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citytechie.bsky.social
Nerd. Computer scientist. Urban + transit enthusiast. Toronto-born. Proud Canadian. 🇨🇦 Politically engaged, centre-left, pragmatist. Elbows Up! linktr.ee/citytechie
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Total estimated emissions from Canadian #wildfires continuing to increase sharply (to 10 June) with many intense fires in BC, AB, SK, MB & ON. #CopernicusAtmosphere GFAS data based on MODIS🛰️ active fire obs ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/datasets/cam... @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social @ecmwf.int

Very disappointed with my councillor @diannesaxe.bsky.social on her proposal to exempt the Bloor to Dupont stretch of Bathurst from #RapidTO lanes. We must NEVER EVER EVER compromise with car-brains when it comes to improving streets for all road users! #shame #TOpoli www.thestar.com/news/gta/cou...

Wish I’d known this two days ago when I was interviewing him on stage! But it does put his sharp takes then - on the need to condense layers of regulations, on needing to actively court low-carbon investment displaced from the U.S., etc. - in a somewhat different light.

I think abundance is important because so many government agencies are captured by boomers who are simply incapable of imagining a better world (in this case, operating a frequent regional rail network). And this is in Canada! It’s not just an American issue.

Good piece by @dougsaunders.bsky.social regarding the Canada-Mexico relationship. Canada’s difficulty in maintaining visa free status for 🇲🇽 was the subject of much hand wringing. The vast majority of travellers are bona fide travellers, as Mexico has a good-sized middle class. 2…

FWIW, having explored this angle a bit recently, my impression is that supplying defence needs won’t be enough to keep auto-parts makers afloat, but their ability to diversify to that sector (and others) is among the reasons to not let our auto industry die. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

Traitors. www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

Mark Carney revives tough talk about America and warns ‘a new imperialism threatens’

Prime Minister Mark Carney pledges to shift defence spending away from the US and towards the EU.

Too often, Canada invests public money in building new things and then sells it off to the highest bidder. The 407 ETR? The Skydome? Telcos? As we get going on nation-building projects, key question: 🍁DO WE WANT TO OWN OR BE OWNED? socialcapitalpartners.ca/as-the-feder... #CanadaSky #CdnPoli

Carney: Canada will achieve NATO’s [defense spending] target of 2% GDP this year, half a decade ahead of schedule.”

I wish Toronto had a publicly owned district like Granville Island for locally owned restaurants, shops and businesses and affordable arts spaces. Instead we get a private megaspa run by fraudsters. youtu.be/STsu3NA1W_k?...

Last time I remember they were shooting at journalists during live broadcasts was during the George Floyd protests. That's one way to broadcast to the world that your democracy is dead and it's a full police state.

toronto's newest stretch of bus lanes entered service this month along the downtown east waterfront - supporting better reliability and ~5 min travel time savings for thousands of riders across 4 routes. these were painted just 2 months after council approved it. it can be that easy.

At this point it's clear to all impartial observers that Trump is trying to provoke, not to stop, unrest in the streets of LA, writes the Economist. He wants to punish California for voting against him, consistently.

Would differential us from the violent police state south of the border. I think we should ban these chemical weapons + heavily restrict firearms issued to police. Regular officers shouldn't carry them, only small specially trained units. Force them to de-escalate instead of defaulting to violence.

Reminder that tear gas is a chemical weapon that is illegal to deploy in warfare, yet cops are allowed to blanket civilians in clouds of the stuff.

www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

I think you could make a strong case that BikeShareTO is the biggest public service success of Toronto in the 21st century?

Saying the “REM’s non-compete clause will wreak havoc” while calling for “adequate funding so public transit services don’t have to compete” is a fundamental contradiction. Does the author want an integrated transport network or an inefficient one that is tied to jurisdictional fiefdoms?

Yesterday, Bike Share reached a record 36,000 trips! In addition the 14-day average is about 20% higher than this time last year. The popularity of the system is exploding, and our governments need to support a safe and connected cycling network.

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

I can't help to think that a landlocked, ultra-conservative, fascist MAGA petrostate of Alberta, that she wants and is manifesting would actually rapidly decline into being the lowest living standards in the world comparable other failed states around the world.

If #DanielleSmith doesn’t tone down her lies/BS, it’s going to make many progressives stop holding their noses to find ways of working with her to make things work. Sit the F down and stop antagonising everyone or you will screw over Albertans even more than you already have.

Let’s be clear: Israel, an occupier, has no authority under international law to board or divert the Madleen. This is a hijacking, plain and simple. A hijacking of a UK-registered ship, with multiple *European* citizens on board. Does the EU or UK government have anything to say? Anything??

Israel kidnapping Greta Thunberg, the Academy-Award winning co-director of the documentary No Other Land, and declaring Ms. Rachel an anti-semite for not wanting Palestinian kids to die. Yup, this is how you win the world.

1/10 🔥 CANADIAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS' INFERNO SURVIVAL 🔥 "I thought we were going to perish." 19 construction workers trapped by wildfire near Sandy Lake huddle in shipping container as flames dance around them. Lauren Scott reports on survival against impossible odds. #WildfireSurvival

I am in Canada's Globe and Mail today with a piece on the fierce urgency of bus priority. Paywalled, alas. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Part of a larger thread with updates from the Freedom Flotilla. Greta Thunberg and other civilians have been arrested / detained / abducted by the Israeli military.

It’s completely insane that most of the world is just going to sit back and watch Israel arrest civilians in international waters.

Construction is starting for GO Transit’s Caledonia Station on the Barrie Line, which will connect to the soon-to-open Eglinton Crosstown/TTC Line 5.

By mid May, 1.6M Canadians were looking for work. Unemployment rate: 7% Men losing most jobs, women gaining. 1 in 5 students looking for summer work were unemployed (20.1%; was 11.4% in May 2022) Youth not returning to school (15-24 yrs old): 12.2% unemployed www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo...

The flaw in the idea that people on BlueSky (or anywhere else) should tolerate reactionary, authoritarian or otherwise bigoted ideas in the name of being “open minded” is that it fails to recognize that we’ve already given due consideration to these ideas and decided that they suck.

BARTON: Poilievre says you've got to get rid of the cap on oil and gas emissions, industrial carbon price, C69. HODGSON: I don't think it's realistic to rip up our Environmental Protection Act, to rip up the Act that dictates Indigenous consultation. #cdnpoli

MAGA TRAITORS! Alberta to bring back liquor from United States ‘effective immediately’ #cdnpoli www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...

In Buenos Aires, “cuts to [public] transport subsidies drove up fares 1,049% since December 2023, as libertarian President Javier Milei took an ax to public spending”: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

I had a chance to discuss the future of AI policy and Canada-US tech relations along with @vassb.bsky.social and Renee Black, thanks ‪to @viacristiano.bsky.social and @techpolicypress.bsky.social for the invitation. and check out their call for contribution: www.techpolicy.press/call-for-con...

Down 50%? Seriously, Toronto. That's not a good look. We need Canadian politicians to recognize that housing is at crisis levels, not just in Toronto but in many other places. #ONpoli #CDNpoli