Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Andrew Freedman examines how the summer of 2024 is shaping up to be the hottest on record. And Jessica Corbett discusses the strong public support for holding the architects of the climate breakdown criminally accountable for the resulting damage. 

- Mike De Souza reports on the Libs' choice to shovel public money to McKinsey and Company to consult on "clean tech" while it was actively being paid to lobby on behalf of fossil fuel interests. And Drew Anderson notes that Alberta's so-called market in electricity includes massive public handouts to fossil gas plants (along with government policies which have shut down renewable energy development). 

- Meanwhile, Toula Drimonis discusses how Montreal has seen its downtown rejuvenated by the choice to prioritize people over vehicles. 

- Max Fawcett writes that Danielle Smith's war on Alberta is only getting started. Jen St. Denis notes that BC Conservatives are lashing out at any media outlets who dare to point out the myriad of close connections between their leadership and Russian-funded disinformation campaigns. And Stephen Maher warns that we're headed toward the meanest election in Canadian history. 

- Finally, Sarah Anderson discusses how the U.S.' largest low-wage employers have paid out massive shareholder benefits instead of allowing employees to share in the product of their work. And Cory Doctorow points out that stock-based compensation creates a particularly ugly incentive for CEO to prioritize the former over the latter. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Blair Fix discusses how inflation reflects both instability in the overall system of prices, and a business strategy to turn that instability into an increased profit share. And Angella MacEwen writes that central banks are choosing to lend their authority to that strategy by attacking any attempt to make wages keep pace with price increases.  

- Rupert Neate reports on the soaring support for a wealth tax in the UK as a small number of tycoons are enriching themselves while broader standards of living erode. 

- Carl Meyer and Drew Anderson expose how the fossil fuel sector thumbed its nose at lobbying laws while pitching the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to claim massive concessions from Alberta's government. And Trevor Herriot discusses how the industry-controlled Moe government is failing by any measure of environmental responsibility. 

- Heidi Lee reports on the experts pleading for governments to implement Housing First policies to lift people out of homelessness. 

- Mike Crawley reports that provincial governments are refusing even to provide information needed for people to limit preventable disease and death among children. 

- Finally, Frank Graves and Stephen Maher discuss how Pierre Poilievre's strategy to take power in Canada involves playing up and tapping into the global authoritarian movement. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- David Dayen discusses how manufacturing monopolies have produced the U.S.' shortage of baby formula. And Alyssa Rosenberg recognizes that any reasonably-governed country would be moving heaven and earth to ensure infants don't suffer due to corporate greed. 

- Meanwhile, Nina Lakhani exposes how meat packing giants and the Trump administration sacrificed workers' lives rather than allowing any health and safety protections to be applied even in the face of a deadly virus. And Nora Loreto asks why we still don't have anything remotely approaching an accounting of the lives lost to workplace-spread COVID in Canada. 

- thwap points out how anti-inflation rhetoric is being used as yet another excuse for class war against workers. 

- Alexander Furnas et al. study how lobbying leads to changes in policy - finding donations to be less of a direct influence than ideological sorting. 

- On the bright side (and in a prime example of policy we should be looking to emulate) Sam Jones reports on Spain's plans to provide menstrual leave among other additional measures to ensure improved gender equity.

- Finally, Stephen Maher discusses the increasing threats and harassment facing people seeking to run for office - though it's well worth noting the asymmetry based on ideological orientation as fascist groups primed to treat others as subhuman apply that theory to the political sphere. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Shree Paradkar laments the folly of making the same mistakes over and over again throughout the course of a continuing pandemic, while Crawford Kilian offers his own list of lessons we should have learned by now. And Andrew Nikiforuk provides some suggestions to people navigating the newest wave - including going beyond the minimum (or lower) standards that have been established by governments who seem all too willing to let the Omicron variant tear through their populations.  

- Austin Landis and Reuben Jones report on Anthony Fauci's recognition that even cases classified as "mild" may lead to a lifetime of long-haul neurological and other symptoms. Peter Hall et al. find direct relationships between both infection and symptom severity, and cognitive dysfunction. And as COVID minimizers try to excuse their own negligence by distinguishing between health effects "with COVID" and "from COVID", Firas Raheman et al. conclude (PDF) that the coronavirus correlates with more severe outcomes even among patients with a condition as obviously unrelated as a hip fracture. 

