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The Separatist Call is Coming from Inside the House

What is crystal clear is conservatives flirted with far-right grievances to gain political power only for those monsters of Confederation to use their access to undermine federalism.

CALGARY—To continue last week’s “Canada is giving corruption vibes” theme, one should never leave out the grift that is Alberta separatism. And we have former Alberta premier Jason Kenney to thank for this iteration of the province’s grievances that have turned into a full-fledged attempt at sovereignty.

On April 30, independent journalist Jeremy Appel broke a story of a separatist group led by David Parker, whose Centurion Project has been accused of accessing Elections Alberta’s voter registration database. As reported by Appel in The Orchard, Elections Alberta investigator Ryan Tebb said that “the elections watchdog ‘has reason to believe’ that the organization has built a ‘database’ of voters from the electors list, and will be commencing an investigation.” The RCMP has opened a separate investigation, and The Globe and Mail has since confirmed: “Elections Alberta on Thursday alleged that a separatist organization known as the Centurion Project was using the Republican Party of Alberta’s copy of the list of electors without authorization.” So now we have a group of renegades, whose loyalty is to their own grievances, with a database of Alberta voters’ personal information. Fantastic.

Let me take you back to 2019 when Kenney won the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta and merged it with the Wild Rose Party (led at one point by current Alberta Premier Danielle Smith) to create the United Conservative Party (UCP). As detailed in a paper from York University, Taking Alberta Back: Faith, Fuel and Freedom on the Canadian Far Right, Kenney beat the Alberta NDP (then led by Rachel Notley) “on a campaign to ‘fight back’ against Ottawa’s environmental policies,” and “sought to both harness and redirect the separatist movement into his strategy to obtain a ‘fair deal’ within Canadian confederation.” It is here where the UCP married the far right in a bid for more political power, which Smith is now exploiting. It backfired for Kenney, since he became seen as one of the elites that part of the UCP base saw as an impediment to fairness for the province. Hence why he had to be soft on COVID restrictions until it was no longer feasible.

Credit: Patrick LaMontagne

In a May 4 social-media post, Kenney seemed mystified as to how the separatists became so powerful: “It’s beyond bizarre that we are letting Tin Foil Hat brigade crazies like [Jeff] Rath divide Alberta and dominate the politics of this brilliant province, while giving them our personal data to boot.”

Dude, you are the “we.”

It was Kenney who brought the idea of Alberta not getting a fair deal to the mainstream, even travelling around the country pre-COVID to promote the unfairness of equalization, which is at the core of current Albertan separatist discontent. He launched the Fair Deal Panel in 2019 “to consult Albertans on how to define and secure a fair deal for Alberta.” In the report, there is a whole section opining the unfairness of a system they do not understand, with calls for equalization reform. The panel recommended: “Proceed with the proposed referendum on equalization, asking a clear question along the lines of: ‘Do you support the removal of Section 36, which deals with the principle of equalization, from the Constitution Act, 1982?’” Once this question is legitimized by government authorities such as Kenney, why are we surprised that the separatists ran with it?

COVID eventually took Kenney down because doing the responsible thing—implementing COVID restrictions as people lay dying—is anathema to far-right dunderheads. In addition, his reputation took a hit when he was pictured dining with a group unmasked and not observing social-distancing rules that he implemented. His hypocrisy solidified the view of his inauthenticity as a good ol’ boy for the separatists, and showed him as an irresponsible manager for the province to normal people.

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What is crystal clear is conservatives flirted with far-right grievances to gain political power only for those monsters of Confederation to use their access to undermine federalism. The federal Conservative party publicly aligned themselves with the Ottawa Convoy (which in itself had Western alienation roots), including selfies with now-party leader Pierre Poilievre, only for the participants in the convoy to migrate to the separatist movement. The Public Order Emergency Commission released a report on the convoy that specifically states: “The rise of the Freedom Convoy has coincided with a rise in Western separatism.” The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ brief on Alberta separatism states: “The [Ottawa Freedom Convey] movement is also benefiting from cross-border political influences, particularly conservative populism imported from the United States.”

These relationships and patterns may rightly cause one to ask how much American influence has fuelled these two integrated movements, and, to that end, did the conservatives create an opening that offers the opportunity for nefarious actors to advance their interests?

