Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers!
Start screaming about Canada's activist judiciary in 5...4...3...2...

I love Vancouver: the soggy skies, the endless supply of raw fish and espresso beans, the perpetual wait for the overcrowded bus. There's many great things about this town, but the one thing I love to mention in my travels (or to any visitors here) is that there is no Wal-Mart in the City of Vancouver. Gosh knows they've tried, but they haven't been able to bully Vancouver's City Council the way they have throughout North America.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart suffered a major loss at the Supreme Court of Canada, which has the potential to blow the door wide open on the company's dirty little union-busting secrets. UFCW 1400 gets to look over such fun reading as "Wal-Mart - A Manager's Toolbox to Remaining Union-Free." Wal-Mart gets the finger from our courts and pretty much anyone with a conscience.

Wal-Mart's U.S. sales are slowing down, while rival Costco reported a higher boost in sales last month. Could it be that American consumers are catching on to the true cost of "Everyday Low Prices"? Trying to make that business up by applying the same corporate brutality won't work here. Memo to the Waltons and their shareholders: just because you see a few pickup trucks in the parking lot doesn't mean you're in Alabama.