"The Canadian government promotes itself as really aware of the environment," environmental biologist Guido Berguido told W5 at a protest. "We cannot believe that a Canadian company would do this to our national resources." Owned by a subsidiary of Canada's First Quantum Minerals, the sprawling 13,000-hectare, open-pit mine is bordered by jungle about 120 kilometres west of the capital, Panama City, on the country's Atlantic coast. Pointing to its alleged impact on the environment and water supplies, a broad coalition of Panamanians – including students, environmentalists, labour groups and indigenous communities – have protested for weeks, with police resorting to tear gas and rubber bullets as the country has ground to a halt. "People already are feeling betrayed by all that is institutional in Panama," a photographer, who lost an eye as police fired at protesters, told W5. "It's not just the mining, many things are linked to corruption. People are tired of that."

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie will lead the Ontario Liberal Party in its fight to regain official party status at Queen's Park — and challenge Premier Doug Ford in the 2026 election — after being elected the party's new leader on Saturday. The perceived front-runner throughout the campaign, Crombie finally reached the threshold of votes needed to become the next party leader late Saturday afternoon, after officials released the results of a third and final round of balloting. Crombie does not have a seat at Queen's Park. She said she would consider running for MPP in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex — the seat vacated by former labour minister Monte McNaughton in September — but wouldn't commit to putting her name on the ballot. Ideally, she said, she would run in Mississauga. Crombie said she would likely step down as Mississauga's mayor in the new year.

@allthecanadianpolitics

On December 6th 1989, fourteen young women, many of them engineering students, were murdered in the mass shooting at Montreal’s École Polytechnique that was prompted by the killer’s hatred of women and what he said was “fighting feminism”.   On December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, we remember: Geneviève Bergeron Hélène Colgan Nathalie Croteau Barbara Daigneault Anne-Marie Edward Maud Haviernick Maryse Laganière Maryse Leclair Anne-Marie Lemay Sonia Pelletier Michèle Richard Annie St-Arneault Annie Turcotte Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

Signal is currently blocked in Iran. To help people in the country access Signal, we are republishing and revising a post that we originally posted in February, 2021 during a very similar situation in Iran.

If you are willing and able, please follow the instructions below to set up a proxy server that will enable people in Iran to connect to Signal. We are grateful to the community who pitches in to help each other during these moments.

Disaffected New Democrats, mostly from the left wing of the party, are calling for a “complete overhaul” of the NDP to make it a progressive “movement” driven by members, rather than a political machine where a centralized power structure dictates policy, strategy and who is allowed to run in elections.

There is a struggle for the soul of the party going on as it contemplates its future, with leader Andrea Horwath and her chief-of-staff Michael Balagus stepping down. A group of grassroots NDP members, committee chairs and riding association organizers see the leadership vacuum as an opportunity to seize control of the party from “Central” — a term used to refer to the power structure they see as heavily centralized around Horwath, Balagus and executive director Lucy Watson.

At a virtual gathering on Wednesday evening, it was revealed they have at least one ally in pushing that vision within caucus: MPP Laura Mae Lindo.

“If we don’t find a way to see what’s happening to us as a party right now as an opportunity to transition into a space where the people are leading it … then I feel like it’s a wasted venture,” said Lindo, adding there is an unacceptable disconnect between what party members want and what happens at Queen’s Park.

“If it’s not your party, then I personally don’t see why I have my name on the ballot to begin with … If there is anything you can dream up that I can do to do some pushing from the inside, I’m your girl.”

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

Last night’s election result is a nightmare for most of us and I’m sure nobody is interested in dwelling on that, but there are a few specific things I wanted to talk about, both good and bad.

Turnout

As it stands, Elections Ontario has the turnout count pegged at 43%. The ridings with the highest turnout are Huron—Bruce with 54%, and then both Niagara West and Parry Sound—Muskoka with 53%. The ridings with the lowest turnout were Kiiwetinoong with 28% (only 92% of results are in), Humber River—Black Creek with 32%, and Windsor West with 33%.