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CALGARY—Last week, NDP MP Don Davies sought unanimous consent“asking MPs to agree that ‘the government should ban surveillance pricing, where personal data is used by corporations to increase the prices consumers pay both in-store and online.’” Global News went on to note that this was the first piece of policy introduced into Parliament by the NDP since Avi Lewis was elected as its leader on March 29. Despite the motion’s defeat, the NDP has kicked over a dormant hornet’s nest of affordability issues.

Another byproduct of this motion was to introduce real opposition to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s artificial intelligence agenda, which Carney plans to ram through without many regulations. As reported by the Canadian Press, AI Minister Evan Solomon has indicated that “he’ll put less emphasis on AI regulation and more on finding ways to harness the technology’s economic benefits.” In essence, this government has put us on notice that it is all about profits over people.

This issue should’ve been on the radar of the Conservatives who swear up and down they’re here for working people, but they, too, are in the bosom of big business.

Dynamic pricing is the practice of maximizing revenue by aligning your willingness to pay with the price of the goods and services on offer. This practice requires the use of data analytics and AI algorithms to automatically shift prices in real time based on data gleaned from online behaviours that are tracked by various tools like loyalty programs. This is a free-market failure; symmetric information is necessary for the perfectly competitive markets these politicians love to quote.

There are a few common strategies that companies use to engage in dynamic pricing. The first is time-based pricing. This is when prices rise during peak times to take advantage of increased demand. This is Uber’s business model, in a nutshell. The second is segment-based pricing, which charges different prices for the same product to different consumer factions. This sounds routine, given that we’ve had seniors’ discounts and student pricing for a while; however, as a strategy of dynamic pricing, the difference is these prices are adjusted instantaneously and are based on factors designed to maximize your willingness to pay. Demand-based pricing is similar to time-based, only it bases its surge on high demand itself, instead of basing pricing on the time period when demand is high.

Surveillance pricing can be thought of as a subcategory of dynamic pricing that specifically targets individuals based on the data obtained through things like loyalty programs, which are data-harvesting tools. Every time you use a loyalty card, it collects what you buy, the time, frequency, and demographic characteristics, and will adjust the prices and promotions accordingly. Vanderbilt University and UC Berkeley released a report on how loyalty programs have inverted the concept of “loyalty”: “They track not just what consumers buy, but who we are, what we search for, and even how we move our cursors across a screen. Companies then monetize this data—selling it to brokers, building profiles on each of us, and most importantly, learning how much each of us is willing to pay.”

With each of these models, the consumer is getting screwed. Although prices can theoretically lower during slower periods, the price itself is based on the consumer’s willingness to pay, which is determined by analyzing your personalized data. Willingness to pay can be translated into the following question: how much financial pain are you willing to tolerate?

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This past November, the Competition Bureau concluded its investigation into the use of pricing algorithms in the rental market. One of their targets, RealPage, has also been investigated by the United States Department of Justice. Unlike the Competition Bureau, which “did not find a contravention of the civil provisions of the Act at this time” since it’s not widely used in Canada, the DOJ took action against the company for anti-competitive practices. RealPage allowed landlords to share information to inflate rent prices for unsuspecting housing-seekers. “This software then generates recommendations, including on apartment rental pricing and other terms, for participating landlords based on their and their rivals’ competitively sensitive information. The complaint further alleges that in a free market, these landlords would otherwise be competing independently to attract renters based on pricing, discounts, concessions, lease terms, and other dimensions of apartment leasing.” This is not the free market; rather it is greed and corruption only meant to squeeze people out of their last dollar.

To be fair, it is not clear as to how widespread the use of surveillance pricing is in Canadian marketplaces, but what is clear is that we don’t have the institutional oversight to protect us like we think we have. Don’t look to the Liberals or Conservatives to fight for consumers, given that before the NDP brought it up, the inherent unfairness and avariciousness of algorithmic-based pricing was not even an issue. And given the Carney government intends to push AI down our throats with little oversight, he is already giving businesses a green light to rob us.

Erica Ifill is host of the Bad+Bitchy podcast.

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Let me be clear: I am not implying that the NDP is saved or that Avi Lewis is its saviour. I want to see what he has to offer over time. I am merely gleeful that there presents an opportunity to apply real political pushback on neoliberal politics and economics, which is what got us into this affordability crisis in the first place.

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Establishment enmity could be a good omen for the NDP’s Lewis

The mocking responses of the Establishment to Avi Lewis’ win belie their divorce from the realities of Canadians not in their socioeconomic class.

CALGARY—The collective crash-out of the Canadian political and news media establishment over Avi Lewis’ March 29 win in the NDP leadership race is giving me life.

