Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Melissa Hanson writes about life as a climate refugee from what was billed as a relatively safe area - making for a particularly painful position in the midst of an election where a major contender denies both the reality of climate change and the humanity of refugees generally. Andrea Thompson points out that a natural disaster such as Hurricane Helene will have continuing impacts on victims for years to come. Jonathan Watts reports on new research showing that wildfires are rapidly burning through humanity's carbon budget, while Benjamin Shingler charts how Canada's 2024 wildfire season was severe by any standard other than the unheard-of fires of the previous year. And Marko Hyvarinen et al. study how our climate is breaking down faster than many species can possibly adapt. 

- Katharine Hayhoe discusses how China is far ahead of the rest of the world in developing clean and cheap renewable energy. But Richard Murphy laments that UK Labour is joining far too many Western governments in throwing massive amounts of free money at the fossil fuel sector even while telling citizens they'll have to fend for themselves in an environment of austerity. And Karin Larsen reports on Burnaby's agreement not to criticize Trans Mountain after its pipeline was forced through the city at pblic expense. 

- Jon Milton interviews Nora Loreto about the decline of public services in Canada in the name of neoliberalism. And Linda McQuaig discusses how the Ford PCs - like their ideological cousins elsewhere - are undermining public health care in order to ensure donors can profit from needed health services. 

- Meanwhile, Angela Amato reports on the UCP's decision to facilitate corporate influence and control in municipal politics.

- Colin Lecher and Tomas Apodaca expose how Facebook profits from the environment of violent extremism which it promotes. And Alex Kierstein reports on Ford's patent filing seeking to eavesdrop on car users in order to foist ads on the occupants of vehicles.

- Finally, Fair Vote Canada fact checks Justin Trudeau's excuses for breaking his promise of a fair electoral system - while highlighting that its members and others who support a more proportional system were specifically targeted for misleading promises which Trudeau never planned to fulfil. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the immense economic and human cost of COVID-19 denial as another wave surges. And Matthew Frank et al. study how COVID produces lasting damage to the brain. 

- Robert Booth and Emine Sinmaz report on the findings of the UK's Grenfell inquiry, which find that the tragic fire was the result of systemic corporate dishonesty and government neglect. And Mo Amir discusses how B.C.'s government is failing to implement vacancy controls even while understanding they would benefit renters.

- Meanwhile, Myriam Durocher, Annika Walsh, Irena Knezevic and Madison Hynes discuss how charity isn't enough to eradicate food insecurity. 

- Ariel Silber reports on the less-than-surprising revelation that apps are listening in on users' smartphones without notice or consent in order to profit from the contents of their conversations. And Webb Wright reports on the FTC's study into "surveillance pricing" where unspecified personal information is used to present different prices to different consumers. 

- Kea Wilson discusses how the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau are just an example of the traffic violence resulting from a transportation system designed to prioritize single-vehicle convenience over pedestrian and cyclist safety. And Coral Davenport highlights how the U.S. will need to update its infrastructure one way or another due to the use of materials which can't withstand a changed climate. 

- Finally, Susan Wright contrasts the importance of unions in social cohesion and development against the solidarity denialism of the UCP. And David Moscrop writes that the Cons and their allies remain hostile to workers - even as they try to pretend otherwise. 

Wednesday Evening Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Li Cohen discusses how the Earth has experienced 12 months of record heat in a row - but is on track to see today's extreme heat become a lower baseline for the decades to come. And Peter Crank points out how already-vulnerable people - including those living with mental illness - are particularly endangered as temperatures exceed what our infrastructure is intended to manage. 

- Meanwhile, Richard Heinberg writes about the challenges in trying to address the climate breakdown among other ongoing crises (particularly in the context of the elite assumption that problems have to be solved with markets and technology). And Matt Shipman explains how climate change will exacerbate air pollution. 