It’s impossible to gauge how many voters were discouraged from voting by polls that consistently showed the PCs with a strong advantage. We also don’t know how many people didn’t vote due to Covid-19 infection or a lack of easy access to a nearby polling station. All parties were handed a major setback yesterday when a tech issue prevented them from downloading lists of which voters had already cast a ballot and which hadn’t yet, so their ability to work strategically yesterday was limited. Regardless, 43% is a pathetic turnout rate.

It’s worth noting that the Green Party campaigned relentlessly in Parry Sound—Muskoka because, with no Liberal candidate running, they had a good chance of winning that seat. A lot of effort was made to engage with voters and win their support, both from the Greens and the incumbent PCs. Niagara West is Sam Oosterhoff’s riding, where he can mobilize a large group of supporters from his church to canvass and help people vote. Running an energetic campaign is a candidate’s job, but for the rest of us, volunteering and helping to get people to a polling station really does help. Persuading friends and family to vote helps. We’re at a disadvantage in a first past the post electoral system, so there’s zero room for apathy.

Andrea Horwath and the NDP

After four elections as leader, Andrea Horwath read the room and stepped down after running a low-energy and uninspiring campaign. In Brampton, deputy party leader Sara Singh lost her seat, as did Gurratan Singh. The PCs secured several union endorsements over the traditionally more labour-friendly NDP. The Liberals will get more attention for their trainwreck of an election, but yesterday was awful for the NDP.

With Horwath quitting, the NDP’s other deputy leader, John Vanthof, may be interested in running for the party leadership. Joel Harden and Marit Stiles are other potential contenders.

Notable losers

New Blue MPP Belinda Karahalios and New Blue leader Jim Karahalios both lost badly in Cambridge and Kitchener—Conestoga respectively. Derek Sloan also lost by a huge margin. The former Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders lost in Kathleen Wynne’s old riding.

The Liberals took the riding of Kingston and the Islands from the NDP, beating Mary Rita Holland, the former president of Ontario’s NDP. Sandeep Singh, who was controversially chosen as the NDP candidate in Brampton North over the incumbent, Kevin Yarde, also lost.

Steven Del Duca has stepped down after failing to secure party status for the Liberals or win in Vaughan—Woodbridge. After flipping from the PCs to the Liberals in 2020, MPP Amanda Simard lost her seat and two of the most well-known Liberal newbie candidates, nurse Tyler Watt and vaccination advocate Jill Promoli, also lost.

There’s not much for the PCs to be disappointed about, but their candidate in Haldimand—Norfolk lost to an independent. Former seven-term PC MPP Toby Barrett chose not to run in this election, but he endorsed his assistant Bobbi Ann Brady who was running as an independent. 

Notable winners

After narrowly losing in 2018, Chandra Pasma unexpectedly flipped Ottawa West—Nepean to the NDP. With the NDP’s only other flip, Lise Vaugeois won in Thunder Bay—Superior North.

The biggest winners are obviously the PCs. It’s rare to win a comfortable majority and then increase that majority in the next election. Opposition to Doug Ford and the PCs over the last four years has been ineffective, and we need a hard reset in terms of organization. Signing petitions, marching to Queen’s Park, and literally begging Lisa MacLeod for help has made no material difference on PC policy. I hope that the NDP will fix their deep-seated problems and set the party on a better path, but mostly I hope that people who are upset today will feel motivated to help their neighbours who will be hit hardest by four more years of PC cuts and also to join a group organizing for material and achievable wins.

The way that the child welfare system has harmed Indigenous kids and families following the closure of residential schools is finally being discussed in-depth in the mainstream - the excerpt above is from a Global News article, I highly recommend that people read it.