It only took one ballot that garnered 56 per cent of the vote, and as CBC News noted, it was “a decisive victory that slightly outstrips what Jagmeet Singh won in 2017.” Alberta MP Heather McPherson walked away with 29 per cent of the vote, placing her second. With this victory, the NDP has let us know that they’re going all-in on democratic socialism, and moving away from the chokehold the consultant class has on the party. In addition, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew introduced himself on the national stage much like future United States president Barack Obama did at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Kinew, whose politics lie left of centre, is the most popular premier in the country at 61 per cent. There is a strong appetite for left-wing populism in Canada, which has not seen representation since before then-NDP leader Jack Layton.

Currently, there is no left-wing representation in mainstream political and media structures in Canada. The capture of the Conservatives by the far right, facilitated by Leader Pierre Poilievre, has pulled the Overton window in that direction. We now categorize Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney as the centre, when he’s a right-wing banker whose top priority is not Canadians, but Canada Inc. There is no diversity of thought here. Anyone who doesn’t pray at the altar of neoliberalism is labelled a kook, and publicly denigrated.

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Our media have been promoting conservatism at the expense of representation. These are the same people who present Poilievre as ready to lead because he managed to keep his vitriol and name-calling to a minimum for a few hours. The goalposts move to accommodate him, while Lewis—who just got here—is expected to have policy positions to fix Canada’s problems on Day 1. Canadian news media doesn’t even feature left-wing pundits, and if you are to believe the testimony of many left-wing journalists, even CBC has blacklisted many of them from appearing on the network. I, too, have been blackballed by CBC. Remember, this is an entity whose diversity is mandated and funded by our tax dollars, including those of left-wing voters.

The mocking responses of the Establishment to Lewis’ win also belie their divorce from the realities of Canadians not in their socioeconomic class. Former Conservative industry minister James Moore said on CTV News, “I think Mark Carney is one of the luckiest political leaders that we’ve seen in this country in a long time in the fact the New Democrats keep tripping over themselves and electing people who are not electable to the broader Canadian public.” Unelectable? Same thing everyone said about Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, and the United Kingdom Greens who are now waxing the Labour party with their “unelectable” candidates on a democratic socialist wave of political support. Just because left-wing politics didn’t have proper representation for 20 years doesn’t mean there isn’t a political appetite. Let’s not forget that Carney’s win was made possible by an NDP collapse, which saw those voters go Liberal.

Due to the elites’ commandeering of political and media spaces, we have not had much movement or policies geared towards tackling income and wealth inequalities. In fact, it has been talked about very feebly when it is done so, if at all, in news media. There has been absolutely zero discussion on the economic violence our tax and wage structures continually visit upon everyone who isn’t rich. I wrote about the classism of our current structures in this paper in 2023: “Political power drives policy, and that’s one of the reasons our neoliberal policies have favoured the rich and continue the trajectory of a smaller and smaller number of elites who run the country.”

The elites have run this country into the ground, removing the promise of upward mobility and a good quality of life one would expect from a western country. They consistently starve public services but subsidize industries and their shareholders for the promise of jobs; yet those jobs have not materialized into providing liveable wages. While the Conservatives have rightfully called this out, they blame government, never the economic leadership that gouges wages and fixes prices. An example is the bread price-fixing scandal, where the rich companies exploited us and only walked away with a slap on the wrist. The Conservatives don’t mention the culpability of the elites at all because that’s who they truly represent. In addition, they blame the most vulnerable for the deeds of the wealthy, as Lewis rightfully pinpointed in his convention speech: “They’ll blame Trump. They’ll blame immigrants. They’ll blame Indigenous land rights. They’ll blame anyone but the CEOs, the corner-office class to whom they feel accountable.”

t remains to be seen whether Lewis can truly rebuild the NDP into the progressive party it is supposed to be. Frankly, there is a lot of work to do, but Lewis comes in as a great organizer, which is what the party desperately needs. The NDP is currently in the gutter, so there’s nowhere to go but up.

Erica Ifill is host of the Bad+Bitchy podcast.

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Here is a summary of Canadaland’s phishing scandal

Some supporting evidence. Click to read the full threads

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Everyone is paying the cost for Trump’s ego

The return on investment of this obscene spending is garbage, and without objectives and a robust strategy for this conflict, the results may be sub-optimal for both Israeli and American pursuits.

