- The Manitoba NDP is promising to address the failure to properly address sexual assaults by hiring more forensic nurses. Meanwhile, the Cons are not simply refusing to search the landfills for the bodies of murdered indigenous women, they are putting this refusal front and centre in their campaign. Pretty apparent that this is their perverse version of "virtue signalling" to their base, as is their insouciance about other sorts of bigotry. Oh, and they're also making their obligatory attack on the public sector, which is also no surprise. Nor is the fact that local antivax scumbag Patrick Allard may have been putting up election signs without authorization. What is a bit of a surprise is former Liberal leader and mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari campaigning for Obby Khan, even if he is a "family friend".
- A bylaw proposed in Barrie that would have banned giving money to homeless people on public property is getting international attention as an example of how not to address the problem of homelessness.
- The Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, honoured a 98 year old Ukrainian veteran for his service, apparently without taking due note of just who he was serving. Not surprisingly, this is not going over well with Jewish groups and numerous others; there's a limit to "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", after all. Needless to say, this is a huge gift to the Kremlin in terms of talking points. The NDP and the Bloc are calling for Rota's resignation; the Cons, of course, are trying to pin it on Trudeau, as they do everything else.
- Metro Vancouver's transit system, TransLink, is doing better than most North American transit systems at bringing back ridership, but they still face revenue problems as passengers have shifted to buying single fares rather than monthly passes.
- Canada has historically been more willing to accept immigrants than many countries (even if getting them good jobs and housing once they get here is sometimes another matter). Some fear, however, that this could change, especially if the real factors leading to the cost of housing are not addressed and the scapegoating of immigrants for the problem continues and increases.
- A tentative deal has been reached in the Hollywood writers' strike. The actors remain on the picket line. Meanwhile in the auto industry, the UAW is expanding their strike, and in Canada Unifor prepares to negotiate with GM. Speaking of which, here's some perspective on the concern about electric vehicles meaning fewer jobs. Unfortunately none of this addresses the heffalump in the room, which is that what we really need is fewer cars on the road for the greater good of the environment as well as our cities, and that this will inevitably mean fewer jobs for auto workers in the long run. Sorry.
- Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo continue; a Kosovo police officer has been killed and another wounded in a clash that is being blamed on Serbia.
- The Environmental Protection Agency in the US is changing the way they measure methane emissions; evidently the old reporting system glosses over rather a lot.
- Scientists are reporting an increase in the numbers of flowering plants in Antarctica and neighbouring islands.
- Trump is talking about taking legal action against NBC and MSNBC if he becomes president again. Whether he can be stopped is the big question, though his indictments are proceeding. Related to this, it has been reported that his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, burned so many documents in the final days of the presidency that his wife complained about the dry cleaning bills to get the "bonfire" smell out of his suits.
- The measures needed to limit the severity of climate change will have staggering costs, albeit less than the cost of not taking action. Former UK prime minister Gordon Brown is proposing a levy on oil producers to raise this revenue. The best time to do this would have been 40 or 50 years ago, of course, and the second best time would have been while Brown was PM, but the third best time would be now.
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