It's a good thing we have an economic genius like Mark Carney in power so that we can use fiscal tools to encourage people to buy more of a good which is in shortage.

Blake provides some solid technocratic economist advice.

But in the age of slopulism there just doesn't seem to be any appetite for policy that delays gratification even minimally.

bsky.app/profile/blak...

I know not everyone is a market housing lover but the Ford government claims to be. Yet any of these is a big negative signal that the government doesn't want you to build housing and will even interfere late in the process. And it's not like the market was doing great before these announcements!

Tweet from @ColinDMello: Premier Doug Ford claims the city Toronto is approving tall condo towers in the Portlands to block jets at the island airport. “They’re doing it on purpose … they want to block the runway so they’re building tall apartments or condos,” Ford says. “That’s not going to happen.” #onpoli Premier Doug Ford, who promised to build 1.5 million homes by 2031, is now opposing housing development in the Portlands because building heights might impact the government’s new plan to expand the runway at Billy Bishop Airport.

The last few weeks in Ontario housing:
* Strong mayor powers used to veto fourplex zoning in Markham
* MZO to restrict height at 1875 Steeles W; developer says they can no longer build apartment
* Premier crticizes big, long-planned housing in Port Lands because of his pet airport project

2026 Liberal Convention – Panel Discussion on the Canadian Economy At the 2026 Liberal National Convention in Montreal, MPs Mélanie Joly (the minister of industry), Rechie Valdez (the minister of women and gender equality), and Lena Metlege Diab (the minister of immi...

Start at around 16:30 to listen to the former CFO of Google suggesting our country take the Orban-esque step of slapping an exit tax on Canadians who work abroad so as to repay the cost of their education. And listen to all the Liberals clap like fucking seals at this appalling illiberal nonsense.

Maybe we should let housing developers bet their money on what will sell instead of planners trying to micromanage unit size mix 🤷‍♂️

But that would require legalizing a wide variety of unit and building types... Which Doug Ford refuses to do. Guess he likes the housing supply crisis

#onpoli #cdnpoli

update: it worked

God it feels so good for the christofascists to take a major L in their posterchild Hungary today.

Savor it. Bask in it.

holy shit he actually conceded

folks, they tell you they’re invincible

they tell you they’re inevitable

they tell you that you should give up and stop fighting

and absolutely none of that is true

Metrolinx overspeed incident demonstrates urgent need for Enhanced Train Control, requires independent investigation Revelations in the Toronto Star on March 13, 2026 alerted the public of a potentially catastrophic near-miss incident on January 5, 2026 involving a GO train traversing a 15 mph crossover at almost…

As passengers, we place our trust in the safety of our railways. That trust is built upon a robust safety culture including independent investigation of accidents and near misses. Metrolinx must transfer responsibility for this investigation to the TSB.
ontario.transportaction.ca/metrolinx-ov...

Great to see this incident isn't being forgotten, and the call for TSB oversight is changing to a chorus.

The United States is destroying itself | Rebecca Solnit The daily news can’t adequately convey the administration’s sabotaging of our government, economy, alliances and environment

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

For Canada, the question is how dangerous a national suicide next door is likely to be, and to which healthy countries and alliances we should hitch our fortunes.

US President Donald Trump says the US Navy would immediately start blockading the Strait of ⁠Hormuz and would also interdict every vessel in international waters that had ⁠paid a toll to Iran. https://aje.news/x545rk

We have entered the “you can’t kill me if I commit suicide” phase of American Decline

Not sure Liberals are mentally prepared for the derision and mockery that is going to be headed their way if they try to ban high schoolers from multiplayer video games and YouTube

One last point: When governments talk about "age verification," they also mean "identity verification"

So even if you're 55 years old, you will be virtually carded and all your social media activity will be linked to your identity. That means no online anonymity and raises privacy issues for adults

1) Every country in the EU gets a veto over critical policy
2) Hostile actors like Russia can capture EU member governments, e.g. Hungary, to do their bidding
3) There is no mechanism to kick a country out of the EU

Happy for Canada to work with the EU, harmonize regulations, etc, but joining? No.

I just don’t think Canada should give over any of its foreign policy power to a government as easily subverted by Russia as the EU is

2060 is also around the time the youngest Boomers turn 100. Further proof that governments see their job as protecting existing homeowners' equity rather than helping make housing attainable for young families.

The Federal Housing Advocate has advised the government to set a target date to resolve the middle-class housing crisis by... 2060. 34 years from now. This means a Grade 10 student will have to wait until they're 50 to afford a home.

I know building our way out of our housing crisis - let alone building the infrastructure to de-bottleneck the country and accomodate growth won't be easy.

But, c'mon guys. We're all sitting here on our personal supercomputers talking about people who just cam back from the moon. We can do things!

I get really skeptical when people offer simple solutions to things. But, well, it's pretty clear what's happening here. We build about as many homes as when we had half the population!

People like to focus on the population growth side of the equation. But, I dunno...maybe we should build housing?

The rat race used to be working too hard to buy a boat or a cottage. Now it's trying to afford enough bedrooms on a quiet side street.

Housing really and truly is fraying the social fabric in a way longtime homeowners can't grasp.

Seems like yesterday when Doug Ford's conservatives were cancelling renewable contracts. If it's prudent today, it was visionary years ago. Do not let them brag about this, it's a failure of their own making -- Conservatives' short-sightedness has huge costs for Ontario!
#onpoli #cdnpoli

This is one of the worst planning decisions I’ve ever seen a Canadian city do. This was “the Playbook” to a tee, weaponizing the words “blanket zoning.” Embarrassing for Calgary Council. The Mayor then adds insult to staff & years of good faith work by claiming it “broke the public’s trust.”

Awful.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

THE ALTERNATIVE IS THE BUNGALOW IS TORN DOWN AND REPLACED WITH A 2-3 MILLION SINGLE FAMILY HOME

(ALSO HOUSING IS THE ONE THING THAT DOES ACTUALLY TRICKLE DOWN)

Municipal politicians are routinely extremely destructive and bad faith with no consequences, because their voters bear none of the consequences

Meanwhile in supposedly sovereignty-focused Canada, nothing.

It's 40% of Canadians' groceries Michael, what could it cost? Ten dollars?

You are going to cut groceries prices by 40% by spending $7.50 per Canadian? How does anyone take this seriously?

Carney's cutting science spending, including the development of a Canadian-made lunar rover module.

Wonder if he mentioned that on the call.