Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Michael Atkinson and Haizhen Mou discuss their new polling showing that Canadians are particularly concerned with climate change and good jobs as part of our recovery from the pandemic - making a Green New Deal an obvious win-win. And Seth Klein writes about both the opportunity for the Alberta NDP and other parties to offer a clear path toward a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, and the risks in both political outcomes and policy results if they fail to do so.

- Peter Hotez writes about the damage being done to people's lives by the anti-science movement and its right-wing adherents and enablers around the globe. And PressProgress reports on the social conservative takeover of the Cons' national council as a vivid example of organized ignorance translating into substantial power. 

- Marc Lee writes about some of the ancillary policy changes which may help public and non-profit housing developments to succeed. And Kate Bezanson, Andrew Bevan and Monica Lysack note that when it comes to child care, funding is the primary hurdle standing in the way of a national system.

- The New York Times' editorial board points out how third-party verification of business income could go a long way toward ensuring that corporations and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of taxes. 

- Finally, Andrew Jackson reviews Mark Carney's new book - and highlights how it only confirms the strict limits of neoliberal politics in which the role of elected governments is merely to shape the distribution of private capital:

It is refreshing to see recognition of the limits of private ownership and markets by such a prominent establishment figure, especially when it comes to dealing with financial excess, the climate crisis and rising economic inequality. However, Carney, while recognizing the need for government regulation and a non market sphere, emphasizes most the need to shift to stakeholder capitalism and socially responsible investment. Indeed he does so to the point of naivete.

...

Realists will doubt with good reason that stakeholder capitalism and social investment amount to much more than corporate PR. One can readily point to manifestly predatory corporate behaviour when it comes to price gouging monopolies, speculative finance, corporations undermining health and safety standards and promoting dangerous goods and practices (as in the opioid crisis), or profiting from intellectual property ownership of medically necessary vaccines and drugs, denial of labour rights and standards and resistance to unions, wilful denial of climate change by large energy companies over many years, pervasive corporate tax evasion, systemic discrimination in employment, and so on.

In fairness, Carney does not deny the need for government supervision and regulation to balance corporate capitalism with broader social goals. But his faith in socially responsible capitalism is excessive.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jim Stanford weighs in on the need for increased worker input into economic decision-making - particularly as change is otherwise imposed by management with little regard for the people most affected.

- Nathaniel Erskine-Smith makes the case for a wealth tax to recoup some of the windfall the wealthiest few have received during the coronavirus pandemic - though it's of course worth noting that more substantial policy would be even better, and that he and his party have voted against the NDP's efforts to pursue anything of the sort. And Umair Haque rightly questions the U.S.' idolization of the people who extract the most from their communities for their own personal gain. 

- Joe Roberts offers a reminder that poverty is the result of policy decisions which can easily be changed if we care enough to ensure people have a secure income. And Marc Lee pushes for British Columbia to adopt the poverty reduction proposals - including both improved income supports and social infrastructure - proposed by that province's basic income panel.

- Max Fawcett writes about the developing conflict between an oil and gas industry seeking to keep wringing profits out of dirty energy regardless of the impact on anybody else, and a financial sector coming to terms with the broader costs of carbon pollution. And Nicholas Rivers, Kathryn Harrison and Marc Jaccard discuss the problems with relying on offset credits rather than real emission reductions in trying to avert a climate breakdown, while Alexander Quon reports on the foolishness of Scott Moe's plan to turn carbon pricing into a fossil fuel subsidy in order to avoid any emission reductions.

- Finally, Andrea Reimer discusses how Canada can keep big money out of politics - while pointing out how Saskatchewan ranks as the worst of the worst in allowing it unfettered influence over the political scene.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Connected cats.

 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Katie Raso describes the coronavirus pandemic as the neoliberal Chernobyl, having exposed how we're not only unable to respond to a disaster in progress - though it's worth adding the even more alarming reality that we're even falling short of consensus as to the fact that it's happening. Stephen Maher and Tonda MacCharles each offer their take on the government response after a year. And Aaron Wherry talks to Dan Gardner about how the pandemic demonstrates the danger of prioritizing short-term interests over long-term planning for entirely predictable events.

- Mariano Zafra and Javier Salas offer a look at how air circulation is crucial to limiting the spread of COVID-19. The Globe and Mail's editorial board warns that the virus is currently spreading far more quickly than vaccines can catch up to provide any protection,. And Abby Goudnough writes about the varied steps needed to get staff vaccinated at a single nursing home, while Martin Regg Cohn theorizes that we'll eventually need to make vaccinations mandatory. 

- Julie Ireton discusses how Canada's record of long-term care deaths in the midst of COVID is the worst among wealthy countries. And Karen Howlett focuses on the reality that some of those deaths can be traced to a failure to provide health care resources where they were desperately needed. 

