Monitor Are Co-Ordinated Dennis Carr Over 25 Years

CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES JULY/AUGUST 2017 $6.95 Contributors Alyssa O’Dell is Media and Public Relations David Bruer Officer with the CCPA. works at Inter Pares where Peter Prontzos he is focused on food is Faculty Emeritus at Langara sovereignty and economic College in Vancouver, and Vol. 24, No. 2 justice. taught political science for Book reviews in the ISSN 1198-497X Monitor are co-ordinated Dennis Carr over 25 years. His articles Canada Post Publication 40009942 by Octopus Books, a has 27 years’ worth of have appeared in print and community-owned anti- The Monitor is published six times experience creating online, including in the oppressive bookstore in a year by the Canadian Centre for affordable housing and Monitor, and he has worked Policy Alternatives. Ottawa. social facilities in Ottawa in both radio and television. The opinions expressed in the and Vancouver, and is He is writing his first book, Monitor are those of the authors the recipient of the 2016 Remembering Our Humanity: and do not necessarily reﬂect Canadian Housing and A Better World Is Possible. the views of the CCPA. Renewal Association Lifetime Michal Rozworski Please send feedback to Achievement Award. Michal’s writing has appeared [email protected]. Kory Earle in Jacobin, Ricochet, the Editor: Stuart Trew is President of People First of Toronto Star, Briarpatch and Senior Designer: Tim Scarth The Tyee, among other places. Layout: Susan Purtell Canada/Personnes d’abord Editorial Board: Peter Bleyer, du Canada and a member He produces the Political Eh- Alyssa O’Dell, Seth Klein, Kate of the Council of Canadians conomy blog and podcast. He McInturff, Erika Shaker, Emily Turk with Disabilities’ executive currently works as a union researcher in Toronto and CCPA National Office: committee. is working on a book, The HELP US SHED LIGHT ON THE 500-251 Bank St., Ottawa, Alicia Elliott ON K2P 1X3 People’s Republic of Walmart, tel: 613-563-1341 is a Tuscarora writer living with Leigh Phillips. fax: 613-233-1458 in Brantford, Ontario. Her ISSUES THAT MATTER TO YOU. [email protected] writing has been widely Erika Shaker www.policyalternatives.ca published, most recently is Director of Education and Outreach with the CCPA and CCPA BC Office: receiving a National Magazine (we’ve got some bright ideas) editor of Our Schools / Our 520-700 West Pender Street Award. Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8 Selves. Robert Hackett tel: 604-801-5121 Scott Sinclair fax: 604-801-5122 is a professor of [email protected] communication at Simon is Senior Research Fellow Fraser University, a CCPA with the CCPA and Director MAKE A DONATION Tax receipts are issued for contributions of $15 or more. CCPA Manitoba Office: of the Trade and Investment Unit 205-765 Main St., Winnipeg, research associate, and a Research Project. MB R2W 3N5 co-founder of NewsWatch I would like to make a monthly contribution of: I would like to make a one-time donation of: tel: 204-927-3200 Canada and the Media Natalie Spagnuolo fax: 204-927-3201 Democracy Project. is a PhD candidate in critical OR $300 $100 $75 Other ____ [email protected] $25 $15 $10 Other ____ Trish Hennessy disability studies at York CCPA Nova Scotia Office: is Director of the CCPA’s University and sits on the P.O. 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Reading

HE CCPA AND FRIENDS the GO BOOKISH FOR THE SUMMER, turning to recent releases to Moment Thelp understand our world today— from the rise of populism to the “sharing economy,” the future of 16 social democracy to Indigenous cultural appropriation, anti-women dystopias to the genetic case for equality, and much more.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS FEATURES Ontario chooses $15 and Fairness International co-operation on Sheila Block 5 climate refugees could use a boost. Is there a role for Canada? Lessons on electoral reform for B.C.’s new government Paul Weinberg 46 Alex Hemingway 6 The case for deinstitutionalization and desegregation of people Will Nova Scotia turn the page with intellectual disabilities on austerity? Natalie Spagnuolo and Kory Earle 51 Christine Saulnier 8 The future is urban: Dispatches from How Canada should respond the UN Habitat III conference in Ecuador to Trump’s NAFTA renegotiation Bruce Campbell 9 Dennis Carr 56 Colombia’s peace deal on the precipice Asad Ismi 61 Canadian pension plans and land-grabbing in Brazil David Bruer 63

STUART TREW Reading the moment

OR THE PAST three years around tent managers rather than transfor- italist order. Mitterand’s retreat from this time the Monitor has run a mational idealists. state intervention in the French econ- short summer reading guide as a Politicians and much of the news omy in the early 1980s, the inability of complement to our regular books media, who still by and large believe post-Pinochet Chilean governments to section. CCPA staff listed one or there is no viable alternative to neo- undo the neoliberal rules forced into Ftwo new releases they would final- liberalism, are fumbling to adapt lest place at gunpoint, and New Labour’s ly have time to get through over the they fall prey to a Trump-like populist embrace of Thatcher’s union-busting summer slowdown at the office. It was backlash. At the same time, new tech- market fundamentalism have left so- political, but only lightly so, which was nological developments—from AI to cial democratic parties struggling for the point. As readers sometimes tell big data to automation to the prolifer- relevance in an era when more and me, the Monitor can be a bit heavy. ation of the on-demand digital service more young people are rediscover- But hey, these are heavy times— economy—are forcing governments ing socialism. The lesson, especially af- heavy yet peculiarly disorienting. at all levels to anticipate what the ter Jeremy Corbyn’s surprise success Though our goals at the CCPA have economy might look like in 20 years, in June’s U.K. election, might be to get not changed—equality, social pro- where the jobs (and job insecurities) radical or get lost. gress, sustainability—the terrain of will be, and to regulate appropriately. Scott Sinclair tackles “the populist struggle feels different, almost unre- This expanded version of the Mon- explosion” head-on in his review of al, as if the ground has fallen out from itor summer reading guide takes a John Judis’s book by the same name, under our feet. An endless stream of break from frenetic social media feeds which came out before Trump was podcasts and think-pieces despair to assess the fluctuating political and elected but is no less important for that citizens of the West can’t agree economic landscape from a place of how it puts the rogue Republican’s even on the facts anymore, let alone relative stability: books. Rather than success in a historical context. Pop- a program for changing the world. We just telling us what they will be read- ulism of the right-wing and left-wing live, they suggest, in a post-truth era ing this summer, contributors ground varieties have always looked very dif- where one absurd tweet by Donald longer arguments about the state of ferent and will have different lasting Trump can throw the global order— the world in recent Canadian and in- effects, says Judis. But both symbolize and perhaps reality itself—into flux. ternational non-fiction releases with “tears in the fabric of accepted politi- These are, of course, exaggerations. a connection to the CCPA’s underlying cal wisdom.” This rupture creates chal- Politics is by definition a dispute be- mandate: to promote social, economic lenges and opportunities for the left. tween contested views of reality, an ar- and environmental justice. Reading the moment is obviously gument about what facts or econom- Trish Hennessy, who has been read- a subjective and loaded act that cap- ic indicators (e.g., a stable rate of infla- ing (and writing) a lot about the so- tures only snapshots of a complex, var- tion or labour’s declining share of to- called sharing economy, wonders what ied reality. Whose moment are we talk- tal wealth) are most important. This an Ontario town’s decision to contract ing about? Which power imbalances do novel type of disorientation is also, if out its transit system to Uber says we perpetuate while prioritizing one we’re being honest, mostly a luxury about the future of good jobs in Cana- conversation over another? I acknowl- of a privileged class within rich coun- da. Do convenient app-based services, edge and apologize for the gaps, but as- tries, whose relative socioeconomic many of them offered by publicly listed sure you that the Monitor is committed stability is bought, today as it always high-tech firms, truly benefit consum- to covering the multitude of struggles has been, at the cost of war, poverty ers enough—are the on-demand ser- for justice in magazines to come. and state repression elsewhere (and vices they offer that much better than On the other hand, there’s a lot more within our borders). traditional taxis, pizzerias and laundro- in the issue than I’ve mentioned here, Nonetheless, it is fair to say that mats—to justify the precarity that fol- including Emily Turk’s five reasons growing numbers of people in the lows in their wake? And is this future we should all be watching The Hand- West are struggling to find meaning really all we have to hope for once, as maid’s Tale, summer reading tips in the post-Trump world. Important- the line goes, “the robots take our jobs”? from Octopus Books and Rankand- ly, they are questioning conventional Michal Rozworski’s review essay File.ca, and several excellent fea- wisdom that has held sway for more challenges radicals and progressives to tures you won’t read anywhere else. than a generation: economic sacred think outside the Keynesian box when If you think we’ve missed any impor- cows like free trade, privatization and discussing these questions, and in par- tant new books, please write to let us balanced budgets, and the belief that ticular when thinking through politi- know. We’ll share your ideas in an up- government should be run by compe- cal alternatives to the crisis-prone cap- coming issue. M 2 was now in for ‘forty years’ I hope to see future articles Promising the Palestinians of war, due to the lack in the Monitor on this issue. independence at the of consultation with the Keep us aware of what is end of the mandate Arab countries.” She was happening in this critical period, while inserting prescient, even if she did geopolitical situation. the Balfour Declaration underestimate the duration into the mandate, with no Donald Grayston, of the conflict. intention of consulting Vancouver, B.C. the Palestinians, was A huge boost to the Zionist an injustice that has movement’s desire for an Leers Thank you for Clare had for them terrible ethnically based state, the Mian’s excellent article on consequences. And there is Canadian-shaped partition Elizabeth MacCallum. As no end in sight. Occupation plan contributed to the an expert on the League of has become annexation. displacement of at least Nation’s mandate system, Structures designed to History lessons 700,000 Palestinians. MacCallum would have enforce domination based The Monitor should be Scholar Walid Khalidi been well aware that under on ethnicity suffocate the applauded for examining complained that UN the league’s covenant the territories. Canada’s historic (partition) Resolution 181 Palestine mandate was contribution to Palestinian was “a hasty act of granting The Palestinians have invalid. Its terms were dispossession (“Canada half of Palestine to an been dispossessed, in the totally inconsistent with and the birth of the ideological movement that words of Edward Said, by the provisions of Article Israel-Palestine conflict,” declared openly already the very people who taught 22, under the authority of May-June 2017). But Clare in the 1930s its wish to everyone the importance which it purported to be Mian’s summary of the de-Arabise Palestine.” of not forgetting the past. made. It violated both the UN negotiations over the He suggests the only way While many have been spirit and the letter of this British Mandate of Palestine forward is to develop some- understandably appalled article. omitted relevant details thing entirely missing from by recent Harper/Trudeau about diplomat Elizabeth The mandate system was both Israeli and Palestinian support for Israeli MacCallum and the broader conceived in the interest realities—the idea and violence and expansionism, political context. of the inhabitants of the practice of citizenship, Canada’s most significant mandated territories. The rather than ethnic or racial The only Middle East expert contribution to Palestinian Palestine mandate was community, as the basis for at External Affairs at the dispossession took place at conceived in the interest co-existence. time of the UN discussion the UN 70 years ago. of a people originating of Palestine, MacCallum Elizabeth Marmura, Yves Engler, author, from outside Palestine, and opposed the dominant Antigonish, N.S. Canada and Israel: ran counter to the whole opinion at the department. Building Apartheid concept of mandates. The She claimed privately framers of this document While I welcome bad- that Ottawa supported did not restrict the man- ly-needed coverage on the partitioning Palestine into Kudos to the editors of datory power’s role to “the 70th anniversary of the ethnically homogenous Monitor for publishing rendering of administrative UN Palestinian partition states “because we didn’t Clare Mian’s article on advice and assistance,” plan (and 50th anniversary give two hoots for democ- Canada and the Israeli- as was the case with all of the Six Day War), I am racy.” Despite Jews making Palestinian conflict in the other Class A mandates, incredulous that the up a third of the population May-June issue. It is an but granted Great Britain Monitor would print Clare and owning less than 7% excellent and fair summary full powers of legislation Mian’s article, given the of the land, under the UN of the situation, and makes and administration. These current context of Israel’s partition plan the Zionist it clear that Canada needs powers were not given in treatment of Palestinians, movement received 55% of to clean up its act. the interest of the inhabit- i.e., its devastating siege the territory. We need to end Canada’s ants of the land. They were of Gaza, now in its 11th At the time of the disjunction between official intended to be used, and year, and its criminal and partition vote, notes Arthur policy and actual practice. were used, to establish by apartheid treatment of Andrew in The Rise and It is in the interests of both force the “Jewish National Palestinians, documented Fall of a Middle Power, Israel and the Palestinians Home” in Palestine. This most recently by a UN “MacCallum scribbled a that the occupation, going was a perversion and an report. note and passed it to Mike on in one form or another abuse of the purpose of the Mian’s article is unaccept- (Undersecretary of External for the 70 years the article mandate system under the able not only because of Affairs Lester Pearson) covers, come to an end. covenant. significant misrepresenta- saying the Middle East tions of fact, but also due 3 to its grotesque concerns predicted to become even Author’s response Without explaining Israeli about “Islamic extremism” worse. policy since 1948, I certainly I thank Yves Engler for his and Israel’s welfare rather did not express concern for The serious solutions supplementary information. than how Gaza’s two million “’Islamic extremism.” On suggested by various UN Elizabeth MacCallum did men, women and children the contrary, I pointed to leaders include boycott and indeed play a courageous can survive Israel’s block- the fact that the Canadian divestment from compa- role in the crucial period of ade. Gazans have virtually government was fully aware nies profiting from Israel’s 1947, and the fact that her no access to potable water, of the Balfour Declaration, crimes, as well as demand- view did not prevail led to and the inadequate food was complicit in ing that signatories to the continuing tragedy for the is permanently damaging accomplishing the Zionist Fourth Geneva Convention Palestinian people. This their children. Israel’s illegal program, and is currently (including Canada) honour was not a distinguished treatment of the Gaza Strip abetting the continued their contractual legal beginning to independent is causing an environmen- illegality of the occupations obligation to ensure that Canadian foreign policy tal catastrophe; a UN report and the injustices being Israeli leaders are held making. claims it will soon no longer perpetrated on the legally accountable for war be able to sustain life. I agree with Karin Brothers Palestinian people by the crimes and crimes against that the Israeli occupation government of Israel and its Mian fails to note Israel’s humanity. of Palestinian territory, and supporters. military occupation of East The mainstream media the daily suffering being Jerusalem, the West Bank Clare Mian, Toronto, Ontario censors the Palestinian inflicted on all Palestinians, and Gaza; she neglects reality: their continued especially those in Gaza, to mention the horrific ethnic cleansing; the are situations that call for terrorism and massacres ongoing theft of their land, immediate condemnation that forced Palestinians to water and gas; daily Israeli and action by concerned flee their homes in 1948 or violence and humiliation; citizens and by our gov- the inalienable legal right and Gazans’ struggle for ernment. My subject was possessed by 10 million survival. That the Monitor essentially historical, and Palestinians to return to would publish an article my point was to shine a light those homes. She suggests so sympathetic to the on the largely unknown and that since international oppressor in these circum- less than honourable role law “is a dead letter,” truth stances has left me deeply Canada played in allowing and reconciliation is the disappointed. the partition plan to move solution, despite Israel’s forward with the tragic ongoing, daily terrorism Karin Brothers, Toronto, Ont. results that MacCallum against Palestinians that is foresaw.

NOMINATIONS FOR Name of Nominee (must be a CCPA supporter; please print): THE CCPA MEMBERS’ Address: COUNCIL Telephone: CCPA supporters can nominate a supporter in Email address: good standing to sit on the Centre’s Members’ Council for a two-year term (2018—20). Consent of Nominee (signature): The deadline for receiving nominations is August 31, 2017. o I hereby consent to allow my name to stand for election to the CCPA Members’ Please note that this nomination form must Council. I am familiar with and support the aims of the CCPA. include the signature and consent of the person o I will forward to the CCPA a short (100 words max.) biography and that if I choose nominated to stand for election. to supply this information about myself, it will be made available to CCPA supporters. Please either mail, scan and email, or fax all nominations to: Nominated by (must be a CCPA supporter; please print): Larry Brown, President, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Address: 251 Bank Street, Suite 500, Ottawa ON K2P 1X3 Telephone: Email: [email protected] Fax:4 613-233-1458 Email address: like job-protected sick leave and equal pay for the disabled. And if that wasn’t a bad enough situation for the opposition to be in, Wil- drose MLA Derek Fildebrandt did his party absolutely no favours with his in- Behind the terjection during debate on the bill in the legislature. In what can only be described as a rabid anti-union rant, Fil- debrandt portrayed Bill 17 as a bill that would give unions unlimited power to numbers take their members’ money and pretty much do whatever they want with it. By unabashedly portraying unions as RICARDO ACUÑA | ALBERTA dictatorial cartels of thugs and bullies who do little more than force workers to pay dues for the sake of propaganda Bill 17 is not radical and electoral campaigns, Fildebrandt betrayed his and his party’s fierce ide- or extreme ological objection to democratic representation in the workplace and collective bargaining in general. His crit- he Alberta government’s recent- since they all benefit from the union’s icism of the Rand formula, which has ly introduced Bill 17, the Fair and bargaining. been a staple of labour law in Canada TFamily-friendly Workplaces Act, According to labour lawyer Andy since a 1946 Supreme Court decision, is a huge piece of legislation designed Sims, the former Labour Relations and his inability to recognize that un- to provide long-overdue updates to Board chair who advised the gov- ions are fundamentally democratic or- both Alberta’s Employment Standards ernment on this bill, “this is not a cut- ganizations that simply carry out the Code and the Labour Relations Code. ting-edge, lead-the-country reform. It expressed wishes of their members, Neither of these key pieces of legisla- is, in most respects, a bring-the-best-ex- both demonstrate that what he ob- tion had been significantly revised or periences-from-elsewhere to Alberta.” jects to is not the provisions within the updated since the 1980s, and Bill 17 Many Alberta workers, advocates and bill itself, but rather the very concept takes some important steps in bring- labour unions were actively lobbying of a union. This disdain of unions and ing the laws governing employment and and pushing for the government to go unionized workers is further reflected collective bargaining in the province up much further in reforming both piec- every time Fildebrandt or his leader, to par with some of the best practices es of legislation. They are, for the most Brian Jean, draw explicit distinctions from around the world and with legis- part, happy with what’s in the legisla- in their press releases and statements lation in other provinces. tion, but are also disappointed that so between hard-working Albertans and On the employment standards side, many asks (like preventing the practice union members. the bill does things like providing un- of construction companies bypassing What the NDP has presented with paid job-protected leaves for illness, union agreements, and making the use Bill 17 is a very modest and balanced spousal abuse and other family emer- of replacement workers during a strike set of reforms to move Alberta from the gencies; it explicitly makes illegal the illegal) were simply left off the table by bottom of the heap to the middle of the practice of making employees pay for the government. pack when it comes to labour legisla- dine-and-dashes and gas-and-dashes; The political strategy of the NDP gov- tion in Canada. Fildebrandt’s over-the- and it prohibits the practice of paying ernment on this bill was clearly two- top characterization of the bill and of disabled workers less than others be- fold: to minimize push-back by bun- unions in general highlights the degree cause of their disability. On the labour dling the leave provisions and protec- to which Albertans should be wary of relations side the bill modernizes the tions on the employment standards what his party would do to workers’ process of certifying or decertifying un- side of the equation with the greater rights and worker protections in this ions in a workplace, minimizing the op- union rights granted on the labour re- province. They may claim to care about portunity for bullying and intimidation lations side, and to minimize criticism “hard-working Albertans,” but their ac- by either side, makes it easier for new- from employers and the business lob- tions and positioning on Bill 17 say oth- ly certified unions to secure a first col- by by limiting the enhanced rights pro- erwise. M lective agreement, and formalizes Al- vided to unions. As political strate- RICARDO ACUÑA IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE berta’s recognition of the Rand formu- gies go, it’s a good one, since opposi- PARKLAND INSTITUTE. THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN la, whereby all workers in a unionized tion MLAs find themselves in a place VUE WEEKLY ON JUNE 8. FOLLOW RICK ON TWITTER @ RICACUNA. environment are required to pay dues, where they will be voting against things

5 SHEILA BLOCK | ONTARIO lines, the Ontario government also announced other measures that will improve the working and personal lives of Province chooses $15 low-wage Ontarians, including allowing workers personal emergency leave and and fairness greater control over work scheduling. Concretely, this will mean workers will able to take a day off when they are sick n a game-changing move, the On- the rise in wage costs. Jordan Brennan or when they need to take a sick child tario government will raise the min- and Jim Stanford similarly concluded to the doctor, and it means they will Iimum wage to $15 an hour by Janu- in their 2014 CCPA-Ontario report that have advance notice of shifts to ease ary 1, 2019, increasing first to $14/hour there is no consistent evidence that child care arrangements. on January 1, 2018 under a phased-in minimum wage levels increase or de- New requirements in the legislation plan. About a third of workers in Ontar- crease employment levels, which are for equal pay for casual, temporary, io earn less than $15 an hour. This raise overwhelmingly determined by larger part-time employees will reduce very will result in a 30% increase in the min- macroeconomic factors. clear and large inequities in individual imum wage, which is substantive and It’s also important to note that not all workplaces. No longer will people work has been a long time coming. It is a employers oppose wage increases. Fif- alongside others doing the same work big win for the $15 and Fairness cam- teen employers, including small busi- yet earning a different hourly wage just paign that has been organizing prov- nesses like Hamilton’s Cake and Loaf because one worker is classified as incewide. Last year, the Ontario NDP Bakery, wrote a letter to Ontario Pre- temporary and another is permanent. gave the campaign a boost by commit- mier Kathleen Wynne this year urging The reforms will also reduce the incen- ting to raising rates as part of its policy her to raise the minimum wage to $15 tive for employers to use temp agen- platform. Now it will become a reality. an hour. The Ontario Living Wage Net- cies and part-time workers, which is a While some business groups are work signed up about 150 living wage welcome development. playing Cassandra, predicting apoca- employers within the network’s first Of course, these enhanced workers’ lyptic consequences, the evidence sug- year of existence. It’s clear the narrative rights are only valuable to Ontarians if gests otherwise. In an excellent CCPA- is rapidly shifting on what is viewed as they are enforced. There are clear and BC paper, UBC economics professor an acceptable minimum wage in this widespread violations of current rights David Green concludes that the pos- province and elsewhere. Alberta’s $15 under the Employment Standards Act. itive impact of reducing income ine- minimum wage will come into effect in The government’s announcement in- quality and increasing incomes for low- October 2018. cludes measures to enhance enforce- wage workers will offset any reduction While the $15 minimum wage an- ment, but they don’t go far enough. in employment that could result from nouncement garnered major head-

6 DAVID BUSH (RANKANDFILE.CA) The best way to enforce these rights BRUCE CAMPBELL | NATIONAL is to have the protection of a union. The government is making some progress toward ensuring that Ontarians Trump launches NAFTA who want to join a union will be able to. Measures to increase access to card- renegotiations based certification, and modernize union voting and access to information processes are positive, as are meas- n May 18, U.S. President Don- Canada’s former deputy negotiator for ures to reduce the negative impact of ald Trump sent a letter to Con- the GATT (the forerunner of the World “contract flipping.” But they are only Ogress announcing his inten- Trade Organization), warned that NAF- half-measures. More needs to be done tion to renegotiate NAFTA, starting TA was most importantly an investment on this front—to make sure that work- a 90-day waiting period before North agreement, reflecting the ascendance ers in more insecure jobs, such as retail American trade negotiators can formal- of the forces driving the corporate glo- and food services, are able to join a un- ly sit down to figure out what a new deal balization project. The deal’s key provi- ion and keep it. should look like. Policy-makers and big sions protect and enhance the private Make no mistake, these labour law business groups in all three countries property rights of internationally mo- changes will have an impact on work- have called for a “modernization” of the bile corporations, impose constraints place conditions in Ontario. They will 23-year-old agreement, though Trump on policy flexibility, allow corporations make it less profitable for businesses has threatened to walk away from the to directly sue governments, and lock to exploit low-cost workers and have table, and even tear up NAFTA, if an these and sibling policies prior to NAF- an impact on the revenue of tempo- America-first solution cannot be found. TA in a treaty to prevent future govern- rary staffing agencies. But the beau- On June 5, the Canadian government ments from backsliding. ty of capitalism (if you can find beau- launched a public consultation on the At its core, said Clark, NAFTA was ty in it) is that employers will find ways matter, presumably to inform its nego- about power—the transfer of pow- to adjust their business models to con- tiating position, but clearly all three er from workers, communities and tinue to make a profit. Just as they did countries hope to have a NAFTA-plus governments to corporations. In his when we collectively decided, through framework in place before the talks of- 1995 book, The Mexican Shock, Jorge legislation, that seven-year-olds should ficially begin later this summer. Castañeda Gutman, who would lat- no longer work in factories, or when we NAFTA transformed the economic er become Mexico’s foreign minister legislated an eight-hour workday and and social landscape of North America. under President Vicente Fox, similar- gave workers a weekend. That much we can agree on. But views ly described NAFTA as “an agreement As part of that adjustment, if we all diverge significantly on whether or not for the rich and powerful in the United have to pay a bit more for lattes at Star- the transformation has been for the bet- States, Mexico and Canada, an agree- bucks or double-doubles at Tim Hor- ter. The elite consensus is that NAF- ment effectively excluding ordinary tons, that is a fair price to live in a prov- TA has greatly benefited Canada and people in all three societies.” Nowhere ince that supports decent work. We all its partners, since a major increase in was this more true than in Mexico. benefit from living in a place where all cross-border trade produced millions Mexicans were told that joining NAF- workers are fairly valued, where there of jobs. Implied here is that without TA would bring the country into the are protections for the most vulnerable NAFTA, supply chains would rupture, first-world club of developed nations. workers and where work pays enough trade would collapse, jobs would dis- The reality, for the large majority of its to lift people out of poverty. It’s impor- appear. There is substantial evidence citizens, has been otherwise. Previous- tant to point out that women, recent this isn’t the case. ly at the forefront of Latin American de- immigrants, Indigenous people and ra- NAFTA has also played an important velopment, Mexico’s living standards cialized workers, who disproportion- role in the growth of job insecurity and slipped to near the bottom of regional ately work in low-wage, precarious precarious work; in the dramatic in- country rankings during the NAFTA era. jobs, will be the primary beneficiaries crease in income and wealth inequal- Average Mexican wages dropped, as did of these changes to labour standards ity; in wage stagnation and the hollow- the labour share of national income. Its in Ontario. It’s about time. ing out of the middle class; in the weak- poverty rate remained extremely high. The bottom line: raising the mini- ening of public services and shrinking The NAFTA labour side agreement mum wage to $15 an hour will reduce of Canada’s social safety net. NAFTA is was totally ineffectual in raising wag- income inequality. That’s the minimum not solely responsible for these changes. Only about 1% of Mexican work- we should expect from a province as es, but it was a key strand in a web of ers belong to a democratic union, the prosperous as Ontario. M mutually reinforcing policies that have vast majority being covered by “pro- facilitated the “structural adjustment” tection contracts” with company-ap- SHEILA BLOCK IS A SENIOR ECONOMIST WITH THE CCPA. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER @SHEILA_M_BLOCK. of the Canadian state in line with the proved labour groups. As U.S. and Ca- demands of the “new global reality.” nadian-based companies relocated sig- Some former government insid- nificant production to modern plants in ers saw it coming. The late Mel Clark, Mexico’s border export zones, worker

