The future is electric

When the country that circle jerks the "free market" phrase, but force feeds you trucks and SUVs.

I've lived for years in a province where an overwhelming majority: - speak the same language - share a history and culture - have similar values - Practice one of the Christian religions (or none) Monoculturalism... can be a little dull and uninspiring!

Maybe we *can* start having a few nice things? www.bbc.com/news/live/c2...

"To put it bluntly, an X post today receives less than 3% of the views a single tweet delivered seven years ago." If you think it is necessary to be on Twitter to communicate your fact-based worldview, the reality is that worldview is being smothered.

Glad to see Australia acting to tackle the high price of gas by making transit free of charge. Time to think differently about how we get around! www.bbc.com/news/article...

🧵Shocked by the performative "vibes" environmentalism on display from Chúk Odenigbo, apparently a columnist and guest of CBC's (normally-sound) What on Earth podcast. Sometimes questioned by host Laura Lynch but never really challenged. Let's dig in! www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Well this is interesting...

🍁🔌 B.C.’s updated EV sales regulation—while less ambitious than before—still delivers where it matters, helping keep British Columbians among the first in line for the best EV models available in Canada, says Clean Energy Canada's @joannakyriazis.bsky.social. Full response👇 #bcpoli

As we get excited about a mission around the moon that includes a Canadian astronaut, a quick reminder that Carney is cutting funding for the Canadian Space Agency by 33%. globalnews.ca/news/1173746...

"We can't make the roads any less deadly, so it's on you to creep through the urban fabric like a soldier on the battlefield, perpetually fearful & alert."

Avi Lewis: "We have shoved Canada Post so far into the market mindset that every few months we have a national conversation about why isn't Canada Post making money. Does the ambulance service make money? Do the police services make money? We're talking about a fundamental public service."

Thank you, St. John’s! 150 people packed the room with incredible energy and characteristic hospitality.  Grateful for the support & conversations with NL New Democrats, labour, & climate leaders.  I'm energized for Winnipeg, where members decide the future of the NDP. Vote by March 28!

I don't understand the reasoning here. Ford claims to want the province to be a powerhouse of EV construction so he should want more EVs to be sold? And to avoid "fragmentation" he could make his own EV mandate!

I'll be there! Whatever your views, if you are interested in politics, this is the man who (I believe) will be the next leader of the Federal NDP so what better opportunity to learn how he thinks and raise local issues? act.lewisforleader.ca/stjohns?r=Rl...

Protected bike lanes at street level are the nicest but having a sort of utilitarian “ Cycle Expressway” well lit, protected from the wind and insulated from other traffic looks pretty awesome. Well done Melbourne! bigbuild.vic.gov.au/use-west-gat...

A terrific new free civic tool has arrived! Date coverage is limited and it uses voice recognition so results can be a little wierd - but whether you are comparing towns in one province or across Canada, this looks like a great start! Citizens, start mining! civicsearchlight.nationalobserver.com

When I first came to St John's ten years ago, one of the first things I wanted to see improve was the provision of bus shelters for transit users in the city. Sadly, the long history of broken or dropped promises has not changed. But at least now I have it documented www.facebook.com/share/p/18Jv...

Nice to read in the City of St John's 2025 Economic Review *for the city and surrounding communities* that housing starts were up 19% in 2025, edging above 1000 units. But only 78 of those units were built in the city itself - two *fewer* than a year earlier. www.stjohns.ca/en/news/city...

The few who planned depended upon the many who rode. But the few kept forgetting that.

Remember this next time this country asks us to send troops to Afghanistan or Iraq

*North American* idea... (this is where Newfoundland's provincial government is)

This is the strategy Canada should also follow, directing our capacity for investment to public transport and rail infrastructure: open.substack.com/pub/trainexp...

It’s time to end unchecked corporate welfare. The current Liberal government is handing billions of dollars to profitable corporate giants in subsidies and tax breaks, with very few strings attached. Our plan ensures every public dollar serves the public interest – rather than corporate profits.

