Blogs

rabble blogs are the personal pages of some of Canada's most insightful progressive activists and commentators. All opinions belong to the writer; however, writers are expected to adhere to our guidelines. We welcome new bloggers -- contact us for details.
Blog - David Suzuki April 14
Trees in Whistler, B.C. Image credit: Randy Tarampi/Unsplash
It's time to stop logging old-growth forests
David Suzuki | Tension between outdated extraction-based economics and the desire to protect that which makes the planet habitable for humans and other life is coming to loggerheads at Fairy Creek.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog April 13
Image courtesy of Anjum Sultana
Investing in a feminist economic recovery
Maya Bhullar | Feminist recovery plan author Anjum Sultana discusses what a feminist recovery must look like to help women in Canada.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 13
Alberta Speaker Nathan Cooper is really sorry about signing that letter criticizing Premier Jason Kenney's COVID-19 policy. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
In Alberta, premier lectures, Speaker apologizes, dissident pastor's secret sermon revealed
David J. Climenhaga | From #Kudatah to anti-vaxx: what is it about right-wing mobs in Alberta and their chants of "lock 'er up"?
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog April 12
Off the Hill graphic
It's crunch time in Ottawa
Kim Elliott | With the first federal budget in two years expected on April 19, a potential election looms large against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic and faltering roll-out of a national vaccine program.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 12
Protesters on the road in front of GraceLife Church. Image credit: Gracelife Church of Edmonton/Facebook
Hundreds of maskless demonstrators protest COVID-defiant church's closing
David J. Climenhaga | Alberta politicians and police seem uncharacteristically solicitous of the rights of the COVID-denying protesters.
Blog - A change is gonna come April 12
Person presses hands against glass. Image credit: KLEITON Santos/Pixabay
Shelter workers offer help to those trapped in abuse during pandemic
Doreen Nicoll | Spousal abuse, also known as intimate partner violence, has nothing to do with love but everything to do with power and control.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 9
Nathan Cooper, Speaker of the Alberta legislature. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Speaker Nathan Cooper's signature on dissident Alberta MLAs' COVID letter not quite firing offence
David J. Climenhaga | The Speaker of the Alberta legislature sailed very close to the wind when he lent his name to a letter signed by a group of dissident government MLAs opposed to COVID-19 restrictions.
Blog - The Views Expressed April 8
Three Australian fighter jets in a flight formation. Image credit: John Torcasio/Unsplash
Trudeau should not be buying costly new carbon-intensive warplanes
Bianca Mugyenyi | This weekend 100 people across the country will be participating in the No Fighter Jet Coalition's fast and vigils to oppose Canada's planned purchase of 88 new fighter jets.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 8
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney during Tuesday's COVID-19 news conference. Image: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta/Flickr
18 UCP MLAs join rebellion against Alberta's effort to control COVID-19 third wave
David J. Climenhaga | This rebellion makes Jason Kenney look weak. It suggests the natural state of the right in Alberta is to be divided between a far-right social conservative fringe and a true centre-right party.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 7
Front of the Gracelife Church building in January 2021. Image: Gracelife Church of Edmonton/Facebook
Authorities fence off rogue Alberta church that defied COVID-19 health orders
David J. Climenhaga | RCMP personnel fenced off GraceLife Church in Parkland County southwest of Edmonton this morning for repeated violations of COVID-19 public health restrictions.
Blog - Independent Jewish Voices Canada April 7
No IHRA
NDP delegates need to stand up for what is right -- not give in to Israel lobby
Sara Rans, Rabbi David Mivasair, Sam Hersh | Two resolutions being proposed at the upcoming NDP convention are integral to the NDP's being an anti-racist and anti-colonial party.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 7
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at yesterday's COVID-19 news conference. Image credit: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta/Flickr
Alberta reluctantly adopts stricter measures to counter upswing in coronavirus variants
David J. Climenhaga | Missing from the Alberta premier's news conference yesterday was the usual Ottawa-bashing, presumably because vaccine supplies are now flowing to provinces faster than they can get them into arms.
Blog - David Suzuki April 7
Hands holding a plant. Image credit: Noah Buscher/Unsplash
Protecting the planet can prevent pandemics
David Suzuki | To prevent pandemics, we must recognize our interconnectedness with nature and protect natural systems that make the planet habitable for humans. Doing so will also help with the climate emergency.
Blog - The Views Expressed April 6
Person supervises baby crawling on grass. Image credit: Jordan Rowland/Unsplash
It's time to pivot to the care economy and invest in care
Armine Yalnizyan | The care economy could power a better life, not just a bigger economy, if we address issues revealed by the pandemic.
Blog - Alberta Diary April 6
University of Calgary education professor Sarah Eaton, who studies academic accountability and ethics. Image: Screenshot of Youtube video
What happens now that everyone knows Alberta's new curriculum was plagiarized?
