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Behind Heron Gate’s destruction lies a broader shift in Canada’s housing system—financial firms, pension funds, and private equity investors have transformed rental housing into a speculative asset class, driving up rents and displacing racialized tenants
The post The corporate blueprint behind the eviction of Ottawa’s most diverse neighbourhood appeared first on The Breach.
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Forced expropriation by the CAQ, hazardous waste imported from the United States, and growing public concern: it didn’t take much more for a movement of citizens, unions, and activists to form earlier this year in Blainville. Their initiatives, research, and a damning public environmental report have now shed light on the serious health risks still posed, forty years later, by the Stablex waste disposal site. What does Stablex do, and why is it in the news now? Since the 1980s, the American hazardous waste landfill company Stablex has been importing substances such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, cyanide, and chromium to treat and bury them near a residential neighborhood in Blainville. Around 70% of this waste comes from south of the border. Stablex is owned by the largest waste management company in the United States, Republic Services. Republic Services is 35% owned by Bill Gates’ investment firm, Cascade Investments. The remaining shareholders are trillion-dollar investment giants like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street Corporation (Union Bank). In 1981, the Quebec government authorized Stablex to build a sixth landfill cell, increasing its total capacity to nine million cubic meters by 2040. But forty years ago, Blainville was not yet a city surrounded by residential neighborhoods. That’s why, toward the end of the last decade, the company proposed relocating slightly farther from the residential area, in exchange for an extension of its operations until 2065. A new, more remote plot of land owned by the City of Blainville was sold to Stablex for $14 million, on the condition that the company obtain the required authorizations to begin the project. In 2023, after the Quebec public hearings office on the environment (BAPE) released its public inquiry, Blainville’s city council unanimously voted to cancel the agreement with the American company. Stablex responded that the resolution had no legal value, claiming it did not comply with the terms of the contract. In March 2025, Premier François Legault’s government came to Stablex’s rescue, allowing the company to begin “urgent” construction work to avoid a “service disruption.” The CAQ used an exceptional legislative procedure to bypass normal processes and expropriate the Blainville site without any democratic debate. It’s worth noting that Stablex itself admits that without cell #6, it won’t reach maximum capacity before 2027. According to the BAPE report, the company actually has enough space until 2030. A technology that’s neither effective nor safe Stablex’s waste treatment relies on a British process from 1973 called “Sealosafe,” which mixes toxic waste with concrete before burying it in pits lined with clay that is supposed to prevent leaks. Deemed obsolete for more than 35 years in the UK, this method is even less effective in Quebec’s climate. According to biologist Daniel Green, rain and freezing temperatures prevent the concrete from fully hardening, allowing contaminants to seep into the soil and groundwater. A report from Quebec’s environmental police as early as 1990 confirmed that the process was not “inert.” Stablex claims its waste is not only inert but permanently so. Yet, a statement from Solomax, the company that supplies Stablex’s geomembrane liner, says it is guaranteed for only five years. Moreover, according to the BAPE, Stablex has never tested soil or water quality around its site in over forty years, relying solely on laboratory simulations to assess its process. The report recommends that the Environment Ministry require direct analyses of the landfill cells and concludes that the expansion project should not be approved due to the lack of guarantees about its impact on public health and the environment. And this time, the new cell #6 won’t be buried underground like the others: it will be a mountain of exposed waste. A mountain eight storeys tall, or 22 meters high, made of hazardous materials right next to a mostly residential city of just under 60,000 people. So what is the environmental situation in Blainville? Since neither the company nor the Environment Ministry had ever tested the quality of the soil or water near the Stablex site until very recently, about 30 citizens decided to do it themselves last spring, with the help of biologist Daniel Green to ensure the accuracy of the results. The results only deepened residents’ concern. Now organized as the Blainville Citizens’ Coalition Against Stablex Cell #6, they found alarming concentrations of toxic metals: up to 320 times the safe limit for cadmium in water near the plant, 57 times in nearby soil, and unsafe levels of arsenic, copper, chromium, and nickel—particularly in the Lockhead Creek area, close to residential neighborhoods. The Environment Ministry recently admitted it had already conducted sampling of soil and water near Stablex in 2024, but said results would only be made public “later this fall.” Contradicting the citizens’ findings, the government stated that according to its inspection report, Stablex “complies with current environmental standards.” The ministry also published a report on air quality around the facility, saying: “There are currently no concerns regarding air quality.” Yet no study to date has demonstrated that the company’s new open-air waste storage method will not affect long-term air quality.
L’article In Blainville, Quebec government chooses U.S. toxic waste over public health est apparu en premier sur The North Star.
