Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rod Nickel offers an international view of Saskatchewan's spiraling COVID-19 crisis, even as Scott Moe clings to his delusional minimization of the pandemic (and his personal responsibility for its impact on the province) in the face of objective reality. 

- Meanwhile, Laura Osman reports on the health care workers fighting to ensure sick leave is available across Canada when it's most needed. And Celina Gallardo writes about the frontline health care workers who are pitching in to save our health care system while lacking a path to permanent residency for themselves. 

- Valerie Lapointe and Nessa Gassemi-Bakhtiari write about the need to stop stigmatizing mental illness. And Jaela Bernstien discusses new research on the effects of climate change on our physical and mental health. 

- George Monbiot looks to World War II as an important example of how it's possible to direct our society and economy to response to an imminent threat - as we need to do to avert a climate breakdown. Jocelyn Timperley discusses how wealthy countries have broken their promise of even minimal financing for climate mitigation and adaptation. And Isak Stoddard et al. explore why we've failed so miserably in accomplishing much in previous decades, while Kevin Taft reviews William Carroll's Regime of Obstruction as an important reminder of the entrenched wealth and power that have been deployed to keep carbon pollution spewing, and Matthew Taylor reports that this year's global climate summit will be the first where big oil doesn't wield the power of a formal role. 

- Finally, John Woodside reports on recent research showing that continued fossil fuel production is absolutely contrary to any serious climate policy, while Jenny Uechl reports on Quebec's decision to end fossil fuel exploration. And Tzeporah Berman discusses how we've accepted far too little action from our political leaders as constituting climate leadership, 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Max Fawcett highlights why it's foolish to throw out the protection face masks have provided both against a continuing pandemic, and other infectious diseases. 

- Jonathan Watts reports on a new warning from scientists about the urgent need to prepare for unprecedented heat, while Vishwam Sankaran reports on research finding that millions of people are dying each year from extreme temperatures. And The Guardian's editorial board points out how actual climate change is exceeding even the most dire predictions from longstanding models. 

- Tzeporah Berman reminds us that the Trudeau Libs' insistence on pushing and subsidizing fossil fuels is only making matters worse. Avi Lewis writes about the connection between colonialism, petropolitics and our climate breakdown. And Alyssa Scanga argues that rather than watching humanity destroy its living environment, we need to push for truly radical change.  

- Jim Stanford discusses how cryptocurrency platforms combine all the attributes of unsustainable asset bubbles with extreme environmental destruction. 

- AFP reports on Paris' move to reduce speed limits to make streets safer for citizens. 

- Finally, Cindy Blackstock and Pamela Palmater write that it's long past time for Canada's government to take responsibility for its role in the deaths of Indigenous children. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Laura Spinney writes about the debate as to whether to eliminate COVID-19 or control its continued spread. And Carl Zimmer reports on the Brazilian variant which represents just the latest new mutation which may complicate any attempt to barge ahead with business as usual in the face of the coronavirus.

- Tzeporah Berman and Nathan Taft point out the deception behind the oil industry's attempt to pitch a misleading "net zero" emissions target as an excuse to keep spewing carbon pollution now (and to encourage end users to keep doing so for decades to come), while Naveena Sadasivam discusses the massive cleanup costs fossil fuel barons are foisting on the public. And Simon Lewis warns against being fooled by businesses trying to turn accounting tricks into carbon credits they can sell.

- Rahi Abouk, Keshar Ghimire, Johanna Catherine Maclean and David Powell study how marijuana legalization affects workers' compensation claims - concluding that it actually leads to a reduction by offering another form of pain management. And Zak Vescera reports on the need for improved access to naloxone to reduce the damage from opioid overdoses.

- Finally, Molly Scot Cato writes about the positives of taxes in reducing inequality, creating positive behavioural incentives and funding the services we need. Which makes for an important contrast against Stephanie Mudge's observations about Third Way liberalism which made democratic decision-making subordinate to the interests of capital.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrea Doucet, Sophie Mathieu and Lindsey McKay make the case for a parental leave system which improves accessibility and wage replacement rates to encourage a more fair sharing of child-rearing responsibilities.

- Kelly Hughes and Benson Siebert report on a class action claim attempting to reverse wage theft by a major Australian retailer. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh exposes how in addition to endangering and misclassifying workers, Fiera Foods has also been exploiting the Canadian tax system for false deductions - though sadly it doesn't appear it will end up paying anything close to the full bill after a settlement.

