Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Mitchell Thompson
The Legacy Planning Checklist: 7 Documents You Can't Ignore
Most people think legacy planning begins and ends with writing a will. In reality, a complete legacy plan is far more comprehensive – and far more powerful. A thoughtful legacy plan gives you control over your assets, provides clarity to your loved ones, and protects your wishes at every stage of life. And yet, too many families leave this planning unfinished, or worse, never start at all.
Navigating Financial Anxiety: Strategies to Overcome Feeling 'Financially Frozen'
Insights By Mitchell J. Thompson, CFP®, CDFA®, ChSNC®, AEP® Navigating clients through transitions utilizing holistic financial planning explained in layman's terms – that's our goal for the clients we work with. Mitch attended the University of Jamestown and studied Business Administration, Economics & Personal Financial Services.
Mitchell J. Thompson, CFP®, CDFA®, ChSNC®, AEP® - Wealthtender
About Mitchell J. Thompson, CFP®, CDFA®, ChSNC®, AEP® Hi, I'm Mitch Thompson. Navigating clients through transitions utilizing holistic financial planning explained in layman's terms – that's our goal for the clients we work with.
‘Social upheaval’ shakes Canadian imperialism in Panama
Details For months, Indigenous activists, trade unions, and youth organizations in Panama have been on the streets, demonstrating against the extension of a massive Canadian-owned mine in the middle of a rainforest. [Originally published at marxist.ca] This uprising must be supported and extended by the working class in Canada against our common enemy: the Canadian ruling class.
Busting the union-busters
Auto parts manufacturer Sodecia’s management likes to brag that, in its London, Ontario stamping facility, “The need for speed is still alive and well.” Its workers know this best, and the workload has driven them to try to unionize several times – only to encounter management’s anti-union campaigns. The most recent time, however, organizers were prepared. “We had done campaigns in Sodecia before,” Justin Gniposky, Unifor’s director of organizing, shares.
NATO: Against the poor of the world
NATO and its defenders claim it is strictly an alliance of “collective Western defence” and not a belligerent organization. But a review of its history finds that it has, for its entire existence, plotted and backed military actions against liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
We’re working longer hours for their profits
A new study by TD Economics confirms the obvious: working class living standards are declining in Canada. For years, GDP and productivity growth have stagnated and, as the report observes, Canada’s bosses have sought to make up for it, in part, by extending our working hours. Despite years of “headline growth,” the report finds, Canada’s economic output per person (real GDP growth per capita) has actually continued to fall from 1.4 percent per year to 0.4 percent every year since 2014-15.
Landlords are profiting from Canada’s rental shortage
In their corporate reports and amongst themselves, Canada’s largest landlords are remarkably honest about where their revenue comes from—from gouging and displacing tenants. Landlords are easy to dislike. Headlines abound of landlords murdering their tenants, forcing them to live in units that are squalid, infested or both, changing the locks on units without warning, lying to push out disabled tenants, or campaigning to evict low income tenants during public health emergencies.
Canada's Wildfires Are Out of Control Because of Cuts to Firefighting Budgets
Last week, as wildfires raged across Northern Ontario and smoke billowed south, fire crews struggled to contain the damage. Unfortunately, Canada’s right-wing provincial governments have failed to support these emergency workers in their crucial efforts due to cuts made to emergency fire services. As is so often the case, these cuts were driven by the Right’s relentless pursuit of “efficiencies” within provincial budgets.
Blame landlords for Canada’s skyrocketing rents
While pundits and corporate media outlets delight in describing Canada’s skyrocketing rental rates as an accident of nature, the crisis actually typifies the “business model” of for-profit landlords. Canada’s housing crisis is visible in every major centre.
Ontario hospitals looked to make themselves ‘lean’ throughout the pandemic
Even as hospitals across Ontario were overwhelmed by patients during the pandemic—extending wait times and triggering triage protocols—the system’s managers were reportedly busy looking for “cost-savings.” And while the crisis has been used by the Doug Ford government to further privatize the system, there is further evidence that the health system’s public sector managers have spent years wrecking it from inside.
