Who were the Luddites? Their legacy ripples through politics, cultural commentary and literature
Thursday, August 6th, 2026
Along with the political radicals and the labour campaigners over the course of the 19th century, they took part in a prolonged struggle waged for rights, dignity and justice. That struggle partially succeeded, forcing the ruling classes to compromise rather than continuing to rely on brute force.
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in History | 19 Comments »
How structural inequality fuels Black youth recruitment into cycles of violence
Wednesday, May 13th, 2026
The same conditions that leave Black boys vulnerable to recruitment into exploitative and violent economies leave Indigenous youth vulnerable too… if it costs close to $97,000 a year to keep a youth in custody, how might those resources be better invested in supporting young people? … the target of abolition work is not prisons, but a society that makes prisons necessary… how do we build communities where fewer young people are vulnerable to recruitment before they encounter violence at all.
Tags: crime prevention, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | 24 Comments »
New Ontario water and sanitation law could pave the way for the financialization of public water
Wednesday, May 13th, 2026
Whether the WCA leads to outright privatization, its proposed reforms are consistent with an insidious global push to make municipal water and sanitation systems more amenable to private investment. This essentially transforms them into tradeable assets. This process, known as financialization, would erode the public health and social mandate of public water infrastructure, undermining the capacity of communities to cope with growing ecological and financial stresses.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 30 Comments »
To improve literacy, Ontario should invest in students and educators
Friday, May 1st, 2026
Even when screening tools are efficient and well-designed, teachers often lack the time, class-size conditions and specialist support needed to respond meaningfully to the results… Ontario stands at a familiar crossroads: keep reaching for solutions that are quick to purchase and easy to measure, or do the harder work of building lasting public capacity… [through] smaller primary classes, restored specialist support, rich early language environments and teacher education grounded in deep literacy expertise.
Tags: budget, Education, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Coercion isn’t care, and new laws that enforce treatment and confinement are dangerous
Monday, April 27th, 2026
Coercion is articulated as care and involuntary treatment is presented not as a restriction of liberty but as a necessary response to incapacity and risk. This appeal to compassion functions as a unifying political language, enabling cross-partisan support despite differing ideological stances. By portraying these policies as pragmatic, humane and long overdue, policymakers limit opposition. They also reconfigure the boundaries of acceptable state intervention…
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Policy Context | 4 Comments »
Why is alcohol use declining in Canada?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
Based on alcohol sales data… the decline appears to be real… Over time, reductions in consumption should translate into gains for public health and savings for the health-care system and taxpayers, as alcohol-related costs exceed tax revenues. While reductions in alcohol sales adversely affect alcohol-related industries, reallocating dollars spent on alcohol benefits other sectors of the economy.
Tags: Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario is closing its supervised consumption sites, calling them a failure. So what counts as ‘success?’
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
Supervised consumption sites are not beyond criticism: they can be better designed, better integrated and more responsive to the communities that host them. But improving them requires better policy, not selective evidence and site closures… Adding treatment capacity does not require removing the safety net beneath it.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | 6 Comments »
‘It’s chronic disease, stupid!’ The central challenge facing health care
Friday, February 20th, 2026
A well-integrated interprofessional health-care system, rooted in primary care and configured to support patients with chronic conditions and their informal caregivers, has the potential to improve health outcomes, curb health-care spending and reduce reliance on hospital care… Government policies that fail to meaningfully support public health and social safety nets ultimately drive higher chronic disease rates and greater downstream health-care costs.
Tags: economy, Health, mental Health, poverty, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
What causes depression? What we know, don’t know and suspect
Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
Depression arises from a mix of factors – biological (genes and hormones), psychological (personality and thoughts) and social (stress and life events). Treatment options are based on all of these factors, as well as considering how severe the depression is… While science has made some progress in understanding depression, what underpins each person’s experience is unique.
Tags: mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
For women who live on the margins, health care is often out of reach. Here’s how we can build a bridge to access
Wednesday, February 11th, 2026
A community health worker (CHW) is typically a trusted member of the local community who understands the challenges of those who are sick or socially excluded. With targeted training, CHWs can conduct basic health screenings for conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, breast and cervical cancer, and reproductive and mental health problems. Importantly, CHWs act as bridges to primary care physicians… This approach builds trust, continuity and access…
Tags: mental Health, participation, poverty, women
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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