The Ontario Ministry of Labour reviewed 617 collective agreements bargained in 2025 covering 230,000 employees. Average wage rate increases for unionized employees beat inflation in every month of the year. The province's union federation (@oflabour.bsky.social) has not promoted this information.

Some more DougFordesqueness from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew: "We’re focused on you. We cut the gas tax once. Maybe we’ll do it again" share.google/gUoiRY6nQMQ0...

She has won four straight elections in my old hometown and has expressed some pretty firm small "c" conservative views over the years. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Wab Kinew says his 2024 gas tax suspension was "the most important thing that a provincial government ever did in the history of Manitoba". If Doug Ford said something as odd as that in the Ontario context, NDPers nationwide would ridicule it. But it's pretty much silence about Mr. Kinew's words.

The USW and Unifor have not always been allied on every issue, but here they're on the same page. share.google/IXNewEKN6VFp...

It's good to see the CLC indicate zero support for Pierre Poilievre's demand for a suspension of federal fuel taxes. Hope the NDP shuns the Conservatives' tax cut proposal too.

Nice to live in a city where I can take an easy stroll to a local bar and see a really good band play a Doug Sahm cover.

This is some good municipal government communications. When public services work well, it's important to tell people about that. And aside from featuring the mayor (whose celebrity status is helpful here), it is great to see people who do the actual work getting highlighted.

The American Prospect is removing all programmatic advertising from our website. buff.ly/IopaDDW

New Styrofoam Winos music styrofoamwinos.bandcamp.com/album/any-ri...

Absolute desert island disc.

Bar window, College St., west end Toronto. Would fix everything right up if we walked in on a Thursday night and there he was, bent over the keys.

This article cites a poll showing good support for higher taxes on the wealthy. But the poll didn't define "wealthy". So, since most of us think we're not wealthy, isn't it equally likely that it shows, unsurprisingly, that there's good support for higher taxes on 'people who aren't us'?

I am giving serious consideration to opening up membership in my new political group, Brads Against Brad Bradford, to non-Brads.

Attention @paulisci.bsky.social, here's a possible contender for 2026 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

New Guided by Voices. These guys issue an album every 10 seconds. If they relocated to Canada, our productivity problems would be gone. youtu.be/WW3_w6jvkFc?...

Gil Scott-Heron, born this day in 1949. youtu.be/-1cJlZYu4aM?...

"Quebec trade unions say they are ready to take a hard look at themselves" – CTVNews share.google/NZ9LLN7ft62H...

In the 80s, Eric Keirans, Dalton Camp, and Stephen Lewis on CBC's "Morningside" was excellent radio from three big brains about Canadian politics and policy. share.google/Qyv3IuiBmWUU...

Since early 2023, average hourly wage growth in Ontario has been beating inflation. ontario.ca share.google/yxiOsoJh2XLr...

Elizabeth Nelson's fine distillation of one of the great and quirky albums of the mid-80s. I'll play it today to get back there from here, just for a while. Genuinely strange and gorgeous!

It's a quirk of our politics that the NDP keeps its pro-welfare spending brand while simultaneously supporting an income tax cut that takes a $5.4 billion annual slice out of the federal spending power.

But instead, the NDP unanimously backed the Liberals' recent income tax cut, which clips federal revenue by about $27 billion over 5 years and helps high and high-middle income earning people the most. New leader Avi Lewis appears to think that was OK.

That result for Rob Ashton seems pretty tough for the hopes of private sector unions that his campaign would express a labour-focussed message in a way that would broadly rally party members.

The NDP, a party that's lost some working class voters lately, will choose a leader from among people (one of whom has never held any elected position) whose current jobs are: Member of Parliament Activist/filmmaker Union leader Organic farmer Social worker/municipal councillor

The Manitoba NDP cutting taxes on processed foods/beverages (healthy essentials were almost entirely exempt already) is about as nonsensical as the Ontario PCs cutting license registration fees. Soft populism is a slow walk to eroding revenues that we desperately need for social services.

Are NDP leadership candidates selective in their concerns about the Charter? They've been quiet about Québec's Bill 21 and the province's deployment of the notwithstanding clause but outspoken about Alberta's legislation around trans rights and that province's use of the clause.

