Until a vaccine for COVID-19 is created, even a gradual re-emergence from the first and, potentially, second or third waves of self-isolation complicates everything. How do we re-integrate students into schools when physical distancing will still be in order? Will students who are immunocompromised or living with a family member…
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Key points: At least 1.17 million post secondary education (PSE) students or recent grads will use the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB). They wouldn’t have been able to access the CERB. 620,000 PSE students will receive the more generous Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) instead. As the winter term winds…
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Canada and countries across the globe face a daunting challenge with the advent of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic, as countries the world over try to contain the spread and health authorities race to treat casualties under incredible pressure. These are not…
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There has been no shortage of talk about race and racism in Canada of late. In September, revelations about the Prime Minister’s past penchant for wearing blackface triggered a national conversation about the mockery, insults, bullying, and disrespect that racialized Canadians routinely face. But in discussing racism in social interactions,…
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Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange is very concerned that teachers in classrooms across the province are turning students into anti-oil zealots. Her evidence? Two multiple-choice questions from a grade 10 Social Studies test, reportedly sent by a parent, that appear to cast aspersions on oilsands development (the offending options have…
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The October election was dominated by two themes: affordability and climate change. Justin Trudeau acknowledged these concerns in his first press conference after the election. But immediately after acknowledging these issues, he announced that the first act of his newly formed minority government will be a “middle class” tax cut….
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In July, several members of Parliament—including NDP and Green leaders Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May—sent a letter to French legislators urging them not to ratify the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). “We agree that trade between our countries and continents is important,” it read. “However, we believe in…
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The extraordinary surge in popular support for expanding public health care, a “Green New Deal” and other progressive policies demonstrates a powerful public appetite for meaningful social change. Decades of neoliberal austerity and “the market made me do it” politics, which boosted inequality in most countries, have also created pent-up…
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Yesterday’s announcement from the The Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, led by Dr. Eric Hoskins, was applauded by organizations and researchers across Canada who have long advocated for the introduction of a universal, single-payer pharmacare system. Journalists at the event, however, seemed to be focused on…
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The recent renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement presented a unique opportunity to rethink the dominant model for governing international trade and investment. At the outset of the “New NAFTA” talks in August 2017, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined the government’s priorities under the umbrella of a…
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