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On October 21, Filipino activists and diaspora were turned away from the Philippine Consulate in Vancouver as they tried to deliver a letter expressing dissatisfaction with the corruption that has caused widespread devastation after a typhoon hit areas of the country. The consulate, nestled amidst the luxury hotels and convention centres on the downtown core’s waterfront, barred activists from entering the building and increased security presence at its doors upon seeing people gathering outside in preparation for the letter delivery. The letter is signed by Tama Na BC, a local chapter of a new coalition of concerned Filipinos formed in reaction to the recent corruption scandal. The North Star spoke with Noa Sison of Bayan BC at the scene. He explained, “We're here because it's been a month since September 21 when hundreds of thousands of Filipinos flooded the streets. And we've only seen the Philippine government double down on their repression of the people's just resistance and double down on their corruption and lack of transparency.” The letter makes specific demands for transparency and accountability from state officials and contractors involved in publicly funded flood control projects. “It contains eight demands, listing out how we can realize a corruption-free society in the Philippines. For example, making sure that the ICI investigation is transparent and also making sure that there's no more practice of ‘budget insertions’, which basically begets all these bloated pork barrel projects where people are able to pocket the money.” The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) was established September 15 through an executive order after the public expressed concerns about corruption. The pocketing of public funds designated for flood control infrastructure has caused at least 30 deaths, the destruction of whole communities, and the displacement of thousands in rural communities especially. Though President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stated that the commission would operate independently and would not include politicians, critics are concerned about a lack of transparency on the part of the agency. All positions within the commission have been appointed directly by President Marcos Jr. Sison is concerned that the ICI has failed to implicate Marcos Jr. in the chaotic aftermath of the typhoon and is shifting blame to the protesters. “We know he is actually the one who is responsible, because he is the one who approves and signs off on the national budget, which is full of all these infrastructure projects that are the source of kickbacks or corruption, where all these politicians are basically enriching themselves,” he told The North Star. Sison says the September 21 protests show that “farmers, workers, professionals, youth, students, all united basically because they all understand that enough is enough.” He says they realized that, “it’s not about who is in [the presidential palace], but actually replacing this rotten system,” that has persistently funnelled public funds into politicians’ pockets, rather than just who occupies the presidential palace as its figurehead. The endemic corruption may be felt most acutely in agricultural communities during extreme weather events and disasters, but the issue is a pervasive year-round reality that keeps people in the countryside from having any kind of stability or security. “Filipino peasants actually live on very thin economic margins already. Some make as little as 350 [Philippine Pesos] a day which amounts to about nine Canadian dollars. When we think of the corruption, we can see what the main issues of the Filipino farmers are. Seven out of 10 Filipino farmers don't own their own land,” and since the floods, “there hasn't been any aid yet provided to them.” Sison explains that funds that could go to supplement the local rice production and subsidize the cost of fertilizer are instead squandered on infrastructure deals that provide kickbacks or foment corruption. “Marcos Jr. is continuing this legacy of being dependent on imports of rice to basically supplement the local supply.” According to Sison, the corruption “is just a manifestation of deeper, more entrenched problems in the Philippines. We can see that with the landlessness of farmers, the stagnation of the minimum wage in the Philippines, and all these conditions that basically force Filipinos to migrate abroad.” Once immigrants from the Philippines make it to Canada, they’re faced with challenges that sometimes mirror the conditions back home, as well as some new ones. Take, for instance, federal Bill C-12 which draws on elements of the controversial Bill C-2 to restrict established immigration processes and expand the government’s enforcement powers. The government touts these laws as strengthening border security, but they tend to make conditions for working-class immigrants more uncertain. According to Sison, Bill C-12 will place immigrants into more precarious conditions which will leave them with fewer options for employment and lower wages. He was infuriated by the fact that Filipinos forced away from their home country find themselves heavily exploited yet again “for the benefit of just the ruling elite” once they get to Canada. But Sison says that the shared experiences of overall wage stagnation amidst a rising cost of basic goods could also be a potentially unifying force for the workers of both countries. “Philippines, Canada, we can see basically a shared interest in the working class… and we can see a need for a change in the system that does uplift the working class.”
L’article Protesters barred from delivering letter at Philippine consulate est apparu en premier sur The North Star.
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Economist Ricardo Tranjan joins Desmond Cole to discuss how Ford and Carney’s housing policies heavily favours corporate landlords
The post Mark Carney and Doug Ford keep serving Big Landlords appeared first on The Breach.
