News roundup, 19 June 2026

- Labour Party dissident Andy Burnham won a resounding victory in the byelection in the constituency of Makerfield, winning nearly 55% of the vote compared to 34% for the Reform UK candidate. His vote share was almost double that of Josh Simons, whose resignation triggered the byelection in the first place. Burnham, who until now served as the mayor of Greater Manchester, says that this represents Labour's final chance to reverse its current direction; it remains to be seen whether this will push the party to dump Kier Starmer, much less whether the party could win the next general election by doing so.

- NDP house leader Heather McPherson posted (I'd say tweeted but this was on Bluesky rather than Twitter/X) a quip that billionaires shouldn't exist and trillionaires should be put in jail. This has thrown the folks at Juno News into a tizzy, ranting about a "leftwing hate fest" and misrepresenting the post to boot (McPherson didn't actually call Musk a Nazi, she just reposted someone else's post calling him that, not that I could fault her if she had). Juno News is just a rebranding of the True North Centre for Public Policy, so they shouldn't be taken too seriously, but it's kind of amusing to see what snowflakes they are when you pick on one of their heroes.

- Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Moscow and some other Russian targets on Thursday. Among the targets hit was the capital's main oil refinery; some 17 people were injured in the attacks, and Moscow's four airports were shut down for most of the day. Meanwhile the Kyiv Post alleges that authorities in a town near the capital refuse to disclose the location of civil defense shelters out of fear of causing panic, saying that this information will only be made public "during mobilization and in wartime". And of course, this conflict is officially just a "special military operation", and calling it a war can get you put in jail or thrown out a window, so...

- The board of directors of the South Winnipeg Community Centre has disbanded and handed control of the facility back to the city. The board had been accused of financial irregularities and other governance-related issues by some members of the community, but an independent audit found no evidence of financial wrongdoing, and the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres' own investigation found similar results. Despite this, board members continued to receive online harassment, and when you're a volunteer you're only going to put up with so much of this. I haven't been able to find much background on this story, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of culture war nonsense bubbling underneath all this.

- Selkirk has become the first city in Manitoba to take advantage of funding the province is offering to provide free bus passes to youth aged 12-21. They will need proof of enrollment to be eligible, however. The province is still working with other cities, including Winnipeg as well as Brandon, Winkler, and Flin Flon, to get the program in place in time for next fall; it would be nice if the program covered university and community college students as well, at least in Winnipeg and Brandon, as that would probably lead to a reduction in impaired driving.

- Researchers are reporting that some AI systems are really good at finding loopholes in rules. This should give pause to anyone who hopes that some kind of constraints like Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics could be made to work in the real world.

News roundup, 4 March 2026

- Mark Carney says that his approval in principle of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons is "not a blank cheque", and represents a "failure of the international order". He also acknowledges that "it appears that these actions ‌are ⁠inconsistent with international law" but says he'll leave the final determination to the experts. The most charitable interpretation of his rather confusing stance on the matter is that he's trying to keep Trump off his back, which while not especially admirable is understandable in light of such things as Trump's fury at Spain for not letting the US use bases on their territory for the attack. On the other hand, Keir Starmer is not getting rewarded for his reversal on the use of the Diego Garcia base for the attack, and I'm not sure that Carney will be either, so maybe he should have just taken a principled stance from the start.

- An Iranian ship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka, apparently following a submarine attack. One sailor has been confirmed dead and 78 injured; over a hundred are missing.

- Toronto police are investigating after shots were fired at a synagogue in North York on Monday night. Nobody was injured.

- The Green Party of England and Wales (Scotland has its own Green Party) has overtaken Labour and is only two points behind Reform UK in the latest poll. This is a big thing, because it might drive some tactical voters towards the Greens in the hope of stopping Reform. 

- Jake Lang, a participant in the Capitol riot who was pardoned by Donald Trump, turned up at a fifth anniversary event this year and screamed abuse at Metropolitan Police commander Jason Bagshaw, who he had confronted during the putsch. Among other things, Lang shouted that Bagshaw should be "put down like a dead dog". Besides mangling the metaphor, prosecutors say that this and other things he shouted at Bagshaw constituted threats, and he has been slapped with another charge as a result. It's worth noting that until he was pardoned he had been remanded in custody (he hadn't gotten to trial yet) upon the orders of a Trump-appointed judge who nonetheless couldn't ignore the "very strong" evidence against him.

- A security guard has been charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a prohibited weapon after allegedly using brass knuckles to subdue a shoplifter at a Dollarama in downtown Winnipeg. The victim has also been charged with robbery and uttering threats.

- BC has announced that once they switch to daylight saving time this weekend they will not be switching back in the fall. Actual sleep experts generally think that sticking with standard time rather than DST would be better, but their voices generally get drowned out by those who want more daylight in the evenings (such as retailers). The Manitoba government is deferring any decision on the matter for now.

- Owners of six "holistic spas" in Guelph, Ontario have been charged under a city bylaw with "failure to ensure no adult entertainment services were provided". The services were apparently advertised online.

New roundup, 28 Feb 2025

- Doug Ford's "Progressive" Conservative Party has won its third straight majority, projected to win 80 seats (from 79 at time of dissolution) in the 124 seat legislature. The NDP holds onto Official Opposition status with 27 seats (previously 28). The Liberals are projected to regain official party status with 14 seats (from 9), but their leader Bonnie Crombie was defeated in her own constituency of Mississauga East–Cooksville. The Greens reelected their 2 MPPs, while only one of the six independent members in the old legislature, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady, was reelected. Full results, including an interactive map, can be found here. One statement in the CBC article stands out as a bit weird though:

When Ford triggered the $189-million election he asked Ontario voters give him "the largest mandate in Ontario's history" to combat continued economic threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

On that front, it may prove a bittersweet night for Ford and his PCs, who are likely to return to Queen's Park with roughly the same number of seats after a campaign his rivals called a cynical and unnecessary power play.

