Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Picard discusses the reality that long COVID will result in lasting aftereffects even if we eventually manage to get the spread of new variants under control (which is of course itself a long way off). Thomson Reuters reports on new research showing the limitations of the Pfizer vaccine in limiting infections in younger children. And Juliette Unwin et al. study the lives lost to COVID so far, concluding that over five million children have lost caregivers to the disease we're now letting run rampant. 

- Jonathan Overpeck discusses how a shift to renewable energy would help to take power out of the hands of Vladimir Putin and other petro-dictators in addition to averting a climate breakdown. And Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong report on the IPCC's new assessment report as showing a climate changing far faster than humanity is able to adapt. 

- But Rick Smith notes that the fact that we're falling far short of the mark in both limiting climate change and adapting to its effects only highlights the need for immediate action. And Mark Hertsgaard, Saleemul Huq and Michael Mann write that we can still stop rising temperatures with a rapid shift away from carbon emissions. 

- Finally, Jeremy Appel calls out how police forces have enabled far-right extremism including the #FluTruxKlan - which makes for a particularly stark contrast against Valera Voce's report on Colorado Springs' police infiltration of mutual aid groups and tenant unions to inhibit anybody seeking to improve the lives of citizens. And David Climenhaga writes about the retaliatory complaints of Edmonton's police association against City Councillor Michael Janz - and the revelations the investigation has produced about the list of "known critics" singled out for monitoring. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Bruce Ziff highlights how axing vaccine passports and other basic health protections would only eliminate freedom for the vast majority of people who want to be able to act responsibly in the face of a pandemic. And Karen Mossman and Matthew Miller write that we'll face far more difficulty trying to build a better future after COVID if we allow it to run rampant now. 

- Meanwhile, Judy Rebick and Corvin Russell discuss the need for a strong left position on the pandemic, including increase social solidarity and support, as well as protections for the workers being placed at risk while facing increased demands from callous governments. And Jen St. Denis notes that part of the response to #FluTruxKlan intimidation has been renewed recognition of the importance of health care and service workers. 

- David Climenhaga traces the convoy to interference by the U.S.' far right in Canadian politics, while Eli Sopow notes that it has also exposed some of the bigotry and violence which had been waiting below the surface. And Abbas Rana discusses the growth of "disruption politics" even where it runs contrary to the interests and choices of most citizens. 

- Finally, Rick Smith writes about the importance of the next year in developing climate policy which will chart Canada's path for decades to come. And Tim Radford discusses the need to put an end to systematic plastic pollution as another element of living within our planetary boundaries.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Madhukar Pai and Manu Prakash discuss how artificially limited vaccination is allowing COVID variants to get the jump on any attempt to protect public health, while Felicia Ceban et al. find that widespread fatigue and cognitive impairment are among the prices of letting the coronavirus run rampant. An open letter calls out Francois Legault for again using ineffective curfews as a substitute for effective public health measures in workplaces and commercial environments, while Bruce Arthur notes that Ontario's delayed reaction may come too late to have any discernible impact. And David Leonhardt discusses how far too many political leaders have prioritized profit-making and adult convenience and entertainment over children's well-being and development, while Maggie Astor writes about the agonizing choices parents face where governments haven't left any tolerable options. 

- Meanwhile, Kate Pickett et al. study the social determinants of children's health, along with the causes of health inequity. And Jeremy Appel reports on the National Advisory Council on Poverty's latest report showing the path out of poverty for marginalized people in the wake of the pandemic.

- Rebecca Altman highlights how plastic production is both worse for the climate than we're generally led to assume, and mostly avoidable if we don't allow the fossil fuel industry's manufactured demand to dictate our economic choices. 

- Rick Smith is hopeful that we can make a path toward climate progress into a normal and boring aspect of life. Ashley Kulkarni writes about a few of the options for more urban design and planning that better mitigates against the effects of climate change. And Julius Melnitzer highlights how energy workers are transitioning away from fossil fuels on their own.

- Finally, Dyanoosh Youssefi points out the need to stop over-incarcerating Indigenous people. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Guy Quenneville discusses takeaways from the latest COVID town hall for physicians - including how Saskatchewan health care workers are burning out even before a fourth wave hits with full force. Joshua Freeman reports on the Ontario Medical Association's call for mandatory vaccination of education workers. And in case there was any question that it's possible to do far more to prevent future waves from developing, Juliana Kaplan discusses a new Oxfam report showing how a one-time tax on windfall pandemic profits could fund the vaccination of every person on the planet while also providing large supports to every unemployed person on Earth. 