7 health and safety protections. Nor will the hugely unpopular government of Enrique Peña Nieto be inclined to risk eroding its competitive advantage in the continental division of labour. In bargaining with its much smaller NAFTA partners, the U.S. exercises dis- proportionate power. Trump is demanding major concessions and threatening to rip up the deal if he doesn’t get what he wants, though it’s anyone’s guess at this point what his red lines are. As we saw with his recent decision to leave the Paris accord on climate, predicting Trump’s actions is risky. Under these circumstances, Cana- da should be preparing its own NAFTA termination strategy that carefully eval- uates the transitional costs and benefits. As CCPA trade researcher Scott Sinclair said in a recent Toronto Star op-ed, should NAFTA die Canada–U.S. trade would revert to WTO tariff rates, which would add between $3.5 billion and $5 billion in export taxes. “That’s a speed bump, for sure, but would not bring trade to a screeching halt,” he THEO MOUDAKIS (ARTIZANS) wrote. On the plus side, it would eliminate NAFTA’s most pernicious ele- productivity grew, but already low wag- last 23 years, the new NAFTA would ments, like ISDS, and restore some pol- es actually fell by 20%. Almost five mil- need to include strong, enforceable icy flexibility (in energy, for example). lion Mexican farmers were displaced labour rights provisions incorporat- NAFTA’s death could also give rise to from their land by the huge influx of ing International Labour Organization new opportunities for multilateral gov- U.S.-subsidized corn and other agri- and related UN human rights conven- ernance of the kind trade justice activ- cultural products. Some found season- tions—on par with the enforcement ists discussed in Mexico City this May. al employment in the agribusiness ex- powers granted to corporations in the For example, multilateral agreements port sector. Others fled to the border investor–state dispute mechanism to enforce labour rights would be far export zones looking for factory work, (ISDS) in NAFTA’s Chapter 11. Moreo- more effective at distributing trade or crossed into the United States. ver, to discourage corporations from benefits than the toothless clauses in I represented the CCPA at a trina- going outside North America to take Canada’s free trade deals. Paris accord tional forum in Mexico City at the end advantage of weaker labour rights in signatory nations might also be en- of May, and spoke on a panel about third countries, NAFTA content rules couraged to impose carbon taxes on NAFTA’s impact on Canada and what would have to be strengthened. imports from countries that fail to re- the Canadian government might want This is not, however, what Minis- duce their greenhouse gas emissions, out of a renegotiation. I was not sur- ter Freeland appears to have in mind, as was done with the Montreal proto- prised to hear Mexican civil society which is to use the labour chapter in col on ozone-depleting substances. representatives emphasizing the sever- the Canada–EU Comprehensive Eco- As world-renowned economist ity of the NAFTA-induced social crisis nomic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as Thomas Piketty wrote, globalization in their country, and calling for a new a template. As the CCPA pointed out in must be fundamentally re-oriented model of economic integration and de- the report Making Sense of CETA, the as a matter of urgency. The demise of velopment in North America. But how EU deal’s labour provisions are only a NAFTA might even be an opportunity to seriously should we take Prime Minis- marginal improvement over the exist- begin developing a more inclusive, eq- ter Trudeau’s promises to make NAF- ing NAFTA labour side agreement: both uitable and sustainable model of glo- TA more progressive? Can Foreign Af- are largely aspirational and without en- balization on the North American con- fairs Minister Chrystia Freeland really forcement teeth. It is also hard to im- tinent. M produce a deal that more fairly benefits agine the Trump administration push- BRUCE CAMPBELL IS THE FORMER EXECUTIVE DIREC- workers in all three countries? ing for improved rights, even for U.S. TOR OF THE CCPA. THE CCPA WILL BE SUBMITTING COMMENTS TO THE GOVERNMENT’S PUBLIC CONSUL- At a bare minimum, to begin to re- workers (despite Trump’s rhetoric), giv- TATION ON A NAFTA RENEGOTIATION, WHICH YOU WILL verse the inequality trajectory of the en its actions to date rolling back wage, BE ABLE TO FIND AT WWW.POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA. 8 ALEX HEMINGWAY | BRITISH COLUMBIA ernments the more they came to support electoral reform. The new government will certainly need to positively Electoral reform: demonstrate how well minorities can work in practice if it wants to increase four lessons for a new the likelihood of a yes vote. Fourth, not all proportional rep- government resentation systems are created equal. There are so many possible variants it can make your head spin. For example, he B.C. NDP and Green parties ticians’ hands. One worthwhile option MMP systems alone come in different have promised a referendum on is to entrust this decision to a new B.C. varieties. One sees a portion of the leg- Telectoral reform as part of their Citizens’ Assembly or another process islative seats (usually half) elected in coalition plan. This is great news, as it’s that is similarly credible and independ- local districts, just as they are today high time we ditch our outdated first- ent of political elites. Another option is in B.C., with the other half drawn from past-the-post (FPTP) system for a better to vote again on BC-STV, on a 50%+1 party lists. In the “open list” version of alternative. At the same time, we’ve al- basis this time, since it received major- MMP voters get to rank the candidates ready had two referendum votes in B.C. ity support in 2005 and failed in 2009. on lists provided by the parties. In the over the past 12 years. The single trans- Second, a key finding of analysis of “closed list” version solely the parties ferrable vote option (BC-STV), which re- the B.C. and Ontario referenda is that decide the rankings of their candidates. ceived 58% support in a 2005 vote, was the more voters knew about elector- In Ontario, political scientists found never implemented. And only 39% sup- al reform the more likely they were to that the more voters knew about the ported change when a second vote was support it. However, levels of knowl- closed list feature the less likely they held in 2009. What might enhance the edge about the proposed systems, as were to support electoral reform. chances of a yes vote today? well as about the Citizens’ Assembly Electoral reform duds like closed lists There’s much to learn from B.C.’s process, were quite low in all three ref- should simply be avoided in B.C. previous attempts at reform, as well as erenda. There’s obviously room for im- A lot of things will need to go right from Ontario’s experience with a similar provement, and the new government to achieve electoral reform in B.C., and unsuccessful referendum on switching can assist by ensuring higher levels of a rushed effort that fails to heed these from FPTP to a type of proportional rep- resources for public education, discus- four lessons will risk wasting a rare win- resentation called mixed member pro- sion and debate than there were in pre- dow of opportunity. Reform advocates portional, or MMP. An extensive anal- vious referenda. and the new government should seize ysis of voter attitudes was conducted Third, a very likely consequence of this chance to help spark a success- during both referenda by a group of po- moving to proportional representa- ful discussion among British Columbi- litical scientists who looked at a range tion in B.C. will be an increase in the fre- ans about deepening democracy in this of factors that influenced whether vot- quency of minority and coalition gov- province. M ers supported or opposed electoral re- ernments. In the previous referenda, ALEX HEMINGWAY IS THE CCPA-BC’S PUBLIC FI- form. I want to highlight four. political scientists found that the more NANCE POLICY ANALYST. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER First, one of the strongest predictors favourably voters viewed coalition gov- @1ALEXHEMINGWAY. of support for reform in B.C. was trust in an innovative process called a Citizens’ Assembly, a randomly selected group of citizens from across the province tasked with recommending a new system. In the 2005 vote the researchers found “voters said yes if they knew the Citizens’ Assembly was made up of ordinary folks and not stacked with government-appointed elites.” If the new government wants to see an electoral reform vote succeed, it should keep the design of the proposed new voting system out of poli-

B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver (left) and B.C. NDP leader John Horgan sign a coalition agreement in Victoria in May. PHOTO BY BC NDP 9 and to society generally, which harms worker recruitment and retention, and the provision of public services across this province. The demands on teachers are higher than ever while their ability to meet them is constrained by additional (often administrative) data- gathering or inputting tasks. The work-to-rule campaign highlighted just how much un- paid work teachers do (coaching and school trips, for example) that is not part of their contract yet still essential to the functioning of our schools. At the same time, there has been a lack of meaningful consultation with teachers about how our school system might be improved. The Liberals campaigned on conti- nuity and earned a slim majority. How- ever, there’s some chance we will see a change in the tone of governance. PHOTO COURTESY PETER DAY Without the threat of a deficit to justify continued austerity—it was elim- CHRISTINE SAULNIER | NOVA SCOTIA inated partly through public sector wage freezes—the taps have been opened a little. The budget, tabled first Beyond the in April and soon to be re-tabled, includes some money for a limited (and ballot box insufficient) number of teachers, new school psychologists and speech-language pathologists, a further expan- he morning after the Nova Sco- senting proposals, and a few rounds of sion of reading recovery programs and tia elections in May, a headline on back-and-forth, before a contract is rat- a provincewide breakfast program. Tthe CBC website read: “Nova Sco- ified by union members. This process Unfortunately, none of these invest- tia teachers ‘worried about the next 4 can’t work when you restrict collective ments address the challenges faced by years’ under Liberals.” Liette Doucette, bargaining. When the employer holds children living in poverty. Families on president of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ the power to force a contract (and ul- income assistance will not see a boost Union, expressed her trepidation this timately does) there is little room for to support this year as the government way: “I am willing to work with govern- healthy compromise. continues to transform the system. A ment—always…. The question is: will Nova Scotians across employment small reduction in taxes payable is of the government be prepared to work sectors are rightfully concerned that little help to those whose incomes are with us?” their wages are not increasing fast so low they already pay no tax, and it It’s a fair question. The Liberal gov- enough. New data released by Statis- will be costly to the treasury. ernment of Stephen McNeil has mar- tics Canada reveal Nova Scotia’s me- Throughout the election campaign, ginalized teacher concerns raised dur- dian employment income ($29,800 in the Liberals reassured Nova Scoti- ing contract negotiations. Street pro- 2015) was the third lowest in Canada ans their sacrifices would be reward- tests, a work-to-rule campaign and a (almost tied with New Brunswick, and a ed. We will need to hold them to that one-day-strike following the govern- bit higher than P.E.I.). The dubious hon- promise. As we witnessed over the past ment’s decision to close schools were our of the smallest real-dollar income year with the teachers, it’s all too easy met with legal amendments and an im- increase ($300 since 2012) belongs to for governments to play the debt card posed contract that forced teachers to Nova Scotia alone. New Brunswick’s in- when social needs don’t match politi- end their job action. This last move by crease from 2012 to 2015 was $1,400, cal priorities. M the government is particularly trou- and PEI’s was $3,100. CHRISTINE SAULNIER IS DIRECTOR OF THE CCPA–NOVA bling. However, freezing the wages of SCOTIA. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER @CMYSAUL. A VER- Every day unions reach tentative teachers and other public sector work- SION OF THIS COMMENTARY APPEARS IN THE SPRING/ SUMMER 2017 ISSUE OF OUR SCHOOLS / OUR SELVES, agreements with employers after go- ers (the majority of whom are women) WHICH FOCUSES ON THE NOVA SCOTIA TEACHERS’ ing through collective bargaining, helps no one. We undervalue teachers’ STRIKE. which is predicated on both sides pre- contributions to the education system

10 emissions declined only Alberta, Nova Scotia and federal government’s own slightly in 2015, to 722 Saskatchewan generate estimates, the carbon megatonnes (Mt) of carbon more than 80% of their price would have to rise dioxide equivalent (CO2e). power this way. Most other to $100 per tonne by 2020 Alberta’s share of the provinces rely predominant- for Canada to meet its country’s emissions rose to ly on electricity from hydro 2030 Paris Agreement Index 38% (274 Mt) while Ontario’s and nuclear power, which commitments. share, the second largest, are practically zero-carbon. If carbon pricing isn’t Climate leaders declined to 23% (166 Mt). and laggards But the elephant in the enough, what else can we Meanwhile, at 20.1 tonnes room is transportation do? A new CCPA report, of CO2e, Canada set an (of people and goods), Tracking Progress, provides all-time low in per-person which accounts for several recommendations, By Hadrian emmissions in 2015. 24% of Canada’s overall including a moratorium on Mertins-Kirkwood Quebec continues to be emissions and well over a new fossil fuel infrastruc- the national leader here, third of emissions in many ture, and eliminating the In April, Environment producing just 9.7 tonnes provinces. It’s a problem $1.5 billion per year in tax Canada released its latest per person. In comparison, that governments are breaks and other subsidies inventory report of the Saskatchewan and Alberta struggling to address in going to the sector. The country’s greenhouse both emitted 66 tonnes per every jurisdiction. transportation system gas (GHG) emissions, person. The global average also needs to be rapidly In May, the federal gov- updated with data for 2015. is just 4.9 tonnes. electrified, which means ernment provided details The annual document large-scale investments in These huge regional differ- on the carbon pricing is important because public transit and electric ences can be explained backstop it has promised to the reduction of GHG vehicles. by the production and implement if the provinces emissions is the ultimate consumption of fossil don’t enact a carbon price The report also asserts that measure of Canada’s efforts fuels. Alberta’s oil industry of their own. The federal Canadian governments to fight climate change. So, produced 127 Mt of GHGs price would start at $10 per need to increase their level how are we doing? in 2015—more than from tonne of CO2e in 2018, then of ambition when it comes In terms of overall green- all sectors in the bottom rise by $10 per year until it to their GHG emission house gas emissions, four six provinces combined. reaches $50 per tonne in reduction targets. Canada’s provinces (Ontario, New Remarkably, the oil sands 2022. For consumers, that’s current flagship goal of a Brunswick, Nova Scotia alone account for 10% of equivalent to a 2.3-cent 30% reduction below 2005 and P.E.I.) set all-time lows Canada’s overall emissions, hike per litre in the price of levels by 2030 is inconsist- in 2015. On the other hand, and that’s before the oil is gasoline in 2018, rising to ent with our contribution total GHG emissions from refined and consumed. 11.63 cents per litre in 2022. to climate change. By some Alberta, Manitoba and estimates, Canada’s target Some provinces also rely That’s not nothing, but Saskatchewan remained needs to be 73% below on fossil fuels like coal and it’s not enough to drive near all-time highs. As a 2005 levels by 2030 to do natural gas for electricity. structural change. By the result, Canada’s overall our fair share. M CHANGE IN GREENHOUSE GAS Saskatchewan EMISSIONS SINCE 1990 66% Alberta 56%

British Columbia 17% Manitoba 12% Ontario -8% Quebec -10% Atlantic Provinces -11%

Sources: Tracking Progress, a new report by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood for the CCPA and the Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change project at York University, available at www.policyalternatives.ca; Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report 1990-2015, April 2017; Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 127-0002: Electric power generation; Environment and Climate Change Canada, Technical paper on the federal carbon pricing backstop, 2017; Marie-Danielle Smith, “Secret briefing says up to $300-per-tonne federal carbon tax by 2050 required to meet climate targets,” National Post, March 30, 2017. 11 on the power of the fossil be a major breakdown by poorly protected Chinese fuel industry in Western government in protecting workers, and exacerbating Canada, which is jointly led public health and safety domestic inequality, by the CCPA, the University and the environment,” according to Sinclair. of Victoria and the Parkland says CCPA resource policy Institute. Also new from the analyst Ben Parfitt. First project, a historical study Nations in the area also do Tax treatment New from of Alberta energy policy not appear to have been favours the rich by Toronto Star columnist properly consulted. the CCPA Gillian Steward, titled Preferential tax measures Betting on Bitumen. See such as tax exemptions, www.corporatemapping.ca Canada–China credits and loopholes have for more. trade deal could hit Betting on bitumen become a cash cow for workers Canada’s rich. In fact, the richest 10% of Canadians One of the primary ration- A dam big problem Global Affairs Canada is are responsible for 42% of ales for approving Kinder consulting Canadians on the federal money spent on Morgan’s Trans Mountain Fracking companies in a possible Canada–China such tax expenditures, up pipeline expansion—that Western Canada have built free trade agreement. In from 36% in 1992, according accessing tidewater and at least 16 large unauthor- CCPA’s submission, senior to new research from CCPA overseas markets will ized dams in northeast researcher Scott Sinclair senior economist David lead to better prices—is B.C. to trap water used for argues that an FTA based Macdonald. “The richest more fiction than fact, operations, according to on Canada’s standard Canadians have managed according to a new study a new investigation by the template would almost to heavily skew that system out of CCPA’s British CCPA’s B.C. office. Two of certainly reinforce Canada’s in their favour,” he says. Columbia office. “Canadian the dams built by Malaysian imbalanced trade with This has robbed the federal crude producers are likely state-owned Petronas China. Such a deal, even government of billions in to receive lower prices subsidiary Progress Energy with “progressive” elements much needed tax revenue. overseas than in the U.S. are higher than five-storey taken from the recently Macdonald’s new report, because of the higher apartment buildings, concluded CETA with Preferential Treatment, transportation costs,” says which means they should Europe, can be expected to provides the federal CCPA research associate have been but were not leave workers worse off by government with a range of David Hughes. “A ‘tidewater reviewed by the provincial further eroding Canada’s tax measures it could easily premium’ does not exist.” Environmental Assessment manufacturing base, and lucratively eliminate. The report is part of the Office prior to construc- intensifying competition It is also an unpleasant Corporate Mapping Project, tion. “There appears to with lower-waged and reminder that this type of

Boost the impact of your monthly CCPA donation just by switching from credit card to direct debit! YOUR Switching to direct debit contributions from your bank account can save up to 6% in processing fees every month. That means more of your contribution will be DONATION put to work funding research that promotes equality and social justice.

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Send mail to 500-251 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3. For more information, contact Jennie at 1-613-563-1341 12 FURTHER ext. 305 or [email protected]. preferential tax treatment makes Canada’s federal tax system more regressive, and exacerbates after-tax income inequality.

The green shift

Across the country, provincial governments are grappling with the looming federal government deadline to institute carbon pricing. A recent study tracking climate change progress in Canada by CCPA climate researcher Top: Civil rights icon Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood Angela Davis speaks in finds a wide “ambition Winnipeg in May. Right: gap” between government Molly McCracken (left), promises and policy action director of the CCPA- (see the Index on page 11). Manitoba, with Adeline Only one jurisdiction, Nova Bird, Alexa Potashnik, Scotia, is on track to meet Kemlin Nembhard, its medium-term emissions Krishna Lalbiharie, Uzoma reduction targets. But even Asagwara, and Angela Davis. (PHOTOS BY CALVIN LEE there more could be done, JOSEPH) as a recent CCPA Nova Scotia Alternative Budget backgrounder pointed out. “We need to build on our success and set clear consultative panel pointed democratic activities—but “With the changing political emissions reduction and to problems with how the without a costly and landscape, especially with renewable energy targets audits were being carried stressful audit hanging over the American election, the past 2020, including out. CCPA Executive our heads.” role of social movements in phasing out our coal plants, Director Peter Bleyer re- social change is increasing- and providing support for sponded to the good news ly important,” McCracken workers and communities,” in May: “We have devoted said in an interview with says co-author Stephen CCPA-Manitoba four years of resources and the Winnipeg Sun. “To have Boost the impact of your monthly Thomas, energy campaign celebrates 20 years finances to defend our right somebody who was so co-ordinator with the CCPA donation just by switching to live up to our charitable prominent in the late ‘60s, Ecology Action Centre. In May, the “small but mandate. It is very clear early ‘70s, still publishing “The proposed cap and mighty” Manitoba office of from credit card to direct debit! from the consultation to this day and still doing trade program is being the CCPA, as director Molly panel’s report that this her work, is very fortunate planned without broad McCracken puts it, cele- Switching to direct debit contributions from your bank type of targeted auditing for democracy and civil YOUR public consultation or brated its 20th anniversary needs to be prevented in society…. We jumped at the account can save up to 6% in processing fees every expert review.” as a hub for independent future. “Charitable activity opportunity to bring her to research and analysis in month. That means more of your contribution will be is essential to a well-func- Winnipeg.” the province. The office put to work funding research that promotes equality tioning democracy. As the CRA audits suspended partnered with Black DONATION consultation panel notes and social justice. Space Winnipeg and Queer in its report, Canadian People of Colour Winnipeg The federal government charities rules are arbitrary to co-host an engaging For more reports, It’s easy. Just send us a quick note with recently decided to and outdated…. We look talk on “Race, Resistance commentary and suspend the Canada forward to continuing our CAN GO your phone number and a void cheque. and Revolution” in the infographics from the Revenue Agency’s contro- work as an outspoken Trump era with activist CCPA’s national and versial political activities progressive research provincial offices, visit Send mail to 500-251 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3. and scholar Angela Davis. audit program after a institute engaged in vital www.policyalternatives.ca. For more information, contact Jennie at 1-613-563-1341 FURTHER 13 ext. 305 or [email protected]. that most securities firms must otherwise follow. These ex- ALTERNATE emptions are typically provided for a limited time during which the fintech is restricted in who it can serve. FUTURES For example, as the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) explains in a submission to the federal government this year, the peer-to-peer lender Lending Loop operates under a “crowd-funding exemption” to normal securities rules. Typically, when firms offer a security, as Lend- ing Loop technically does, they need to publish a prospec- tus on the product for investors. Under the crowd-funding exemption—the sandbox in this case—Lending Loop can skip this step if it adheres to certain limitations, including that retail investors cannot invest more than $10,000 via the service over a 12-month period. (Technically, the regulatory sandbox for Lending Loop was not formally facilitated through LaunchPad, but this is an example of the sort of exemption the Ontario project is designed to facilitate.) Naturally, reducing and altering regulations, even in a controlled manner, raises issues about consumer protection, which is already relatively weak in Canada’s financial sector (think of the recent controversy related to high-pressure sales tactics at Canadian banks). While consumer interests are likely a factor when defining regulatory exemptions, it is not clear how they are considered. Overall, the REMIE GEOFFROI process of establishing new sandboxes is not transparent, particularly for the typical consumer. ROBIN SHABAN For some time, consumer protection advocates have been demanding the creation of a consumer code for financial services, much like those that exist in most G20 Rules of the sandbox countries. Such a code would guarantee a certain standard of service for consumers, a set of principles on top of which specific rules and regulations can be built. A con- HE FINANCIAL SECTOR is undergoing a significant techno- sumer code would also make it easier for consumers to un- logical transformation with new financial tech firms derstand their rights and identity when they are compro- (fintechs) popping up in Canada all the time. Business- mised. In fact, the idea of a consumer code has received Tes such as Lending Loop, Wealthsimple, Kickstarter some traction in the airlines industry, with the Liberal gov- and Indiegogo, to name a few, provide a host of innova- ernment recently introducing a plan to create a nation- tive services such as peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding al consumer code like the ones that exist in the United and robo-investing, all typically via the internet. Some of States and Europe. these services will improve life for Canadians, by making Given the need to update financial regulations for the fin- it easier and less expensive to finance the start of a new tech era, a consumer code would be invaluable. Firstly, and business or save for retirement, for example. most critically, a code would fill any regulatory holes that Because many of these companies are disrupting the sta- exist in the current system, particularly those allowing un- tus quo in the financial sector, regulators are under pres- due harm to come to vulnerable consumers. Once a code sure to adapt quickly to the new digital services reality. was established, it would ensure that regulatory changes That pressure includes calls to lessen the “regulatory bur- or exemptions (sandboxes) do not erode the welfare of con- den” faced by new fintechs trying to enter the market. sumers. A code would also bring transparency and account- Some argue that current rules can be so complex and inability to the process of updating regulations, as any rule compatible with how fintechs operate that they prevent changes would have to adhere to strict principles. startups from entering the market at all, to the ultimate Simply put, fintech firms that intend to serve retail con- detriment of consumers. In response, financial regulators sumers should only be allowed to enter the market if they around the globe are creating regulatory “sandboxes,” es- can meet basic standards of service—no exceptions. A con- sentially regimes where fintech companies are exempted sumer code can provide a transparent framework for as- from some of the rules that typically apply to incumbent sessing how current regulations should be updated and financial services businesses. whether certain fintechs should indeed get to play in the The Ontario Securities Commission recently launched sandbox with regulatory exemptions. M a regulatory sandbox called LaunchPad. Among other ALTERNATE FUTURES IS A NEW COLUMN BY ROBIN SHABAN, AN INDEPENDENT ECO- things, the LaunchPad team helps fintechs register as se- NOMIC AND PUBLIC POLICY CONSULTANT BASED IN OTTAWA. YOU CAN REACH ROBIN AT [email protected]. curities providers, but with certain exemptions to the rules 14 Reading the Moment SHARING CITIES / TRISH HENNESSY THE POWER OF LIBRARIES / ERIKA SHAKER RADICAL KEYNESIANISM? / MICHAL ROZWORSKI POPULISM ASCENDING / SCOTT SINCLAIR GENETIC INEQUALITY / PETER PRONTZOS A RANKANDFILE.CA READING LIST DYSTOPIA AND PROPHECY IN THE HANDMAID’S TALE / EMILY TURK CANADA AS LAUGH TRACK / HADRIAN MERTINS-KIRKWOOD JOURNALISM’S RESPONSIBILITY TO THE EARTH / ROBERT HACKETT AN OCTOPUS BOOKS READING LIST APPROPRIATION AND MISREPRESENTATION / ALICIA ELLIOTT NATURE’S MOOCHES AND MATES / ALYSSA O’DELL Reading the moment

TRISH HENNESSY Share and share alike? Contesting views of the on-demand service economy and the future of work

