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Morneau: putting out a housefire with gasoline

This summer, in a stunning use of Orwellian doublespeak, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would provide a half billion dollars each year for government spending to fight climate change. The Liberals [...]

BC transit workers driving for pay equity, better working conditions

A winter of labour discontent is beginning to emerge on the west coast. Transit workers in Metro Vancouver are in the headlines, and a wider series of struggles is rippling through British Columbia, as economic woes and spending restraints hit the [...]

International meeting celebrates centenary of Comintern, stresses deeper unity of Communist movement

The 21st International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) took place October 18-21 in Izmir, Turkey, just as the Turkish government launched its invasion of Syria under the pretext of protecting the Kurds. In fact, as Turkish [...]

Ontario Health Coalition Mobilizes Resistance to Ford’s Health Care Cuts

In a series of four regional rallies over November and December, the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), with the support of the local health coalitions and unions and service providers, are not sitting back while the Ontario government restructures the [...]

Donald Lafleur sets the record straight in letter to CLC President Yussuff

In September, Canadian Labour Congress Vice President Donald Lafleur attended the Third International Trade Union Forum in Solidarity with Syrian Workers, in Damascus. While there, he criticized the sanctions that the United States and its NATO [...]

Canada and the US “Ministry of Colonies”

As People’s Voice goes to press, details of the November 10 coup d’état in Bolivia are still emerging. They paint a picture of rapid and violent right-wing movement against progressives, including trade unionists, Indigenous people, members of Evo [...]

Gaza Fights for Freedom: Repression, animated by the reality of a people’s brave resistance

Gaza Fights for Freedom (2019) Director: Abby Martin Writers: Mike Prysner, Abby Martin Review by Jay Watts In the wake of the Bush-era box-office popularity of socially engaged documentary films like Fahrenheit 9/11, The Fog of War and [...]

Music Notes: Waters to Assange, “Wish You Were Here”

More than a thousand Julian Assange supporters cheered as Australian journalist and filmmaker John Pilger introduced Roger Waters at a September 2 demonstration outside the British Home Office. The rally called for an end to the unlawful detention [...]

As in 1959, a call to cut military spending and fund people’s needs

Sixty years ago, Communist leader Tim Buck thundered against the myth that military spending creates jobs and prosperity. As Pacific Tribune reported, Buck “quoted figures to show that it was the profit motive and not concern about unemployment that [...]

Ontario: education workers fighting “more than ever” for students

From the depths of the attic room where it was hidden from public view during the federal election campaign, Doug Ford’s Conservative government appears to have been backing away from much of its aggressive neoliberal austerity agenda. Last year, [...]

Uruguay, Argentina: A rising Pink Tide?

In a political environment of unrest and protests from progressive sectors against neoliberal policies in Chile and Ecuador, great expectations have been focused on two Latin American countries that had presidential elections on October 27: Uruguay [...]

Voters deny Big Business parties a majority – what are the next steps?

Now that the votes are all counted, it’s clear that once again a majority of electors voted defensively, using their ballots to stave off a Big Business majority government. Given the hard drive to the right by the Tories and the Peoples Party, a [...]

Ending gender oppression means defending trans rights

Becky Buhay A few years ago, a friend of mine posted a beautiful graphic on her Facebook feed. It said, amongst other things, that “Transwomen are Women” - something she didn’t think was contentious. She was totally unprepared for the onslaught [...]

Alberta budget: Empty promises, false accusations and corporate giveaways

It is a uniquely Canadian tradition that a finance minister wears a new pair of shoes when delivering a budget. While the origins of the tradition are unclear, several politicians have played with it to make a political point: Jim Flaherty resoled [...]

Election results no excuse for national chauvinism

As the votes were being counted on October 21, it quickly became clear that the NDP was not going to see its much anticipated (and expected) breakthrough in Toronto. For the last two weeks of the campaign, polls consistently suggested that New [...]

Minority government: Strong extra-parliamentary movement needed to force gains

Throughout this election campaign, opinion polls projected the probability of a minority government. It was a scenario that many progressives anticipated with relish, in the hopes that it would provide a strong opportunity for the labour and [...]

Peace restored in Ecuador, after Morena forced to back down

After ten people were reported killed on the streets of Ecuador, together with about 2,000 people injured and a large number imprisoned, an agreement was reached between the Lenin Moreno government and protesters to derogate the controversial Decree [...]

Blackface and Beyond: Interview with anti-racism activist Saleh Waziruddin [audio]

Clear need for intervention

Throughout this election campaign, this newspaper has tried to provide deeper insight into some of the key issues and project some of the radical solutions that are needed to confront them from a working class perspective. While there are no easy [...]

Urgent: Peace Action Needed

Ed Lehman Despite efforts by the peace movement the discussion of peace in this election has been quite limited. International affairs are not on the list of topics for all candidates’ debates and are certainly not at the center of discussion on [...]

Organizing against precarity: Academic workers

Think of academic work and you probably have an image of a professor, snuggled in a cardigan in a charmingly cluttered office enjoying a glass of brandy while pontificating through a well-paid tenured position and into a lucrative pension. Think [...]

Federal Election: Housing is a right!

According to the 2016 Census, 1.7 million households across Canada – 13% of the total – live in what the government refers to as “core housing need.” This term is applied to situations in which people spend more than 30% of household income on [...]

Iran: from sanctions to solidarity – part 2

For many people, Iran is a difficult political topic to navigate. On the one hand, we encounter a lot of reports that document grave problems in the areas of human rights within the country, including labour and democratic rights. On the other hand, [...]

Iran: from sanctions to solidarity – part 1

As western aggression, led by the United States, against Iran continues to escalate, working class solidarity becomes more urgent. People’s Voice looks at some of the background to the current drive to war, as well as some of the dynamics in [...]

Where has labour been during this federal election campaign?

During my second year of university, I was exposed for the first time to mass, extra-parliamentary political campaigning. It was the fall of 1988, and the “Free Trade Election” was on. Of course, the main electoral contenders had lots to say [...]

Canada’s Minister of War

Time to dump Freeland and her hawkish policies In 2015, the Trudeau Liberals ran on a vague anti-war platform that emphasized peacekeeping. However, the last four years have seen an escalation in militarism and Canada’s involvement in US-led regime [...]

The Real Venezuela: Dignified, Indivisible and Truthful

All those wondering who is in charge in Venezuela, should stop reading the biased and confusing corporate media and should look at who represents the country at the United Nations. The UN is not a perfect institution, but it is one that is clear on [...]

‘Army of Lovers’ shuts down far-right march in Toronto

Andrew Kesik LGBTQ+ activists and allies sent out a strong message against fascism, homophobia and transphobia on September 28. Community members rallied at Toronto's St. James Park in an act of unity and defense against a planned "Christian [...]

Music Notes: This land is whose land?

Folksinger Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) is widely acclaimed as the great bard of the American working class. More than fifty years after his death, his songs are still performed around the world. Guthrie grew up in Okemah, Oklahoma, in the heart of [...]

Don’t waste your vote!

One constant refrain during any election is that we shouldn’t vote for smaller parties or campaigns because it is a “wasted vote.” The reasoning is that a candidate who doesn’t stand to be elected doesn’t warrant support. Better to make sure you [...]