With Pride-related pinkwashing and pandering also kicking into gear, we should also remember 15-year-old Kanina Sue Turtle and 12-year-old Jolynn Winter, both foster kids who died by suicide in northern Ontario in 2016 and 2017 respectively. They had been in a relationship before being separated by foster home staff due to their age difference. Instead of being provided with support and guidance by the people who were supposed to care for her, Kanina was told she could face criminal charges because of their relationship. The day she died, she was left unmonitored despite the known risk of suicide.

Complete liberation was the original goal of Pride events and should still be the goal. Celebrations of progress can’t obscure the fact that systemic racism  prevents some of our neighbours from enjoying the same freedoms we enjoy.

On December 6th 1989, fourteen young women, many of them engineering students, were murdered in the mass shooting at Montreal’s École Polytechnique that was prompted by the killer’s hatred of women and what he said was “fighting feminism”.   On December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, we remember: Geneviève Bergeron Hélène Colgan Nathalie Croteau Barbara Daigneault Anne-Marie Edward Maud Haviernick Maryse Laganière Maryse Leclair Anne-Marie Lemay Sonia Pelletier Michèle Richard Annie St-Arneault Annie Turcotte Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

An Ontario woman says she was incensed after receiving a fundraising letter from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario that looks like an invoice — something opposition parties are already criticizing as a “scam.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the Ontario NDP had filed a complaint with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Ontario Provincial Police, meanwhile, said in a statement investigators are aware of the letters and will evaluate whether or not the situation warrants a criminal investigation.

Part of the letter is labelled “invoice” and looks like a bill to be sent to the Ontario PCs in Toronto. The only line item says “Election Readiness Fund” and lists a total of $300, then lower down the page states there’s a “balance due.” The word donation does appear, but only at the bottom of the page. You can see the “invoice” section of the letter at the bottom of this story.

The letter includes two pages. The first is a standard letter explaining the need for the PCs to fundraise ahead of next year’s election, but the second is the part that looks like an invoice. Part of the letter says “Please pay the enclosed invoice to send Doug Ford the message that we’ve got his back.”

Veronica Doyon, who lives in North Bay, Ont., shared an image of the letter on Reddit on Tuesday where many raised concerns it could dupe people, particularly vulnerable seniors, into thinking they owed the party money.

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Tagging: @onpoli @politicsofcanada

Nearly 600 water protectors have been arrested during ongoing protests in Minnesota against the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline at the Shell River, which the partially completed pipeline is set to cross in five places. On Monday, authorities arrested Indigenous leader Winona LaDuke and at least six others. She was just released from jail yesterday and joins us after three nights in jail.

Winona LaDuke: Enbridge Line 3 is owned by the Enbridge Corporation, the Canadian multinational that also owns the pipe under the streets of Mackinac. It’s a really risky Canadian corporation, 225 subsidiaries with all the money kept in Canada, and they’re shoving this pipeline down our throat. About a month ago, the Minnesota [Department of Natural Resources], which is probably the most corrupt agency in the state of Minnesota, allocated 5 billion gallons of water to Enbridge in the middle of a drought.

The Intercept reported Thursday that Minnesota police expected the Line 3 pipeline to help boost their budget to fund new weapons. The article reveals that a few weeks before Line 3 was approved for construction, Aitkin County Sherriff’s Deputy Aaron Cook bought a new assault rifle that cost $725. In a November 2020 email, Cook wrote to the gun seller: “Our budget took a hit last week, so that’s all we will be ordering for now. I am hoping the pipeline will give us an extra boost to next year’s budget, which should make it easy for me to propose an upgrade/trade to your rifles rather than a rebuild of our 8 Bushmasters,” referencing another assault rifle.

WL: They’ve been bankrolling the northern police departments. Some of the police departments like Aitkin County was saddened by Covid because they had to let people out of prison or out of jail there and [they were] losing money on their budgets and that dysfunctional system. At this point, Enbridge has been financing all these northern police departments and so you’re seeing 40 different squads show up from counties throughout the state to repress water protectors who are just trying to protect the water in northern Minnesota and arrest hundreds of us. It’s a civil crisis when a Canadian multinational controls your police force.