- Marin Cogan discusses how Donald Trump further traumatized the victims of racially-motivated violence in Charlottesville by legitimizing the bigotry of white supremacists. And Randy Robinson and Erika Shaker write about the fight to prevent Haudenosaunee land from being used without consent for the benefit of a private developer.

- Finally, David Hughes highlights how any economic case for the Trans-Mountain pipeline based on the expectation of future oil booms is long since obsolete. And Tzeporah Berman makes the case for Canada to play a leading role in developing a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.

New column day

Here, on how the costs of approving the Teck Frontier tar sands mine likely include locking Canada into another cycle of public subsidies for a dying oil sector - making it clear that it isn't in the public interest.

For further reading...
- Tzeporah Berman has previously questioned how any approval could be reconciled with a meaningful response to the climate crisis. And Bill McKibben rightly recognizes that approval for Frontier is utterly contrary to any claim to climate leadership.
- Andrew Willis reported on Teck's conditions to actually develop the Frontier site even if it's permitted to do so.
- Joanna Partridge has reported on fund manager BlackRock's plan to divest from coal and other fossil fuels. And Nick Cunningham discusses how the financial sector is taking climate risk and expense into account in determining whether projects will be funded and/or insured.
- Finally, in case there was any doubt that Canada's petropoliticians will happily throw as much public money as they can get their hands on into subsidizing dirty fossil fuels, the Canadian Press reports on Scott Moe's plan to fund new pipelines which lack any apparent use while continuing to slash Saskatchewan's public services.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib discuss Donald Trump's holiday menu of serving the rich and feasting on the poor, while Paul Krugman comments on the cruelty of a Trump Christmas. And Nick Purdon and Leonardo Palleja tell the stories of people facing the increasing depth and breadth of homelessness in Toronto.

- Margaret McGregor and Larry Barzelai write about the amount of fracking taking place in British Columbia - and the risk it poses both locally and globally - with relatively little public attention.  Michael Barnard notes the likelihood that Canada as a whole will end up paying for Alberta's refusal to make fossil fuel polluters clean up their own mess. And Tzeporah Berman highlights the absurdity of approving massive tar sands projects while the federal government dithers in the face of a climate crisis.

- Andrew Jacobs points out the disconnect between big pharma which is making obscene amounts of money from mass-produced drugs, and the lack of resources available for anybody more interested in research than short-term profiteering.

- Joseph Bernstein discusses how our relationship with technology has developed to make us more isolated and alienated.

- Finally, Joe Sousek makes the case for UK Labour to make a decisive push for proportional representation following an election in which a party with far less than majority support will be inflicting years of suffering on the voters who opposed it.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Washington Post reports that July 2019 set new records as the hottest month ever measured on Earth. David Suzuki offers a reminder of the catastrophic consequences of failing to put and end to our climate breakdown. And Roger Harrabin warns against exploiting and abusing the land we rely on.

- Meanwhile, Amnesty International announces that it has joined the fossil fuel divestment movement based on its recognition that dirty fuel dependence is antithetical to the preservation of human rights. And Damian Carrington reports that the public is more concerned about the environment in the UK than it's ever been before.

- Juliet O'Neil reports on the Kenney UCP's publicly-funded campaign to silence Tzeporah Berman and other advocates for a healthy planet.

- The Star's editorial board rightly slams the Ford PCs for going out of their way to make life worse for Ontario's poorest residents. And CBC News reports that as part of Jason Kenney's Summer of Concealment designed to avoid forcing Andrew Scheer to answer for his government's actions, the UCP has cut off access to scholarship applications until long after students' tuition comes due.

- Finally, Paul Krugman rightly points out that violence and terrorism are inevitable end results of politicians choosing to foment hatred in order to cover for their discriminatory policy choices.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Louis Uchitelle discusses how the decline of organized labour in the U.S. has harmed not just workers' direct interests, but the economic sectors where unions previously thrived:

Want to make America great again and keep factories in the United States? Try strengthening labor unions.

