The US massacre of 11 civilians in the Caribbean drew condemnation across Latin America. Canada’s Mark Carney offered none. His silence follows a history of undermining Venezuela, from blocking its gold reserves at the Bank of England to aligning with Washington’s regime-change agenda.

Canada’s “elbows up” nationalism may look like resistance to Trump, but it risks repeating the colonial violence it claims to oppose. Ellen Gabriel and @seancarleton.bsky.social warn that patriotism built on erasing Indigenous struggles makes real reconciliation impossible.

"Canada’s “elbows up” plan for asserting sovereignty looks less like defending against American aggression and more like doubling down on the denial of Indigenous rights in the service of short-term economic gain." canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Behind the sleek promises of AI is a thirst for water. Data centres consume huge amounts, straining supplies and fuelling clashes with farmers and Indigenous communities. In Canada, dozens of facilities are clustered near the Great Lakes, raising questions about how much more the ecosystem can bear.

It is unfathomable to me that, in a rapidly and *dangerously* overheating world, we are allowing a destructive technology to guzzle this much water. And governments are making *people* ration their water use so that these miserable companies can use more. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Water woes from data centres As AI expands, data centres are draining local water supplies and sparking global conflicts over scarce resources canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Canada’s $3.07 trillion household debt crisis isn’t the fault of ordinary people—it’s the product of decades of speculation, inflated housing markets, and governments siding with financiers. When the crash comes, debtors will be blamed. But the blame belongs to the speculators.

Building more homes doesn’t automatically lower prices. Calgary and Edmonton have the same vacancy rates but very different price growth; Vienna has fewer homes per capita than Vancouver yet far cheaper housing. Affordability depends on who we build for—not just how much we build.

Budget 2025 could strengthen Canada’s economy by making employee ownership permanent. Extending the capital gains exemption for employee ownership trusts and worker co-ops would boost productivity, reduce inequality, and create a more resilient economy.

Reconciliation isn’t about token gestures, museum visits, or diversity training, writes @pampalmater.com. True reconciliation means respecting Indigenous peoples’ right to say 'No'—to development on their lands, to discriminatory laws, and to ongoing abuse.

Canada presents itself as peaceful, yet for Indigenous Nations reconciliation is a facade that masks assimilation. Assimilation is genocide, and true peace requires truth, land back, and self-determination—not colonial rebranding.

A fascinating interview with Laura Hall in @canadiandimension.bsky.social: "If I’m saying horror is the genre of settler colonialism, it’s also a genre that can grapple with the hard truths of settler-colonial violence. Both things are equally true."

“We should want to take advantage of the post office’s unique, nationwide infrastructure to provide more and better services to Canadians instead of dismantling something that we may never be able to rebuild.” @parismarx.com

The UK's "Your Party" is mired in mistrust, personality clashes and opaque leadership battles. Unless it can articulate a fresh vision of socialism fit for the 21st century, it risks repeating the very failures it set out to escape, writes Richard Sakwa.

Cartoon by Suhail H. Naqshbandi

Avi Lewis has entered the NDP leadership race, but as Dennis Pilon and Bryan Evans argue, star power isn’t what will move the left forward. The real challenge is rebuilding trust with working-class voters who’ve drifted away—work that can’t be outsourced to celebrities. (Published in 2021)

The genocide of Palestinians has been documented in real time, mainly on social media, by Palestinian journalists. Westerners can no longer deny the crimes or say the pain is unimaginable. What we are witnessing is vivid and grotesque, and is a testament to who we are.

Behind the sleek promises of AI is a thirst for water. Data centres consume huge amounts, straining supplies and fuelling clashes with farmers and Indigenous communities. In Canada, dozens of facilities are clustered near the Great Lakes, raising questions about how much more the ecosystem can bear.

Reconciliation is neither possible nor desirable, since there was never a positive relationship in the first place. Nonetheless...

ICYMI: Ellen Gabriel and I published a new piece on resisting Canada's "elbows up" colonialism, for @canadiandimension.bsky.social: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Ottawa’s bid to restrict the notwithstanding clause is framed as rights protection, but it risks undermining democracy. The left should defend parliamentary sovereignty, not judicial supremacy, argues @donalgill.bsky.social.

Ottawa moved quickly to create broad programs for Ukrainians fleeing war. For Palestinians escaping Gaza, the government has imposed tight caps, strict vetting, and narrow eligibility. The contrast exposes a clear and painful double standard in Canada’s refugee policy.

A new article by @seancarleton.bsky.social and Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in @canadiandimension.bsky.social: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie... Be sure to check out their book together on our website, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance: btlbooks.com/book/when-th...

New piece by Ellen Gabriel and I on the need to resist Canada’s “elbows up” colonialism.

Canada’s “elbows up” nationalism may look like resistance to Trump, but it risks repeating the colonial violence it claims to oppose. Ellen Gabriel and @seancarleton.bsky.social warn that patriotism built on erasing Indigenous struggles makes real reconciliation impossible.

Canada has addressed housing crises before by treating homes as a public good, not a commodity. Today, market-driven policies favour investors while many Canadians are locked out. Social housing, rent control & public mortgages can restore affordability. Homes should be for living, not speculation.

Canada embraces the work of migrant artists and scholars but denies them belonging. Years of teaching, performance, and cultural impact are dismissed as “non-essential,” exposing an immigration system that benefits from their labour while keeping them in limbo.

'Workers will need to defy back-to-work measures; however, it is no good doing this only to settle for inadequate agreements over the objections of the worker themselves' My @canadiandimension.bsky.social column this month assesses the #AirCanadastrike canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Air Canada flight attendants showed courage by defying strike-breaking orders, inspiring workers nationwide. But the imposed settlement exposed deep flaws in union democracy and bargaining rights. Their fight is both a beacon of resistance and a warning about the struggles ahead, writes John Clarke.

Mark Carney invokes wartime housing as inspiration for his $13B plan. But unlike the 1940s, when Ottawa directly built and managed affordable homes, his approach relies on P3s and market sales—policies that risk deepening, not solving, the housing crisis.

The US massacre of 11 civilians in the Caribbean drew condemnation across Latin America. Canada’s Mark Carney offered none. His silence follows a history of undermining Venezuela, from blocking its gold reserves at the Bank of England to aligning with Washington’s regime-change agenda.

Western loyalty to Israel cannot be explained by geopolitics or Holocaust guilt alone; it is also rooted in settler colonial solidarity. Those raised in imperial centres or settler colonies internalize a subconscious loyalty to those deemed “like us,” a bond tied to whiteness and empire.

More timely wisdom from @fwilson2.bsky.social on the need for renewed progressive economic nationalism in Canada to confront Trump's attacks: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie.... Unions will be critical. #canlab

“Governments don’t have the plan we need to protect #Canadian #jobs and defend cored #industries - not yet. We need a bold vision: a true, multi-sector, job-creating, #made-in-Canada #industrialstrategy.” canadiandimension.com/articles/vie... #Canada #nationalism #sovereignty

My new long form article on three waves of Progressive Canadian Nationalism and the urgent need to break free from US empire is at @canadiandimension.bsky.social canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Canada’s dependence on the United States has long constrained its politics, economy and culture. Labour and social movements are demanding a new wave of progressive nationalism—one that breaks with appeasement, defends Canadian jobs, and builds a sovereign future.

Mark Carney presents himself as the steady hand Canada needs, but his politics amount to neoliberalism with a friendlier face. Canada needs more than tinkering around the edges of capitalism—we need a government willing to confront capital itself.

I think she's "deeply concerned" about keeping her fossil fuel industry funding: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

A plurality of Canadians agree with the statement that “Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip"

What October 7 and the ensuing genocide forced back onto the world’s agenda is now impossible to ignore: Israel’s legitimacy is crumbling, not because of propaganda, but because its actions have radicalized even the previously apolitical.

"... just over half of Canadians (52 percent) now believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to an Angus Reid poll published on August 6, 2025. This marks an 11-point increase since February 2024. What was once deemed a controversial position has become the majority view in Canada."

Support for Israel is collapsing. In Canada, the US, and Europe, most now see Gaza as a site of genocide. Israel’s brutality is eroding its legitimacy and radicalizing the previously apolitical, while global solidarity with Palestinians continues to grow.

Canada’s public broadcaster was meant to counter corporate media distortions. Instead, the CBC has echoed them—omitting key context, downplaying war crimes, and yielding to lobby pressure. By sanitizing Israel’s assault on Gaza, it has left Canadians uninformed, indifferent, and complicit.

Throughout the crisis in Gaza, the CBC has consistently capitulated to pro-Israel lobby pressure. The public broadcaster’s choices have not merely misinformed; they have implicated Canadians in the ongoing genocide.

Canada’s conspicuous silence as the US sanctions ICC judge Kimberly Prost marks a sharp decline from the days it challenged apartheid in South Africa. Where Canada once championed the court’s independence, it now defers to Washington.

Canada isn’t just buying F-35s, it’s building them. Winnipeg’s Magellan plant makes half of all tail assemblies for the F-35A, the base model for Israel’s F-35I now bombing Gaza.

Wildfires, wars, and record heat aren’t just “summer events.” They’re signs of a world in geological transition. While aging leaders fixate on spectacle and nostalgia, they are squandering the foresight needed to face the climate danger defining our era.

Eyeballs on the frenetic 24/7 Trump show as the world burns. "Understanding the present requires us to think critically about time, about what timelines are dominant, and what issues are prioritized or ignored as a consequence." canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

I’m glad the dire state of the youth labour market is getting attention. But the problem is already months old. I wrote this back in March. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

The 1937 Oshawa GM strike showed how radical organizing and international solidarity could transform the labour movement. @tonyleah.bsky.social’s new history reminds us that the victories workers take for granted today were won through militant class struggle.