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 - On The Other Hand June 3
A woman cleans a window. Image credit: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
Women still pay the cost of housework
Penney Kome | Unpaid housework contributes the equivalent of $600 billion a year to Canada's wealth, but it's not included in the GDP.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 2
John A. Macdonald statue in Montreal. Image credit: Colin Knowles/Flickr
Jason Kenney decries cancel culture in defence of John A. Macdonald
David J. Climenhaga | No one is proposing that John A. Macdonald's name be erased from the pages of Canadian history or that we cease to study his role as Canada's first prime minister. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 2
G3 grain elevator in Manitoba. Image credit: Dave Shaver/Flickr
Kenney government quietly moves to help Alberta's friends in Saudi Arabia
David J. Climenhaga | Don't worry, this isn't about dictator oil at all. It's only about dictator grain, in a manner of speaking, which is obviously a different matter entirely.
Blog - David Suzuki June 2
Wind turbine in sunflower field. Image credit: Gustavo Quepón/Unsplash
Sun rises on renewable energy and storage
David Suzuki | It's fast becoming less expensive to generate electricity from renewable energy than from fossil fuels and new nuclear plants. Costs to store energy are also falling quickly.
Blog - The Journalism Doctor June 1
Mourners at memorial for children who died at Kamloops residential school. Image credit: Thomas_H_foto/Flickr
Mainstream media slow to treat Kamloops discovery like a major story
John Miller | Given the calls for accountability that are now being voiced for one of Canada's most shameful tragedies, this omission must stand as one of the saddest failures of recent Canadian journalism.
Blog - On The Other Hand May 31
Hand holding two Canadian twenty dollar bills. Image credit: Michelle Spollen/Unsplash
Universal basic income is only the first step towards an equitable economy
Penney Kome | Universal basic income needs safeguards or the result will be more gig work and much less security for workers.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 31
The Kamloops Indian Residential School circa 1930. Image credit: Archives of the Oblate Order, Richelieu/Wikimedia Commons
The appalling discovery in Kamloops is irrefutable evidence of a crime against humanity
David J. Climenhaga | As for the details and intent of the crime, if it marches like genocide, and talks like genocide, it is genocide.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 28
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at yesterday's COVID-19 briefing. Image credit: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta via Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Kenney gins up 'strange alliance' of anti-vaxxers and advocates of cautious re-opening
David J. Climenhaga | The claim that anyone opposing a recklessly fast re-opening is undermining public confidence in COVID vaccines is utter pish-posh, and Alberta's premier certainly knows it perfectly well.
Blog - Brent Patterson May 27
Image by PBI-Colombia.
As national strike reaches one-month mark, what's next for Colombia?
Brent Patterson | A webinar on June 3 will convene human rights defenders to discuss what's next in the social struggle in Colombia.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 27
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at yesterday's pandemic-reopening news conference. Image credit: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta via Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Jason Kenney rolls the dice on COVID-19
David J. Climenhaga | Sometimes fortune does favour the bold. More often it doesn't. It's just that foolhardiness looks better in the rear-view mirror because the fools who fail are usually soon forgotten.
Blog - Cathy Crowe's blog May 26
A nursing student's hand reaches out to touch the imprint of hands in a sculpture at a community drop-in centre. Image credit: Cathy Crowe
Nurses see. We must not be silenced.
Cathy Crowe | The problems within nursing preceded the pandemic and call for a radical shake-up of the profession.
Blog - David Suzuki May 26
Pump-jack mining crude oil at sunset. Image credit: Zbynek Burival/Unsplash
Energy road map charts challenging course to oil-free future
David Suzuki | The era of coal, oil and gas is over. We've done too little for the past 30 years. For the next 30, let's work toward a cleaner, healthier future for all.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 25
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney … at his computer. Image: Jason Kenney/Twitter
Kenney scores an own goal with tweet that 'reads like a Beaverton headline'
David J. Climenhaga | Albertans have learned that being good at clicking a tweet button, which UCP issues managers do scores of times every day, doesn't mean they have enough clicks to make a clack!
Blog - Alberta Diary May 25
Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. Image credit: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta via Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Teachers give Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange a 99% non-confidence vote
David J. Climenhaga | A normal government in normal times would be deeply concerned by the degree of dissatisfaction among teachers with Alberta's education minister. Not the UCP.
Blog - The Journalism Doctor May 25
Israeli artillery firing into Gaza, May 18, 2021. Image credit: Israel Defense Forces/Wikimedia Commons
Standing up for good journalism can get you sidelined
John Miller | More than 2,000 Canadian journalists and others recently signed a letter calling for more accurate and inclusive coverage of Middle Eastern conflicts. It's proven to be controversial.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 24
Vancouver blogger Vivian Krause. Image: Vivian Krause/Facebook
UCP's favourite researcher says she never thought Canadian environmental groups were used by U.S. interests
David J. Climenhaga | The justification for Jason Kenney's Alberta inquiry is unravelling before our eyes like a badly knitted sweater.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 21
A boy on a bicycle with a Toronto Star newspaper carrier bag in Whitby, Ontario, 1940. Image credit: Marjorie Georgina Ruddy/Wikimedia Commons
Postmedia, looking for a future, wants to deliver your parcels
David J. Climenhaga | Yesterday's announcement by Postmedia, like the one in March by Torstar, is presumably a sign of just how well their deal to kill 36 Canadian newspapers and set up no-competition zones is working out.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog May 21
Off the Hill graphic
Pandemic budget: the bumpy road to recovery
Kim Elliott | The road to recovery will be a much smoother ride for some Canadians than others. We need to talk about why that is and how to fix it.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 20
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at yesterday's news conference on his government's "historic" jobs program. Image credit: Winston Pon/Office of the Premier via Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Foundering Alberta inquiry gets another two months to find evidence
David J. Climenhaga | The justification for the Kenney government's 2019 election promise is starting to look a little threadbare, even if we do manage to learn the inquiry's conclusions before the start of 2022.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 19
Ron Liepert in his days in Alberta provincial politics. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Erin O'Toole's carbon tax is like a bottle deposit, says Calgary MP Ron Liepert
David J. Climenhaga | For years Ron Liepert, a former broadcaster who once served as Peter Lougheed's press secretary, was thought by many to have been the worst provincial health minister in Alberta history.
Blog - David Suzuki May 19
Natural gas plant, Fellows, California. Image credit: David Seibold/Flickr
Does fracked methane deserve 'natural' label?
David Suzuki | Methane has caused about 30 per cent of heating to date, with emissions rising at record rates. Cutting methane emissions is a cost-effective way to quickly reduce greenhouse gases and pollution.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog May 18
Syrus Marcus Ware. Used with permission
Syrus Marcus Ware on making revolution irresistible
Maya Bhullar | Bringing politics, art, and multigenerational connection into the world we are creating
Blog - Alberta Diary May 18
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at yesterday's COVID-19 news conference. Image: Screenshot of Alberta government video
Jason Kenney tries an end-run around his rebellious caucus
David J. Climenhaga | COVID-19 "is not an urban-versus-rural issue," Premier Jason Kenney said yesterday. But that's exactly what his government has made it by harping on the supposedly unique virtue of rural folk.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 17
Former MP, federal minister and candidate for mayor of Edmonton, Amarjeet Sohi. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Former federal minister Amarjeet Sohi to announce bid to become Edmonton mayor
David J. Climenhaga | If a pipeline to tidewater is as important to Alberta as folks around here seem to think it is, Amarjeet Sohi has done far more to make one a reality than Premier Jason Kenney ever did.
Blog - Independent Jewish Voices Canada May 17
1982 newspaper ad in the Toronto Star. Image courtesy of author
Remembering the Committee of Concerned Canadian Jews and their fight for Palestinian rights
Paul Weinberg | A recollection and overview of the Committee of Concerned Canadian Jews, an early Canadian Jewish dissident grouping formed during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 16
Shell's Jackpine oilsands mine 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. Image credit: Julia Kilpatrick/Pembina Institute/Flickr
Judge gives green light to anti-Alberta energy campaigns inquiry
David J. Climenhaga | The report of the Alberta inquiry is due in two weeks. Inquiry Commissioner Steve Allan has refused to confirm he won't have to ask for a fourth extension.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 14
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Image credit: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Jason Kenney kicks out two rebellious MLAs following UCP caucus dissent
David J. Climenhaga | MLA Drew Barnes, who has been needling Alberta's premier for weeks, and Todd Loewen, who yesterday called for Kenney to resign, have been kicked out of the UCP caucus.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 13
Central Peace-Notley UCP MLA Todd Loewen. Image: Todd Loewen/Facebook
Todd Loewen becomes first United Conservative MLA to call for Jason Kenney's resignation
David J. Climenhaga | If you wanted evidence the divisions in Alberta's UCP are real, this is it. The wheels are falling off the clown car.
Blog - Alberta Diary May 13
Alberta Speaker Nathan Cooper. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta Speaker, who opposed COVID-19 restrictions, cites pandemic 'health concerns' to extend legislature shutdown
David J. Climenhaga | NDP House Leader asks: why is the safety of Jason Kenney and his UCP MLAs more important than the safety of essential workers?
Blog - Brent Patterson May 12
Colombian police truck faces protester. Image: Neda Amani/Twitter
Human rights defenders call on Canada to end support to Colombian police and army
Brent Patterson | As violence by state security forces against the national strike in Colombia continues, there are calls for Canada to end any support of the police and army.

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