Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Amy Westervelt and Kyle Pope call out five of the most insidious fossil fuel propaganda messages. Fiona Harvey reports on Todd Stern's rightful observation that the continued pushing of fossil fuels in the name of "grownup" decision-making in fact represents a catastrophic failure of leadership. And Johannes Stangl points out that a concerted focus on removing the lowest-value carbon pollution could slash emissions by 20% with minimal economic impact. 

- Meanwhile, in case anybody wanted to pretend that the carbon-fueled status quo was somehow defensible as a means of improving the lot of developing countries, Andrea Shalai reports on the World Bank's warning that inequality between the richest and poorest countries is worsening as development stagnates at the lower end of the spectrum. 

- Jimmy Thomson discusses how Yellowknife, Fort McMurray and other communities hit with calamitous wildfires are bracing for their next emergencies. Crawford Kilian writes about the RCMP's concealed recognition of the stormy future in store for Canada. And Eric Shragge and Jason Prince write that municipalities could be the engines to tackle the most important crises we face - though of course right-wing provincial governments are doing everything in their power to prevent anybody else from filling their own leadership vacuums.  

- Finally, Andre Mayer writes that one of the main obstacles to housing affordability is the choice to financialize real estate. And John Dorman points out that nobody is well served by a situation in which some people feel obliged to stay in larger houses than they need for want of practical alternatives, while others are unable to find houses of exactly that size for their families. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Phillips offers a reminder that Canada will pay the price for a climate breakdown whether or not it partially prices emissions in the moment - though it's worth noting that even the existing combination of taxes and regulations falls far short of the investments we should be making in transitioning to a clean society (especially when compared to the massive subsidies incentivizing increased fossil fuel extraction). And Aaron Wherry notes that thanks in part to the know-nothingism of the Cons and their oil industry backers, there's very little public awareness of the rebate side of the federal carbon pricing system. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out that Danielle Smith is adopting some of the most laughable coal baron talking points on the planet in an attempt to excuse pushing further extraction with no regard for the climate crisis or the need for potable water. 

- David Climenhaga writes about the UCP's plans to assemble a provincial police force under their political control. And Jim Bronskill reports that the bigoted Flu Trux Klan was given primacy over any interest in police safety, as officers weren't warned of active threats to harm police.   

- David Moscrop writes about the immense power accumulated by Loblaws as a provider of everything, and corporate tech giants as the largest monopolists on the planet. And Erica Johnson et al. report on the continued pressure banks are putting on their employees to push financial products which consumers don't want or need. 

- Finally, Susan Riley writes that the prescription drug plan being developed at the federal level represents only a few baby steps toward a full pharmacare program - and wonders whether we'll ever see that latter goal reached. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Armine Yalnizyan offers a warning about the spread of the tapeworm economy in which corporate profiteers wriggle their way into public services and siphon off resources.  

- Julia Velkova discusses how reliance on tech monopolists undermines the capacity to decide and deliver on social priorities. And Allen Best points out the absurdity of subsidizing massive data centres which inevitably cause environmental harm and strain on public infrastructure. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the precarious state of Alberta's water supply - and the utter lack of any government response to avert disaster. And Dana Nuccitelli writes that the tar sands are singlehandedly preventing Canada from living up to its climate commitments - while also resulting in our oil sector generating far worse carbon pollution per capita than even the U.S.'.  

- Michael Haederle points out new research finding microplastics to be present in every new human placenta. And Sandee LaMotte writes about use of predigested slurries to keep people from having their hunger fulfilled. 

- Finally, Ethan Cox exposes how the federal government has lied and withheld information about its use of private spies who are actively monitoring journalists. And Bryan Carney reports on a special report from Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne on the RCMP's systematic violations of privacy through undisclosed online surveillance. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Claude Lavoie examines the problems with the far-too-rarely-questioned assumption that public policy needs to be oriented toward top-end economic growth at the expense of human well-being and environmental sustainability. 

- George Monbiot calls out how the wealthiest few have torqued the law to achieve impunity for themselves while punishing anybody who dares to question their dominance. Steven Staples points out that a Canadian public inquiry into foreign interference is conspicuously refusing to even recognize the control over decision-making exercised by Big Foreign Oil. And Ethan Cox exposes how a private surveillance company is spying on journalists with the apparent support of both the Alberta and federal governments, while Amanda Follett Hosgood points out that the RCMP's unit formed to ignore the rules and force through pipelines is now being turned against other activists (including people protesting for Palestinian human rights). 

