streetfestival

Measles has spread to 109 more people in Ontario over the last week, bringing the province’s total cases to 925 since an outbreak began in October.

Sixty-nine people have required hospitalization – that’s eight more than last week – including four in intensive care.

Measles is still predominantly infecting unvaccinated infants, children and adolescents in southwestern Ontario.

Cases in Alberta have also been climbing since March, with 83 confirmed as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Quebec is on the verge of declaring its outbreak over if no new infections are reported by Saturday.

Allegations that the United Conservative Party government pressured Alberta Health Services to accept exorbitant contracts to operate chartered surgical facilities in Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge have dominated the news in Alberta since February.

Former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos’s allegation that she was fired for scrutinizing these contracts has created a scandal dubbed “CorruptCare” by the NDP Opposition.

Rather than being an isolated incident, the CorruptCare scandal represents the result of the contracting out and hollowing out of public health care in Alberta.

Whether it’s chartered surgical facilities, privatized laboratory services or contract nursing agencies, repeated instances of introducing the profit motive to the provision of public health-care services show that privatization tends to increase health-care costs.

And why wouldn’t it? Corporations exist to maximize profit, not to provide public services.

"You're at home and then you hear that Donald Trump maybe wants to invade Canada, and that all the Trumpist values can come and contaminate us," said event organizer and renowned Quebec journalist Alain Saulnier. "What we wanted to do was allow people to get out of their homes and make it clear that they do not want Trump here."

The sentiment resounded from the Maritimes to the Prairies.

The demonstrations came a day after Americans gathered in all 50 states to protest the president's agenda following a dizzying 11 weeks that saw Trump throw up tariff walls, dismantle some government offices and pardon nearly all defendants involved in the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

People showed up to celebrate the Canadian nation and show their Manitoban and Canadian pride!

“We’ll always be the true north strong and free. And we will never be the 51st State!” Kinew exclaimed. “Together, we will keep this land glorious and free! Merci, vive la Canada!”

The rally featured musical guests, food trucks, and plenty of activities for kids, with premier Wab Kinew addressing the crowd.

“The fact that somebody like me, people like us have opportunity to make our lives what we want them to be, that’s what makes Canada so special, that’s what makes Canada so beautiful, and that’s what makes Canada worth fighting for,” said Kinew.

People showed up in droves, decked out in all things Canadian, and the message to President Trump and the United States was quite clear.

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https://mstdn.ca/@stevevrporter/114293351479492573

A newly released audit of the Toronto Transit Corporation’s (TTC) operations found growing discontent among the transit agency’s non-unionized staff, including worsening concerns about safety and a turnover rate of up to 62 per cent in some departments in recent years.

In 2023 and 2024 exit surveys the TTC conducted with departing employees, over half of respondents said their decision to leave was influenced, mostly or in part, by an “unhealthy organizational culture,” “lack of trust in the executive/senior leadership,” and “growth and career advancement.”

A smaller percentage of employees responded that “psychological safety” (35 per cent), “discrimination towards them during their employment” (29 per cent), and “physical safety” (14 per cent) were contributing factors in their choice to leave.

It was surreal to watch this unfold in real time. And it reminded me of an important and eye-opening 2024 report, Disruptions on the Horizon, by Policy Horizons Canada. It identified 35 potential disruptions to Canadian stability.

Number one among the top potential disruptions: People cannot tell what is true and what is not.

I’ve been reporting on right-wing politics over the last decade for PressProgress and have gone deep into the weeds on Canada’s online far-right. We are not simply seeing a rise in “conspiracies” and “misinformation” per se, I think we are witnessing tectonic shifts inside Canada’s conservative movement.

A decade or two ago, this was a movement that revolved around ideas about free markets, small government and reactionary social values. That’s all still there, but for a growing segment of the right, these ideas have been increasingly displaced by a sprawling, conspiratorial metanarrative that imagines an evil global cabal is using technocratic climate policies, authoritarian public health rules and gender-inclusive educational materials to control the world and keep ordinary people in their place—and yes, it is every bit as unhinged as that sounds.

In fact, I’m no longer sure the word “conspiracy” fully captures what’s really happening here.

The first thing you need to understand is that we can draw a direct line connecting the weirdness of B.C.’s 2024 election with the wave of anti-2SLGBTQ+ protests in 2023, the 2022 Freedom Convoy and the anti-public health protests throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These are all symptoms of the same problem.

This phenomenon is driven by the collapse of traditional media and the rise of digital platforms. Across Canada, including B.C., newsrooms are being decimated by layoffs, local newspapers are shutting down and what remains of our stripped-down media ecosystem is concentrated in the hands of a small number of corporations and wealthy individuals. At the same time, our public discourse is being shaped by mysterious, unregulated social media algorithms that are distorting our democracy in ways nobody seems to fully understand.