Tom Parkin

Flight attendants to defy Carney’s illegal order The right to bargain and strike is Charter-protected in Canada. But when Air Canada wanted Mark Carney to break the law for them, he did.

When Air Canada execs knew they had Mark Carney and sec 107 in their back pocket they refused to negotiate

When flight attendants refused to obey Mark Carney’s illegal use of section 107 Air Canada had to actually bargain and a deal was quickly reached

Funny that
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Canadian boycott of U.S. travel gains steam in July To July 31, Canadians have logged over 830,000 fewer return trips from the United States through Canada's major airports than last year -- and July's drop is the biggest yet.

Canadians’ boycott of travel to US strengthens, July air travel down 27%, the deepest monthly drop yet

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Ontario’s population declines as exodus to elsewhere continues Out-migration gained pace as housing costs soared and unemployment climbed to 700,000.

Ontario’s historic population decline in Q1 2025 comes as more people leave for other provinces than move to Ontario from the rest of Canada

It’s a trend that began while housing costs were skyrocketing and unemployment started climbing

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Ontario jobless hits 700,000. Does anyone care? There's a lot of public fretting about what Trump might do, but 700,000 Ontario workers already without a job have been mostly ignored.

700,000 Ontario workers now jobless but Ontario’s elite doesn’t care

Chamber of Commerce, Toronto Board of Trade and Ontario Liberal Party issued no comment

Toronto Star didn’t even report on Toronto unemployment hitting 9.0%

Doug Ford faces no accountability

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Nordic nations’ workers have OECD’s highest union rate Most Nordic workers are members of a union, which bargain about a lot more than just terms and conditions at their own workplace.

Nordic nations’ workers have OECD’s highest union rate, playing a key economic role that distinguishes social democracy from neoliberalism

Nordics can manage full employment with low inflation while social infrastructure creates high labour market participation

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Will Trump's tariff wall end U.S. dollar's reserve privilege? The U.S. dollar's recent instability may have central bankers looking for a new reserve currency, but it's not clear there is one.

Increasingly, central bankers are looking beyond the U.S. dollar to stock their reserves

With inflation and tariffs debasing a dollar that’s already fallen 10% this year, there may be room for Europe to seize the privilege of the reserve currency. Can they?

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Canadians' US travel falls, but lots more from some places than others Canadian car travel from United States into BC, Quebec and New Brunswick more than 40 per cent down but a lot less in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Canadians’ US travel is down, especially among British Columbians, but not everyone is shunning travel to Trumpland

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U.S. dollar drop adding to Trump's trade wall Buying a U.S. dollar now costs 7 cents Canadian less than on January 1, and the falling dollar may be the goal.

A tumbling US dollar effectively puts a tariff on the world and there are signs it’s a goal and longterm

Thinking this will go away if we play nice and surrender some bits to Trump misreads the situation

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Family job income lagged prices in 2023, but investment income beat inflation The average B.C. family had the largest after-tax income gain while Saskatchewan families took the biggest hit on take-home income.

Average Canadian family income from work fell behind inflation in 2023, but income from savings and investment beat inflation

BC families’ avg after-tax income beat inflation the most, adding $1,160, while Sask families lost the most, $970

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GTA real estate crash continues, house prices now down 22% from peak Falling prices are welcome news for house buyers and renters, but the unchecked price surge from 2020 to 2022 created an affordability crisis and economic decline.

Ontario, Economic Weak Man of Canada, by Doug Ford

Act 1: low interest rates fuel house price surge

Act 2: premier lets overheated market run; prices rise 53% in 23 months

Act 3: affordability crisis chokes family budgets, retail sales stall, unemployment up

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Carney’s revenue cuts show shrinking the public sector is the priority, not deficits If balancing the budget was his priority, cutting billions in revenue is funny way to go about it.

Carney has cut about $15B a year from revenue, which would’ve made his $21.5B in spending cuts mostly unneeded

Deficits aren’t the target, it’s shrinking the state and empowering corporations, whose first loyalty isn’t to the defence of Canadian sovereignty

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You may be forgiven if you thought the Liberals won the election

Only Conservative voters support Bill C-5 letting Carney by-pass environmental reviews for projects he picks

And Albertans have the highest support for overriding provincial jurisdiction

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Today, Tommy Douglas would be a TikTok culture king The Saskatchewan CCF Premier knew politics is rooted in popular culture, knowledge the left should rediscover with union partners.

Tommy Douglas rooted his politics in the popular culture of his time

Times have changed, but political change still thrives when it uses cultural references, icons, events or identities to access voters and dies when it does not

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By-elections a gift letting Alberta NDP shift to their own plan to win Danielle Smith’s separatist dance is infuriating and hard to resist engaging, but distracts from the job of listening for the practical problems Albertans think the NDP can fix.

The by-elections coming to Alberta: a gift opportunity for the Alberta NDP to disengage from commenting on Danielle Smith’s daily noise and learn by listening to voters about what the Alberta NDP can fix for them

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Is life too expensive? Canadians pull back on gardens and fix-it projects Sales at building and garden stores are falling, most sharply in Ontario, a possible index of household discretionary income.

Canadians have been cutting back on building and garden centre spending, especially in Ontario, where GDP growth fell to just 1.2% in 2024 and unemployment hit 7.8%

Have the essentials of life become too expensive, bringing down the broader economy?

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Alberta’s economy has been sputtering for a decade, which might explain a lot The province's economy has contracted in three of the past 10 years, leading to the second lowest GDP growth over the past decade.

When you take out oil and gas extraction, Alberta’s GDP has increased 2% in 10 years, making it easier to understand the desperate political instability of the province, which had six different premiers between 2014 and 2024.

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Uh oh. Grocery store inflation is back despite axe of carbon tax Poilievre blamed food price hikes on the carbon tax, but when the tax got axed grocery stores prices rose faster.

Grocery store prices are heading up again — even though Pierre Poilievre told everyone that axing the tax would make food cheaper!

A dozen eggs is up 15% and ground beef is up 18% in 12 months. Fortunately canned soup and wieners are down.

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Ontario housing construction has collapsed to a 30 year low Per person, Ontario construction hasn't been lower since Q1 1996. Can the dream of home ownership be revived?

Ontario housing construction hit a 30 year low

Today’s budget offers no hope for unemployed residential construction workers or priced-out home searchers

Will anyone revive the housing ownership dream, or have Ford and allies crushed it too hard?

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10 of 16 Ontario sectors shed workers, jobless rate hits 7.8% At 10.8% and 10.7%, unemployment highest in Peterborough and Windsor; jobless in Toronto, Oshawa and Barrie move above 8.0%.

Ontario workers came into the Trump tariff era backed by an already weak economy: high unemployment, low GDP growth

Then 35,000 jobs lost last month

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Next federal NDP leader's top job: help provincial NDP wins Federal party's rebuilding lies in helping provincial NDP sections defeat Smith, Moe, Ford and Houston. Or at least not getting in the way.

Federal NDP's rebuilding lies in helping provincial NDP sections defeat Danielle Smith, Scott Moe, Doug Ford and Tim Houston. Or at least not getting in the way

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Ontario GDP stalled in 2024 amid high costs and weak manufacturing In unaffordable Ontario there’s not much cash left to spend at the end of the month to keep the economy firing.

Ontario GDP report shows a province barely treading water under Ford PCs who let life become unaffordable and manufacturing decline

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Bonnie Crombie switches tax promise, doubles payout for highest incomes The Ontario Liberals will Monday push a new $4.5 billion tax promise, one giving even more to people who have the most, and still nothing to those who have not much.

Ontario Liberals Monday pushed a tax cut promise to defund the public sector by $4.5 billion, giving even more to people who have the most, and still nothing to those who have not much

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Vancouver Island: NDP fights vote-splits which could elect Poilievre MPs Six NDP MPs and Elizabeth May hold the Island’s seven ridings, but vote-splitting could let some Poilievre candidates sneak through.

Six NDP MPs and Elizabeth May hold Vancouver Island’s seven seats

Now the NDP is fighting vote-splitting that would let Poilievre candidates sneak through

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Post-debate bounce for Singh NDP as clock ticks down for Poilievre Progressive Vote Guide now marks 107 ridings either strategic or safe NDP vote.

Polls show a post-debate bounce for the Singh NDP

Meanwhile, Conservatives drift lower: time has run out to close their support and vote efficiency gap

Progressive Vote Guide update raises number of ridings where it is safe or strategic to vote NDP to 107

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The debates: Poilievre lost big because he needed to win big Trailing in the polls and facing poor vote efficiency, time’s up for Pierre Poilievre.

Six points behind in poll averages and weighted further down by poor vote efficiency, with 10 days to go Poilievre had to score a big win in the debates to turn things around

He didn’t

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Debates are over. Progressive Vote Guide is here. Data Shows launches Progressive Vote Guide, a tool showing where a strategic NDP vote defeats Poilievre's candidate and where to vote your values because the Conservatives aren’t competitive.

Progressive Vote Guide: info on 97 ridings to either cast a strategic NDP vote to keep Conservatives out or vote your values because Conservatives aren’t competitive

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Party tax plans aim aid at very different groups, analysis shows NDP plan targets aid to middle class and poor, Conservatives aim biggest benefit at high incomes, Liberals offer light version of Conservative plan.

Competing tax plans reveal very different ideas about who needs help

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Trump tariff war may double Alberta budget deficit Resource royalties are Alberta's top revenue item and could be 35 per cent lower than budgeted.

Donald Trump’s tariff war has caused an oil price collapse that may double Danielle Smith’s deficit this year

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Vote efficiency: how seat projections get it wrong When a party's support gets more concentrated, seat projections can’t help but miss the mark. It's not their fault.

In the recent Ontario election, The Writ, Mainstreet and 338 Canada underestimated NDP seats by about 50%

Here’s why those sites get it wrong

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Vote efficiency: how seat projections get it wrong When a party's support gets more concentrated, seat projections can’t help but miss the mark. It's not their fault.

Seat projections were wildly wrong in the recent Ontario election

When you can only see through the rear-view mirror there’ll be accidents

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