Prison populations are rapidly increasing, far outstripping the capacity of the provincial and federal prison systems in Canada. The Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections revealed that Ontario prisons had reached 98.5% capacity, representing a six-year high. This meant that on any typical day during 2012 about half of Ontario’s 25 prisons were overcrowded […]

The Conservative government has been touting their new income splitting plan, billed as the “Family Tax Cut”, across Canadian airwaves. The advertisement, brought to you by the Government of Canada, informs us that Canadian families have been working hard and deserve a break. The Family Tax Cut allegedly gives families this break by allowing one […]

Ottawa was rocked on Wednesday by news that a lone gunman shot, and killed, a Canadian Forces reservist on Parliament Hill, before storming Parliament itself. This attack came just two days after a similar incident in Quebec. The mainstream media has been very quick to raise the spectre of a wave of Islamist terrorist attacks […]

On Friday, the Conservatives announced their plan to send six CF-18 fighter jets for up to six months to join the United States and other Western powers in a new bombing campaign in Iraq. While Canada participated in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001 as part of the so-called “War on Terror”, it […]

During the 2011 federal election, the Conservatives were linked to a series of voter-suppression tactics now known as the“Robocalls scandal”. Non-Conservative voters were systematically misinformed in order to stop them from voting. In response to this scandal the call went up to amend the election laws in order to empower Elections Canada to stop such […]

On the surface an eery calm seems to have settled over Canadian society with an apparent absence of mass movements or major labour struggles.  But, it would be incredibly shortsighted to assume that this calm suggests an era of peace or stability.  On the contrary; Canadian society rests on a knife’s edge and almost anything […]

A report by Canada’s auditor general, Michael Ferguson, has now confirmed what the government has already leaked previously — a plan by the Department of National Defence (DND) to procure contracts to build 15 new warships will cost significantly more than originally expected, and will require either additional funds to be earmarked or for the […]

Canada has become the latest country to be caught in the scandal surrounding electronic espionage. In many respects, the fallout from Canada’s spy activities in Brazil could end up being more damaging than the revelations around the NSA and Spygate earlier this year.  The alleged activities by the Communications Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC) reveal […]

One of the most important reforms won by Canadian workers, public medicare, is coming under relentless attack by government austerity programs.  Recent provincial budget decisions in Ontario, for example, have cut $3-billion from health spending, which is putting the health of Canadians at extreme risk — especially those from the most marginalized sectors of society.  […]

April 27 marked the first demonstration of the spring season in Montreal. Tens of thousands of people gathered from across Quebec in a protest called by the main workers’ unions against the Employment Insurance (EI) reform put forward by the Harper government. The draconian measures are meant to push unemployment recipients back onto the job […]