How much "loss" do fire departments report annually? Police? The armed forces? Roads? Schools? Solid waste collection? Wastewater treatment? Public health agencies?

Add universities to this list.

Oooooooooh

Start a new subscription April 10th Update: The mailing for our new issue is being prepared. Any Subscriptions purchased now will begin with our next issue, due out in the summer.  This is the option for someone who has never...

I meant to include the link. I am a businessman.

spacingstore.ca/products/new...

Why not subscribe to the print edition? Comes to your place 4x a year and does not contain any algorithms.

Windows 7 was crashing me out of my scripting program and Google Drive, so Linux Mint is now installed on my scripting laptop.

That makes two Linux machines in the house, now.

Slooowly extricating ourselves from the overmind.

CivicSearchlight - by Canada's National Observer Search transcripts of municipal meetings across Canada. Find discussions about topics that matter to your community with Canada's National Observer's search tool.

Are you curious about Civic Searchlight, the tool @nationalobserver.com made to keep track of local politics? We've sat down with some of the biggest newsrooms in Canada to walk them through it, and we can do the same for your publication (for free). Send me an email! jimmy[at]nationalobserver.com

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 094, The Landlords - Spacing Toronto We’ve covered a lot of research about housing with out special series The Overhead. But on the main feed, we’re bringing you two perspectives on renting in the city. Tony Irwin is President of the Fed...

New episode! We bring you two very different perspectives on rentals: one from the group representing landlords in Ontario, and the other organizing rent strikes across the city. Listen here: spacing.ca/toronto/2026...

Photograph of blooming blood root. In the background. Light blue, no canopy on the trees, dead leaves on the

Photograph of blooming blood root. In the background. Light blue, no canopy on the trees, dead leaves on the

Hello old friend!

According to the #DairyBush #bloodroot, spring has arrived in #Guelph

Flower Cosplay

The hardcover of Platform Decay, art by Jaime Jones, stacked in a cardboard box with padding air bags.

So this arrived today:

Access, retrieve, and work with Canadian Census data and geography. Integrated, convenient, and uniform access to Canadian Census data and geography retrieved using the CensusMapper API. This package produces analysis-ready tidy data frames and spatial data in multiple formats, as well as convenience functions for working with Census variables, variable hierarchies, and region selection. API keys are freely available with free registration at <https://censusmapper.ca/api>. Census data and boundary geometries are reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada 1996; 2001; 2006; 2011; 2016; 2021).

{cancensus} v0.6.0 is now on CRAN. This version includes a long list of performance improvements as well as a new feature to help visualize census variable hierarchies in the console. Big thanks to @dshkol.bsky.social for leading the work on this release!

This is what happens with provincial governments, especially when given false majorities. Nobody can stop them until their 4 years are up.
Yet Ontarians keep giving these shitheads majorities.

The Ottawa Hospital to cut 3% of its workforce | CBC News In an email sent Thursday, staff were informed that the hospital will be reducing management, non-union, support, executive, nursing and other health-care positions.

Dorg's ON PCs keep cutting funding to ON hospitals. Now the Ottawa Hospital has to cut staffing by 3% even though they're short-staffed & overworked.
In effect, the PCs are pushing them to privatisation, the nirvana of all cons.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Enough with the reboots. The original Paddington 4: Escape from New York was already a perfect movie.

Eliminating libraries in prisons is a disaster, completely shortsighted. Libraries are a lifeline for incarcerated people who want to learn and grow, and have few other options.

"chat,"

Shawn Micallef: Artemis II rekindled our interest in space — which makes the loss of this Toronto landmark hit that much harder Artemis II returns to Earth even as crews demolish the McLaughlin Planetarium, the symbol of a bygone era of enthusiasm for space exploration.

In @thestar.com today I wrote about the dreamy rekindling of space travel coinciding w Toronto’s terrestrial tear down of a communal place to share the Dark Side of the Moon.