CALGARY—The Iran war is a military omnishambles of epic proportions, and it’s not getting any better. This war began as the brainchild of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who convinced United States President Donald Trump that he would be the only president to bring down the Islamic Republic, betting on Trump’s metastasized ego to complete the task. It worked.

Buoyed by the “success” of his military escapade in Venezuela, where the U.S. military captured/kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and replaced him with puppet leadership, Trump was feeling himself. On Feb. 28, he launched Operation Epic Fury, with air strikes killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The expectation was that victory was nigh, only for the inconvenient truth of a more-resilient enemy to emerge; the regime did not fall. The entire world is now engulfed in the consequences of an ill-conceived, haphazardly implemented war for the benefit of Israel’s bloodthirsty hegemonic expansion in the region, and Trump’s imperialist narcissism.

While the prowess and power of the U.S. military is unmatched, it has not won a conflict since the Second World War; Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Afghanistan, and Iraq were all wars America lost with its superior military. It is also the most expensive, and therefore the return on investment is questionable.

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The U.S. has “estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded $11.3-billion in the first six days alone,” as reported by The New York Times. The Pentagon is expected to request another US$50-billion. Much of the money is spent on ammunition, which has revealed questions about America’s wartime industrial capacity. As estimated by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, in the first four days, “the U.S.-led coalition expended approximately 5,197 munitions across 35 types,” which “represents a significant industrial burden for replacing some munitions that cannot be replenished in four days, four weeks, or even four months.” Despite Trump’s statements to the contrary, America does not have the manufacturing capability to keep up with the weaponry it needs to keep pace with the operation, nor does it have the rare earth minerals to produce modern defence munitions or technology, such as Tomahawk cruise missiles. China dominates global production.

Now we know why the country can’t afford universal health care.

Iran, on the other hand, uses cheaper drones, less-advanced technology, and is still holding their own. As reported by USA Today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, “told reporters on March 10 that Iran’s ballistic missile attacks ‘continue to trend downward 90 per cent,’ and its one-way attack drones have ‘decreased 83 per cent’ since the beginning of the war.” That would be a good statistic on its own; however, asymmetric costs could hamper tactics in the future. The idea was to start the war with an aggressive air campaign, overwhelm the enemy, and destroy the regime. Not surprisingly, this did not happen, and there was no plan for a sustained Iranian resistance. The Times of Israel reported that the U.S. “struck more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the Iran war.”

The return on investment of this obscene spending is garbage, and without objectives and a robust strategy for this conflict, the results may be sub-optimal for both Israeli and American pursuits; the ROI is a harder Iranian regime. Khamenei was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

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“His selection could be a sign that more hardline factions in Iran’s establishment retain power, and could indicate that the government has little desire to agree to a deal or negotiations in the short term,” explained Al Jazeera. To recap: Trump and his cronies spent billions of dollars in a week to produce a worse government than was there before.

Now, the Americans are sending in ground troops. The desperation for control of this conflict is palpable.

The U.S. operates many bases in the Middle East, located in countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates, all of which are in the direct line of Iranian drones and missiles. There are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 personnel across all bases in the region. Iran has made it clear that those sites will be vulnerable to target. And target it has. American and Israeli military actions have left these countries militarily naked with zero protection.

In defending themselves from Iranian missiles, the Gulf states must deploy interceptors that cost a king’s ransom. Al Jazeera reported that Kuwait has spent between US$800-million and US$1.5-billion; Qatar spent US$600-million to $900-million; and the UAE has forked over between US$1.3-billion and $2.6-billion. “Every interceptor fired represents resources that cannot be replaced overnight, raising fears that defence stockpiles could be rapidly depleted.” Conversely, in launching these attacks, Iran has only spent US$194-million to $391-million, thereby making the financial burden of launching the attacks cheaper than defending against them. This is not sustainable for anyone, and neither is this war.

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US and EU sanctions have killed 38 million people since 1970

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In Africa, Jesse Jackson Was Esteemed for His Fight Against Apartheid (gift link)

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson began his activism in the 1960s and founded the organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Expanding his work into international affairs in the 1980s, he became a vocal critic of the Reagan administration and launched a presidential campaign in 1984. Initially viewed as a fringe candidate, he finished third for the Democratic nomination behind former vice president Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. He continued his activism and mounted a second presidential bid in 1988, finishing as the runner‑up for the Democratic nomination to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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1983 Syria

In 1983, Jesse Jackson travelled to Syria to secure the release of the captured American pilot Robert Goodman, who was being held by the Syrian government. Goodman had been shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions there during the Lebanese Civil War 1975 to 1990.