- Ryan Mulcahy interviews Peter Huybers about the latest IPCC report - including the significance of irreversible effects on our environment, and a brief look at how to respond. And Rick Smith offers an optimistic take on what we can still do to decarbonize and avoid the worst of the anticipated climate crisis. 

- Michael Mann writes that while everybody has reason to be concerned about the future being defined by a climate breakdown, fossil fuel executives should be petrified due to their existing responsibility for it. And the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that fossil fuel culture needs to end now.

- Finally, Terry Slavin reports on the massive gap between reported methane emissions and the actual carbon pollution spewed by the fossil fuel sector. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Marieke Walsh reports on the new modeling from the Public Health Agency of Canada which shows how COVID's variants will foreseeably result in massive numbers of cases if we don't act to clamp down on viral spread. Andrew Nikiforuk highlights how the emergence of those variants makes it all the more urgent that we pursue a COVID-zero strategy. And Scott Schmidt uses a Jaws analogy to point out how much needless danger is created when governments not only fail to take obvious steps to avoid further spread, but encourage people to put themselves in positions likely to contribute to further transmission.

- Meanwhile, German Lopez discusses how trying to return to a pre-COVID (or pre-Trump) "normal" falls far short of addressing desperate social crises. And Doug Cuthand notes that one of the most devastating of those - the opioid crisis - can best be met with harm reduction and decriminalization.

- Galen Herz writes that the construction of social housing is becoming an increasingly viable policy option in the U.S. But that only makes it all the more pathetic that we've seen only pittances put toward the same goal in Canada - as Nick Falvo notes in his primer on supportive housing. And Mira Miller reports that Toronto is using its resources to take away shelters from people with nowhere else to go, rather than to ensure people actually have the homes they need.

- James Galbraith discusses the role deregulation and laissez-faire economics have played in Texas' collapsing power infrastructure. And Eric Wolff, Debra Kahn and Zack Colman point out that for all the differences between California and Texas, they (like every other jurisdiction on the planet) share an acute vulnerability to the effects of a climate breakdown.

- Finally, Luke Savage notes that even in Texas there's far more appetite for a shift to clean energy than the fossil fuel-funded political establishment is willing to acknowledge. And Rick Smith writes that U.S.'. long-overdue climate policy ambition under the Biden administration offers an opportunity for Canada to stop being a laggard.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Murray Mandryk writes about the history behind the possibility of a large-scale irrigation project. But Jason Warick reports that in trying to make a snap decision, Scott Moe completely failed to consult with First Nations who stand to yet again lose land to unilateral decisions of governments who fail to consider their interests. And Jim Elliott questions why the Saskatchewan Party would prioritize an irrigation megaproject over the health and well-being of people.

- Justin Worland discusses how now may be our last chance to avert catastrophic climate breakdown. Jocelyn Timperley reports on Denmark's new law making further climate damage illegal, offering a far stronger blueprint for action than the Libs' theory that it's enough to require single projects to be emission-neutral 30 years in the future. And Paul Burke reports on new research confirming that carbon pricing is one of the ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

- Meanwhile, Mike de Souza reports on how oil lobbyists seized the opportunity of the COVID-19 pandemic to call in favours from Jason Kenney's UCP - and were rewarded with even more exemptions from environmental rules than they even thought to ask for.

- Lorian Hardcastle and Ubaka Ogbogu discuss how Kenney is trying to replace Alberta's public health care system with a morass of commercialism and cronyism.

- Erin Douglas reports on the health risks being dumped on mothers living near natural gas flaring. And Rick Smith offers a reminder that we're all being polluted by the microplastics around us - and all the more so as plastics producers push their wares in the wake of the coronavirus.

- Finally, Steve McKinley and Wanyee Li report on the call from Canada's police chiefs to decriminalize the personal possession and use of drugs.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sylvia Fuller and Yue Qian weigh in on how working mothers are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic (and a policy response which has included no effort to ensure the availability of child care).