- Stephen Maher writes about the importance of countering the flood of misinformation spilling out from the U.S. And Paul Frost, Marguerite Xenopoulos, Michael Epp and Michael Hickson discuss how to push back against antivaxxers and other bad-faith actors. But Richard Luscombe reports on Thomas Homer-Dixon's warning that propaganda may be the least of our worries if the U.S. comes under a right-wing dictatorship - as seems all too plausible over the next few years.  

- David Milstead reports on the massive bonuses taken by grocery executives at the same time they've raised prices on consumers and slashed any pandemic benefits for workers. And the CCPA points out another year of gross inequality between CEOs and workers generally, even as compensation structures were reconfigured to allow employers to take wage subsidies. 

- Finally, Anton Jager discusses how the supposed "post-politics" era has given way to "hyper-politics" in which issues are recognized to be political, but a lack of organization makes it impossible to actually give effect to people's preferences and interests. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ben Cohen points out some of the ways the Omicron variant deviates from what we've come to assume about COVID-19. And Colin Horgan writes that we should draw lessons from the pandemic in exposing some of the ways our social system is built to collapse. 

- Max Fawcett discusses how Jason Kenney and Doug Ford are proving themselves cowards with their grossly insufficient responses to the impending Omicron wave. But contrary to Fawcett's conclusion that Kenney ranks as the worst premier in the country, Scott Moe's refusal to implement a single public health measure - even in the face of modelling showing how a reasonable government could snuff out the wave entirely - stands out as uniquely callous even among this lot. 

- Kate Aronoff writes that the U.S.' failure to move ahead with even basic climate change legislation endangers the world as a whole. Trevor Melanson notes that the public needs to be better informed about the success stories that have arisen to date. And Julia Rock reports on Enbridge's attempt to squeeze even more windfall profits out of its pipelines now based on the argument that they'll be obsolete in just a decade or two. 

- PressProgress surveys some of the most important fights taken up by Canada's labour movement this year. And the Canadian Labour Congress responds to the Ford PCs' attempt to entrench second-class status for gig workers - including by highlighting the importance of universal social programs in not tying the necessities of life to employment (however it's disguised). 

- Finally, Stephen Maher looks to the history of tobacco companies' public denial of scientific facts in raising the likelihood that social media giants are similarly hiding the deliberately harmful effects of their own products. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Scott Gilmore wonders whether we'll use the lessons of COVID-19 to set up our own "tsunami stones" to prevent future crises. But Tom McCarthy notes that the U.S. - thanks largely to an administration that has gone out of its way to avoid acting based on scientific information - is first set to be swamped by a second wave. 

- Sussanne Skidmore discusses the win-win outcomes that result when workers have access to paid sick leave.

- Nick Pettigrew writes about the life of an UK "antisocial behaviour officer" in a system designed to restrict access to the resources people need to live healthy lives.

- David Shukman writes about the impending threat that our climate breakdown could render summers too hot for humans. And Rakteem Katakey reports on Shell's announcement that it's fine with the UK imposing an outright ban on new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030 - signalling the utter folly in building pipelines with no purpose other than to keep pushing oil into a nonexistent market for decades beyond that time.

- But Arthur White-Crummey reports that even as Scott Moe throws every nickel that isn't tied down at extractive fuel sectors, the Saskatchewan Party has destroyed the residential solar energy industry which represents the future of energy in the province. 

- Finally, Stephen Maher discusses how the RCMP may be broken (or obsolete) beyond repair. And Doug Cuthand highlights the need to make recompense for a history which was intended to exclude Indigenous people (and other minorities) from full involvement in Canadian life.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- John Miller takes note of the corporate media's bias against Wet'suwet'en land defenders and others engaged in demonstrations in solidarity. Stuart Trew comments that we shouldn't let demands for convenience override the ongoing need for reconciliation. Paige Raibmon writes about the obvious error in writing Indigenous law out of the "rule of law" for the purpose of delegitimizing land defenders. And Jennifer Ditchburn points out the absurdity of relying on the concept of the rule of law at all as a means of undermining well-recognized Indigenous rights, while Stephen Maher points out how the CPR's history is intertwined with the subjugation of Indigenous peoples.  