1984 Cuba

Following talks in Havana, Castro agreed to release 26 Cuban prisoners (including former close allies and political dissidents) and 22 Americans held in Cuba. One of them was allegedly an American spy who had been imprisoned during the Bay of Pigs debacle

1991 First Gulf War (Kuwait)

Rev. Jesse Jackson negotiated with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, securing the release of over 200 Westerners—including 47 Americans—held as “human shields” after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Jackson’s humanitarian mission, which included bringing home sick and elderly hostages, provided a temporary diplomatic opening despite criticism from the U.S. government.

In 1999, Jackson negotiated the release of U.S. soldiers held by Serbian forces in Kosovo, and helped negotiate the release of four journalists held in Liberia the following year.

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How’d He Do It?

Jackson’s empathetic approach and genuine concern for the hostages’ welfare allowed him to establish a rapport with the captors. He also demonstrated his commitment to addressing the broader political grievances in the region, which resonated with the militants and built rapport.

Example: 1985 TWA flight 847

In summer 1985, Hezbollah hijacked the Trans World Airlines flight leg from Athens to Rome for 17 days (its final destination was San Diego). They demanded the release of a total of 766 prisoners from Israeli custody and took the plane repeatedly to Beirut and Algiers. Jesse Jackson called on Israel to free hundreds of prisoners and offered to go to Beirut to negotiate for the release of 40 remaining hostages. As of 2023, Hezbollah continues to deny involvement.

Jackson utilized what was termed “citizen diplomacy” or “faith-based diplomacy,” focusing on personal, high-level meetings with foreign leaders, which often bypassed official, stalled government channels.

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Re-up from 2024.

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Accompanying article: What Whitney’s treatment in Love Island: All Stars really tells us

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Mark Carney speaks at Davos

There’s no security without Indigenous sovereignty

The boost in defence spending won’t amount to much without first ensuring Inuit prosperity, which is key to Canadian authority in the Arctic.

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Mark Carney’s commitment to defence spending is unmatched compared to previous decades; in 2013, Canada’s defence spending was barely one per cent of GDP. The most recent federal budget carved out “$81.8-billion over five years on a cash basis, starting in 2025-26, to rebuild, rearm, and reinvest in the Canadian Armed Forces.” The budget pledged to “put Canada on a pathway to meet the NATO Defence Investment Pledge of investing [five] per cent of GDP in defence by 2035.” Carney’s new Defence Industrial Strategy is intended to strengthen the defence industry from job creation to technological investments to supply chain sovereignty. In fact, a Canadian company, Roshel, provides armoured vehicles for the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for kidnappings, involuntary detention without charge, and a whole host of human and civil rights violations. But I digress.

The White House’s National Security Strategy dropped on Dec. 4, and it’s not looking good for NATO. The U.S. not only wants European countries to “willingly take more responsibility for security,” but also indicates a pullback from NATO through limiting security guarantees for the European nations right at a time when Russian aggression is rising. The document promotes “[e]nabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense.” In other words, America is pulling back like a love-bomber after three dates.

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Without America what is the point of NATO? I have no clue. NATO is a walking corpse, and has shown its inherent weakness through internal divisions. However, Canada still has an interest in thwarting Russian aggression, and that’s in the Arctic. What is surprising is that there is no mention of an Arctic strategy in America’s national security document. Canada’s alliance with NATO may provide backup against Russian aggression in the North.

Why do we care about the Arctic? That’s the next major battleground as Russia, Denmark (through Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. all claim territory. Canada claims approximately 1.2 million square kilometres of the region. As a result of the climate crisis, the Arctic glaciers are melting at an increasingly rapid rate. This provides an incentive for countries that have maritime borders in the North to open up to potential resource extraction, new trade routes, and military capabilities. The federal government explains: “With the Arctic warming at an unprecedented rate, new maritime routes are becoming accessible. The Canadian Armed Forces … must recognize and fulfil its collaborative role in ensuring Canadian Arctic sovereignty.” Sovereignty is primarily established through occupation of the disputed lands, hence military expansion. With increased access to strategic trade and resources, Carney’s government is ostensibly investing in the future of Canada’s economy. Basically, Carney is turning Canada into Canada, Inc.—a global energy superpower for which the Arctic is imperative to the future of resource extraction.

