Assorted content for your weekend reading.
- Crawford Kilian writes that even if the Omicron variant of COVID-19 doesn't prove as dangerous as it appears, it should serve as a reminder as to why we should be careful to protect everybody's health and safety. And Andrew Nikiforuk examines the evidence that Omicron is going to lead to the most dangerous wave yet, while Virginia Harrison reports on the exponential spread it's causing in South Africa.
- Nick Dearden discusses how big pharma's profiteering paved the way for variants to emerge. And Ketty Nivyabandi, Madhukar Pai and Christina Warner push for Canada to stop obstructing the availability of vaccines in the countries where they're needed most.
- Jim Stanford writes that the case for 10 paid sick days (rather than any lesser sop to corporate interests) is particularly compelling when that time frame matches the incubation period for COVID.
- Andrew Jackson argues that our response to inflation should be focused on making essential goods affordable, not on trying to funnel money to the owners of capital. And Paul Krugman highlights how the increases in prices people are facing result from supply chain limitations and corporate profiteering, not the printing of money.
- MiningWatch maps out the impacts on communities around the globe if new mining plans are allowed to run roughshod. And Pam Palmater discusses how the RCMP's role is still fundamentally one of clearing Indigenous lands for the benefit of corporate interests.
- Meanwhile, James Whittingham challenges the Moe government's pathetic excuses for standing in the way of any transition toward electric vehicles in Saskatchewan.
- Finally, Amir Barnea encourages workers to organize in order to put their relatively high level of bargaining power to the best possible use.