Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Erin Prater reports on research showing how long COVID may be traced to excessive pruning of connections in the brain. Faye Flam highlights why anybody who’s been infected will need to be on the outlook for stroke symptoms. And Norman Swan warns of
Continue readingTag: Canada Post
The Maple Monarchists - Blog: Platinum Jubilee in February
February isn’t exactly the best month to have a celebration buthere we are. February 6th marked the day 70 years ago that Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. Queen’s Statement Jubilee Pin The government of Canada has produceda Platinum Jubilee pin which is beingdistributed by the Monarchist League of Canada. The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac offer a stark look at the plausible worst-case scenario for a climate breakdown over just the next thirty years. And Zarah Sultana argues that in the UK (as elsewhere), we need to demand transformative politics to respond
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What media mostly misses about the national rail strike by CN train crews and yard workers
Here in Alberta, what news coverage there has been about the strike for safer working conditions by Canadian National Railway train crews and rail yard workers has focused on the increasingly agitated calls by Conservative politicians for punitive back-to-work legislation. There is very little reporting on the issues behind the
Continue readingThings Are Good: An Inspiring Vision for the Future of Canada Post
Canada Post is changing and the workers at the company want to see it grow to be more than just package delivery. They’ve looked at other postal services around the world for inspiration and see a very green, community-focussed future. A simple improvement is postal banking which is popular around
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the fundamental need for governments to provide a secure source of income and benefits – and the choice of the Trudeau Libs and Moe Sask Party alike to instead make citizens bear the brunt of political choices. For further reading…– The National Post offered a backgrounder on the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A federal green machine?
We got a push from the left of the political spectrum the other day for a proposal unveiled in 2016 to transform and green Canada’s dying postal service. It was new to me and I like it. For too long, we have been watching the post office clutch at straws
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Ritika Goel writes that good jobs lead to all kinds of ancillary benefits to both the health of workers, and the strength of the overall economy: We are in a time of increasing part-time, casual, temporary and contract work, with less access to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Bessma Momani writes that Donald Trump’s plan to leave the U.S. at the mercy of unregulated financial markets figures to cause another crisis comparable to – or worse than – that of 2008: Nearly 10 years ago, the U.S. financial industry was
Continue readingWe Pivot: You Probably Already Support Postal Banking Too
CUPW, the union for Canada Post workers, has had some innovative ideas lately which the Harper and Trudeau governments are, not surprisingly, not too keen on. Both governments pursue a neoliberal privatization agenda. Public services like CBC and Canada Post provide no profit layer to companies because they exist as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Valerie Strauss discusses the disastrous effects of corporatized education in the U.S. And Alex Hemingway examines how B.C.’s government (like Saskatchewan’s) is going out of its way to make it impossible for a public education system to do its job of offering
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Armine Yalnizyan writes that the response to the European Commission’s finding that Apple has dodged $20 billion in taxes may tell us all we need to know about the relative power of governments and corporations:The E…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.
– Armine Yalnizyan writes that the response to the European Commission’s finding that Apple has dodged $20 billion in taxes may tell us all we need to know about the relative power of governments and corporations:
The EC is also investigating state support received by Amazon and McDonalds in Luxembourg, a tax haven. Expect more costly court battles about the appropriateness of laws and systems of governance.Since the 2008 economic crisis, giant corporations have gone from being “too big to fail” to “too big to pay.”But as the big tax avoiders get feisty, so too are voters. The Panama Papers have made people aware of the hypocrisy: when those with deep pockets don’t pay, everyone else pays more. Governments are legitimately worried about their finances, and more focused on tax fairness than in decades. But as corporations both fight and rewrite the rules, occasionally cash-starved, debt-ridden nations are being enlisted to support their agenda.The Apple story is huge. It could presage the end of tax competition, as nations co-ordinate attempts to combat absurd levels of tax-dodging. Or it could signal growing dominance of corporate power over state power. High stakes, to be sure, in the evolution of 21st-century globalization.
– Meanwhile, Allan Sloan discusses how Mylan’s profiteering in ratcheting up the price of EpiPens has been paired with glaring tax avoidance. And the NDP points out the conspicuous lack of any public benefit from the Libs’ and Cons’ track record of corporate tax slashing in Canada.
– Alex Hemingway writes about the costs of privatizing public infrastructure. And Thomas Walkom highlights the Libs’ options in reviewing Canada Post’s future – which include taking an obvious opportunity to better meet a large number of social needs through a postal banking system.
– Bloomberg View rightly argues that fossil fuel subsidies are about the dumbest possible type of public policy. And Samantha Page offers another reason why that’s so by pointing out the devastating health effects of oil and gas production and distribution.
