Canada

 April 12, 2020

May 17, 2020

One might have hoped that the very severity of the threat posed by the pandemic would compel the elites who manage capitalist societies to behave more responsibly and decently. The return of the pre-neoliberal “nanny state” (however inadequate it was) seemed to some a real possibility. But while the capitalist state may be concerned with maintaining social equilibrium, preserving a basic level of public health and upholding its own legitimacy, it remains utterly devoted to ensuring the conditions in which businesses can function and profits can continue to flow.

Late last week, Bloomberg reported that a US$320-billion Saudi wealth fund controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had snapped up shares in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Suncor Energy, becoming CNRL’s eighth-largest and Suncor’s 14th-largest owner. The fund made its move after CNRL’s shares lost 43% of their value this year, and Suncor’s dropped 46%, compared to a 15% decline across the Standard & Poors/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index. 

May 12, 2020

Instead of buying a new weapons system, the federal government should disarm and invest in a Green New Deal

Last July, the federal government launched a $19-billion competition for 88 new fighter jets — the second-most expensive government procurement program in Canadian history.

In the running are Boeing’s Super Hornet, SAAB’s Gripen and Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter. Bids are due in July, the winner will be selected in 2022 and the first combat aircraft will be delivered by 2025.

MAY 14, 2020

Physical distance makes campaigns difficult but not impossible, says union

Despite providing vital services and risking their well-being just by going to work, many previously “invisible” private-sector employees — like janitors, personal support workers and truckers — now deemed essential are still among the most overworked and underpaid.

In response, Services Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2 has launched a national unionization drive for these essential workers.

May 15, 2020

Key facts:

May 10, 2020

Across Ontario, seven health-care workers have died from COVID-19 and more than 3,200 are sick.

Those sobering statistics has pushed the province’s largest union to lobby for one piece of equipment that may help those on the front lines.

“We’ve been calling on the government to use its emergency powers to order industry to produce the N95 mask and it was disappointing to learn General Motors in Oshawa will be making masks but not the N95 masks,” says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.

May 10, 2020

On Saturday, May 9, 2020 a large cavalcade wended its way through the city of Oshawa, past the major city hospital (Lakeridge Health) and Hillsdale Terraces, a long-term care home where Covid-19 has infected 42 residents (of whom 14 died), and 13 staff members. The cavalcade of 65+ vehicles ended up at the sprawling General Motors Assembly Complex, now mostly empty since GM abandoned vehicle production last December.

Support Health Care Workers – Manufacture More PPE