It’s odd agreeing with Terence Corcoran, Robert Friedland, Barrick Gold’s CEO and other leading capitalists. But they are the main force checking the out-of-control intelligence agency/military industrial complex/US Empire faction of Canada's ruling class promoting conflict with China. Canadian foreign policy is broadly driven by two main factors: support for empire (historically British and today US) and... Continue Reading →
Ukraine supporters attack free speech in name of democracy
The war in Ukraine is about democracy, according to many who seek to suppress the democratic ethos in a bid to expand Canada’s role in the fight. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) has once again demonstrated its aggressive opposition to debating the complex political dynamics responsible for the horrors in Ukraine. Yesterday the head of... Continue Reading →
Canada’s only answer in Ukraine: More weapons, more war
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell The Canadian government recently expanded Operation Unifier. The military training mission has been an important element in an escalatory dynamic that needs to be reversed to end the horrors in Ukraine. Alongside a new donation of AIM-9 missiles... Continue Reading →
Israel lobby makes mockery of ‘antisemitism’ accusations
Seven years ago, I was viciously attacked for an article arguing that antisemitism is the most abused term in Canada today. The recent manufactured outrage over Roger Waters suggests the statement is even more true today. Recently, officials in the fascistic, openly Jewish supremacist, Israeli government attacked the famed rockstar’s performance in Berlin. Israel’s anti-Palestinian... Continue Reading →
Canadian ‘progressives’ suffer bad case of war fever psychosis
Recently a University of Victoria professor accused me of advocating genocide because I asked the Green’s leader about Canada sending arms to fight Russia. Equally troubling, the community centre hosting Montréal’s anarchist book fair canceled a talk critical of Canada’s support for the NATO proxy war. Last week I asked Green party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault... Continue Reading →
President dissolves congress in Ecuador good, in Peru bad
Last week right-wing Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso dissolved the national assembly. In stark contrast to their response to a similar move by the leftist president of Peru five months ago, Ottawa effectively supported the measure. As he was on the cusp of being impeached over corruption allegations Lasso dissolved the national assembly. He called on... Continue Reading →
Mr. Singh, we don’t need to blindly follow US or Russia
If someone criticizes NDP foreign policy, do they worship Vladimir Putin? Jagmeet Singh says so. On the sidelines of the recent Canadian Labour Congress convention, I asked Singh “why the NDP supports the US empire’s position on China, the NATO proxy war, Iran and pretty much everywhere?” In response he twice stated that the NDP... Continue Reading →
One foreign government openly interferes in Canadian politics
Amidst widespread anxiety over foreign interference in this country’s politics, Israel’s embassy recently mobilized its domestic lobby to strategize on shaping Canadian policy. The absence of media outrage, or even a little embarrassment, speaks loudly about which foreign governments are allowed to ‘interfere’ in Canadian politics. A couple of attendees highlight the remarkable cynicism of... Continue Reading →
CAE is Ottawa’s poster child in global arms race
When people around the world ponder Canada thoughts of maple syrup, hockey players and training military pilots come to mind. This country has long dominated the flight simulation market and Ottawa has long assisted Canada’s leading military supplier. Last Friday Anita Anand met CAE officials in Montreal. The defense minister tweeted photos of the event... Continue Reading →
Truth about Canadian aid policy revealed in briefing note
What would you guess a Canadian minister of international development actually does? Likely answers: Oversee aid to poor countries; Attend meetings about international assistance; Lobby his cabinet colleagues about the importance of aid. Meet with foreign officials to discuss ways of making a better world. Certainly not selling arms. That would never be part of... Continue Reading →
Ambitious Liberal MP sells his (leftist) soul for power
Personal political ambition is dangerous. It drives nice people to accommodate themselves to flagrant injustices and often also to directly enable imperialism. Two decades ago, current Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi and I were elected together as part of a slate to oversee the Concordia Student Union. An already charged campus, politics blew up after protesters,... Continue Reading →
Big bad Canada pushes to protect profits from Mexico
The Trudeau government is pressing Mexico to maintain its loosely regulated, pro-capitalist mining policies. Recently the Mexican government initiated more socially and ecologically sound mining legislation. The reform shortens mining concessions, tightens rules for water permits and requires companies to provide at least 10 per cent of profits to the communities where they operate. In... Continue Reading →
Mongolia shows foreign policy dominated by mining companies
An important facet of Canadian foreign policy is advancing the interests of mining companies. In Mongolia it’s largely all Global Affairs Canada does. Canadian ambassador Catherine Ivkoff regularly travels to Canadian-run mines, speaks at international mining conferences, does interviews with mining publications and talks up the sector in various other business and political forums. “We... Continue Reading →
Top 10 reasons NOT to subsidize electric car industry
Recently the Liberals announced $13 billion in support to attract Volkswagen to establish an electric car battery production facility halfway between Toronto and Detroit. The German auto manufacturer will set up its factory on “1,500 acres of prime agricultural land” in St. Thomas, Ontario. The government claims its motivation is ecological. But here are the... Continue Reading →
Once again Ontario NDP bows to pro-apartheid bullies
The Ontario NDP has once again succumbed to pressure from the anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic and anti-egalitarian B’nai Brith. Last night newly elected Ontario NDP MPP Sarah Jama re-tweeted Palestinian academic Noura Erakat’s statement on the death of Palestinian prisoner Khaled Adnan. Erakat tweeted, “Sheikh Khaled Adnan has died on day 90 of his hunger strike in... Continue Reading →
What’s wrong with burning flag of vicious apartheid state?
We are supposed to be outraged by a teenager burning Israeli flags but ignore a publicly funded school indoctinating six and seven-year-olds to worship a faraway apartheid state. On Wednesday a Montréal teenager filmed himself taking five Israeli flags attached to the outside fence of Hebrew Foundation School in the borough of Dollard-des-Ormeaux (DDO). With... Continue Reading →
Pro-war propagandists try to shut down all dissent
Despite near total dominance of the narrative in the media, Canada’s NATO stenographers seem worried. Their reaction to an interview by South Africa’s envoy suggests an understanding that much of the world and many Canadians disagree with them. In a recent Canadian Press interview South Africa’s High Commissioner to Canada, Rieaz Shaik, criticized Canada’s role... Continue Reading →
NDP further to right than Macron over China
The French president’s recent statement on China ought to embarrass the NDP’s foreign affairs critic. But with the US empire’s perspective dominating Canadian media it’s unlikely. On a visit to Beijing Emmanuel Macron said Europe should distance itself from US-Chinese tensions over Taiwan. Calling for Europe to avoid being drawn into “block-to-block logic” or becoming... Continue Reading →
If Lula can call for peace in Ukraine, why not Canada’s left?
Is Lula a pro-Russian “tankie”? Should the Canadian left echo or marginalize his outlook on Ukraine? Last week Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on the US and other countries to “stop supplyingweapons and encouraging war” in Ukraine. He said, “the United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace;... Continue Reading →
Conservative leader inadvertently right about CBC
Like a stopped watch that tells the correct time twice a day, Pierre Poilievre is right about Canada’s ‘public’ broadcaster. CBC is a government-funded media outlet that acts as a state, rather than public, broadcaster in its coverage of Canadian foreign policy. Recently the extreme right Conservative party leader asked for Twitter to label CBC... Continue Reading →
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