– Finally, Simon Enoch offers a much-needed warning to the rest of Canada as to what Saskatchewan faces with Brad Wall in power.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Coming Down The Pike
Canada Post and CUPW have reached an agreement. But that’s not the end of the story. The real drama, Tom Walkom writes, is just beginning:The main event – what to do with the Crown corporation – is set to begin next month.That’s when a four-pers…
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Coming Down The Pike
Canada Post and CUPW have reached an agreement. But that’s not the end of the story. The real drama, Tom Walkom writes, is just beginning:
The main event – what to do with the Crown corporation – is set to begin next month.
That’s when a four-person task force set up by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is due to report. Chaired by the head of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, the task force has been told to “identify viable options” for Canada Post.In announcing the move this May, Public Services Minister Judy Foote said that everything except privatization is on the table.
First, it can cut costs and raise stamp prices. This is the strategy that Canada Post management is vigorously following through its cuts to home delivery and its take-no-prisoners approach to collective bargaining with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).The problem it faces is that this strategy is ultimately self-defeating. As service becomes even more inconvenient and expensive, fewer people will use the post office.This can lead only to a death spiral.Second, the post office can cover part of the cost of those operations that lose money by investing in activities that make money.Canada Post already engages in cross-subsidization. The money it earns by delivering junk-mail helps cover the cost of standard mail. Its policy of delivering letters anywhere in the country for the same price acts, in effect, as a subsidy to those who correspond over long distances. Its Purolator parcel delivery segment cross-subsidizes its less profitable post office segment.
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.- Chris Hamby starts off what looks to be a must-read investigation on the effect of ISDS rules by discussing how they’re used to prevent governments from punishing corporate wrongdoing:(A)n 18-month BuzzFeed News …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
– Chris Hamby starts off what looks to be a must-read investigation on the effect of ISDS rules by discussing how they’re used to prevent governments from punishing corporate wrongdoing:
(A)n 18-month BuzzFeed News investigation, spanning three continents and involving more than 200 interviews and tens of thousands of documents, many of them previously confidential, has exposed an obscure but immensely consequential feature of these trade treaties, the secret operations of these tribunals, and the ways that business has co-opted them to bring sovereign nations to heel.
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Reviewing publicly available information for about 300 claims filed during the past five years, BuzzFeed News found more than 35 cases in which the company or executive seeking protection in ISDS was accused of criminal activity, including money laundering, embezzlement, stock manipulation, bribery, war profiteering, and fraud.Among them: a bank in Cyprus that the US government accused of financing terrorism and organized crime, an oil company executive accused of embezzling millions from the impoverished African nation of Burundi, and the Russian oligarch known as “the Kremlin’s banker.”
Some are at the center of notorious scandals, from the billionaire accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme in Mauritius to multiple telecommunications tycoons charged in the ever-widening “2G scam” in India, which made it into Time magazine’s top 10 abuses of power, alongside Watergate. The companies or executives involved in these cases either denied wrongdoing or did not respond to requests for comment.
Most of the 35-plus cases are still ongoing. But in at least eight of the cases, bringing an ISDS claim got results for the accused wrongdoers, including a multimillion-dollar award, a dropped criminal investigation, and dropped criminal charges. In another, the tribunal has directed the government to halt a criminal case while the arbitration is pending.
– And Dharna Noor interviews James Henry about the need for international cooperation – at both the government and public level – to crack down on tax evasion.
– Tyler Hamilton discusses the health effects of climate change. And Joseph Erbentraut examines how a changing climate is affecting both the quantity and quality of the water we depend on.
– Kev responds to the spread of #goodriddanceharper by pointing out that as satisfying as it was to turf the Cons from office, we’re still facing most of the same anti-social policies with a more media-savvy face. And Doug Nesbitt reminds us that the Trudeau Libs are no friends of labour – with Canada Post’s appalling attacks on vulnerable workers serving as just the latest example.
– Finally, the Canadian Press reports on a much-needed push for resources to address mental health in Canada.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.- Paolo Giuliano and Antonio Spilimbergo study (PDF) how the economic conditions an individual’s youth influence enduring values – and find that the experience of an economic shock tends to lead to a greater apprec…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Ann McFeatters reminds us of the good a government can do when it dedicates itself to identifying and responding to urgent public needs. And Bill McKibben makes the case for an all-out mobilization aga…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Owen Jones interviews Ha-Joon Chang about the foreseeable harm caused by the UK’s austerity, as well as the false claims used to push it. – The Stoney Creek News rightly argues that Canada Post should move toward pos…
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