Leftnews.org | News and Views from the Left

by Editors — last modified 2019-06-24T08:39:47-04:00
Contributors: Faiz Ahmed, JBB, Graham H. Cox, R. Dubois, JA Cox
The best of the political left-wing from around the web.

Massive public transit strike over pension reforms paralyses Paris

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 13, 2019 01:54 PM
Most commuters in and around Paris found themselves planning alternate routes to work on Friday morning. Transport unions organised a major walk-out in protest against pension reforms. It is the biggest mobilisation at the state-owned transport system Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) since a similar strike in October 2007.
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Unions: We Must Back the Climate Strike! Now is the time to show the next generation that unions are the force for progressive change in the 21st Century. | Rosa Pavanelli

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 12, 2019 11:48 AM
In 1968, workers around the world joined students in taking to the streets to challenge injustice and the complacency of the political establishment. Now, once again, students are leading the way—this time to prevent climate disaster. They ask adults—and unions—to support them. We must respond by showing that the labour movement is willing to stand for broader interests and support popular movements for change. The fight for climate action is a fight to put people and planet over profit.
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Cutting Through the Blue Ribbon: A Balanced Look at Alberta's Finances | Parkland

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 09, 2019 02:18 PM
Cutting Through the Blue Ribbon: A Balanced Look at Alberta's Finances | Parkland
The release of the Janice MacKinnon-chaired Blue Ribbon Panel report by the Kenney government confirms concerns that the panel’s limited mandate—to provide advice on balancing the budget, but concentrating only on expenditures, and with no increased taxes—would prohibit a full examination of bigger issues of balance or long-term fiscal sustainability. Due to its intentionally limited scope, the MacKinnon report falls short of providing the government and Albertans with the information necessary to make sound financial decisions about the province’s current situation or to plan for the future.
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Toronto needs to maintain control of its transit planning | Gord Perks

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 06, 2019 09:11 AM
Sidewalk Labs has a different idea for transit governance. It proposes that Canada, Ontario and Toronto should jointly create a public administrative body with many of the regulatory and management powers that would normally belong to city council. Among other things, this entity would oversee the setting of all traffic and transportation in the IDEA District: parking, speed limits, traffic lights. Considering that the area is about the size of the downtown core, that’s a lot of power for one unelected body.
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Ontario faculty, staff, and students oppose Ford government’s “performance” funding for postsecondary institutions | OUCC

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 05, 2019 12:45 PM
Ontario faculty, staff, and students oppose Ford government’s “performance” funding for postsecondary institutions | OUCC
The proposed market-based performance funding model will tie 60 per cent (over $3 billion dollars) of postsecondary funding to each institution’s “performance” against a set of arbitrary and flawed metrics. This dramatic shift follows years of stagnant public funding for postsecondary education in Ontario, and is only the latest in a series of attacks on the foundations of postsecondary education in the province, including cuts of over $400 million to college and university budgets, cuts of almost $700 million to student financial assistance, and cuts to the democratically determined student fees that allow students’ unions to advocate on behalf of, and provide vital support to their members.
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OCUFA estimates Ford’s “performance” funding could cut university budgets by over $500 million dollars | OCUFA

— by Graham H. Cox — last modified Sep 05, 2019 10:18 AM
Toronto, Sep. 4, 2019 – Ontario faculty are warning that the Ford government’s so called “performance” funding model for postsecondary education is reckless, ineffective, and dangerous. The new funding model will link 60 per cent of government funding for universities ($2.2 billion dollars) to an arbitrary set of metrics chosen with no consultation. These metrics will not actually measure “performance” but are likely to be used as an excuse to cut university budgets. Across Ontario, OCUFA estimates that this new funding model could mean cuts of over $500 million dollars that will substantially undermine our postsecondary institutions’ academic missions and mandates.
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Canada’s Complicity in the Venezuela Crisis

— by JBB — last modified Sep 05, 2019 09:41 AM
Amadeus Narbutt | Canadian Dimension | Canada has involved itself in this crisis mainly through its co-founding and participation in the Lima Group. In doing so, Canada has touted its value-oriented foreign policy and commitments to safeguarding and promoting democracy and human rights abroad. The aims of the Lima Group are to support Guaidó’s aim of removing Maduro and to guarantee a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela “without the use of force”. However, the continued use and expansion of sanctions against Venezuela by the US has directly contributed to the suffering and degradation of the conditions of the Venezuelan people, and is considered illegal under international law.
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