ARLIER THIS YEAR I got a call from people are fitting their bicycles with tion, peer-to-peer, crowd-based capi- CBC reporter Solomon Israel. Sta- a basket to deliver Uber food orders talism, and (my personal favourite tistics Canada had just released its that way too. at the moment) the on-demand ser- Efirst-ever survey of “sharing econo- The “sharing economy” has also giv- vice economy. In his book, The Shar- my” activity in Canada, showing that en us a novel way to secure accom- ing Economy: The End of Employment 2.7 million Canadians participate in modations. Airbnb allows you to rent and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capital- this new way of exchanging services. out your home on a night-by-night ism, Arun Sundararajan proposes a Solomon wondered whether the offi- basis so you can “earn money from broad definition for the trend: “mar- cial Canadian data collection agency your space without all the work,” as ket-based, high-impact capital that should so readily use the hotly con- the company markets its service. Air- finds new opportunities to maximize tested term “sharing economy.” bnb offers consumers the chance to everything from assets, skills, time, In his New Economics Founda- “book unique homes and experience a and money.” The “sharing economy” tion essay, The Sharing Economy: The city like a local.” As with ride-sharing commercializes activities once con- Good, The Bad, and The Real, Duncan apps, the booking is an online trans- sidered personal, he says, such as giv- McCann offers probably the best an- action, with Airbnb as the mediator— ing someone a ride in your car. swer to Solomon’s question: the brand. Finding the right terminology and In both of these cases the venture is the parameters of what is marketed as If I offered to share my cake with you a commercial one, but the marketing sharing is important, since it will fall and then I charged you money for a tool—the hook—rests upon a false to governments to regulate the service slice, would I have really shared it with premise of sharing. transactions that occur in these new you at all? No: it would be selling. In fact, there is a long list of terms ways. And because the focus of emerg- I’m not sharing my house by letting that better capture the range of ex- ing “sharing economy” activities is at it out on Airbnb, nor do I share a car changes under the rubric of the “shar- the local level, municipal governments when I use Uber. In both cases some- ing economy”: collaborative consump- will be particularly challenged to walk one has developed a new way of con- the fine line between being open to “in- necting a customer with a service pro- novation” while also protecting con- vider in a new easy tech-driven way. sumers, service providers and even entire neighbourhoods from what often How could anything where a mone- looks like exploitation with a high- tary transaction is involved be part It’s important tech veneer. of a sharing economy? We need a bet- to find the right ter way of describing this new strand magine that you live in a small com- of innovation. terminology, and the parameters of munity of 36,000 people and your lo- We hear the word innovation a lot, of- Ical council is trying to figure out how ten alongside disruption, in the con- what is marketed to provide affordable public transit to text of the so-called sharing econo- help you get to the library, the chiro- my. But what do these words actual- as sharing, practor, the vet, or to visit family. A sin- ly mean? since it will fall gle bus route costs $270,000. Your com- Thanks to technology, there’s a new munity would be better served with way to secure a ride. In major cities to governments two bus routes, which increases the you can download an app on your to regulate cost to $610,000. It’s a lot of money, and cellphone to order an Uber driver to there are competing claims to limited take you anywhere taxis can take you, the service tax dollars. sometimes for a lower fee and a short- transactions that Enter Uber, a multinational com- er wait. Uber also co-ordinates food pany based in San Francisco, offer- delivery, so its drivers can double up as occur in these new ing a “car sharing” online platform in “cabbies” and delivery persons. Some ways. about 270 North American cities and 16 ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE CAREY many more around the world. For an Taxi Workers Alliance, a new union for in public bus routes and, instead, use initial start-up cost of $100,000 Uber Uber drivers, is seeking such basic em- public dollars to subsidize Uber to ac- will connect a network of local resi- ployment guarantees as a minimum tivate local drivers, who will use their dents who want to “share” their as- wage, overtime pay and expense re- own vehicles to chauffeur townsfolk. set—in this case a car or minivan—to imbursement. These challenges were There is an existing taxi service in the drive people without their own form buoyed recently by a court decision in community, but it’s not getting the of transportation to where they need the U.K. requiring Uber to start treat- subsidy. Uber, a multinational com- to go (for a fee, of course). Your ride ing its drivers like employees. But the pany that has managed to skirt pay- will be available at the click of a but- company is fighting back, deploying ing local taxes in the communities in ton on an online app. new entry strategies in cash-strapped which it does business, will get the Uber says its platform allows you, cities looking to improve mobility for money instead. the driver, to “make money on your their residents. The Innisfil deal is the first of its schedule” as an “independent con- Welcome to the “sharing” city, where kind for Uber, and a clear sign of tractor.” There are huge financial in- no one ever need wait outside for the where the company wants to move centives for “sharing economy” com- bus. Under the Uber model, which is in the future, with hopes of eventual- panies to characterize the people who being tested in several North Ameri- ly replacing human drivers with auto- work for them as such, rather than as can towns, there may not be any bus- mated vehicles. At that point the con- full-blown employees. The latter, after es at all. No public sector workers ful- tractor-employee distinction goes out all, come with additional costs and rely trained, unionized, and paid by the the door. sponsibilities for the employer, such city to move your neighbours from Uber is proving to be a highly con- as vacation pay, overtime pay and min- point A to point B. Instead, a corpo- testable venture. In December 2015, imum wages—costs that don’t apply ration with a bad-boy reputation for about 2,000 angry taxi drivers brought to contractors. bending, and even breaking, the rules downtown Toronto traffic to a grind- As of last August, Uber faced 70 will be publicly subsidized to compete ing halt to protest Uber’s insinuation lawsuits in the U.S.—some related with the local taxi company. into the local market and city coun- to this contractor-employee distinc- This isn’t fiction. Innisfil, Ontario, cil’s foot-dragging on proactive regu- tion. In one of them, the New York has decided to forego investments lations. “We’ve been working in this in- 17 dustry so many years and this is our livelihood. We play by my” company, avoiding regulatory capture, and protect- the rules and it’s a regulated business,” taxi driver Bozlul ing the notion of decent work, i.e., secure work with ben- Kabir told Global News. “UberX don’t have any insurance. efits, a living wage and sick pay. For it to work for every- They don’t have any licence. They don’t have any rules they one, the “sharing economy” cannot become another itera- follow. They are stealing our business.” tion of a neoliberal order intent on deregulating markets Mayor John Tory and the Toronto police chief chastised and diminishing public expectations of good jobs. the taxi drivers for using such disruptive tactics. But the In a recent New Yorker article, a reporter who turned to drivers themselves were simply demanding that UberX be an online “sharing economy” platform called TaskRabbit subjected to the same regulations as taxi services. for help with household chores, like putting up art, wrote In August 2016, Toronto became the first city in Canada about his conversation with the worker who eventually to grant UberX a private taxi company designation, which showed up at his home. Though Seth F., the worker’s Task- requires only that drivers pass background checks and get Rabbit name, was earning a living (and high ratings on a private operator license from the city. Uber would get a the online platform), and seemed content enough with the pass to continue undercutting the Toronto taxi system. work, he told the reporter “these are jobs that don’t lead to anything. It doesn’t feel sustainable to me.” lsewhere, other multinational corporations are chal- The CCPA found similar attitudes among “sharing econ- lenging local regulations and disrupting communities in omy” workers in the GTA when we surveyed them for our Ethe name of “sharing.” In Vancouver and Toronto, where April 2017 report, Sharing Economy? Or On-Demand Ser- the supply of affordable long-term rental units is compro- vice Economy? More than a third of survey respondents mised by speculative investors, municipal and provincial identified the following downsides of their work: the hours regulators are grappling with ways to protect the afforda- are unpredictable, it’s hard to get enough work, they don’t ble housing stock. Though we knew the rise of short-term make enough money providing these services, and if they online rentals—facilitated by “sharing economy” compa- get sick they don’t get paid. nies like Airbnb—must be contributing to the problem, we In other words, the “sharing economy” is as precarious didn’t know to what extent that was the case. for workers as the traditional service sector. The only ma- Earlier this year, the CCPA released the results of its re- jor difference—the innovation, if you will—is the business search into Airbnb activity in the Greater Toronto Area model workers use to find work. Service workers are skip- (GTA). We found that, although the online app-based ser- ping the resume and turning to companies such as Uber, vice company is supposed to be a “home sharing” platform, TaskRabbit and Airbnb to connect them with customers a small number of hosts (13%) account for almost half of through online platforms or apps. all Toronto Airbnb revenue. And almost two-thirds of Air- The CCPA partnered with the Centre for Labour and bnb listings in Toronto (64%) are for entire homes (houses, Management Relations at Ryerson University to create the apartments or condos), not rooms in other people’s homes. first typology of “sharing economy” type businesses op- The activity that Airbnb makes possible is not so much erating in the GTA. Through that exercise we discovered sharing as it is turning homes into short-term rental (in- that a lot of “sharing economy” businesses deliver services vestment) properties, which can drive up the cost of buy- you might not consider sharing or especially innovative. ing a home, tighten the market for affordable long-term For instance, you can call Molly Maid to hire someone rental units, and turn a condo zoned for residential use to clean your house. Or you can go online, to a company into an alternative hotel, raising new challenges for con- such as Cleanify, to schedule someone to come and clean do owners and even condo boards intent on preserving your house. It’s the same service, only the means of secur- the residential nature of their building. ing it is different. The rise of Airbnb happened so quickly that Canada is It’s the same thing with food delivery: you could call playing catch-up in terms of regulating the new short-term your local pizzeria, or you could go online to Foodora or housing market. The challenges are not unlike the ones reg- JustEat to type in your order, credit card information, and ulators face relating to Uber. They include getting a clear- even factor in the tip so the delivery person (who is not er understanding of what the ideal relationship should an employee of the restaurant you’ve ordered food from) be between regulator and multinational “sharing econo- need not fumble for change at the door. This middleman option feels convenient, but it has downsides for customers as well as workers. A couple of weeks ago I went online to order my usual pizza—green olives, onions and tomatoes—but the web- The Innisfil deal is the first of its site seemed glitchy. Within moments my local pizza guy kind for Uber, and a clear sign called me to ask if I had really meant to order two large Mediterranean pizzas with double the toppings. That of where the company wants to didn’t make sense to him, nor did it make sense to me. I de- move in the future, with hopes scribed the medium pizza that I really wanted, we laughed, I thanked him for catching the mistake then quipped: “The of eventually replacing human next time someone says robots are coming to take our jobs, drivers with automated vehicles. remember this conversation.” 18 here are some things technology The activity that guise of sharing, also be undermining? cannot get right. I recently read And to what end? Tabout an artificial intelligence (AI) Airbnb makes McLaren and Agyeman acknowl- test of a neural network algorithm possible is not edge “that some variants of the shar- that invents new paint colours and ing economy may simply be one (al- gives them new names. It turns out so much sharing beit more cuddly looking) head of the the algorithm was good at the first as it is turning hydra that is neoliberalism.” They also task but was challenged, shall we say, refer to Sascha Lobo’s term for this in the second. Among the names the homes into short- activity: platform capitalism. Which AI chose for its new paint colours were term investment takes us back to Innisfil, where elect- Bank Butt, Stummy Beige, Dorkwood, ed officials are grappling with a way Dope, Stanky Bean, and Turdly. properties, which to provide a public service—afforda- As I joked to the pizzeria worker, can drive up the ble transit—in what they hope will be robots aren’t necessarily coming for a cost-efficient manner. all our jobs anytime soon. Of course, cost of buying and Unfortunately, the deal they have that won’t stop people from worrying renting. made is with a multinational compa- about it. Last fall, I was on a panel ad- ny that is trying to rewrite the rules dressing the precarious nature of the around traditional employer-employ- so-called sharing economy when an ee relationships, and that is willing to audience member asked: but isn’t the go to court to support its disruptive real threat to good jobs automation? activities. The answer isn’t as simple as the tech- McLaren and Agyeman advance a In Innisfill, the rich won’t have the no-utopians or dystopians would have fairly hopeful outcome from “sharing” opportunity to ride buses, but will the us believe. activities: poor be able to afford an Uber price For as long as there has been work, surge (some call it price gouging) in We hypothesize…that with the spread there has been intimidation (threats future? Will the town be able to af- of the sharing paradigm—both with- of job loss) by employers, technologi- ford future negotiations with Uber in the formal economy and outside it— cal disruptions in the way we do the once the company has its hooks on public tolerance for abuses of human work, and fear about what both mean the only means of transit beyond pri- rights, environmental standards (and for future employment opportunities. vate car ownership? What happens if so forth), in the interest of cheap con- The jobs created in the so-called shar- Uber proves not to be a viable busi- sumer products, should decline. In oth- ing economy are no different than ness model? er words the norms seeded by online those that resulted from the advent of What if a company with differ- sharing have the potential not only to desktop computers. Or perhaps they ent priorities buys Uber and doesn’t transform sharing behaviour in the differ in terms of the explicit precari- want to proxy for public transit? What material world but also spread new ousness embedded in this form of ser- if Uber converts its cars to self-driv- norms into wider economic, sociocul- vice delivery. ing vehicles, eliminating local jobs? tural and political domains. What is the role of the “sharing These are questions and regulatory economy” in this latest wave of tech- For cities, McLaren and Agyeman see challenges that befall governments nological disruptions? And how can “sharing economy” services such as of all levels, and not just with respect workers, consumers and communi- carpooling and Airbnb rentals as hav- to Uber but other on-demand servic- ties harness the optimism in the idea ing the potential to “reduce operating es as well. of a sharing—and caring—economy or service-provision costs.” Like oth- It turns out sharing is a highly con- to make it work for everyone? ers, they turn to the “sharing econo- testable notion. Much is at stake in In their book, Sharing Cities: A Case my” as a source of innovation. how we decide to define the term: the for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities, It sounds promising in theory, but future of public service delivery, the Duncan McLaren and Julian Agyeman there is a danger in romanticizing future of work, the future of what we make the case for a future in which what still looks like the commodifi- consume (and how we consume it). It “cities transform themselves and the cation of service provision and the will be up to regulators to get this rest of the world” based on one key neglect of the original sharing econo- right. It will be up to the rest of us to trait: sharing. They reject the narrow my: public provision of social services get clear about what a “sharing econ- definition of the “sharing economy” as and support programs, crowdsourced omy” actually is, and whether we can one primarily premised on economic (to use the popular “sharing economy” harness the power of sharing for the transactions in favour of one based terminology) through the tax system. collective good. M on norm-challenging values. “An ad- The authors note that “sharing vanced democratic city,” they write, economy” activities are disrupting “is not one where even the poor own conventional capitalism, but which cars, but one where even the rich ride public services might multination- buses.” al corporations, operating under the 19 Reading the moment

ERIKA SHAKER Viva la evolución! If you haven’t been to the library recently, you are missing out

ROWING UP IN Hamilton, Ontario, my family frequented two public libraries: the downtown branch, Ga gorgeous structure built in 1913 with funding from American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, and the charmingly named Terryberry Li- brary, after the 19th century settler on whose Hamilton Mountain property it was built. The name “Terryberry” lent the otherwise ordinary-looking building a sort of fairy-tale feel, with the bonus of ensuring I never, ever mispro- nounced “library” as “lie-berry.” As kids we spent hours there, checking out books using the old card system, and later researching school pro- The Vancouver Public Library els, closing some branches”) to ignorant jects through card catalogues. Every ROAMING-THE-PLANET, FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS political musings. Toronto councillor summer we got an extended loan pe- Doug Ford famously and incorrectly riod so we could borrow extra books they were younger it took the form of claimed his Etobicoke ward had more for the entire two months of vacation. regular class trips to the branch down libraries than Tim Hortons—apparent- Even now when I go back home to visit the street, where Sue the librarian ly a crime against nature. His Hamilton my parents I am likely to find at least would read them a story before they counterpart Donna Skelly announced one book that never made it back to picked out a book of their own to curl this year that any increase to the city’s the library, its card and due-dated en- up with. Today my family still visits budget must “be based on the role the velope affixed to the inside cover like the library weekly for books and mov- library plays in modern society, and a permanent, ink-stamped guilt-trip. ies. The automated checkout stations not the one it did 100 years ago.” In 1980, Hamilton opened a new and are, granted, much flashier, the banks Newfoundland and Labrador an- much larger main branch downtown of computers connected to the inter- nounced in 2016 it would close over with (at the time) cutting-edge micro- net always fully booked. But the clubs half the province’s public libraries, fiche machines. The building itself is and reading circles, the public events which would put 15% of the popula- connected to the mall and the farm- and meetings, the hushed areas for si- tion more than a 30-minute drive from ers’ market it houses, another Hamil- lent study, the books and periodicals their nearest branch, and leave Fogo ton institution I’ve been visiting since remain everything they used to be. In Island without a library altogeth- I was in utero. On Saturdays it was spite of the “death of print,” libraries, er. For smaller communities it was a common to see people leaving through it seems, are still a thing. devastating decision. “Books are often the library doors, fresh vegetables and But, as with most public institu- scarce in these areas,” wrote Nick Far- baked goods in one hand, book bag in tions, libraries are also in austerity’s ris in the National Post, “but their li- the other. And as we became more in- crosshairs. The mantras are predicta- braries, like Fogo’s, are not just repos- dependent, no longer needing parental ble: we can’t afford such an expanse of itories of printed words. They make accompaniment, the library somehow non-commercial space; nobody reads the internet freely accessible, in places managed to be both an occasion and books anymore; kids do all their re- where broadband connectivity is not a familiar hangout at the same time. search on the interwebs. The attacks quite universal. They provide public Lest anyone think the Carneg- have ranged from cold cost-cutting as- space where movie theatres and sport- ie-funded heyday of this quaint insti- sessments (KPMG advised the City of ing arenas have never been built.” The tution has come and gone, my kids still Toronto in 2011 to “rationalize the foot- public was so enraged the government have “Library Day” at school. When print of libraries to reduce service lev- 20 suspended the closures pending con- find accurate, vetted information has ogies, providing information on com- sultations and a review of the policy. never been more important. munity events and alerts about vol- More recently, Saskatchewan And that is precisely what librar- unteering opportunities, and finding planned to inflict $4.8 million in cuts ians were trained for. It’s no wonder a job or obtaining job training. to its public libraries, reflecting “the they are helping design school curric- Some newer libraries have integrat- new reality for libraries in the 21st cen- ulum and resource guides, and hold- ed the ongoing and expanding role of tury,” according to a CBC report. “The ing workshops to educate the public the library into its physical design. future of libraries is leaning more to- on what digital literacy and critical Halifax’s central library, for example, wards electronic media,” said Educa- thinking means—in the immediate includes space for cafes, auditoriums tion Minister Don Morgan. “I’m not political context, yes, but as a general and video gaming, as well as areas to saying you shouldn’t have bricks and requirement for an informed citizenry. record podcasts or play board games. mortar, but there certainly is a shift.” Far from being outmoded or irrel- The Toronto Reference Library and Mere days later the government hasti- evant, libraries continue to occupy a Vancouver’s central library offer digi- ly backtracked. “We’ve heard from peo- key place, literally and figuratively, in tal media spaces, and a recent expan- ple pretty clearly that they value the the hearts and minds of communities. sion to the latter has added a theatre, library in its present form,” Morgan They are increasingly at the forefront silent reading gallery and rooftop gar- conceded. “It’s important for them not of municipal and architectural revital- den. The Waterdown Library and Civ- just to have the electronic capability, ization initiatives, and today, in both ic Centre in Hamilton is literally built but they also want to have the physi- Europe and North America, they are into the topography of the surround- cal space to go to.” combining traditional lending and ing area, incorporating a seniors’ rec- In both Saskatchewan and New- preserving functions with new ser- reation centre and various municipal foundland and Labrador the library vices of use to urban centres. The Ot- services, and designed to allow the fa- as a structural feature may be safe, tawa Public Library, for example, of- cility to evolve with the varied needs at least for now, but elsewhere the in- fers video and audio streaming ser- of its patrons. stitution’s lifeblood—its librarians— vices, free access to hundreds of mag- Architectural novelty often pro- is being sapped. Back in Toronto two azines through apps like Zinio, and the vides an attractive financial justifica- smaller libraries recently extended latest video game rentals. tion for library construction or expan- their short hours, but with a catch: According to the Pew Research sion. That’s because libraries can offer the facilities will not be staffed. In- Center in the U.S., a significant per- remarkable return on investment. Ac- stead, empty buildings will be mon- centage of library users think branch- cording to a high-profile 2013 study, for itored through video surveillance, es should consider moving some books every $1 invested in the Toronto Pub- “to connect customers to staff when out of public locations to free up space lic Library, Torontonians receive $5.63, needed.” People can reserve or pick up for technology labs, meeting or read- representing an economic windfall to books, and use the wireless, but the ing rooms, or for cultural events, so the city of $1 billion. Similar stats ex- space will no longer be conducive to that the institution can continue ist for the Ottawa Public Library. And deeper research. to play an evolving role for patrons. when the Calgary Public Library elim- Librarians are more than mere However, a comfortable (and growing) inated fees for library cards in 2015, an- monitors of the library space. Mon- majority of users do not want the li- nual visits jumped by one million peo- treal’s Côte-Saint-Luc’s city hall low- brary’s footprint to be reduced. In fact, ple. Ontario public library usage is at ered its flags when the town’s found- they would prefer to see more space an all-time high. ing librarian died, in recognition of her for reading, working and relaxing. And Numbers aside, the public’s fond- community contributions. In a pub- two-thirds of library users in the U.S. ness for libraries—both for their po- lic talk, the recently deceased Indige- aged 16 and older believe closing their tential as future hubs for new servic- nous author Richard Wagamese paid public library would have a major im- es and as a popular physical destina- tribute to the St. Catharines, Ontario pact on their community. tion—is a reminder that these public librarian who changed his life by an- The numbers were higher for wom- institutions, despite the rhetoric of ra- swering his questions, recommending en, older adults, parents of young chil- tionalization, have the capacity to be books, and taking him to art galleries dren, low-income Americans, African as nimble as any Silicon Valley startup. and the opera. Americans and Hispanics, who are What is a makerspace or neighbour- There is no question that, in a time more likely to use library comput- hood tool-sharing kitchen if not most- of “alternative facts,” librarians have ers and wireless. Additionally, those ly a trendy library? This should be par- an even more vital role to play. We who are more civically active, or have ticularly relevant to urban planners are inundated with information on a worked with others to address a com- and policy-makers today, as so many daily—even hourly—basis. The line munity problem or try to affect gov- other community spaces and support between opinion and news is blur- ernment policy, are more likely to visit programs are being reduced or becom- ring, and conspiracy-based websites the library, often for public meetings. ing unavailable. are proliferating, shared more easily Libraries were also seen in the Pew Far from old-fashioned, the library’s than ever on social media platforms. study as helpful in seeking health care version of sharing is innovative and— In such an environment, the ability to information or learning new technol- bonus!—sustainable. M 21 Reading the moment

MICHAL ROZWORSKI A radical break R2HOX (FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS) As social democracy fumbles in a post-crisis world, two books wonder whether we should all stop being Keynesians now.

N THE 10 years since the global fi- is in fact a 200-year history of ideas ful Keynesian, one motivated by the nancial crisis of 2007-08, few econo- that sees Keynesianism as a strand desire to avoid the collapse of civili- mists have been summoned figura- of thought that both predates and zation itself. Itively from the dead as often as John has outlived its progenitor, adopted What follows is not quite a review. Maynard Keynes. Indeed, in their ide- even by those who would not identi- Rather than concentrate on whether as and political proposals many of to- fy with him. For Mann, Keynes is the Mann’s Keynes is truly reflective of day’s radicals sound much like the lib- most consummate friendly critic of the original, I want to explore what eral economist himself or his acolytes liberal capitalism—the true believer he can tell us about where we are a from the 1960s. So why is Keynesian- criticizing from within—whose aim decade out from the most severe cri- ism considered radical today? Can was to ultimately bolster the legiti- sis since the Great Depression. Keynesianism be radical at all? It is macy of the system to stave off some- precisely these questions that Geoff thing worse. Mann’s In the Long Run We Are All Mann admits he started out writing Productive tensions Dead (Verso Books, January 2017) can what he thought would be a wither- A good portion of In the Long Run… help to answer. ing critique of Keynesianism, but fin- traces Keynesianism as an “immanent Mann argues we shouldn’t be sur- ished the book only to find his own in- critique” of liberalism. Mann’s Keynes prised by Keynes’s return: the spectre ner Keynesian. That person was not of is the most truthful variety of liber- of spiralling crisis is a constant fixture the post-crisis “we are all Keynesians al, one who accepts capitalism, warts of liberal capitalism, and Keynesian- now” variety. He was not the carica- and all. Keynes is the “shrewd bour- ism is the standard liberal response to tured Keynes of aggressive fiscal poli- geois.” He acknowledges the tragedy crisis. His book, ostensibly on Keynes, cy. Instead, Mann says he found a fear- of poverty alongside plenty, but sees 22 the poor only making things worse if the community. When deprived of any economics, but an attitude toward eco- their grievances are given full hearing aspiration of exiting their situation, nomic governance. Keynesianism is a and acted upon. the rabble stand ready to rebel. The political economy whose main con- Mann draws parallels between question—which Mann picks up from cern is granting legitimacy to liberal Keynes and Hegel. In fact, he dedi- Robespierre—is whether an “honour- capitalism above all else—not for its cates four chapters to making the able poverty” without rebellion is pos- own sake but out of that fear for civ- case for Hegel as a Keynesian before sible. ilization itself. Keynes. On Mann’s reading, the early Finally, there is perennial conflict In the end, Mann’s Keynes is nei- 19th century philosopher and the ear- between politics and economics— ther first a committed capitalist nor a ly 20th century economist were equal- the practice of governing the econo- committed democrat. He is, above all, a ly perturbed by the tension between my and the theory of how it should committed bourgeois—fearful of rev- the abstract equality of market socie- operate. The (oddly enough, dialecti- olution, and loyal to an imagined civi- ty and the concrete inequality of ma- cal) resolution of the two is a politi- lizing role. He both presages and is al- terial life. Both understood poverty cal economy that, when it “comes face- ready a member of a new technocrat- under capitalism to be systemic, not to-face with necessity, ‘goes Keynesi- ic class, one that abets capitalism, all merely incidental. But both also saw an’…turns away from the long run to the while fighting its worst instabili- the capacity of revolutionary chang- the immediacy of the moment.” After ties and excesses. es to produce terror—Hegel writing Keynes, Mann argues, a clean separa- Mann is right here to identify uncer- after the French Revolution and Ter- tion between the realms of politics tainty and an enforced scarcity of cap- ror, Keynes after the First World War and economics is impossible and po- ital as lynchpins of Keynes’s economic and during the rise of fascism. litical economy eventually returns thinking. Capital is kept scarce to pro- Mann’s fascinating, if idiosyncratic, whenever crisis strikes. duce a yield that elicits entrepreneur- account of Keynesianism is punctuat- All of these tensions exist under the ial investment, meanwhile the funda- ed by long forays into the history of surface of capitalism, which is natu- mental uncertainty about the future philosophy, the history of the French rally prone to crises when they boil creates conditions where yield habitu- Revolution and the history of econom- over, on their own or in combination. ally becomes too low relative to the in- ic thought. The book is broad in scope An economic hiccup becomes a crisis terest rate on money. Scarcity of cap- and imaginative. And the co-existence under capitalism when the system’s le- ital produces its opposite—unem- of poverty and plenty is just one of gitimacy is questioned. Mann identi- ployment, or the overabundance of several overarching tensions animat- fies the task of enforcing and restoring labour. This scarcity is necessary but ing the account. legitimacy as central to the Keynesi- it creates crisis. For Keynesians, writes Mann also identifies a conflict bean program. It is not particular eco- Mann, “the highest policy priority in a tween abstract rules of morality and nomic policies that underpin Keynes’s monetary economy is to manage the ethics rooted in living communities link between the future and the pres- that roughly approximates Kant’s and ent, so as to render it as stable as pos- Hegel’s approaches to moral philoso- sible.” Otherwise, the good entrepre- phy. For Mann, the difference between neur becomes the bad rentier. Or, to free-market and Keynesian econom- use the language of Thomas Piketty, ics is that the first relies on abstrac- whom Mann identifies as the best ex- tions about perfect markets to ram ample of a contemporary Keynesian, r through its vision for a capitalist econ- Mann's Keynes (the net rate of return to capital) over- omy, whereas the second is ready to takes g (the growth rate of output). admit the structural imperfections, is neither first Keynesianism understands the in- especially expectations about a fun- a committed ternal contradictions of the system— damentally uncertain future, that the “economic problem” of pover- have to be permanently managed by capitalist nor ty alongside plenty, and the poten- the state to enable the system to sur- a committed tial for systemic depression beyond vive and even thrive. a mere lack of goods—but wants Then there is the tension between democrat. He to save it from the inside. Its tool is the realms of necessity and freedom. is, above all, not revolution, which will only make Mann frequently references “the rab- things worse (especially for the poor, ble,” which in past iterations included a committed by whom and in whose name it is car- the sans-culottes of the French Rev- bourgeois—fearful ried out), but mechanisms internal to olution or Marx’s lumpenproletari- the system. For Mann, Keynes wants at. Because capitalism inevitably cre- of revolution, a “revolution without revolutionar- ates poverty amidst plenty, there will and loyal to an ies,” whose end is preserving civiliza- always be people mired in the world tion, something broader than just lib- of necessity, those whose simple quest imagined civilizing eral capitalism. for survival can obliterate the rules of role. 23 “Keynes...does not believe the poor Consider the chasm between Brit- sentatives, dissipated even earlier as deserve their fate,” he writes, but this ish Labour’s Clement Attlee (never- the governing social democrats took fate is still better than the revolution- mind Aneurin Bevan) and Tony Blair. a more business-friendly tack. In the ary alternative. To this end, rentiers Social managers deprived of an organ- U.K., New Labour’s path to “progres- can and need to be sacrificed for a ized base able to hold them to account sive neoliberalism” was cleared by the common good that is bound up with wholly absorbed the values of the pro- Thatcher Conservatives, who, as Max capitalism. Keynesianism is thus not fessional-managerial class. And after Crook writes, “made economic man- the set of abstract, rote policy pro- the most recent crisis, even they are agement and the appearance of eco- posals invariant to time and place of- disintegrating as a political force, leav- nomic competence simpler for govern- ten conjured up under the heading, ing an elite intent on enriching itself ments.” Once the unions were broken but a political economy—one at war as far as it can in their wake. there was less need to seek legitima- with the workings of laissez faire as Today’s crisis of social democracy tion from a less organized working much as with those who would undo can be overlaid on—and is partially class. the whole edifice. Not out of unbridled the cause of—a crisis of capitalism. In Across the Global South the expe- belief in the system but out of fear for fact, in country after country, as de- rience has been more uneven. Chile, what would come after it. scribed in Three Worlds of Social De- for example, saw the overthrow of mocracy: A Global View (Pluto Press, the short-lived socialist government October 2016), an excellent new collec- of Salvadore Allende in 1973, followed What the tensions have produced tion edited by Ingo Schmidt, this cri- by a right-wing dictatorship that was Postwar social democrats in the Glob- sis can be dated much earlier than our itself overthrown in 1989. The right al North became this class of Keynes- current morass. had a solution to the fear of the rab- ian non-revolutionaries: profession- The contributions on Europe near- ble that was very different from the alized, well-meaning, dedicated to bet- ly uniformly date the crisis of social one Mann reads into Keynes: the army terment but through technocratic in- democracy to the late 1970s or early and a government of generals. Howev- crementalism rather than revolution. ‘80s, decades before today’s elector- er, when democratic rule returned, the However, as the political and econom- al disintegrations. French president economic strictures of the 1980 con- ic conditions sustaining social democ- François Mitterrand’s program of state stitution put in place by the generals racy have waned (e.g., a strong labour intervention disintegrated faced with movement and postwar reconstruc- a capital strike in 1983. In Norway, un- U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tion), this progressive political class ion proposals for industrial democra- addresses a campaign rally in increasingly debased itself. cy, including reserving half the seats Birmingham, June 6, 2017. on company boards for worker repre- DARREN STAPLES/REUTERS