@allthecanadianpolitics

The way that the child welfare system has harmed Indigenous kids and families following the closure of residential schools is finally being discussed in-depth in the mainstream - the excerpt above is from a Global News article, I highly recommend that people read it.

With Pride-related pinkwashing and pandering also kicking into gear, we should also remember 15-year-old Kanina Sue Turtle and 12-year-old Jolynn Winter, both foster kids who died by suicide in northern Ontario in 2016 and 2017 respectively. They had been in a relationship before being separated by foster home staff due to their age difference. Instead of being provided with support and guidance by the people who were supposed to care for her, Kanina was told she could face criminal charges because of their relationship. The day she died, she was left unmonitored despite the known risk of suicide.

Complete liberation was the original goal of Pride events and should still be the goal. Celebrations of progress can’t obscure the fact that systemic racism  prevents some of our neighbours from enjoying the same freedoms we enjoy.

Doug Ford’s assistant Labour Minister Jane McKenna responded to a motion to legislate paid sick days for essential workers by downplaying Ontario COVID-19 infections and comparing Doug Ford’s critics to “chicken little.”

On Wednesday, the Ontario PC government rejected a motion from the opposition NDP on Wednesday calling on Ford to “develop an essential workplace safety plan” aimed at ensuring workers are vaccinated and given paid sick days.

A recent poll found 83% of Ontarians support paid sick days.

McKenna, the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour and Ontario PC MPP for Burlington, rose to speak against the motion:

“We’ve all heard the children’s story of Chicken Little, where the chicken spreads baseless and exaggerated reports that the sky is falling, even though it wasn’t. There’s certainly a lot of misinformation about COVID-19 out there, and regardless of which side of this House you sit on, we all have a responsibility to tell the facts.”

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @onpoli @politicsofcanada

Hey, so I've just been posting about this Ontario Coalition Against Ford for a few days now and it's because it's very important. The third wave in Ontario is very bad. Hospitals are overwhelmed, they're triaging in parking lots. Someone dies of Covid every hour-and-a-half. But non-essential workplaces are staying open and just yesterday the Conservative government voted down a bill for paid sick days.

Something drastic has to be done to force the Ford government to put human lives before business. Actions like strikes and mass work refusals can threaten profits and force Doug Ford to do something. That's why OCAF is calling on the ONDP and labour leaders to organize mass work refusals.

It starts with the open letter I posted already, but that's just the start. If you are angry at the Ford government come to the meeting on Zoom tonight (Tuesday April 27, 8:30) to take part in the movement.

Links in the notes, and feel free to ask me questions

The Ontario government is offering to double federal sick leave payments to $1,000 a week for workers in the province amid the surging COVID-19 pandemic – if Ottawa agrees to administer the program.

In an April 22 letter to Finance Minster Chrystia Freeland, obtained by The Globe and Mail, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the province has heard from its medical and science professionals that a paid sick leave program “is critical” in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces.

The federal CRSB provides sick leave for up to four weeks to Canadians across the country, but the take-up has been far less than Ottawa initially projected. The federal government estimated in November that the benefit would provide nearly $5-billion in benefits over two years, yet slashed that forecast to just $738-million in the April 19 federal budget.

For months, the Ontario government has faced calls from a chorus of medical experts, mayors, union leaders and opposition politicians to ensure that the often precariously employed workers who perform essential labour – such as stocking shelves in grocery stores or processing packages in warehouses – have paid sick days.

Are you angry with Ford's horrific response to the pandemic? Are you frustrated that our union/party leaders won't take more serious measures to win paid sick days, hazard pay and the closure of non-essential production? Are you a leading member of your EDA, union or community group?

OCAF (Ontario Coalition Against Ford) is a coalition of riding associations, labour activists and community groups that are organizing to take on Ford and push our leaders to act in the interests of regular working class people. The time to organize is now!

Link in reblog

The company P&G has been laying waste to endangered boreal forests and without prior informed consent from local indigenous populations, with no regard for the destruction or pollution that result.