- Meanwhile, Sharon Lewis offers a reminder that insurance companies aren't buying the climate denial being pushed on the public at large - with the result that people are increasingly unable to get insurance to cover foreseeable disasters. 

- Benjamin Shingler reports on Canada's lack of effective regulation to weed out false greenwashing. And Andrew Hawkins discusses Ian Walker's research as to how vehicles are designed to filter out awareness of their harmful effects (even as they become perpetually more dangerous for everybody else in the vicinity of the road). 

- Finally, David Climenhaga writes about Danielle Smith's choice to declare war on trans kids, while Amnesty International Canada calls it out as a glaring violation of human rights. And Corinne Mason and Leah Hamilton point out the complete absence of any factual basis for the UCP's campaign of hate. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Zaina Hamza discusses new research showing how COVID-19 fatalities hit younger people and caused more loss of expected years of life in the second year of the pandemic than the first. Kenyon Wallace discusses why 2022 was the deadliest year of the pandemic yet in Canada, while Carrie Tait reports on the tripling of the number of Canadians hospitalized with COVID since this time last year. Erin Prater writes about the recognition that a COVID infection may allow dormant viruses to reactivate in one's body. And David Climenhaga comments on Danielle Smith's determination to ensure nothing is done to limit the spread of respiratory diseases on her watch, while David Parsley reports on John Drury's observation that the UK Cons are failing to protect people from long COVID. 

- Meanwhile, the Good Law Project exposes what the UK Cons have been more interested in: funneling billions of pounds of public money to a few well-connected VIPs. 

- Amy Westervelt discusses how the the documents released as a result of the U.S. House's investigation into climate disinformation show a fossil fuel sector determined to stay in a polluting past and prevent anybody from progressing past it. And Adam Aron writes about the importance of local climate organizing to overcome the industry's obstruction. 

- Meanwhile, David Berman points out the massive special dividends doled out by corporate conglomerates who claim not to have profiteered off of price increases. 

- Thomas Zimmer discusses the threat Elon Musk and other alt-right tech bros pose to any open discussion on the platforms they control. And Gal Beckerman examines contemporary accounts from the 1930s to discuss what the descent into fascism feels like in real time. 

- Finally, Ted Rutland exposes how the Trudeau Libs conspired with the RCMP and other law enforcement interests to carry out push polling and manufacture opposition to defunding the police. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes that the decision to stop doing anything to limit the spread of COVID-19 is opening the door for a forever plague. Olivia Bowden and Kenyon Wallace report on the start of a summer COVID-19 wave in Ontario, while Cindy Harnett discusses how one is also cresting in British Columbia. And Erin Prater examines the groups of people (covering a large proportion of the population) who are most likely to be vulnerable to long COVID, while Megan Leonhardt reports on the failure of far too many employers to support workers who suffer from it. 

- Fawziah Rabiah-Mohammed, Abe Oudshoorn, Cindy Brown and Luc Theriault discuss the need for Canada to build more housing for immigrants and migrants. And Holly Funk writes that Saskatchewan's minimum wage continues to fall far short of what people need to live. 

- Lori Fox discusses British Columbia's climate refugees pushed out of their homes by unprecedented fires and smoke. And Thomson Reuters reports that glaciers are becoming increasingly unstable as our planet keeps overheating. 

- Finally, Dayne Patterson reports on the revelation that the RCMP spied on advocates for Medicare. And Dennis Gruending rightly treats that as an example of Canada's police state being used to push the wrong side of history. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katherine Wu writes about the much-needed update to COVID-19 vaccines coming this fall - and the challenge getting people to receive them after months of false messaging about the pandemic being over. 

- Steven Lewis discusses how the privatization of health care (including surgical services) stands to undermine our universal Medicare system. And Andrew Gregory reports on a new study showing how the UK Cons' privatization was the direct case of avoidable deaths alongside other demonstrable harm to services. 