- Meanwhile, Sharon Kirkey reports on Ontario's growing number of severe cases among younger people, while Alexander Quinn takes note of the same danger in Regina.

- Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell report on Alberta's choice to mislead Cargill workers into thinking their workplace was safe in order to keep meat production going as a COVID outbreak tore through the plant. And Caryn Lieberman reports that public health experts are pulling their children from Ontario schools as the Ford government refuses to either shut them down or invest in making them safer.

- Finally, Umair Haque writes that Britain is destroying itself as a nationalist narrative of trying to hoard the spoils of development gives way to a massive selloff to foreign capital.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Mariana Mazzucato responds to Boris Johnson by recognizing that capitalism has no viable answers for collective action problems such as the ones posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Scott Schmidt discusses how the familiar right-wing attempt to squeeze the wages and working conditions of public servants does nothing but harm to both the services we need, and the economy as a whole. And Fife Ogunde argues that the people providing services that we treat as essential deserve to be paid accordingly. 

- Owen Jones warns that our living environment can't survive the single-minded pursuit of immediate profit over the well-being of its inhabitants. Tariq Fancy discusses how sustainable investing in its current form falls far short of the mark in averting a climate breakdown. And Andrew Leach wonders whether the Supreme Court's decision upholding federal carbon pricing in Canada will represent the end of a loud and scientifically-illiterate resistance to climate policy.

- Adam Morton reports on a new study showing how Australia could reach net-zero emissions by 2040 with a transition to wind and solar power. And Dirk Meissner reports on British Columbia's steps to set emissions targets for industries and communities.

- Angus Reid's latest polling finds large numbers of Canadians facing financial insecurity both in general, and particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic. 

- Finally, Lee Stevens examines the glaring gap between the social programs available in Alberta and the support needed to lift people out of poverty. And Jason Hickel highlights why there's reason to be skeptical of claims about the elimination of extreme poverty which depend on both questionable assumptions about past standards of living, and an an exceedingly low standard to define the term today.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Julia Wong reports on the building third wave of COVID-19 in Alberta. And Ricardo Tranjan examines how little the Ford PCs actually put into the education system to address the additional demands created by a pandemic.

- Dana Nuccitelli discusses new research showing that a transition to a low carbon emission economy would generate substantial economic growth for the U.S. And Jakob Kapeller, Rafael Wildauer and Stuart Leitch discuss how a wealth tax can help to fund a fair and clean recovery.

- Alexander Panetta reports that even the U.S.' main oil lobby group is accepting the need for carbon pricing while Canada's conservative premiers either refuse to plan for them, or scheme to turn it into a subsidy for additional emissions. And Bob Weber reports on the use of the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to stop enforcing environmental standards - with Jason Kenney's Alberta predictably ranking as the worst offender.

- But Drew Anderson writes that the UCP is on shaky ground after falsely assuming that Alberta's general public would be as willing to be told lies as Kenney is to dispense them.

- Finally, Adam King highlights the need for workers who don't have the protection of a union in their workplace to nonetheless have more of a say in the terms and conditions of their employment.

Musical interlude

Danko Jones - I Want Out

On fossilized assumptions

The comparative cost of different power options in the real world:

The world’s best solar power schemes now offer the “cheapest…electricity in history” with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.

...

Across the U.S., renewable energy is beating coal on cost: The price to build new wind and solar has fallen below the cost of running existing coal-fired power plants in Red and Blue states. 

 ...

Building new wind and solar plants will soon be cheaper in every major market across the globe than running existing coal-fired power stations, according to a new report that raises fresh doubt about the medium-term viability of Australia’s $26bn thermal coal export industry.

While some countries are moving faster than others, the analysis by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a climate finance thinktank, found renewable power was a cheaper option than building new coal plants in all large markets including Australia, and was expected to cost less than electricity from existing coal plants by 2030 at the latest.

The default assumption in Saskatchewan's fossilized media:

And even if they were to, there is the messy problem that we still must burn coal for the lion’s share of our electrical needs because solar and wind remain costly and we aren’t blessed with hydroelectric resources.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Armine Yalnizyan highlights how our failure to put adequate resources into the caring sector stands in the way of both a COVID recovery and sustainable longer-term economic development.

- Jessica Wildfire writes that our economy has been set up to be unaffordable for nearly everybody in order to allow profits to be skimmed off the top of everything we do. And Bob Lord discusses how a fair and progressive tax system is a must to avoid the toxic concentration of wealth in the hands of a greedy few.

- Joe Nocera comments on the importance of seizing a moment in which workers and unions are rightly seen as a necessary collective counterweight to corporate control.

- John Clarke writes about the need to develop class solidarity across international borders, rather than presuming that the fate of individual politicians or states represents an acceptable proxy for the public interest. And Lachlan Markey notes that the U.S. is seeing a concerted effort to push the Biden administration leftward. 