Canada: Angry voices from the PSAC pickets - ‘We can put the powers that be in place’
Over 155,000 federal government workers organized with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) are leading one of the largest strikes in Canadian history, after years of real wage cuts and fruitless negotiations. Picket lines are up, in front of federal buildings across the country, at more than 250 sites and affecting roughly 28 departments and agencies—from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to Passports.
Doug Ford ploughs ahead with attacks on education
For months, the Ford government has been threatening education workers with renewed demands for pay cuts, benefit cuts and overall school funding cuts—in a clear demand to make frontline workers pay for the crisis and the government’s corporate subsidy largesse.
Correcting the record on Bill Graham and the Iraq War
With the recent death of former Liberal Defence and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, has come a gush of praise for how he “resisted American arguments” and “stayed out” of the invasion of Iraq. This is a significant revision of history.
Expropriate Canada’s New Pandemic-Era Billionaires
While it makes sense that food and entertainment would see increased sales during lockdowns, much of the wealth accrued by these billionaires undoubtedly also owes to money flowing away from useful investment. At various times during the crisis, economists warned of a “melt-up” — a speculative frenzy typically seen when there are no clear, sustained guaranteed returns in the real economy.
The New Democratic Party’s Joel Harden Is Fighting for a World Beyond Capitalism
Interview by Mitchell Thompson Canada’s most populous province held an election last Thursday. Unfortunately, the opposition, the social democratic Ontario New Democrats, failed to win, losing eight seats as incumbent premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives cruised to a majority. Left-wing Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) MPP Joel Harden, however, was reelected in Ottawa Centre. Jacobin spoke to Harden about the election and what a renewed Ford mandate means for the Left.
The Paranoid Style in Canadian Politics
People believe conspiracy theories because they want to belong and need to make sense of the world. As Mark Lorch writes in the Conversation, Peer pressure drives conspiracy beliefs, too. People want to fit in. They want others in and around their social group to like and accept them. Conspiracy theories are inherently social phenomena. They spring from the same sources that so many of our common behaviors do, from cheering for a sports team to going along to get along at work.
School wars in Ontario: McKinsey consultants, eLearning, and wage cuts
Since 2018, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have attacked education funding and devised repeated schemes to privatize parts of the school system. If reelected, new attacks will likely be on the agenda—because profit demands it. Doug Ford’s ‘Action Plan’ In September 2018, ahead of imminent education cuts, the Ford government quietly released a line-by-line “spending review”—A Modernization Action Plan for Ontario—conducted by the multinational accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY).
Doug Ford Wants to Continue Assaulting Public Education in Ontario
In the end, after many of the unions settled, it appears that the Ford government has quietly accomplished many of its earlier ambitions. In 2020, instead of protecting students and education workers, the Ford government was busy contracting McKinsey to develop strategies for the province’s school openings in the fall. In short, the PCs were paying a private firm for counsel on how best to handle exactly the responsibilities that any self-respecting state should be able to manage on its own.
For Ontario’s political establishment, cutting ‘welfare dependence’ means making the poor desperate
Recurring proposals by the Ford government to stop social assistance “dependence” reflect a long history of Liberal and Tory governments alike, working to make income support programs less dependable. In all cases, the aim of these cuts is to make the poor destitute and to make workers afraid.
Pierre Poilievre—Harper but with fangs bared ⋆ The Breach
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre spends his evenings listening to the dulcet tones of Robert Breedlove—a Bitcoin guru and Youtube streamer with questionable views on vaccines and the Holocaust. “My wife and I have been known to watch YouTube and your channel late into the night once we’ve got the kids to bed,” he told the host during an interview on a recent broadcast. “I’ve learned a lot.” But in terms of nerdy preoccupations, the Youtuber had nothing on Poilievre.
