We are lucky to live where eating locally means eating well, and including local produce makes our meals as delicious as possible. Most people who take advantage of this option feel fortunate to do so. Which is why this spring, parliament passed an NDP private member’s bill that recognizes the Friday before Thanksgiving every year as “National Local Food Day.” ...

In 1989 parliament unanimously passed a motion calling for the end of child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. That led to the creation of Campaign 2000, a cross-Canada public education movement to build awareness and support for the parliamentary motion and efforts to achieve its goal. One of the main focuses of Campaign 2000’s work is publishing research ...

Les tensions entourant le commerce international ont atteint un point critique alors que les États-Unis provoquent des différends dans plusieurs secteurs par leur politique visant à prioriser leurs intérêts. Il n’aura fallu que quelques semaines pour que cette politique ait des effets tout simplement désastreux des deux côtés de la frontière. C’est pourquoi le Comité permanent du commerce international de ...

Trade issues are at a boiling point as the United States instigates disputes across multiple sectors based on the notion of ‘America First’. After just a few weeks, the results have been nothing short of disastrous on both sides of the border.  For that reason, the House of Commons Trade Committee held an emergency meeting in Ottawa after the Commons ...

You may have seen in the news recently that a man has set out on a six-month journey to swim across the Pacific Ocean. He will be swimming through what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of accumulated waste three times the size of France, to bring attention to the mass amounts of plastic waste polluting ...

Recently the government used time allocation to end debate on their Bill C-76, which they are calling the Elections Modernization Act. While the electoral reform debate may seem as if it’s been around forever, this bill has only been debated in the House for less than eleven hours after being tabled at the end of April –  a well-understood deadline ...

On the cusp of ALS awareness month, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP, Carol Hughes paid tribute in the House of Commons to Dubreuilville ALS activist Eddy K. Lefrançois for his determination and advocacy. “Eddy K. Lefrançois is an ALS advocate from Dubreuiliville with a remarkable story to share,” said Hughes. Hughes cited Lefrançois as an example of someone who defied the odds in ...

Mar 21, 2018 @ 18:50 Tax season is upon us and for people who aren’t connected to the internet or comfortable using it as a method of filing their forms the process has become increasingly difficult.  Even getting paper forms has become more of a chore.  This year, Revenue Canada only sent a small number of forms to outlets that ...

Mar 8, 2018 @ 11:28 International Women’s Day, celebrated every March 8th, has a long history with roots in the suffrage movement and socialist politics.   It is fair to say that in the hundred plus years the day has been observed, the circumstances of a great many women have improved, but the celebration of these social, economic, cultural and political ...

Jan 31, 2018 @ 20:08 The government has some work to do if it wants to convince Canadians they share the same concerns most people have about pensions. In the last year, they allowed the Sears pension plan to remain underfunded as that company liquidated assets and closed for good, and also introduced legislation that will lead to more Canadians ...

Jan 24, 2018 @ 08:44 Senator Lynn Beyak was jettisoned from the Conservative Caucus recently after spending the better part of a year defending intolerant statements aimed at First Nations – many of whom she ostensibly represents. The move was made after leadership in the Senate and the Commons provided numerous opportunities for her to back down from offensive claims ...

Jan 19, 2018 @ 10:22 Anyone familiar with the plight of woodland caribou on Michipicoten Island will know that the animals have been threatened to the point that their future is very much in doubt.  While there have been opportunities to preserve the herd in its place, the province chose to pursue another solution that has those closest to the ...

Oct 28, 2017 @ 09:42 If we listen to corporate Canada we might believe the only possible future for pensions is to move away from the defined benefit model in favour of a defined contribution system, also known as targeted benefit plans. Under that system there is no guarantee of what pensioners will eventually receive, only how much they will ...

Oct 16, 2017 @ 22:50 Les résultats du recensement prouvent ce que de nombreux Canadiens savaient déjà : les taux de pauvreté sont en hausse chez les aînés canadiens et de moins en moins de gens sont prêts à prendre leur retraite. On peut se demander pourquoi le gouvernement, qui dispose de ces statistiques, a décidé de se lancer dans ...

Oct 16, 2017 @ 22:47 Census results are proving what many Canadians already understood, poverty rates among seniors have been climbing in Canada and fewer people are prepared to retire.  With those statistics readily available one has to wonder why the government would pursue a penny-pinching exercise that punished a select group of seniors, but that is exactly what happened ...