- Finally, Aaron Wherry discusses Erin O'Toole's failed attempt to have the Cons pay so much as lip service to the climate crisis. And Gillian Steward points out how the Cons have chosen to render themselves irrelevant to discussion around one of the most important issues we face - particularly as the implausible attempt to undermine even modest action through the courts has failed.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- John Guyton, Patrick Langetieg, Daniel Reck, Max Risch and Gabriel Zucman examine (PDF) the massive amounts of money which people at the very top of the income distribution hide from revenue authorities. And Nancy Cook reports on Joe Biden's plan to at least somewhat increase what the wealthiest few pay to fund a functional society. 

- Michal Rozworski highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the erosion of public planning capacity through decades of privatization and outsourcing.

- The Canadian Press reports on the NDP's push to eliminate for-profit long-term care - which was of course voted down by the corporate establishment alliance of the Libs, Cons and Bloc. And Christo Aivalis notes that there's plenty of room for additional ambition in bringing essential utilities including telecommunications under public control.

- Julia Peterson talks to Markham Hislop about the ongoing transition to clean energy - and the reality that it's happening no matter how desperately the petrostate tries to cling to the past century's economic model. 

- Karen McVeigh reports on new research showing that bottom trawling in the oceans is a major cause of carbon emissions. And Erin Brockovich writes about how we're endangering ourselves through the use of toxic chemicals.

- Finally, the Broadbent Institute has published a new set of principles for Canadian social democracy. And Elizabeth McIsaac discusses the need for the pursuit of equity to be at the centre of any work for social change.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

 Stretched cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andre Picard offers a look at what the arrival of a third wave of the coronavirus will mean. Morgan Lowrie reports on the rise of deadlier and more contagious COVID variants across Canada, while Colleen Silverthorn and Heidi Atter highlight their spread in Saskatoon and Regina respectively. The COVID Tracking Project points out how even the U.S. may face a worse wave than the ones which have already cost over half a million lives. And Pam Belluck discusses how mild initial COVID symptoms may give way to severe long-term neurological effects.

- Which is to say that Saskatchewan's combination of the lightest public health rules and highest case rates (as reported by Mickey Djuric) represents an exceptional level of negligence even compared to Canada's other conservative-governed provinces. And Roberto Rocha's reporting on how stronger restrictions have a demonstrable effect on public behaviour confirms that it's Scott Moe's choice to allow for preventable sickness and death.

- Alex Pareene calls out the U.S.' insistence on privileging intellectual property interests (over vaccines developed largely with public funds) over the production and distribution of vaccines which would protect everybody.

- Meanwhile, Hassan Yussuff, Doug Roth and Linda Silas offer a reminder that far too many Canadians are struggling to pay for needed medications in the absence of a national pharmacare program.

- Peter Greene discusses how "non-profit" charter schools are in fact being turned into corporate cash cows. 

- Finally, Jason Warick reports on a push to stop the Saskatchewan Party's selloff of Crown lands. And David Giles reports on the efforts of Marc Spooner and others to use SGI rebate cheques to preserve grasslands where the provincial government can't be bothered to do so.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Nazeem Muhajarine, Cory Neudorf, Kyle Anderson and Alexander Wong each point out the desperate need for Saskatchewan to keep people healthy in the face of new COVID-19 variants, while Zak Vescera discusses the contrast between what experts and recommended and what Scott Moe has chosen to do in minimizing any effective response. And Chris Chacon reports on similar warnings from Alberta's doctors which are likewise going unheeded, while Jason Herring notes that the cresting third wave is entirely preventable. Which means that it's time for a Photoshop inspired by the phrase commentators have begun using to describe Doug Ford's PCs (who themselves deserve nothing but criticism for increasing risks when we can least afford it):

- Meanwhile, Sara Mojtehedzadeh points out the gap between the COVID-19 cases actually traced back to Amazon, and the much smaller number reported to Ontario's workers' compensation system.

- Alexandra Rendely, Anjali Bhayana and Seema Marwaha discuss how the severe and long-lasting effects on long-haul COVID patients have all too often been erased from any discussion of both public health choice and health case systems. 

- Moira Walsh reports on the effects of the coronavirus on the nurses working to prevent and treat it. And Jennifer Yang looks at the plight of refugees and other precarious workers facing the risks of the front lines of a pandemic.

- Finally, Sharon Lerner discusses how big pharma plans to turn COVID-19 into a cash cow by inflating the price of vaccines as soon as it can find an excuse to do so.

On plausible alternatives

One of the perennial frustrations in following federal politics is the tendency of media coverage to default toward a Lib-Con duopoly. That pattern typically manifests itself when polling data and other circumstances create an obvious opening for an alternative, and is particularly striking when one of those parties is still treated as the primary alternative even while trailing the NDP and votes in seats. (See: federal politics from 2011-2015 and Ontario politics today.)