This article says "money — where it is spent and not spent — tells the story of the Liberal government’s priorities". Not clear why it doesn't mention what's got to be one of the biggest ticket items: an income tax cut that slices about $5.4 billion a year from federal revenue.

Heard back just now from Tanille Johnston's campaign that she too opposes the NDP's support for the Liberal tax cut, somewhat. Says, without clarity on levels, that she'd "reverse the tax cut on high incomes but keep it on low incomes". Nothing from Ashton, McPherson, or Lewis.

He was a terrific writer. I loved House (about building a house) and Mountains Beyond Mountains (about Dr. Paul Farmer). share.google/Pv5vCHwmr6yL...

I asked NDP leadership candidates their stance on the NDP having unanimously supported the recent Liberal income tax cut. It clips revenue by $28 billion over 5 years and hands the biggest savings to high & high-middle income earners. Tony McQuail replied (he opposes it). No reply from the others.

I am reminded of David Mitchell's thoughts from 16 years ago in the UK on the enduring allure of the "cut waste" message youtu.be/Zoz5EuIF_y8?...

Democrats win a "state House seat in Palm Beach County that includes Donald Trump’s seaside lair of Mar-a-Lago".

It's true that unions have accomplished many positive things and that Avi Lewis has made a range of labour related commitments in the NDP leadership race. It's also true that not a single private sector union has endorsed Avi Lewis.

At this rate, Wab Kinew might make Doug Ford envious. Won election with promise of fuel tax cuts. After election, his gov't maintained & then celebrated past Conservative income tax cuts. Then he piled on with others to cast doubt on carbon pricing. And now it's a PST cut. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Apropos of nothing, this was a hell of a speech.

Whatever these cuts actually turn out to be in reality, an important part of their context is the NDP's unanimous vote in June 2025 in favour of a Liberal income tax cut that removes $28 billion in revenue over 5 years. A few months later, the new budget's spending cut was $60 billion over 5 years.

The AFL-CIO in the US puts some focus on promoting the growth of union membership. But in Canada, our labour centrals, like the Canadian Labour Congress or the Ontario Federation of Labour, don't communicate much about this pressing topic.

Some current context for our national cheapskated-ness is the recent Liberal income tax cut, which passed last June *with unanimous support from the NDP*. It drops federal revenue by $28 billion over 5 yrs and delivers the biggest tax savings into the wallets of high & high-middle income earners.

Whatever these spending cuts are, part of their provenance is found in the Liberals' latest income tax cut. It drops federal revenue by $28 billion over 5 yrs, sending the biggest tax savings to high & high-middle income earners. Passed last June with unanimous support from the NDP (+ CPC of course)

Elizabeth Warren just endorsed Graham Platner for Maine senator. Naomi Klein recently said he's "extraordinary". So it's timely to recall the local union leader in Maine who said Platner "looks more like a non-working-class person’s idea of a working-class person". www.politico.com/news/magazin...

This multi-post comment on a proposal for a big shift in US union tradition is worth the time of union nerds in Canada too. Private sector union density in Canada is stronger than it is in the US, but it's sliding in the same grim direction. So, kicking around ideas like this up here would be timely

Article mentions need for "strengthening progressive taxation" but notably doesn't mention the recent Liberal income tax cut. It slices federal revenue by ~$27 billion over 5 years. It delivers its biggest tax savings to *high and high-middle income earners*. It was supported unanimously by the NDP.

Today's New York Times article on the allegations against Cesar Chavez: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

After reading today's statement from the UFW, I thought back to this book review in The Atlantic from 2011 www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Statement from United Farm Workers (UFW) regarding allegations against Cesar Chavez share.google/dtBAoYVsXuK2...

In Canada, the 99%-ism fixation impacts the NDP's tax stance. Leadership candidate Rob Ashton wants no tax on income up to $40K. The NDP backed the latest Liberal tax cut, helping high & high-middle income earners most, and is now surveying supporters on "lower taxes for working people". Bleh.

We require a Canadian equivalent

It was Millard Fillmore.

The tax policies of the NDP leadership candidates differ in the details, but they share a careful, non-bold underpinning, which is that the only people who should face any tax increases are people who are highly unlikely to consider voting NDP. leadership.ndp.ca/contestants