By Eric Walberg - Dissident Voice

The world is taking note of the ruling Conservatives’ shameful betrayal of Canada’s once admirable reputation as a fair country, sincerely working on the world stage to improve the lot of the disadvantaged and suffering. In the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, Canada was criticized to such an extent that the Council decided to send the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and representatives of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, to investigate.

By Michael Harris - April 25, 2013

There is more than a whiff of political opportunism in the air...When a prime minister’s favorite part of the justice system is the police, it is a proclivity that bears watching.

April 24, 2013 - BC Civil Liberties Association

The BCCLA argued that Bill C-309 threatens the constitutionally-protected freedoms of expression and association by placing a chill on those who may wish to wear masks at popular protests and demonstrations...“Costumes and masks are lawful and they can be a powerful aid to unpopular speech...They can help foster the uninhibited expression of political views. The anonymity of a mask can protect people who are voicing their political opinions from punishment or reprisal by government, employers, family and others.”

April 27, 2013 - CBC News

The former NASA scientist criticized by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver earlier this week for his views on the Keystone XL pipeline is responding by calling the Conservatives a desperate and "Neanderthal" government..."The current government is a Neanderthal government on this issue...I have hopes that Canada will actually be a good example for the United States but the present government is certainly not."

By Yves Engler - April 26th, 2013

In 2010 the Auditor General apparently called on the Canada Revenue Agency to “investigate or revoke” the Jewish National Fund’s charitable status. But this request seems to have been ignored in deference to a “charity” that has long participated in the erasure of Palestinians’ presence from their historic homeland.

By Keith Jones - 24 April 2013

Canadian authorities boasted Monday afternoon that, working in concert with the FBI and other US national security agencies, they had broken up a terrorist conspiracy involving an Iranian-based al-Qaeda cell. The announcement, made at a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) press conference, came just as the House of Commons was set to debate new anti-terrorism legislation that would give the state draconian new powers.

By Dana Gabriel

ACTA is part of the international agenda of patent, trademark and copyright lobbies. The agreement favours big businesses over individual innovators and creators. It was designed to protect the interests of multinational corporations at the expense of fundamental civil rights. ACTA is being used by the U.S. to pressure other countries into adopting a new global standard for intellectual property enforcement. The supranational treaty would impose draconian laws which threaten the sovereignty of member nations.

By YVES ENGLER - Counterpunch

...Canadian aid has primarily been about maintaining and/or extending the grip the world’s richest one percent holds over the entire globe...[T]here are innumerable documented instances of Canadian aid advancing highly politicized geopolitical objectives over the past 25 years.

By Keith Jones - 17 April 2013

Canada’s official opposition, the trade union-supported New Democratic Party (NDP), touted last weekend’s party policy convention as a showcase of its “readiness to govern” and toward that end adopted “pragmatic” policies, “modernized” its rhetoric, and emphasized its kinship with other “progressive” parties like Barack Obama’s Democrats and the Australian Labor Party.

By Tim Groves - April 16, 2013

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is disclosing intelligence to private companies despite a law that does not permit this sharing...There is a “new imperative” for the Service to work closely with industry partners, according to the 2010 “Review of CSIS’s Private Sector Relationships,” created by the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the body that oversees the spy agency’s compliance with the law.

By Charles Demers - rabble.ca

..."[D]emocratic socialism" is such a fucking weenie phrase...As Jack Layton [said]...back in 2003, "I'm proud to call myself a socialist. I prefer it by far to democratic socialist." I would submit that that's because Jack knew a fucking weenie phrase when he saw one. It's a Cold War anachronism -- "My name's Charlie, and I'm a democratic socialist" is the sort of thing you'd say at a 12-step meeting for Totalitarians Anonymous: "It'd start innocently enough. I'd just paint a little picture of a tractor. Next thing I knew, I was blacked out, collectivizing farms..."

By Graham Beverley - WSWS

Canada’s social-democrats have responded to their unexpected success in the May 2011 federal election by lurching further right on every major political question...[I]t is seeking to demonstrate to the ruling class that the [New Democratic Party] is a “progressive” party akin to Barack Obama’s Democrats or the British Labour Party — a party of austerity and imperialist war — and thus eminently suitable to supplant the Liberals as the bourgeoisie’s “left” party of government.

By Dave Zirin - April 12, 2013

"Today marks a historic step for [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered] equality in sports. The NHL and the NHLPA [NHL Players' Association] are stepping up to ensure that the hockey community is welcoming — not begrudging, not tolerant — welcoming to LGBT players, coaches, management or fans...The NHL has long had a slogan — "Hockey Is For Everyone." We will work alongside our partners in the NHL and the NHLPA to continue to make that true."

- You Can Play Project founder Patrick Burke

By Yves Engler - April 10, 2013

The current Canadian government has a thing for monarchy. In fact the Conservatives seem to like it better than democracy...[S]ince the "Arab Spring" democracy struggles that began in 2011 Stephen Harper's government has gotten down right scary, apparently supporting the divine right of kings over rule by the people.

By Paul Tetrault - April 10, 2013

In 2002, Omar Khadr was captured by the Americans in Afghanistan. He was 15 years old. Eleven years later, he's still in jail, and his sentence runs for seven more years...Last year, the Conservative government was finally forced to repatriate Omar Khadr to Canada where he is now incarcerated in Millhaven maximum security penitentiary, without access to basic education and rehabilitation programmes.