Of course, there are reasons for that: most notably, two-party horse race coverage is far easier to generate than discussion of the nuances of multi-party democracy. And particularly in the case of the Cons being propped up as the primary alternative to the Libs, there are some explanations which hold at least a modicum of validity (such as what figures to be a fairly firm floor based on the Cons' prairie base), and some which are rather less justifiable (such as media outlets' systematic backing of the Cons no matter how inept or destructive they are). 

But while we can count on conventional media to ignore the prospect of a new contender emerging, there seem to be plenty of forces coming together to raise the possibility of the NDP becoming the primary alternative to the Libs in an election this year.

We're seeing endless election speculation based on the Cons' pitiful performance. And it's true that in a two-party campaign, the Libs would figure to be well positioned to improve their position compared to a party with an unpopular leader, and with no obvious direction other than to keep running well-worn actions from an increasingly outdated Harper playbook.

But the NDP has been creeping up in the party standings, while Jagmeet Singh's approval rating has regularly ranked at the top of the pack (due in no small part to his party's work ensuring people have what they need through a pandemic, rather than looking to undercut support like the Cons have done). 

And this weekend may have seen the Cons' membership firmly reject the very possibility of making up ground.

Just before the Cons' national convention, David Colletto offered a snapshot of the types of voters who aren't currently in their camp, but might be willing to consider them. And the convention proceedings could hardly have been scripted better to repudiate the interests of young people, who recognize the need for racial justice and view climate change as a serious issue.

None of the above means that Erin O'Toole won't put on the usual mask of fake moderation. And indeed, he's spent much of his time since winning the Cons' leadership trying to pose as a worker-friendly populist, while begging people not to look at the track record of himself or his party. 

But that pitch always relied on people actually finding him believable - which doesn't appear to be working.

Which means that we're at least into a position where there's a plausible path toward the NDP pushing ahead of the Cons as the social democratic alternative to a Lib government which has done plenty to cater to the corporate class. (Consider this the British Columbia model transposed onto the federal scene.) And we may soon reach the point where anybody looking for the most likely party to overtake the Libs - and the most plausible narrative for change - will have to look to the NDP.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- David Macdonald and Martha Friendly examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has put even more strain on a Canadian child care system which was already under severe stress. And the Broadbent Institute offers a look at how a COVID recovery plan can help remediate some of Canada's long-standing social and economic needs. 

- Meanwhile, Tavia Grant points out what transparency looks like in the few workplaces where we've been able to see the effects of an outbreak - while noting that we're still in the dark in most cases.

- Jeremy Appel discusses the challenges facing progressive entrants into Calgary's municipal scene. And Tanya Nayler notes that a substantial number of elected representatives are also landlords (with predictable effects on policy supporting the commodification of housing, including soaring prices benefiting those wealth enough to own property already). 

- Farhad Manjoo writes that an investment in long-neglected bus systems would improve the lives of millions of Americans.

- Finally, Elizabeth Renzetti discusses the dangers facing women behind the closed doors of their own homes. And Amanda Short reports on Saskatchewan's unconscionably high number of killings of women and girls even compared to other Canadian provinces.

Musical interlude

 Psychedelic Furs - You'll Be Mine

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Noah Ivers writes that people need to take the first COVID-19 vaccine available in support of everybody's health, rather than assuming that consumerist philosophy applies to vaccinations. Arthur White-Crummey reports on new modelling showing how Saskatchewan is at grave risk of seeing our infection and intensive care rates spiral out of control before mass vaccinations are possible. And Murray Mandryk points out the folly of gambling with people's health and lives in the face of new and more dangerous variants.

- Andrew Jackson highlights how right-wing actors are trying to use the remote threat of inflation to undermine any discussion about meeting people's needs in providing relief and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. And Armine Yalnizyan notes that the care economy needs to be central to our recovery plans, while Iglika Ivanova and Lynell Anderson comment on the need to go beyond B.C.'s first steps in making child care available to everybody.

- Liz Walker and Shanice Regis-Wilkins discuss how organizing workers is more important than ever when they're facing new risks to health and welfare in the workplace. And Daniel Karasik talks to activists about building mass resistance to government neglect of human needs.

- Mitchell Beer writes that while the Libs insist on trying to have it both ways, we face a stark choice between responsible environmental policy and ongoing handouts to the fossil fuel sector. And in case there was any doubt which side to choose, Oliver Milman reports on the latest revelations as to how oil and gas companies suppressed their own knowledge about the harm done by air pollution in order to avoid regulation which would have protected public health, while Andrew MacLeod discusses the cleanup costs foisted on the public after oil and gas companies have skimmed of their profits then abandoned their environmental responsibilities. 