- Pam Belluck reports on the recognition of the widespread and devastating effects of long COVID in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Cate Swannell warns that in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, we're actually backsliding in our public health mechanisms necessary to monitor and contain similar outbreaks. And Mike Crawley reports on Doug Ford's decision to axe all wastewater monitoring in Ontario - depriving the province of the ability to track all kinds of infectious diseases. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how one of the main purposes and effects of ubiquitous corporate surveillance is to use the information gathered to extract the highest prices possible from consumers. And Catalina Sanchez rightly argues that auto manufacturers shouldn't be selling off people's driving history to anybody who finds that data useful and profitable. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Rumtin Sepasspour and Courtney Tee write that it's impossible for governments to prevent and prepare for catastrophic risks when they're deliberately operating in denial that such risks even exist. And Crawford Kilian points out how the fact that we're still in the midst of a global pandemic doesn't mean we've developed mechanisms capable of responding to another one. 

- Meanwhile, Jamie Ducharme writes about the utter abandonment of anybody trying to maintain some level of COVID-19 precautions. And Erin Clack discusses the continuing stream of research showing the negative effects of COVID on the brain, while Lauren Pelley highlights how updated vaccines remain important even as their availability is becoming less and less certain. 

- Steven Trask reports on the latest revelation of a "carbon credit" project which has turned out to be an utter failure - which is worth keeping in mind in particular as the federal government's climate change consultation includes a predictable push to accept foreign credits as a substitute for emission reductions. And Natasha White examines how banks are recognizing the dangers of funding the fossil fuel sector - but how the financial sector is responding by shunting dirty loans into separate private entities. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes about the realities of trying to operate in systems which people can't fully understand under circumstances where the corporations with direct control and the governments who are supposed to serve the public interest have both proven utter failures in protecting our interests. And Sam Biddle exposes how any posturing by Elon Musk and X about the evils of government surveillance is entirely selective given that they've turned the sale of their own surveillance data into a profit centre. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Claude Lavoie examines the problems with the far-too-rarely-questioned assumption that public policy needs to be oriented toward top-end economic growth at the expense of human well-being and environmental sustainability. 

- George Monbiot calls out how the wealthiest few have torqued the law to achieve impunity for themselves while punishing anybody who dares to question their dominance. Steven Staples points out that a Canadian public inquiry into foreign interference is conspicuously refusing to even recognize the control over decision-making exercised by Big Foreign Oil. And Ethan Cox exposes how a private surveillance company is spying on journalists with the apparent support of both the Alberta and federal governments, while Amanda Follett Hosgood points out that the RCMP's unit formed to ignore the rules and force through pipelines is now being turned against other activists (including people protesting for Palestinian human rights). 

- Meanwhile, Sharon Lewis offers a reminder that insurance companies aren't buying the climate denial being pushed on the public at large - with the result that people are increasingly unable to get insurance to cover foreseeable disasters. 

- Benjamin Shingler reports on Canada's lack of effective regulation to weed out false greenwashing. And Andrew Hawkins discusses Ian Walker's research as to how vehicles are designed to filter out awareness of their harmful effects (even as they become perpetually more dangerous for everybody else in the vicinity of the road). 

- Finally, David Climenhaga writes about Danielle Smith's choice to declare war on trans kids, while Amnesty International Canada calls it out as a glaring violation of human rights. And Corinne Mason and Leah Hamilton point out the complete absence of any factual basis for the UCP's campaign of hate. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Chris Hedges discusses how the end of empire-based colonialism has only given way to an even more exploitative corporate version. And Cory Doctorow points out how surveillance capitalism inevitably turns its resources toward defrauding the people being monitored and manipulated. 

- Matthew Rosza interviews Michael Mann about the need to pair accurate information about the threat posed by climate change with discussion of how it's possible to take positive action. 

- Kevin Drum graphs the connection between lead contamination and murder rates in Washington DC. And Mira Rojanasakul reports on the rise of saltwater levels in New Orleans, with the foreseeable results including the salination of drinking water sources and the release of lead and other matter from pipes.  

- Bob Weber reports on new polling showing a strong majority of Albertans opposed to the UCP's attacks on renewable energy. And Gary Mason calls out Danielle Smith's plan to use Albertans' retirement savings as a slush for for the oil industry as a Brexit-style calamity in the making. 