I guess it's "bittersweet" in that he didn't win every seat in the legislature (which Frank McKenna actually did in New Brunswick in 1987) but for a government on its third time around, who have presided over the province becoming, by some measures, the worst province in the entire country to live in, the only way it could possibly be bittersweet for Doug and co. is because of the hangovers they'll have this morning for all the cheap American wine and bourbon they drank in celebration.

 - Donald Trump insists that the 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico will go ahead as planned, claiming that drugs are still "pouring" across the borders. Or maybe not. We'll know in a few days I guess. One note from the second article, though:

When asked if the Canadian government is doing enough to meet Trump's bar, Klobuchar, a Democrat, said she can't predict everything Trump is going to do, "but what I can say is that it's enough to meet my bar."

I can't say I find that particularly reassuring. Then again, Trump is so unpredictable that maybe he will let us off the hook - or defer it for another month. The thing about Trump and those influencing him is that, while they're nowhere near as smart as they think they are, they're smarter than they look - and far more cunning. I think Trump and Musk got where they are now largely by throwing their opponents off balance with chaos, and they'll keep doing so as long as it continues to work for them, probably longer.

- Manitoba has become the first province to sign onto the national pharmacare program. The province will receive $219 million over four years to cover diabetes medication, contraceptives, and certain other products. Contraceptives are already covered by the province but many more will benefit from this - assuming the Cons don't win the federal election and claw back the money.

- In Thailand, over 40 Uyghurs who had been detained for a decade after fleeing China have been deported back to Xi Jinping's welcoming arms. Of cousre it couldn't be Thailand caving to Chinese pressure, could it?

- Speaking of caving to a more powerful overlord, UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer seems to share Tony Blair's fear of doing anything, anything, to offend the United States, no matter who is in charge in that country. Starmer refused to answer questions about Trump's proposed annexation of Canada on a visit to Washington on Thursday, accusing the reporter of "trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t exist". And Romanian authorities have permitted Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to leave Romania as they await their trials for rape and sex trafficking. There had been reports of pressure from the Trump regime to allow this, though of course the Romanians are denying that this had anything to do with their decision.

News roundup, 5 July 2024

- Kier Starmer will be the UK's Prime Minister as his Labour Party has scored a decisive victory over the Conservatives in yesterday's election. They are projected to win 412 seats, though a number of seats still have not been decided. The Conservatives are forecast to win 122 seats, and the centrist Liberal Democrats 71. The SNP is down to 10 seats, while the Greens, Reform UK (the former UKIP) and Plaid Cymru win four each. This is Labour's second biggest win ever after Tony Blair's victory in 1997; a detailed breakdown is here.

- In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally are now expected to fall short of a majority in the second round of parliamentary elections this weekend, so France is safe from a fascist takeover for the time being. That's not to say there aren't problems, as evidenced by a disturbing number of threats and acts of violence against candidates and party activists in recent days. Nonetheless, Emmanuel Macron's roll of the dice may have paid off.

- In the US, Joe Biden is down two points following last week's disastrous debate. Interestingly, Trump didn't actually make any gains, suggesting that there may be a firm limit to his support. Unfortunately that's still more than enough for him to win unless something changes, and Biden is still vowing to stay in the race (so far at least). His campaign points to polling that suggests that none of the proposed replacements would fare significantly better than him - but they have far less name recognition, something that would change if one of them became the candidate. New reports that Trump is being accused of sexually assaulting a 13 year old ought to be decisive but probably won't convince his diehard supporters to change.

- TVO's Steve Paikin suggests that Justin Trudeau's best chance of holding onto power might be to revisit the electoral reform that he previously rejected. In principle this might well be true, although in practice it would be very difficult to actually implement this in time for the election. While there is no legal requirement for a referendum, making such a sweeping change without one might be a bridge too far, politically (and if one were somehow held, it would be seen as a referendum on Justin Trudeau by too many people). Plus, even if the change were somehow made in time for the next election, the Bloc would effectively become kingmaker, and they cannot be trusted not to back the Conservatives.

- Manitoba Hydro warns that millions of dollars of infrastructure investment are required to maintain the reliability of the power grid in the province. This includes upgrades to the power plants themselves (one of which dates back to 1911) as well as towers, lines, etc.

- Liquor Control Board of Ontario employees are striking as of today, something expected to greatly increase sightings of pink elephants in the province. Issues include too much dependence on part-time workers as well as plans to put alcohol in convenience stores.

- The City of Winnipeg has approved over 6,600 new housing units, a figure expected to rise to 8,000 by the end of November. Of those, at least 123 are considered "affordable", though the devil is in the details with something like that. Actual construction of these units will doubtless take a few years.

- A Toronto police detective with the force's drug squad was arrested in neighbouring Mississauga and charged with impaired driving, leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing police, and possession of cocaine and meth. Two Peel Regional Police officers were reportedly injured in the course of the arrest.

- A 72 year old man in Florida has been arrested for shooting a Walmart delivery drone as it passed over his house; he apparently believed that he was under surveillance. Say what you will, but anyone who can hit a moving target 75 feet up with a 9 mm pistol is a pretty good shot.