The Rebel to Rabble Review
Here’s what the activist media is reporting on this week.
Prime Minister Mark Carney tours the Vector artificial intelligence research institute in Toronto, on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025.
With the federal government poised to unveil what one-time broadcaster turned rookie front bencher Evan Solomon told the House of Commons ethics committee will be a “renewed national Artificial Intelligence strategy for Canadians” rooted in the “core principle” of ‘AI for all,’ Canadian Dimension contributor Dónal Gill warns that the “rhetoric of technological utopianism coupled with unspecified guardrails” puts Prime Minister Mark Carney at odds with a “cornerstone belief of one of his supposed intellectual anchors” — namely, Václav Havel, the “Czech dissident intellectual” whose words Carney invoked during his now famous speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year.
“That speech drew plaudits from around the world, significantly boosted Carney’s domestic polling, and contributed to putting the Liberals in a strong position to poach floor crossers en route to a parliamentary majority,” Gill notes.
“But Carney clearly didn’t read all of Havel’s 1978 essay ‘The Power of the Powerless,’ the work from which he borrowed the tale of the greengrocer who plays along with the hollow rituals of the ‘post-totalitarian’ communist regime despite not believing in them. Had he read to the end, Carney would have seen that his own big bet on AI would have appalled Havel, who saw technology as the biggest threat to the existential revolution he deemed necessary to save politics in both the communist East and the capitalist West.”
It does, however, “present a significant political opportunity for the New Democrats” and their newly elected leader, Avi Lewis, he argues.
“Turning Carney’s now world-famous invocation of Havel against him could grant the NDP ownership of an issue that will give them the offensive initiative going forward. Simply put, there is moral outrage to be harvested for righteous political gain on the downsides of AI.”
Given that context, Lewis and his party “must double down and expand upon this point of attack,” as “Carney and his tech-optimist AI Minister, Evan Solomon, have made themselves extremely vulnerable on the issue (and) the AI backlash is bound to grow, given Canadians’ anxiety about this technology,” he contends.
“Lewis’ focus on the cost-of-living emergency dovetails perfectly with a recentring of politics around what is needed for ordinary people to lead lives of meaningful human flourishing.”
Over at Rabble, Montreal-based consultant Danny Parys notes that “AI advocates” are “using the same playbook” as the “Canadian politicians and business leaders” who “sung sweetly about the promises of free trade and globalization” for nearly two decades.
“Sure, some jobs would be shipped overseas, but Canadians didn’t want to do those jobs anyways. Besides, shutting down the factory would free up time to brush up on our PowerPoint and Excel skills. We’d all become logic workers, enjoying the air conditioning and casual Fridays in the process. It wasn’t until decades later that the experts began questioning their brashness.”
Given all that, he asks “Why, at the dawn of the Artificial Intelligence revolution, are we trying another one? Yet again, the same characters, with new casting, are in place. It’s the same sales play book, selling a new version of the same dream. The parallels between the globalization boosters and AI advocates are too striking. But we know what happens next. Overestimate the benefits and underplay the disruptive impacts. And even though business leaders and policy experts might not be repeating themselves, their arguments sure are rhyming. We shouldn’t listen.”
His advice: “Canadians must not repeat the same mistake again. This time won’t be different.”
Elsewhere in the Rabbleverse, Gabriela Calugay-Casuga files an update on the ongoing bid by the federal government to block the decision by the Canada Human Rights Commission “to have the human rights tribunal perform a full inquiry into issues of systemic racism in the federal public service,” she explains.
“The tribunal received complaints of systemic racism from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) after the Canada Human Rights Commission decided to refer this issue to them. This move was celebrated for opening the door to an independent and public investigation. Now that the government is challenging this decision, PSAC is calling out what they say seems to be an attempt to avoid accountability.”
The latest legal challenge comes after the government “spent more than $15 million dollars by September 2025 to keep the Black Class Action Lawsuit from getting certified,” she notes.
“In a statement, PSAC said the union will continue to support Black public service workers in the face of this new court challenge that could lead to years of delay,” and “is also calling for action to implement the recommendations of the task force that reviewed the Employment Equity Act.”
Meanwhile, Press Progress associate editor Rumneek Johal explores how a “coalition of Canadian Sikh organizations” have secured written commitments from the leaders of both the federal Conservatives and the New Democrats to “protect Canadian Sikhs and promote transparency around foreign interference by India,” although as of its writing, “they did not receive a reply” from the prime minister.
“The leaders were given an April 3rd deadline to respond, after which the coalition stated it would take steps to restrict speaking opportunities at Sikh gurdwaras or events, which are frequented by politicians of varying political stripes to connect with the Sikh community and often attempt to garner votes,” she notes.
“Moninder Singh, spokesperson for Sikh Federation Canada and the BC Gurdwara Council, told PressProgress that threatening to withdraw access to Sikh spaces was one way to attempt to get a response from politicians who had previously been silent on the issue.”
Although Carney did not respond directly to the group, “the Liberals’ Sikh Caucus did, saying they agree with the notion of transparency and accountability regarding foreign interference and that they support ‘the principle of maximum possible disclosure consistent with the law,’ in a way that ensures accountability ‘through a process that upholds justice and protects national security.’”
A quick check of the latest lineup at The Breach reveals two new podcasts: a deep dive into B.C. Premier David Eby’s now-paused bid to “roll back legilsation enshrining Indigenous rights,” as well as the “corporate resource rush and right wing backlash behind the surging attack on Indigenous peoples,” courtesy of lawyer Pam Palmater, who joined host Desmond Cole to go over the latest developments, and a 10-minute video devoted to debunking the central thesis of ‘Making A Killing’, a “viral documentary that purports to investigate residential schools, but is chock full of lies and anti-Indigenous propaganda’ that ‘misdirects its audience and distorts the truth.”
Rounding out the progressive-left media roster, The Maple’s Emma Paling reveals that “at least six companies in Canada are currently manufacturing, maintaining or producing components for the same types of weaponry and military assets that the U.S. has used in its war on Iran,” according to data sourced from contracts.
“Five of the companies — Raytheon, Boeing, Standard Aero, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics — are subsidiaries or branches of American firms. One of the companies, M1 Composites Technology, has its headquarters in Canada. The total value of the contracts analyzed by The Maple that implicate Canadian facilities is $5.2 billion U.S., or $7 billion Canadian. Most of the contracts stipulate that a majority of the work must be completed in the United States, with 2.5 per cent or less being completed in Canada. In individual cases, as little as 0.01 per cent and as much as 99 per cent of the work is taking place in Canada.”
According to Paling, “The Maple asked Carney’s office how Canada’s production of weaponry for the U.S. war squares with his other comments about sovereignty,” but “a spokesperson for the prime minister referred the question to Global Affairs Canada, (which) did not respond by the deadline.”
Trending in the right-of-centre lane of the Canadian activist media circuit:
- Rebel News commander Ezra Levant made the trek to Canso, N.S., to follow up on reports that the federal government “has signed a $200 million, 10-year lease for a so-called ‘spaceport’” that “is little more than a concrete slab on a gravel lot.’”
- Levant also hosted an “exclusive, sponsored interview” with Magna founder “and one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs,” Frank Stronach, on “what it actually takes to build a business in Canada today — and why fewer young Canadians are even trying,” as well as his “common-sense framework for rebuilding the Canadian economy on principles that actually reward work, risk, and results.”
- Over at Juno News, Cosmin Dzsurdzsa delivers an “exclusive” report on an “explosive internal Canadian Armed Forces report:” that “reveals a Quebec officer platoon dominated by non-citizens descended into ethnic infighting, a lack of ‘respect for women’ peers and abysmal graduation rates.”
- His fellow Juno correspondent Quinn Patrick recaps how a “proposed 900 kilometre natural gas pipeline is now in jeopardy as the project is being challenged in B.C. court by a Gitxsan hereditary chief and several environmental groups.”