Mick Sweetman

Mick Sweetman is a rabble.ca contributor. His articles and photos have also been published in Alternet, Basics, The Calgary Straight, Canadian Dimension, Clamor Magazine, Industrial Worker, Linchpin, The Media Co-op, New Socialist, Northeastern Anarchist, They call it struggle, Vox Magazine and ZNet. He calls Toronto home and is unabashedly a supporter of Toronto FC. You can follow him on Twitter at Mick Sweetman.

rabble news

Tory elected mayor of Toronto, Chow urges 'keep the faith'

John Tory will be Toronto's next mayor with almost 395,000 votes while Doug Ford racked up over 330,000 votes. Olivia Chow, placed third with almost 227,000 votes.

"As your new mayor, I will work with the council that you elected tonight in moving Toronto not left, not right, but forward. I will be a balanced and accountable leader and we're going to do this together. Tonight is not a victory for any one person. It is a victory for Toronto -- all of us who love this city and care about its future," said Tory in his victory speech.

embedded_video

Tags:

Ontario Politics John Tory voter turnout olivia chow Toronto politics Toronto Mayoral Election Doug Ford municipalmatters

Comments

We welcome your comments! rabble.ca embraces a pro-human rights, pro-feminist, anti-racist, queer-positive, anti-imperialist and pro-labour stance, and encourages discussions which develop progressive thought. Our full comment policy can be found here. Learn more about Disqus on rabble.ca and your privacy here. Please keep in mind:

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

rabble news

Watch B.C. teachers and parents share photos of their kids with #thisismystrikepay

Please support our coverage of democratic movements by clicking here to become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca.

Today teachers and parents in British Columbia have been sharing photos of their own kids on social media using the hashtag #thisismystrikepay.

The trend was started originally by Kate Coglan who posted a photo of her 11-month old daughter Isla.

Not only is Coglan a parent, she's also is the wife and daughter of B.C. teachers and wrote about the possible strike on her blog The Little Farmhouse.

embedded_video

Tags:

british columbia BCTF bc teachers TEacher's STrike #thisismystrikepay

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

rabble news

Liberals stop Hudak, win majority government

Please support our coverage of democratic movements by clicking here to become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca.

It was fear over fear as Ontario voters rejected the possibility of a hard-right Tim Hudak Conservative government and chose instead to re-elect Kathleen Wynne's Liberal Party, which produces more scandals than a FIFA referee and is currently under investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Wynne won a majority Liberal government with 59 seats, while Hudak's Progressive Conservatives (PC) were reduced to 27 seats and the New Democratic Party (NDP) stayed even at a total of 21.

embedded_video

Tags:

ontario liberal party tim hudak Kathleen Wynne 2014 ontario election

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

politics

What are people saying at the door in one of Ontario's closest ridings?

Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca.

"Bastards!"

The anger of the middle-aged woman at her door in Toronto's Davenport riding is palpable when asked about the Ontario election.

Olga, who did not provide a last name, is speaking to Green Party candidate Daniel Stein and is furious about the Liberal's gas plant scandal saying "they did it to save their jobs." She also says that "the NDP are totally bonkers" and that "Canada is becoming the biggest hypocrite country in the world."

Stein says she's a natural fit for the Greens and asks if she'll put up a sign -- she gives him a tentative "maybe."

embedded_video

Tags:

Canadian politics Ontario Politics voter turnout ontario liberals voting Toronto Davenport Ontario election 2014

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

rabble news

Left hooks thrown between NDP and Liberals in Davenport riding

Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a monthly supporter of rabble.ca.

A padded chair in the front row sits broken in a stuffy and dimly lit school auditorium at Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto. A large fan whirrs beside the stage trying to keep the room of locals and partisans ventilated on an unseasonably warm and muggy evening. The moderator from the local residents' association thanks the crowd for coming out for what might normally be a mundane all-candidates debate, if it wasn't in the battleground riding of Davenport.

embedded_video

Tags:

Ontario Politics liberals Andrea Horwath tim hudak Davenport

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

rabble news

Faculty union report slams colleges and calls for academic freedom

A report published by the union that represents faculty at Ontario's 24 colleges sets out their case in the lead-up to this summer's collective bargaining and a possible strike.

The "Report on Education in Ontario Colleges" was researched and written by Kevin MacKay, a professor at Mohawk College who is also the local president of the OPSEU faculty local there.

The report identifies a combination of under-funding of the college system by successive provincial and federal governments, in particular the deep cuts in spending in the 1990s, as the fundamental reason for what the report calls a "crisis" in Ontario colleges.

embedded_video

Tags:

post-secondary education collective bargaining Ontario colleges international students under-funding government grants

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Tuition increase a sign of an underfunded system

Mick Sweetman

| May 10, 2013

Recently while taking the subway in the morning rush there was an almost business-as-usual delay that left hundreds, perhaps even more than a thousand people crammed onto the platform as we waited for the train.

When the train did finally arrive, it was packed to the gills with people who had squeezed on at the previous station. Between the two trains there were more than 2,000 uncomfortable and annoyed people saying "excuse me" who had paid the $3 fare to ride a system that is straining from years of underfunding.

Ontario's post-secondary system has parallels to public transit as it too is a system designed in the 1960s that keeps asking people to pay more as it becomes more crowded and people grumble about the state of things.

Student unions need the campus press

Mick Sweetman

| May 7, 2013

Student unions and the campus press are two things that go together like a spark to gasoline. When it's done right you can take the energy and use it to propel the best interests of students as far as possible. When it's done wrong it can lead to everybody getting badly burned.

The campus press in Canada has its origins in the student union movement as students found they had to have a way to raise student issues that weren't covered by the mainstream media.

This is still very much the case. In fact, with the daily newspapers cutting back on their newsroom staff dedicated education reporters are becoming harder to find.

opinion

No one should have a friend die on the streets

Some people choose to live on the streets of Toronto throughout the winter.

That's right, I said they choose to live on the streets. But the choice they make is a Hobson's choice between the overcrowded, bed bug infested and dangerous conditions of the city's shelter system or the hard, cold streets.

John Clarke from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) posted a photo on Twitter snapped by a shelter worker in February showing what he says is blood on a wall inside Seaton House.

embedded_video

Tags:

ocap Toronto homelessness Ontario Ontario Politics housing Anti-poverty Toronto politics shelters

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

opinion

Ontario needs jobs, not more cuts

A recent report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, written by economists Trish Hennessy and Jim Stanford, slams the Ontario government's austerity budgets and breaks down how far from solving the province's economic woes -- budget cuts actually exacerbate them.

The report, aptly titled 'More harm than good: Austerity's impact in Ontario,' deconstructs how the much-touted Drummond report manufactured a projected $30 billion deficit out of what even the Liberal government now says is a much smaller $11.9 billion shortfall.

embedded_video

Tags:

economy labour Ontario jobs Ontario Politics Austerity

Comments

Do

Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
Add context and background.
Report typos and logical fallacies.
Be respectful.
Respect copyright - link to articles.
Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.

Don't

Use oppressive/offensive language.
Libel or defame.
Bully or troll.
Post spam.
Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.

Mick Sweetman

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

embedded_video

Comments

Do

Don't

rabble.ca in your inbox!

Top Picks On rabble