That may seem counterintuitive, and certainly contrary to the direction the country has been moving in lately. But the reality is that when organized labor dug in its heels — as it did regularly in the United States until late in the 20th century — manufacturing companies thought twice about shutting a factory and transferring production to another country.
...
As union membership declines, labor has less leverage to intervene in the management of a corporation, or to galvanize the public into boycotting the products of manufacturers who put too many factories overseas while exporting less from the United States.

Strikes work when union membership is high enough to encourage the public to support the strikers, or at least feel a kinship with them. My parents, who lived comfortably on my father’s earnings as a textile broker in New York, never crossed a picket line thrown up by a labor union in pursuit of a favorable contract. They might not have agreed with a union’s demands, or even known what they were. But they respected a strike as an often-necessary tool in reaching a compromise acceptable to both sides.
...
The street demonstrations and marches so characteristic of today’s resistance can be immensely meaningful, but they don’t force the sort of permanent economic change that a union can achieve through a binding contract that emerges from a strike.

Or at least they haven’t yet. Perhaps in time new organizations will emerge — heirs to the old union movement — and one of their priorities will be to pressure manufacturers quite publicly to put more of their factories in the United States.

- Alex McKeen reports on a needed push for labour market indicators which recognize the reality of gig work and other forms of precarity. Julia Horowitz points out that WalMart represents a particularly egregious example of inequality between executives and workers. Chris Parsons offers a reminder that one of the greatest threats to free speech is employer suppression of workers' views - particularly where they involve asserting rights in the workplace. And UFCW points out one recent Alberta example of an employer's anti-union tactics leading to a remedial certification.

- Daniel Tencer examines the assumptions behind the sticker price of a basic income, and notes that the savings in social costs could make a secure income into a bargain for everybody.

- Marc Lee highlights the full cost-benefit analysis which shows a Trans Mountain expansion to be a poor deal for everybody but its corporate operators. And Tzeporah Berman writes about the importance of protest movements in ensuring that the people excluded from the Libs' decision-making are still able to influence the course of events.

- Finally, Brent Patterson reminds us of a few of Justin Trudeau's most important broken promises.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Noah Smith comments on the damaging effects of corporate concentration for workers, consumers and even the financial sector:

The biggest threat from the increasing dominance of big companies isn’t to Goldman Sachs, or even to retirement plans; it’s to workers and consumers. When companies squelch wages and raise prices, it reduces economic activity. It pushes workers out of the labor force entirely, sending them home to play video games on the couch as their job skills and work ethic rot. And it can result in lower output too -- fewer plane rides, fewer people buying broadband internet, few people buying new cars.
...
The risk is that economy becomes trapped in a toxic cycle. As industries grow more concentrated, dominant companies become a bigger piece of the stock market, and their profit margins push stock valuations higher. Politicians naturally will be less willing to take steps to make markets more competitive, allowing superstar companies to become even more powerful. All the while, retirement accounts do OK, but workers’ wages and the economy suffer from decreasing competition.

It’s important to reverse this vicious cycle before the problem becomes too severe. A bit of antitrust now would go a long way toward preventing oligopoly from turning into oligarchy.

- Meanwhile, Jennifer Wells writes that the stripping of workers' pension funds demands action, not Trudeauvian platitudes. And Mio Tastas Viktorson discusses some of the alternative models of ownership which can ensure that economic development is structured with positive social outcomes in mind.

- But Andrew Kurjata reports on the Libs' establishment of a democracy-free zone in Prince George which looks like a prime example of government allowing the corporate sector to operate without making any contribution to the public good.

- And Nav Persaud and Andrew Boozary note that opioid manufacturers who have faced crackdowns in the U.S. for misleading marketing have been allowed to keep operating without scrutiny in Canada.

- Finally, Mitchell Anderson points out the lack of any case for pipeline expansion based on anything other than wishful thinking. And Tzeporah Berman comments on the Libs' warped definition of a "public interest" in allowing biased assessment processes to govern the building of pipelines.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Dani Rodrik writes that politicians looking to provide an alternative to toxic populism will need to offer some other challenge to a system biased in favour of the wealthy and powerful:

(P)oliticians who want to steal the demagogues’ thunder have to tread a very narrow path. If fashioning such a path sounds difficult, it is indicative of the magnitude of the challenge these politicians face. Meeting it will likely require new faces and younger politicians, not tainted with the globalist, market fundamentalist views of their predecessors.