24 remained unquestioned. The social Today's crisis of While Mann traces fear of a lump- democrats of the post-dictatorship en rabble from Hegel to Keynes to era were bound by rules they did not social democracy Piketty, the history of capitalism has create but, taking inspiration from can be overlaid had as one of its major protagonists their Third Way counterparts in the organized labour—the rabble trans- North, nevertheless obliged. Here soon—and is formed. Organized labour has been cial democracy did not become neo- partially the cause the political expression of the power liberal but inherited a neoliberalism it of the working class. The welfare-state could not shake. (Are Chile’s contem- of—a crisis of Keynesianism of the postwar decades porary social democrats Keynesians capitalism. has not been the default economic re- of Mann’s variety, foremost afraid of sponse to the most recent crisis—the any revolutionary opening when past most severe since the 1930s—in part efforts were so brutally repressed?) because the decline of organized la- Elsewhere, from South Africa to the bour is now so severe. As the histori- state of Kerala in India, the rapid suc- an Eric Hobsbawm put it, “one of the cession of post-colonial development worst things about the politics of the and the opening up of the global econ- last 30 years is that the rich have for- omy produced social democratic par- the dangers of foreign debt and cur- gotten to be afraid of the poor.” ties that nevertheless faced pressures rency crisis. The mix is pretty similar The slow decay of social democra- to adopt strands of neoliberal policies, to the one that derailed the social dem- cy since the 1970s and ‘80s has only ac- creating tensions between govern- ocratic project in the West during the celerated since the 2007 crash, at least ment parties, unions and their con- 1970s.” in the Global North. In some places it stituencies. As Schmidt writes in his The figure of capital and its politi- looks like a near-terminal collapse. summary: “Hopes that at least part of cal representatives, whether in sharp In Greece, PASOK was reduced to the South could belatedly follow the suits or army boots, plays too small single-digit support in the 2015 elec- post-WWII model of combining pros- a role in Mann’s account. This begs tions won by SYRIZA. The rout con- perity and class compromise are fad- the question: to what extent are the tinues across Europe: 6% voted for the ing, while the new social democratic Keynesians who desire to uphold the Dutch Labour Party in elections this governments in the South are facing legitimacy of the liberal capitalist or- March, the same result achieved by an explosive mix of rising discontent der doing so not on behalf of organ- the French Socialists’ presidential can- among different layers of the popula- ized labour, but to seek legitimacy didate Benoît Hamon in April (Jean- tion, increasing fiscal pressures and from much more organized capital? Luc Mélenchon, running to his left,

25 received three times as many votes). The political ertheless continue to espouse Keynes- The main counter-examples all fea- ian economic programs, or have even ture parties at least rhetorically sig- transformation turned to implementing austerity in nalling a break from the legitima- and ultimate power (in the case of Syriza), some tion project, most notably in the U.K., cracks are showing. June’s surprise where Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour suc- failure of social showing by Corbyn is instructive: his cess in the June election has opened democracy across is the first Labour program in gener- space to the left of social democracy. ations to go beyond fiscal redistribu- much of the North tion and propose public ownership has enabled the and economic democracy. Keynes after the crash Even if Mann calls Piketty the clos- Keynesianism is the necessary hori- rise of new left- est contemporary avatar of Keynes zon of liberal capitalism, its perenni- wing political and Keynesianism, it is in fact Mann’s al fallback. Mann calls it “pharmaceu- Keynes who is our contemporary— tical,” a medicine for when things get forces. fearful and subdued into timidity. His out of hand. The more panicked ini- time, however, may be slowly drawing tial years of the current crisis gener- to a close. And while Mann is good at ated rhetorical appeals to Keynes and looking honestly within his own rad- some fiscal stimulus—from Obama’s ical soul and seeing Keynesianism, he TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) at times does a disservice to the radical bank bailout, to Stephen Harper’s tem- kernels in Keynes that can be taken up porary spending boost, to quantitative commodity boom, concentrated in by the contemporary left—most no- easing by the major central banks. But, three provinces, Canada would have tably the socialization of investment as the acute crisis passed, a big por- been in the same boat; even so, the ma- that is implied by a true euthanasia tion of the appeals to Keynes subsid- jority of the population has still seen of the rentier. ed, especially as it became clear the cri- living standards remain not far from There is a risk of psychologizing sis was not generating much explosive flat. Across the Atlantic, the U.K. is in Keynes and Keynesianism too much. social discontent. even worse shape. The EU, too, is large- Yes, there is an element of liberal anx- There are still those who see im- ly mired in stagnation, only its periph- iety, but as a political practice Keynes- pending threats to civilization: Fi- eries are no longer at the precipice of ian political economy can have con- nancial Times columnist Martin collapse. crete effects in the world that not only Wolf on the right, or Yanis Varoufakis Politically the response has not ful- assuage anxiety for liberals but alter on the left, for example. But the poli- ly restored the system’s legitimacy. If material reality for the vast majori- cy-makers in government and at cen- anything, it has made the legitimacy ty. Whether and how Keynesianism tral banks have largely grown com- crisis worse. Today the capitalist sys- achives this depends on how organ- placent and have chosen a different tem is losing legitimacy at the fast- ized the rabbles of the world are. Pov- path. Mann breaks down the Keynes- est pace in several generations. More erty can be made bearable to sustain ian program this way: “(a) skilled man- people, especially the young, iden- the conditions that produce it, but it agement of the rate of interest…; (b) tify with socialism. The far right is can also be made bearable as a precur- when necessary state spending to also making a comeback, undermin- sor to organizing people to eradicate maintain a stable or increasing level ing the legitimacy of liberal capital- these conditions. of aggregate demand; and (c) as low in- ism from a wholly opposite direction: We are still far from either option flation as is practically possible with- the right likes capitalism but not liber- in the response to 2007-08, still stum- out too much disruption of the labour alism. Fascism can break through the bling along. But social democrats and market.” Today the bare minimum is Keynesian impasse because it breaks radicals today face choices increasing- largely focused on option (a). But, de- the working class; the rule of capital ly sharpened by material reality. Mann spite low interest rates and stable in- is undisputed and the state, now total- lays out a final helpful guidepost: “De- flation, the only thing surging are eq- itarian, is left to enforce full employ- ferral is therefore a possibility, some- uity prices—so much for the eutha- ment because the fear of worker bar- times necessary, sometimes simply nasia of the rentier! gaining power is gone. the best one can hope for—but it is This response is only barely work- The political transformation and always, in the end, deferral.” M ing, both economically and politically. ultimate failure of social democracy Across so much of the Global North across much of the North has enabled the crisis may be past, but there is no the rise of new left-wing political forc- robust recovery either. The U.S. econ- es—SYRIZA in Greece, Podemos in omy is stuck on a low-GDP-growth, Spain, the Bernie Sanders movement, low-wage-growth, low-productivi- Corbynite Labour in the U.K., Jean- ty-growth path. It is neither in cri- Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise. sis nor surging out of it. If not for the While most of these formations nev- 26 distribution of the new wealth.” Erik Brynjolfsson and An- WORK LIFE drew McAfee’s acclaimed book The Second Machine Age (W.W. Norton & Company, January 2016) offers a treatise on how to exploit emerging digital technologies while avoid- LYNNE FERNANDEZ ing the sort of problems Wilkins refers to. U.K. scholar David Spencer published a critical review of Brynjolfsson and McAfee’s book this June. While the au- On automation: thors acknowledge that digital technologies can increase inequality, Spencer points out they also believe that “tech- the more things nological unemployment” is avoidable if those who lose their jobs take advantage of emerging opportunities. Like change… Wilkins, they recommend investment in education and infrastructure to ease the transition (though we never learn how governments will afford it). Spencer claims this idea that we can all become creative writers or scientists or that good-old standby—en- trepreneurs—is unrealistic. Importantly, it ignores pow- HE BANK OF England’s chief economist boldly predict- er relations in the production and use of digital technolo- ed in 2015 that within 20 years, 80 million American gies, which are just as likely to control and exploit work- workers will lose their jobs to robots. Is this predic- ers as they are to replace them. For example, Amazon’s tion accurate? What would such massive technolog- “crowd employment” platform Mechanical Turk enables ical change mean for workers? For society? a gig economy in which you can earn between $.02 and TSome jobs are already being performed by robots. Think $2.00 for each HIT (human intelligence task) you perform. factory workers, telephone sales, bank tellers, airline per- One fellow made more than $2.00 by performing a series sonnel, cashiers, surgeons, vegetable producers, salespeo- of mind-numbing tasks over a four-hour period, confirm- ple, pharmacists, accountants, translators, etc., etc. But the ing Spencer’s conclusion that this sort of work is dull, re- fact that these technologies are available does not nec- petitive and pays workers far below minimum wage while essarily mean they will be widely adopted or permanent. ignoring employment standards. In a New Labour Forum article, Peter Frase, author of Amazon has perfected the use of technology to imple- the recent book Four Futures: Life After Capitalism (Verso ment what is referred to as “digital Taylorism,” effectively Books, October 2016), explains that when employers have dehumanizing its workplace at the same time as it mon- access to a large pool of unemployed/underemployed itors workers and pushes them ever harder. So yes, tech- workers, they can afford to be less productive. Only when nology can produce jobs, but it often ramps up the degree labour is scarce or has sufficient bargaining power through of exploitation in the workplace. unionization will “low-road” employers be forced to adopt Where does this leave us? Technological change march- new technology. After all, a compliant low-wage worker es on, as it always has. Some jobs will disappear, but just as may be more profitable to employ than even the most ef- many will morph into digital jobs, filling a brave new labour ficient robot. market with faceless workers toiling alone in the online Non-competitive employers aside, we can’t deny that world. It’s a new version of an old theme—the constant automation has driven the evolution of capitalism—and struggle between employers and workers. Spencer’s main work—from the Industrial Revolution to the present. But insight, and that of the Luddites, is in understanding the a price is always extracted for that progress, and not just profoundly political nature of technological change and because technology replaces workers; at times it changes how it is used to augment employers’ power. the nature of the work that people do. This is where the is- Here’s one more history lesson. The Mechanical Turk sue gets thorny. Who controls technology? How is it used? is named after an 18th-century automaton that played a And how is the profit shared? mean game of chess. In fact, the automaton was a hoax, ma- According to Wired columnist Clive Thompson, the nipulated by a hidden person. The Mechanical Turk is more much-maligned Luddites dealt with the same issues in the than a glib reference to today’s hidden, digitized worker. It early 1800s. Far from being backward-looking, machine-de- reminds us that although technology can twist and turn stroying thugs, these skilled weavers used sabotage to try the relations between workers and employers, in a capital- to get their new bosses to help ease their transition from ist system it cannot definitively replace human labour. M autonomous craftspeople to exploited factory workers. LYNNE FERNANDEZ IS THE ERROL BLACK CHAIR IN LABOUR ISSUES WITH THE They pushed for labour standards, a minimum wage and CCPA-MANITOBA. FOR FEEDBACK ON WORK LIFE, OR TIPS FOR FUTURE COLUMNS, YOU CAN REACH HER AT [email protected]. a tax to fund pensions. Sound familiar? Carolyn Wilkins from the Bank of Canada acknowledged in April that the coming transition will be difficult, from the “challenging adjustment for the labour force, to the 27 Reading the moment

SCOTT SINCLAIR Populism ascending GAGE SKIDMORE

ONALD TRUMP WAS still about two reflections on its deeper meaning and right and the left. Judis adds a simple weeks away from winning the U.S. the social forces underlying it. Pop- but clarifying element to previous ex- presidency when The Populist Ex- ulism inspires both hope and fear, planations by distinguishing between Dplosion was released in October. and Judis—journalist by trade, phi- populism’s left-wing and right-wing The election would take many people losopher by training and skilled po- variants. by surprise, including the book’s au- litical economist by craft—provides “Left-wing populists champion the thor John Judis, sure as they all were a knowledgeable, balanced guide to people against an elite or establish- that the more mainstream candidate both its perils and promise. ment,” he writes. “Theirs is a vertical could not lose. Since then we hear the Populism has no definitive set of politics of the bottom and middle ar- word “populism” used again and again features that can be spelled out in so- rayed against the top. Right-wing pop- by journalists and politicians, almost cial scientific terms, writes Judis. In- ulists champion the people against an always in the negative, and usually de- stead, the various populist figures and elite that they accuse of coddling a scribing right-wing (or “alt-right”) pol- movements have “family resemblanc- third group, which can consist, for in- iticians who brashly challenge what es…but not a set of traits that can be stance, of immigrants, Islamist, or Af- they call an elite, liberal establish- found exclusively in all of them.” Ear- rican American militants. Left-wing ment. lier analysts described populism as a populism is dyadic. Right-wing pop- Judis shows us what should prob- political “language” (U.S. historian Mi- ulism is triadic. It looks upward, but ably be obvious—that there is much chael Kazin) or “logic” (Argentine po- also down on an out group.” more going on here. His still timely litical theorist Ernesto Laclau) that This usually racist hostility toward book is an astute examination of one “pits the people against the elites or outsiders (both within and outside na- of the most important political phe- an establishment, and seeks to mobi- tional borders), with its latent threat nomena of our era. In just under 200 lize the former against the latter.” Pop- of violence, is what makes right-wing pages it offers a lively history of populism, then, is not a fixed ideology but populism so frightening. At its core ulism, an overview of its current re- “a way of thinking” about politics, and right-wing populism is reactionary, surgence in Europe and the U.S., and as such can be employed by both the while left-wing populism is at least po- 28 tentially universalist and progressive. to a brutal program of austerity and dis acknowledges that Trump shares Donald Trump’s politics feed on fear “internal devaluation.” many toxic qualities with genuine Eu- and anger; Bernie Sanders harnesses Judis stresses how populism can ropean fascists, but so far the presi- anger to cultivate hope. lay the groundwork for lasting po- dent has not moved to disband Con- Judis also distinguishes left-wing litical change, often brought about gress or wage wars of territorial ex- populism from socialist movements, when populist ideas are absorbed by pansion. Fascism also arose in unique and right-wing populism from con- mainstream parties. In the 1930s the historical circumstances where Euro- servatism. Left-wing populism breaks populist appeal of Louisiana Gover- pean ruling elites felt mortally threat- with class-based politics by appealing nor Huey Long, and the prospect of ened by Bolshevism and were recep- to a broad, loosely defined base (for him splitting the Democratic vote by tive to fascist militants prepared to vi- example, Occupy’s slogan “We are the running for president, helped propel olently destroy communist and social- 99%”). Right-wing populists part ways FDR to craft the New Deal. The Unit- ist parties. Judis notes that right-wing with traditional conservatives in that ed Kingdom Independence Party’s ag- populists may morph into fascists “as the latter are generally committed to itation against the EU has today been conditions change in the U.S. or Eu- work within the framework of repre- internalized by the Tories in their em- rope, but it’s not an accurate view of sentative democracy, while the former brace of Brexit. where they are at present.” are prone to denigrate and subvert it. While Judis may well be right in say- Given when it was published, The Another key idea in the book is that ing that populism was invented in the Populist Explosion does not consider the success of populism is usually “a U.S. he overlooks other non-Europe- what happens when a right-wing pop- warning sign of political crisis.” The an countries’ experiences. It’s worth ulist wins office in the most powerful author’s eye is consistently drawn to noting that Canada had its own dis- country in the world. Trump in pow- the structural problems of modern tinctive versions in the left-wing er has been true to his populist rhet- capitalist economies and the legiti- Prairie populism that gave rise to the oric in terms of moving ahead with macy crisis of neoliberalism. Co-operative Commonwealth Feder- fairly easy gestures, such as nixing the For example, Judis contrasts the at- ation and the right-wing Social Cred- Trans-Pacific Partnership and with- titudes of the U.S. middle classes dur- it movement, chronicled by the emi- drawing from the Paris accord on cli- ing the Great Depression and Great nent political theorist C.B. Macpher- mate change. But his campaign rhet- Recession. In the 1930s the U.S. middle son. These Canadian movements were oric assailing elites on behalf of the class tended to identify with the poor no doubt influenced by U.S. anteced- (white) American working class has, and the unemployed, in part because ents, but they were not purely imita- unsurprisingly, already proven to be before the advent of the welfare state tive. bogus, as can be seen in his adminis- they could readily imagine joining the Judis does not shy away from tak- tration’s sellout to the billionaire class ranks of the poor. But with social safe- ing strong, even contrarian positons. on taxes, health care, financial and en- ty nets in place during the Great Re- He rejects the frequently hurled vironmental deregulation, and (soon) cession, the middle class was more apt charge that Trump is a fascist as an through negotiating even more corpo- to look down on and fear the less for- unhelpful exaggeration that obscures rate-friendly trade deals, starting with tunate: they did not want to subsidize his role in contemporary history. Ju- a revamped NAFTA. the poor or fall to their status. This But for those hoping or expecting hostility, frequently racialized, pro- that Trump will implode, so things can vided fertile ground for a right-wing get back to “normal,” Judis’s book con- populism, in contrast to the left-wing tains an implicit warning: the success populism of the New Deal era and the of populist movements is a sure sign Great Depression. of serious problems, which the author Judis also points to structur- calls “tears in the fabric of accepted po- al problems in the European Un- litical wisdom.” It is vital, Judis warns, ion, which gave rise to left-wing pop- “to understand why what populists ulism in southern Europe in the form The success say resonates with the greater public, of Greece’s SYRIZA, Spain’s Podemos and they are pointing, however imper- and Italy’s Five Star Movement. As of populist fectly, to real problems that the major other analysts have stressed, the pro- movements is parties are downplaying or ignoring.” gressive vision of a Social Europe has In other words, there is probably no been eclipsed by the neoliberal pro- a sure sign of normal to return to, just a revival of ject of Financial Europe. Given the serious problems, politics—the belief that “the people” ruling elites’ hostility to debt relief or can challenge entrenched power and a potentially redistributive fiscal un- which the author actually change the world—for better ion, the monetary union and the euro calls “tears in the or for worse. M placed southern Europeans in the almost-impossible position of “leaving fabric of accepted the eurozone entirely” or submitting political wisdom” 29 Reading the moment

REVIEW BY PETER G. PRONTZOS Inequality: it’s enough to make you sick

N 2016, OXFAM made an almost un- prevalent is that it is simply easier to The now famous Whitehall study believable announcement: the rich- think about people than situations.” of British civil servants exposed a est 62 people in the world had as This social problem was dramatical- dramatic example of this phenome- Imuch wealth as the poorest half of ly revealed in Philip Zimbardo’s (in)fa- non in action. There is a very clear hi- the global population. But relatively mous Stanford prison experiment, in erarchy of power in the U.K., writes speaking, those were good days for which college students were random- Payne, such that “even the difference inequality. Oxfam’s follow-up report, ly assigned to be either “guards” or “in- between the highest-status govern- released earlier this year, found that mates” in a pretend jail. The experiment officials and those just one rung today just eight people are worth as ment had to be ended early because below was linked to increased mortal- much as the planet’s poorest 3.6 bil- normal young people were so nega- ity,” among other medical problems. lion. tively affected by their roles: “guards” These differences exist even though It’s not easy to put this wealth gap became brutal and even sadistic, “pris- all of the subjects “have decent gov- into perspective—the numbers are oners” were traumatized. ernment jobs and the salaries, health so enormous. But consider that you As Payne underlines, most atti- insurance, pensions, and other ben- could easily fit those eight rich people tudes and actions are, most of the efits that are associated with them.” into one of their (perhaps numerous) time, “shaped by particular situa- “The workplace is where most peo- private jets, while there are about a bil- tions” rather than by individual dis- ple experience inequality most direct- lion people living across North, Cen- position. Moreover, again most of the ly on a daily basis,” adds Payne, an ob- tral and South America. time, we not only have very little conservation that would not have sur- Yes, eight people own more wealth trol of situations, but almost no con- prised Karl Marx. than three times the population of the trol over our thoughts and feelings, The unhealthy consequences of in- entire Western Hemisphere. Never 99% of which are unconscious to be- equality hold true around the world. has there been such inequality in the gin with. For example, citing research by Rich- world. And as Keith Payne shows in “Emotion can be even more pow- ard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, from his important new book, The Broken erful than thoughts,” writes Payne, their book The Spirit Level: Why Equal- Ladder (Viking, May 2017), it is deeply while documenting how the constant ity Is Better for Everyone, Payne points affecting how we live with each other psychological stress of poverty, racism out that the most economically equal and think about our fellow humans. and inequality can cause one’s body developed countries (Japan, Sweden Payne, a professor of psychology at to get stuck in fight-or-flight mode, and Norway) have fewer health and the University of North Carolina, be- sometimes “for weeks, months, or social problems than those countries gins his book by showing how we (and years.” And that very unhealthy state with the greatest inequality. At the top our primate cousins) are hard-wired can lead to inflammation, heart at- (or bottom) of the scale is the United to react to perceptions of relative sta- tacks and many other dangerous States, which has both the most ine- tus and inequality. At the same time, medical conditions. quality and is also the most unhealthy we are prone to “fundamental attribu- of all developed countries. tion errors,” notably the assumption “For at least 40 years, research ev- that another person’s successes and idence has been accumulating that failures are mostly their own doing. societies with larger income differ- “The college graduate is smart. The ences between rich and poor tend to drug addict is weak willed. The person have worse health and higher homi- shopping with food stamps is lazy,” cide rates,” write Wilkinson and Pick- writes Payne, listing some of those ett in a study updating The Spirit Level assumptions, which are frequently that was just published in The Lancet. expressed openly in conservative di- “More recently, this has been contex- alogue but can linger in even the most tualised by findings that more une- progressive minds. “One reason it is so qual societies not only have higher rates of poor health and violence, but 30 also of other outcomes that tend to be Not surprisingly, higher exposure to worse lower down the social ladder, toxic gases like carbon monoxide, and including teenage births, lower math to pesticides, air pollution and danger- and literacy scores, obesity, and im- ous chemicals at work, increases the prisonment.” risk to a person’s telomeres, with the In 2012, notes Payne, the average consequences this can have for their CEO in the U.S. “earned” about 350 chances to develop cancer and oth- times the average worker’s income. At- er deadly illnesses. Cellular aging can tempts to justify such disparities are even begin in the womb, linked to nu- usually based on the claim that these trient consumption and stress lev- executives add more value to their cor- els, and not just on the mother’s side. porations than regular workers—an- “[B]oth parents’ telomeres—at what- other “fundamental attribution error” describes the fascinating process in ever length they are at the time of if I’ve ever seen one. Do these CEOs her new book with her University of conception in the egg and sperm— work 350 times harder than the av- San Francisco colleague Elissa Epel. are passed on to the developing baby erage employee? Are they 350 times In The Telomere Effect: A Revolu- (a form of epigenetics).” smarter? Apparently not. “In one com- tionary Approach To Living Young- The consequences of these findings prehensive analysis of thousands of er, Healthier, Longer (Grand Central are profound. Notably, we can now corporations over nearly two dec- Publishing, January 2017), they ex- say the unhealthy effects of poverty, ades...only about 5 per cent of the per- plain that “aging is a dynamic process stress, inequality and similar social formance differences...could be attrib- that can be accelerated or slowed, and problems can be biologically embed- uted to the CEO,” writes Payne. in some aspects even reversed.” One ded in our cells and passed on to our key to aging is our telomeres, which children, and even our grandchildren, ut the meritocratic myths live on, normally get shorter each time a cell so that “it is possible for the effects of grounded as they can be in deep- divides. However, under the right cir- social disadvantage to accumulate Bly held beliefs about the independ- cumstances, our telomeres may actu- over the generations.” Adverse child- ence of the human psyche. In our hy- ally get longer—and that can marked- hood events are not only psychologi- perindividualistic and competitive ly improve a person’s health. cally damaging, they may play a part culture, the dominant ideology claims In the first part of the book we in shortening one’s telomeres, espe- each person is, overall, the master of get a guide to the basics of aging, tel- cially if the traumas are severe and/ their fate. As one Republican candi- omeres and telomerase—an enzyme or common. date for the 2012 U.S. presidency put that can replenish telomers. The sec- Hope lies partly in our body’s ability it, if you are poor, “Don’t blame Wall ond part describes how factors like to heal itself. “Our genes are like com- Street. Don’t blame the big banks…. stress, types of thinking and nega- puter hardware: we cannot change blame yourself.” tive feelings can all affect the heath them. Our epigenome, of which tel- Such views are not only heartless, of your telomeres (your genes). The omeres are a part, is like software,” they are demonstrably unscientif- authors provide a way for the reader say Blackburn and Epel. We may be ic. Dennis Raphael, a professor of to assess their own personal situation, able to rewrite the program. health policy and equity at York Uni- and offer some “stress-reducing tech- We know enough about the causes versity, once explained in the Moni- niques shown to boost telomere main- of both mental and physical illness to tor (November 2008) how the “[s]ocial tenance.” Exercise, diet and metabo- go beyond healing, to prevent most determinants of health are the pri- lism are covered in more detail in part damage from happening in the first mary determinants of whether indi- three, along with more self-improve- place. In their Telomere Manifesto, viduals stay healthy or become ill.” ments. But it is in part four that the Blackburn and Epel list the steps we They also decide “the extent to which societal implications of this research could take, today, to protect everyone: a person possesses the physical, so- become frighteningly clear. improve prenatal care, protect chil- cial, and personal resources to identi- In one chapter in this section, “Out- dren from violence and other trau- fy and achieve personal aspirations, side In: The Social World Shapes Your mas, reduce inequality, eliminate tox- satisfy needs, and cope with the en- Telomeres,” the authors outline, as ins, and make sure everyone has ac- vironment.” Payne and Raphael would, how so- cess to fresh and healthy food. One of the most dramatic break- cial factors determine health out- As Social Ecologist Murray Book- throughs in this field is the recent dis- comes, for better or worse. “People in chin pointed out decades ago—con- covery of the importance of telomeres, neighborhoods with low social cohe- firmed again and again by Oxfam’s “repeating segments of non-coding sion and who live in fear of crime have stunning inequality reports—we DNA that live at the ends of your chro- greater cellular aging,” while those have more than enough wealth and mosomes,” in a person’s health and de- who have the opportunity to spend knowledge to provide everyone with velopment over time. Elizabeth Black- more time in nature have lower lev- a healthy social and natural environ- burn, who shared a Nobel Prize in els of stress and the stress hormone ment. If, that is, we make this goal a 2009 for her research into telomeres, cortisol. political imperative. M 31 Reading the moment

