I think this thread is supposed to go up on Wednesdays. Or Tuesdays. Who knows? But since no one else stepped in to make it this week, you all have to suffer through an onslaught of Canadian news. Deal with it.
- We begin in Ontario. Though an election hasn’t officially been called and provincial Parliament is still in session, already the governing Liberals are throwing out pre-election goodies to entice voters. They’ve announced a very non-comprehensive dental benefit program that provides only $50 of coverage per child in a family per year while giving $400 for singles and $600 for couples. It’s kids and seniors who need the most dental care, yet adults of voting age are getting the most benefits. I wonder why…
- Employment benefits are under attack at Carleton University in Ottawa. Support staff are striking to protect contribution limits on their pensions. Solidarity, comrades.
- Since China stopped accepting most foreign waste, Canadian municipalities and counties have been scrambling to find new markets for their recyclables. If left out for too long, the materials will degrade, no longer be recyclable, and have to be diverted to landfills. An increasingly attractive model is the one used in British Columbia, where plastics are processed in-province, and producers pay for the processing.
- It’s not all rosy in British Columbia, though. Fracking companies have built dozens of unauthorized dams that may or may or not be up to code in order to support their activities. Many have serious structural flaws, and provincial regulators are having trouble keeping up with the violations, in some cases choosing not to even issue fines. As usual, corporate Canada gets away with doing what it pleases.
- The Leftorium cares deeply about ending sexual harassment and discrimination. The union representing Air Canada flight attendants has launched a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, alleging among other things, that flight attendants were forced to model new uniforms on a makeshift runway, that they were graded by management on immutable physical characteristics like eye shape and skin colour, and that female employees were encouraged to show more cleavage to customers. Yikes.
This week’s additions to the Leftorium playlist are:
- “Reagan” by Killer Mike. Pretty self-explanatory. (Thanks, Ruck Cohlchez.)
- “Invalid Litter Dept.” by At the Drive-In. Deals with the Mexican police’s gross negligence in investigating the Juárez murders.