- Laurie Macfarlane writes about the need to discuss how wealth is accumulated - including the growing roles of inheritances and luck - in order to build a movement to ensure that it's put to positive social purposes. Daniela Gabor worries that the EU's plans for a green economic transition are being designed mostly to further enrich the wealthy, rather than focusing on either environmental improvements or distributive justice. And Stefan Stern points out how much better off we'd be if the rich paid more in wages and taxes rather than claiming to be philanthropists.

- But on the bright side, PressProgress highlights British Columbia's plan to raise an extra $200 million per year by ensuring that its highest-income residents pay something closer to their fair share of the price of a civilized society.

- Finally, both the Globe and Mail's editorial board and Rob Breakenridge join the chorus calling for the UCP to shut down its backfiring war room. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday Morning Links

This and that for your weekend reading.

- Keith Gerein writes that Alberta's petro-state can't mask the fact that climate denialism is leading to governance failing its own province's children. Murray Mandryk notes that Scott Moe and company are far more childish than the teens leading the climate justice movement. And Stephen Maher challenges the claim that it's a viable plan to leave a worsened climate breakdown - exacerbated by a push to expand fossil fuel production - for future generations to fix:

It ought to be easier for Canada to cut emissions, since we pollute so much more per person. Canada’s emissions per person are among the highest in the world at 16 tonnes. China’s are just seven. You don’t have to think about it very hard to realize that it ought to be easier for us to cut than it is for them.

And if we don’t cut emissions in both countries, soon and steeply, the world is in big trouble, worse trouble than most people realize. The ice caps will melt. The coral reefs will all die. Coastal cities will be washed away. Some of the world’s biggest cities will become uninhabitable. There will be pressure to cool the earth by forcing particulate matter into the stratosphere, a terrifying prospect, turning the Earth into a science experiment.
...

The horrible truth, the message that Thunberg will deliver in Montreal today, is that we have no choice but to pay. We can pay now or leave it for her generation to pay later, when the price will be much steeper, tragically steeper.

The problem is that we do not want to hear her message, not just because of the PR campaign telling us that we’re foolish to be alarmed—which is a lie—but because it’s easier to do nothing and let Thunberg’s generation deal with it.

It’s no wonder she is angry.

- But PressProgress notes that the Cons are eagerly promoting candidates who promotes not only climate change denial, but opposition to evolution. And Michael Fraiman points out that beyond the climate crisis itself, the Cons are also wilfully ignorant of the effects of their policies intended to address it - including through Andrew Scheer's stunning declaration that wider roads would somehow reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

- Meanwhile, Chris Selley rightly tears into the Libs' campaign promise of camping trips for people in dire need of housing and income supports.

- Finally, Avnish Nanda writes about the importance of joining together to fight anti-immigrant messages and other attempts to stoke hatred for political gain.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Paul Krugman weighs in on the scam that is trickle-down economics, particularly in the form of tax-free zones which encourage domestic tax evasion.

- Timothy Taylor writes about the changing nature of work - while highlighting that workers who value secure and stable employment are seeing few opportunities. Paul Willcocks examines the deterioration of work over time, while noting that political choices are responsible. And Pilita Clark questions the spread of extreme work hours which add nothing to an individual's contribution or development.

- Anna Mehler Paperny discusses how necessary mental health care is available only to the rich in Canada - though the NDP of course plans to change that.

- Finally, Stephen Maher rightly challenges Joe Oliver's attempt to treat a global climate breakdown as a positive for Canada:

Oliver is echoing a view from the most strident Canadian oil executives, who argue that because Canadians produce a small share of global emissions, we would be foolish to do much to cut them. (They never mention, by the way, that we have among the world’s highest emissions per capita.)

This is a fallback position. They previously argued, and Oliver seemed to agree, that the cause of  climate change was unproven, just as cigarette manufacturers long argued that there was no conclusive evidence that smoking caused cancer.