- Peter Weber discusses how Sweden's insistence on staying open in the midst of a pandemic produced absolutely no economic gains while leading to thousands of avoidable deaths. Adrienne Matei explores the severe and lasting effects of even a "mild" case of COVID-19, while Ian Sample notes that the aftereffects may include serious brain disorders. And Shaun Griffin examines research showing how any hope for herd immunity to COVID-19 through natural infection is entirely misplaced.

- Adam Houston notes that Canada may need to make use of its compulsory licensing rights to ensure a supply of the medications which are being hoarded by the Trump administration. And Jesse Whattan warns that corporations may be looking for opportunities to sue governments under trade agreements for having the audacity to attempt to protect the public from the threat of a pandemic. 

- The Broadbent Institute and other organizations have called for a wealth tax in response to the Parliamentary Budget Office's recent study on its potential to raise revenue without affecting anything but unbridled greed. And Luke Savage makes the case to ensure that such a tax disperses power as well as money.

- Finally, Rick Smith writes about the rise of the U.S.' progressive left as finally providing an analogue to Canada's NDP.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Duncan Cameron makes the case for a transition to a more fair and democratic economy. And Paris Marx proposes the development of publicly-owned options - including the increased use of passenger trains along with more accessible transit - as part of an improved transportation network.

- Rick Smith discusses how COVID-19 has been used as an implausible excuse to eliminate environmental protections. Guy Quenneville, Dave Seglins and Joseph Loiero highlight the continued pattern of rail disasters following . And Graham Thomson writes that Alberta's associate minister responsible for "red tape reduction" has no reasonable explanation for any of the regulatory destruction being imposed by his government.

- Emily Eaton, Andrea Olive and Angela Carter write about Saskatchewan's importance in the fight to avoid climate catastrophe.

- Karen-Marie Elah Perry and Jennifer Whiteside examine the failings of privatized assisted living care in British Columbia. And Marc Lee writes about the need to push back against short-term rental operators who are making needed housing unavailable to residents.

- Finally, Denise Balkisoon writes about her experience trying to call out racism in both staffing and coverage at the Globe and Mail.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Maxwell Smith, Ross Upshur and James Downar warn us against mistaking a temporarily flattened curve for a final victory over the spread of COVID-19.

- Leilani Farha questions how it's possible for people to help fight the coronavirus by staying at home when they don't have a secure home to begin with. And Duncan Cameron suggests that we can provide needed community housing by repurposing spaces which no longer work for retail businesses.

- George Monbiot argues that we shouldn't be bailing out the fossil fuel sector (including airlines and the auto sector as currently structured) when it's based on a model which causes unconscionable damage to our planet. And in response to Jason Kenney's reactionary attacks on the concept of a Green New Deal, Bronwen Tucker highlights how Alberta would stand to benefit from a transition to clean energy.

- Finally, Ed Broadbent and Rick Smith set out a progressive framework for a COVID-19 recovery plan:

1. Prioritize the needs of people. We need to work with employers to save and create jobs, but the focus should be on bettering the lives of individual Canadians. Financial aid to corporations should be much more conditional than in past rescue packages. Any recovery must ensure by law that public dollars are not diverted into exorbitant executive compensation packages, stock buybacks or increased dividend pay-outs.
2. Reinforce people’s economic and social rights. Temporary fixes must be changed into longer term reforms, such as reconfigured income supports to supplement EI; extension of the scope of public health care to home care, long-term care homes and universal public pharmacare; and the implementation of a “decent work” agenda with paid sick days and liveable wages.
3. Public investment. With families and corporations deep in debt even before the crisis, and with some sectors (such as tourism and oil and gas) very unlikely to recover quickly, public investment will have to drive recovery. Such investment should be focused on job-rich areas that deliver on our collective goals, like green infrastructure (renewables, energy conservation, public infrastructure) and affordable housing.
4. Transition to greater national self-sufficiency in some sectors. The global economy is here to stay, but we need to rebuild Canadian productive capacity to meet key needs such as food security and medical supplies rather than rely exclusively on global markets.
5. Spend what it takes. The Bank of Canada is providing the resources we need short term to support Canadians. A longer-term public investment program intended to address income inequality will also require radical tax reform, including taxation of wealth.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your Saturday reading.