- Finally, Emily Leedham reports on the Manitoba PCs' choice to offer only meaningless guesswork in place of any plan to ensure people have access to health care. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading.

- Alejandro de la Garza writes about the devastation continuing to be wrought by COVID-19 in Lamb County, Texas even as the powers that be pretend the pandemic is in the past. And John Michael McGrath discusses why Ontario shouldn't count on the Ford government allowing any progress on indoor air quality - no matter how obvious that step would seen as a means to prevent readily-avoidable health problems.

- Steven Johnson writes about the tragically flawed inventions of Thomas Midgley - including the adoption of his leaded gasoline solely because it allowed for patent protection in contrast to a safer substitute. And Ben Webster, Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Lucas Amin report on the aviation industry's predictable refusal both to acknowledge the question of how vapour trails contribute to climate change, and to do anything but obstruct the research which would be needed to provide a fuller answer.

- Fiona Harvey reports on new research showing that fresh water demand will exceed supply by 40% as soon as 2030. And Kevin Philipuppilai reports on the soaring price tag for the Trans Mountain pipeline as escalating costs have to financed at far higher interest rates.

- Steve Burgess offers his take on the reasons for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, while Henry Mance focuses on the right's attempts to blame diversity for a phenomenon plenty familiar to corporations dominated by privileged white men.

- Finally, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association examines how the Communications Security Establishment has been systematically prioritizing the sharing of information with foreign security services over Canadians' privacy - frequently to the point of breaking the law.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Bang Pedersen argues that the COVID pandemic offers a prime example of the importance of telling hard truths to the public - rather than engaging in the wishful thinking, sugar-coating and general denial we've come to expect from Scott Moe. And Susie Flaherty writes about new research confirming that children are spreaders of COVID-19 (and particularly its variants), while Lynn Giesbrecht reports that over a hundred Saskatchewan schools (plus several dozen daycares) are currently experiencing outbreaks.  

- Paddy Bettington rightly criticizes the UK Cons' version of "building back" for providing nothing but worse conditions for workers. And Paul Krugman points out the rightful revolt of American workers against being underpaid, put at risk and taken for granted.  

- Max Callaghan and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner discuss their new study showing how the vast majority of people are already affected by the climate crisis. And Oliver Milman, Andrew Witherspoon, Rita Liu and Alvin Chang observe that a climate disaster isn't merely a remote future prospect, but an imminent reality.  

- Simon Evans notes that the IEA's latest World Energy Outlook shows fossil fuel use peaking in 2025 if countries meet their climate commitments. But Rob Davies highlights how that limited and delayed change would be nowhere near enough to actually avert climate breakdown. 

- Meanwhile, Siddharth Joshi, James Glynn and Shivika Mittal discuss the obvious potential for solar power alone to meet the world's energy needs. And Dana Nuccitelli points out how a faster transition to a clean economy will also be a more affordable one.

- Finally, Brent Patterson examines what we know about the RCMP's unit dedicated to violating human rights to protect extractive industries. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nazeem Muhajarine and Kathryn Green call out Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party government for causing readily-preventable suffering and death - both from COVID-19 directly, and its devastating effects on the broader health care system. And Scott Larson reports on the "grim" situation facing Saskatoon's hospitals (among others). 

- Paul Krugman rightly questions why the self-appointed Very Serious People can't reach agreement on such fundamentals of a civilized society such as preserving a habitable planet and ending child poverty. 

- Sean Holman discusses the need to put human faces on the climate crisis, rather than dealing with it primarily as a matter of abstract policy. And Rachel Sherrington documents how the fossil fuel sector uses manipulative advertising to claim an interest in exactly the type of climate progress it's blocking through the concentrated application of wealth and power.  

- Jason Deign reports on yet another example of carbon capture and storage turning into an expensive flop, as a Chevron CCS setup intended to serve as license for a massive natural gas project is falling far short of its emission control targets. Hilary Beaumont reports on Enbridge's payment and use of Minnesota police to attack demonstrators opposed to the Line 3 pipeline, once again demonstrating the oil industry's use of state violence to override public concerns about health and the environment. 