Another way to establish sovereignty is to establish settlements as a foundation of Canada’s claim to Arctic maritime zones. Through Inuit communities’ presence in the Arctic, Canada exploits the principle of self-determination to exercise its presence in the North. Canada using Indigenous people to perpetuate its economic interests? Colour me shocked.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national representative organization for Inuit in Canada. Its June 2025 document regarding Arctic sovereignty within a security and defence framework states: “As Canada turns toward the Arctic, governments must prioritize Inuit prosperity and perspectives as the foundation of Arctic security, sovereignty and defence.” In other words, Canada’s success in claiming Arctic waters cannot be established until Inuit communities are properly resourced: “Securing the Arctic requires Canada to invest in the people that live here and the services and supports needed to develop the economy.”

The document recalls that, in the past, “[m]ilitarization served as a precursor to other colonial policies, including residential schooling, forced relocations of Inuit families intended to strengthen Canada’s sovereignty claims to the region, and the slaughter of Inuit sled dogs by the RCMP to terminate Inuit mobility.” That is the danger for the Inuit: the more control the federal government has in the North, the more likely those policies endanger Inuit communities.

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This is yet another reason the federal government should implement Article 3 from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states: “Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” The implication is that Indigenous sovereignty is key to Canadian authority in the Arctic, and the vision for this country’s economic future.

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Oh boy. Big tings a gwan.

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Trump’s Coup Plans for Venezuela Are Bad News for Alberta’s Oilsands from The Tyee

Trump’s National Security Strategy

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Great detailed investigation of the Second Sons from CBC

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Here is my article mentioned in the video 👇🏾

Those who can’t hear must feel

It’s the Canadian way to put our heads in the sand, pretend it’s not happening, roll out the toxic positivity of denial, and be shocked when the chickens come home to roost.

It’s so rare for political pundits to be right—just look at Stephen Maher. Or John Ibbitson. Or Jesse Brown. Or Jen Gerson. But I can assure you that this is not the case for yours truly. I’ve been telling y’all.

We are now into Day 12 of the “Freedom Convoy,” which has turned into an occupation. Let me be clear: the capital city of Canada’s downtown is under occupation by a band of white supremacists. And it wasn’t difficult for them to do.

Let that sink in.

I have been writing about the threat of white supremacy for the almost three years I’ve been writing for this paper (time flies). I have been writing about how white supremacy is the basis by which Canada was formed, how the police are implicated, the discrepancies and inequities throughout our institutions, the racism born from white supremacy in the federal public service that I—and many other racialized and marginalized people—experienced. I also wrote about how white supremacy and patriarchy work hand in hand. I’ve even written about how disinformation works to underpin it all.

In other words, I told y’all. And y’all either dismissed me as a hysterical race baiter who is “over the top” because I dare write about and discuss race in concrete ways, or thought I didn’t know what I was talking about, or worse (I’ll leave your unconscious bias to fill in the rest).

Let me give you an example. In September of last year, I wrote a column called, “Canada isn’t ready for what comes next.” Within this jewel of prescience, I wrote, “The anxiety of the pandemic, increased time spent online, and a former American president that platformed hate are all ingredients to a cauldron of white supremacy that’s about to boil over.” I went on to write in that same article, “Hate doesn’t stay bottled up, it’s explosive and reveals itself in giant waves of overwhelming violence before the recipients or observers of that violence can absorb what is happening. And it’s exploding.”

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Boom.

I could use this space to talk about how correct I was about the Conservative Party going further right and that their new standard bearer would uphold their years-long tradition of insulting women and BIPOC with their affinity to the MAGA crowd. But I already wrote about that, too.

I could write about how media has chosen to preserve its whiteness, thereby making themselves ineligible to speak about the times we’re in with any great authority because, frankly, they’re part of the reason we’re in those times. The refusal of Canadian media to diversify means we only get a white, and most likely the heterosexual white male, perspective. But I already wrote about that.

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I could write about law enforcement and how they have failed to treat the threat of white supremacy seriously in the face of its growing influence. I could go on to say that they’ve focused too many resources on surveilling Indigenous land defenders they consider “a threat.” Or killing unarmed Black people while white male rage gets a pass. Where are our tax dollars going if the RCMP, CSIS, and CSE cannot recognize—and protect us from—global white supremacy? Or do we only need protection from brown people? Imagine if all the resources poured into Project SITKA had been used to track down the real threat—one that’s materialized into tacit support of this occupation, since in all that alphabet soup, they’ve done very little to alleviate or remove these people.