- Charles Pierce points out how the hard right has been getting what it's paid for in securing a stranglehold over the U.S. Supreme Court. And Brigette Bureau reports on the intimidation of judges in Canada by Flu Trux Klan terrorists, while Brett Forester reports that the RCMP remains far more interested in infiltrating peaceful land defenders than dealing with the actual violence in our midst. 

- Emily Leedham reports on WestJet's attempts to use scab labour to operate while refusing to provide acceptable wages and working conditions for check-in clerks.

- Finally, Alex Himelfarb makes the case for proportional representation as a means of guarding against anti-majoritarian control over public policy. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Adeel Hassan reports on the dominance of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains in the U.S. Phil Tank reminds us of the folly of the Moe government's admonition that people should assess their own risk even while actively suppressing the data which could make that possible, while Wency Leung reports on the push among experts for Canada to reinstate mandatory masking policies to limit the damage from a new wave. And Virginie Ann reports on research showing that the public health measures which Canadian governments seem determined never to use again helped to save tens of thousands of lives. 

- David Shield reports on research linking Saskatchewan's alarming HIV rates to inadequate social assistance. And Noushin Ziafati reports on the recommendation of a coroner's inquest jury that Ontario declare an epidemic of intimate partner violence and focus on eradicating it. 

- Edward Ongweso Jr. writes that we should recognize any current bout of inflation as being caused by corporate greed rather than pandemic stimulus payments to individuals. And David Sirota discusses how John Roberts has been central to the constitutionalization of corruption in then U.S.  

- John Clarke discusses the RCMP's "pipeline police" who have been mandated to violently suppress land defenders. And Natasha Bulowski reports that the Libs' case for TransMountain depends on its use to export dirty fossil fuels for a century.  

- Finally, Ariana Kelland reports on one case showing the continued fallout from the Phoenix pay fiasco, as an employee lost her home and her job after going without pay for months. Shelley Murphy reports on a much-needed award of damages to an employee who was handed on a platter to U.S immigration services in retaliation for reporting a workplace injury. And Chris Brooks discusses the possibility of substantially building strength in organized labour - as long as unions' organizational models are updated for the new reality in the workplace. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jon Henley writes that COVID is surging across Europe as governments and people alike ignore desperate warnings not to let their guard down. And Eric Topol writes about the reality that reinfection produces even worse outcomes than initial exposure - even as governments have largely abandoned any effort either to minimize spread through public health measures, or to reduce individual impacts through further vaccines. 

- Alex Cosh discusses how more and more Canadians are going hungry while corporate profits soar. 

- Fiona Harvey reports on research showing the need for consistently accurate climate messaging for people to understand the urgency of our climate crisis. David Moscrop writes about the stark contrast between Justin Trudeau's spin on climate change and his government's consistent catering to the fossil fuel sector. And Jan Gorski argues that Canada is more than capable of meeting its climate commitments if it stops operating in denial of the steps needed to get there. 

- Meanwhile, John Michael McGrath points out how the determination of where to bury nuclear waste comes down to a decision as to whose water supplies will be put at risk of radioactive contamination if all doesn't go as planned.  

- Finally, Ken Rubin discusses how Canada's access to information system has fallen far short of the promise of open government due to the combination of overly broad exemptions and governments' cynical refusal to comply with either the spirit or letter of access legislation. And Elizabeth McMillan reports on the results of the Mass Casualty Commission's review showing how the RCMP endangered lives by withholding crucial information from the public in the midst of a shooting spree.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Smriti Mallapaty reports on new research indicating that a two-thirds of U.S. children short of vaccination eligibility have been infected with COVID-19. Hannah Farrow reports on the U.S.' preparations for another wave this fall and winter (even as Congress refuses to fund vaccines or treatments), while Ian Welsh discusses the effect of China's zero COVID policy compared to the defeatism of so many other governments.  

- Ricardo Tranjan laments the lack of willingness among Ontario's political parties to eliminate poverty. And Brennan Doherty reports on the grassroots push for a liveable income for people with disabilities. 

- Matt McGrath reports on new research showing we have at best a 50/50 chance of even limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees over the next 5 years. The Chicago Sun-Times' editorial board endorses the passage of the Biden administration's climate change investment plans. And Natasha Bulowski offers a look at the type of lobbying efforts which have undermined the type of action needed to avert a climate breakdown, while Rachel Thrasher, Blake Alexander Simmons and Kyla Tienhaara point out that the oil industry is using the threat of exorbitant claims under free trade agreements to strongarm less-compliant governments. 