- Finally, Chauncey Devega discusses how the right's culture war messaging - most recently in the form of complaints about "cancel culture" - serves primarily as an excuse to try to negate the equal rights of minority groups in order to exclude them from democratic decision-making.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Steven Lewis writes that the Saskatchewan Party's mealy-mouthed messaging around the coronavirus looks to be a calculated political choice which is having devastating public health consequences:

There has been a pattern in Saskatchewan's communication about COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. The language is deliberately elastic. It is long on encouragement and exhortation and short on directive. It is more like a public health campaign to reduce smoking rates or encourage physical activity than a mass mobilization in the face of an emergency. 

The subtext is almost therapeutic: you might want to think about this or that, I'm not going to tell you what to do, you have to want to change. You can imagine the fingers crossed behind the back or the permissive wink.

Is this mere bumbling and ignorance of the evidence on how to succeed and how to fail at pandemic control? It's possible but unlikely. The approach is too consistent. No one is winging the messaging after a year of practice. 

Nor is it plausible that the public servants, the public health leadership and the cabinet are unaware of which jurisdictions did what, and the impact of those policies and practices. Yet Saskatchewan consistently drops the ball.

...

(T)he people more inclined to take the pandemic seriously, examine the evidence and listen to public health experts will do the heavy lifting. The gamble is that there are enough of them to give the skeptics and die-hard libertarians a free pass from the consequences of their own choices. 

When the majority takes adequate precautions, the recalcitrant minority also benefits, its safety subsidized by the sacrifices of others. A few hundred cases spread in bars or churches are, on this logic, the price worth paying for keeping the base happy while counting the days until the vaccine cavalry charges to the rescue.

I could well be wrong. Maybe politics has nothing to do with it. The alternative explanation — refusal to learn and adapt, disdain for expertise, bewildering obfuscation — is less flattering to the government. So in the spirit of charity, I cling to the hope that the premier's persistent dodge is artful, the handiwork of a clever strategist rather than one woefully out of his depth.

- Meanwhile, Chuck Collins points out that the U.S. could fund the majority of its COVID-19 relief by taxing back the wealth accumulated by billionaires as the rest of the population has suffered. And Oxfam notes that the Trudeau Libs have decided not to take steps to make Canada's revenue collection more consistent with a feminist recovery.

- Alastair Gee writes about the danger that our climate breakdown may mean the end of forests as they've existed for thousands of years. And Jonathan Porritt warns against the hype that we can avert climate change through nuclear and hydrogen power which will ultimately serve mostly to ensure that an exploitative resource extraction model remains profitable. 

- Regan Boychuk reports on Alberta's belated suspension of SanLing Energy for ignoring obligations to put up $67 million to fund massive end-of-life obligations for its oil facilities. And Sammy Hudes reports on a similar order against Mojek Resources Inc. 

- Finally, Nicole Abbott offers a personal account as to why Canada needs pharmacare for all.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Bruce Arthur discusses how Doug Ford could prevent a third wave of COVID-19 in Ontario, but is choosing not to. John Michael McGrath writes that we need to stay vigilant in doing everything we can to limit the spread of the coronavirus even when our politicians are sending mixed or conflicting messages. David Rider reports on the warning from infectious disease experts not to relax public health restrictions in Toronto, while Colin Ruloff offers a reminder as to which experts deserve to be taken seriously. And Emily Pasiuk interviews Alex Wong about the likelihood that Regina's new COVID cases consist almost entirely of variants of concern.

- Sandra Martin writes that we should be ashamed of how we've treated seniors over the course of the pandemic. Stephanie Levitz reports on the Libs' willingness to endanger public health in order to put temporary workers to work faster. And Rank and File publishes a diary from a Shoppers' Drug Mart worker who has simultaneously been treated as essential and disposable.

- Jim Stanford and Daniel Poon examine how everybody benefits when workers have more of a voice - and greater control - in determining how their workplaces operate. But PressProgress reports on the efforts of Uber (and so many other precarity brokers) to entrench a new underclass of workers who lack normal protections.

- Michael Baker, Derek Messacar and Mark Stabile study (PDF) the effects of child tax benefits in Canada, concluding that they've succeeded in reducing poverty without affecting workforce participation by recipients. And Brendan Kennedy reports on the NDP's call for CERB amnesty for people with low incomes. 

- Finally, Luke Savage interviews UK Labour MP Jon Trickett about the need to focus political action on class relations rather than culture war distractions. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

 Contented cats.

On priorities

For all the commentary Marco Rubio has managed to generate with his threat that Republicans may hate Amazon more than the workers seeking to organize it, nothing reflects the warped priorities of his party (and their Canadian cousins) than this passage:

It is no fault of Amazon’s workers if they feel the only option available to protect themselves against bad faith is to form a union. Today it might be workplace conditions, but tomorrow it might be a requirement that the workers embrace management’s latest “woke” human resources fad.

