Austerity

Columnists

May 20, 2020

Let's not be duped again by deficit hawks peddling austerity

Canada's national debt grew after the Second World War, but the economy grew faster. With low borrowing costs, we're well positioned to run up debts that put Canadians back to work.

Blog

Apr 17, 2020

COVID-19 and our public way to safety

David McDonald

No public service will ever be perfect, but a system of public services without the distraction of profits is our best security against the next crisis that will inevitably come our way.

Columnists

Mar 3, 2020

'We can't afford it': the ruse that denies ordinary people basic public services

Duncan Cameron

In the name of "we can't afford it," ordinary citizens in the U.S. and Canada have been cheated out of the services they need to live healthy lives.

Columnists

Nov 21, 2019

Ford's destructive cuts will have sweeping effects on health care

Linda McQuaig

Among Doug Ford's extensive cutbacks -- aimed at reducing the deficit without tapping the corporate elite for more tax revenues -- are a dizzying array of cuts to our public health-care system.

Blog

Oct 25, 2019

The poor little rich kid of Confederation brings down a budget

David J. Climenhaga

Alberta's once again the poor little rich kid of Confederation, crying poverty, throwing its weight around, and careering from knee-jerk austerity to pre-election profligacy.

Blog

Oct 25, 2019

Canada's role in the austerity and uprising in Chile

Brent Patterson

What are the Canadian links to the social uprising in Chile that has claimed at least 18 lives over the past seven days?

Blog

Aug 29, 2019

Austerity, deep cuts on horizon in Alberta

David J. Climenhaga

The UCP's voodoo tax-cut economics will have to be paid for with severe cuts to public services. Promised revenue increases will never appear. There's no reason Alberta will be different.

Podcast

Apr 5, 2019

Ontario activist shares cautionary lessons with Alberta

Needs No Introduction

John Clarke, recently retired co-founder of Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, traveled to Alberta to help strategize against the UCP agenda. Listen to a talk he gave on March 27, 2019.

Blog

Dec 14, 2018

Yellow Vests Canada lacks left-wing populism of gilets jaunes in France

Brent Patterson

The Canadian Yellow Vest movement targets the carbon tax and "illegal" immigration, rather than reflecting the anti-austerity demands resonating in France.

Columnists

Dec 9, 2018

The Alberta tar sands and the French yellow jackets

Rick Salutin

Those of us who mostly observe and comment on the current crisis, or suite of crises, owe a debt to France's gilets jaunes, the yellow vests. They're clarifiers.

Austerity

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