The Man Who Pushed Canada’s Conservatives Further to the Right
On December 23, 2021, Ted Byfield, publisher of the Alberta Report, died. The conservative weekly’s readership peaked at around 400,000 per week in the late ’90s before disappearing in 2003. Upon his death, Byfield received gushing praise from current and former members of Parliament, premiers, and columnists alike. Dubbed the “grand old man of the Canadian conservative movement,” Byfield made the case, in the pages of his magazine, for a new, more aggressive party of the Right.
Loblaw sees ‘profit improvements’ in wage and benefit cuts
Twice since the pandemic began, the billionaire CEO of Loblaw Companies Ltd. has risked job action by the company’s low wage workers in a bid to cut their $2 pandemic premium pay. More than just cutting costs, this is about keeping workers desperate or—in the company’s words, “flexible.” On Monday, 10,000 Alberta Superstore workers ratified a deal after voting 97 percent in favour of striking against pandemic pay cuts, inaugurated last June.
Federal pandemic assistance on the chopping block-another way to ‘discipline’ workers
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech to G7 leaders at the international summit in Cornwall, England, June 13, 2021. Photo from Twitter. The Trudeau government’s willingness to curtail Employment Insurance eligibility and throw unemployed workers off its key pandemic benefit programs, prior to employment even fully recovering, is a reminder that leaving people behind remains a feature of Canada’s social assistance regime—not a bug.
Amazon Workers in Canada Are Getting Organized
For most people, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a disaster. By all accounts it has exacerbated income inequality, imperiled workers forced to put up with unsafe conditions to keep their jobs, and increased the ranks of the working poor, unable to afford housing and food. The hardship has, however, not been evenly distributed. Amazon is one of the many companies that has done well during the pandemic.
Bill Davis’s anti-worker legacy
The death of former Ontario Premier Bill Davis, who led the province from 1971 until 1985, was announced on August 8. Gushing praise for Davis’s “contributions” were unanimous across the political establishment. But it is unfortunate to see some of the province’s current and former union leaders join in.
Canada’s Essential Workers Fought and Won Against Their Bosses During World War II
A massive wave of strikes erupted across Canada in the last two years of World War II. Over a million Canadians served in the army during the war and the scarcity of labor strengthened the hand of workers. Fearful that the interwar gains would become the norm, employers fought hard to restore the status quo. In response, between 1943 and 1945, workers forced their bosses to compromise by threatening a Canada-wide strike, and expanded union membership in the following decades.
You Can’t Trust Justin Trudeau’s Election Promises
In the federal election of 2019, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party was reduced to a minority government. Since then, Justin Trudeau has complained of “toxicity and obstructionism” from the opposition on both his left and right. On August 15, he asked Canada’s governor general to dissolve parliament for a September 20 federal election.
Justin Trudeau’s Post-Pandemic Plans Will Leave Canadian Workers Behind
On July 17, the Trudeau government cut the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) by 40 percent. The CRB is the Liberal Party’s main COVID-19 benefit for unemployed workers who lack sufficient hours to qualify for employment insurance. The cut will change the CRB from $500 per week to $300 in advance of the program’s termination on September 25.
“Eyebrow-raising”: Loblaw monitoring unions alongside cyberthreats, natural disasters as “risks”
Canada’s largest grocery retailer is instructing its managers to monitor its stores and employees for labour relations “risks” and potential union organizing activities. In its most recent annual report, Loblaw Companies Ltd. describes how it uses a risk management system to “monitor key risks” in order to help bolster its “financial performance.” In addition to cyberthreats, natural disasters, and food-borne illness outbreaks, it cites potential strikes and union organizing drives as a key risk.
Is the Canada Recovery Benefit a ‘workfare’ program in disguise?
