News roundup, 24 June 2026

- Donald Trump, having previously fulminated about the tolls that Iran had imposed on the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict, is now threatening to impose his own tolls on the strait unless a peace deal can be signed within 60 days. This worries many who fear this could set a precedent that could encourage other countries to impose tolls on what were previously accepted as international waterways, including the Malacca Strait in Indonesia and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti. This comes as Marco Rubio says that "no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway"; no doubt Rubio will be forced to clarify this and say that "no country but America is allowed to charge tolls or fees".

- The heatwave sweeping Europe continues. Highs of around 40°C are expected in western France today while Belgium and the Netherlands are getting temperatures in the high thirties. Even in Ireland temperatures may edge into the thirties, something almost unheard of there. Two children died after being left in a hot car in the French town of Carpentras; some 40 people have also drowned in France since the start of the heatwave.

- Several leftwing candidates have scored victories in Democratic primaries in New York. Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier had all been endorsed by NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani. Lander defeated congressman Dan Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune (and staunch Israel supporter); Lander, Valdez, and Chevalier have all accused Israel of genocide. The party's leadership have expressed concerns that this will be alienating to swing voters (but are probably more worried about donors than voters).

- The city of Waterloo is looking at allowing churches to build housing on their properties as a way of expanding the housing supply. Predictably, local NIMBYs are bleating about notions such as "neighbourhood character" (which generally means "keeping the poors out", of course).

- The Manitoba NDP has nominated Jennifer Flett as their candidate in the upcoming byelection in The Pas-Kameesak. The byelection was called after incumbent Amanda Lathlin died in March. Flett's background includes serving as a band councillor in OCN as well as working for the Correctional Service of Canada.

News roundup, 16 March 2026

- Donald Trump seems to be trying to move the goalposts on the war on Iran; evidently even he can recognize that maybe getting into an endless war might not be a good idea. Unfortunately it's a bit late for that.

- FCC chair Brendan Carr is hinting that broadcasters who cause displeasure to the Dear Leader might have difficulties renewing their broadcast licenses unless they "correct course" before their renewal time comes up.

- Many Iranian dissidents understandably looked on the US/Israeli attack on their country with rose-coloured glasses before it happened, hoping that this might be the thing that finally liberates them from a regime that certainly is far from benevolent. However, disillusionment is starting to set in among those actually live in the country and are seeing huge amounts of destruction with no benefit. Opinions among the diaspora will doubtless lag somewhat, since they aren't face to face with the bombing, but it will probably come in due time.

- The Trump regime is having a hard time finding allies who will help keep the Strait of Hormuz open. France is willing to consider, but on their own terms; Trump seems to want countries to sign on to an open-ended commitment, which is naturally not an easy sell. He is responding in his usual fashion by hinting that for NATO allies to sit this one out would "be very bad for the future of NATO".

- While Waterloo's university district has often gotten rowdy on and around St. Patrick's Day, the regional police service shocked many, including the city's mayor, when they deployed a sniper to the district. Police have so far not explained their reasoning; the mayor has requested a meeting with the police chief.

- An 81 year old man has been charged with second degree murder following a shooting at a trailer park in Port Alberni, BC. 

News roundup, 6 Nov 2025

- The death toll in the UPS plane crash in Louisville has risen to 12, and may rise further as the search for victims continues. One of the dead was a child who had accompanied a parent to the auto parts business where the parent worked. In other aviation-related news, the FAA is reducing air traffic by 10% at numerous high traffic airports, as they struggle to deal with the number of sick calls by air traffic controllers (who still aren't getting paid thanks to the government shutdown).

- The US Department of Justice has been firing immigration judges before their probationary period ends, including an entire incoming class of newly trained judges. NPR reports that a disproportionate number of the judges who were fired had previously represented immigrants in their past legal careers.

