Corporations and corporate power

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Illustration by Michael Haddad
 Illustration by Michael Haddad
Taxes are the foundation of a healthy democracy. They fund the public services we depend on every day: roads, schools, community and social services, health care, justice, environmental protection and much more. But over two decades now, governments have undermined the progressivity of our tax system by cutting corporate and top income tax rates and letting tax loopholes proliferate. The top 1% of Canadians by income now pay a lower overall rate than all other income groups, including the poorest 10%.
In 2018 the BC government introduced legislation expected to bring ride-hailing to the province, but many questions remain about what that will look like in practice. One of the bodies responsible for working out the policy details is BC’s Passenger Transportation Board, an independent tribunal that has been handling passenger transport license applications from ride-hailing companies including major players such as Uber and Lyft.
On June 29, 2019, the federal government launched a public consultation on initiatives intended to "modernize" the Canadian regulatory system. Interested Canadians were invited to provide input on four current initiatives:
 Photo taken from the Liberal Party website.
Using the internet to become informed about politics today may less resemble cruising an information highway than it does careening down Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road. Staying on course in the popular Nintendo racing game’s frictionless technicolour track takes sustained vigilance, lest carelessness, a fake Item Box, or a Bob-omb pitched your way (see GIF) throw you into the dark.
The pollster Nik Nanos claimed in June that climate change would be “one of the defining battle grounds” this election. “More important than jobs, more important than health care, more important than immigration.” In July, Abacus Data put climate change in third spot behind health care and cost of living, the latter an important issue (with the environment) for the two-thirds of voters from the millennial and gen-X cohorts.