As the tobacco industry gave up on the pro-smoking argument and started instead warning the public about the dangers of tobacco taxes, the fossil industry is now abandoning the scientific debate and making arguments about what we should do about the situation: not much.
...

(H)ow hard-hearted do you have to be to look at the biggest ecological and humanitarian disaster in history and think of the economic upside? Only the most flinty-eyed analyst can relish the opportunities created for Canadian farm producers if heat and water shortages make much of India uninhabitable, creating new opportunities for pulse exporters once our Indian competitors have been forced out of business.

Oliver’s arguments are so thin, his conclusions so predictable that he risks losing the respect traditionally accorded to statesmen opining on matters of public importance...

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Seth Klein summarizes new polling showing that Canadians are eager for far stronger action to fight climate change than the Libs or Cons will even consider. And Andrew Leach points out that the Cons' excuse for a climate plan is a study in vagueness whose few discernable elements are contrary to Andrew Scheer's apparent goals.

- Meanwhile, Jason Warick reports on the potential for severe water shortages caused by a climate breakdown - including in much of Saskatchewan.

- Ann Carlson discusses why oil companies are trying desperately to avoid answering for their deception about the dangers of carbon emissions. And Sam Levin exposes how Monsanto has tried to attack and smear anybody who dares to share factual information about the connections between its products and health risks including cancer.

- Alex Drummond reports on the safety risks of Ontario's underresourced emergency rooms.

- Finally, Will Hutton is optimistic that the exclusionary right-wing world order is approaching its expiry date. But Stephen Maher writes about Quebec's Bill 21 as a vivid example of the cost of bigotry as long as it's allowed to reign supreme.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Paul Krugman discusses how Republican obstruction undermined both the shape and size of the U.S.' efforts to recover from the 2008 economic crisis. And Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick and Ulrike Steins document how the crisis ant its aftermath exacerbated the U.S.' already-alarming level of wealth inequality.

- Katherine Paschall, Tamara Halle and Jessica Dym Bartlett point out the rising rate of poverty among American children. And Dave Prentis notes that public sector workers are increasingly being priced out of housing markets in the UK (and elsewhere).

- Annette Carla Bouzi writes about her experience on the picket line at Algonquin College. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Alex McKeen report on how the ownership stake of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan saved the jobs and union of cleaning staff in Vancouver.

- Hannah Osborne reports on new NASA research indicating that methane releases from abruptly thawing Arctic permafrost could make an already-dangerous level of climate change far worse in the near future.

- Finally, Chris Selley writes that the gratuitous invocation of the notwithstanding clause out of spite may be just the beginning of Doug Ford's abuses of political power. Stephen Maher figures Ford is likely headed toward only a single term in government, though it's still necessary to minimize the damage even if that proves true. And on that front, Bruno Dobrusin offers some lessons for fighting back against Ford from South American activists all too accustomed to dealing with iron-fist governments.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rupert Neate reports on the latest numbers showing the world's 500 richest people adding a full trillion dollars to their wealth in 2017. And Will Fitzgibbon and Dean Starkman highlight how offshore tax avoidance schemes are sucking prosperity out of the rest of the world.

- Noah Smith discusses how the cost of rent really is too high for people living in poverty. And Jamie Doward reports on the soaring rates of homelessness among vulnerable groups in the UK.

- Meanwhile, Danielle Larivee offers her take on the value of publicly-supported child care.

- Peter Loftus reports on the inflated price of the cancer drug Lomustine, as the expiry of a patent hasn't prevented its maker from continuing to hold a monopoly.

- Finally, Tom Parkin discusses how most Canadians have seen little but stagnation under Justin Trudeau's Libs - meaning it's no surprise that Trudeau's popularity is deflating. And Stephen Maher takes a look at Trudeau's lack of recognition of a problem with mooching off billionaires as a symptom of broader judgment issues.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jerry Dias discusses how the Cons have pushed Canada into an avoidable recession by slashing useful funding in order to send out pre-election baubles:

How far has Canada's economic star fallen? Only recently Prime Minister Stephen Harper boasted that Canada's economy was "the envy of the entire world." That claim was always overstated. Now it is downright ludicrous.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates for the second time this year, but few expect this to pull us out of the tailspin. After all, Canadians are already tapped out: household debt now exceeds 165 per cent of disposable income. And businesses are more reluctant to invest than ever -- despite expensive corporate tax cuts that drain $15 billion per year from the federal treasury. Without a strong willingness to borrow on the part of consumers or businesses, cutting interest rates is like pushing on a string.

