Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy
The Perspectives Journal Podcast complements the journal and opinions content of Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy, to bring out left-wing ideas and strategy in a new and ever-evolving format. The podcast features interviews with policy experts, to dig deeper into the progressive angles of the issues affecting working-class, ordinary Canadians.
Hosted by editor-in-chief, Clement Nocos, the Perspectives Journal Podcast aims to bring forward timely analysis on issues from the multiple crises of the economy, cost-of-living and the environment, to the labour movement, as well as the state of Canadian democracy. The wide reaching breadth of this show aims to help inform policymakers and the public about approaches to today’s pressing problems that are rooted in Ed Broadbent’s Principles for Canadian Social Democracy.
Perspectives Journal also produces and features shows hosted by the Broadbent Institute’s friends and affiliates, providing a progressive platform for limited and irregular conversations that are still necessary to enliven Canada’s political discourse. The Perspectives Journal Podcast is a proud members of the Harbinger Media Network, Canada’s progressive podcast community.
Activists Make History
Activists Make History with Peggy Nash is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal that finds the political underdogs and asks how they got started, against the odds, to fight for progressive change. Policymakers, activists and experts from underrepresented communities and backgrounds, that are typically pushed to the margins of Canadian political life, are front and centre in conversation with Peggy Nash, who has been a union activist, a feminist advocate, and a Member of Parliament in Canada’s House of Commons for nearly a decade.
Reflecting on these experiences as a political outsider, and in conversation with other like-minded outsiders that take our struggles into the halls of power, Activists Make History aims to show how we can win a better world through elected office. Activists Make History is only made possible by the generous contribution of Unifor.
Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy
Is Market-based Climate Action Working for Canadians? with Brendan Haley
The price of carbon is in the news again with Conservatives in Canada, and around the world where carbon pricing schemes exist, fuel backlash against the climate policy. Adding to their opposition to carbon pricing policy is today's profit-induced inflation and affordability crisis.
For the centrist regimes that pushed for this market-mechanism as their main climate policy plank, they’ve been put on the back foot.
In Europe, for instance, Green and Liberal parties have suffered major setbacks in the recent waves of EU, national, and subnational elections where a so-called “Greenlash” against climate policies were blamed for contributing to these electoral defeats
In Canada, recent headlines have sparked debate, and confusion, as to what climate action policy ought to be. Retrenchment of Canada’s carbon pricing system, implemented by the Trudeau Liberal government through its 2017 Pan-Canadian Framework, has been put on the table and has worried climate action groups.
On the other hand, justification for this approach has argued that the burden on the working-class has been too much—that the real culprits for carbon emissions, the industries and corporate profiteers, ought to instead be paying their fair share. Canadians have been expressing their frustrations against the carbon pricing scheme, believing it to be ineffective at reducing emissions while also believing climate change is a threat that must be addressed.
To cut through this confusion, Brendan Haley joins this episode of the Perspectives Journal podcast. As a climate expert, Broadbent Institute policy fellow, and editorial committee member of Perspectives, we discuss from a social democratic point-of-view as to whether the market-based approach to climate action is working for Canadians.
Notes
- REPORT - A Green Entrepreneurial State as Solution to Climate Federalism, by Brendan Haley, Broadbent Institute, 2015.
- "Europe is in the middle of a ‘greenlash.’ If Canada doesn’t put workers first in its green transition, we could be next," The Hill Times, by Luke Lebrun, June 19, 2024.
- REPORT - Our Common Platform: A Path to a Green Economy in Canada, prepared by the Green Economy Network (GEN), published September 2023.
- The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, by Karl Polanyi, 1944.
- Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, by Mariana Mazzucato, 2021.
- SURVEY - Extreme Weather Events, Leger, released September 13, 2023.
- SURVEY - Raise, pause, abolish? Centre-left voters rally around carbon tax, but majority would still reduce or eliminate it, Angus Reid Institute, released March 25, 2024.
- REVIEW - Profit, not price, is why we keep burning fossil fuels, review of The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won'