Leaving those in financial difficulty behind for a lower-wage future isn’t a bug in the CRB system—it’s a feature of a program designed and redesigned to crack down on recipients and maximize “incentive to work,” writes Mitchell Thompson. Photo by Elvert Barnes/Flickr. The Trudeau government’s forthcoming cut to the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) comes even as it acknowledges many who rely on the CRB are unlikely to return to pre-COVID work conditions and pay for years.
Tim Hortons threatened by living-wage and union campaigns, company documents show
The owners of Tim Hortons are warning shareholders that union organizing and campaigns advocating for a living-wage for workers could threaten their business model and shareholder profits, according to company documents. Tim Hortons – whose parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) also owns Burger King and Popeyes – has come under fire in recent years for trying to slash worker’s benefits in Ontario under Premier Doug Ford and for obstructing tiny wage increases elsewhere in Canada.
The New Democratic Party Has to Be as Radical as the Times Demand
Interview by Mitchell Thompson Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) held its 2021 convention at the beginning of April. Although there were enough progressive resolutions passed to alarm Canada’s establishment media, there’s no guarantee that the party will actually follow the priorities set by its left flank.
Justin Trudeau’s Government Won’t Allow the Pandemic to Ease Worker Exploitation
The Trudeau government’s emergency support measures for unemployed workers have been a lifeline for those in the direst need. However, under growing pressure from the business class, the Liberals have abandoned the program, forcing thousands of people back to work under a new regime of workfare.
The strike-breakers’ playbook
by Mitchell Thompson May 3, 2021 11 min read Share When Molson Coors locked out its 300 Toronto workers on February 20, 2021, AFIMAC, the private security firm that bills itself as “the largest and most dominant player in the Canadian labour dispute marketplace,” was quickly deployed.
Canada’s Media Establishment Is Afraid the NDP Will Shift Left
Last week’s New Democratic Party (NDP) convention seems to have alarmed liberal and conservative pundits. The number of left-wing members at the convention was higher than before, and they managed to win support for several important resolutions. The ensuing reportage told us more about Canada’s media landscape than about the NDP itself. The Canadian punditocracy has scoffed at the influx of left-wing energy, offering patronizing advice or grade-school red-baiting.
Uber’s Flexible Work+ Campaign Is a Scam to Evade Canada’s Labor Laws
Uber Canada is now pressing for Canada’s provinces to enshrine its “Flexible Work+” program into law. This is another typical Uber scheme to prevent its workers from accessing basic protections like a minimum wage and union rights. Gig workers across Canada made up 8.2 percent of the workforce in the most recently available data.
Union-Bashing Is on the Menu at Tim Hortons
The training firm Positive Management Leadership (PML), based in South Carolina, boasts some of Canada’s biggest companies among its clients, including household names like Canadian Tire, Staples, Best Buy, and juggernaut fast-food coffee purveyor, Tim Hortons. PML offers them advice and support in one important task: keeping out trade unions.
Ripley's fights union drive – believe it or not - NOW Magazine
Management is urging workers to vote no to a union saying representatives wouldn’t understand “the important role you have with our animals” Workers at Toronto’s Ripley’s Aquarium will vote on union certification this week after a number of positive COVID-19 cases, layoffs and pay cuts have spoiled labour-management relations at the downtown tourist attraction.
Amazon, McDonald’s, A&W, Sleep Country, TJX Linked To Anti-Union Conference
The first page of the LabourWatch conference’s slideshow. Top Canadian companies were among the sponsors and attendees of Canada’s largest union-busting event, according to photos and documents obtained by Briarpatch. The anti-union Canadian LabourWatch Association’s most recent conference guided large employers through the process of “remaining or becoming union free.” The speakers included representatives from Honda, Fasken, Pacific Western, A&W, AFIMAC, and others.
