Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy

Author and professor Matt Huber argues that solving the climate crisis doesn’t require economic "degrowth". On this episode of Class & Climate: Perspectives on a Green Economy , Matt Huber, author of Climate Change as Class War , challenges commonly-held assumptions about responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, debunking the myth of "degrowth" as the sole solution to o...

Early Canadian social democrats routinely ignored the issues facing Indigenous communities, despite regularly claiming concern with poverty and social justice. Frank Calder fought to change this when he was elected as an MLA for the British Columbia CCF in 1949.  As the first status Indigenous person to be elected at either the federal or provincial level in Canada, Calder used his position to adv...

CCF Leader M.J. Coldwell fought in Parliament to establish unemployment insurance and old age pensions. When the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation burst onto the Canadian political scene as a new socialist political party in the 1930s, there was no guarantee it would survive. Building the CCF during the Great Depression required dedicated organizers and leaders willing to fight for the working...

How are unions protecting workers’ health and safety as temperatures rise, fires and floods increase, and environmental regulations are gutted? On May Day 2026, the Green Economy Network's Em Thompson brought together union health and safety experts for a public conversation on workers’ safety in the climate crisis. How is the labour union movement protecting workers from rising temperatures,...

2026 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize and Lecturer Bhaskar Sunkara spoke to Luke Savage at Toronto Metropolitan University about what a modern 21st century socialism should look like. What’s worked, what’s failed, and what comes next? Is economic democracy compatible with capitalism? When so many figures, from Rosa Luxemburg, to Ed Broadbent, to Tony Blair, have at one point called themselves “social dem...

Coady's ideas about collectivism and co-operation represented the first real challenge to the conservatism of Nova Scotia’s political culture. Moses Coady was a Catholic priest, a scholar at St. Francis Xavier University and, most importantly, he was an organizer who was best known for leading the Antigonish Movement: a co-operative movement focused on adult education, microfinance, and rural...

At the 2026 Progress Summit: Defending Democracy Across Borders, Canada’s labour leaders discussed what labour is fighting for: a different economic and trade future that puts workers at the centre. As Trump-era trade and economic policies reshape decisions about jobs, industry, and investment, workers and communities in Canada are feeling the effects. From manufacturing to public services to war-...

The David Suzuki Foundation's Stephen Thomas discusses the political challenges and possibilities for building a truly green Canadian electricity grid. Stephen Thomas is a climate campaigner, policy analyst, and engineer working on the front lines of Canada’s transition to a 100% zero-emissions electricity grid as the Clean Energy Manager for the David Suzuki Foundation . For Class & Clim...

To defend democracy across borders, we must understand the global right-wing network and build the power to confront it. At the 2026 Progress Summit, David Adler highlighted the organized right-wing network of actors and institutions — what he calls the 'Reactionary International.' Adler is the Co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, an group that unites, organizes and m...

In 1944, the Saskatchewan CCF formed the first social democratic government in North America. Behind this landmark achievement was George Hara Williams , the oft-forgotten architect of the CCF’s success in the province, who laid the organizational groundwork that brought together labour and farmers movements to produce the history-making victory. After building these foundations, he left to fight...

The UK-based climate activist and writer explains how the Conferences of Parties have bureaucratized climate organizing. Martin Empson is a climate activist from the UK and the editor and a contributor to System Change not Climate Change, a book of essays from socialists around the world on the nature of capitalism's ecological crisis and the radical response that is needed. On this eighth ep...

Learn about the unique Catholic roots of Quebec's social democratic tradition. While Quebec's social democratic tradition is often traced back to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, the province's left-wing roots are planted deeper than that. This episode examines the Catholic roots of social democracy surrounding L’École Sociale Populaire. This socially-driven organization of Jesuit...

Social democracy has long been a powerful political force in British Columbia. This episode explores its origins in the province through the lives and ideas of two of British Columbia’s left-wing pioneers: Ernest Winch and Harold Winch. This father-son duo was known for uncompromising Marxist defence of the interests of workers against exploitation by big business, enshrining a class dynamic to BC...

The League for Social Reconstruction was a group of socialist thinkers, brought together by the crisis of the Great Depression, that laid the intellectual foundations for modern Canadian social democracy. Through the crisis of the Great Depression, Canadian socialist intellectuals came together as 'The League for Social Reconstruction' to lay out the political and economic ideas that wou...

The longshoreman and leadership hopeful shares his vision for Canada's NDP as the party of workers and everyday people. SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Activists Make History for previous interviews with the 2026 NDP leadership race candidates. Rob Ashton is a trade unionist, longshoreman, and candidate running to be the next leader of the federal NDP. He has spent more than...

The NDP leadership hopeful reflects on her roots in student organizing to usher in a new era for progressive organizing in the federal NDP. SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Activists Make History for previous and upcoming interviews with the 2026 NDP leadership race candidates. Tanille Johnston is a social worker, city councilor, and candidate running to be the next leader of the...

Rather than treating feminism and social democracy as separate projects, Agnes Macphail understood both as essential to building a more democratic and equal society. A committed social democrat, Agnes Macphail was Canada’s first woman elected to Parliament and a leader whose politics were shaped by a lifelong opposition to patriarchy and sexism. Over two decades in the House of Commons, she used h...

Even the rich agree: extreme wealth inequality is a threat to democracy. In a new survey conducted by Patriotic Millionaires of millionaires and billionaires across G20 countries, 65% agree that extreme wealth is a threat to democracy. Yet, in front of billionaires on the Davos stage of the World Economic Forum, Prime Minister Mark Carney touts tax cuts and subsidies for AI data centres while mour...

Heather McPherson is channeling value-driven politics in her campaign for NDP leadership. SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Activists Make History for previous and upcoming interviews with the 2026 NDP leadership race candidates. Since 2019, Heather McPherson has been Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona, securing a once-contentious parliamentary seat through three federal...

Tony McQuail is channeling decades of grassroots activism to platform rural issues and a green progressive vision for the federal NDP. Stay tuned for future episodes with other candidates in the 2026 NDP leadership race. Tony McQuail is an organic farmer and candidate running to be the next leader of the federal NDP. A lifelong activist, he has run for office multiple times, served on the Huron Co...

Peggy Nash is bringing conversations from the campaign trail to Activists Make History , speaking with candidates running to be the next leader of the federal NDP. Avi Lewis is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and candidate running to be the next leader of the federal NDP. Born in Toronto, he built a career telling stories about movements for economic and social justice, from worker-run enterp...

This Scottish-born preacher turned politician helped lay the foundation for early social democratic electoral success in Alberta and across Canada. William Irvine’s life and career reflects the power of persistence in struggles. Born to a working-class familyin the Shetland Islands, Irvine immigrated to Canada to lead a Unitarian church congregation in Alberta. After arriving in Calgary in 1916, h...

A pioneer of Canadian prairie socialism, E.A. Partridge was a radical farmer who organized Saskatchewan grain growers in the face of rampant price fixing. The founder of the 'Grain Growers' Grain Company' cooperative and publisher of the Grain Growers' Guide, Partridge was a major player in the history of Canadian social democracy. Learn about his "Partridge plan" and...

One of the most iconic socialists in Canadian history, most on the Canadian left may likely identify J.S. Woodsworth as Canada's first social democrat. Woodsworth was an organizer of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and the first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, founded in 1932. This episode of Social Democrats of the North reflects on the Social Gospel that saw Jesus as a...

The new book by Peggy Nash & Julie White tells the untold stories of dozens of women leaders in the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union. In November 2025, Between the Lines books published Women United: Stories of Women’s Struggles for Equality in the Canadian Auto Workers Union by Peggy Nash and Julie White . The co-authors were interviewed by Tricia Wilson , Director of Equity and Racial Justi...