From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers, this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada - an era in which the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy. It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion - on force and on fear - to secure that subordination. From Consent to Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing socialist politics - of thinking ambitiously and meeting new challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy.

This study is among the first in Canada to document the transformation of municipal governance and public services from Keynesian to neoliberal public policy at the urban scale. Focusing on the neoliberal transformation of cites in Ontario from 1954 to 2014, with special attention to Toronto, it begins with a theoretical analysis of the remaking of municipal public finances and intergovernmental transfers, exposing the social and political causes of urban fiscal crises. This study makes the case that cities have been underfinanced, which has led to a deterioration of public services based on the contention that they are unaffordable. Reductions to employee compensation have been a stated aim of municipal austerity. Megacity Malaise analyzes the interactions and strategies used by civic workers and community groups as they struggle to understand and respond to demands for concessions. Focusing on two major Toronto strikes (by CUPE locals 79 and 416), it puts forward a range of evidence-based social policy alternatives to austerity, drawing attention to labour-community coalitions as the most effective strategy for building resistance against neoliberalism. As headquarters to Canada s largest financial institutions, local government, employment centre and municipal unions, Toronto provides a vivid setting for studying municipal restructuring. Fanelli s analysis is grounded in critical political economy and informed by his decade-long experiences as a Toronto civic worker and municipal unionist. Rigorous intellectual analysis is combined with municipal employee interviews and participant observation, providing a unique methodological approach to examining the socio-political struggles in Toronto and connecting them to municipalities across Ontario and beyond."

In a period characterized by growing social inequality, precarious work, the legacies of settler colonialism, and the emergence of new social movements, Change and Continuity presents innovative interdisciplinary research as a guide to understanding Canada's political economy and a contribution to progressive social change. Assessing the legacy of the Canadian political economy tradition – a broad body of social science research on power, inequality, and change in society – the essays in this volume offer insight into contemporary issues and chart new directions for future study. Chapters from both emerging and established scholars expand the boundaries of Canadian political economy research, seeking new understandings of the forces that shape society, the ensuing conflicts and contradictions, and the potential for social justice. Engaging with interconnected topics that include shifts in immigration policy, labour market restructuring, settler colonialism, the experiences of people with disabilities, and the revitalization of workers' movements, this collection builds upon and deepens critical analysis of Canadian society and considers its application to contexts beyond Canada. The latest in a series of related volumes on Canadian political economy, Change and Continuity explores the past, present, and potential futures of the discipline in a global context, offering insight into some of the most pressing issues of our time. Contributors include Greg Albo (York University), Hugh Armstrong (Carleton University), Pat Armstrong (York University), Simon Black (Brock University), Jacqueline Choiniere (York University), Wallace Clement (Carleton University), Tamara Daly (York University), Peter Graefe (McMaster University), Tobin LeBlanc Haley (Ryerson University), Rebecca Jane Hall (Queen's University), Stephen McBride (McMaster University), Suzanne Mills (McMaster University), Tanner Mirrlees (University of Ontario Institute of Technology), Stephanie Ross (McMaster University), Nandita Sharma (University of Hawaii at Manoa), Adrian Smith (Osgoode Hall Law School), Jim Stanford (Centre for Future Work), Steven Tufts (York University), Lesley J. Wood (York University).

The articles and interviews collected here problematize prevailing characterizations of recession and recovery. Rather than focusing on narrowly economistic measures, the contributors challenge standard explanations of the Great Recession drawing attention to the classed, ethno-racial and gendered dimensions of austerity and retrenchment. Collectively, the book debunks the myth of Canadian exceptionalism by demonstrating that the aftershocks of the recession are far from over.

What began as an unprecedented housing meltdown centered in the United States in the summer of 2007, quickly turned into a global insolvency crisis throughout 2008, and later the most significant economic crisis since the Great Depression. Despite monumental bailouts and extraordinary coordination by all major capitalist countries led by the U.S. Treasury, the public purse that salvaged the making of global capitalism is now being undermined by the very financial markets that were rescued. A new wave of austerity is sweeping the globe.With a further slide into recession possible in 2011, a social crisis is brewing as the working class continues to shoulder the burden of the economic crisis. The articles in this issue scrutinize the austerity responses of governments around the world designed to kick-start capital accumulation and recreate a suitable environment for business investment. The contributors to this collection provide a vivid portrait of working class discontent in an era of increasing capitalist militancy.

From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers, this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada - an era in which the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy. It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion - on force and on fear - to secure that subordination. From Consent to Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing socialist politics - of thinking ambitiously and meeting new challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy.