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 - rabble.ca's staff blog February 16
We need to support rabble.ca. Here's why.
Bill Blaikie | rabble is a place where the left can see itself reflected, is taken seriously, and can engage in thoughtful and insightful debate.
Blog - Indigenous Nationhood February 16
Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Image credit: Nancy Girard Bégin/Flickr
Canada continues shirking its human rights obligations to First Nations children
Pam Palmater | Bill C-92 was heralded as the solution to the "humanitarian crisis" of First Nations children in foster care. Instead it could make things worse.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 16
An soldier observes a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2018. Image credit: The U.S. Army/Flickr
With Taliban about to regain control in Afghanistan, we should ask: was it worth it?
David J. Climenhaga | Kandahar fell to U.S. special forces and their Afghan allies on Dec. 7, 2001. The first Canadian soldiers got involved the same month. Canadians would fight and die there until March 2014.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 14
You just can’t make this stuff up. Image: United Conservative Party/Twitter
The Annals of Alberta poetry: United Conservative Party sends out a Kenney Valentine
David J. Climenhaga | Roses are red, violets are blue, stay for the ratio, what else can you do?
Blog - Alberta Diary February 12
Alberta Health Services ambulance. Image credit: Mitchell Smith/Flickr
Fort McMurray mayor dares Kenney to fire him in fight over deteriorating ambulance service
David J. Climenhaga | There are circumstances when acts of defiance are absolutely necessary, said Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott in Fort McMurray. "I challenge the provincial government to remove me."
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog February 11
rabble will not let up on speaking truth to power
Pam Palmater | Keep the momentum of our movement strong and give what you can today.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 11
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in the cake section during yesterday's news conference. Image credit: Video screenshot/Government of Alberta
Kenney chooses cake department to announce pandemic 'bonus' for front-line workers
David J. Climenhaga | It's pretty clear that the Alberta premier's decision to finally hand out the predominantly federal cash was a desperate attempt to change the channel on his recent string of political disasters.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog February 10
Build Canada forward
Kim Elliott | Tell us what's most important to you in a pandemic recovery that builds Canada forward -- not back.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 10
Drew Barnes, Cypress-Medicine Hat UCP MLA and member of the 'End the Lockdowns National Caucus. 'Image: David J. Climenhaga
Defying Premier Kenney, two UCP MLAs join caucus opposing COVID restrictions
David J. Climenhaga | So what's Jason Kenney going to do about his two embarrassing MLAs? Nothing, one of them boldly predicts. "I'm not worried about disciplinary action," said Drew Barnes.
Blog - David Suzuki February 10
Woman holding test tubes. Image credit: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash
Finding wisdom in science and Indigenous knowledge
David Suzuki | We need more observational science, but we have to recognize its fundamental weaknesses and inadequacies, and scientists must be careful not to confuse their biases with truths.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 9
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage. Image: Screenshot of Government of Alberta video
Alberta abandons plan to drop Lougheed-era coal policy -- for now
David J. Climenhaga | There are important caveats. The Kenney government left the door wide open to reviewing coal policy later and coming up with "a new, modern coal policy" when things settle down.
Blog - Indigenous Nationhood February 9
Hospital room. Image credit: Daan Stevens/Unsplash
Report exposes widespread racism in B.C. health care
Pam Palmater | A new report confirms what most Indigenous peoples already knew -- that racism against Indigenous peoples is prevalent in B.C.'s health-care system.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog February 8
Police at a demonstration. Image credit: Pxhere/Creative Commons license
Grappling with police unions in the fight for justice in policing
Maya Bhullar | As we work against police violence and racism, how do we influence the actions of the police unions? How do we stop them from obstructing efforts to change police practice and create oversight?
Blog - Alberta Diary February 8
Willow Square Continuing Care Centre. Image credit: Government of Alberta/Flickr
UCP prioritizes businesses that run care homes over the workers inside them
David J. Climenhaga | Alberta has tried to spin its modest spending on COVID-19 as being for the good of all. That can be disputed. Anyway, most pandemic funding in Alberta comes from Ottawa.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 4
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
If conspiracy theories are for losers, what does this say about Kenney's UCP?
David J. Climenhaga | Why is an ostensible political winner, touted as a restoration of a successful political dynasty, acting like a party that knows in its bones it is a loser?
Blog - The Journalism Doctor February 3
Bell building, Montreal. Image credit: Jacques Meynier de Malviala/Flickr
Bell is building its profit at the public trough
John Miller | Bell Media is cutting journalism jobs while using pandemic-related labour subsidies to increase dividend payouts to its shareholders.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 3
The Straits of Mackinac near the path of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. Image credit: Peter K. Burian/Wikimedia Commons
After decades of inaction, Canada is forced to face problems with Line 5 pipeline
David J. Climenhaga | Instead of trying to come up with a solution, we spent years insisting the line was safe, insulted or patronized U.S. politicians who were worried about it and belligerently demanded more of the same.