- Henry Giroux discusses how the greatest risks arising out of the coronavirus pandemic can be traced back to neoliberal political assumptions. And Patrick Sharkey notes that the effect of the pandemic has been to reveal the U.S.' glaring inability to address collective action problems, as the not-quite-half of the population already conditioned to reject science and devalue the lives of others is able to undermine everybody else's efforts to limit the damage.

- Meanwhile, Moira Ness writes that the already-precarious lives of artists are even more challenging as a result of COVID-19.

- Rick Smith examines the environmental lessons we can draw from COVID-19 and the resulting social lockdown. And Ivan Penn highlights how renewable energy is becoming perpetually stronger from an economic perspective, while fossil fuels are proving to be unsustainable.

- Gwynne Dyer points out the next steps needed to bring COVID-19 under control - including a vaccine before it's possible to fully lift the restrictions which have become the new normal.

- Finally, Elizabeth Bruenig writes a post-mortem for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign even as his core principles and demands are being proven right by the events surrounding the U.S.' presidential election.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Rick Smith offers some reasons for hope in 2020 even in the face of a grim start to a new year. And Cory Doctorow writes about the need to start dreaming up, and giving effect to, alternatives to a corporate-driven economy and society which are endangering the future of humanity.

- Chris Maisano interviews Jonathan Rodden about the structural disadvantages facing progressive parties under distorted, winner-take-all electoral systems. And Ryan Grim examines how Bernie Sanders' campaign is empowering and supporting volunteers to reach a greater range of voters than traditional political methods.

- Scott Schmidt rightly argues that there's no value in the media reproducing false political talking points as facts in the name of balance - particularly when the UCP's communications strategy depends on it doing exactly that. And Jeremy Klaszus highlights how the UCP's constant attacks are designed to prevent people from seeing how they're being harmed by Jason Kenney and company. And Bob Barnetson writes about Kenney's ongoing war on workers.

- Meanwhile, with the Trump administration desperate to lie its way into a war with Iran, Nathan Robinson offers a handy guide to avoid being duped by pro-war propaganda.

- Finally, Kelsey Piper writes that Bill Gates has joined the ranks of the uber-wealthy who recognize the need to pay a more fair share toward the price of civilization.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- PressProgress examines the damage Doug Ford wants to inflict on children in Ontario's education system. Fareed Khan calls out the right-wing politicians acting like spoiled children rather than responsible decision-makers. And Rick Smith discusses how to develop public policy to withstand the vandalism of today's conservatives:

(A) tangible connection to people’s daily lives is key.  Amongst their frenzy of repeal aimed at environmental policy and regulation, Doug Ford and his cronies have decided that the Greenbelt is untouchable.  One reason for this is doubtless that the Greenbelt is a physical place on the map, demarcated by numerous signs on the highway.  Ontarians have become accustomed to its presence and value it highly.  Similarly, in Alberta, Jason Kenney doesn’t dare attempt a full-blown repeal of the minimum wage, even if he hopes to chip away at it.

A second and related lesson is that policies that entrench rights in a universal manner are more enduring and far harder to undo. The Ford government doesn’t dare meddle with full-day kindergarten in the same way that it’s eliminating many other kinds of programmes. Why?  Because full-day kindergarten has become an integral part of our publicly-funded school system, available to all, and is now regarded by Ontario families as an essential service.

These lessons are every bit as applicable in a federal context.

Given the ease with which Ford eliminated Ontario’s partial, means-tested experiment with Pharmacare, the Trudeau Liberals would be doing Canadians a huge disservice to repeat this experience at the federal level.  The example of Medicare demonstrates better than anything the resilience of universal programs over small-scale reforms that are easily reversed after a single change of government.  We need universal Pharmacare now, not some piecemeal and underfunded half-measure.  In a recent Abacus poll for the Broadbent Institute, 78% of Canadians (and, interestingly, two-thirds of Conservative voters) support the federal government moving forward with universal, not partial, Pharmacare as a top priority.

With respect to climate change:  Carbon taxation, even when fully implemented, will be bickered over and — like all taxes, increased and decreased — by different governments over the next few decades.  Yes, we need to price carbon, but a massive green jobs creation program and rapid scale-up of permanent electric vehicle infrastructure would be impossible for even the most ardent climate-denier to demolish.

