By John Thornton Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) Annual Reports, available online, suggest that between 2010 and 2012 the Sask Party had figured out how to run STC. Ridership had increased in 2010, the first year-over-year increase in ridership since the NDP lost the election of 2007. Two seat sales had offset a 2010 fare increase; Continue readingHow the Saskatchewan government killed STC
austerity
I’m not sure if this is something that I should vocalise or whether or not it should be shared with the world but as I sit at home thinking about the other night the Grenfell Tower I feel like people might want to know how the incident went from the point of view of a Continue readingFrom a firefighter at Grenfell tower
By Wendy Goldsmith and Dylan Penner Humanity. Neighbourhoods. Compassion. Love. These are the driving forces behind Londoners for Door to Door and its recent resurgence to address yet another broken Liberal promise in the making. A decision is expected this Spring on whether the Liberal government will keep its promise to restore door-to-door mail Continue readingRestoring Door-to-Door delivery will take people power
By Andrew Stevens and Charles Smith Saskatchewan’s 2017 budget landed with an unenthusiastic thud last week. Riddled with cuts, job losses, public sector wage reductions, and tax increases, the Saskatchewan Party’s austerity budget has garnered few friends, with critics ranging from organized labour movement to small businesses. The government’s budget has several fiscal goals: aggressively tackle Continue readingSaskatchewan’s 2017 Austerity Budget
By Crystal Warner CEIU Deputy Trustee BC/YT Selfie sticks were oddly missing on October 27 when senior federal government officials announced at a staff-only meeting that the Case Processing Centre (CPC) for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would be relocated from the town of Vegreville to Edmonton, Alberta. It is a move the Minister of Continue readingTrudeau’s war on a small Alberta town
By Daniel Tseghay On October 17th, BC’s Education Minister, Mike Bernier, fired all nine elected Vancouver School Board (VSB) trustees. The province’s reasoning is that the elected school board failed to pass a balanced budget by the June 30th deadline, violating the School Act. Bernier has now replaced the board with an appointed trustee, a Continue readingEntire Vancouver School Board fired: The crisis of education funding continues
By Robert DeVet Seldom has a provincial austerity budget been as decisively rejected as happened this spring in Newfoundland and Labrador. Angry citizens took to the street in record numbers, filled townhalls across the province, wrote letters, called in to radio shows, and in true Newfoundland fashion made fun of a hapless Premier Dwight Ball. Continue readingNewfoundland and Labrador: Still rising
By Robert Devet Rankandfile.ca’s Atlantic correspondent Something very much out of the ordinary is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador. People are so angry about the recent provincial austerity budget that even long-time activists say they have never seen the likes of it. The newly elected Liberal government, facing huge drops in oil revenues, cut public Continue readingNewfoundland is Rising Against Austerity
In these two reports from American media outlet Democracy Now!, hear Flint residents and autoworkers tell the real story of what has happened to this majority African-American city, and home of the 1936-37 Flint sit-down strike that defeated General Motors, the largest corporation in the world. The poisoning of Flint’s water isn’t just a health Continue readingWeekend Video: The Poisoning of Flint, Michigan
By Gerard Di Trolio The early bird budget released by the Ontario Liberals is a masterful work at political triangulation covering for austerity once you cut through the smoke and mirrors of what they are calling their progressive policies. The Liberals managed to get a lot of positive media attention with their announcement that university Continue readingOntario Budget 2016: More Liberal smoke and mirrors
By Ben Sichel One of the best parts of being a teacher is when students let you know they appreciate the work you do. It happens more than you might think. Despite the common, timeless sentiment that kids-today-ain’t-got-no-respect, students do express their appreciation in lots of ways: a thank-you in passing, a question that shows Continue readingNova Scotia Can Afford to Respect its Public Sector Workers
By Robert Devet The Liberals just couldn’t help themselves. They did it again. Earlier they trampled over home care workers’ and healthcare workers’ rights. Now it is teachers’ and civil servants’ turn. An entire session at Province House without labour strife just wouldn’t be the same. Trampling over workers’ rights. It’s such a cliché. Yet Continue readingBill 148 needs to be stopped