In January 2016, just weeks before the Chronicle Herald would begin its still-unresolved strike, management at the paper offered Nathan Clarke a job. Clarke covers sports, and the Herald, Nova Scotia’s newspaper of record, wanted him to be its sports reporter, stepping in to fill the shoes of a striking worker—what’s called being a strikebreaker or, […] More »

“Stay strong. Fight for justice, fight for our dignity, fight together.” The above is a message from Simon Sung to his fellow employees at Ming Pao, a Chinese-language daily newspaper in Toronto. The paper’s 140 employees have been on strike for nearly a week, yet no English-language media outlet that we’ve been able to find […] More »

Around the corner from This’ offices the Toronto International Film Festival has set-up its Director’s Lounge. Orange-shirted volunteers stand at the doors and, peering in, I see uncomfortable-looking but fashionable furniture, backdrops emblazoned with government sponsorships and, just maybe, a star or two. Oh, and cameras. Lots of cameras. For 10 days, playing host to […] More »

Things just got a little more complicated for Toronto in the buildup to this month’s G20 summit.  If the 10,000 uniformed officers, 1,000 or so unlicensed private security guards, airport-tight surveillance and checkpoints, the much debated “sound cannon” and the expected thousands of protesters didn’t promise enough drama, the largest hotel workers’ union in the city […] More »

[This was meant to auto-post yesterday, but didn’t, for some reason. So it’s kind of “WTF Thursday” today…] Reporters sans frontières has now waded into the mire that is the lock-out of employees at Le Journal de Montréal. Unlike many public figures, who have thrown their hats in the union’s ring, RSF’s secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard, sided […] More »

In which the author finds his lefty credentials sorely tested by one malodorous cat It’s hard enough to be a socially progressive, left-leaning, anti-globalization, conscientious sort in this world, but to be a socially progressive, left-leaning, anti-globalization, conscientious sort and be mildly inconvenienced? It’s too much to bear. As I write this, Toronto is several […] More »

[Disclosure: CUPE is a This Magazine advertiser] Toronto is now about half a day into a municipal workers’ strike, and the usual braying chorus has sprung up on radio, television, and the op-ed pages, alternately condemning or defending the strike action. Generally, there are three viewpoints expressed: This is inconvenient, but overall I support the […] More »