- Thera Kumar likewise calls for the Libs to follow through on a national pharmacare program - though it's worth noting they've been more slippery in any "promise" than Kumar implies. Aaron Carroll notes that even relatively small co-pay requirements can cause severe harm by preventing people from accessing needed medication. And Nicola Davis reports on the increase in childhood pneumonia under the UK Cons as a painful example of the price of social neglect.

- Grant Cameron reports on the CCPA's research showing that P3s only add to the price tag for infrastructure. And Ian Mulgrew reports on the progress of British Columbia's money laundering inquiry as a vivid example of a laissez-faire attitude run amok.

- Finally, Vaughn Palmer writes about the unexplained exploitation of B.C. consumers when it comes to gasoline prices. And David Leonhardt comments on the $5,000 annual cost to consumers arising from corporate consolidation in the U.S.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rick Smith and Ken Neumann write about the importance of developing a Green New Deal that includes participation from (and protection for) the workers affected by an economic transition.

- Meanwhile, Aditya Chakrabortty notes that the oil-backed right's personal attacks on Greta Thunberg and other politically engaged youth only serve to confirm their utter lack of anything constructive to offer in any political discussion. (See also Andrew Scheer's continued demurral in offering even a hint of a climate plan.)

- Peter Cary and Allan Holmes examine the paltry return workers received on billions in corporate tax cuts from the Trump administration. And James Moore reports on the "poverty premium" being extracted from the people who can least afford to pay it in the UK.

- On the bright side, the CCPA studies the living wage in Vancouver and finds that the Horgan government's child care policy alone has managed to reduce the effective cost of living by $1.41 per hour.

- Finally, Daniel Tencer reports on the Canadian resource companies using international trade deals to bully other countries into abandoning environmental protections. And Sarah Rieger reports on the 4,700 wells dumped into the public's lap for remediation by the failure of a single Alberta gas company.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Linda McQuaig highlights the false promise that a market aimed at enriching billionaires will somehow benefit anybody else. Chris Giles reports on the continually-expanding gap between soaring CEO pay and stagnant wages for workers in the UK. And Anna North discusses how the U.S.' college admission bribery scandal connects to the psychology of wealth - as the most privileged few try to launder their fortune in order to give their heirs a fraudulent leg up through the prestige of elite universities.

- Meanwhile, Robert Reich points out the perpetual Republican lie that the deficits they've caused with tax giveaways to the rich should be explained (and addressed) as matters of social program costs. And PressProgress notes that Canada's level of social spending continues to be among the lowest in the developed world, at a lower proportion of GDP than in 1990.

- Rebecca Solnit offers well-earned praise and encouragement to the climate strikers who are driving leaders toward much-needed action.

- Brenna Owen reviews the updated version of Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie's Slow Death by Rubber Duck, including its recognition that some of the most harmful substances identified around the time of its previous publication (notably bisphenol A) are now being foisted on people in unanticipated ways even after being removed from other products.

- Finally, David Climenhaga discusses how Jason Kenney is succumbing to the perils of conservative politics in Alberta. And his observations look all the more apt now that Kenney's campaign's manipulation of the UCP's leadership race is under investigation by the RCMP.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simon Ducatel discusses how wealth inequality is at the root of continued poverty and deprivation, while Charles Plante notes that anti-poverty strategies in Canada currently serve mostly to capture credit for existing policies rather than to guide the development of new ones.

- Grace Blakely points out the role that capital controls should play in ensuring that the wealthy pay their fair share toward social development and increased equality. And Duncan Cameron writes about Olivier Blanchard's recognition that public debt is entirely acceptable as long as it results from worthwhile investments.

- Cindy Blackstock highlights how the continued lack of progress on Indigenous child welfare is entirely the result of governments failing to act on policies which they know to be effective.

- Andrew Longhurst makes the case for a move away from fee-for-service payment of physicians.

- Finally, Rick Smith challenges Macleans' attempt to equate the left and right in their contributions to Canada's political scene:

On all of the major questions facing humanity today—climate change, inequality, defending and deepening pluralism in an age of globalization —the left is working to find answers. True, in some areas we are still coming up short. For all the achievements of left movements in the 20th century, from the welfare state to universal healthcare to progressive labour legislation, inequality remains a deep and abiding fact of Canadian life. Despite successfully making the environment a major issue of public concern, there is still much work to be done if we are to avert the coming climate crisis. Racism and the discriminatory treatment of racialized Canadians are still tragic realities, human rights and equity laws notwithstanding.

Challenges like these and the moral necessity of tackling them is precisely what animates today’s left in Canada and abroad. Yes, their urgency may inspire impassioned, even angry critiques of the political status quo and what can sometimes be difficult, needlessly fractious debates within our own ranks. Some believe this makes the left and right fellow travelers amid the ongoing crisis of liberal democracy. Nothing could be further from the truth.
...

While prominent left-wing figures like Bernie Sanders or Jagmeet Singh indeed give expression to anger, its targets are corporations who exploit their workers or extremely wealthy people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The ultimate goal of this anger is to overcome visible injustices and make material gains for working people, young and old, across all sections of society. The same can be said for groups like Black Lives Matter or #MeToo, which are giving constructive expression to justified anger at discrimination and bigotry on both sides of the border.

The right is not, to put it kindly, either doing the same or searching for answers to the major challenges facing our societies today. In conservative parties across the country, climate change denialism (or its close cousin foot-dragging-ism) runs rampant—as evidenced by the recent actions of the Ford government in Ontario and the persistent hostility of the conservative movement to common-sense environmental policies such as cleaning up electricity production, or electric vehicle mandates or carbon pricing.

...
With the stakes being as high as they are in politics today, debates will inevitably prove divisive and difficult. But in their attempts to grapple with our anxious political moment, pundits and commentators alike should be careful not to conflate individuals and movements fighting injustice with those pursuing it as their animating principle.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Owen Jones writes that a four-day work week being developed by UK Labour could represent an important step toward genuine personal freedom:

(I)t is extremely welcome that Labour’s John McDonnell has approached eminent economist Lord Skidelsky to head an inquiry into potentially cutting the working week to four days. It should be part of a new crusade for the left: of defending and expanding personal freedom.

The champions of free market fundamentalism promised their creed would bring us freedom. But it wasn’t freedom at all: from the lack of secure, affordable housing to growing job insecurity and rising personal debt, the individual is trapped. Nine decades ago, John Maynard Keynes predicted that technological advances and rising productivity would mean that we’d be working a 15-hour week by now: that target has been somewhat missed.
...
(A) shorter working week would enable us to redistribute hours from the overworked to the underworked. Lord Skidelsky’s inquiry would need to look at cutting the working week without slashing living standards: after all, Britain’s workers have already suffered the worst squeeze in wages since the Napoleonic wars. But cutting the working week would free the individual, giving millions of workers more time to spend as they see fit. Human freedom should be the core aim of modern socialism. The right to work less would be an act of liberation – and a cause the left should embrace.

- Meanwhile, PressProgress exposes Ontario Proud's pitch for six-figure corporate donations to try to prevent workers from ever achieving any improvements, while Jim Stanford warns the Ford government that merely seeking to turn back the clock is no way to develop viable policy.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on a push by Ontario students to achieve minimum wage parity with other workers. And Rob Shaw reports on British Columbia's move to put an end to contract-flipping attacks on public service workers.

- Rick Smith writes about the increasingly-visible human face of plastics pollution.

- Finally, Brent Patterson discusses the need to respond to what's wrong with the world with active steps to set matters right.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Joseph Stiglitz writes that history has proven wrong the theory that the weak recovery from the 2008 economic crash was the result of "secular stagnation" rather than a woefully insufficient public policy response. And Sam Pizzigati points out how the U.S. public is picking up the bill for obscene executive pay rather than seeing public money used for beneficial purposes.

- Thomas Walkom points out the futility of signing trade deals with unreliable partners. And Theophilis Argitis observes that there's been no reality to past threats about the consequences of failing to follow Donald Trump's regressive economic policies.

- Oliver Milman reports on California's move toward 100% clean electricity, signalling how forward-looking jurisdictions are planning their energy futures.

- Rick Smith discusses how the defence of democratic decision-making has become a genuinely controversial issue in the face of right-wing politicians increasingly determined to warp electoral systems and public institutions to exclude any other voices. And Linda McQuaig notes that Doug Ford has picked up a class war on behalf of the rich where Mike Harris left off.