- Mark Vosler offers an overview of the health effects of relying on gas for energy. And Roberta Staley examines how livestock are both affected by and contributing to the climate crisis. 

- Mike de Souza and Matt Simmons report on the RCMP's false cover stories for their violent attack on Wet’suwet’en pipeline protestors and the journalists trying to provide an accurate account of the circumstances. 

- Finally, Vanessa Balintec reports on the alarming number of Canadian workplaces which offer no safety training whatsoever to employees. And Alex Hemingway discusses how British Columbia's reintroduction of one-step certification for unions will help to ensure workers are better able to stand up for their interests.

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sarath Peiris discusses the Saskatchewan Party government's utterly feckless pandemic response - which they've apparently decided to keep in place for the rest of the Omicron wave. And Abdullah Shihipar points out the folly of expecting individual choices to resolve a collective action problem. 

- Wallis Snowdon reports on the UCP's laughable decision to let employers dictate when employees are required to work even while infected with COVID. Rachel Bergen reports on the spate of outbreaks in Winnipeg care homes. And Cathy Crowe discusses how Toronto's system of shelters has collapsed due to preventable neglect. 

- John Michael McGrath writes about the issues the pandemic has raised about capacity in our health care system. And Stephen Magusiak points out how privateers are seizing on the lack of resources in the public system to push for even more profit-based health services.  

- Finally, Luke Savage discusses how workers have been suffering the ill effects of COVID while their bosses get even richer. Amira Elbaghawy reminds us of the problems with relying on the corporate sector to decide what social and environmental work should be done. And Molly Murphy examines the RCMP's Community-Industry Response Group which has been using the force and surveillance of the state to in the service of fossil fuel barons fighting against Indigenous and environmental activists.  

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Bang Pedersen argues that the COVID pandemic offers a prime example of the importance of telling hard truths to the public - rather than engaging in the wishful thinking, sugar-coating and general denial we've come to expect from Scott Moe. And Susie Flaherty writes about new research confirming that children are spreaders of COVID-19 (and particularly its variants), while Lynn Giesbrecht reports that over a hundred Saskatchewan schools (plus several dozen daycares) are currently experiencing outbreaks.  

- Paddy Bettington rightly criticizes the UK Cons' version of "building back" for providing nothing but worse conditions for workers. And Paul Krugman points out the rightful revolt of American workers against being underpaid, put at risk and taken for granted.  

- Max Callaghan and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner discuss their new study showing how the vast majority of people are already affected by the climate crisis. And Oliver Milman, Andrew Witherspoon, Rita Liu and Alvin Chang observe that a climate disaster isn't merely a remote future prospect, but an imminent reality.  

- Simon Evans notes that the IEA's latest World Energy Outlook shows fossil fuel use peaking in 2025 if countries meet their climate commitments. But Rob Davies highlights how that limited and delayed change would be nowhere near enough to actually avert climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, Siddharth Joshi, James Glynn and Shivika Mittal discuss the obvious potential for solar power alone to meet the world's energy needs. And Dana Nuccitelli points out how a faster transition to a clean economy will also be a more affordable one.

- Finally, Brent Patterson examines what we know about the RCMP's unit dedicated to violating human rights to protect extractive industries. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Tom Parkin calls out Jason Kenney's defence of genocide and its architects in an attempt to keep his party's white supremacist base onside. And PressProgress notes that Kenney's insistence on turning an in-person Stampede into the greatest summer outbreak ever has large sponsors and even Canada's military keeping their distance.

- Kim Siever highlights the UCP's choice to hand a large private lab services contract to a major donor with massive lobbying influence rather than ensuring that needed services were delivered publicly. And Bob Weber reports on the findings of Alberta's Auditor General that the province is utterly failing to ensure polluters pay to clean up their messes at mine sites. 

- Meanwhile, Chloe Farand points out the absurdity of "net zero" spin from tar sands exploiters whose business model depends on standing in the way of a transition away from dirty fuels. Thomas Homer-Dixon and Duane Froese discuss the melting of permafrost as both an indicator and a cause of continued climate breakdown. And Oliver Milman reports on Antonio Gutierres' message that we're approaching a point of no return.