- PressProgress exposes how Saskatchewan's process to evaluate infrastructure proposals is hopelessly biased in favour of privatization and financialization of public goods. And Randy Richmond reports on Ontario's plans to privatize the monitoring of inmates as an alarming example of the intersection of corporate interests and limitations on individual rights. 

- Finally, the Guardian and Charlotte Grieve offer summaries of the Pandora Papers as just the latest example of the wealthiest few around the globe escaping any obligation to contribute to the common good. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Don Braid discusses how Alberta's health care system and polity are both collapsing under the weight of a UCP government which has utterly failed to protect either from readily-preventable damage. And Emily Pasiuk reports on Jason Kenney's continued excuses for letting COVID-19 run rampant rather than doing anything to stop a catastrophe in progress. 

- Meanwhile, Allison Jones reports on the comparative success of continued public health measures in reining in a fourth wave in Ontario. Carly Weeks reports on the new research confirming the reality that children are far more vulnerable to the Delta variant than to previous iterations of the coronavirus, while Ontario's Science Table studies the lasting symptoms and disabilities facing people who suffer from long COVID. 

- David Pugliese reports on the latest revelations showing that Canada's military treated the pandemic as an opportunity to push a propaganda and surveillance campaigns against citizens without authorization or oversight. 

- Jongsay Yong et al. study how Australia's push to privatize long-term care predictably resulted in worse results for residents. And the AP reports on Berlin's move to bring thousands of apartment units under public control to ensure they're used to benefit people. 

- Rest of World surveys the realities facing gig workers around the globe. And Laura Lam and Kam Phung discuss the need for Canadian labour and employment policy to respond by empowering the workers involved. 

- Finally, Robert Reich offers a reminder as to why "corporate social responsibility" is a delay tactic aimed at allowing capitalists to continue their exploitation, not a means of solving social problems. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Guy Quenneville reports on the frustration of Cory Neudorf and other Saskatchewan doctors due to the Moe government's decision to ignore all available science on COVID-19, while Alberta doctors have taken to providing the daily briefings the government has chosen to abandon. Cam Tait discusses how the lack of government leadership responding to a grave health crisis in Alberta (as in Saskatchewan) is anything but a joke. And Alexandra Mae Jones reports on new research showing how even in its less acute forms, COVID may lead to a wave of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. 

- Meanwhile, Dave Connell offers the account of a grandfather who lost his grandson to the overdose crisis. 

- Chris Walker reports from the fossil fuel sector's festival of climate denial and destruction in the midst of a summer defined by climate catastrophes. And George Monbiot discusses why we can't build our way out of the climate crisis (at least as long as infrastructure projects are captured by the corporate establishment). 

- Finally, Alleen Brown reports on the choice of Minnesota police to provide both individual-level intelligence and operational support to Enbridge for the suppression of pipeline protestors. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Scott Larson reports on the continually rising number of active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan. Lauren Pelley discusses the likelihood that even fully-vaccinated people will be exposed to COVID infection - particularly if public health measures aren't maintained or put back in place. And Alexander Wong and Carla Holinaty comment on the importance of health protections in schools in particular. 

- Agence France-Presse reports on the WHO's justified condemnation of the promotion of "booster" vaccine shots while much of the world waits for its first access to vaccines. And Geoffrey York reports that even Johnson & Johnson vaccines produced in Africa have been secretly diverted to Europe to chase profits rather than supporting public health. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out the connection between wildfires and the ongoing pandemic, as increased air pollution exacerbates the effects of the coronavirus while increased indoor activity promotes its spread. 

- Cameron Fenton makes the case for Canada's federal election to be all about climate change, while Danielle Groen outlines a few environmental issues which demand our attention. And David Roberts looks at new research showing how climate tipping points affect the social cost of carbon - and finds that we may be valuing the cost of carbon pollution at half (or less) of its actual economic impact. 

- Meanwhile, Jorge Barrera exposes how Trans Mountain is engaged in surveillance and monitoring of environmental activists. 