Over the last 30 years, corporate profits have doubled while corporate taxes have been slashed – all with the promise that benefits would eventually flow to working people. Today, people are still waiting as wealth piles up at the top and the cost of living only soars. We need real solutions.

Taxing the rich will generate significant revenue, but that’s not its only purpose. By reducing inequality we can balance the scales of society. Together, we can ensure that the wealth of this country is not hoarded by the few but redistributed to improve life for the 99%. lewisforleader.ca

Your turn, @govnl.bsky.social and its various departments...

Where I live now, a single inner city golf course (crazy, I know!) is being redeveloped to potentially allow 1,246 housing units (and that's not at v high density). That's 16 years worth of housing (at current building rates) www.engagestjohns.ca/100-logy-bay...

The snow hasn't stopped us! Join us tonight at 19:00 and if you can't make it in person you can still take part via Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/j/8476825094...

Sadly this idea that immigrant people should be used, then discarded when the state no longer wants them is becoming the norm in Canada and the UK as well. Even when newcomers agree in advance this is gross exploitation.

With the imminent closure of my local Dominion (Loblaws) this seems rather topical.

I somehow missed this the first time around. @justinling.ca drew my attention to @buildtoronto.com. A great collection of the success stories of congestion pricing in this latest report.

Turns out when I wasn't paying attention there has been quite a bit of stealthy Carney austerity going on. A civil servant friend of mine lost his job recently, the post office's subsidy for inter-library loans under threat, and now this?

Do you love overstretched ERs? Restrict meds to lucky people.

Spent years living in London mildly worried about it being an international target. Moved to St John's Newfoundland far from the madding crowds only to realise only Iceland is closer to Greenland than we are. And we used to have a bunch of US bases here...

Is Doug Ford calling for a boycott of Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, and Nissan too? Most of them sell more than 49,000 vehicles in Canada and don’t manufacture any here. This is all populist posturing that has nothing to do with what’s actually good for auto workers or buyers

Apparently some Canadian companies are happy to take ICE's money? betakit.com/hootsuite-dh...

Looks good if you want to see the Aurora Borealis in Newfoundland... if it weren't for the wind, rain and > 50% cloud cover. Still.... maybe look at the skies in the middle of the night if you're up and about?

Memo to Toronto transportation services: read this, visit KW, stop foot dragging on transit priority.

imagine a universe where this would be at all credible in St. John’s!

Mark your calendars evening of Feb 3rd to talk at MUN with the best lineup yet of both transit advocates and key decision makers in St John's!

🧵Reading @economist.com about the mess Jakarta (pop 43m!) is in, I was oddly reminded of St John's. "After years of expansion it now encompasses the neighbouring cities of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (see map). Yet there is far too little co-ordination among these neighbouring authorities."

All the better for us here in St John's. Though many of those people who know what a proper public transit system is like are in for a nasty shock when they arrive...

Here I guess you would have to offer free parking for normal-sized cars because parking is already very cheap and so many of our vehicles are super-sized already.

I’m deeply grateful to have the support of David Suzuki. For decades, he’s been a clarion voice on climate, calling on Canada to listen to science, nature, and Indigenous teachings. His fire only burns brighter with time. The hour is late: we need to get to work. Join us: https://avilewis.link/join

Woah, this chart from Barry Saxifrage is something else (I know, a bit hard to see). It shows the percent of new passenger vehicle sales made up by EVs. A green arrow next to country means that share increased in 2025. A red arrow means it decreased. The ONLY red arrow is CANADA.

Yesterday because of snow, the city's offices opened atnoon... but Metrobus didn't start running until 13:30. We called in to OpenLine @vocmnews.bsky.social to point this out (1:05:25) and suggest at least we should have a smaller "priority" bus service when this happens. vocm.com/2019/08/01/o...

A joint statement on Arctic security defending Greenland's sovereignty... and Canada's prime minister (who wants to spend a fortune on militarising the Arctic) has not signed it? Whatever happened to elbows up?

The fact that Atlantic provinces continue to support online gambling (and other forms) just because it kicks back money to good causes continues to baffle me.