly argues that the U.S.' practice of prioritizing fossil fuel donor profits over the health of the public and the planet represents the biggest energy scam in its history. Norm Farrell discusses how Canada is similarly one of the world's biggest climate laggards, due largely to the subsidies and carveouts handed to the oil sector. And Jeffrey Simon reports on the nascent efforts to ensure that fossil fuel companies pay at least part of the cost of the harms they've inflicted - with particular reference to the effect of the 2021 heat dome on an Oregon county. 

- Meanwhile, Anders Wijkman discusses the need to stop emphasizing material consumption if we're ever going to rein in the climate crisis (among other environmental catastrophes in progress).

- Asher McShane reports on the need to prioritize sustainability over cheapness in food production. But Martin Lukacs examines how Canadian food policy continues to be dictated by a few giant grocery corporations whose owners have seeded the Libs and Cons alike with massive donations. 

- Allison Jones reports on Ontario's need for tens of thousands of additional health care workers over the next few years - even as the Ford PCs' top priority is to conceal the problem. 

- Finally, Charlie Angus calls out Pierre Poilievre's politics of intimidation, including both his choice to ally himself with the likes of Alex Jones and the Diagolon extremists, and his choice to build a violent rag machine for his own purposes. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sean Boynton reports on new research showing that the deadline 2021 heat dome was significantly exacerbated by the climate crisis. And William Boos discusses modeling showing a strong likelihood that we'll see another record-breaking summer for heat and humidity in the tropics. 

- Meanwhile, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood notes that even as the Cons shriek about even the slightest policy aimed at alleviating the climate breakdown, the Libs' budget is pushing action down the road (and in some cases even reducing previously-planned funding over the next few years). 

- Amanda Chu and Jamie Smyth report on the predictable role of Exxon and other fossil fuel conglomerates in trying to stall progress on a global plastics treaty. And Craig Hodge, Christina Seidel & Natasha Tucker discuss the need to take a full life-cycle view in managing plastic pollution. 

- Luke Savage takes note of the push to boycott the Loblaws empire, while lamenting the futility of trying to withhold business from an oligopoly. 

- Finally, Martin Lukacs discusses how Pierre Poilievre is parroting big pharma's talking points in seeking to prevent Canadians from having access to needed medications. Luke LeBrun reports on Poilievre's latest meet-and-greet with Diagolon extremists and other rebranded arms of the Flu Trux Klan. And Steve Buist makes a valiant if futile appeal for Poilievre to stop trafficking in cynical fearmogering and general madness. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Geoffrey Johnston examines how the latest wave of COVID-19 is swamping Ontario's health care system while its cumulative effect is reducing life expectancies. Philip Moscovitch discusses the dangers of repeat COVID infections. And Zaki Arshad, Joshua Nazareth and Manish Pareek offer a reminder that the same vaccination, masking, and testing which have been vital to limiting the spread of COVID for the past three years remain so now even if they're being treated solely as individual choices rather than ongoing public health necessities. 

- Martin Lukacs interviews Eriel Deranger about what happened at COP28, with fossil fuel interests and their fully-owned politicians looking to block progress at every turn. And Binoy Kampmark points out that the end product is both non-binding, and ineffective even to the extent it were treated as having any effect (as also noted by the experts surveyed by Carolyn Gramling).

- Topher Sanders et al. expose the combination of bullying and bribery used by major rail companies to prevent the accurate reporting of worker injuries so they can avoid safety regulation and keep dangerous conditions in place. 

- Finally, Kenan Malik discusses how the hesitancy to challenge the class power of the wealthy has sapped politics of any meaningful effect. And while Rachel Cohen's interview with Brent Cebul rightly challenges the neoliberal view that the sole focus of policy development should be to gesture toward a given problem as cheaply and profitably as possible, it's worth noting the problem with trying to co-opt business interests by handing them even more money and power. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Scott Dance reports on the scientific recognition that the Earth's oceans are warming far faster than previously feared, while Sid Perkins discusses the particularly large temperature increases in parts of the north Atlantic. And the American Geophysical Union points out that humanity's unanticipated effects on the planet include pumping so much groundwater as to have altered the Earth's rotational axis. 

- Damian Carrington reports on the World Bank's recognition that massive fossil fuel and agricultural subsidies are major contributors to environmental damage. And George Monbiot writes about the connection between fascist politics and climate change denial.

