Jim Bradley, longtime Ontario MPP and ‘Dean of the Legislature’ dies at 80 Bradley, who served for 55 years in elected office including as Niagara Regional chair beginning in 2018, died Friday following a brief illness.

Jim Bradley, longtime Ontario MPP and ‘Dean of the Legislature,’ dies at 80

Great question. I really like The Limits of Boundaries by Andy Sancton. If you’re looking for a good city level overview, Jack has an edited volume coming out soon on Canadian city politics

Kildare 🇮🇪

Happy to share my new paper w/ @zacspicer.bsky.social
& @IStedman.bsky.social
on councillor-perpetrated sexual violence in Canada published in State and Local Government Review.

In it we offer recommendations for municipal govts on how to combat this problem. doi.org/10.1177/0160...
#gendersky

Eric Lombardi: Canada can no longer afford to be governed by luxury beliefs

An excellent piece from Eric Lombardi

thehub.ca/2025/05/28/e...

Municipal Politicians and Local Electoral Institutions in Canada: An Overview Across Canada, tens of thousands of municipal politicians govern thousands of municipalities, making important policy decisions in domains ranging from policing to planning to environmental policy. D...

New study maps Canada’s municipal democracy 🇨🇦🗳️

📊 First full dataset of electoral systems across 3,500+ local gov’ts
⚖️ Ward vs at-large vs hybrid systems
👥 Council sizes & rep ratios
🔬 Opens doors for causal research on policy, admin & representation

📖 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Female economists are less likely to receive letters of recommendation that emphasize their ability.

Female economists are more likely to receive letters of recommendation that can be called grindstone letters--that is, they emphasize their hardworking tendencies.

Matt Spoke: Mark Carney’s new housing minister just doesn’t get it Can the Liberals deliver on their housing affordability promises? The early signs are not promising

thehub.ca/2025/05/16/m...

That’s a shame. Congress is a massive expense for the host university so I’m not super shocked. Given the scale of the event, Congress could be held at a hotel or conference centre like most American conferences.

Seems like there’s time for another institution to step up to host (albeit a scaled back version at this point)

Charting Alberta’s Future A Constructive Look at Premier Smith’s “Alberta Accord”

There is value in asking big questions about Alberta’s future and doing so in a way that brings people together. However, the “Alberta Accord” and “Alberta Next Panel” are likely to do the opposite.

My latest.

open.substack.com/pub/drjaredw...

Glad to hear it’s not just me

Hot off the heels of yesterday's Canadian federal election Jack Lucas @jacklucas.bsky.social and I have updated our estimate of the size of the urban-rural divide in party support. The punchline: it hasn't gone away!

Is a clash between 1 and 2 there somewhat inevitable?

It’s that part of election night when we dive deeply into Atlantic results and speculate wildly about what it all means.

okay sure so it worked in Denver

and in Austin

and it worked for downtown Oakland and for Sacramento

and yes, it’s worked for decades in Tokyo

but how can we be *sure* that building a lot more homes will make California a more affordable place to live??

Completely. It’s a sad time

A warm welcome to the folks at @imfgtoronto.bsky.social (Institute for Municipal Finance & Governance) at the University of Toronto, who just joined BlueSky moments ago - coincidentally about half an hour after I had gone looking to see if they were here. :)

Insane this was even considered. You should be deeply ashamed.

🤡

Beyond Skepticism: Data Confirms Auckland's Zoning Reforms Delivered on Housing Promises Three rigorous studies, 43,500 new homes, and a 28% drop in rents: The data is in on Auckland's great housing experiment

Auckland went all in on YIMBY, and the results are clear: 43,500 new homes in 10 years, and rents down 28% relative to peers.
www.population.fyi/p/beyond-ske...

I suspect that’s likely it, but I’m surprised I haven’t seen an PC signs in my ridings. Surely they were given a heads up

Not sure. Could be the abrupt start. Some campaigns just got going a few days ago

That’s my riding. Few signs around from what I’ve seen

Very sad to hear. He was a remarkable scholar. “The High Cost of Free Parking” is a must read

Happening right before our eyes.

New downtown Kitchener fire station will share space with affordable apartments in mixed-use building A new fire station in downtown Kitchener will be combined with a mixed-use housing development that’s expected to provide at least 150 affordable housing units.

Some fantastic local news for your Friday: Kitchener is going to build a new fire station downtown and make it mixed use by putting 150 affordable housing units on top. I hope this becomes a test case that can spread throughout the region.

www.therecord.com/news/council...

New Bills fan in our house. Really hoping he’s not in for a heartbreaker tonight