Editor's Comment: Please note that The Red River Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) is being billed as a "binational partnership" to “enhance border integrity and security along the shared Canada/U.S. border." In reality, this move takes the next step in building a new police state in both countries. It also... » read this article

Canada’s largest banks received $114 billion in liquidity support from the government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the United States Federal Reserve between 2008 and 2010, reveals a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), a think tank with institutional backing from the trade unions.... » read this article

No wonder those Quebec student protestors have been spooking the English Canadian establishment. If they get their way, the same ideas could catch on here, leaving the best-laid plans for austerity in tatters. What seems to particularly gall some English Canadian commentators is the fact that the Quebec students —... » read this article

On an unseasonably warm day in late March, a quarter of a million postsecondary students and their supporters gathered in the streets of Montreal to protest against the Liberal government’s plan to raise tuition fees by 75% over five years.  As the crowd marched in seemingly endless waves from Place... » read this article

Canada and the United States are finding themselves at odds with Latin American countries on two thorny issues — the war on drugs and the exclusion of Cuba — at a summit of hemispheric leaders in Colombia. The event's host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, delivered a frank speech Saturday... » read this article

There's a striking photo of Ronald Reagan and members of his inner circle, cocktails in hand, practically doubled over with laughter. A clever wag attached a caption to the bottom of the photo: "We told them the wealth would trickle down!" With that caption, the photo has gone viral on... » read this article

I think -and I do not intend to offend anyone- that this is how the Prime Minister of Canada is called. I deduced it from a statement published on "Holy Wednesday" by a spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of that country. The United Nations Organization membership is made up by... » read this article

Editor's Commentary: Back in September 2009, I wrote a piece called New Zealand and the Rats (click on the link to read it). Most of the point to the article, other than the interesting archaeological and anthropological facts it discusses, was a gentle dig at my Godzone friend, Lance Broughton,... » read this article

In order to educate the children properly we must separate them from their families. Some people may say that this is hard but if we want to civilize them we must do that.   Hector Langevin, Public Works Minister of Canada, 1883   Take a Canadian aboriginal kid away from... » read this article

SAN JOSE DEL PROGRESO, MEXICO—It's been almost three years since hundreds of people took direct action to temporarily shut down Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver's gold and silver mine near Oaxaca City, Mexico. Since then, the neighbouring community of San Jose del Progreso has been deeply divided and residents have faced a... » read this article

Editor's Commentary: There is a huge issue in Canada right now with what might turn out to be massive voting fraud. At this point, it appears that if there really is a bad guy here it is the current government - theirs is the party that seems to be behind... » read this article

EDITOR'S COMMENTARY: This piece was originally published February 21. As you'll see below, readers had comments to make, including some who took issue with my characterization of Canada as 'undemocratic' under Prime Minister Stephen Harper (known to some as 'Crime Minister'). Since February 21, a lot has happened to suggest... » read this article

We used to help other nations keep it clean on voting day. Who will hold us honest? For the past decade, the federal government has been underwriting the cost of sending election observers from Canada to more than 40 troubled countries around the world to help them make sure that... » read this article

Thousands of Ontarians will likely sleep fitfully tonight, knowing their fate is in the hands of Don Drummond. Others will sleep like babies, knowing the powerful ex-banker can do them no harm. Drummond's long-awaited report, unveiled February 15 at Queen's Park, lays out a deficit-shrinking program of austerity that is... » read this article

Editor's Commentary: Many Canadians like to pretend that we don't really have a problem with natives, they have a problem with us. But this article hits the nail squarely on the head - Canada has mistreated its native population since white people first arrived here (even if you leave aside... » read this article

Editor's Comment: Across the decades, public schools in the United States have been teaching young children negative, distorted ideas and images about Muslim people whom the same children have never had an opportunity to meet. The images of Muslim/Arab people burned into my mind and memory by public school books... » read this article

In a speech Thursday to the Davos World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged that his Conservative government will pursue a “transformative” big business agenda—austerity and tax cuts, radical regressive changes to public health care and pensions, and deregulation. In short, a social policy counter-revolution. With a significant... » read this article

Editor’s Commentary: According to the 2012 report issued this week:   Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their... » read this article

Early last year, deep in the forests of northern British Columbia, workers for Apache Corp. performed what the company proclaimed was the biggest hydraulic fracturing operation ever. The project used 259 million gallons of water and 50,000 tons of sand to frack 16 gas wells side by side. It was... » read this article

In a review last week of the year's best and worst, Rex Murphy offered up his choice for the most overrated politician of the year: Stephen Harper. Speaking on the "At Issue" panel on CBC-TV's The National, Murphy mused that the Prime Minister is not nearly as menacing a character... » read this article