- But lest anybody think the problem lies solely in right-wing parties, Alex Ballingall reports on how the Trudeau Libs have failed to spend billions in promised climate funding. And Markham Hislop laments the state of Alberta's climate politics on all sides, while Martin Lukacs points out how fossil fuel lobbyists are largely dictating the direction of the provincial NDP in multiple provinces. 

- David Moscrop discusses how the Ford government is using glaringly inaccurate budget estimates to justify a failure to fund public services. 

- Lauren Weber, Caitlin Gilbert and Taylor Lorenz report on the systematic development of astroturf groups intended to establish naked reactionary bigotry as the basis for health policy. 

- Finally, Anand Giridharadas' commencement speech to Sidwell Friends School offers a compelling call to young people to work on fixing the institutions which are so profoundly broken. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Evelyn Lazare discusses how the refusal of the powers that be to act to mitigate an ongoing pandemic is only ensuring that its effects will be worse and longer-lasting than they need to be. And Emily Moskal reports on a promising new type of long-cost, non-refrigerated vaccine which could provide a means of protecting everybody if any attempt were being made to help anybody. 

- Rebecca Leber writes about new data showing that air quality is deteriorating in the U.S. as the pollution caused by the productions of climate change (including wildfires, heat and drought) outweighs any gains in pollutant regulation. And the Canadian Press reports on a release of polluted water from a Suncor tar sands mine, while Natasha Bulowski reports on the warranted outrage of Indigenous leaders who were kept in the dark about Imperial Oil's release of toxic tailings into food and water sources.  

- Julian Jacobs writes about the contrast between the capital class which continues to rack up massive increases in wealth, and the recession of choice being imposed on workers. And David MacDonald points out how federal benefits for housing and dental care have seen low uptake rates which results in far less improvement of people's material conditions than promised. 

- Emily Leedham offers a primer on the strike among federal government bargaining units seeking to avoid losing ground, while Jeremy Appel reports on the massive strike vote among WestJet pilots. 

- Finally, Max Fawcett writes that the alt-right takeover of Twitter has allowed Pierre Poilivre to claim one victory over truth in his contrived fight against the CBC. And Martin Lukacs points out that beyond serving to separate more gullible supporters from their money, Poilievre's false outrage also works the refs to help ensure the CBC's coverage remains objectively biased in favour of conservatives. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Shiloh Payne reports on new numbers from the World Health Organization showing that COVID-19 is responsible for nearly 15 million excess deaths around the globe. Liji Thomas writes about the widespread harm caused by long COVID in the U.S. And Neetu Garcha interviews Sanjiv Gandhi about the plight of children facing severe illness and death from COVID and other (likely related) infectious diseases. 

- James Powell discusses how Doug Ford's developer-heavy housing task force is utterly failing to address the "affordability" part of its mandate. Rachel Cohen writes about the concerted attack on housing first measures by conservatives bent on preventing public policy aimed at getting people into permanent homes. And Wayne Mantyka reports on the fire at a Regina tent community as a predictable outcome of focusing on dismantling alternatives rather than ensuring housing is available. 

- Deena Winter reports on cluster of cancer and other fallout from 3M's dumping of chemical waste into drinking water supplies. And Sabranth Subramanian reports on the massive public liabilities left behind as a result of the UK's Sellafield nuclear site. 

- Landon Wilcock discusses the desire of oil and gas workers to shift to industries which have a future - along with the best means to get them there. And Brett Forester reports on the call from MPs to ensure the resource extraction sector takes responsibility for its contribution to violence against Indigenous women. 

- Zak Vescera points out how labour regulation hasn't caught up to the systematic exploitation of workers by gig platforms.  

- Finally, Martin Lukacs and Emma Paling report on the deep organizing which enabled Ontario workers to push back against some of the Ford government's excesses. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Anand Giridharadas writes about the dangers of letting political discussions become primarily a matter of process and personalities, rather than the real impact decisions have on people's lives. 

- Graham Thomson calls out Jason Kenney for his consistent refusal to acknowledge the reality of COVID - both in communicating with the public and in making decisions about how to respond to a deadly pandemic. And Tanya Lewis points out the need to upgrade face masks to deal with more infectious COVID variants. 

- Kristian Nielsen examines the role privileged people will play in determining whether we're able to avoid a climate catastrophe. Max Fawcett discusses Canada's choices in its approach to the upcoming United Nations climate change conference - noting that all available evidence suggests that it's countries who get ahead of the inevitable transition to clean energy who will be best off in the long run. And Rebecca Leber discusses how Republicans are ensuring their states will be left behind by prohibiting municipalities from implementing any effective climate action. 