- Finally, Alex Boutilier reports on the RCMP's previously-denied use of facial recognition software - and it disregard for the law both in engaging in wanton violations of privacy, and in covering up its actions.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Timothy Wilson reports on the emerging revelations of Enbridge's paying to harass environmental activists. And Jeremy Appel offers the background facts as to W. Brett Wilson's abandonment of wells operated by Forent Energy - leaving Alberta's public to pick up the tab for his company's failure to clean up its messes. 

- And based on those stories among others, there's ample reason both to agree with Nicolas Perrone's argument that we shouldn't pay reparations to fossil fuel companies for transitioning to a cleaner society, and take into account his warning that they'll consider themselves entitled to nothing less.

- Amanda Follett Hosgood reports on the RCMP's pitiful response to the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. And PressProgress exposes how Lib MP Kevin Lamoureux arranged to pay public money to a "subject matter expert" to prepare a petition to treat criticism of police as hate speech. 

- Robert Baird writes about the history of the idea of "whiteness", as well as the role it's played in justifying or excusing the treatment of people as subhuman.

- Finally, Dale Smith discusses how the Cons are using concern trolling and delay tactics to prevent the passage of legislation to ban conversion therapy.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Alexandre Tanzi highlights how the 1% in the U.S. made out like bandits even as the country suffered through a pandemic year in 2020. And Karim Bardessy reminds us that there's plenty we can do to remedy the problem.

- Bruce Arthur writes that the third wave of COVID has arrived - and that there's precious little indication that we've learned from the previous two, raising a strong likelihood that this will be the worst yet. Andrew Nikiforuk weighs in on the Auditor General's findings as to how Canada has failed on a national level in its response to COVID-19, while the Canadian Press reports on Theresa Tam's urgent call for far stronger public health measures as variants increase the danger we face. Diana Zlomisic reports that even after an investigation has been conducted into last year's devastating death toll in long-term care homes, the Ford PCs continue to lack of any idea of the scope of the risk facing the residents still in the system. 

- Kelly Grant writes about the spillover effects of COVID-19 on our health care system, including the development of backlogs which may require years to be cleared. Nina Lakhani reports on the thousands of U.S. deaths which could have been avoided if people hadn't been cut off from water supplies. And Kaamil Ahmed points out that among other markers of growing inequality in education, millions of children around the globe have been delayed in developing basic skills due to the pandemic. 

- Ken Rubin points out how governments have cynically been using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to restrict access to information - even as they've also treated the public health threat as an opportunity to ram through unpopular policies while it's more difficult for the public to organize any resistance.

- Finally, Doug Cuthand discusses how the RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission's report into the investigation and handling of the killing of Colton Boushie reveals the continuing effects of structural racism. And Mim Fatmi comments on the hate against Muslim women in Alberta, while also emphasizing the importance of claiming a place in public spaces rather than being hidden.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- John Smith discusses the importance of recognizing and repairing the weaknesses in our social fabric which have been laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic. And George Monbiot discusses how the force of consumerism has warped the way we live.

- Rachel Aiello reports on the Auditor General's conclusion that Public Health Agency of Canada was both unprepared to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and slow to understand the scope of the problem. And Matina Stevis-Gridneff reports on Europe's plans to restrict vaccine exports which are putting Canada's progress on that front at risk.

- Meanwhile, as variants of concern rage out of control across much of Saskatchewan, Zak Vescera reports on the northern First Nations who have succeeded in flattening the curve by valuing public health over immediate profit and convenience. Mike Moore reports on Newfoundland's immediate and effective management of a variant outbreak. And Andrew Nikiforuk highlights how it's been open to any government to be free of the worst of COVID-19 by prioritizing disease control.

- Sarath Peiris argues that Scott Moe shouldn't have much choice but to take climate change seriously now that the Supreme Court has ruled on the validity of federal carbon pricing - though it's hard to see a particularly defensible reason for his stubborn refusal to do so sooner. And Cam Holmstrom comments on the modern application of the notion of peace, order and good government.