GERARD DI TROLIO There’s power in a good book A workers’ summer reading guide from RankandFile.ca

E’RE LIVING IN uncertain times, clining everywhere. No one involved and they are more uncertain for in progressive activism should skip some than for others. Economic this book. Winequality, war, and warnings of environmental disaster dominate the ill he or won’t he walk away? news. But so, too, do calls for radical That’s the question surround- social and economic reform—in na- Wing President Trump as he con- tional elections and grassroots strug- tinues to send mixed signals about the gles across the world. We asked our future of NAFTA, mere weeks before friends at RankandFile.ca, Canada’s the deal is meant to be renegotiated. labour news portal, what we should Business and governments in Canada be reading this summer that would and Mexico are opposed to sweeping help us grasp the major economic ovements for economic, racial changes, but they, in league with cor- forces at play in our world, and how and environmental justice are porate America, also don’t want to see to meet today’s challenges head-on. Mgrowing louder every day, bring- NAFTA torn up. RankandFile.ca co-editor Gerard Di ing pressure to bear on politicians. Continental Crucible (Fernwood Trolio kindly recommended the fol- In No Shortcuts (Oxford Universi- Publishing, April 2013) is a short and lowing recent books. ty Press, September 2016), Jane McA- accessible summary of why North levey’s second book, the longtime en- American big business has come to vironmental activist and labour or- rely on NAFTA, how well-organized ganizer asks us to look back, for both CEOs got the deal passed in the first inspiration and a warning, to the place, and the effects it has had on upsurges of the late 1960s and ear- workers in all three countries. Ro- ly 1970s, which seemed to offer hope man, associate professor emeritus at for a more egalitarian society—until the neoliberal assault of the 1980s got in the way. McAlevey chalks up past failures to the professionalization of activism and proliferation of non-governmen- tal organizations who spent their time mobilizing (campaigning) for political change when they should have been organizing. She proposes an organizing model—“whole worker organizing”—based on the one the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) used during its mass union drives of the University of Toronto, and Velasco the 1930s, where organizers sought to Arregui, professor of law and labour build broad community alliances and economics at the Universidad Autóno- respond to the needs of workers in ma Metropolitana in Mexico City, may their workplaces, homes and neigh- turn Canadians’ perceptions of this is- bourhoods. sue on their head. McAlevey’s case studies are expertly Instead of U.S. corporations throw- chosen, proving it is possible to build ing their weight around to pressure worker power even—and perhaps es- Canada into free trade concessions, pecially—when it appears to be de- we learn how big business in Canada, 32 fearful of protectionist rhetoric from working conditions, declining union Ronald Reagan (during the 1980 pres- representation and dangerous work- idential election and the early days of places—have really hit home. his administration), copied U.S. corpo- Cowen notes that logistics have rate strategies to push governments to strengthened not just corporate pow- adopt business-friendly policies and er but state power as well. In the Ca- trade deals—a combination we have nadian context, they make possible come to know as neoliberalism. the securitzation of trade, with feder- With NAFTA’s future still uncer- al agents assigned to monitor Indig- tain, the most important sections of enous activists who protest Canada’s the book explain why resistance to export-oriented extractive industries the corporate agenda in North Amer- (oil, gas, mining). At the same time, she ica needs to take on a continental fo- writes, from Canada to Somalia to Chi- 1970, and by the 1980s big business in cus, and that cross-border solidarity is na, global supply chains have created Canada was definitely pursuing its a must in order to chart a more equita- new chokepoints of capitalism, where own agenda at home and abroad. ble economic order. (Editor’s note: see workers have the ability to exert their page 7 for Bruce Campbell’s account own power. nce you understand the basics of of a trinational civil society dialogue Canada’s role in the global econ- on NAFTA that he participated in re- hile we’re rethinking how Cana- Oomy, it’s time to pick up Blood of cently in Mexico City.) da fits into NAFTA, it’s a good idea Extraction (Fernwood Publishing, No- Wto dive into Paul Kellogg’s Escape vember 2016), a new book (reviewed from the Staple Trap (University of To- in detail by Jen Moore in the Novem- ronto Press, October 2015), itself a re- ber-December 2016 issue of the Moni- thinking of Canadian political econo- tor) that chronicles Canada’s shameful my for a new generation on the pro- role in Latin America, especially with- gressive left. in the mining industry. Back in 1970s Canada, it almost The official documentation of this went without saying that to be a Canadian-style imperialism is impres- left-leaning political economist was sive. Gordon and Webber base their to be an economic nationalist. The analysis on piles of access to informa- most well-known incarnation of this tion requests corroborated and com- point of view was probably the Waffle plemented by interviews with Latin movement within the New Democrat- American activists and officials. The ic Party, which argued Canada was a book describes how resource extrac- he modern logistics industry has dependency of the United States—a tion by Canadian corporations, backed become essential to the glob- semi-pepherial country within the by their government, has done a great Tal economy; Walmart or Amazon deal of environmental and social dam- would not be the retail powerhouses age to many communities across the they are without it. But there is a dark, continent. even violent, side to this technology But, as with the other books here, all of globalization, argues University of is not bleak. Blood of Extraction also Toronto geography professor Deborah details the many opposition move- Cowen in The Deadly Life of Logistics ments, often led by brave Indigenous (University of Minnesota Press, Sep- activists, that have sprung up to resist tember 2014). After all, modern logis- Canadian capital. One of those strug- tics owes a lot to military logistics, es- gles recently celebrated a great vic- pecially those developed during the tory when El Salvador’s government Second World War. As Cowen tells it, passed a blanket ban on metals min- the industry can’t shed its violent or- ing in the country. igins. U.S.-led global capitalist system—and The book is timely here in Canada, Logistics are what make global sup- that this status was stunting the coun- too, where activists continue to pres- ply chains and just-in-time produc- try’s economic development. sure the Liberal government to fulfil tion methods possible. Cowen calls Kellogg argues this analysis was its promise of creating a mining om- this “arguably the most under-inves- misplaced. Canada was, even then, a budsman to investigate wrongs com- tigated revolution of the twentieth wealthy and powerful capitalist state mitted abroad by Canadian mining century.” While business has benefit- in its own right, able to push its own im- companies. Consider this a call to ac- ed from this revolution, gaining mar- perial interests. Exhibit A: the amount tion. M kets across the world, the implications of foreign ownership in the Canadian for workers—outsourcing, precarious economy was actually declining after 33 HULU

EMILY TURK HE TEST OF a good dystopian novel or film was never how ac- curately it predicts the future; it is how unsettled it makes you feel about the way we live today. Some prophecy is im- Tportant, obviously. But the best dystopias hit close to home This future by reflecting our weaknesses and exaggerating our fears; by showing us how razor thin the line is between our (for the most part) livable if imperfect reality and a nightmarish future. is closer than Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a new television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic science (or speculative) fiction, finished production before Trump was elected president of the you think United States. It is excellent as far as dystopias go, and should be essential watching for progressives. The show reminds us Five reasons every that, as immediately disastrous as “Trumpocalypse” or Brexit progressive should watch may feel, the conditions that make Gilead possible have been with us for some time. The Handmaid’s Tale Embrace the bleakness and watch The Handmaid’s Tale.

34 The war on reproductive rights isn’t dystopian. At- wood’s The Handmaid’s Tale came out almost 30 years ago Gilead is rape culture followed to its logical con- at the nascence of the conclusion. We live in a culture that trivializes sexual servative Christian anti-choice violence, that regularly doubts and blames victims, movement. But the story, which unfolds 2that justifies rape and fails to hold perpetrators account- 1in a near-future where women have able. The Handmaid’s Tale series effectively draws a slow, been stripped of their bodily autonomy straight line from those cultural norms to the horrifying and forced to bear children, is painfully state-sanctioned, ritualized rape of the handmaids in resonant today. In just the past seven Gilead. In flashbacks, we see the new political power years, hundreds of legislative restric- maneuver women into submission. In quick succession tions have been enacted in the U.S. to they are humiliated, erased from the workforce, have unnecessarily delay, shame or entirely their movements restricted, and become increasingly curtail the rights of those seeking an dependent on “good men” to act in their best interests. abortion. These laws essentially en- They cannot consent to anything because they have no force childbirth. Meanwhile in Canada, autonomy. It’s rape culture uncut, and it’s easily the most the abortion pill (Mifegymiso) finally ar- disturbing aspect of Atwood’s story. rived this year—three decades after it became available in Europe. Trade policy is a human rights issue. Spoiler: a major plot A post-racial society is a myth. On TV, The point in the TV show revolves Handmaid’s Tale handles race differently 4around the trade relationship be- than the book—but not differently enough. tween the Republic of Gilead (for- Whereas Atwood’s novel conveniently skips merly the U.S.) and Mexico. Suffice over the question of race (people of colour it to say, there’s a reason many pro- are quickly exiled to forced labour camps and gressives today think human rights never mentioned again), the televised version establishes protections need to be strength- 3itself in some kind of post-racial or “colour-blind” society. ened in free trade deals (or super- It might be the show’s most dystopian element. For a story sede the deals entirely). Shot last so deeply informed by slave narratives and the idea of the year, The Handmaid’s Tale ends up subaltern, the show still elevates white experiences, and presciently articulating anxieties ends up invalidating the racist past it has appropriated. about the renegotiation of NAFTA, The show also misses the opportunity to draw from con- and highlighting key trade/rights in- temporary anti-racist organizing, and gets wrong what it tersections like workers’ rights, mi- gets so right about reproductive rights: the importance of grant rights, the right to a healthy centering the voices and experiences of the oppressed. environment, and more.

Climate justice and gender equality are inextricably linked. An un- named environmental disaster sets the events of The Handmaid’s Tale in motion and, in part, creates the conditions necessary for the subjugation of women. Three years ago, at the UN climate summit, then Chilean president Michelle Bachelet noted that women and children are 14 times more vulnerable than men in climate change– related natural disasters. But that doesn’t mean that women are predestined 5to be casualties of their environment. It means that those who are unequal and vulnerable to the effects of climate change understand exactly what’s at stake in trying to prevent it. But just like in Gilead, governments have struggled to recognize that empowering—not controlling—women is the answer. Instead, women and their fertility have been blamed for rising CO2 emissions, their bodies targeted by dubious population control strategies, and they’ve been largely excluded from policy- and decision-making arenas where key climate change policies are forged.

35 Reading the moment

HADRIAN MERTINS-KIRKWOOD Ironically Canadian

OURNALIST AND CULTURAL critic Jes- line and there are some brilliant lines. Yet the book, when read and appre- se Brown spares no sacred cow in One of my favourites: “The vast ma- ciated as a whole, offers some real in- The Canadaland Guide to Canada jority of corruption in Canada is just sights into Canada and Canadians. J(Touchstone, May 2017), a funny, ir- a bunch of chill bros doing each oth- Brown’s relentless exposé of racism, reverent ride through Canadian histo- er a solid or two.” classism and incompetence through ry, politics and society that, despite a The Canadaland Guide is not in- the ages amounts to a thorough and few questionable facts and a few bad tended to be a rigorous journalistic compelling critique of Canadian soci- jokes, contains some genuine insights work. In the introduction, the author ety and of our many unexamined na- into the Canadian condition. acknowledges that not everything in tional narratives. I came away from The book is an outcropping of the book is true. Most obviously, the the book not with a long list of facts Brown’s Canadaland platform, which text’s margin notes are cheeky one-lin- and arguments, but with a more crit- he started as a podcast in 2013 after ers with little claim to reality (e.g., ical understanding of the myths we stints at the CBC, Maclean’s and a num- “Every Supreme Court robe is man- tell ourselves as Canadians and why ber of other news organizations. (Vicky ufactured from at least sixteen baby they deserve scrutiny. Mochama, a Metro columnist and for- deer and/or ducks”). But elsewhere it’s Whether or not you will enjoy The mer collaborator on the Canada- less clear what is evidence-based and Canadaland Guide may depend on land Commons podcast, contributes, what is speculation, exaggeration or which section of the bookstore you along with comedy writer Nick Zarzy- fabrication. The unnecessarily blur- find it in. As a work of cultural criti- cki.) Brown’s role in exposing the Jian ry line between fact and fiction is the cism it is too scattershot and shallow, Ghomeshi scandal in 2014 drew main- book’s greatest weakness. but as a work of political humour the stream attention to Canadaland and Moreover, there is no conclusion book delivers the laughs while shining the platform has since expanded into and only the briefest introduction, so light on many of Canada’s most seri- a news website and podcast network. the thesis of the book (if there is one) ous, pervasive issues. The Canadaland Guide to Canada is mostly left to the reader to discern. Brown has his finger on the pulse exemplifies the scathing criticism of This lack of direction is often evident of young, politically engaged progres- Canadian myths and institutions that and occasionally exasperating. sives in this country, and they are the Brown has become known for in his In spite of its chapter structure, demographic most likely to relate to journalism and podcasting. Colour- the book bounces between topics and his language and style. But The Can- ful anecdotes, satirical infographics themes with bewildering aplomb. Off- adaland Guide may have broader ap- and cheeky observations are loosely beat historical snapshots get mixed peal for young people and others who arranged into a half-dozen themat- in with rambling commentaries and haven’t yet taken an interest in criti- ic chapters ranging from “The People irreverent quips, all on the same cal issues like Indigenous reconcilia- Who Run Canada” to “How We Think.” page. Brown’s humour is so dry it can tion and climate change. Over the course of 230 pages, Brown be difficult to discern the clever sat- And if Brown’s book is able to con- touches on everything from Canada’s ire (“Oops! You’re not a terrorist after nect with an audience that isn’t oth- colonial legacy to famous Canadian in- all”) from the more trivial gags (“All erwise engaged in our national con- ventions we didn’t actually invent to the good swears are French”) and the versation, then it is a very good book the violence of hockey parents. Every downright silly bits (“Should I f*** the indeed. M person, place or thing gets a punch- Prime Minister?”). 36 THE CCPA’S 2017 TELEPHONE TOWN HALL WAS A HUGE SUCCESS

n April 4, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alterna- rian Mertins-Kirkwood. “It’s pretty clear that politicians tives held its fourth annual telephone town hall with are not prioritizing health, the environment or local jobs CCPA supporters. Almost 3,000 of you called in, when they approve these projects and dismiss criticism. Ofrom coast to coast to coast, for an engaging virtual di- Our B.C. office has been documenting the influence of alogue on the economic, environmental and social jus- the fossil fuel lobby in provincial/national politics, which tice challenges facing Canada today. For CCPA staff, be- gets to the heart of some of these issues. You can check ing able to connect personally with supporters is one of out some of that work at www.corporatemapping.ca.” the highlights of our year. Madelaine Mageau of Deep River, Ontario followed-up Executive Director Peter Bleyer hosted a lively discus- with a question about trade. “Since NAFTA is going to be sion with CCPA economists and researchers, including renegotiated, details please, on what a FAIR free trade Sheila Block, Trish Hennessey, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, agreement should look like,” she wrote us. David Macdonald, Erika Shaker, Scott Sinclair and Moni- “It’s a great question, and one I’ve been thinking about tor Editor Stuart Trew. Some quite a bit lately,” responded of the hot topics covered in- Scott Sinclair, senior trade re- cluded inequality, the envi- “Well done, Peter Bleyer and searcher at the CCPA. “There ronment and climate change, the CCPA! This was a fascinating way is a lot of interest in alterna- international trade, basic in- of hooking people in from all over tive, fair trade policies right come, and much more. Canada. It reminded me a little bit of now.” Sinclair proposed re- During the call, supporters the Farm Forum programs that the moving excessive investor let us know their own research CBC used to offer many years ago.” “rights” in NAFTA, scaling and policy priorities through John Oussoren, Sturgis, Saskatchewan back expensive patent term their questions to CCPA par- extensions (on brand name ticipants, and in real-time in- drugs), strengthening pro- teractive polls. We squeezed in as many questions as pos- tections for workers and the environment, and greater sible over the course of the hour-long town hall, and have flexibility for economic development policies that cre- done our best to get back to those CCPA supporters who ate good jobs. followed-up with questions or comments afterwards. If you missed the Telephone Town Hall, or you’d like to For example, Lorne Iverson of Burnaby, British Colum- listen all over again, you can find a full recording on the bia asked us shortly after the Telephone Town Hall about CCPA website at www.policyalternatives.ca. Our annual the risks of pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure town halls are only open to CCPA supporters. If you didn’t in his province. have the opportunity to join us this year, please donate “You’re completely right to be baffled and frustrated today and participate in the next one! by these decisions,” replied CCPA climate researcher Had- 37 Reading the moment

ROBERT HACKETT Journalism and the climate crisis

EN YEARS AGO climate change was This could be done by complement- anism, green political thought has high on policy and media agen- ing journalism’s monitorial func- gravitated toward deliberative and, das. Today governments around tion (reporting on events and issues) increasingly, ecosocialist versions of Tthe world are soft-pedalling from with more emphasis on the facilita- democracy. an inadequate Paris Agreement, or tive role of promoting public discus- But what about Trump? Brexit? In even backpedalling in the case of the sion, and the radical role of identify- an alarmingly short time, the global Trump administration. The U.S. pres- ing injustice, accessing marginalized political environment appears to have ident is rolling back environmental voices and advocating social change. shifted toward pulling up drawbridg- protections to unleash further fossil The latter two roles are particularly es, building walls, demonizing Others fuel extraction. well-suited to the “alternative” media, and (to mix metaphors) scrambling for What happened? Well, quite a lot: given their oppositional content, par- the lifeboats rather than collectively there was the economic shock of ticipatory production, engagement stopping the ship from sinking. Cli- 2008, growing inequality and insecu- with communities and movements, mate change and resource depletion rity, continued political exploitation and ownership and control inde- accelerate this process, as does a glob- of fear about terrorism, the feeling pendent of corporations and the pet- al economic system doubling down on that climate change is an intractable ro-state. fossil fuel extraction, creating ever or distant issue, and what we should Compared to corporate media, out- more sacrifice zones, expendable peo- call job blackmail by Big Carbon in- lets like The Tyee, National Observer ple, mass migrations and conflict for dustries threatening to leave if they and DeSmog Blog offer accounts of resources as basic as food and water. don’t get their way (one aspect of the the climate crisis that are more hope- Such developments undermine the CCPA’s collaborative Corporate Map- ful, optimistic and engaged, less cyni- cultural resources needed to address ping Project). cal and spectatorial, and represent po- planetary crisis: empathy, hope, soli- But there is also the complicity of litical action as a viable and meaning- darity, Other-oriented ethics, political corporate news media in diverting hu- ful form of agency. Our case studies efficacy, civic trust and belief in the manity from the existential challenge also showed that Australian alterna- possibilities of collective action. Thus, posed by climate chaos. That complic- tive media are more clearly committed we argue in the book that the climate ity is the starting point for my new to addressing climate change, criti- crisis is not just a matter of environ- book with Susan Forde, Shane Gun- quing complicit and complacent gov- mental degradation and economic sys- ster and Kerrie Foxwell-Norton, Jour- ernments and industry, encouraging tems, but also of political and commu- nalism and Climate Crisis: Public En- grassroots political action, and sourc- nicative capacity. gagement, Media Alternatives (Rout- ing climate change’s victims rather For climate action, we need better ledge, 2017). In part a product of the than its deniers. democracy. For better democracy, we CCPA’s Climate Justice project, our Still, no single type of journalism need better media. For better media, book emphasizes several cross-cut- could meet all the demands of plan- we need better media structures, in- ting themes. etary crisis or of democratic commu- cluding stronger independent media. First, while climate change is un- nication. Even within western tradi- And for all these things, we need an ac- derreported relative to the scale of tions there are competing models of tive and engaged civil society. the problem, the key shortcoming of democracy, each emphasizing differ- Fortunately, millions of people have conventional news media is not lack of ent roles for media. been catalyzed by coming face to face information but of agency, hope and Market-liberal models reduce the with the abyss, especially in the U.S. efficacy. Millions worry about climate citizen’s role to choosing between The extraordinary mobilization at change but have not taken political competing teams of elites, emphasiz- Standing Rock, and struggles against action on the issue. Climate-friend- ing journalism’s monitorial function. the Enbridge, Kinder Morgan and En- ly journalism would normalize politi- Deliberative democracy, which has ergy East pipelines in Canada, demon- cal engagement, offer solutions, cele- greater faith in the public’s capacity strate the potential for new intersec- brate successes and identify the vest- to reason, highlights the facilitative tional alliances; protection of water- ed interests blocking the transition role. Socialist and egalitarian democ- sheds, wildernesses, coasts, communi- to a low-carbon economy. Journalism racies emphasize social and econom- ties, and Indigenous rights are entry needs to rethink its mission, in other ic equality as prerequisites for politi- points to the climate change issue. words, from informing citizens to en- cal democracy and imply a radical role So too is democratic public interest gaging publics and mobilizing social for journalism. After earlier flirtations journalism oriented toward climate movements. with anarchism and eco-authoritari- crisis. M 38 LISA GREAVES AN OCTOPUS BOOKS SUMMER READING GUIDE

S OWNER OF Octopus Books in Ottawa I’ve been helping theMonitor co-ordi- nate its reviews section for a few months now. But when they came to me for a list of new titles that will help people better understand the world this sum- Amer, I thought, “wow, that’s a big ask.” The world is a complex place; nailing down even one part of it would be difficult, and leave a tonne of questions unan- swered. Instead, I thought I would draw your attention to books that not only en- lighten but may even help you, me, and all of us make the world a more bearable place to be. These books will educate you, anger you, and some will hopefully en- tertain you. Balance and mindfulness is what it’s all about these days. That’s what this list is about too. As fantastic as all these books are, the year is only half-finished, and we’re expecting some blockbusters before the fall. Get ready to dive into Thomas King’s Illus- trated Inconvenient Indian and Naomi Klein’s No Is Not Enough, as well as new fiction from Salman Rushdie and Kathleen Winter, new poetry from Anne Michaels, and the hard-hitting Security Aid: Canada and The Development Regime of Secu- rity by Ottawa’s Jeffrey Monaghan, which presents a critical analysis of the secu- ritization of humanitarian aid. Happy reading!

GROUNDED AUTHORITY: THE ALGONQUINS OF BARRIERE LAKE AGAINST THE STATE SHIRI PASTERNAK University of Minnesota Press, June 2017

ince the election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in 2015, Canada has been hailed internationally for venturing into Sa truly progressive, post-postcolonial era, including through improved relationships between the state and Indigenous peoples. Pasternak corrects this misconception, showing that colonialism is very much alive in Canada. From the perspective of Indigenous law and jurisdiction, she tells the story of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake (in western Quebec) and their tireless resistance to federal land claims policy. Grounded Authority chronicles the band’s ongoing attempts to restore full governance over its lands and natural resources, through an agreement signed by settler governments almost three decades ago but which the state refuses to fully implement. This aversion to recognizing Algonquin jurisdiction, argues Pasternak, stems from the state’s goal of perfecting its sovereignty by replacing the inherent jurisdiction of Indigenous peoples. From police brutality and fabricated sexual abuse cases, to an intervention into and overthrow of a customary government, Paster- nak provides a compelling, richly detailed account of rarely documented coercive mechanisms employed to force Indigenous communities into compliance with federal policy. It is a vital contribution to current debates in the study of colonialism and Indigenous peoples in North America and globally. 39 TEARDOWN CLEA YOUNG Freehand Books, October 2016

oung’s debut collection of short stories is the perfect read for those summer days when you want to escape into someone else’s Yworld for a bit. The settings are nameless yet familiar, filled with characters we feel we’ve met before, and others we recognize in ourselves. “Congratulations & Regrets” speaks to the isolation one can sometimes experience even when surrounded by others; each reader will take something different from this story depending on what they bring into it. Young’s collection left me feeling inspired, like a walk through a beautiful garden, and motivated to do more to see things as others might. A real gift.

