Search results for “site/human rights”

  • Fast Facts: Thunderbird House has potential to unite

    Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press October 9th, 2015 When award winning author Joseph Boyden announced he would donate half of his One Summit speaker fee to Circle of Life Thunderbird House to fix its leaky roof, he likely didn’t fully appreciate the meaning of this generous gesture.  …

  • September 2004: Filling Our Tanks (And Brains) With The Wrong Fuel

    Lament for an election in which the crucial issue was ignored Anyone who has recently bought or leased a new car in Canada may find this warning in its Driver’s Manual: “In order to maintain good performance, fuel economy and emissions control, we strongly recommend the use of gasoline that…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Rowing against the tide of history

    Manitoba’s pandemic response could do lasting damage to Manitoba economy Previously published by CBC Manitoba Opinion April 25, 2020 Manitoba’s provincial government is keen to have us all row in the same direction to combat COVID-19.  But currently, Brian Pallister’s government is not only failing to dip its oar in…

  • Scapegoating the Poor

    Let’s start blaming the plutocrats, not their victims There’s an old African proverb that is becoming uncomfortably apt to apply to human behaviour in Canada: “As the waterhole gets smaller, the animals get meaner.” In other words, as the food, water, and other basic resources dwindle, so does the willingness…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: Failure to act fails us all…Manitoba income supports needed during COVID

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press May 1, 2020 Manitoba must help those being clobbered financially by the COVID-19 pandemic: it is the right thing to do, we can afford it and, as a diverse array of economists have noted,  public spending is needed in a time of crisis.…

  • C. D. Howe Shills for Oil Companies

    The C. D. Howe Institute is out this morning with a press release entitled, “Raising Oil and Gas Royalties Does Not Benefit Provincial Coffers.” A complete analysis of the accompanying 30-page paper – featuring many graphs, tables and regressions – will take time. But here is my initial take. Background The Institute correctly notes…

  • On Labour Day, think about unions as an equalizing force

    By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed levels of production. Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them. Martin Luther King speaking in 1961 On Labour Day 2011 unions in North…

  • BC should transition to 100% non-profit and public delivery of seniors care post-crisis: researchers

    READ THE REPORT HERE. VANCOUVER — The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on serious problems in Canada’s seniors care system and after the crisis the BC government should begin to transition away from its reliance on contracting with for-profit companies, say two Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives research associates.…

  • Fast Facts: The Shock Doctrine Playing Out in Manitoba

    Noted Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein published The Shock Doctrine more than a decade ago. The book’s major thesis is that governments and others in position of power exploit national and international crises to establish controversial policies while citizens are too distracted to notice, to engage and to…

  • Manitoba Research Alliance

    Fast Facts: Fresh Food Fuels Change

    An innovative pilot evaluation People are food insecure when they do not have access to, or enough money to buy safe and nutritious food, preventing them from enjoying a healthy diet.  Food insecurity is a major concern for many low-income Winnipeg families.  Aboriginal and Newcomer refugee families are among the…

  • TimberWest forestry operations destabilizing Vancouver Island communities

    TimberWest is consistently one of the top exporters of raw, unprocessed logs from British Columbia’s coastal forests. The company also has growing ties with Island Timberlands, BC’s other top log exporter. The two companies share roads, log sort yards and other infrastructure to generate profits. “As affiliated companies, TimberWest and…

  • September 2004: A New “Social Architecture” For Canada?

    Planned redesign of social programs could spur privatization Policy-makers are quietly and stealthily planning to redesign Canada’s social programs—or, in the jargon so popular in social policy circles, they are trying to develop a new “social architecture” for Canada. And, no, it has nothing to do with the recent election—although,…