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Alberta UCP has invoked the “notwithstanding clause” to override workers’ charter rights, ending the 51,000 strong teachers’ strike against cuts to public education. The Alberta Federation of Labour’s Common Front coalition, which represents over 350,000 Albertan workers, says it is beginning to make preparations for a general strike “if necessary”. The strike which started on October 6th has been a flashpoint in the Danielle Smith government’s drive to boost private interests in education, which teachers say is jeopardizing working conditions and students’ right to quality education. “There is a group of people who think that if we would just shut down all funding for all private schools and give all that money to the public system, that that would solve the problems. And I look at it the opposite way,” said Smith earlier this month. In a frank display of the premier’s “opposite way,” the UCP on Tuesday passed the ‘Back to School Act’, legislating an end to the strike and imposing a contract which was overwhelmingly rejected by teachers back in September. To accomplish this, the bill used the notwithstanding clause to suspend the workers’ charter rights; a move which the AFL president Gil McGowan has described as an “act of war” on workers. The notwithstanding clause lets federal or provincial governments override certain rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for up to five years. To ensure this historic bill would not be held up by democratic processes, no more than one hour was allotted for debate at each stage of its reading. Unions under siege Much has been said in recent days about the UCP’s “unprecedented” behavior, but an overview of recent events in Canada indicate it might be better understood as a ‘tip of the spear’ than as a lone wolf. Since June 2024, the federal government has invoked Section 107, a provision of the Canadian Labour Code which grants the Labour Minister the power to enforce arbitration on strikes which “threaten industrial peace,” to legislate the defeat of 7 different strikes. The frequency of government intervention was demonstrated earlier this year when Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau admitted to negotiating in bad faith for nine months in the hope that the federal government would end the flight attendant strike. This hope, however, vanished when the workers defied the order. The federal government’s liberal use of section 107 in recent years has set a feverish pace for state intervention against workers; a pace which will likely be emboldened by the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s recent ruling on the provision’s constitutionality. But it isn't just the federal government which is enthusiastic to break strikes: provincial governments have taken initiative to get in on the action. A relevant case was the education support workers’ strike in 2022, which Ontario's Doug Ford government attempted to end with a bill invoking Section 33 of the charter, also known as the notwithstanding clause. While section 33 has been used in many ways historically, the precedent that it could be used to break a strike remains to be set. This is what the Ford government tried to do in 2022. CUPE’s response was to continue their strike in defiance of the order, within days winning the demand that the Ford government rescind the bill which union leaders warned was a “Pandora’s box.” Preparations for a general strike By the time of the bill’s announcement, the Alberta teachers’ strike had already seen several impressive demonstrations by the ATA, which represents public school teachers. On the 23rd over 30,000 teachers, parents, and students rallied in protest outside of the Alberta legislative building. With the bill’s passing on Tuesday morning, ATA president Jason Schilling stated that the union intends to “follow the law,” but to launch a legal challenge to the government’s use of Section 33. What exactly they plan to do if they lose this legal battle remains unclear. With the ATA stepping to the legal sideline, students, workers, and unions are stressing the need to turn public support for the teachers into massive collective action. The Alberta Student-Walkout Association is expected to hold sit-ins and walkouts in protest of the legislation across at least 45 schools on Thursday. Since the UCP’s announcement of the bill last week, the Common Front have been threatening an “unprecedented response” to the use of section 33. Speaking today at a press conference, Gil McGowan declared the need to build a movement “so big and widely popular that we are all defended” with the stated goal of “toppling the government.” He stated that all unions represented by the AFL and the Common Front will begin engaging their rank and file on the issue and gauging interest in strike action against the bill. UFCW Local 401, representing 32,000 Albertan workers, has already publicized the results of a membership poll showing 69% of workers are ready for a general strike. McGowan stated that it would take time for the Common Front to prepare for such an action.
L’article Alberta teachers return to work after yet another government intervention est apparu en premier sur The North Star.
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Katia Lo Innes explains how the right-wing uses attacks on Tim Hortons’ migrant workers to distract us from our real enemy — the corporate elite
The post Why Tim Hortons became ground zero for migrant-bashing appeared first on The Breach.
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Alberta teachers, 51,000 strong, have been on strike across the province since October 6. On Monday, the provincial government is expected to table legislation to order them back to work. Some 740,000 students in all public, Catholic, and francophone schools are affected. The issues are salary and the consequences of the UCP Government’s underfunding of public education: workload, class sizes, school resources, and the need for more teachers. Jason Schilling, President of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) commented that back-to-work legislation would be “undemocratic and deeply disrespectful to teachers, to students and to the collective bargaining process itself.” The latest mediated offer included a 12% increase over four years and 3,000 more teachers. But teacher’s salaries have fallen drastically with inflation, and the new teachers would be soaked up by the Government’s promised 250 new schools and a 33,000 increase in student numbers every year. Teachers soundly rejected the latest offer, with 89.5% voting no at the end of September. Talks resumed October 14, but no change is expected in the employer’s position. The employer school boards bargain jointly through a board representing all 65 boards. The employers have their purse strings held tight by the Government. ATA members voted 95% to strike in June. The government did no meaningful bargaining all summer. If the government’s goal was to turn the public against the teachers, it failed. On October 4, two days before the strike was set to begin, massive pro-teacher rallies took place in the province. Crowds were estimated to be as high as 18,000 in Edmonton and 5,000 in Calgary. One online poll by Angus Reid pegs support for the teachers at almost 60%, with only 21% backing the UCP. After the strike started, the government announced 30-dollar-per-day payments to parents of students 12 and under students. It has also announced computer-based home learning programs, which include American content. The UCP has been cutting public school funding since taking power in 2019. Alberta’s per-student funding in public schools has plummeted to the lowest in Canada, while its public funding for private schools has risen to the highest in the country. It seems that the UCP’s goal is to weaken all aspects of public education so that parents will look elsewhere to private schooling options or even home schooling. Premier Danielle Smith said in 2018 that a way must be found to “break” the public school system’s “monopoly” on education. At their last party convention, the UCP resolved to break up the Alberta Teachers Association by moving its regulatory and discipline function to another body and making ATA membership optional. Update on teachers strike
L’article Alberta teachers strike province-wide under threat of back-to-work legislation est apparu en premier sur The North Star.
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