“You don’t have to invest in Palantir. You don’t have to invest in Elon Musk.” — @mendelmatt.bsky.social (@scpartners.bsky.social) tells @jeyantvo.bsky.social pension funds can earn strong returns without undermining Canada’s future. At 8pm with Keith Ambachtsheer | Producer: Mike Attenborough

I think this all the time. Bluesky is as bad as Twitter for this. The basic rule - say things that are true; don't say things that are untrue - is, in my experience, followed far too infrequently. Those who do follow it are like rare gems.

Thank you, President Trump, for finally delivering us a substantial tax on carbon!

Ontario 'dead against' Stellantis talks to build Chinese EVs at Brampton plant: Ford | CBC News Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reacted to reports that Stellantis is in talks with a Chinese automobile manufacturer about the possibility of building Chinese electric vehicles in Canada at its idled ⁠...

Doug Ford: wrong for Ontario, wrong for Canada

ANALYSIS: Carney wants fast trains. He should call Kathleen Wynne | TVO Today The federal Liberals are learning the same lesson as their provincial counterparts: high-speed rail is a necessary project — and a political headache

By @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social "To put it more succinctly: as currently practiced, major civil works in Canada carry an implicit assumption that Liberals keep winning elections forever, and that assumption does not match reality."

And there's your Happy Weekend Thought.

www.tvo.org/article/anal...

CBS turned their news operation into propaganda, kicked Colbert off the air for making too much trouble, and all that just to have Charles Barkley go on the air on one of their most-watched telecasts of the year and say this lmao

sorry i never responded to your email, i didn't want to and then i forgot

This seems like a good thing. Is it a good thing? Trying it out, will report back.

UPDATE : in 2026, temp ER closures in #ONTARIO are @ 3️⃣8️⃣5️⃣.2️⃣5️⃣hours, perm closure/hour reduction in #Durham #Minden #Chesley #Clinton are @ 5️⃣5️⃣2️⃣4️⃣hrs

March 20, 2026 Dear Educators and School Board Staff, I am writing to address two serious and pressing matters. First, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of educators and staff in supporting student achievement throughout the academic year. As we approach the conclusion of the school year, graduation ceremonies are being organized to mark an important milestone for students and their families. These ceremonies are expected to remain focused solely on recognizing student achievement. They are not an appropriate forum for organizers or administrators to express political views or promote personal or institutional positions, or engage in divisive or contentious issues of any kind. School boards are expected to review and, where necessary, revise their graduation protocols to ensure that all ceremonies are conducted in a manner that is strictly student-centred, apolitical, inclusive, and respectful. Let me be clear: the failure of school boards to meet these expectations poses a real risk to student well-being and I will not hesitate to consider every tool available to me in the Education Act to ensure that students are always put first. Under no circumstances should educators be placed in positions that create conflict between students and their families. Graduation ceremonies must remain free from disruption, distraction, or division, and are expected to reflect the significance of students’ accomplishments.

Second, there is an unequivocal expectation that all staff uphold the highest professional and ethical standards. The use of social media to promote violence is unacceptable. Similarly, any form of racist commentary, stereotyping, or the use of inappropriate or derogatory language is unacceptable. Individuals employed within publicly funded education systems are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the trust placed in them. Their actions and public statements carry consequences and have a direct impact on the integrity of our institutions and the communities we serve. At a minimum, boards must ensure that staff are held to the same standards expected of students. In practice, those in positions of authority must be held to a higher standard, consistent with their responsibilities. …/2 -2- Your immediate attention to these matters is expected.

Apropos of nothing, every educator in Ontario returned from March Break to find a vague but threatening email from the Minister of Education, Paul Calandra in their inbox.

The one that hands out international student visas, actually (y'know, if they wanted to make good, targeted policy instead of blunt, destructive policy).

The federal government *dramatically overcompensated* for abuse by some colleges in international student visas, and now Canada's long-term prosperity and its university systems both get to suffer unnecessarily as a result.