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.

By Frances Russell - April 5, 2013

The Conservatives under Stephen Harper are running an effective dictatorship. They believe they are quite within their rights to muzzle Parliament, gag civil servants, use taxpayer money for blatant political self-promotion, stand accused of trying to subvert a federal election and hand over much of Canada's magnificent natural heritage to the multinational oil and gas lobby.

By Daniel Wilson - April 5, 2013

There has been over 4 months of ongoing protest, hunger strikes, long distance marches by Indigenous youth, heated negotiations with First Nation leadership...and widespread calls for action from non-Indigenous people across Canada...Given these circumstances, what can be reasonably foreseen is...the increasingly real risk of outright confrontation. The only question is whether this isn’t in fact the Prime Minister’s intention.

By Dru Oja Jay - March 25, 2013

Canada's Conservative government announced last Thursday that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will be merged into a new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, ending any formal independence development and trade previously possessed...The Canadian government's involvement in "development" has one primary purpose. To advance Canadian interests, including all the things Canada does to deepen poverty in the world.

By Yves Engler - April 2nd, 2013

Two recent developments within corporate Canada help explain Stephan Harper’s more imperialistic foreign policy...Canada’s growing ‘petro state’ has driven a more extreme, anti-internationalist, foreign policy...Another development that helps explain the Conservatives more aggressive foreign policy is the incredible growth in Canada’s mining sector.

By HARRISON SAMPHIR - Counterpunch

The Harper government has vehemently attacked the UN over alleged ineptitude, most prominently in its scolding of the Security Council for inaction during the Syrian civil war. But this outright abandonment of a significant scientific initiative aimed at quelling the root causes of desertification harms both the African people and the previously ‘humanitarian’ image of Canada.

By Harsha Walia - Sunday, April 2, 2013

Canada’s immigration laws are increasingly geared towards keeping people out...Canada now receives more people on temporary work permits than as permanent residents, ensuring that migrants are cheap labour for big business. While the current government bails out corporations and forces austerity on the rest of us, scapegoating migrants as stealing jobs is a powerful tool to destroy solidarity between people.

By Clay Nikiforuk - April 1, 2013

What do you do when you're detained by powerful officials, everything you say is presumed deceptive, arbitrary "evidence" is held against you, and you're treated like a moral deviant? And what if its 2013, you're a woman, and the "evidence" is that you possess condoms?...It happened three times in two weeks -- being detained by U.S. border officials on my way to or through the States.

Canada endorses Cypriot harshness. It's parliament authorizes depositor haircuts.

March 29, 2013 - Halifax Media Co-op

The tank-like vehicle is called a cougar, and was recently acquired by the New Glasgow police through a department of defence program that gives away old military equipment to police. One article said the RCMP refer to it as "cougars for cops". There is a very similar program in the US that is much larger and has gotten more attention...

By Matthew Behrens - March 19, 2013

This past week has provided Canadians with a series of warm and fuzzies that, like most of this nation's mythology, were built on self-congratulatory lies...[T]he occasion was the 10th anniversary of the 2003 escalation of the 23-year war against the people of Iraq...Plain and simple, Canada was involved. Right up until the final decision, it was [former Liberal Prime Minister Jean] Chretien's intention to join in.

By Keith Jones - 29 March 2013

Canada’s Conservative government has tabled another austerity budget — a budget that in the name of eliminating the annual deficit intensifies big business’s drive to make working people pay for the capitalist crisis...The budget extends and expands the program of spending cuts the Conservatives launched in 2010. According to the government, these cuts will reduce government spending by almost C$9.1 billion in the 2013-2014 fiscal year and by close to C$58 billion over the next five years.

By Yves Engler - March 28th, 2013

When a US-led coalition invaded Iraq the forward-looking Canadian government stayed out of the war. And if you believe that I have a bridge for sale in Moose Jaw at an excellent price...[I]t’s completely false to say Canada did not participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.