NightOwl

Professor of Labour Studies at Brock University, Larry Savage, shared his reflections on the ratification vote results to the social media platform X (Formerly Twitter). Savage said flight attendants had heightened expectations for this deal. While the tentative agreement did include wage increases, they were not at the same level as the wage increases won for flight attendants at Air Transat or pilots at Air Canada.

“The union oversold the tentative agreement by declaring the end of unpaid work,” Savage wrote in a post on X. “That framing seems to have rubbed some members the wrong way.”

Both the Jewish National Fund of Canada and the Ne'eman Foundation had their charitable status revoked in a decision last year because of their violation of Canadian law. By the CRA's own assessment, "increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)" does not meet the criteria of a "charitable purpose."

However, many organizations have retained their charitable status despite violation of CRA rules.

This includes Mizrachi Organization of Canada, which funds groups like Im Tirtzu, which helped block aid trucks to Gaza. It also supports the Israel military's Duvdevan Unit, which is one of the many groups responsible for war crimes against Palestinians. Mizrachi advertises itself as the Canadian home of the "religious Zionist movement" and says it is providing "necessary aid to Israel during times of crisis" and "is involved in building the State of Israel, both spiritually and physically."

Another is the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers has raised nearly $200 million since 2005 to support non-Israelis who complete at least one term of active service in the Israeli military. The charity actively incentivizes enlistment in the Israeli military, contrary to Canadian law.

HESEG was founded by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, majority shareholders in Indigo Books, leading BDS activists to call for a boycott of Indigo as part of a coordinated campaign for financial pressure to end the genocide.

"Climate policy planks that were delivering significant emissions reductions are falling one by one," Debora Van Nijnatten, professor of political science and environmental studies at Wilfred Laurier University, said in a phone interview with Canada's National Observer.

"There appears to be no plan to replace that with other emission reduction strategies, and there's no plan in place to show how the reactive policy choices that they've been making in a piecemeal fashion add up to any climate strategy that is integrated with the economic strategy."

"The Liberals keep retreating in the face of populist conservative rhetoric that targets some aspects of climate policy," Van Nijnatten said.

With Chinese and European carmakers surging forward with EVs, Van Nijnatten fears pausing the mandate will only add to the gap in North American competitiveness while limiting choice for consumers.

North American automakers “will not choose to do it on their own, because, first of all, they're protected by tariff walls and, second of all, they're protected by policy and politics,” she said.