Defection to Liberals highlights NDP dilemma

While NDP officials go to great pains to prevent leftists from becoming NDP candidates at election time, they'd do better to spend more time screening the right wingers in their ranks.

A case in point is Lise St-Denis, who was elected NDP MP in the Quebec riding of St-Maurice-Champlain and who crossed the line to join the federal Liberals on January 10. She was one of 58 NDP rookies to win a seat in Quebec last May 2.

Mass Rally at London, Ontario says No to Concessions

Some 10,000 people, according to the Toronto Star, converged at London’s Victoria Park, two hours west of Toronto, on January 21 to participate in the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) sponsored-rally against the lockout of 500 workers. They are members of the Canadian Auto Workers Union at the Electro-Motive Canada plant (recently acquired by Caterpillar Inc.). 

Harper Raises Alarm on “Radical” Environmentalists

The Conservative Stephen Harper government has revealed its mean streak once again. In an open letter released on January 9, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver lashed out at environmental organizations, branding them as “radicals” who “use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest.”

How the 1% Screw the Rest of Us

a book review by John Orrett and Barry Weisleder

The appearance of “The Trouble With Billionaires” could not have been more timely. Published in Canada by Penguin Books (Toronto, soft cover edition in 2011, 272 pages), the book is to be released in the USA under the title “Billionaires' Ball: Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality” on March 27 by Beacon Press.