- Finally, Jennifer Scott discusses the need for gig workers to be heard in consultations on the future of work - based on both the struggles they're facing now, and the likelihood that new types of employers will try to impose precarity on their own workforces. And Greg Jericho highlights how poor wage performance in Australia (like elsewhere) is the result of structural forces, including governments' refusals to bargain fairly with public servants. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Mickey Djuric reports on Saskatchewan's alarmingly high rate of positive COVID-19 tests as students prepare to return to school. And Heidi Atter reports on the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation's call for mandatory vaccination to minimize the all-too-predictable spread in the school environment. 

- PressProgress notes that Justin Trudeau's campaign message about COVID benefits is based primarily on the CERB and other supports which he had to be pressured to provide in the first place, and which are gone or disappearing even as a fourth wave hits. But while any temporary gains for many workers have been reversed, David Macdonald and Alicia Massie document how the CEO class took advantage of the pandemic to rewrite bonus formulas in their favour. 

- Meanwhile, Joe Ryle makes the case as to how a four-day work week (without loss of pay) could lead to both a reduction in carbon emissions and a healthier environment for workers. 

- The Economist highlights new research showing a strong correlation between resource extraction and political corruption. Paul Krugman highlights the faulty economic assumptions of fossil fuel defenders. And Fitsum Areguy exposes how Canada enabled mining companies profiting from extraction linked to war and human rights abuses in Ethopia.  

- Finally, Jeremy Appel writes about the surveillance and psychological manipulation techniques used by the Canadian military in Afghanistan which are now being turned against the public domestically. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan highlight how inequitable access to vaccines around the globe increases the risk of variants which will hurt everybody. Charles Schmidt takes note of the work being done to track variants - but also the massive blind spots which only exacerbate the dangers. And Berkeley Lovelace Jr. reports on the recommendation from the WHO that people continue to mask and take other precautions even after being fully vaccinated, while Darren Major reports on the Public Health Agency of Canada's recommendation that we not look at fully lifting indoor protective measures until 75% of the population reaches that threshold.

- Max Fawcett writes that Jason Kenney may end up having access to the spoils of Alberta's last oil boom - though the predictable result is that it will end up frittered away in corporate giveaways with even less to show for it than previous ones. And Michelle Gamage highlights how British Columbia is spending more money subsidizing fossil fuels than acting to protect our climate.

- David Moscrop makes the case to treat housing as a right rather than a commodity.

- Finally, David Pugliese reports on the Canadian military's use of COVID-19 as an excuse for illegal activity including spying on Black Lives Matter activists and other protesters, as well as distributing domestic propaganda, while PressProgress follows up on the meager level of responsibility it's taken so far. And Kaitlin Peters discusses how Doug Ford's use of the notwithstanding clause to silence political opponents far in advance of any election fits with his general suppression of dissent.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Tavia Grant writes that a year and half of experience have confirmed that the most important element in reducing the workplace spread of COVID-19 is ensuring adequate ventilation - but that public health rules have utterly failed to reflect that knowledge. Mickey Djuric reports on the unions and workers pointing out that prematurely lifting mask mandates will only exacerbate the threat to front-line workers. And Ciara Linnane reports on the spread of the more infectious Delta variant which is becoming the dominant strain worldwide, while CTV News highlights how it looks likely to cause a fourth COVID wave in Alberta. 

- D.T. Cochrane argues that Canada needs to collect a fair amount of revenue from the rich and invest in a just transition. 

- Emma Pullman reports on the U.S.' use of privatized surveillance data - which could not legally be gathered by the government - to round up and deport immigrants. 

- Sheila Block, Grace-Edward Galabuzi and Hayden King examine how Canadian racial inequality persists into retirement. And James Murphy writes about the role of private schools in giving a wholly undeserved advantage to children of privilege. 

- Finally, Umair Haque discusses the dangerous political reality in which billionaires allow members of lower classes a measure of domination over out-groups as the price of being able to extract massive amounts of wealth from the general population. And Andrew Kersley writes about the growing threat of right-wing violence in the UK due largely to mainstream acceptance of fascist messages. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Fiona Harvey writes about the perfect storm of environmental crises leaving us at risk of societal collapse. And Tim Flannery calls out the deception and denial from Australia's government after it has contributed to setting its own country ablaze.

