The Canadian government is enabling geopolitical tensions that could lead to World War III. They’ve encouraged Israel’s bid to ignite a regional war, promoted the NATO proxy war in Ukraine, dispatched forces towards China and increased military spending to counter China and Russia. In innumerable ways the Trudeau government has enabled Israel’s holocaust in Gaza. Ottawa responded to Israel’s slaughter by ramping up arms sales while simultaneously maintaining bilateral military ties and turning a blind eye to Canadians illegally assisting the Israeli military. Ottawa refused to condemn Israel ..read more

A community bond is a financing tool used by social-purpose entities like charities, non-profits, and co-op, for raising money, and by investors who want to see their money put to good use while still earning a return on investment. Community bonds were created by the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) “as a means to turn a non-profit’s social capital into financial capital” and were first offered in 2010, when CSI raised money to buy a building. Community bonds have since been widely adopted, including by Habitat for Humanity Guelph Wellington. Like other bonds, community bonds are interest ..read more

rabble editor Nick Seebruch sits down with Alex Stratas from Climate Justice uOttawa to talk about the work they do fighting for climate justice on and off campus. Climate Justice uOttawa is a student run, grassroot organization aimed towards achieving climate justice within the uOttawa community and beyond. Their mission includes encouraging universities to fully divest from organizations which fund fossil fuel projects. Alex Stratas (she/her) is a third-year political science and communications student at the University of Ottawa with experience in advocating and organizing grassroots campa ..read more

In 2020 the United Conservative government in Alberta introduced the country’s first Right-to-Work legislation which restricted how unions worked, even restricting their charitable contributions. But the Alberta Federation of Labour has been fighting Bill 32 with success. Its “Everything is Core” strategy provides lessons for labour in other provinces. A RadioLabour interview with AFL president Gil McGowan. RadioLabour is the international labour movement’s radio service. It reports on labour union events around the world with a focus on unions in the developing world. It partners with rabbl ..read more

What a difference two years of bloody, inconclusive war makes. When this war in Ukraine began, with the Russian invasion, the conversation was mostly in absolutes, and you still hear that. Ukraine’s foreign minister says that back then some of his allies “were wrongly convinced it was necessary to negotiate with the devil.” In fact, they seem more sure of it now than they were at the start. U.S. security honcho Jake Sullivan said this week that despite the vaunted resumption of U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine, it’s “possible Russia could make additional tactical gains.” The New York Times, a f ..read more

“What starts here changes the world. It starts with you and what you do each day.” So reads an encouraging sign that greets students at the University of Texas–Austin. The university’s actions tell a different story. A photo shared on social media this week shows the sign in front of a row of state troopers in riot gear. They assembled to disperse students protesting Israel’s assault on Gaza. Police, some armed with semi-automatic rifles, some mounted on horseback, proceeded to violently arrest at least 50 people, including a journalist. The UT protest was part of a student uprising sweeping ..read more

At our last monthly board meeting, rabble.ca was excited to welcome new members to our board of directors, Tali Zrehen (Canadian Media Guild) and Mustapha Makri (United Steelworkers). At the same time we say goodbye to three long-time board members, Gauri Sreenivasan (Canadian Council for Refugees), Shannon Devine (United Steelworkers) and Archana Rampure (OPSEU/SEFPO). Mary Unan (CUPE National) will remain on board.  Our new board will usher in a new era for rabble, with a particular focus on fundraising and outreach. Their mission starts with working alongside rabble.ca staff and contr ..read more

Canada has a long way to go before meeting its climate goals and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. In 2021, Canada set a new goal, the Paris Climate Agreement—by 2030, they committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels. Relative to meeting their Paris Agreement goals, Climate Action Tracker rated Canada’s overall effort to be “highly insufficient”. Since implementing the climate policy agenda, Canada’s emissions have been trending downwards according to Climate Action Tracker. But it’s not enough to address the current climate crisis. Environ ..read more

People can only survive a few days without water. After all, we’re mostly water — basically just liquid blobs with enough organic thickener to keep us from dribbling away. We’re part of nature’s hydrologic cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation that cartwheels water around the planet. Given water’s importance to our health and survival, you’d think we’d take better care of streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, glaciers and the one, interconnected ocean. Earth’s surface is 70 per cent water, but only three per cent of that is freshwater and most is inaccessible or polluted. Because o ..read more

While Bill 124 was rightfully repealed, and remediation conversations have begun for some public sector employees, the non-profit care economy is suffering. In February 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that the Bill was unconstitutional, therefore removing the one per cent per year cap to compensation increase for public sector workers. The ruling reaffirmed labour rights and acknowledged what we know to be true: Bill 124 violated bargaining rights enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Many organizations have begun to right this historic wrong – but the non-prof ..read more