That's right: the Republican idea of motivating workers is to say that if they don't respond to the imminent risk of injury, disease or even death at the hands of a notoriously callous employer, they could someday face the apparently far more compelling danger of...being held to account for racism.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Kendall Latimer reports that epidemiologists are calling for far stronger public health measures as COVID variants have become the dominant strain - and spread to an alarmingly high number of people already - in Regina. German Lopez discusses the value of a harm reduction approach which asks people to be careful rather than perfect. And Andre Picard examines some of the the facts and fictions around the vaccination process.

- Ashifa Kassam reports on Spain's decision to join the ranks of countries offering a four-day work week. And Jeff Stein reports on the Biden administration's much-needed plan to stop the international race to the bottom on corporate taxes by applying a global minimum tax on profits.

- Owen Schalk points out the Trudeau Libs' willingness to support unelected right-wing governments - and approve of political the jailing of progressive leaders - where it serves the interest of Canadian mining corporations in exploiting the countries involved. And Jon Horler exposes how the federal government lobbying about an arms export permit to Turkey which resulted in the sale of drone technology to be used in war.

- Angie Schmitt discusses how the design of pickup trucks is increasingly oriented toward hypermasculine impunity and disregard for pedestrians and other drivers, rather than any reasonable measure of functionality. And CBC News reports on the rightfully dubious response to the UCP's plans to make Alberta's roads more polluted and less safe by raising highway speed limits.

- Finally, David Kirkpatrick and Alan Feuer report on the refusal of U.S. law enforcement to respond at all to the Proud Boys until they participated in the Trump-induced attack on the Capitol.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Rita Trichur writes that an attempt to boost the economy solely through monetary policy will predictably lead to even worse inequality - meaning it's necessary for governments to instead intervene through fiscal policy to ensure that growth is shaped to be fair and inclusive.

- Gabriela Schulte reports that a majority of Americans support a wealth tax to rein in existing inequality. And Joseph Choi reports on the Biden administration's plans for at least some tax increases on the people and corporations who can most afford to pay them.

- Jim Stanford calls out Uber for attempting to gut existing employment standards by permitting a far lesser set of protections to apply to its workers compared to people in more traditional employment relationships. 

- Max Fawcett writes about the dangers posed by a housing market which is pulling in massive amounts of investment wholly out of proportion to any rational explanation. And Amin Barnea discusses the need for regulation of the financial markets to ensure they don't function as casinos which always return money to the house.

- Finally, Taslim Jaffer highlights how we all have privilege of some sort - and need to use it to ensure that others don't face injustice.

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Rachel Aiello reports on Dr. Theresa Tam's observation that Canada has failed its most vulnerable residents in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. And David Moscrop discusses the danger of losing trust in the institutions needed to respond to collective problems - though as noted by Robert Hiltz, the loss of faith in many right-wing provincial governments in particular is entirely justified based on their failure to act for the public good. 

- But on the bright side, Peter Kujawinski writes about the success of the Northest Territories in protecting its population.

- Naomi Buck writes that the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's employment highlights the desperate need for universal child care.

- Zak Vescera reports on Saskatchewan's increasing use of privately-operated group homes who have neglected children in the province's care.

- Finally, Duncan Kinney reports on the likelihood that the Lethbridge police officers who placed NDP MLA Shannon Phillips under politically-motivated surveillance won't face meaningful consequences for doing so.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Adam Hunter talks to epidemiologists about Saskatchewan's pitiful COVID-19 response and the avoidable disease and death that have resulted. Gary Mason warns that we shouldn't expect to be into a post-COVID period by this summer. And Crawford Kilian writes that not only can we not rush in pretending we're back to normal, but we also shouldn't accept what we put up with as normality before.

- Linda McQuaig reminds us that the Libs' infrastructure bank is designed to turn needed public services into a windfall for wealthy investors. And Shoo Lee, Brian Rowe and Sukhy Mahl study how privatized health care produces worse results for everybody other than the people extracting profits from the system. 

- Emily Dwyer writes about the futility of a mining "watchdog" which has been denied any authority to actually investigate complaints.

- Finally, Dan Darrah highlights how there's no reason for Niki Ashton (or anybody else) to be shy about engaging with Jeremy Corbyn in the development of the Progressive International. And Joe Roberts warns against allowing hostile and politicized actors to determine who's entitled to be involved in movement-building.

Friday Evening Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Alex Hemingway examines how a wealth tax could raise substantially more money than assumed by the PBO. And Caterina Lindman writes about the benefits of a basic income guarantee funded by progressive taxes.