- Manitoba's legislature has passed Bill 48, the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act, which extends the time that such persons can be detained to 72 hours. The entire legislature, except independent MLA Mark Wasyliw, voted in favour of the bill. This is intended to address the long-lasting nature of the psychosis resulting from meth. A facility, to be run by the Main Street Project, will be set up on the fringes of the city centre. The medical community is divided on the issue; while several doctors signed a letter in support of the change, others question the merits of doing so. One of the points made by the critics is more relevant for opioids than for meth - the fear is that their tolerance could decline enough during the detention period to put them at increased risk of overdose when released.

- Waterloo Regional Council has voted to extend the Ion LRT line to Cambridge. The only council member to vote against the extension was Cambridge's mayor, Jann Liggett. Liggett claims her opposition is because the extension doesn't cover enough of the city, but that doesn't make a lot of sense; you have to start somewhere, and people who don't live right by the line will still benefit from being able to catch a short bus ride to a station. Of course, Cambridge's biggest employer is an auto plant, so...

- A trustee with the River East Transcona School Division has been censured for the third time since 2023 for breaching the board's code of conduct. Rod Giesbrecht has a history of discussing confidential internal board matters with outsiders.

- A Winnipeg veterinarian with a lengthy disciplinary history has been ordered to wind down his practice by June of next year following his most recent transgression, a botched surgery that resulted in a cat's leg being amputated. For his part, the vet claims to have been singled out due to his ethnicity, though he offered no evidence.

- A former nurse at a German hospital has received a life sentence after being convicted of murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others. He had apparently singled out elderly patients who required more intense care, and desired to reduce his workload.

News roundup, 12 May 2025

- India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire, though tensions still remain high and not all conflict ended immediately. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims that the two parties have agreed to talks on "a broad set of issues at a neutral site", but India denies agreeing to this.

- A recount in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne has given the riding to the Liberal candidate by a single vote over the Bloc Quebecois. This leaves the Carney government two seats short of a majority.

- When ICE agents attempted to apprehend a woman and her two children in Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday, around 25 angry residents swarmed the officers and asked to see their identification. The officers refused, and they called the local police for backup. The cops behaved as you'd expect them to. Some video can be seen here.

- Waterloo Region's Ion LRT system has been involved in an average of 15 collisions a year since the service rolled out in 2019. The collisions have not cost the region anything, as all of them were the fault of motorists whose insurance covered it, but it suggests that some motorists have a hard time adapting to the service that was rolled out six years ago.

- A team from the University of Manitoba's faculty of agriculture is working with Opaskwayak Cree Nation to set up a vertical farming operation in the community, which will produce fresh vegetables and herbs year-round.

- At the end of April, the city of Pickering, Ontario was debating a motion to do something about the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump, including redirecting the city's purchasing to non-American sources if possible. One councillor, Lisa Robinson, opposed the motion, saying "No to 'Elbows Up'!" Robinson has a long history of bleating about what a patriot she supposedly is while never knowing a far-right cause she didn't like (to the point of coming under criminal investigation for siccing her potentially violent followers on her colleagues).

News roundup, 11 April 2024

- Following criticism for his "bicycle Nazi" remark the other day, Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt has apologized for his choice of words, but defends the substance of what he was saying. He insists that he's not against all cycling; fair enough, but this is kind of telling:

"A number of us councillors have been advocating for bike paths to be built," including the Transcona Trail and the North Winnipeg Parkway, said Wyatt.

"What's frustrating is to hear Bike Winnipeg not necessarily representing those projects when they come forward, but want to represent closing of lanes to cars, such as closing Assiniboine Avenue at Main Street, or removing the slip lane in Osborne Village."

Now there's nothing wrong with the bike paths Wyatt says he's advocating for, but those paths are better suited to recreational cycling than commuting (though the North Winnipeg Parkway is doubtless useful for some). And what is really needed is to get people out of their cars, not merely have them riding around when they don't have anywhere in particular to go.

- Hawaii's aquifers are being depleted at a dangerous rate. And that's not even considering what will happen as sea levels rise and cause wells to go salty.

- Israel has faced international criticism for its actions before, but even its staunchest supporters are starting to wonder.

- Apparently the starting wages for new FBI agents, who have no say in where in the US they are assigned, are inadequate to comfortably cover the costs of living in many cities (New York, San Francisco, and others). That sounds like something that a spy, terrorist, or gangster could take advantage of.

- A lawyer who formerly worked for the Thunder Bay Police Service has been charged with several offenses related to the Ontario Provincial Police's investigation of the force's numerous problems.

- The owners of the Winnipeg Jets are considering going into the charity business by creating transitional housing. Obviously part of the motivation is the fact that the area around the Canada Life Centre has a lot of highly visible homelessness, but it's still a good thing if done well.

- Kathleen Cook, the Manitoba Tories' advanced education critic, raised the issue of the cyberattack at the University of Winnipeg in the legislature last week in an attempt to throw shade on the Kinew government. What she doesn't understand (or at least hopes that you don't understand) is that the condition of public institutions doesn't magically change overnight when a government changes - it can take years for this to happen. Which means that the state of such institutions in this province right now is more a reflection of Tory policy than NDP policy.

- A planned residential development in Waterloo, Ontario is less than 500 metres from an LRT station - but separated from it by the Conestoga Parkway. There were plans to build an active transportation bridge across the freeway, but unfortunately the involvement of a provincial highway meant that the Ministry of Transportation needed to approve its construction, and Doug Ford's government never misses an opportunity to fire a shot in the culture war against getting around by some means other than private cars.

Ford cruises to victory in Toronto, Waterloo decides General Ripper was right

It seems that those polls suggesting that Smitherman was within striking range of Ford were inaccurate:

Rob Ford, the city councillor who campaigned against waste and business-as-usual at City Hall, is the new mayor of Toronto.

With 90 per cent of polls reporting, Mr. Ford took almost 49 per cent of the vote, compared to 34 per cent for former Ontario deputy premier George Smitherman and 11 per cent for third-place finisher Joe Pantalone, the current deputy mayor.

From the Globe. How much damage he can do depends on who gets elected to council; my guess is that he won't have enough allies to accomplish most of what he'd like to, but I don't know. Those more familiar with the makeup of council are encouraged to comment.

Edited to add: OK, this looks bad.

Meanwhile, in Waterloo Region, all three cities have reelected their mayors, and Waterloo itself seems to have voted strongly against any formal talks with Kitchener about amalgamation in a referendum. In a separate referendum, they narrowly voted to discontinue the fluoridation of the city's drinking water.

Also notable is that Brenda Halloran is the first Waterloo mayor to be reelected in 16 years. It strikes me that Winnipeg also has a pattern that could use breaking, namely the fact that we haven't thrown out an incumbent mayor since 1956. In two days we'll find out if the pattern will hold for another four...

City may help pay for community gardens

This is remarkably forward-thinking:

Waterloo wants more vegetables grown in community gardens, in part to help people eat healthier. And taxpayers may be willing to help.

Council is considering using city staff to build small gardens in city parks. Staff would also deliver water, remove yard waste and erect signs. In return, neighbours would agree to plant, maintain and harvest the plots.

Annual city costs are estimated at up to $4,500.

From the Record. Very interesting indeed; more cities need to do this.

A real green shoot for once?

Seems a major alternative energy business is preparing to open a plant in Ontario:

KITCHENER – Solar module maker Canadian Solar Inc. is preparing to establish a manufacturing facility in Ontario that will create 500 direct jobs to take advantage of a provincial green-energy program that mandates local content.

The Kitchener-based company made the announcement this morning.

Canadian Solar, founded in 2001, said the new facility will be capable of manufacturing 200 megawatts of solar modules a year and will cost about $24 million to build. Site selection has begun and the first phase of operation is expected in 2010.