How Honda’s anti-union monitor works
In an effort to keep its workers from unionizing, Honda management meets biweekly to monitor unions and its internal ‘weaknesses’ – work area by work area and shift by shift – audio obtained by Briarpatch finds. In audio from an anti-union conference, Honda Canada “advanced technical staff” head John Moulding is heard explaining how the company’s top managers meet regularly to monitor external union activity and map internal “work areas” vulnerable to union organizing.
Police across Canada test out military equipment at private supplier ‘range day’
A person in an Ontario Provincial Police uniform shoots a gun in Rampart’s 2016 Range Day promotional video. Promotional videos by one of Canada’s largest police and military suppliers appear to show officers firing and handling a range of heavy-duty weaponry and equipment – and experts say it’s a symptom of rising police militarization.
Workers in Atlantic Canada Face Down Austerity
In the face of new demands from bosses for wage cuts, and after twenty years of stagnant pay, workers in Atlantic Canada have had enough. In late October, twenty-two thousand Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members from ten locals in New Brunswick went on strike. With members working in schools, hospitals, rehabilitation and therapy facilities, courts, and other sectors, these workers represent a broad section of Canadian society.
The Regina Manifesto at 85: More relevant than ever?
The cyclical crises of Canadian capitalism has brought with it a paralysis of Canadian reformism split between the labour movement and the NDP. It is only natural that this has sparked renewed interest in the party’s founding constitution which offered a program for escaping the horrors of capitalism.
Housing in the age of austerity: Toronto’s war on the poor
Asquith Park, Yorkville. Photo by Ed007Toronto/Flickr. For those in Toronto’s growing majority of low income neighbourhoods, things are bad and getting worse — and it’s no accident. A study compiled by University of Toronto professor John David Hulchanski titled Three Cities Within Toronto notes a sharp increase in the number of low-income neighbourhoods from 1970-2005.
A brief history of Canadian labour woes
Average hourly earnings for Canadian workers have been mostly stagnant since the late-1970s, owing to the crippling of organized labour by government and capital. Canadians are working harder but seeing slower and smaller gains. Unifor economist Jordan Brennan, reporting for iPolitics, found that between 1977 and 2012, average hourly earnings rose three percent, despite having increased dramatically in the preceding decades.
Loblaw Makes Its Profits by Paying Workers Poverty Wages
Ten thousand Real Canadian Superstore workers across Canada’s westernmost prairie province, Alberta, appear poised to strike against pandemic pay cuts by Loblaw Companies Ltd. Even after Loblaw reported a banner year in profits and revenue, the company refuses to reinstate their $2 per hour “hero pay.” This past summer, after over a year of rapid profits, Loblaw decided that its unionized Alberta Superstore workers were due for wage and hour cuts.
The Secret to the Weston Family’s Wealth Is Exploitation, Not Hard Work
Disgraced ex-media magnate Conrad Black recently used the pages of his former newspaper to justify the fortunes of the Weston family, the owners of Loblaw Companies Ltd. The wealth of the retail family are, Black claimed, the result of “talent,” “savvy,” and “ability.” The article — an obit for Galen Weston in the National Post — is a pitch-perfect example of elite back slapping and mutual approbation.
The Secret to the Weston Family’s Wealth Is Exploitation, Not Hard Work
In 1968, the company’s board brought Galen Weston on to manage Loblaw, by then one of Canada’s largest employers. At the time, sales were slowing down. Having already introduced layoffs across the franchise in the mid-1960s, the Globe described Weston’s response to flagging earnings as: “A massive restructuring, notable for ruthless cutting of assets and personnel.” By 1972, facing lower-cost competition from Dominion, Loblaw “sold off” more than two-thirds of its stores.
Canada’s Right-Wing Think Tanks Love Race Science
In 2007, an Atlantic Institute for Market Studies report proposed a radical shift toward standardized tests to weaken the power of Canada’s teachers unions. The study claimed that teachers’ unions were using their “relative strength” as a public sector monopoly to, among other things, increase teacher hiring.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Mitchell
Contact Mitchell, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack