YOU CAN FORGET THE RUMOURS ABOUT ELECTORAL REFORM. A change to proportional representation (PR) does not bring instability, uncertainty, and political conflict. A quick look at countries using a PR-based voting system proves it.

NONE OF US WANTS TO WIND UP AS SHARK BAIT. But a lot of us do. Statistics show a lot of us get hooked by “payday lenders” with their loan shark interest rates. Susan Leblanc wants to use credit unions to make that unnecessary.

The “Pink Tax” makes Erum Khan see red. “It’s bullshit!” she says. “Women make less than men but we pay more for everything because marketers tell us we’re not good enough the way we are and we need something ‘special’ to improve us.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU BUILT US UP ONLY TO LET US DOWN. He has declared his promise of electoral reform inoperative. The next federal election in 2019 will still use the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system to decide who gets to run the federal government.

MARGARET ALLUKER MAY SOON BE HOMELESS: a victim of the largest urban eviction campaign in Canada.

THEY ARE NOBODY’S DREAM HOMES. Taking a bath could bring the whole room crashing down. Rotting floors make many toilets unsafe to use. Rats, mice and cockroaches are everybody’s uninvited roommates. Yet the the dozens of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver are home to thousands of people down on their luck.

J. GARY PERLINE DIDN’T CHOOSE TO BE SICK. He didn’t choose to be poor either. But he was. Poverty didn’t make him sick. But it did make him more likely to get sick.

“CAN YOU JUST USE YOUR CAR TO HURT PEOPLE?” The answer “no” didn’t seem at all obvious to Tara Maszczakiewicz on August 23.

GREYHOUND BUS HAS LEFT VERA PETERS STRANDED. She’s not alone. She’s just one of the two million Canadians who won’t be able to count on Greyhound bus to stay connected any more.

SHANNON MARTIN SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO SLEEP ON COUCHES. She has a permanent job. She earns a good salary. Enough to pay $1650 a month in rent. But, it wasn’t enough to keep a roof over her head in Toronto. So, she had to depend on friends and family to put her up for a while.