Saturday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.

- David Jones writes about the important benefits enjoyed by workers as the result of the efforts of the labour movement. And Arindrajit Dube studies the international effects of minimum wage increases, finding that they consistently improve lower-end wages while having little effect on job numbers.

- Meanwhile, Graeme Orr points out how Australia's government is misusing state power to silence the public in criticizing or boycotting exploitative corporations. And the Canadian Press reports on a new study making the seemingly obvious point that miners should be required to ensure they can pay to clean up their messes before being allowed to put the environment at risk.

- Catherine Carstairs hopes that a minority Parliament will be the impetus for Canada to finally move toward universal pharmacare.

- James Glave highlights how new building regulations are producing important reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. And the Star's editorial board calls for an end to heel-dragging in eliminating lead from Canada's drinking water.

- Finally, Mitch Potter writes that any Western separation movement lacks any basis in reality. PressProgress takes a look at what the people behind "Wexit" also stand for publicly - including explicit racial and gender discrimination. And David Parkinson offers a much-needed reminder that the rest of Canada has been asked to sacrifice to goose oil industry profits in the past - only to have the recipients of that sacrifice now making ill-informed complaints about somehow being singled out for economic punishment.