So we must look to government for a more effective response to the recession. Unfortunately, however, that looks like another policy dead-end. Because so far the response of federal Conservatives has been as ineffectual as it is predictable: deny, point fingers, and spread fear.
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Their claim that the coming flurry of baby bonus cheques -- a manipulative $2 billion attempt to buy votes in the coming election -- will somehow turn the economic tide, is especially insulting to our national intelligence. This pre-election giveaway is macroeconomically insignificant. Consumers are likely to save the money, anyway: they can see it's a one-time political payout, not something that really alters their budgeting. And since the end-goal of Conservative social engineering (including the baby bonus, income splitting, and other measures) is clearly to encourage stay-at-home parenting, it will in fact ultimately undermine women's labour force participation, employment, and income. It's the opposite of what the economy actually needs: support for real work, more participation, and real wages.

For years Conservatives have touted their reputation as "good economic managers" to pave their way to power. This reputation is now in tatters, and rightly so. They have squandered so much opportunity, and steered Canada into a preventable, self-inflicted recession. This country needs a dramatic change of direction.

- Daphne Bramham and CBC each note that the Cons' billions in giveaways do nothing to meet the actual need for accessible child care. Stephen Maher calls out the UCCB as blatant vote-buying, and Adam Radwanski doesn't see much indication that voters are impressed in the slightest.

- Alan Freeman writes that the Cons are well aware that their push for voluntary top-ups to the Canada Pension Plan will serve no useful purpose. And Andrew Jackson rebuts the Fraser Institute's attempt to make a case against actual improvements to the CPP.

- Warren Bell calls out Brad Wall for his habit of shilling for the oil sector rather than so much as noticing the interests of mere people. And Dave Cournoyer contrasts Wall's bluster against Rachel Notley's constructive approach.

- Finally, Ryan Meili interviews Maude Barlow about the importance of activism and the opportunity to build a healthier Canada in this fall's election.

Thursday Evening Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Daniel Marans reports on Bernie Sanders' push for international action against austerity in Greece and elsewhere. And Binoy Kampmark documents the anti-democratic and antisocial ideology on the other side of the austerity debate.

- Noah Smith writes that while there's no discernible connection between massive pay for CEOs and actual corporate performance, there's a strong link between who an executive knows and how much the executive can extract.

- The CP reports on UNESCO's push to study the impact of the tar sands on Wood Buffalo National Park. And Tavia Grant breaks the news that Health Canada is just getting around the acknowledging the long-recognized dangers of asbestos.

- Stephen Maher comments on the Cons' manipulations of the Canada Elections Act to limit voting among poor Canadians. And Michelle Ghoussoub reports on the Council of Canadians' fight to reverse the restrictions.

-Finally, John Baglow notes that the Cons' especially villainous run of recent actions looks to reflect the death throes of Stephen Harper's government. Steve Sullivan calls out the Cons for seeking to terrorize Canada's electorate. And Michael Harris argues that Harper is a tyrant in the true sense of the word, while Andrew Coyne writes that Harper is truly alone as the federal election campaign approaches.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Chris Mooney takes a look at the positive side of social influences on behaviour, as new research shows a correlation between spending time with neighbours and an interest in the environmental issues which affect us all. But Adam Stoneman documents how another form of social interaction - that of wealth flaunting - promotes conspicuous consumption which benefits nobody.

- Tim Harper slams the Cons for looking to attack aboriginal Canadians rather than work with them - a particularly serious problem in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report. Don Martin writes that Stephen Harper's staged apology has proven to be entirely empty. And Stephen Maher reminds us that the past genocide by Canada's settlers against First Nations went far beyond culture alone.