- Stefan Nikola discusses how shortened work weeks are at long last - if still gradually - becoming more common. And Kaitlyn Matulewicz and Iglika Ivanova highlight how paid sick leave can help to close the gender gap (among other important benefits).

- Simon Enoch weighs in on the Saskatchewan Party's belated recognition that obsessing over balanced budgets is foolhardy in the midst of a health crisis. And Trish Hennessy offers a few reasons for hope as a path out of the coronavirus pandemic comes into sight.

- But lest there be any doubt about the consequences of relaxing public health measures too soon, Kate Kelland reports on research showing that the B.1.1.7 variant is more deadly as well as more susceptible to transmission - which makes it alarming that Regina is seeing that variant become the dominant strain of COVID-19, with dozens of cases confirmed and even more presumed. And James Keller and Ivan Semeniuk report on Jason Kenney's preposterous plan to prioritize social conservatives' vaccine choice over effective distribution to as many people as possible.

- Finally, Yvonne Hii and Henny Yeung discuss how COVID-19 has only confirmed the importance ensuring parents have access to child care.

Musical interlude

 Aly & AJ - Listen!!!

Thursday Evening Links

 This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Christo Aivalis rightly points out that the NDP needs to be a party of labour and fight to ensure workers' needs are central to Canada's political discussion, rather than amplifying the rhetoric of the exploitative corporate lobby even when it's in the guise of "small business".

- Pete Hudson makes the case for a public vaccine manufacturer in Canada. And the latest Dispatches from the Left includes a reminder of the harm privatization does to the public interest:

Now is the time to put efforts into organizing around taking back our Crowns, restoring services like laundry, cleaning, and food services that have been contracted out to private companies, and putting a stop to privatization of any kind. For-profit service provision is violence. This year we have done nothing but pay for the short term profits gained by the privatization of vaccine labs, of long term care, of STC, of all the auxiliary services necessary to make our healthcare system function. The cost has been far more than we can bear. Privatization robs the public of control over the ways that our communities are run. It robs us of oversight, of opportunity, and, in the case of those who died so Extendicare could have its most profitable year ever, it robs us of our lives. Public ownership isn’t a panacea for the problems of our time. But it is a step towards justice and equity.  

- Andrew Nikiforuk calls out the Kenney UCP's word games as it barges ahead with coal mining in the Rockies. And the Star's editorial board criticizes Doug Ford's prioritization of enriching donor developers over preserving Ontario's environmentally sensitive areas.

- Richard Raycraft reports on the Libs' sudden cut in funding to supports for people with disabilities related to printed text.

- Finally, Luke Savage writes about the need to focus on the development of democracy even when it would be tempting to give up in the face of public choices.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Fluffy cats.

 

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Stephanie Taylor reports on the Saskatchewan Health Authority's warning that we can't afford to loosen the province's COVID-19 rules - which of course was followed immediately by Scott Moe loosening the province's COVID-19 rules. And Matt Gurney points out the need for guidance as to what people can do while only partially vaccinated.

- David Moscrop highlights how the thousands of COVID-19 deaths in Ontario long-term care homes to date could have been avoided. And Paola Lorrigio reports on the new revelations that doctors presented numerous life-saving options to the Ford government, only to have every single one them rejected as costing too much to be worth the bother.

- Danny Dorling and Annika Koljonen discuss the connection between Finland's relative equality and consensus-based policy-making, and its stellar rankings in measures of personal well-being. And conversely, the damage COVID-19 has done to previous social progress in Canada would seem an obvious culprit in the misery we're experiencing even compared to other countries faced with the same pandemic.

- Torsten Bell reminds us that the main effect of refusing to make sick leave available is to ensure that people keep putting themselves and others at risk by going to work while ill.

- Finally, Oliver Milman discusses how even locked-in levels of climate change are rendering tropical areas uninhabitable. And Roland Geyer writes that we need to end the use of fossil fuels to limit our climate breakdown to remotely tolerable levels, rather than counting on offset or credit trading schemes.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Paul Krugman notes that hostility toward basic public health protection such as masks represents a stark example of conservatives sacrificing human lives to identity politics - though it's far from the first or the last one. And James Downie writes that the Republicans governments reversing mask mandates know perfectly well that the credence given to anti-social actors makes it impossible for people to take precautions for themselves.

- Colleen Barry reports on the new wave of COVID-19 in Europe due to increasingly dangerous variants. Camelia Dewan contrasts Norway's relative success in requiring everybody to contribute to limiting the spread of the coronavirus against the disastrous results of  Sweden's herd immunity strategy (complete with willingness to endanger the lives of elderly people along the way). And Lynn Desjardins reports that Canadians are understandably wary about our long-term care system now that its weaknesses have been exposed.

- Srinivas Murthy writes that the most effective strategy to contain COVID-19 involves making sure vaccines get where they're needed around the globe, rather than being systematically diverted to the wealthiest countries first. 