- Meanwhile, Heather Scoffield writes that investors and financial institutions are recognizing that the future is renewable as well - though they may need a boost from public policy to fully incorporate the into their decisions. 

- Douglas Todd writes about the reemergence of inheritance culture, as the children of families with wealth to spare are nearly alone in their ability to afford a home in Canada's major cities. And Chris Lehmann reviews Matthew Stewart's The 9.9 Percent as an important description of the group of workers outside the wealthy elite which works to preserve its privilege. 

- Finally, Melissa Ridgen interviews Murray Sinclair about the path toward reconciliation. And Martin Lukacs writes about the Defenders of the Land who are challenging the exercise of colonial power and pointing the way toward reconciliation based on the mutual recognition of rights.  

#Elxn44 Roundup

The latest from Canada's federal election campaign.

- D.T. Cochrane reviews the parties' platforms and finds the NDP's to be both the most progressive and the most fiscally responsible. And Martin Lukacs and Ben Cuthbert examine the voting records of the Libs and the Cons - finding a regular pattern of the two voting together to block progressive priorities. 

- John Woodside reports on the Climate Action Tracker's conclusion that the Trudeau Libs' climate policies rate as "highly insufficient" to avert climate breakdown.  

- PressProgress continues to offer plenty of important insight into Erin O'Toole and his party - this time pointing out both O'Toole's eagerness to make common cause with health care privatizers, and Brampton South candidate Ramandeep Brar's belief in an entitlement to silence a former worker who dared to raise issues of wage theft and abusive working conditions. 

- Meanwhile, Haseena Manek writes about Angella MacEwen's work to not only win a seat for herself, but build progressive capacity in Ottawa. 

- Finally, Joe Roberts traces the rise of the PPC to anger among Canadians, while noting the glaring need to ensure that people who recognize a need for change perceive a viable left-wing alternative to the politics of bigotry and hate. 

On concealed motivations

Martin Lukacs worked for years documenting and explaining the Libs' concealed raison d'etre...

Whenever discontent builds up, the Liberals have always been there to safely channel it, like a political shock-absorber.

They’ll wink to the elite, and then pose as anti-establishment to the broader population.

And...Trudeau just...he blurted it out.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Kevin Maimann discusses how Alberta's health care system is on the brink of collapse due to a complete COVID governance failure. Zak Vescera reports on the health care workers begging Scott Moe to make some effort to avoid the same in Saskatchewan, while Yasmine Ghania reports on the people trying to do their part by getting tested who are facing unconscionable delays due to the lack of testing capacity. And CBC News reports that public support for vaccine passports is soaring in both Saskatchewan and Alberta despite provincial governments taking the side of COVID. 

- Meanwhile, in case there was any thought that the Delta variant would be the last source of further COVID waves, Kenyon Wallace reports on the spread of the Mu variant in Ontario. And Katharine Wu discusses why people who may have given up on wearing masks while being told the pandemic was over should be rethinking that course of action. 

- Amy Westervelt calls out the oil industry's "discourses of delay" as a means of pushing for continued fossil fuel extraction and avoiding the action we need to avert a climate catastrophe. And Martin Lukacs discusses how the Trudeau Libs have eagerly served Canada's oil barons while attempting to greenwash themselves and the industry. 

- But Carbon Tracker points out how anybody looking past the short term will need to reckon with the inevitability of leaving fossil fuel assets unexploited. And Adam Hoverman and Melissa Lem weigh in on the increasing calls among health care professions to end our reliance on fossil fuels.

- Finally, as we plan pandemic and energy transitions, David Beers offers a reminder of the roads that were open to us after 9/11 - and the loss we've suffered by accepting violent imperialism rather than a more caring society. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- David Olive rightly questions why big pharma has been gifted intellectual property monopolies and multi-billion-dollar profit streams over COVID vaccines developed through publicly-funded research. Ivan Semeniuk and Kelly Grant write about the push to speed up the delivery of second vaccine doses in areas facing the spread of the Delta variant.

- Martin Lukacs exposes the choice of Seumus O'Regan and his Department of Natural Resources to act as oil lobbyists within government, including by trying to interfere with scientific decision-making on environmental issues.

- PressProgress reports on the Winnipeg Police Department's alliance with - and publicity work for - a secretive and insular religious sect. 

- Melissa Mancini reports that Ontario is once again promising improvements in living conditions for residents of long-term care homes while doing absolutely nothing to enforce the rules which would require it. 