ROUGHNECK JEFF LEMIRE Gallery 13, April 2017

oughneck came to Octopus Books as an advance copy. Though, for whatever reason, graphic novels don’t normally appeal to Rme, as Lemire is the artist who teamed up with Gord Downie to produce Secret Path—about Chanie Wenjak’s residential school escape and tragic death—I thought I’d better see what all the fuss is about. I get it now. For all our talk about domestic violence, al- cohol and drug addiction, poverty and homelessness, and the catastrophic toll they take on folks of all sizes and stripes, frequently we get stuck in a bubble, pretend- ing these things don’t happen to the people in our lives. Roughneck makes you realize it’s all there, right under the surface. In very few words, but with startling graphical style, Lemire tells the grim story of a man who loses a promising hockey career, retreats to the northern community of his childhood and is joined un- expectedly by his sister, herself fleeing a brutal home life. It’s short, anything but sweet, but you will return to it again and again, feeling perhaps like you’ve spent a day in someone else’s shoes. And you will see Lemire’s images transposed onto your neighbourhood, reflected in the faces you once passed disinterestedly in the street.

WHEN WE ARE BOLD: WOMEN WHO TURN OUR UPSIDEDOWN WORLD RIGHT EDITED BY RACHEL M. VINCENT Art and Literature Mapalé & Publishing, September 2016

his powerhouse of a book collects 28 short profiles of women who boldly worked, and continue to work, for change, by Tthe women writers, thinkers and doers they inspired. Shan- nen Koostachin of Attawapiskat First Nation is profiled by Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Caring Society; Flora Mac- Donald is brought to life by Monia Mazigh (whose latest novel is also on my summer list); and we are introduced to the astounding achievements of murdered Honduran activist Berta Isabel Cáceres in a chapter by her daughter, Laura Zuniga. The book, which will inspire girls and women especially, is a call to action for those who care about fighting injustice, and a fountain of information about those struggles, from Canada to Congo, Iran to Australia.

40 MUCH MADNESS, DIVINEST SENSE: WOMEN’S STORIES OF MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE EDITED BY NILI KAPLAN-MYRTH AND LORI HANSON Pottersfield Press, April 2017

his anthology might be the first of its kind: a collection of writ- ings by, for and about women in mental health care, from all Tperspectives, including physicians and other health care professionals, Indigenous women, transgender women, daughters, sis- ters and mothers. “They are the recipients, providers and critics of mental health care,” explains the introduction. Some of their accounts are hard to read; you will recognize in these women yourself, your mother, your friend, your neighbour, and it will hurt. It’s not an academic book, but it should be required reading for all health care professionals. For everyone else, the short pieces collected here create a fascinating map of our uncharted and often dangerous mental health care system.

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH: PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES IN CANADA ANDRÉ PICARD Douglas & McIntyre, April 2017

icard is a long-standing fixture of the health scene through his Globe and Mail column and has a gift for breaking down com- Pplex subjects into informative and readable bites. Though a self-described layperson, he knows more than the average bear about cancer, geriatric parents, drug addiction, and which parts of Canada are underserviced when it comes to health and related care. He’s also not afraid to wade into activist territory, calling out failure and injustice in the system where he sees it. Though you may be young or lucky enough not to have been personally affected by these public health issues, Picard offers the knowledge anyone would need to support those who are.

THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT ALLAN J. LICHTMAN Harper Collins, April 2017

ichtman made my blood run cold when, in September of 2016, he predicted Trump would win that year’s presidential election. LSadly, he was correct (again). The good news is, the American historian is also predicting, based on “deep analysis of Trump’s past and proven behaviour,” there is a case for impeachment. Is he right? Probably. Should you still read his book, given that massive spoiler? I think so. Most Canadians don’t know enough about the U.S. political system. It’s different and confusing, but it has a big impact on us. Trump’s presidency in particular has the potential to wreak havoc on the environment, and Mother Nature knows no borders. “I invite you to follow each chapter and decide for yourself when Trump has reached the critical mass of violations that triggers the implosion of his presidency,” writes Lichtman in his introduction. Of course, then there is the Mike Pence problem, which (quite helpfully) is also discussed here.

41 RUPTURING THE DIALECTIC: THE STRUGGLE AGAINST WORK, MONEY, AND FINANCIALIZATION HARRY CLEAVER AK Press, April 2017

basic understanding of Marx is helpful but not necessary before tackling this book. And if you don’t know your dialectical A materialism when you start, you will by the end. Cleaver can be challenging, as when he explains why Marx used Hegel’s Log- ic as a template for Chapter 1, Volume 1 of Capital, but he’s much more frequently accessible, clarifying and motivational. “By controlling the means of production,” he writes, “capitalists also control the products we produce for them— including most of what we need—and the only way we are allowed legal access to them is through purchase—with money that, for the most part, we can obtain only by working for them.” I couldn’t read this book cover to cover in one sitting. It’s the kind of thing you will probably need to put down, think about, and pick up again, gaining pearls of clarifying wisdom each time. Cleaver doesn’t just want us to understand capitalism so that we might dismantle it. He hopes we can work our way toward a world that supports and embraces humanity rather than profit, and where we live more fully within our families and communities.

THE CARBON CODE: HOW YOU CAN BECOME A CLIMATE CHANGE HERO BRETT FAVARO Johns Hopkins Press, April 2017

es, this sounds too good to be true, but we need accessible, informative books that give us hope. “The Carbon Code is a tool of Yempowerment,” explains the promotional blurb. “Favaro shows you how to take ownership of your carbon footprint and adopt a lifestyle of conspicuous conservation that will spur governments and corporations to do the same.” The future presented in the book is terrifying and ugly and painful, but Favaro is there with options for avoiding the worst. He makes the links between the environment and the economy, jobs and world peace. Chapters on transportation, diet and long-distance travel are clearly written, and the policies he suggests we need our government to impose, and be- havioural changes we need to make personally, are all optimistically within reach.

HOPE HAS TWO DAUGHTERS MONIA MAZIGH House of Anansi Press, January 2017

riginally published in French in 2015, Mazigh’s novel is now hap- pily available for unilingual Anglos in this new translation by OFred Reed. This is a beautifully written, wonderful tale of life in Tunisia as seen through the eyes of a young woman of Tunisian heritage, Lila, who was born and raised in Canada. Lila grudging- ly travels to Tunisia to learn about her mother and brush up on her Arabic. While she is there, the Arab Spring erupts, throwing everything into flux. So much of what we read about the Arab world comes from western journalists. Mazigh’s book, part of a growing wave of Arabic women’s writing, offers a deeper take, through the eyes and perspective of those living through events, not analyzing them from afar. M 42 Reading the moment

ALICIA ELLIOTT On cultural appropriation and havens

REMEMBER THE FIRST time I saw an In- tory with lazy, inaccurate stereotypes intellectual laziness is “free speech”; dian on TV. It was the character of to reinforce our dehuminzation before that those holding them to account Little Bear in the 1995 movieIndi - a large public audience. Though that and imploring them to do better are Ian in the Cupboard. He said he was film is a work of fiction, it still has an “silencing” them. What these people Haudenosaunee, like me, only he was educational effect, particularly when want is not freedom but delusion—a Onondaga, not Tuscarora. In the mov- no actual Haudenosaunee people are safe haven from criticism and ac- ie, Little Bear sang a social song, built around to debunk inaccuracies for countability, from hard questions and a longhouse, fought and eventually viewers. harder answers. befriended a cowboy that referred to And that, really, is the heart of the But, as James Baldwin wrote, “Ha- him as a “redskin,” a “savage,” an “In- problem: marginalized people don’t vens are high-priced. The price ex- jun,” and accused him of scalping peo- have a platform to represent them- acted of the haven-dweller is that he ple in their sleep. Though Little Bear selves to the public, so the public contrive to delude himself into be- was sympathetically portrayed—as must instead rely on largely inaccu- lieving that he has found a haven.” much as that is possible when embod- rate, stereotypical myths that are of- Even if these people find their delu- ying the stereotype of the “noble sav- fered as uncontestable facts. The pub- sory havens, it doesn’t change the so- age”—he was without question igno- lic then takes those “facts” and recy- cietal and political impact of cultur- rant. Little Bear didn’t know what out- cles them over and over until they al misrepresentation and miseduca- side was, and couldn’t recognize that no longer know where they original- tion. It doesn’t stop films and books nine-year-old Omri was a child. The ly learned them. This is how discrim- like Indian in the Cupboard from cowboy, Boone, had no such issues. ination sustains itself, in an endless teaching more generations of chil- This is what I saw of my people in loop of ignorance propelled by cul- dren the same stereotypes and inac- the media, and even though that rep- tural misrepresentation and misedu- curacies that have kept us from see- resentation didn’t feel right to me, it cation. After all, if newspaper editors, ing one another as fully human for was all my siblings and I had. It’s dif- book publishers and film executives so long. It doesn’t stop those same ficult to think about that now: a have themselves learned false infor- children from becoming adults that flawed film made by non-Indigenous mation about other cultures, how are spread those same falsehoods in the people, based on a flawed book by a they going to recognize when they’re form of newspaper or magazine edito- non-Indigenous author, was how I peddling the same inaccuracies? And, rials, films, books, and online articles learned about myself. I’m sure it was more importantly, who is going to hold with click-bait titles. also how non-Indigenous kids learned them to account? Particularly when It’s time we stopped thinking so about my people—and by pan-Indian most media and arts industries are much about our rights and instead extension all Indigenous peoples. We still overwhelmingly run and operat- focused on our responsibilities. We’re were simple. We were redskins, savag- ed by straight, white people with no currently creating the world our chil- es, Injuns. We were extinct, a relic of immediate stake in representations of dren and grandchildren will grow up the distant past. marginalized people? in, which means both our action and As much as I loved it as a child, The It’s interesting to consider those our inaction carries immense weight. Indian in the Cupboard was cultural who want to frame the discussion of Every one of us needs to decide: are appropriation. But instead of thinking cultural appropriation—or cultur- you going to make future generations about it as such, perhaps we should al misrepresentation and miseduca- proud, ensuring their education isn’t pull away from that term—appropriation—as one of free speech. These the same inaccurate one you were tion—which critics tend to pounce on people don’t seem to understand what given, continuing the cycle of uncon- as a “freedom of speech” issue, and in- free speech actually is. Instead of con- scious discrimination and inequality? stead refer to the act as “cultural mis- fronting the free speech of others, in- Or are you going to stick your head in representation and miseducation,” stead of facing the ramifications of the sand and make future generations’ which is far more accurate. Indian in their decision to willfully propagate work harder? Ultimately, that decision the Cupboard mixed a lazy, inaccurate cultural misrepresentation and mise- is your responsibility. There is no hav- version of my people’s culture and his- ducation, they’d prefer to claim their en from that. M 43 Reading the moment

ALYSSA O’DELL Relationship status? It’s complicated. We could all be living more symbiotically

N A SURPRISING twist, the summer’s er they are a more lethal pair than trol of the nervous systems of carpen- best escape from the combative rise they would be on their own. ter ants. As spores sprout out of the of global populism and us-versus- Or the endangered whitebark pine living ants’ heads and bodies, the in- Ithem politics may not come from tree, which, through millions of years, sects are essentially turned into tiny bookshelves of civic discourse. In- evolved pinecone shapes that match zombies to serve the fungus for food stead, a colourfully illustrated dive only the beaks of Clark’s nutcrackers, and reproductive purposes. Although by first-time author and California il- a species that in turn spreads the tree’s the ants have developed defences to lustrator Iris Gottlieb, into the science seeds far and wide. If these symbiotic the parasite, as Star Trek assimila- of symbiosis in the natural world, con- connections come undone, by environ- tion experts the Borg would say, some- vincingly shows readers how impor- mental degradation or climate change, times resistance is futile. tant interconnection really is on this entire ecosystems can collapse. Scien- It becomes clear while reading Nat- big blue mess of a planet we call home. tists do not know what will happen ural Attraction that it’s not just hu- “No man—or animal, or plant, or to the nutcracker once its endangered mans who co-operate to get things fungus—is an island,” writes Gottlieb symbiotic food source disappears. done, or take advantage of others to in her book Natural Attraction (Sas- On the other side of mutually ben- get ahead. Symbiosis is everywhere. quatch Books, May 2017), which sets eficial symbiosis, where both species Gottlieb, whose use of plain language out to explain the huge yet understat- are better off, is parasitism, in which may deter the more advanced scientific ed role of symbiosis—where species one species lives off the energy of an- reader, admits she is a “layman scien- live in close association with one another. Nature, as is civilization, is full tist.” Her unique take on making pop- other, for better or worse—in evolu- of grifters. The sand tiger shark, for in- ular science more accessible is in part tion. Original artwork mixes playful- stance, is subject to a strange sort of a product of years of self-guided explo- ly with easy-to-digest scientific facts in utero self-cannibalism, where the ration and freelance illustration work about Earth’s best teammates, collab- largest embryo will eat all but one sib- with museums and scientific publica- orators, manipulators and cold-blood- ling, resulting in less competition and tions like Smithsonian Magazine. ed con artists. This is a book targeted stronger offspring compared to other Much like Peter Wohlleben, in his for mass appeal. shark species. 2016 pop-sci smash hit The Hidden Life It’s also more than pop-science. There is also the specialized Ophi- of Trees, which explores the science Much more. In the context of mod- ocordycepts fungus, which takes con- behind how trees communicate with ern life, Natural Attraction (subtitled each other in a forest social network of “A Field Guide to Friends, Frenemies, sorts, Natural Attraction is a testament and Other Symbiotic Animal Rela- to how complicated and intertwined tionships”) reinforces how the mosaic the web of life on Earth truly is. In an of human co-operation and manipula- era where certain political operatives tion—from communities that welcome cultivate and feed off fear of the other, newcomers, to advertisers and political and where an us-versus-them mental- players who prey on fear for their own ity dominates news coverage of issues benefit—is in many cases mirrored in like climate change, economic inequali- existing relationships in the wild. ty and migration, it is critical to remem- Take, for example, the moray eels ber we are all connected. and roving coralgroupers of the In- In turn, those connections—be- do-Pacific coral reefs, some of the only tween people, cultures and species— fish that hunt together co-operative- help us evolve, grow and progress. ly. Coralgroupers excel at open-water Whatever our divisions, biologically hunting and will even signal nearby speaking it is simply impossible go eels when prey is near. The eels con- it alone. As Gottlieb writes, “We need tribute by flushing out hidden sea each other. Even when, sometimes, we creatures from tight crevices. Togeth- also eat each other.” M 44 including teenagers who Panamanian penal colony Japan. Beginning in 2018, compete online. “We don’t on the island of Coiba, the European nation will watch television here; we which once held 3,000 decommission its five play chess and talk to each criminals and political aging nuclear reactors, other,” says Baby John, prisoners, will soon house provide billions of dollars president of the Chess a new research station in subsidies for renewable Association of Marottichal. to be staffed by up to five energy, and cut energy The good Kjell Inge Røkke, a “ruthless scientists tasked with consumption by at least corporate raider” who was cataloguing 1,450 currently 16% by 2020. / DeSmog / news page once addicted, so to speak, undocumented plant Guardian (U.K.) / EcoWatch to oil—he made a fortune species, 172 species of n cold days, to track on Norwegian shipping birds, 70 species of ants, Compiled by the sun and maintain and offshore drilling—has 30 species of bats, and O Elaine Hughes their intense yellow colour, contributed $2.7 billion an impressive number buttercup petals turn into toward the construction of orchid bees, sharks, “solar energy collectors,” of a 182-metre “research and hundreds of unique When the world focusing light into the expedition vessel” (REV) animals and coral reefs just gives you lemons centre of the flower, where that will take 60 scientists beyond Coiba’s beaches. reproductive organs are and 40 crew to scoop up / Bloomberg / National warmed as much as 3 ordan is home to more five tonnes of ocean plastic Geographic degrees Celsius, which refugees (2.7 million from a day. The ship’s “catch” J helps with pollination and 40 countries) than any will be burned—apparently seed development (and is other country in the world, with no noxious gases and Let the sun shine generally more comfortable according to Amnesty limited waste—to help (on bees) for the bees). Speaking of International, most of them power operations and which, the situation of the from war-torn Iraq and heat the ship, with backup esidents in Canada’s world’s great pollinators Syria. Jordanian electricity support from a lithium North, anxious to has been downgraded is also quite expensive, battery system./ Fast R replace diesel fuel as their from horrible to merely which makes powering Company / Middle East main source of energy, bad, according to U.S. UN-run refugee camps a Online / BBC / EcoWatch are optimistic about the beekeepers, who report challenge. In May, the UN rom reformed oil miners $400 million the federal that this winter’s loss announced that a 2 mega- to reformed coal mines, government has put into an rate from parasites (only watt (MW) solar installation F Eagle Crest is partnering 11-year Arctic Energy Fund 21% of colonies died) was at the 35,000-person Azraq with NextEra Energy, the for renewable projects. the lowest level in more camp in central Jordan biggest clean energy The Yukon village of Old than a decade. Dennis would save $1.5 million a developer in the U.S., on a Crow (Vuntut Gwitchin vanEngelsdorp, a University year—money that can be $2-billion project (approved First Nation) already has a of Maryland entomologist, put toward other needs. by federal regulators) that number of small-scale solar credited better weather The new power source will turn old mines into energy installations up and and new techniques for will provide relief on those storage chambers for running; a larger-scale solar combatting mites. The all-too-common 37-degree massive amounts of water plant in the works could male piping plover known days by allowing residents that could, in combination cut the community’s diesel as “Old Man Plover” has to use fans, while providing with renewables on the use by 17% (up to 98,000 also made an optimistic jobs for 50 or more workers. surface, generate clean litres) each year. The comeback on the shores of Relief for some residents hydro power for peak Kluane (Burwash Landing– Lake Michigan. Since first of Marottichal (in Kerala, energy periods. The Destruction Bay) First becoming a father in 2005, India) came in the form of technology dates back to Nation in southwestern the bird has sadly lost two chess, a game that was 1909 and was rebooted Yukon will install a $2.4- mates but successfully reintroduced to the town— in the ‘70s, mainly to help million wind power project fledged 36 chicks, making chess is believed to have power nuclear stations. in 2018, which will work him a “champion of the originated in 6th-century Around the world today, alongside biomass energy [endangered] species,” India—nearly 50 years ago 40 pumped-water facilities used for district heating according to Vince Cavalieri by a local teashop owner supply more than 20 since 1998. Switzerland is of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife who believed, rightly it gigawatts of energy in also on the cusp of a new Service. / Guardian (U.K.) turns out, the game would this way—enough to energy plan, six years after / Associated Press / help combat alcoholism power New York City for the country voted to ban Audubon and gambling. Today, several hours. Also with nuclear power following 4,000 of the town’s 6,000 a view to reuse, a defunct the Fukushima disaster in residents play chess daily, 45 46 Feature

STORY BY PAUL WEINBERG / ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAURA DOYLE AFTERTHEFLOOD

Environmental migration is the challenge of our times. To solve it, walls will need to come down.

WO YEARS AGO this month, New land for overstaying his visa. Citing or a person’s politics if they were to Zealand denied the asylum re- the 1951 Refugee Convention and its return home. quest of Ioane Teitiota after his 1967 protocol, Teitiota claimed ris- The New Zealand case left a big Tfour-year legal battle failed to ing ocean waters threatened his is- question mark over the increasing- convince the courts he should be ac- land home in the Pacific (population ly urgent issue of how to accommo- cepted to the country as the first ref- 116,000). The Kiwi courts determined date climate (or environmental) mi- ugee of climate change. “I’m the same the eventuality of Kiribati disappear- grants—people forced to flee their as people who are fleeing war. Those ing beneath the waves did not repre- homes because of sudden changes to who are afraid of dying, it’s the same sent an immediate concern, since asy- the environment that are frequently as me,” he told the BBC from Kiriba- lum seekers must prove they would linked to global warming. Scientists ti in November 2015, two months af- face discrimination based on race, re- say that climate change can be mit- ter being deported from New Zea- ligion, membership in a social group, igated but not stopped entirely. Ac-

47 cording to NASA, sea level rise is driv- May, governments in Canberra and seawater rise and extreme weather. en by two factors connected to glob- Auckland have so far responded coolly In January 2016, the geography and al warming: an upsurge of water from to the idea, which tends to be framed environmental studies professor at melting ice sheets and glaciers, and as a security risk rather than the hu- Wilfred Laurier University helped or- expanding ocean water as it warms. manitarian crisis that it is. ganize a conference of Canadian and Kiribati’s very existence, and that of Climate change–induced displace- U.S. experts working on environmen- similar low-lying atoll nations such ment and migration of populations is tal migration, along with relevant gov- as Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, is the subject of much research and scru- ernment officials in both countries, to threatened by projected sea-level ris- tiny by university scholars. But very lit- try to figure out where the data gaps es in the vicinity of 60 centimetres or tle is happening, practically speaking, were, and whether a list of priorities more by the year 2100. The inevitabil- at the policy level among the world’s for future work could be drawn up. ity of the situation is why Anote Tong, most powerful nations. The challenge, At the time, there was consensus on former president of Kiribati, speaks of say Canadian researchers and diplo- the urgency of the environmental mi- the need to ensure “migration with mats, will be how to convince world gration issue, but that has been dissi- dignity” for the country’s population. powers to adopt a managed migra- pating under the influence of the cli- The World Bank, in its recent “Pa- tion approach that does not over- mate-denying Trump administration cific Possible” report, recommends whelmingly focus on state security, in Washington, McLeman says. a gradual and planned relocation of but treats climate refugees with dig- There are some statistics on the residents from the most threatened nity, while not watering down exist- scale of the challenge. The Internal island nations, to more secure places ing human rights protections in the Displacement Monitoring Centre, for such as Australia and New Zealand, Refugee Convention. Before that can example, predicts that an average of as the better alternative to a chaot- happen, though, the issue will need a 26.4 million people per year have been ic rush to safety by future genera- much higher profile, which might be displaced from their homes by natu- tions. Fellow Pacific nations such as where Canada could play a larger role ral disasters since 2008. Further UN Fiji, whose officials were particularly on the world stage. research has found that 232 million vocal during the November 2015 Par- people were on the move globally in is climate change conference about ccording to Robert McLeman, it is 2013, and that in 2015, 65.3 million peo- checking greenhouse gas emissions, difficult to quantify the number of ple migrated internally or externally have already started welcoming cli- Apeople who potentially face dis- as a result of conflict or persecution. mate change–linked refugees. But as placement by manifestations of cli- McLeman says he expects improved the Guardian (U.K.) reported in early mate change, such as extreme heat, techniques in data collection by scientists in the next five years will offer a clearer picture of climate change–induced displacement and migration— in particular in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, where there is not enough precipitation to ward off dry conditions. Ultimately, McLeman adds, numbers over the next 20 years and beyond will depend on whether national governments keep their promises to switch to cleaner energy technologies. “Obviously, the more [greenhouse gasses] we pump up there [into the at- mosphere], the more people who are affected. So, it is a number that we can never be certain of. But you can say to people, policy-makers, decision-makers, ‘Here are your options.’” Managing the movement of climate refugees under existing UN rules may not be one of them, as Teitiota learned on his way through the New Zealand court system. The Refugee Convention was designed in the wake of the chaos and devastation following the Sec- ond World War in Europe. UN member states, including Canada, are obligat- 48 ed to provide asylum for people facing When migrants pects of migration management, [for threats to their lives and restrictions example] in trade agreements,” Atak on their freedom in their home coun- from countries says. “They are reluctant in terms of tries. But the United Nations Refugee such as Syria discussing the protection of the hu- Agency (UNHCR), which oversees the man rights of migrants.” implementation of the convention, de- or Somalia Francois Crépeau is similarly guard- fines a migrant differently, as some- start crossing ed but no less committed to a global one who is leaving their country for compact on migration. “I keep my ex- other reasons—even, it appears, that borders they pectations pretty low in order not to country’s disappearance under the are frequently be too disappointed,” says the McGill waves—and yet “continues to enjoy University law professor and UN spe- the protection of his or her own gov- perceived “as cial rapporteur on the human rights of ernment, even when abroad.” a disaster” migrants. “I certainly hope for more So, is the Refugee Convention out but I expect less. I think [UN member] of date in the era of climate change? rather than as states will not be interested in a gen- Should it be revised to accommodate prospective new eral migration regime. They will try to the new reality of international envi- plug the holes in what they see as a ronmental migrants and the move- citizens. problem today. And they will have a ment of other people who face chal- short-term view of what migrant gov- lenges in their home country not relat- ernance should look like.” ed to state persecution, such as armed Crépeau says he’d like to see longer- conflict, a lack of economic opportuni- term reforms to international govern- ties, drought and flooding, etc.? ance that target policies to specific Sharryn Aiken, a Queen’s University migration needs. He points to Kiriba- law professor and expert on immigra- ti, for example, whose government is tion and refugee law, has her doubts. already buying land in Fiji to prepare She says she worries that any effort to movement of people across borders for Teitiota’s island’s eventual demise. reopen and update the Refugee Con- should be a positive and normal hu- “The level of water is rising, and the vention would lead to the “watering man activity, not a burden or some- people are not going to be able to sur- down” of existing protections, espe- thing to fear. McLeman is also upbeat vive within in the next 30 years…. The cially in the current political climate about Arbour‘s task at hand and the water will be salinated, the land will of governments seeking to restrict Canadian government’s commitment not produce [food] because of the salt.” the number of people crossing their of $1 million over two years to help in Crépeau is opposed to establishing a borders. Aiken argues that the origi- fulfilling her mandate. “The compact new legal category under internation- nal convention is focused on individ- on migration will be very important in al jurisprudence for climate change– ual or group experiences of persecu- setting international policy on migra- related or environmental migrants tion. Scientists, on the other hand, tion for years to come,” he says. because, he says, both designations are warning us that climate change– Arbour’s appointment follows the are too imprecise. He wrote about induced displacement potentially in- European Union’s inability to agree on the problem of defining this type of volves massive populations or whole a coherent plan to deal with the in- movement a few years ago, when ex- nations. “I don’t look to the creation of flux of migrants from the Syrian civ- pert estimates of expected climate mi- a new treaty,” she explains. “As a glob- il war and other troubled countries. gration ranged from 20 million to 300 al community we have a responsibility She is also arriving at a time when million people over the next 25 years. for people who are displaced to have a the U.S., the largest provider of funds “My conclusion was that it is actually welcome mat available for them.” for UN aid agencies such as the UN- very, very difficult to pinpoint a -mi Aiken says she is encouraged by HCR, is threatening major cuts and grant whose main reason for moving the appointment this year of Louise jeopardizing assistance for migrants or migrating is the environment or cli- Arbour as the UN secretary general’s in areas like resettlement, says Idil mate.” new special representative for inter- Atak, a Ryerson University criminol- national migration. The former Cana- ogy professor and past-president of ichaela Hynie prefers the term dian Supreme Court judge has been the Canadian Association for Refu- environmental migrant to cli- given 18 months to develop a “global gee and Forced Migration Studies. Mmate migrant or climate refu- compact” on “safe, orderly and regu- The new UN special representative gee. The York University social psy- lar migration” for those not covered will also face challenges in how jeal- chology professor, and co-author of by the refugee convention. Mirroring ously member states defend their in- a policy brief on climate change and Aiken, Arbour told CBC Radio’s The dividual sovereign right to determine migration, agrees that a combination House in March that “climate change who can be admitted across their bor- of social, environmental and econom- and migration are currently the defin- ders. “UN member states are more or ic factors drive people in the Global ing issues of the time,” and that the less willing to discuss some of the as- South to desperately seek shelter else- 49 where. But she adds that the decision tal migrants versus convention refu- coming Syrian refugees in 2015-16, it to move is interwoven with a person’s gees—more or less irrelevant. has been non-committal on the recent livelihood (when it becomes impossi- Unfortunately, says McLeman, “ex- northward migration, and is largely sible to plant crops in a dry region) and tending our compassion for people lent on climate change–induced dis- war (when there is conflict over dimin- who are being displaced…does not fit placement. A notable exception, says ishing resources). the election discourse in terms of the McLeman (himself a former Canadi- “Environmental migration allows United States and Europe with the rise an foreign service officer), was when us to capture all of the ways in which of wanting to throw up borders and Stéphane Dion addressed “at length” people are being affected by the envi- walls and the fear of migrants and ref- the need to do something about the ronment and their different adaption ugees.” He estimates that worldwide people forced to move because of cli- strategies,” she tells me. “Many people about 10% of people live within coast- mate change, during a speech he gave will migrate cyclically, or they migrate al zones less than 10 metres above sea as foreign affairs minister before a temporarily as a way of dealing with level. “So yes, a lot of people could be cabinet shuffle moved the long-stand- environmental change, because they at risk.” ing environmentalist to a diplomatic don’t want to give up their tradition- Already, governments are not meet- post in Europe. Dion’s successor at the al lands, for example.” ing their legal obligations under the head of Global Affairs Canada, Chrys- Countries in the Global North, in- 1951 Refugee Convention to the in- tia Freeland, has directed her atten- cluding Canada and the United States, creasing numbers of people fleeing tion elsewhere; for example, to loom- have more resources and infrastruc- war and conflict in the Middle East, ing NAFTA renegotiations with the ture to deal with climate change and Central America and Africa. So said United States and Mexico. damaging environmental events— Lloyd Axworthy in May in an inter- But perhaps there are openings think of New Orleans following Hur- view with the CBC. The former im- even there—in the no-doubt bruis- ricane Katrina in 2005, or the 2016 Al- migration and foreign affairs minis- ing negotiations Canada will have to berta wildfires—than is the case in ter was recently named chair of a new endure with the Trump administra- more impoverished states. Unfortu- World Refugee Council, funded in part tion—for dialogue on migrant rights. nately, when migrants from countries by the Canadian government, that will Hynie argues that bilateral agree- such as Syria or Somalia start cross- complement Arbour’s work by devel- ments on temporary migration, such ing borders they are frequently per- oping a plan to overhaul the global re- as exist between Canada and some ceived in recipient countries “as a dis- sponse to forced migration. Caribbean countries, offer one possi- aster” rather than as prospective new “Part of the problem is that there bly way to manage future migration. citizens. Like other migration schol- are voids and vacuums. People look However, the success of this strategy ars, Hynie says she is worried that pre- out and say, ‘okay, we’ve got a large will depend on more countries, includ- dictions of large-scale climate-related amount of people here, but nobody ing Canada, signing the international migration could be milked by anti-im- seems to be in control, managing it convention for migrant workers and migrant political forces for their own and understanding what needs to their families. “We could take leader- purposes. “The concern [among some be done,’” he told CBC. “A lot of the ship in developing policies that pro- groups] is not with the welfare of the frustration that has been expressed tect the rights of migrants,” she says. migrants, but rather using prejudice in electoral terms in the last several Freeland told the Globe and Mail at toward migrants to motivate action on years is [in response to] government the end of May that “now is a great climate change.” not governing.” moment for Canada to be ambitious Hynie points out that Canada may Even in Canada desperate peo- at home…and be ambitious about see far fewer climate migrants than ple on the move are tarred with the what our voice can accomplish in the other countries, simply because of same brush as a security problem to be world.” She was speaking of her desire its geography—surrounded by vast “managed,” says Luisa Veronis, a pro- to promote a Canadian foreign policy oceans on three sides. She adds that fessor of geography, environment and vision of an “open society” that is tol- most low-income people in the Glob- geomatics at the University of Otta- erant of difference and welcoming of al South, who depend on the land for wa. The small numbers of people who newcomers. Combined with the gov- their livelihood and may be forced fled the U.S. this winter, poorly clothed ernment’s official support for Arbour, to leave if environmental conditions and risking frostbite, to claim asylum Axworthy and the UN process for re- worsen, will not have the means to have been erroneously labelled “ille- forming refugee policy, there is at least travel further than a more hospita- gal” by CBC news reports. A strong a small hope Canada could provide ble part of their country, or will hop strain of anti-migrant and anti-ref- some resistance to calls, by several of across the nearest national border. ugee positioning was also displayed its traditional allies, to build new walls But that should not let the Canadian during this year’s Conservative Party and fortify old borders. M government off the hook for future or leadership race. Maxime Bernier, for present commitments. In fact, the im- instance, called for the military to be mense scale and nature of migration deployed to seal the border. today may render separate catego- While the Trudeau government ries—for economic and environmen- earned praise internationally for wel- 50 Feature

NATALIE SPAGNUOLO AND KORY EARLE Dormitory at the Huronia Freeing our people Regional Centre, 1960. MARIO GEO/TORONTO STAR Updates from the long road to deinstitutionalization

MAGINE. It’s hard to imagine any adult being While these are current and press- You are told when you will go to treated this way. But these are the in- ing issues, the situation reflects dec- bed, when you will eat, and what you sults faced every single day by people ades of systemic discrimination will eat. with intellectual disabilities. Under against people with intellectual dis- You are denied a key to your own the guise of protecting them, many abilities. Today’s government-estab- Ihome, or to have visitors. provinces practise intense forms of lished systems have roots in the centu- You are coerced or forced into sex- segregation that expose people with ry-old eugenic panic that worried “less ual sterilization, for “your own pro- intellectual disabilities to degrading intelligent” people were outbreeding tection.” and abusive treatment. “smarter” segments of the population. You’re informed the hours you Many are still locked away, against Our laws and policies reproduce these spent shredding paper over 10 years their will, in congregate care facilities historic fears, if under a different lex- are just a form of “training,” and that and mega-institutions. They can be icon: vulnerability is the current eu- you don’t deserve even a minimum forced to toil in sheltered workshops phemism for “defective” and “unwant- wage for this work. for below minimum wage. Conse- ed.” You are told how to vote, or that quently, they end up living below the The assumption of helplessness is someone else will vote in your place poverty line, completely reliant on a potent form of oppression that per- because you aren’t capable of making punitive social assistance programs. mits and justifies the removal of de- rational decisions. They are set up for abuse, yet forbid- cision-making power. People First You’re told you have “the mentali- den the tools, like adequate legal ca- of Canada is part of a movement of ty of a child.” pacity, that would let them confront self-advocates who, with their families You are told you should never have these practices and protect them- and allies, are forcing governments to been born. selves. treat those with intellectual disabili- 51 ties with respect. We have been fight- mation and evidence remains buried to chemical injections and confine ing for deinstitutionalization for dec- as a niche topic of little concern or in- them in time-out rooms. ades, based on the conviction, backed terest to other policy researchers and But institutionalization isn’t his- by extensive evidence, that social in- social activists. This needs to change. tory, it’s a thriving reality. The exist- clusion goes hand in hand with self-de- ence of these places poses an imme- termination. “Nothing about us with- diate threat to anyone labelled with out us,” as the saying goes. Institutionalization today an intellectual disability. About 900 Unfortunately, while it’s been well- Many readers will be shocked to learn people are languishing in large insti- known for some time that people that Canada still operates large institutions (100 beds or more) in Manito- with intellectual disabilities in Cana- tutions for people with intellectual ba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. And ac- da are also at high risk of homeless- disabilities. Images of these places are cording to a civil society parallel re- ness, abuse, sexual violence, crimi- the stuff of horror films: imposing old port submitted to the United Nations nalization, poverty and unemploy- buildings with white walls and barbed this year by a group of Canadian disa- ment (see box), there has been little wire fencing, and where the doors lock bility organizations, these institutions solidarity from progressive camps. No upon closing. Inside staff restrain resi- continue to receive new admissions. one appears to be listening. The infor- dents with straitjackets, subject them

Violence 28.9% of people with cognitive 20.6% of people with intellectual disabilities reported being a victim disabilities live below the low- People with intellectual disabilities— of some crime, compared to 20.4% income cut-off (LICO), compared especially women and girls—are at of other (not cognitive) disabled to 12.5% of people with other elevated risk for sexual violence. people and 17.6% of people without disabilities and 10.3% of people Approximately 83% of women with disabilities. without disabilities. disabilities will experience sexual In 2011, the national employment abuse at some point in their lives. rate for people with intellectual Girls with disabilities are four times Housing and homelessness disabilities was 25.5%, compared more likely to experience sexual Among Canada’s homeless to 47% for people with other abuse. population 45% identify as disabled; disabilities and 74% for people within this group, intellectual Approximately 40% to 70% of girls without disabilities. disability—a proven factor putting with intellectual disabilities will be people at risk of homelesness—is 61.2% of people with intellectual sexually victimized before the age disproportionately represented. disabilities are not in the labour of 18. force, compared to 41.9% of people Almost 25,000 Canadians with An estimated 20% of cases of with other disabilities. intellectual disabilities (15.1%) sexual abuse against women with experience core housing needs, disabilities are ever reported to compared to 11.1% of other people authorities. Unmet health needs with disabilities (not intellectual) and People with intellectual disabilities People with intellectual disabilities 11.1% of people without disabilities. experience some of the highest rates are 2.9 times more likely to be In Ontario alone, an estimated 10,000 of psychiatric disabilities and have a physically assaulted, and 10.7 times people with intellectual disabilities high need for mental health services. more likely to be sexually assaulted are on a waiting list for residential Yet they tend to be overlooked and than non-disabled people. support (the wait time in Ontario was neglected in mental health policies, recently estimated at 22 years). training and related efforts. Discrimination An estimated 100,000 to 120,000 SOURCES Canadian Civil Society Parallel Report for Canada, CRPD In Canada, 50% of discrimination adults with intellectual disabilities Committee (16th Session), February 27, 2017; “Meeting Canada’s Obligations to Affordable Housing and Supports for People with cases relate to disability. face housing and support gaps. Disabilities to Live Independently in the Community,” submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for 34.9% of people described as having the 17th Session, March 2017; Unpublished data from the 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability compiled by Adele D. Furrie, Adele cognitive disabilities (including Poverty and employment Furrie Consulting Inc; factsheet prepared for the Violence Prevention intellectual disabilities) reported Initiative of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador; People with intellectual disabilities experiencing discrimination in the Canadian Association for Community Living; Robert Blogh and Yona are among the poorest people living Lunsky, “The Invisibility of People with Developmental Disabilities,” past 12 months, compared to 19.4% Policy Options, April 2017; Annual report of the Office of the Auditor in Canada: 34.3% rely on social of people with other (not cognitive) General of Ontario, 2014. assistance, compared to 8.6% of disabilities and 10.6% of people people with other (not intellectual) without disabilities disabilities.

52 How do we explain this reluctance The assumption allege violent atrocities took place to deinstitutionalize? The most fre- there. The space is nonetheless now quent excuse is that some people sim- of helplessness considered prime real estate by the ply cannot cope—they are just “too is a potent form government, which is looking to sell. disabled” to join society. People First Infrastructure Ontario consulted the of Canada and its allies in the deinsti- of oppression public earlier this year about the fu- tutionalization movement believe, to that permits ture of the 175-acre site and was ex- the contrary, that with the right sup- pected to report on the results before port all people can live within their and justifies the end of the spring. community. The problem is that even the removal of One of the questions posed in On- though institutional care is billed as tario’s online survey was, “Do you a “last resort” it quickly becomes the decision-making think the Huronia Regional Campus is first or only option, given long waiting power. an appropriate site for cultural and/or lists for alternate supports and false recreational development?” It relates perceptions that a person’s need are to a controversial proposal to trans- “too high.” As a result, people with inform the grounds bordering Lake tellectual disabilities are being housed Simcoe into something like Alberta’s in traditional regional centres and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. group homes, nursing homes, senior suits against provincial facilities have Project backers have encouraged the homes, personal care homes and oth- alleged high rates of sexual violence province to adopt a forward-looking er long-term care facilities. They can against women with intellectual dis- vision, even suggesting that survi- even end up in homeless shelters or abilities; routine degrading treatment, vors and the public shouldn’t “dwell correctional facilities. such as group showers; the routine on the lugubrious past” of the institu- So-called trap doors to institution- use of physical force, such as electric tion. Survivors and their allies believe alization exist via hospitalization and cattle prods; medical violence, such as it would be inappropriate to build a other warehousing practices that forced or coerced sterilizations and cultural centre on the Huronia site “store” people with intellectual disa- teeth extractions (to facilitate “care”), and that those who were hurt most bilities in inappropriate settings. In and countless other atrocities. by the institution should be included many cases, hospitalization consti- Though Ontario Premier Kath- in the plans for its future—something tutes a costly form of institutionaliza- leen Wynne apologized to survivors they insist is not taking place. tion. In Ontario the costs of warehous- of such treatment in 2009, when the Deinstitutionalization and the ing someone (without health needs) in province shut down its three larg- struggle to bring justice to survivors is hospital is $456,250 per year, or $1,250 a est institutions (Huronia, Rideau Re- as much about dignifying the memory day. This amount greatly exceeds the gional and Southwestern), the deci- of past wrongs as it is combating the average costs of supporting someone sion was largely a cost-saving meas- isolation and poverty that continues to live in the community, which, in the ure. A decade earlier, Alberta issued to plague members of this communi- case of a group home for one adult, an apology for the forced steriliza- ty. Historical memory has a large part ranges from $21,400 to $310,000. tions carried out in many institutions to play in preventing future atrocities Advocates for deinstitutionaliza- under the notorious Sexual Steriliza- and in restoring the full humanity of tion have used this kind of fiscal reation Act. Yet the reproductive rights of this group. Part of this work aims to soning to promote institutional clo- women labelled with intellectual dis- encourage a culture change in how sures. It clearly saves money—some- abilities will be jeopardized as long as people with intellectual disabilities thing those provincial governments other institutions are being funded in are perceived. In other words, socie- who have agreed to decommission this country. ty must work to recognize their his- regional centres (the mega-institu- The actions that follow institu- tories, their right to decision-making, tions) almost certainly considered. Ad- tional closures are as important as and their entitlement to a dignified mittedly, it is troubling that closures the closures themselves. Harsh survi- standard of support. have been achieved on these grounds, vors’ stories continue to surface; these rather than on firmer principles of jus- people must be given a platform and tice, the prevention of harm, or pub- incorporated into policy decisions. Group homes and other trap lic exposure to what was taking place Many self-advocates work toward doors to institutionalization behind the scenes. preventing reinstitutionalization by There are many new and lingering Survivors from Huronia (Ontario), memorializing the shameful legacy of forms of institutionalization, as well Woodlands (B.C.), the Michener Cen- these places and sharing histories of as trap doors that lead back to rein- tre (Alberta) and other institutions survivorship, as well as the stories of stitutionalization. More than ever, we for people with intellectual disabili- those who didn’t make it out. need to ensure that whatever follows ties have taught us that institution- The grounds of the former Huro- in the wake of institutional closures alization breeds person-to-person vi- nia institution include both unmarked does not repeat past mistakes. Keep- olence. Successful class action law- and numbered graves, and survivors ing control of services in the hands 53 of people with intellectual disabili- The fight for group homes, reflect the low value ties, their families and allies, and not deinstitutionalization that is put on the care and support of in the hands of the market-oriented people with intellectual disabilities. “disability business,” is extremely im- and desegregation In contrast to the paucity of infor- portant in this respect. remains an mation about group home finances, lo- Once major institutions are closed, underground cal and national news reports are lit- many of their former residents end up tered with stories of neglect, abuse, living in group homes that offer sup- struggle waged assault and even murder in nurs- ported living arrangements. Data on by a group of ing and group homes across Cana- exactly how many people are affected people whose very da. In 2009, a stunning 53 lives were in this way is hard to come by. Group lost in Ontario group homes for peo- homes operate in a decentralized en- humanity continues ple with intellectual disabilities. Some vironment; non-profit agencies are re- to be questioned. such deaths are the result of interven- sponsible for managing both the real tions by police, who are occasionally estate and the staffing of the home. called to group homes by staff who Disturbingly, the living conditions in feel threatened by residents. For ex- group homes reflect the same prob- ample, Aron Firman died in a group lems that existed—and still exist—in home in Collingwood, Ontario after larger institutions. So strong are the being tasered by police in 2010. In 2009, similarities that these homes, some Douglas Minty, a man with an intellec- of them managed by the same people tual disability living in Elmvale, Ontar- who previously operated institutions, staff. Routines are established and res- io was shot and killed by police out- have been dubbed “mini-institutions.” idents must adapt to the prescribed side his home. People First of Canada defines an rhythm, regardless of whether it suits Add racial profiling by police to institution as “any place in which peo- their needs or preferences. the mix and interactions with dis- ple who have been labelled as having Consistent with the lack of availa- abled members of the Indigenous an intellectual disability are isolated, ble data on how many people are liv- and Black communities become even segregated and/or congregated. An in- ing in group homes, it is very difficult more fraught. Last summer, Abdirah- stitution is any place in which people to ascertain how much money is spent man Abdi, a 37-year-old disabled Otta- do not have, or are not allowed to exer- to sustain them in any given province wa man who was Black, Somali and cise, control over their lives and their or territory. Partly this is because of Muslim, died from injuries he suffered day to day decisions. An institution is how many different departments or at the hands of the police (the officer not defined merely by its size.” Deinsti- agencies tend to be involved in fund- was charged with manslaughter in tutionalization therefore means closing decisions. Although the salaries March). Later that year in Brampton, ing all institutions—including group of agency managers or directors will police were called to the group home homes—that inappropriately house vary, support workers can earn low- of Marlon Bailey-Lee, a 21-year-old people with intellectual disabilities. er wages than frontline food service Ontario man who is Black and who Whether an institution houses 600 employees. These low salaries, which does not use verbal communication. people in a single building or six in a often result in high turnover rates at The visit was prompted by a dispute suburban bungalow is irrelevant. he had with his support staff and re- Group home providers frequently sulted in his being repeatedly tasered. claim they help support community People with intellectual disabili- inclusion. But more often than not, Approximately 30,000 adults ties are also at risk from accusations these mini-institutions are present with intellectual disabilities by the people assigned to look after in the community only in a physical live in congregate care facilities them. Nova Scotian Amanda Murphy sense. The nature of support, the rou- and group homes. was arrested in 2014 after an encoun- tinization of daily life and the overall ter with support staff. In a similar in- lack of freedom, choice and dignity re- Approximately 10,000 adults cident in a large congregate care facil- main the same as what one would ex- under 65 with intellectual ity in Nova Scotia, Nichelle Benn was perience in a large institution. disabilities are forced to live charged with assault after allegedly Residents don’t have the freedom to in hospitals, nursing homes biting a staff person and throwing a choose their own roommates or even and similarly unsuitable long- shoe and foam letter. Charges against the location of their home. Even few- term care environments due Benn were only dropped after a sever have opportunities to learn about to a shortage of housing and en-year battle that included protests self-advocacy, to reflect on their life support options. by People First members. These cases experiences, and to share their sto- expose an uneven power struggle be- SOURCE “Meeting Canada’s Obligations to Affordable ries with peers and the community at Housing and Supports for People with Disabilities to Live tween residents with intellectual dis- Independently in the Community,” submission to the large. The primary concern is filling Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for abilities and a system designed to con- beds and working around the needs of the 17th Session, March 2017. tain them. 54 When will we do better? In place of containment in institutions and group homes, People First of Sheltered workshops Canada argues that people with intellectual disabilities have the right offer sub-minimum to exercise choice in determining their own living arrangements. A popular and very plausible alternative to the group home and congregate wages care system is direct funding. When money is tied to the individual, rather than to an agency or geo- graphical region, it provides greater choice and control, and the flexibil- Sheltered workshops are places where people ity to tailor additional support to those who require assistance in man- with disabilities are “employed” for below aging their finances and in making decisions. Direct funding is more minimum wage. Employers justify unacceptably humanizing, since where a person lives is a matter of choice and not de- low (and in any other situation illegal) “training pendent on the availability of beds within agencies. wages” by claiming they are providing Unfortunately, the logic behind personalized support has been co-opt- opportunities for social participation and life ed by a chaotic “disability industry”—a confusing mishmash of not-for- skills development. Other rights and concerns are profit private businesses, case-management services, person-directed readily swept aside to promote “inclusion” under planning services and others vying for public dollars. Furthermore, mis- this faulty framework. steps in managing the consequences of institutional closures are leading According to the 2017 civil society parallel report to new forms of institutionalization. Many people are experiencing, or (see above), “Although enrollments in sheltered are at risk of experiencing, reinstitutionalization, including those who workshops are slowly declining, sheltered managed to survive provincially run institutions. workshops, segregated day programming and Once we begin to recognize the institutional patterns that are crop- enclave-based employment persist as a dominant ping up in new support models, like group homes, we can get to work model of support for persons with disabilities, on replacing them. To avoid past mistakes—and avoid paternalism— particularly those with intellectual disabilities.” it is essential that input from self-advocates and other people with in- The persistence of this model is partly explained tellectual disabilities form the basis of policy solutions. People with in- by employers framing activities as “training tellectual disabilities are reclaiming their right to speak for themselves programs,” according to a 2011 report by the and to redefine their lived experience on their own terms. Canadian Association for Community Living. But the fight for deinstitutionalization and desegregation remains an underground struggle waged by a group of people whose very hu- It is hard to ascertain the number of people with manity continues to be questioned. People with intellectual disabili- disabilities who are toiling in these workshops. ties are simply not on the radar of most progressive think-tanks—even A Toronto Star series on the issue, published in though their experiences overlap with major social issues, and despite November 2015, said “the Ministry of Community their presence near the top of many data sets on poverty, sexual vio- and Social Services, which funds developmental lence, homelessness, unemployment, and criminalization. They have services, does not know how many sheltered no substantive rights in Canada. Among disabled people, they are tru- workshops exist or how many people work in ly the left behind of the left behind. them.” Fewer than half the agencies that provide As recently as the early 1990s, a period when other disabled people segregated employment settings responded to a were making gains in the U.S. and Canada, public intellectuals like the government survey, explained one article. Based Australian philosopher Peter Singer were comparing those with intel- on the limited responses to that survey, we know lectual disabilities to animals to justify murdering them. Earlier this that at least 3,463 individuals are working in 52 year, Singer weighed in on a disability rape case in a coauthored New workshops in Canada. York Times op-ed claiming the alleged victim was both incapable of Since the Toronto Star series came out, the consenting and not sufficiently “intelligent” to understand that he had ministry has said it will close Ontario’s workshops even been raped in the first place. Clearly, Singer has learned nothing forever, which has already helped decrease the in over 30 years of debating and engaging with disability advocates. number of people with disabilities in sheltered But how can we expect any better of people when the use of the “R” workshops in Ontario. But again, we don’t have any word is still rarely challenged outside of disability communities? How hard numbers to back that up. can we expect any better from society when our own government continues to fund deeply segregated, dehumanizing and dangerous forms People First of Canada believes in “real work for of support for people with intellectual disabilities? Out of sight, out real pay.” People with intellectual disabilities of mind has hidden many disturbing facts about intellectual disability should have opportunities to earn a living through from the public for far too long. paid employment of their own choice in the labour We can no longer say that we didn’t know any better. We can no longer market. Employers must be open to a diverse say we can’t do any better. These wrongs must be righted and further workforce. Job accommodations and supports abuse prevented. We need to bring the “left behind” forward if we are need to be provided. Wages and benefits should to become an inclusive and accessible country. M be equal to those of persons without disabilities.

55 56 Feature

RBANIZATION HAS TRANSFORMED our All in all, thousands of sessions world. Today, more than half of tackled every possible urban devel- all people live in cities, consum- opment topic, from planning and fi- Uing over 60% of all energy, living nancing to housing and accessibility on 2% of the world’s surface and gen- to culture, women’s rights and the de- erating 70% of global GDP. By 2050, sign of public spaces. The end result over 70% of the world’s population of these conversations was the for- will be living in cities, which poses mal adoption by 167 nations of a doc- massive sustainability challenges re- ument called the New Urban Agen- lated to housing, infrastructure, ba- da—a blueprint for how the world’s sic services, food security, health, ed- cities can evolve, sustainably and in ucation, decent jobs, safety and nat- a fair way for everyone, over the next ural resources. In late October 2016, 20 years. Just as importantly, the agen- about 50,000 delegates from around da attempts to reverse the 20th-cen- STORY BY DENNIS CARR the world gathered in Quito, Ecuador tury planning legacy of uncontrolled ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALISHA DAVIDSON to discuss these interrelated challeng- sprawl and urban poverty. es during the United Nations’ Habitat Even though it is not binding, the III conference. New Urban Agenda is meant to be act- As the event comes along only once ed upon. Signatory governments have every two decades, for urban poli- committed to enhancing livability, ed- FROM cy geeks like myself Habitat is some- ucation and health levels. They must what akin to a religious pilgrimage. reduce inequality in their urban cen- Delegates came from governments, tres and are obliged to report back to Indigenous organizations, the private the UN on their progress. Think of it QUITO TO and non-profit sectors. Though there as a moral compact among govern- weren’t many cassocks, a lot of partici- ments and civil society stakeholders pants donned white Ecuadorian-made to realize a new urban future. Panama hats to ward off overhead sun, While Canada’s proposals to the CANADA a reminder that Ecuador is the Span- Habitat III conference, as well as re- ish word for equator. Once inside the cent policy announcements, suggest official compound, we were treated to the federal government is taking mu- a vast array of workshops, network- nicipal development priorities more ing events, dialogues, training events, seriously than it has in the recent past, HABITAT III plenaries and high-level roundtables. absent a coherent national or provin- Really, there were two conferenc- cial urban strategy local governments es in Quito. One was official, with bu- will continue to struggle to meet their reaucrats and politicians in suits mak- residents’ needs. Moving an urban AND THE ing boilerplate speeches about pover- agenda forward more forcefully will ty, climate change, public safety, gen- be jurisdictionally difficult. Unfortu- der equality and infrastructure. The nately, there is no better alternative if other was younger, more urgent and Canada wants to meet its global com- NEW URBAN idealistic, made up of people looking mitments on sustainability. to directly shape the growth of the urban spaces they will inhabit over the next two decades. A workshop on how A short history of Habitat AGENDA the video game Minecraft can be used The first UN conference on human to plan cities was especially popular settlements, known as Habitat I, for younger delegates, as was the cus- was held in 1976 at the Queen Eliza- tomary Habitat III Resistance Forum beth Theatre in downtown Vancou- held in parallel at the local university. ver at the invitation of Pierre Elliot 57 Trudeau’s Liberal government. The purpose ference declaration reflected antipathy to Quito’s of the formal conference was to discuss rap- cities, which were considered unhealthy, contradictions id urbanization around the world. But the al- too dense and polluted—the reason any- ternative NGO gathering, which took place in one with a vehicle was abandoning urban a repurposed aircraft hangar at Vancouver’s cores for the suburbs. Canada’s Ministry of Nestled at an altitude of 2,850 bucolic Jericho Beach, was the place to be. Urban Affairs was shut down due to jurisdic- metres, in a valley surrounded The NGO conference, itself supported by a tional feuds with the provinces. And feder- on all sides by Andean foothills federal department of urban affairs, attract- al involvement in social housing, rapid tran- and volcanos, Quito offers up ed celebrities such as anthropologist Mar- sit and other urban infrastructure projects a variety of historic, cultural garet Mead, Buckminster Fuller of geodesic dwindled. and environmental treasures dome fame, the not-yet-sainted Mother Te- Forty years later, perhaps reinforced by to residents and visitors alike. resa, and Paolo Soleri, who had designed an the reality of climate change, cities are in- The city is also a microcosm of experimental utopian city in the Arizona de- creasingly recognized as the places where op- the challenges facing cities in a sert. The founders of Greenpeace were on portunities for sustainable economic devel- rapidly urbanizing world. hand to help build an outdoor barbecue hut opment and social progress are most promis- from materials off the beach, and Haida art- ing. Density is seen as a valid response to en- Early in the Habitat III confer- ist Bill Reid created a massive mural. vironmental threats, and the automobile and ence, participants came face Habitat I was an inaugural moment for the its noxious infrastructure are treated as ma- to face with an embarrassing concept of sustainable development, includ- jor problems. Appropriately, a central theme dilemma for regional deci- ing its fundamental tenant of social sustain- of the Quito conference in October was the sion-makers. While the New ability, which prescribes that environmen- idea of a “right to the city,” which prioritizes Urban Agenda document calls tal issues cannot be solved without first ad- the needs of residents over profit. for smarter, more sustainable dressing inequality and poverty. The mani- cities that prioritize public festo that came out of the conference, the UN transit over private motorized Declaration on Human Settlements, empha- transportation, outside the Canada and Quito sized the importance of improving the rural Canada was well represented at Habitat conference a public march pro- habitat. It also stated that “adequate shelter III, with more than 100 delegates in total. tested a road expansion project and services are a basic human right,” that Federally they included Minister of Fami- activists say would displace “governments should assist local authorities lies, Children and Social Development Jean- nearly 70% of inhabitants in a to participate to a greater extent in national Yves Duclos and two other members of par- nearby village. development,” and that “the use and tenure liament, who were supported by staff from Quito is partnering with of land should be subject to public control.” the departments of employment and social a Chinese corporation to Somewhat presciently for current-day development (ESDC), global affairs, and pub- create a $131-million tunnel Vancouver, Habitat I advocated for limits on lic safety. Evan Siddall, president and CEO of expansion and bridge project real-estate speculation and foreign invest- the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora- aimed at reducing traffic on ment in land. “The use and tenure of land tion (CMHC), was also there. the city’s busiest road. The should be subject to public control because On top of this federal presence, several mayor believes the project is of its limited supply,” the declaration read. mayors and municipal councillors, and nu- necessary, not only to ease the “The increase in the value of land as a result merous civil society representatives, were gridlock but to give the city a of public decision and investment should also part of the delegation. To its credit, the new emergency exit during the be recaptured for the benefit of society as a government included people who have been kind of natural disasters that whole.” Those were the days. If only they’d quite critical of past and current federal poli- have devastated Ecuadorian lasted a bit longer. cies and practices. As might be expected, giv- cities in the past. Three years after the Vancouver gathering, en activist sentiment and the immediacy of Margaret Thatcher was elected prime min- urban issues and affordable housing in the In other words, Quito is a ister in Britain followed by Ronald Reagan province, British Columbia had a particu- perfect example of the types of as president of the United States. The like- larly strong contingent of municipal politi- contradictions leaders will face minded conservative leaders would drive a cians, representatives from the not-for profit in the post–Habitat III world, as free-market agenda of public service cuts, housing sector, other NGO advocates and 15 the legacy of old-school urban privatization and wage restraint we now students from the University of British Co- planning decisions continues to commonly refer to as neoliberalism. Thatch- lumbia. throw sand in the gears of the er would infamously claim “there is no alter- Canada’s national report to Habitat III New Urban Agenda’s push for native” to this type of globalization, which contains chapters with the aspirational more inclusive and sustainable was more interested in the sustainability of language the country’s urbanists have long metropolitan areas. corporate profits than of Planet Earth. awaited: Leaving No One Behind, Sustainable As stark as the contrast in ideals may ap- Growth, Leadership in Climate Policy, Build- pear now, we shouldn’t feel too nostalgic ing a Safe City for All, Job Creation for Fu- about the lost promise of Habitat I. For all ture Prosperity, Housing and Basic Services, its language about the public good, the con- etc. The report has a strong emphasis on the 58 use of, and access to, land, mitigating The concern, of course, is whether tik minefield of competing priorities the impact of climate change, and the these badly needed funds will actually and jurisdictional responsibilities, and role of cities in improving health by materialize (and when), and whether different levels of provincial commit- promoting walking and cycling. Un- subsequent governments will respect ment to the issues of urban renewal, af- fortunately, however, there isn’t any the commitments. In 1993, the Liberal fordable housing and sustainable de- reference in the Canadian plan to con- government, after promising a host of velopment. trolling land speculation, limiting the progressive housing initiatives during power of the market, or sharing in the the election campaign, declared that proceeds of speculative development. no more social housing would be fund- Urban renewal in the provinces Though it is too early to determine ed and that existing federally owned The City of Quito is obviously not if the Liberal government’s commit- public housing stock would be down- alone in feeling it must create in- ment to the goals of Habitat III is gen- loaded to the provinces. Twenty-one frastructure for the automobile in- uine, perhaps some clues can be found years later, are we headed down the stead of making investments in pub- in the two workshops Canada host- same path of disappointment and bro- lic transportation and non-motorized ed in Quito. One session looked at ken promises? means of travel (see sidebar). In B.C., the benefits of adequate housing for With that question in mind, the for example, the government is plan- improving quality of life and broad- New Urban Agenda may be helpful. ning to replace the George Massey er social and economic success. The As an international agreement with Tunnel under the Fraser River with a second featured a panel discussion which many Canadians can identify, new $3.5-billion, 10-lane bridge. Metro with housing experts from a number the commitments from Quito could Vancouver mayors object to the plan, of countries at different stages of de- be used to hold the government to which they argue “represents an ex- velopment. They discussed how eas- account. However, the real power of pansion of car-oriented infrastruc- ing access to financing can address the Habitat III is in its recognition of the ture and diverts crucial funds from housing affordability needs of vulner- role that provincial and municipal transportation projects that support able populations. leaders, as well as civil society, will the regional growth strategy.” (Well, of The question among housing ad- play in reshaping urban policy. Get- course it does.) vocates at the time was whether the ting it right will require the In Ottawa, after a 10-year delay, the lessons from Quito and the nostrums federal government municipality is nearly finished the first of the New Urban Agenda would be to navigate the leg of a new east–west light rail transit reflected in Canada’s proposed in- realpoli- system and is close to filling a $100-mil- frastructure and affordable hous- lion contingency fund that would se- ing strategies, along with other fed- cure the system’s future expansion. eral policies. Having now seen some This hasn’t stopped the city and the of the government’s plans, there are province from undermining the tran- grounds for cautious optimism, taint- sit strategy by proudly making a series ed as it might be (for those with long memories) with apprehension. In April, for example, CMHC released the details of an initiative to facilitate the construction of new rental housing by making lower-cost loans available to developers during construction and for the first 10 years of occupancy. The March 2017 federal budget is also seen by many in the affordable housing sector as an initial step toward a long-overdue renewal of federal involvement in housing. First, because it sustains the current allocation, established in the 2016 budget, of about $1 billion per year in funding for new housing. But also because it announced an unspecified level of funding for First Nations on-reserve housing, as well $4 billion over 10 years for housing, water treatment systems, health facilities and other community infrastructure for Indigenous communities. 59 of announcements relating to the “strategic widening” of willing to take provincial and federal funding to help solve Ottawa’s Highway 417. As any urban planner will tell you, local problems. So how does the federal government craft highway expansions inevitably attract more cars. its program delivery in situations where municipalities The lack of affordable housing and the homelessness cri- refuse to do anything? Next door to Vancouver, the City sis have a profound impact on the economic viability of of Burnaby won’t even protect its stock of private rental cities. Just like with infrastructure, contradictions abound housing, never mind build new units for people who need in local housing policy. In May, the Ontario government re- affordable housing. The city has resisted provincial offers leased its Fair Housing Plan, a set of 16 measures mostly to set up even one permanent shelter. related to taxation and rent controls, to help people find Burnaby’s mayor has drawn a firm line in the sand, argu- an affordable home and bring stability to the real-estate ing his municipality doesn’t have the mandate to take on market. However, there was no reference to increasing the the provincial and federal governments’ housing respon- supply of new affordable rental housing. sibilities. Instead, Burnaby uses the funds it gets from de- The City of Ottawa’s submission to the recent nation- velopers, in return for rezoning properties to a higher den- al housing strategy consultation describes a long-stand- sity, on the amenities and services new populations will re- ing housing affordability crisis that forces people on low quire, ignoring the city’s need for affordable housing, and incomes to choose between paying bills, buying groceries offering cold comfort to households displaced because of or paying rent. In 2015, 40,000 households in Ottawa lived gentrification. in poverty, more than 10,000 households were on the waiting list for affordable housing and over 6,800 Ottawa residents experienced homelessness. The city requested more Conclusions support for local initiatives; for example, by tripling feder- The New Urban Agenda and Canada’s national report to al funding so it can build 1,300 new housing units. Habitat III include ambitious policy objectives relating to These are admirable sentiments, but what Ottawa’s sub- implementing the UN’s overarching sustainable develop- mission fails to mention is that, in an effort to keep tax- ment goals (SDGs) at the local level. While it may not be es low, the city has dramatically reduced the resources it the transformational document many urban activists were puts toward creating new affordable housing. Municipal looking for, it does set an important precedent for Canada. budget documents indicate that, while the city contribut- For the first time, our national government acknowledges ed between $4 million and $5 million to the creation of new the language of local sustainable development that many units between 2012 and 2014, it does not plan to spend any local governments embraced decades ago. of its own money on housing—to top-up federal/provin- With access to only eight cents on the tax dollar, cit- cial funding—between 2015 and 2019. ies were never designed to generate revenues on the scale Additionally, Ottawa’s land development corporation, needed to fund physical and social infrastructure. Their tax which has a mandate to add social value to land transac- base just doesn’t allow them to meet all the needs of their tions, has listed several civic properties for sale. Some of citizens. Municipalities in Canada have built and now op- them are excellent multi-unit residential and mixed-use erate nearly two-thirds of Canada’s public infrastructure, sites that could have been used to further the city’s long- from transportation networks to public buildings to water term social infrastructure needs. Particularly egregious and waste management systems. In Ontario, cities have ju- is the sale of a family housing property on the city’s list risdictional responsibility for affordable housing, but every of affordable housing sites, notwithstanding the fact that city in the country is affected socially and economically by in 2016 over half of all shelter clients were members of a homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. homeless family—a 25% increase from 2014. Ottawa’s fam- Municipal planning is a provincial responsibility. While ily shelters are full. The sale contradicts city council‘s own there is local control over development decisions they are Housing First policy for surplus city lands. Where will the guided by provincial policy objectives. Without robust fed- 1,300 units be created? eral intervention at the local level, a Canada-wide response While the City of Ottawa balances its budget on the backs on sustainable planning practices is unlikely. Strong lead- of the poor, the City of Vancouver is taking a different ap- ership from the feds will be needed if Canada is going to proach. In 2011, Vancouver committed to building 1,950 new meet its Quito goals. affordable housing units at a rate of 650 a year. The city met Perhaps a key opportunity of the Habitat III process its target at the end of 2014 (2,050 units were either com- should be to strengthen the role of local governments. Pos- pleted or in the development/construction pipeline) and re- sibly (dare we hope?) this could be facilitated by a new newed its pledge, in a 2015-18 capital plan, to continue build- federal ministry of urban affairs. A federal department ing. Though housing advocates dispute just how affordable charged with ensuring money goes to supporting local sus- the rental units are for low-income households, over the sev- tainability initiatives would be able to ensure new nation- en-year period 2011–2018 Vancouver will have spent about al objectives on transportation, climate change, affordable $22 million per year on new construction absent any feder- housing, child care, and other physical and social infra- al help. The city is now considering a proposal to raise tax- structure needs, could be achieved along pathways estab- es, in part to create even more affordable housing. lished in Quito this past October. It may even be the differ- As disappointing as Ottawa’s response is to housing in ence between a highway expansion or new urban transit comparison to Vancouver, it at least shows that cities are system in a city near you. M 60 International

ASAD ISMI Colombia peace deal inches forward Indigenous, Afro-Colombian leaders fear the state has not shed its violent past

HE PEACE ACCORDS signed in No- may not even be possible as long as dered by paramilitaries within 10 days, vember 2016 by the government the Colombian government remains even as the guerrilla army was in the of Juan Manuel Santos and the committed to an extractivist economic process of laying down its arms—an TRevolutionary Armed Forces of model benefitting the private mining ominous reminder of the right-wing Colombia (FARC, Colombia’s largest and energy sectors. For Santos, a key massacre of 3,000 former FARC mem- guerrilla army) ended a half-centu- benefit of peace is to get the FARC out bers after their successful 1985 elec- ry-long conflict that killed 260,000 of the way of multinational corporation showing under the Patriotic Un- people and displaced another six mil- tions that want to exploit Colombia’s ion party. lion. Under the terms of the deal, the natural resources in the countryside. “Unfortunately, I believe that these FARC was supposed to hand over most Meanwhile, the violence contin- accords will not bring peace because of its weapons by June 20. Despite its ues. Most of the killings during the they were not made to resolve the accusations the government was vio- civil war were carried out not by the root of the social conflict that brought lating the deal, FARC met this dead- FARC but by paramilitaries linked to FARC into existence,” says Olimpo line on June 16. the state. Human Rights Watch called Cárdenas, spokesperson for the So- Still, factors are threatening to delay these public-private militias “the sixth cial Roundtable for Peace, a coalition demobilization. One of them is the im- division” of the Colombian army. The of unions, social movements, politi- portant issue of land reform. Though peace accords do not disband the para- cal organizations and NGOs that pro- the main cause of the conflict was militaries, who killed 156 human rights motes the participation of civil soci- the concentration of land ownership activists between January 2016 and ety in the Colombian peace process. in the hands of the Colombian elite, March 2017, according to Colombia’s “The worst thing is the lack of politi- President Santos has pushed that con- ombudsman Carlos Alfonso Negret. In versation into the future. A resolution April, two FARC members were mur- 61 cal will on the part of the government to open politics to “As Afro-Colombians who have endured the armed con- the FARC or to any other political view. flict in flesh and blood, we demand a peace process that “Violence is a structural element of the Colombian re- confronts and addresses the racism, inequality, and vio- gime,” he adds. “Historically every peace agreement has led lence directed against us,” says the Afro-Colombian hu- to the mass assassination of the opposition. The establish- man rights defender, and member of the Black Commu- ment is playing good cop and bad cop, but together they nities Process in Colombia, who helped write the ethnic have actually managed to disarm the most powerful gue- chapter of the Colombian peace accords. “When we look rilla army of the continent, basically for nothing in return.” for the source of the conflict, we find that we are not real- Cárdenas is not entirely negative about the accords. De- ly victims of the armed conflict, we are victims of capital- spite the bleak present situation, he says the FARC “is go- ism—this is what is killing us. This is what is massacring ing to open a space” in the political landscape. “It might not us and committing genocide against us.” be a success in the first year but they should be an impor- One-third of the six million people who have been distant political and social actor in the future.” The Colombi- placed by armed conflict in Colombia are Afro-Colombians. an peace accords also include an “ethnic chapter” that pro- In May, over 150,000 Afro-Colombians from Buenaventu- vides specific safeguards for the rights of Indigenous and ra declared a general strike that shut down the country’s Afro-Colombians, both of whom have been disproportion- important port city. Traffic was stopped by roadblocks, ately affected by the armed conflict. halting all economic activity. The strikers demanded ba- Cárdenas’s concerns are shared by Luis Fernando Arias, sic rights from the government, including increased health Indigenous leader of the Kankuamo people and general care coverage, clean drinking water, more education spend- counsel of the National Indigenous Organization of Colom- ing, basic sanitation (there is no sewage system) and ade- bia (ONIC), which represents 47 Indigenous organizations. quate employment. “This process of paramilitarization of the countryside in Buenaventura has the highest poverty rate in Colombia Colombia has led to the murders of 27 social, Indigenous (close to 66%) and its people have been subjected to years and peasant leaders between January and March,” he tells of armed conflict and paramilitary violence. In response me. “This paramilitary offensive obeys an economic logic to the strike, on May 19 the Santos government sent in the because following it, the large corporations arrive, espe- military and police, and the city has been placed under cur- cially extractive industries.” few. Strikers have been teargassed, pepper-sprayed and at- According to Fernando Arias, Indigenous people in Co- tacked with rubber bullets; 80 people have been arrested lombia have legal rights to 33 million hectares of land, and more than a dozen injured. about 27% of the national territory. Furthermore, 87% of Sheila Gruner, a professor at Algoma University who has Indigenous lands are legally protected as conservation ar- been following the work of the Black Communities Process eas, yet 95% of Indigenous territory has been conceded to in Colombia for many years, tells me Buenaventura can be extractive industries without consultation with Indige- considered “a test case for ‘post accord’ Colombia.” She says nous people. “Essentially what the government has man- the state repression of the peaceful mobilizations in the aged to do is get the FARC out of the way so that extrac- city “raises questions about the peace accord in relation to tive industries can come into Indigenous lands and else- political participation and the right to peaceful dissent.” where,” he says. “So while it is good that they resolved the Gruner says the peace process is very important for armed conflict, on the other hand it will create deeper so- Buenaventura. “If the issues are not addressed as raised cial, environmental and economic conflicts for us, especial- during this strike, if Black leaders who have been working ly with private companies.” on these issues for decades are not allowed to lead efforts Fernando Arias emphasizes that Indigenous peoples for peace in their jurisdictions, as they have every right are the most directly affected by the government’s con- to do in the implementation phase of the peace process, if flict with the FARC. His grandfather and uncle were both the issue of increased paramilitary activity in Buenaven- killed, in 2001 and 2004, along with 386 Indigenous leaders tura is not addressed, then there will be even more fertile from his community. But he says these recent killings can- ground for the continuation of war, displacement and vi- not be separated from “a process of historical genocide and olence against Black communities.” this genocide has a master which is capitalism.” Then, as Even if the deadline for demobilization is met in June, now, the objective is “to take our riches, our natural resourc- Fernando Arias, like Cárdenas, says the Union Patriotica es such as gold. The European invasion of South America massacres of the 1980s could easily be repeated. “How can started by Columbus, is now being carried on by corpora- there be peace when killings on such a large scale are con- tions and their big extractive projects.” tinuing? We want the whole world to know that Colombia A report published in May by the National Security Ar- is not a paradise where peace has been achieved. Paramil- chive in Washington, D.C., based on declassified documents, itarism is strong in Colombia and as long as it is not dis- found that Chiquita Brands paid armed groups, includ- mantled, we cannot have peace in the country.” M ing paramilitaries, to protect its operations. In 2015, murder charges were laid against an executive of Drummond Coal, a mining company based in Arizona. Charo Minas Rojas wonders how Colombians can talk about a lasting peace under such a brutal extractivist economic model. 62 Feature DAVID BRUER Canadian pension funds grab farmland in Brazil Campaign seeks divestment from speculative land-grabbing at home and abroad

ENSION FUNDS ARE among the most This inflow of money from the -fi In 2012, the Ottawa-based NGO Inter influential actors in the global -fi nancial sector is already being felt in Pares (where I work) linked up with nancial industry. They manage the countryside. It is pushing up land a small coalition of organizations in Pmore money than all the sovereign prices, making it harder for farmers, Brazil, Canada, Sweden and the U.S. wealth funds, hedge funds and private especially young farmers, to get access to investigate how a global farmland equity funds of the world combined, to farmland and stay out of debt. It is fund managed by the U.S. teachers’ and Canada is home to some of the big- also contributing to land consolida- pension fund manager, TIAA-CREF, gest pension funds on the planet. tion and large-scale farming, leading was acquiring farmland in Brazil. Pen- The decisions that pension fund to a further decline in smaller family sion funds sometimes invest in funds managers make on how to invest farms and the expansion of chemical- managed by other pension funds, so working people’s savings have enor- ly intensive and environmentally de- TIAA-CREF’s global farmland fund mous consequences. They can inflate structive agriculture. had money from Canada and Sweden. real estate bubbles and commodity In some parts of the world the in- In Canada, Caisse de dépôt et place- prices, make controversial megapro- flows of pension-fund money are more ment du Québec (La Caisse) and the jects possible or, in much rarer cases, directly displacing people from the B.C. Investment Management Corp. change corporate behaviour by threat- land. More and more small farmers, (bcIMC) are heavily invested in TIAA- ening divestment. pastoralists and Indigenous people are CREF’s global farmland fund. Since the financial crisis of 2008, being evicted from their lands, often TIAA-CREF insists that its farm- pension fund managers have been try- violently, to make way for big farmers land investments are “responsible.” ing to find alternative investments to and plantation operators backed by in- It spearheaded the creation of farm- stocks, especially longer-term invest- ternational finance. Last year, 26 land land investment principles for its fel- ments that can hedge against the vol- defenders were assassinated every low signatories to the UN’s Principles atility of the stock market. One new month, according to the Pesticide Ac- for Responsible Investment, and each area of interest for them is farmland tion Network (Asia Pacific). year it publishes a report on its glob- and a lot of pension-fund money is goal farmland investments that consist- ing there. ently maintains that all of its farm- The typical argument for farmland land investments are free of land con- investment goes like this: population flicts and other social or environmen- and income growth is increasing the tal problems. demand for food, putting more pres- It’s hard to verify TIAA-CREF’s sure on the earth’s finite and shrink- Pension fund claims because the fund manager re- ing available agricultural land. Food managers invest fuses to make available the exact lo- prices are therefore only going to in- cation of its farm holdings. But after crease over time, as will the price of in a wide variety three years of investigations, Inter farmland. In the words of Mark Twain, of industries Pares and its partners were able to altered slightly by investment guru identify several farms that the TIAA- Jim Rogers, “Buy farmland, they’re that raise ethical CREF fund had purchased. They also not making it anymore.” questions, uncovered the complex financial All kinds of new funds have been structure that the company created created over the past decade to buy from arms to to get around Brazilian regulations farmland, most of them focussed on mining, with little on foreign investment in farmland. attracting money from pension funds. The TIAA-CREF farms were located Some target lands in Eastern Europe, accountability to in a northern region of Brazil known others Africa or Latin America. Some the people whose as Matopiba, which has become the see Australia as the big opportunity, new frontier for the expansion of while others have their sights on Can- savings they large-scale soybean agriculture. This ada’s Prairies. manage. is a part of rural Brazil inhabited by 63 HELP US SHED LIGHT ON THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO YOU. (we’ve got some bright ideas)

Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian com- (see screenshot on this page). The vid- the negative publicity. So are Canada’s munities and small farming fami- eo was produced to accompany a cam- other pension funds. lies, who have always lived in harmo- paign encouraging people to write the The larger objective here is to push MAKE A DONATION Tax receipts are issued for contributions of $15 or more. ny with the area’s fragile but incredi- two pension funds to ask them to re- back against the increasing interest bly biodiverse savannah. It is an area frain from investing in TIAA-CREF’s of all Canadian pension fund man- I would like to make a monthly contribution of: I would like to make a one-time donation of: where land conflicts are exploding as global farmland funds and to suspend agers in farmland, whether the land OR ruthless businessmen and corrupt of- other speculative farmland invest- is in Brazil, Africa or here in Canada. $25 $15 $10 Other ____ $300 $100 $75 Other ____ ficials conspire to use fraud and vi- ments. The campaign also demands Pressure does work. The CPP Invest- olence to drive local people off their that TIAA-CREF make public the na- ment Board made a major investment PAYMENT TYPE: lands and then sell that land to foreign ture, extent and specific location of its in a Canadian farmland fund last year, I would like to receive my companies like TIAA-CREF. investments, either direct or indirect, then in April this year announced it I’ve enclosed a cheque (made payable to CCPA, or void cheque for monthly donation) subscription to The Monitor: An in-depth investigation into one in agricultural land. has decided against making further VISA MASTERCARD of the TIAA-CREF’s farms in the Mat- Development and Peace is also investments in farmland and is open I’d like to make my contribution by: By e-mail opiba region found that it was pur- working closely with partners in Bra- to selling its existing portfolio. Mailed to my address chased from a Brazilian businessman zil to help communities affected by Pension fund managers invest in a CREDIT CARD NUMBER: convicted of land-grabbing and wide- land-grabs from TIAA-CREF and oth- wide variety of industries that raise No Monitor, thanks ly known to have used fraud and vio- er investors in the Matopiba area. Sup- ethical questions, from arms to min- EXPIRY DATE: SIGNATURE: lence to displace local communities in port is needed more than ever, as the ing, with little accountability to the the area. With the support of Devel- new government is moving ahead people whose savings they manage. opment and Peace and other Canadi- with a bill to eliminate the country’s Given their huge financial influence it CONTACT INFORMATION an organizations, Inter Pares is work- restrictions on foreign investment in is high time we started asking some se- ing to put pressure on the La Caisse farmland. rious questions about how our savings Name Return this form to: and bcIMC to withdraw from their La Caisse has acknowledged read- can contribute to positive economic 500-251 BANK ST. investments in the TIAA-CREF farming the investigative report but has development and whether there are Address OTTAWA, ON K2P 1X3 land fund. refused to meet to discuss it, while better ways for society to look after A short animated video to explain bcIMC has yet to respond to the cam- its elders. M City Province Postal Code Or donate online at: the issue was uploaded to YouTube to paign in any way. We know they are WWW.POLICYALTERNATIVES.CA help make people aware of the issue paying attention and are concerned by Telephone (Required) Email 64 Yes, I prefer to receive my tax receipt Please do not trade my name with other and updates by email. organizations. REGISTERED CHARITY #124146473 RR0001 HELP US SHED LIGHT ON THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO YOU. (we’ve got some bright ideas)

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