- Mark Olalde and Ryan Menezes report on California's old and abandoned wells - signalling that the problem of the public being forced to foot the bill for the exploitation of oil resources goes far beyond Alberta.

- Steve Lambert notes that Scott Moe's scheme to ship oil through Manitoba has been suggested - and rejected - before. Vassy Kapelos and John Paul Tasker report on the latest estimates showing the cost of Trans Mountain to be ballooning. And Cameron Fenton makes the case against approval for the Teck Frontier tar sands mine.

- PressProgress points out the unwillingness of Public Safety Canada, CSIS and the RCMP to properly label far-right extremism and terrorism. And Andrew Nikiforuk laments the choice of colonialism over reconciliation as both the B.C. and federal governments push a natural gas pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en land.

- Finally, Emily Needham reports on Scott Banda's choice to ally himself and the Co-op system with bigots and white nationalists in order to attack the workers who have made his corporation massive profits. And David Climenhaga examines Jason Kenney's propaganda network which is now being turned against health care workers.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Heather Scoffield writes that a genuine commitment to fighting climate change could resolve multiple major issues facing Canada - while delay serves only to exacerbate them:

At the core of today’s western alienation and of today’s search for prosperity is a much larger issue: the future of energy in a warming climate.

It wasn’t on the agenda for the ministers and was only mentioned in passing in the prime minister’s mandate letter of marching orders for federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. And that’s a missed opportunity to tackle the challenges of a carbon-based economy head-on and amplify what so many other key players in Canada are leapfrogging each other to act upon.
...
In an economy that depends so deeply on resource extraction, energy production and the financing and services around those sectors, climate change is primordial. In a recent paper from the Bank of Canada that sets out where central bank researchers need to assess the impact, the author points to oil and gas of course, but also real estate, agriculture and transportation. Electricity generation, infrastructure and any industry that uses a lot of energy are also on the front lines. Insurers, banks, pension funds, investment funds and real estate trusts are also in flux.

And from a consumer point of view, climate is affecting the price of everything, as well as the way we heat and cool our houses, drive our cars, clothe our children and prepare our food.

Global warming, and its fix — decarbonization — touches almost every corner of what we do, and the risks to the economy are enormous, starting now. At stake are our profits, our businesses, our governments’ tax revenues and our very quality of life

- But Marieke Walsh points out the gap between Canada's actions and its already-insufficient emission reduction commitments. And Keith Gerein discusses the utter lack of substance behind the anti-carbon-tax bleatings of the UCP and their right-wing allies.

- Jaskiran Dhillon and Will Parrish exposes the lethal violence authorized by the RCMP against peaceful land defenders in the interest of pushing through pipelines.

- Stuart Thompson and Charlie Warzel examine the information that can be gleaned - and the risks that can be created - from a single set of cell phone location data.

- Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes about the Libs' extension of EI sick leave benefits, while noting the need to go much further in filling in the gaps in our social safety net.

- And finally, Erica West comments on the multiple meanings of the term "emotional labour" - and the reality that all of them reflect the perpetuation of gender imbalances.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jason Hickel observes that what progress has been made in human health and quality of life is the result of progressive policies, not leaving plutocrats to do what they will:

(S)ocial services require resources. And it’s important to recognise that growth can help toward that end. But the interventions that matter when it comes to life expectancy do not require high levels of GDP per capita. The European Union has a higher life expectancy than the United States, with 40% less income. Costa Rica and Cuba beat the US with only a fraction of the income, and both achieved their greatest gains in life expectancy during periods when GDP wasn’t growing at all. How? By rolling out universal healthcare and education.

“The historical record is clear that economic growth itself has no direct, necessary positive implications for population health,” Szreter writes. “The most that can be said is that it creates the longer-term potential for population health improvements.”