- Finally, Luke Savage highlights the need to properly define and apply the concept of populism, rather than using it as a shorthand which simultaneously dismisses legitimate criticisms of the status quo and reinforces misleading messages:

(T)he label’s almost uniformly negative connotation has created a parochial shorthand by which any serious critic of the status quo can be summarily dismissed regardless of their actual analysis or their ultimate political demands (whether you favour them or not, calls for tuition-free universities or universal social programs are categorically not equivalent to closed borders or fear-mongering about immigration). For another, it often has a way of needlessly glamorizing political behaviour that is, in fact, quite traditional. Is Doug Ford, for example, really a populist or is he just the scion of an entrenched political dynasty who’s cavalier with the truth and likes to say “folks” so much that people forget he’s a multimillionaire? Let’s avoid ascribing some ethereal mystique to good old-fashioned political posturing or demagogy. But finally, and most straightforwardly, incoherence is generally harmful for democracy—when people go to vote, we presumably would like them to have some idea of what they’re actually voting for, and not all populisms are created equal.
...
(I)n its contemporary usage, populism seems to be more of a floating signifier than something that usefully connotes a specific ideology, tendency, or political project. True, antiestablishment posture seems a common thread in these examples. But establishment and elites are themselves quite mutable terms and refer to completely different groups and institutions depending on who you ask. Are “elites” and members of the “establishment” state bureaucrats? Academics? The media? Corporate CEOs? People who prefer a glass of sherry to a pint of beer or happen to live in a major metropolitan area near the coast? The various individuals, parties, and movements cited above would likely offer very different answers.
...
As fashionable as it has become, then, the populist label may only be useful in a broad, aesthetic sense, and even then its value may be limited. Unhelpfully, it often grafts an aura of novelty on to well-worn ideological divides and, in the process, puts completely disparate politicians and movements into the same box. In trying to interpret various movements of the left and right, let us stop conflating a political style with a distinctive ideology.

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Oleg Komlik takes note of Wade Cole's research showing how income inequality affects political dynamics. And Hannah Finnie recognizes that young people are joining unions (among other forms of social activism) in order to gain some much-needed influence on both fronts, while Paul Krugman weighs in on the Republicans' war on education in an attempt to hold onto power.

- Arjumand Siddiqi and Faraz Vahid Shahidi write about the potential for Ontario's next government to improve health and social outcomes through improved income supports and labour market conditions for workers. And Peter Baker writes about the history of the minimum wage, as well as its place in the broader power struggle between workers and employers.

- Adam Gaffney points out that the U.S.' health care system is increasingly designed to inflate profits rather than to achieve health outcomes, while Lee Camp zeroes in on Goldman Sachs' admission that it sees curing diseases as bad for business. And Andrew Coyne notes that similar problems apply to the availability of prescription drugs in Canada - even as the Libs appear likely to ignore the growing body of evidence as to how the public would benefit if it was given priority over entrenched corporate interests for once.

- Finally, Rick Smith discusses the increasing recognition of the persistent hazard posed by plastic particles. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Rick Smith writes about the Filthy Five loopholes taking the most money out of Canada's public coffers for the least benefit to anybody but the wealthy. And Ed Finn reminds us to follow the money in figuring out who stands to gain from unconscionable policy choices.

- Douglas Quan reports on the justified outrage against Vancouver for trying to pitch itself as a low-wage jurisdiction in an attempt to cater to Amazon. And Raymond Wong discusses how youth have paid the price for out-of-control house prices - though yesterday's provincial budget offers some much-needed hope and help on that front.

- Meanwhile, the Maytree Foundation offers its recommendations for Ontario's forthcoming budget, while Fred Hahn points out how that province's citizens will be paying the price for the Libs' power privatization for decades to come. And ProgressAlberta traces the history of exorbitant public spending on high-priced private schools at the expense of accessible education under that province's Conservative governments.

- Brent Patterson comments on the Libs' contempt for the Canadian public surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as they plan to simultaneously hype "side letters" as their primary negotiating accomplishment while keeping them secret until it's too late.

- Finally, the Star's editorial board weighs in on the need to address child care at the national level. And Sarah Kliff examines the connection between child-rearing and long-term wage disadvantages.