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And now we’re an international embarrassment. It’s the Canadian way to put our heads in the sand, pretend it’s not happening, roll out the toxic positivity of denial, and be shocked when the chickens come home to roost. We did this to ourselves because we weren’t vigilant about the dangers of white supremacy (not me, Y’ALL).

Our federal politicians are playing fast and loose with this mob, using them for their own political gain while abandoning their leadership posts in the maelstrom. In Politico’s newsletter, Playbook, I wrote, “Canadians confuse authority with leadership; those with rank are assumed to have competencies that equip them to lead. Incompetence is the status quo.”

We have been abandoned by leadership. We are on our own. No one is coming to save us. And there is no accountability.

Welcome to Pandemic Canada, the far-right utopia.

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Apparently I couldn’t stay away from sharing my intersectional feminist politics and pop culture commentary online. There’s so much going on that I couldn’t stay on the sidelines!

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For those who are new-ish, I took nearly a year off to take care of myself. I was burned by out and my mental health wasn’t doing well. I stepped away from a lot of work in 2025. I feel more grounded and self-assured, complete with personal growth.

Here we are again and the world has gotten worse and so has broadcast news coverage, especially for women. Let me put my hat in the ring for feminist news coverage. I will cover Canadian, American and British news because they are all connected: the shittiest policies begin in the UK, migrate to America and waft up to Canada.

Guess what? I’m doing this for free! This is because Bad + Bitchy is my labour of love and, in this economy I’d rather have accessibility with zero paywalls. Please note: this may not be forever but it is for now. Mind you, I always accept donations. If you like my work, and you want to support it, drop a few dollars in the kitty to keep Bad + Bitchy free for everyone.

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I must tell you: I will post when my health is good. I reserve the right to take breaks when I must to prevent burnout, but I intend to update you regularly with written, audio and video content. Another note: the full version of videos will be available here. What is posted on social media is just a snippet due to time restrictions on various social media platforms. Please comment and, if you have questions, email!

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The world is on fire, let’s dance in the flames!

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Today I published an article from my column last week about Pierre Poilievre. This will be my last post for a while, since I’ve put the podcast on hold. This is for two reasons: firstly I seriously injured myself and can’t walk. Secondly, I am burned out. Pre-production, production and post-production of this podcast as one person is extremely taxing. In addition, I was hoping the subscriber levels would grow to a certain point and that hasn’t happened. The cost-benefit analysis leans heavily towards the numerator.

I am grateful to you who have invited me into your ears during the most mundane times of your life; I am grateful and honoured that you made such an effort to listen to a voice that at one time I thought would be dismissed. I thank you for interacting with my analysis, and challenging it. I learn from both adding to the analysis and challenges to it.

This is a hard thing to do, given this podcast has been a part of my life for almost eight years. However, if I’m to be honest with myself, my mental health is suffering from the exhaustion. I need to prioritize both my mental and physical health, which is something I promised I would do this year—choose myself and my well-being first.

On the other hand, I love engaging is current affairs, so I don’t think I’ll be able to stay away for good. The world is too messed up right now and it will go through transformations that we won’t be able to predict. I would like to have a platform to continue to provide a voice. I just can’t right now.

I hope you understand where I’m coming from and can afford me some grace in making this decision. This podcast has educated me more in 8 years than my whole adulthood; it has also expanded my mind in ways that I’m proud of. I hope it’s done the same for you.

I still have the list with your emails, so if and when I do return with something I’ll let you know. Please treat each other well, form communities of safety and openness, and don’t let anyone tell you bullshit.

Love,

Erica

Poilievre and the Conservative Party are not like us.

Ever since Poilievre won the Tory leadership in 2022, he’s been a mini-Trump in rhetoric, policy, and marketing. He and his team have turned their backs on Canadian values to birth a new right-wing, fascist-adjacent opposition. This a man who said the N-word in Parliament, so this alone should disqualify him for office (he was never censured by then-speaker of the House, Anthony Rota).

There are numerous instances of mimicking Trump’s diction and political strategies. Let’s begin with the “anti-woke” crusade, which aims derision and destruction at social and racial justice for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour. A Journal of Language and Politics paper titled “From Social Awareness to Authoritarian Other: The Conservative Weaponization of Woke in Canadian Parliamentary Discourse” by Patrick McCurdy, Kaitlin Clark, and Bart Cammers examines the conversation around the anti-woke, Trump-like rhetoric. The weaponization and manipulation of the word “woke” has a function, they write. It is “the strategic redefinition … to construct a moral panic around an anti-Canadian ideological Other.” With this framing, one can extend this to the delegitimization of immigration policy, thwarting traditional Canadian values.

