Editorials

Knock on the door signals oppression

Mar 042013

EI house calls latest foray in ancient tradition of official terror.

by Ish Theilheimer

The American folk protest singer Phil Ochs, whose flame burnt out in 1976 after a short career, reminded listeners in one of his earliest recordings that oppression has always manifested itself through a knock on the door. The heavy thud of official knuckles has, across the millennia, brought terror and pain to families.

Now, in 2013, the Harper Conservatives have put their own stamp on this age-old means of intimidation. First, they put the fear of god into Service Canada staffers by firing thousands of their colleagues. The ones who were left understood that to keep their jobs, they will need to get tough. Now, random house calls to people claiming Employment Insurance (EI) benefits appear to have become routine.

Banff hospital closes down obstetrics service

Mar 042013

Editorials

Unexpected move opens up OR time for elective surgeries.

by Penney Kome

Pots and pans have been banging and clanging in Banff lately, as residents marched to protest the sudden announcement that Minerals Springs Hospital (MSH) will be closing its maternity ward, and the Operating Room (OR) time used instead to expand local surgeons’ joint repair and plastic surgery services for visitors.

Mali could be the new post-Afghanistan quagmire

Feb 252013

Editorials

Canada should focus on aid, peacekeeping and neutrality in a civil war.

by Ish Theilheimer

Canadians have every reason to be leery of military involvement in Mali, says one of Canada's leading critics of the pro-war military establishment.

Although pro-military advocates like historian Jack Granatstien are urging Canada to get involved in the fight against Islamic jihadist in the Central African republic, with the logic, "better to fight them over there than to fight them over here," Steven Staples of the Rideau Institute warns the situation should not be oversimplified.

Parliamentary elite cash in on privilege

Feb 182013

Editorials

Six-figure Senate fraudsters should be prosecuted; Trudeau disappoints.

by Ish Theilheimer

A sickening stink is rising from the fraudulent expense claims of Conservative and Liberal Senators. The only benefit about the controversy is that it may lead to the long-overdue abolition of this ineffective, obsolete symbol of waste, patronage, pomp and uselessness.

Drones: re-inventing war

Feb 112013

Editorials

Drones are the most awful weapons ever invented, except for all the others.

by Penney Kome

Drones! The very term conjures up images of the Terminator and Robocop, or at least Robosoldier. Peaceniks have been (justifiably) skeptical about this new technology. I’d like to play devil’s advocate, and suggest that drones may represent a turning point, from wholesale slaughters to much smaller-scale conflicts.

Crises all around — time for action

Feb 112013

Editorials

Progressives have no time to tinker.

by Ish Theilheimer

Humanity needs radical thinking and urgent action to get out of the jam the corporations and their right-wing political friends have got us into. The "jam" is actually an inter-related set of unprecedented crises:

Pollster sounds alarm for middle class

Feb 042013

Editorials

Report suggests opportunities for progressives amidst alarming trends.

by Ish Theilheimer

Pollster Frank Graves has confirmed what you probably have already sensed. The Canadian shrinking middle class is pessimistic about its prospects. Most Canadians believe a wealthy few are in charge. And young Canadians are increasingly progressive in their views but disenfranchised politically by conservatives politicians who intend just that.

Canadians will pay for Harper’s hoped-for trade deals

Jan 282013

Editorials

What we know can hurt us — CETA and TPP will export Canadian jobs and resources.

by Ish Theilheimer

Most Canadians don't know it, but they're probably about to be whacked by new corporate trade deals with the same job-stealing effects and dubious benefits as their predecessor deals. By now, most Canadians how these deals work. Foreign investors get Canadian resource rights or procurement rights, and thousands of jobs go away to low-wage, anti-union jurisdictions on this continent and others.

Working together 101

Jan 212013

Editorials

Political parties can co-operate — not merge — without risking their separate identities.

by Ish Theilheimer

This coming weekend, Ontario Liberals will pick a leader to replace Premier Dalton McGuinty. He quit last fall, unexpectedly, after failing to win a byelection that would have given him a majority and after failing to find a way to work with either of the opposition parties.

Jobless youth behind social discontent

Jan 142013

Editorials

Poor job prospects fuel Idle No More, other recent protests.

by Ish Theilheimer

The Idle No More movement has focused the attention of Canadians on the miserable second- or third-class status of Aboriginal Canadians and their intense and justifiable unhappiness with the status quo. At the same time, most coverage has overlooked one of the obvious underlying causes of discontent: youth unemployment.

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