- Justin Ling's notorious interview in which the Cons' Immigration Minister Chris Alexander equated wearing a niqab with terrorism is here. And Paul Wells follows up with a scathing counter to Alexander's wilful ignorance about his party's legacy of racism.

- Finally, Karl Nerenberg offers his own roundup of what we can expect now that the Cons' terror bill has been forced through Parliament. And CBC reports on one case of an individual being detained indefinitely without charges even before C-51 offers legislative cover for the disappearing of anybody who proves inconvenient.

[Update: fixed link.]

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Brad Delong discusses the two strains of neoliberalism which dominate far too much political discussion - and the reason why the left-oriented version doesn't offer any plausible analysis of where we stand:

(Bill) Clintonian left-neoliberalism makes two twin arguments.

The first is addressed to the left: it is that market mechanisms–properly-regulated market mechanisms–are more likely than not a better road to social democratic ends than command-and-control mechanisms.

The second is addressed to the right: it is that social democracy is the only political system that can in the long run underpin a market economy that preserves a space for private property and private enterprise. Therefore the right had better shut up and try to make social democracy work, or else.

The true underlying problem with left-neoliberalism, I think, is that with the Brezhnevite stagnation of the Soviet Union the second claim addressed to the right was no longer convincing. Hence the right went into its dismantle-social-democracy mode. And once the right was committed to dismantling social democracy, the ability to construct and maintain the proper regulations needed to make market mechanisms tools to achieve social democratic ends fell apart as well.

- Andrew Jackson discusses how the need for equity between and within generations should lead us to make investments in what matters for future development, rather than doing nothing for anybody as demanded by the austerians:

There has been a great deal of recent media commentary on inter-generational unfairness, much of which misleadingly argues that affluent older Canadians are benefiting from current economic and social arrangements at the expense of youth.

Not to be misunderstood, young adults today are getting a raw deal when it comes to high levels of student debt, their immediate job market prospects compared to those of the baby boomers, and high housing prices.

The transition from education to stable and well-paid employment is much more prolonged and problematic than used to be the case due to the ongoing increase in insecure and low-paid jobs.

But that does not mean that all seniors and those who are about to enter their retirement years are flourishing. There are huge inequities within different generations that far outweigh inequities between generations.
...
Again, inequity within generations is a more important issue than inequity between generations.

The inter-generational fairness theme is often used to justify public spending cuts to reduce the “debt burden” on future generations. This ignores Canada's very low level of public debt, and the fact that experts such as the Parliamentary Budget Officer see federal finances as sustainable, meaning that tax increases will not be required to fund future spending.

More importantly, this argument gets in the way of the public investments we need to make today to secure a better future for today's youth and future generations. We could and should be investing more in the education and skills of youth, in research and development, and in the measures needed to ensure environmental sustainability.

- Meanwhile, Brent Patterson laments the Harper Cons' willingness to leave an environmental disaster for future generations to clean up. And Thomas Walkom points out that Kathleen Wynne is following in the Cons' footsteps in trashing public wealth without any reasonable basis for doing so.

- Fred Joseph Ernst writes that the primary effect of C-51 is to legalize the "dirty tricks" against civilians which represent a regular feature of repressive states. And Andrew Mitrovica comments that even some of Stephen Harper's usual core supporters are rightly fighting back against that choice.

- Finally, Stephen Maher points out how the Cons' vote suppression tactics figure to cause serious problems for citizens seeking to vote this fall. And Bruce Johnstone makes the case to put first past the post behind us.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- PressProgress documents how the Cons are driving Canada's economy into the ditch. And Michael Babad reports that economists with a better grounding in reality than Stephen Harper are begging the provinces not to impose the austerity demanded by the Cons.

- Kara Santokie writes that if the Cons' balanced-budget legislation has any effect at all, it will be to attack Canada's social programs when they're needed most. And Louis-Philippe Rochon sees the false balance bill as standing out even among the Cons' bad ideas.

- Dylan Matthews questions whether workers present and future should be satisfied with low-paying, precarious jobs or contracting arrangements. But for those looking for positive ideas, the final report from Unifor's Good Jobs Summit offers some much-needed suggestions as to how we can improve matters.