- Finally, Robert Hiltz writes about the travesty that was the RCMP's response to the killing of Colton Boushie. And Ethan Cox recounts just one example of how the use of police to respond to a mental health crisis produced gratuitous violence without making anybody safer.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Tenille Bonogoure writes about the human costs of Canada's choice to respond to a deadly infectious disease with polite deference rather than a determined effort to stamp it out. Matt Rivers notes that Brazil's outright denial has led to even worse, including the emergence of a variant which threatens people around the globe. And Sumathi Reddy points out that while access to a vaccine may slightly alter the calculus involved in personal decision-making, it doesn't affect the ultimate need for people to keep COVID-19 locked down to the greatest extent possible.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board discusses the growing case for capital gains taxes on real estate based on wildly inflated housing prices in Canada's largest cities. 

- The Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations calls out Brian Pallister's utter obeisance to the U.S. conservative group American Legislative Exchange Council in preparing his hidden legislation, while Lucas Edmond calls out Pallister's authoritarian neoliberal education plan in particular. And Jeremy Klaszus and Jeremy Appel uncover the secretive, big-money campaign to reject any housing in Calgary other than developer-friendly suburban sprawl. 

- But lest anybody think it's only the corporate sector looking to rally voters toward alternative choices, Alexander Kaufman notes that municipalities are serving as a focal point for climate organizing in the U.S. And Robert Reich writes that the unionization push at Amazon may represent the start of a new progressive era.

- Finally, Guy Quenneville reports on the findings of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission  on the RCMP's racism and neglect in response to the killing of Colten Boushie. And Joe Friesen reports that even that damning report was based on incomplete information as the RCMP destroyed evidence about its actions.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how the calamitous effect of COVID-19 shows the dangers of putting care in the hands of the corporate sector. And Christopher Reynolds reports on Jagmeet Singh's call to end the for-profit ownership of long-term care homes by the federal government. 

- Ricardo Tranjan notes that commercial landlords are among the private interests extracting extra profits COVID-19. And Jenny Cowley, Asha Tomlinson and Stephanie Matteis report that promised action against pandemic price-gouging has never materialized, leaving consumers on the hook for the greed of retailers.

- Rosa Saba reports on a push for paid sick days for the front-line workers most at risk in the midst of a pandemic.

- Global News reports on Michel Bastarache's findings of a toxic culture of misogyny and homophobia within the RCMP which likely can't be fixed from within.

- Finally, Seamus Heffernan calls out how inmates in Canada's prisons are fed insufficiently as a matter of both austerity and gratuitous punishment.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board is rightly aghast at Doug Ford's choice to facilitate the spread of the coronavirus as a devastating fall wave hits, while Bruce Arthur writes that there may be no choice but to impose a lockdown as the cost of doing nothing becomes more glaring. And Andrew Leach rightly calls out Jason Kenney's attempt to declare a spike in infection to be a matter of personal responsibility, while taking no responsibility whatsoever for his government's failings. 

- Meanwhile, Stephanie Taylor reports on new Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman's worrisome takes on COVID-19 - including that anti-mask protesting is just fine, and that the availability of field hospitals (which are better described as warehouses) means we shouldn't worry about the effect of the pandemic on our health care system. And Colin D'Mello reports on warnings about Ontario's health care system, which may soon see surgeries and other necessary care cancelled again in order to prioritize COVID-19 treatment. 

- Brady Lang reports on the alarming increase in Saskatchewan drug overdose deaths to over one a day so far in 2020. And Kathrin Glosel offers a reminder that a full Housing First strategy not only saves lives, but also saves money compared to the cost of jails and medical treatment. 

- Meanwhile, Lisa Adkins and Martijn Konings note that the gap between the cost of housing and the wages available from work has grown to the point where middle-class workers are having to rely on inheritances to buy a first home.

- Paola Rose-Aquino writes about the spread of the right-to-repair movement across borders and party lines.

- David Pugliese exposes the plans of Canada's military to set up a propaganda unit to influence public opinion and behaviour. And Jim Bronskill reports on the RCMP's continued stonewalling of a Civilian Review and Complaints Commission report into its covert surveillance of environmental activists.

- Finally, Brent Patterson discusses how we could put public resources to far better use funding a Green New Deal rather than gratuitous military purchasing. And Darrin Qualman examines how climate change stands to harm agriculture in Saskatchewan.