- Joseph Hall observes that economists don't share the right's insistence on putting selective deficit phobia ahead of relief and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Finally, PressProgress follows up on the Pallister PCs' secret legislative agenda.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Mark Tenforde, Kiva Fisher and Manish Patel study the activities most likely to spread COVID-19 - with restaurants, gyms, bars and churches ranking as the obvious sources of community transmission. And Bruce Arthur warns not to count on an increasing number of vaccine deliveries as a magic bullet against the coronavirus pandemic - particularly when variants are spreading among unvaccinated populations.

- Jim Stanford writes that the model being used to distribute vaccines - ensuring that the people who need a vital good most receive it at no cost - is one we should look to expand to cover more of the essentials of life. And Bernard Ho, Osman Raza and Andriy Katyukha ask when the Libs will live up to their promise to make that happen in ensuring access to medicine in particular. 

- Christine Dobby discusses how concentrated capital has caused a rental housing crisis even when there are far more homes available than people to occupy them. And Stephanie Allen makes the case for community land trusts to ensure that community-based housing is developed and made available for the people who need it.

- Lars Osberg writes that instead of using the end of the pandemic as an excuse to revert to neoliberalism as usual, we need to once again recognize and account for our interdependence. And even the Economist recognizes that we can't afford to simply go back to the status quo ante in designing our social supports.

- Finally, for those with time to explore some new online resources, saskoil.org offers a thorough look at the impact of the fossil fuel sector in Saskatchewan. And The Breach will soon be offering a needed independent national media outlet.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- David Graeber wrote (just before his death) about the need to do more than default back to an unacceptable "normal" once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control. 

- Arthur White-Crummey and Lynn Giebrecht have been writing a series of stories on the longstanding lack of regard for residents and workers in Saskatchewan's long-term care homes, while Dylan Scott notes that the U.S. has matched Canada's pattern in seeing more and worse COVID outbreaks in for-profit facilities. And Bryn Levy reports on the push for stronger protection at the Prairie Pride meat-packing plant where an outbreak was hidden from the union as well as the public.

- Brennan Strndberg-Salmon makes the case to give young people the chance to vote in elections which will shape their future. 

- Dianne Buckner reports on the movement to challenge payday lending which traps people in cycles of debt.

- Stephen Leahy examines the potential for the world to shift to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

- And finally, Emma McIntosh reports on the Peter Bryce Prize for whistleblowing rightly awarded to John O'Connor for his work calling attention to cancer around Alberta's tar sands in the face of suppression from industry and governments.

Musical interlude

 Spiritbox - Constance

On breaking solidarity

After nearly a year of a declared pandemic (and several months of inaction before that), far too little has changed in Saskatchewan's political discussion of our response to COVID-19. In particular, the Moe government has regularly insisted on pushing to reopen as much as it can get away with - leaving people to plead for somebody to look out for public health.

That contrast between Moe's message and the realities of a pandemic all the more striking even as it becomes all the more clear that the end is in sight if we remain responsible for just a few more months - or conversely, that we face the risk of more threatening variants if we don't maintain (and indeed tighten up) our existing public health rules.

The main explanation for Moe's position has generally been his well-documented propensity for treating the corporate lobby as the only actor deserving of a say in policy choices, under circumstances where businesses have chosen to prioritize immediate profit over human life. But as we approach a possible endgame in dealing with COVID-19, there's another explanation entering the picture. 

The fight against COVID-19 has generally been recognized (with only the most destructive of opponents) as calling for mass mobilization toward a common goal. And the result has been regular analogies to World War II as the last time we faced that type of all-consuming effort. 

And in making that analogy, it also hasn't escaped attention that the end of WWII gave rise to the strongest welfare state and regulatory structure we've ever seen - as the people who had been called to mobilize to fight a war rightly demanded a peace dividend which recognized their efforts. 

Needless to say, the corporate lobby which spent several decades undermining the progress made in the middle of the 20th century likely isn't eager to see a modern version emerge. And the surest way to avoid the prospect of a popular movement for social change is to undermine any sense of solidarity before the pandemic is over.

We'd fully expect that strategy to include holding out a "carrot" of telling people they won't long need to sacrifice for the greater good. And we'd also expect the longstanding pattern of government handing out niche benefits and minor concessions to the general public - as cover for far greater concessions to the wealthy - to find its way into the handling of COVID restrictions.

From that standpoint, the new round of relaxed efforts against COVID-19 - even as both the promise of vaccination and the threat of variants loom over us - may best be seen as as a plan for premature demobilization to ensure we're not prepared to fight for a new peace dividend. And we should be all the more outraged at the war effort when it involves conceding battles to a common enemy in order to serve one's political financiers at home.

[Edit: fixed typo.]