- Positive Money explores how our financial system is set up to systematically transfer money from those with the least to those with the most, while LOLGOP observes that the resulting inequality is similarly caused by design. And Patty Winsa reports that increased reliance on fund-raising to support core school functions is leading to a huge and widening gap in education based on the wealth of a child's parents.

- Michael Harris argues that Stephen Harper should be appearing as a witness at Mike Duffy's fraud trial based on his close connection to every aspect of the charges. And Murray Mandryk writes that Duffy's own record of a life of patronage encouraged by the PMO offers a compelling reason why the Senate needs to be abolished.

- Finally, Stephen Maher laments the fact that the Cons' actions in office have been based solely on political calculations rather than the passing of constitutional and useful legislation - though one has to wonder when that became news.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Armine Yalnizyan counters the Cons' spin on tax-free savings accounts. And Rob Carrick points out that raising the limit on TFSAs would forfeit billions of desperately-needed dollars to benefit only the wealthiest few in Canada:

TFSAs are Swiss army knives – a financial knife, corkscrew, screwdriver and more. But doubling the annual contribution limit of $5,500 is a bad idea.

Message to the federal government: Please don’t, because we can’t afford it.
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A report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer this week says the federal government would lose $14.7-billion a year in revenue by 2060 and the provinces would lose $7.6-billion a year. That’s a tremendous amount of money to forgo in a country with a population aging as quickly as ours.

The latest population estimates from Statistics Canada suggest that seniors will account for 25.5 per cent of the population by 2061, up from 14.4 per cent in 2011. You can imagine what this trend will mean for government spending on health care and income programs such as Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

In fact, Ottawa was so concerned about the sustainability of OAS – it’s funded from general government revenue – that it announced that it would gradually increase the age of eligibility to 67 from 65 starting in 2023. Ottawa saved a whack of money doing that. Now, it’s looking at depleting the savings it realized with a higher TFSA contribution limit.

- Thomas Walkom offers some suggestions to save Canadian capitalism from its own most destructive impulses. And Don Lenihan discusses another set of big ideas worth considering, while recognizing that none of them will come to pass without a more effective political process.

- Elizabeth Douglass writes that between plunging prices and increasing recognition of safety and climate risks, 2015 is off to a rather rough start for the oil industry. And that's before doctors start highlighting pollution and climate change as serious health issues - which Kyle Plantz reports to be a foreseeable and desirable possibility.

- Meanwhile, Bruce Johnstone reminds us that farmers are still suffering from the Cons' choice to prioritize the use of rail to transport oil.

- Aarian Marshall discusses what the Cons' census vandalism has cost Canada:

Though Peterborough’s situation is particularly difficult, it’s not an anomaly. In 2006, 93.5 percent of Canadians responded to the then-mandatory long-form census. In 2011, 68.6 percent returned the NHS. This is despite the fact that census officials distributed more surveys to compensate for the predicted drop in response rates—to one in three Canadians in 2011 instead of the one in five in 2006. Still, Statistics Canada withheld 2011 NHS data for 1,128 of 4,567 Canadian census subdivisions. “[A]pproximately 25 percent of geographic areas do not have reliable National Household Survey data available for their use,” Canada’s auditor general wrote in a 2014 report.
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“Because of the move to the voluntary NHS, Canada is a richer, whiter, more educated country now,” says Ryan Berlin, a Vancouver-based economist and demographer with the non-profit Urban Futures Institute. Berlin is making a joke here, one that’s been making the rounds in Canadian academic conferences for the past few years. But he’s not wrong. Certain populations—low-income residents, immigrants, the disabled, aboriginal peoples, and those without a firm grasp of the English language—were far less likely to return the voluntary census. These are also often the communities most in need of social programs. The question marks are particularly disconcerting in the wake of the worldwide  recession. Where are the needy? Canada isn’t entirely sure.