The company said in a statement the facility, once completed, will be one of the largest solar panel manufacturing plants in North America.

From the Record. Nice to see some good news for once. A bit odd, though, to see this:

Canadian Solar, which moved its headquarters to Kitchener earlier this fall, currently makes solar modules at plants in China.

And further down we see this:

Canadian Solar has been in business in other parts of the world since about 2001 and has built and installed solar modules producing about 500 megawatts of energy, mostly in Germany and Spain.

So a company that manufactures in Asia and sells in Europe has located its head office in Kitchener in preparation for expanding manufacturing to that area. Interesting. But there's a reason:

Under new local content rules, someone wishing to generate power under the program must show that the equipment and labour used to install the system consists of 40 per cent Ontario content for projects less than 10 kilowatts in size. Above that threshold, the required local content is 50 per cent.

Local content will rise to 60 per cent starting Jan. 1, 2011.

Canadian Solar has to make its projects compliant with those rules, so it wants to build a manufacturing facility next year in order to qualify for the Ontario content rules of 2011, Hammerbacher said.

So maybe local content rules aren't so bad after all, eh?

Residents try to keep children's room out of library...

... unbelievably, because the wrong kids might use it:

Library Director Dennis Fabiszak has said that the East Hampton Village Board of Zoning Appeals has expressed concern that an expanded children’s collection would lead to more library usage by those who live in the less affluent areas of Springs and Wainscott.

From here. Only in America you say? Probably not, I'm afraid; I'm told that a few years ago residents in Waterloo's upscale Beechwood neighbourhood were up in arms when the regional transit authority put a bus route through their area. Apparently they also wanted the city to remove the signs saying where the parks were... no prize for guessing why.

Mounties doing Harper's dirty work

It should come as no surprise that a lot of cops support the conservatives (indeed, one of them is running in St. Boniface). The Mounties who provide security for Stephen Harper, though, seem to be doing more than simply keeping him safe:

The swarm of suits chatter up their sleeves as Stephen Harper arrives at a suburban home construction site for his campaign promise du jour, this one a $750 tax goodie for first-time home-buyers.

As usual with Harper's travelling film clip, nothing is left to chance, especially not a photo op for the night news.

Incredibly, it is the Mounties who help make sure it is all picture perfect.

Charged with ensuring the prime minister's safety, the RCMP security service has instead been forced to become the Conservative party's armed public relations agency for the election campaign.

Last week, the Mounties were used to corral a television crew doing its job. Yesterday morning, it was about a dozen angry autoworkers losing their jobs who threatened Harper's sound bite of the day, and wound up on the wrong end of the Horsemen.

One of them began yelling protest slogans on a bullhorn while the Conservative leader was giving his speech on a vacant lot across the street, out of sight and all but safely out of earshot.

Suddenly, the bullhorn guy was nose-to-nose with a giant bald cop with a wire in his ear and a gun on his hip, a member of the prime minister's formidable RCMP bodyguards.

On this day, one of the nation's finest was pressed into service as a political PR operative, trying to silence pesky protesters.

The cop ordered the man to shut off the bullhorn that was apparently being picked up on media microphones recording the PM's every word for the night news.

"You're disturbing the peace," the Horseman said to the autoworker, who naturally interpreted the growling notice as a threat of handcuffs.

Until Harper was safely on site, the protesters were actually barricaded behind police lines a half-kilometre away, too far for the TV camera operators to walk.

From here. The idea of keeping nonviolent protesters at a distance on pain of arrest is straight out of Karl Rove's operating manual, don't you think? Remember the "free speech zones" from the US?

Actually, there's a lot of stuff going on in this election campaign that I'd rather see remain south of the border (well, I'd rather it wasn't happening anywhere, but it hits home harder when it happens in one's own country). The fact that the Conservatives are using the fact that Dion has been a professor against him in ads is another page from the Republican handbook.