- Alanna Smith highlights how the UCP's criticism of "red tape" hasn't prevented it from imposing punitive restrictions on harm reduction initiatives. And David Climenhaga points out that the same party that bleats constantly about "ethical oil" is going far out of its way to ensure Saudi Arabia can enrich itself off of Alberta agriculture.

- Finally, Luke Savage writes that we should be treating space exploration as a matter of humanity's common interest, not a source of amusement and profit-seeking for the world's wealthiest people.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Robyn Urback criticizes the Ford PCs' habit (matched by other conservative governments) of responding to COVID-19 with continued cycles of procrastination followed by panic. And Rachel McLay highlights how political will has been the key factor in Atlantic Canada's success in suppressing the coronavirus.

- Andre Picard writes about the complete loss of perspective involved in focusing on remote risks of vaccines while ignoring the far more severe public health cost of delaying or preventing their use. And Alexander Zaitchik discusses how Bill Gates' involvement in vaccine development and distribution includes pressuring countries to prioritize pharmaceutical monopolies (and associated profits) over the distribution of vaccines.

- Nathalia Passarinho and Luis Barrucho report that the COVID-19 death toll in Brazil includes thousands of young children. And Hannah Ellis-Pedersen discusses a new wave (sparked by new variants) threatening to produce absolute calamity in India. 

- Hawa Mire notes that Ontario's ineffective vaccine rollout has been caused largely by underlying inequalities. And Andrew Jackson and Katrina Miller offer their take on the new normal we should be working to build as we recover from the pandemic.

- The Guardian highlights the need for the media to report on the climate emergency with appropriate coverage - both in paying due attention, and discussing it in sufficiently serious terms. 

- Finally, Martin Lukacs exposes the Libs' secret committee with oil lobbyists which served to ensure that neither any pandemic relief nor any recovery infrastructure would affect the continued dominance of petropolitics in Canada. Christian Favreau characterizes the Trudeau strategy as one of denialism through gradualism. The Canadian Press reports on the continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions due to the weakness of the Libs' half-efforts, while Bob Weber discusses new research showing how Canada is consuming a grossly disproportionate share of the global carbon budget. David Thurton reports on the tens of billions of dollars we continue to spend subsidizing the fossil fuel sector every year. And David Cochrane, Salima Shivji and Aaron Wherry report that the Cons' competing plan is to do even less to price carbon pollution, with a pinch of corporate cronyism tossed in.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Katherine Scott and David Macdonald take a look at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canada's labour force survey data - confirming that employment dominated by women has seen the most severe losses, and figures to take the longest to recover. Joel Dryden and Sarah Rieger offer a look at the large number of people with "co-morbidities" which are being cited by the likes of the Kenney UCP as reason not to worry about COVID-19 deaths. And Zak Vescera reports on the acute effect of the coronavirus on First Nations and their residents.

- Stephen Buranyi writes that we shouldn't be fooled by the spin of pharmaceutical companies seeking credit for COVID-19 vaccines developed with public support.

- Martin Lukacs highlights how the Libs' insistence on putting a carbon tax at the core of their climate change policy - rather than a Green New Deal which would include tangible benefits for most people - only figures to make the Cons' job easier in obstructing any progress. And Beth Gardiner notes that the best we can say about climate action globally in 2020 is that we didn't quite extinguish any hope of the transition we need.

- Jolson Lim reports on new research by the CRA showing that individuals pay their taxes far more quickly than corporations. And PressProgress highlights a new poll showing how Manitobans are rightly skeptical of for-profit care home operators.

- Finally, Nick Wells reports on the push for a safe national drug supply as the prospect of an even more deadly year looms. And Heidi Atter reports on the work being done by the Nēwo Yōtina Friendship Centre to set up a community-based supervised consumption site in Regina as the provincial government continues to drag its heels.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jeff Rubin writes that the hoarding of supplies over the course of the coronavirus pandemic has provided compelling evidence that globalization falls apart just when it's needed most. And Amir Attaran warns that the Libs' failure to recognize that reality may leave Canada years behind other developed countries in being able to deploy vaccines.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board writes that we're just entering a new phase of the fight against COVID-19. Apoorva Mandavelli reports on new research showing that live coronavirus can float through air. And Monica Gandhi highlights how cloth masks protect both the wearer and others by limiting the amount of the virus transmitted through any interaction.

- Sam Gindin discusses the importance of rooting organization in the working class in order to counter the power of both capital and institutional inertia.