While statisticians with the Canadian government do have sophisticated mathematical tools to help estimate how many underserved citizens they missed, the 2011 still survey left glaring uncertainties. In one example, the NHS found that Filipinos were the most represented group among immigrants who entered Canada between 2006 and 2011. But a footnote in the Statistics Canada release notes that this result is “not in line with administrative data from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada which provides the number of recent immigrants by their country of birth settling in Canada each year.” Why the gap? It could be sampling errors, it could be response patterns, or it could be an “under or over estimation of certain groups of recent immigrants in the NHS.” Officials say they just can't be certain why they don’t know what they don’t know.
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Academics also stress that census data is often used as a benchmark, to check whether other data sets derived from alternative sources are correct. Now there appears to be no universally-acknowledged set of numbers against which to check one’s own work.

- Finally, PressProgress points out that the Harper Cons and their mouthpieces seem to be the only people alive - whether in Canada or elsewhere - who don't think the tragic and ongoing history of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada merits a public inquiry. And Stephen Maher highlights the complete disconnect between the Cons and Canada's First Nations who rightly expect far better.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Danyaal Raza highlights how Canadians can treat an election year as an opportunity to discuss the a focus on social health with candidates and peers alike:

Health providers are increasingly recognizing that while a robust health care system is an important part of promoting Canadians’ health, so is the availability of affordable housing, decent work, and a tightly knit social safety net. Upstream-focused clinical interventions, like the income security program available where I practice, are increasingly meeting that need – but no such program works in a vacuum.
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Thinking differently requires speaking differently. Each of the presenters shared meaningful stories of their own experiences and stories of the impact of the social determinants of health on the lives of patients they’ve cared for during their careers. From this ‘SDOHrytelling’ to advocating trading the GDP for a measurement of greater meaning like the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, reframing public discourse is an act of social change.
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As Canadians head into a federal election year, we need to put this perspective into practice. Upstream thinking and action on the social determinants of health should not be a single election issue. Rather, this should be the lens we apply to the promises and platforms of all parties, as we ask the key question “what is your plan to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of this country?” That is the standard by which any prospective leader should be judged, and when they are it will empower them to work with Canadians to build a truly healthy society. 

- Meanwhile, Janelle Vandergriff rightly argues that it's time to shift from talk to action in eliminating poverty. Bryce Covert notes that care workers are particularly likely to face precarious job conditions and low wages. And Keith Naughton, Lynn Doan and Jeffrey Green write that the labour movement may be poised for a significant comeback in the U.S., while Joanna Mack discusses the connection between union strength and greater equality.

- But of course, any effort to actually improve the lives of the non-elite is bound to meet well-financed (if untrustworthy) opposition. On that front, Andrew Jackson slams the Cons' bluster about balanced budgets as being destructive to responsible fiscal management. And Lana Payne points out that the corporate lobby is only increasing its attacks on unions even as the disastrous effects of disempowering workers become obvious:

The global lobby against workers’ rights is among the fiercest and best financed. And it has reached a fever pitch, including an assault by employers at the International Labour Organization (ILO) against the right to strike.

Corporate power and employer organizations have had a good friend in right-wing governments (and some not so right-wing) around the world.

It is no coincidence that the attack on workers’ rights and freedoms, such as the right to join a union and to fair and free collective bargaining, have gone hand in hand with unparalleled growth in inequality.

Unions, organized labour, remain the single greatest counterbalance to corporate power. Simply, they force wealth to be shared. No country on the planet has achieved shared prosperity without strong unions and decent collective bargaining coverage for workers.

A 2012 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report looking at the growth in income inequality concluded: “arrangements that strengthen trade unions also tend to reduce labour earnings inequality by ensuring a more equal distribution of earnings.”

This is important for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is inequality hampers economic growth (even the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank now agree) and damages civil engagement and democracy.

- Doug Cuthand examines the tragic fires at Makwa Sahgaiehcan and other reserves as just the latest examples of how chronic underfunding and neglect affect First Nations.

- Finally, Stephen Maher comments on the ugly, bigoted campaign the Cons are planning to run in order to cling to power, while Andrew Coyne notes that Stephen Harper's eliminationist rhetoric only serves to make Canadians less safe. And Ralph Surette discusses how the Cons' work to terrorize Canadians fits into their broader focus on electoral propaganda over good governance - and how there's plenty of work to do in countering it.