Blog - David Suzuki February 3
Person holding plant. Image credit: Benjamin Combs/Unsplash
Local acts can build global impacts
David Suzuki | Working with others for the betterment of your neighbourhood, town, city, province, country or world contributes to well-being and happiness.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 1
Immunization in 1943 -- Canada had more vaccine production and manufacturing capacity then than now. Image credit: John Vachon/Wikimedia Commons
There's no way Conservatives are serious about fixing Canada's vaccine capacity problems
David J. Climenhaga | The minute memories of COVID-19 begin to fade, the Conservative clamour for Canadian vaccine and PPE manufacturing will disappear as quickly as a Canadian summer.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog January 30
Don't miss the pulse of the progressive movement
Olivia Chow | Where can you find the voices of the ordinary folks who discovered their power to challenge a workplace or a political system that has left them behind? rabble. And they need your support.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 30
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at Friday's COVID-19 daily briefing. Image: Video screenshot/Alberta government
Alberta premier caves to business and eases COVID-19 health restrictions
David J. Climenhaga | What business wants in Alberta, business gets. Also, the Alberta inquiry goes into triple overtime.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 29
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro bashes Justin Trudeau at yesterday's daily COVID briefing. Image: Screenshot of Alberta government video
Assailed for their own bungles, Alberta's UCP doubles down on bashing Trudeau
David J. Climenhaga | The Kenney government's strategic brain trust is trying hard to change the channel on a series of blunders and scandals. Bashing Justin Trudeau is the favoured tactic, and it could work.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 28
Across the street, at left, the building in Washington's lobbyists' quarter a few blocks north of the White House that houses Energy in Depth and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Image: Google Street View
Energy in Depth's report to Alberta inquiry delivers unpersuasive spin
David J. Climenhaga | Sure, "Foreign Funding Targeting Canada's Energy Sector" is tendentious and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But it's a competent work of industrial propaganda, even if it cost too much.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 27
Is this what the "Transnational Progressive Movement" has in mind for us? Image credit: Screenshot of Monte Python's "Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune" skit
Digging into the Alberta inquiry's dystopic worldview and paranoia
David J. Climenhaga | Your tax dollars at work: apparently Transnational Progressives, corporatists, and Marxists decoupled from socialism are planning to replace Western industrial capitalism with cold and misery.
Blog - Cathy Crowe's blog January 27
Wooden tiny shelter built by Khaleel Seivwright. A sign on the house says "Someone lives here, do not remove." Image credit: Jeff Bierk
Tiny homes and tiny shelters are pop-up responses to government failures
Cathy Crowe | A skilled carpenter in Toronto has simply started building shelters for people trying to survive the housing crisis, shelter shortage and COVID-19 pandemic.
Blog - David Suzuki January 27
Keystone XL construction site. Image credit: Government of Alberta/Flickr
Alberta inquiry steps into a past era's dark denial
David Suzuki | This use of tax dollars to discredit climate science is egregious, but it's peanuts compared to the more than $1.5 billion the Alberta government has invested in the Keystone XL pipeline.
Blog - A change is gonna come January 26
Bridge over Avon River, Stratford, Ontario. Image credit: Ken Lund/Flickr
Activists rally as pandemic lockdown suspends plans for Stratford glass plant
Doreen Nicoll | Stratford city council hit pause on Xinyi Canada Glass Limited's proposed $400-million glass plant in Stratford, Ontario. But the respite only lasts as long as the current pandemic lockdown.
Blog - A change is gonna come January 25
Image credit: National Film Board
'Martha' tells story of Holocaust survivor's courage and resilience
Doreen Nicoll | When Daniel Schubert read that one-fifth of Canadian youth don't know what the Holocaust is, he documented his grandmother's incredible journey from Auschwitz to Winnipeg.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 25
Stacked pipes awaiting installation in oil pipeline. Image credit: Loozrboy/Flickr
How much of the pipe meant to build Keystone XL is fit only for scrap?
David J. Climenhaga | Don't count on resales of unused pipe from the Keystone XL pipeline offsetting much of Alberta's "investment" in Premier Jason Kenney's $1.5-billion bad bet.
Blog - Alberta Diary January 25
NDP Energy Critic Kathleen Ganley at the Premier's Breakfast in 2016. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta NDP to ask UCP cabinet to release risk analysis of Kenney's pipeline deal
David J. Climenhaga | Claiming he had no regrets about what he did, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in response to a reporter's question that "any responsible Alberta government would have made that decision."

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