It will also require forthright acknowledgement that pursuing the national interest is what politicians are elected to do. And this implies a willingness to attack many of the establishment’s sacred cows – particularly the free rein given to financial institutions, the bias toward austerity policies, the jaundiced view of government’s role in the economy, the unhindered movement of capital around the world, and the fetishization of international trade.

To mainstream ears, the rhetoric of such leaders will often sound jarring and extreme. Yet wooing voters back from populist demagogues may require nothing less. These politicians must offer an inclusive, rather than nativist, conception of national identity, and their politics must remain squarely within liberal democratic norms. Everything else should be on the table.

- Meanwhile, Marco Chown Oved reports on the widespread use of tax havens by Canadian businesses - and the tens of billions of dollars lost to the public purse as a result.

- Reuters reports on Credit Suisse's finding that millenials are worse off than the generation before them. And Samantha Beattie reports on new research showing that nearly half of Ontario students have missed school due to anxiety.

- Alissa Tedesco, Katie Boone, Chetan Mehta and Jim Deutch argue that a fair basic income funded by progressive taxes would work wonders to alleviate the health and social consequences of poverty.

- Finally, Tzeporah Berman offers a reminder of the environmental devastation wrought by the extraction of Canada's tar sands.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Matthew Brown and Matt Volz report on the latest oil train derailment in North Dakota. Justin Giovannetti discusses how fracking is leading to regular earthquakes in previously-stable parts of Alberta - which looks doubly dangerous given the presence of pipelines in the affected area. Garret Ellison examines Enbridge's blithe disregard for the safety of 60-year-old pipelines which it wants to keep operating indefinitely. And Chris Mooney comments on the link between climate change and wildfires.

- All of which leads nicely to Tzeporah Berman's point that we need to start a real discussion of how to transition away from our addiction to oil.

- Julia Belluz interviews Amy Kapczynski about the TPP's impact on drug prices - which includes entrenching restrictions on the development of generic alternatives which even the U.S. wants to reverse in its domestic policy. And the Star's editorial board makes the case for a national pharmacare plan to tilt the balance in favour of citizens and the public purse.

- Wayne Kondro reports that the Cons' own hand-picked panel of health experts confirmed the need for federal leadership in health care - even in the face of direct pressure from the PMO to say otherwise.

- Finally, Jeremy Nuttall discusses the Cons' relationship with the media. (Though I'm not sure there's much more to it than simple projection on each side: the Cons believing the media to be every bit as biased as themselves, the media being surprised the Cons don't share any interest in talking about facts rather than spewing propaganda.) And Michael Harris follows up on #CPCJesus by comparing the Cons to their supposed inspiration.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Louise Story reports on tax goodies and direct giveaways to businesses at the local level (which of course seldom deliver the promised economic return). That said, it's worth noting that we're desperately lacking for any movement to counteract the inter-jurisdictional competition for jobs that feeds such corporate handouts - and that we might all be better off spending less time negotiating free trade deals which leave government no way to influence development other than through cash giveaways, and more time establishing standards for corporate tax policies which preclude a race to the bottom.

- Tzeporah Berman recognizes that tar sands development can be much cleaner if it's carried out within a reasonable regulatory environment. But we shouldn't hold our breath waiting for that action from a government which has not only ignored advice from Canada's public servants about what regulations are needed to protect the environment, but muzzled scientists who dare to share facts with the public. Which means that Megan Leslie is entirely right to critique of the Harper Cons' Orwellian language.

- Speaking of which, the ultimate example of the Cons' combination of mismanagement and self-parody may be playing out at the still-unopened Canadian Museum of Human Rights - which is not only denying past and present employees the freedom of speech, but viewing its mandate as being to declare that our human rights rations have been increased over last month regardless of whether that claim has a basis in fact:

Eberts's comments echo the concerns of many current and former employees contacted by CBC News.

They said government and corporate interests may be having an impact on what will ultimately be included in the museum. Staff also said they have been told to include more "positive stories," and to curtail criticisms of issues touching on current government policy.

- Finally, Alice highlights the role that fund-raising may play in the federal Libs' leadership campaign. But I'll add that the gap between Justin Trudeau and his competitors may manifest itself in an additional way: while some candidates may be left out of the race for all intents and purposes due to their outright inability to fund a meaningful campaign, even the relatively close challengers may be at a serious disadvantage if they need to put in significantly more time and effort to bring in enough money to compete.