Like Trump, the Conservative leader has also started a war on journalism and journalists. Poilievre constantly threatens to defund the CBC, while Trump’s new chair of the Federal Communications Commission “announced he is launching an investigation into NPR and PBS,” as reported by Rabble.ca. Coincidence? I think not. Continuing Poilievre’s crusade against Charter rights guaranteeing a free press, the Toronto Star noted: “Like Trump and [Florida governor Ron] DeSantis, Poilievre uses his media-bashing to scoop hundreds of thousands of dollars through hateful social media appeals using the CBC as his whipping boy.” Evidently, reporters shouldn’t challenge him, they should be in public relations for the Conservative Party and its right-wing policies.

For Poilievre, aligning with the far-right wing is nothing new. He supported the 2022 Ottawa convoy, and last spring was even seen entering an RV sporting representation of the flag of Diagolon, a known neo-fascist militia, according to Global News. Poilievre even went as far as marshalling “a far-right march through a residential area of suburban Ottawa,” as reported by PressProgress. He also “marched alongside a former official from Trump’s White House who also served as a top convoy occupation organizer last winter. Another convoy organizer, Tom Marazzo, also joined the march and helped with crowd control.”

Poilievre has cozied up to Tobi Lütke, one of the founders of Canadian tech company Shopify. The company was previously the sales platform of choice for right-wing news organization Breitbart, and Trump’s merchandise store in his first term. In addition, Shopify refused to act on removing the anti-LGBTQ extremist Twitter account Libs of TikTok, as well as Nazi memorabilia.

In The Breach, tech journalist Paris Marx pinpointed the rightward shift of tech companies in the United States, writing, “One of the central stories of that cycle has been the solidifying alliance between Trump’s MAGA movement and the billionaires of Silicon Valley.” Tech billionaires had front-seat preference over lawmakers at Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

When it came to reacting to Trump slapping tariffs on Canadian goods, Poilievre pivoted to interprovincial trade. As I wrote in this paper, this is not satisfactory. Is that a tacit admission that Trump can roll over on Canada, and its trade relationship with the U.S.? For such tough talk on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for years, Poilievre sure cowered to Trump’s threats using deflection to blame the PM as he usually does. Everything wrong with Canada is Trudeau’s fault. Too bad he doesn’t have that smoke for Trump.

Elon Musk, who fashioned a “Seig Heil” salute at Trump’s inauguration, seemed to think Poilievre is one of them when he endorsed the Conservative leader on Twitter.

Poilievre is more bark than bite. Sure, he’s revealed his “Canada First” rhetoric; however, it took him a while to get there. And that was after the polls indicated that Canadian pride was back—and the Liberals took it, and now own it. Poilievre’s best bet was to wedge himself within a divided Canada, hoping to create a schism and run up the middle to electoral victory. The man is an opp who will bend the knee to Trump if he gets elected. He’s not one of us.

CALGARY—It feels very Weimar Republic in here.

The Weimar Republic is the wedged democratic period between imperial rule in Germany in 1918 at the end of the First World War, and the beginning of Nazi authoritarianism in 1933. Liberalism contextualized this period, which saw political uprisings, financial hardship, and curbed individual freedoms. Like the devastation from the First World War, the recent global COVID-19 pandemic has left western countries with inflation, and reduced individual freedoms—due to a public health crisis to stop a deadly virus—coloured by new social movements’ fights for equity. During this time, violence from the state was unleashed against participants of these various movements. Those with privilege felt their power threatened, and fought back by squeezing the control they had.

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Today is not only New Year’s Day 2025, it’s Haitian Independence Day!

Instead of celebrating New Year’s Day, we want to give a nod to Haïti. The Haitian Revolution was a series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 that resulted in the establishment of the independent Republic of Haiti. The Revolution was a response to French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue. It is the first Black country that was born from slave rebellion and revolt that was built on Black bodies and blood. Thanks to Haïti and other Caribbean uprisings, such as the Maroons from Jamaica and Cuffy in Guyana, the efficacy of slavery was drowned out by its cost of maintenance. It can be argued that it is also the birth of feminist resistance.

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Britain didn’t end slavery, Haiti and other slave uprisings did. That fact is explained beautifully in this analysis of the Haitian Revolution:

Book recommendation: Black Jacobins by C.L.R James