Whether or not that potential is realised depends on the political forces that determine how income is distributed. So let’s give credit where credit is due: progress in life expectancy has been driven by progressive political movements that have harnessed economic resources to deliver robust public goods. History shows that in the absence of these progressive forces, growth has quite often worked against social progress, not for it.

- Stephen Prince writes that a U.S. tax system skewed to further enrich the wealthy ultimately produces worse outcomes for everybody. And Jim Hightower discusses how Donald Trump's "opportunity zone" scheme - trumpeted as a means to encourage development in poor communities - has instead been exploited to eliminate taxes on luxury housing developments.

- While the CN strike has been resolved through successful collective bargaining, David Climenhaga pointed out how most reporting on it failed to acknowledge the safety risks representing the primary concerns of the union. And Will Evans exposes how Amazon's endangerment of worker health and safety has been enabled by governments desperate to win its approval.

- Jorge Barrera reports on the Trans Mountain Corporation's surveillance of environmental activists and Indigenous land defenders. And Sam Levin and Will Parrish report on the U.S.' labeling of protest against Keystone XL as "terrorism" to be squelched by any means necessary.

- Finally, Angus Reid finds a substantial jump in Canadian voters' support for proportional representation following this fall's election. But Karl Nerenberg notes that Justin Trudeau's elimination of the ministry of democratic reform signals his unwillingness to even consider a more fair and representative electoral system.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Larry Elliott writes that a corporate-centred model of globalization is unlikely to survive the Trump regime. And Jeff Spross proposes an alternative which allows for people to be free and capital to be controlled, rather than the other way around.

- But Jo Becker notes that large amounts of money and disinformation are pushing for nationalism and xenophobia around the globe, rather than any recognition of our shared interests in a fair and connected system of international relations.

- Benjamin Fearnow reports on the FBI's insistence on treating peaceful activists for minority rights as a larger threat than violent white supremacists. And Robin Ttess discusses how Canada's security state has been used at the behest of the oil industry to spy on and stifle Indigenous peoples and environmental activists.

- Andy Blatchford reports on the Trudeau Libs' delays and obfuscations about supplying armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

- Finally, Alan Freeman debunks the Fraser Institute's regularly-scheduled attempt to gaslight Canadians about taxes by refusing to acknowledge what individuals actually pay as well as what public revenue funds.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Joanne Light and Cathy Orlando point out that we don't have any more time to waste in reining in a climate breakdown in progress. And Justin Ling writes that we should be far more concerned about Canada's massive and increasing deficit in action to avert a climate crisis than small amounts of ink on the federal balance sheet:

Even if Canada only contributes a fraction of the world’s emissions, we stand to shoulder a disproportionate share of the costs. Rising sea levels promise to displace populations along the coasts, increased rainfalls will require ever-larger bailouts for flooded communities in the East, and worsening wildfire seasons have wreaked havoc through the West.

To not prepare more actively to prevent and mitigate that – and to campaign, instead, on the few-hundred bucks in short-term savings that would come from doing nothing – takes the taxpayers for chumps.

Climate change is already costing us billions. If we don’t turn our entire government toward reducing and eliminating further emissions, and preparing and mitigating incoming effects, we’re only compounding the costs we’ll incur down the line.

- Meanwhile, Melanie Green points out that the ill effects of a climate breakdown extend to avoidable mental health difficulties for the people forced to confront it. And Andrew Van Dam reports on new research showing how living wages can ameliorate numerous social and health symptoms.

- Oliver Wainwright discusses the rise of the new form of corporate-designed company town. And Shawn Micallef argues that we shouldn't allow tech giants to demand the power to shape living spaces and monitor individual activity without accepting the accountability which should apply to any de facto government.

- But based on the examples reported by Ainslie Cruickshank and Jim Bronskill, we shouldn't pretend that public resources aren't also misused to monitor people for the benefit of the wealthy few (including the fossil fuel industry). And Sharon Riley exposes CAPP's lobbying efforts to ensure that nobody other than oil barons has any say in the decisions made around dirty energy projects.

- Finally, a new Upstream study examines the continued shame of appallingly high child poverty rates among status First Nations children. And Andrew MacLeod writes about the role racism plays in Canadian politics.