- Doreen Nicoll warns about the effect of public-private partnerships which remove democratic control over water, turning it instead into purely a commodity. And Sarah Rieger reports on Nichole Robinson's swimming protest against Jason Kenney's plans to prioritize coal mining over clean drinking water in Alberta. 

- Finally, Martin Lukacs and Tim Groves expose how corporations and wealthy individuals have been militarizing Canadian police departments against citizen activism.

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.

- Martin Lukacs writes that the Trudeau Libs' attempts to put a glossier face on politics as usual may be running into a less than compliant public:

Not just in Canada, but around the world we have seen the emergence of an airbrushed, focus-grouped avatar liberalism—“yuppie simulacrum of populist breakthrough,” in Perry Anderson’s words—to face the challenge from a democratic-socialist left and an ugly resurgent right. This model of politics was ground-tested by the Obama administration and is today exemplified in the “extreme centrism” of Trudeau, French President Emanuel Macron, and U.S. Democratic politicians like Pete Buttegieg and Beto O’Rourke. What these men all share in common is an effort to forge a new consensus that can salvage the failed yet still pervasive neoliberal governing logic that counts extreme inequality and climate breakdown as its most obvious consequences.

Alongside a continued support for privatization, deregulation, corporate tax cuts, and a slow withdrawal of the welfare state, these political figures have tinkered around the edges to give their conservative economic policies a patina of emancipatory progressivism. Trudeau offered reforms, like a means-tested Canada Child Benefit, more representation of women and racialized people in cabinet and the civil service, and incremental measures on climate change. But none of Trudeau’s actions have so far threatened the authority of corporate interests to set the political agenda.

In rare moments, Trudeau has been candid about his role as a diligent manager of the status quo. Describing his government’s early achievements in a late-2016 interview with the Guardian (U.K.), the prime minister said: “We’re actually able to approve pipelines at a time when everyone wants protection of the environment. We’re being able to show that we get people’s fears and there are constructive ways of allaying them—and not just ways to lash out and give a big kick to the system.”

While the brand of the messenger of this formula has evidently been damaged since then, the formula itself lives on.
...
If “radical centrism” of the kind offered by Trudeau is not helping this situation, the question is whether it will be the right-wing who seizes on popular insecurity and directs it toward scapegoats, or whether a resurgent left can channel it in a movement against vested interests.

There are some hopeful signs. Class politics have made a return to western countries, however haltingly in Canada. Polls show enormous popularity for wealth taxation and programs like a Green New Deal. While the NDP under Jagmeet Singh has stopped its slow slide to the centre, its ability to advocate in opposition for the vastly ambitious policies that Canadians are evidently hungry for has yet to be seen.

The moral clarity and passion shown by a new crop of young left-wing parliamentarians suggests one way forward. But ultimately what we need is a voice for a radically different vision for the country—a vision rooted in redistribution, solidarity, and equality. Nothing less will test the Liberal government’s continued success in capturing voters by saying progressive things they may not ever mean.

- And Canadians for Tax Fairness points out that we've already reached Corporate Tax Freedom Day, with Canadian businesses having made enough money in the first work week of the year to pay all they'll be asked to contribute to a functioning country.

- Geoff Davies writes about the failure of neoliberal economics in Australia. And Royson James highlights how the Eglinton Crosstown LRT serves as a prime example of the dangers of public-private partnerships.

- Nicola Davis reports on the connection between severe childhood deprivation and permanent harm to brain development.

- Finally, John Vidal laments the loss of a decade in taking meaningful action against a global climate breakdown. And while Amanda Cahill raises the possibility that the fossil fuel sector should foot the bill for this year's calamitous bushfires, Reuters reports that Australia's Liberal government is instead responding with continued denialism.

New column day

Here, discussing how Justin Trudeau is campaign entirely according to the formula so thoroughly documented by Martin Lukacs - and why voters seeking change need to reject politicians committed to the preservation of power and privilege.

For further reading...
- Others have also discussed Lukacs' The Trudeau Formula, including Nora Loreto and Joel Laforest. And some of Lukacs' own analysis can be found here and here.
- David Macdonald documents the high cost and minimal benefit of the tax cuts which represent the Libs' largest platform commitment.
- Finally, Duncan Cameron writes about the need to break the cycle of Lib and Con governments in order to ensure meaningful action in response to the climate crisis. And Charlie Smith points out the risk that Trudeau will again accept putting the Cons in power - though I'd note that the most significant factor might be Trudeau's willingness to support a Scheer government as the price of preserving an electoral system which freezes the public out.