David J. Climenhaga | "How do you teach students ethical conduct when the people preparing the curriculum are violating it?"
Blog - Alberta Diary April 5
Health Minister Tyler Shandro. Image credit: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta/Flickr
Easter a time of negligence, incompetence and mismanagement by Alberta government
David J. Climenhaga | Taking initiative to save yourself and your family is apparently frowned upon in the UCP's Alberta, particularly if it means curtailing your shopping or dining out over a long weekend.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog April 5
Why Palestine solidarity matters at the NDP convention
Join live on April 5! Why Palestine solidarity matters at the NDP convention
rabble staff | Join Libby Davies, Zahia El-Masri, Hammam Farah, Svend Robinson and David Mivasair for a discussion on the importance of Palestine solidarity in the NDP.
Blog - Alberta Diary March 31
Mart Kenney conducting during a musical performance. Image: Still from "Canada Calling" documentary/NFB
The punchline to the bad joke that's Alberta's new primary school curriculum
David J. Climenhaga | Getting Premier Jason Kenney's grandfather, forgotten big band conductor Mart Kenney, into the Alberta Grade 6 curriculum's unit on music has struck a sour note.
Blog - David Suzuki March 31
Smoke from a factory chimney. Image credit: veeterzy/Unsplash
Supreme Court decision puts Canada on right track for carbon pricing
David Suzuki | Although this decision was about carbon pricing, it signals that the federal government has the authority to enact national climate and clean energy regulations that reduce harmful emissions.
Blog - The Views Expressed March 30
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with dignitaries at NATO, December 4, 2019. Image credit: Adam Scotti/PMO
Why Canada should leave NATO
Yves Engler | The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a bad influence on Canada, strengthening the worst tendencies of our political culture.
Blog - The Views Expressed March 30
Supreme Court of Canada. Image credit: lezumbalaberenjena/Flickr
Peace, order and good government: Supreme Court reaffirms power of federal government
Philip Resnick | The Supreme Court's decision is telling Canadians that the federal government must take its responsibility to address climate change seriously and provide the necessary leadership for the provinces.
Blog - Alberta Diary March 30
Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announces the curriculum changes yesterday morning. Image: Screenshot of Alberta Government video
Few Albertans are likely to be pleased by UCP's K-6 social studies curriculum
David J. Climenhaga | The draft is so far over the top one has to wonder if it's evidence of someone's pathological urge to get away with something monumentally outrageous just so they could say they did.
Blog - Alberta Diary March 29
Former Alberta premier Ralph Klein playing golf with Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees during part of Klein's term in office. Image: Dan MacLennan
On the anniversary of his death, we come to bury Ralph Klein, not to praise him
David J. Climenhaga | It would be useful to still have Ralph Klein, who died on this day in 2013, around to get his take on Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party. It likely wouldn't be entirely complimentary.
Blog - A change is gonna come March 29
Person sits in shadow. Image credit: Ashley Byrd/Unsplash
Rape survivor fined for violating publication ban on her name
Doreen Nicoll | A sexual assault survivor was charged and fined after her convicted rapist told police she shared unredacted court transcripts with her circle of family and friends.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog March 29
Peace River Valley, 2020. Image credit: Garth Lenz. Used with permission.
First Nations exercising treaty rights to fight tar sands and Site C development
Maya Bhullar | RAVEN is a Canadian NGO whose mission is to raise legal defence funds for Indigenous peoples to defend their treaty rights and the integrity of their traditional lands and cultures.
Blog - Alberta Diary March 28
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Image credit: Chris Schwarz/Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Jason Kenney gobsmacked by widely anticipated Supreme Court ruling
David J. Climenhaga | Maybe it's time to bring back a line from those whispery-voiced Albertans for Change "attack ads" from 2008 that made premier Ed Stelmach so mad? Jason Kenney. No plan. No way!
Blog - Taking Sides March 26
People attend a Women's March. Image: Josh Howard/Unsplash
Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world
Sarah Macharia | If there's anything that a quarter-century of media monitoring has revealed, it is that the road to gender equality is long and treacherous.
Blog - The Views Expressed March 26
Peace River, 2018. Image credit: Garth Lenz. Used with permission
West Moberly First Nations seek access to crucial information about Site C safety and cost
Ana Simeon | West Moberly First Nations will be in court March 29 and 30 to request BC Hydro and B.C. government documents that provide key information about the Site C dam project.
Blog - Alberta Diary March 26
The Supreme Court of Canada Building in Ottawa. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Supreme Court settles the carbon pricing matter in Ottawa's favour
David J. Climenhaga | Until conservatives actually have a plan to lay on the table and contrast with that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, none of their rhetoric means much.
Blog - On The Other Hand March 25
Protest marchers with megaphone. Image credit: Clay Banks/Unsplash
Protests have changed and so have protest songs
Penney Kome | In the 21st century protest songs offer music to live by, if not to march to.

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