As pronouncements on Palestinian statehood at the UN are fiercely debated around the world, on the ground in Palestine the violent realities of Israeli military occupation and apartheid continue without reprieve.

In Canada, despite broad international support for peace with justice in Palestine, illustrated by the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, Palestine has in recent years seldom been highlighted as a foreign policy priority by the NDP. The subject, for instance, has only rarely been mentioned in the current NDP leadership race.

We’re long overdue for serious tax reform in this country. Most Canadians agree on this. But the new unfair Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario and B.C. is not what most of us had in mind.

Earlier this year the Harper government reached agreements with Ontario and BC to merge the provincial sales tax (PST) and federal goods and services tax (GST) into a single harmonized tax (HST). The new HST is an unfair tax for two key reasons.

A high-level International Labour Organization (ILO) Mission to the Philippines wrapped up on September 29, feeding hopes that international attention will help stem the tide of violence and intimidation that has been unleashed on Filipino trade union organizers and human rights advocates.

Given the immensity of pollution caused by war, peace may be the only solution to global warming.

Few ecologists appear to acknowledge the impact of war on our ecological crisis, and few peace activists discuss the ecological consequences of war. However, Barry Saunders, in his book The Green Zone, states his view that as the crisis of imperialist war continues to threaten the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond it is in fact turning every being in the world into collateral damage by the sheer scope of the environmental impact it is having. Never have the peace and ecology movements had so much in common.

When Stephen Harper said I don't believe any taxes are good taxes," he left many astounded that Canada's head of government could make such a statement.

However, is Harper really tax averse? There is evidence that Harper supports subsidies and benefits that buttress corporations; but that munificence does not extend toward Canadians.

For instance, the harmonized sales tax (HST), which the federal Liberals have dubbed the "Harper Sales Tax" (although Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says that he would not repeal the HST if his party forms government), is an example of a Harper government-advocated tax that offers a handout to corporations and businesses but takes from average Canadians.

Near the end of Michael Ignatieff’s True Patriot Love -- an exploration of the men in his mother’s family rushed to publication in an effort to assert his Canadian bona fides -- we are treated to a play-by-play of the road trip he and his wife took in 2000, retracing the pioneering sea-to-sea journey of his great-grandfather.