The first week of the Liberal government is a classic case in point of the Liberals “talk left, govern right” practice. The Liberals were forced to backtrack and clarify cabinet appointments after they were called out for saying one thing about equality and doing another.
This past week saw the largest union in the country engage in a debateon where to focus the use of union dues, in campaigns or in strikesupport.
CUPE Convention, union dues, Movember's gendered politics, Long-form census back, equality in cabinet, Marijuana, Hydro One IPO, Keystone XL and more. All original articles from across the left this week.
Time and again it has been demonstrated that privatizing public assetsactually costs governments more money. This fact has become more obviousto many in Ontario where the budget watchdog has released a reportshowing that the sale of the province's electricity transmission branch mightprovide some additional revenue this year, but that Ontario's fiscalhealth will become significantly worse in future years as a result ofthe sale.
This past week saw province-wide rotating strikes by Québec's public sector workers. The strikes are part of the popular Common Front movement against the austerity program being rolled out by the provincial Liberals. The government's cut-backs threaten the availability and quality of public services for many of the province's most vulnerable citizens. In total, more than 70,000 teachers,professional caregivers, technicians, support and administrative staff,labourers, and other civil servants walked out.
As campaign offices are vacated across the country, Canadians of all stripes are left reflecting on the new reality of a Liberal majority government. There is a lot to be said about the federal election. However, most of what has been published so far is predictable and fairly shallow in its analysis. Since What's Left is not keen on being uninteresting, the coming weeks and months will be spent digging deeper to present a constructive analysis to point out the things that went wrong for the left and, more importantly, map a rational path forward for organizers.
