And guess what happens once the Chinese have made enough electric freight trucks for themselves, paying off the cost of the factories? They will export them to the rest of the world at the cost of variable inputs (materials, energy, labour), i.e., super cheap.

Last summer, 22 volunteers, with no help from the Saskatchewan government &, for a time, no contact with the outside world,were able to save their northern community from wildfire. It cost them $39,000 - money they now ask the the provincial government to reimburse.

This solar farm is located at a the same latitude as Dundurn, SK. It produces ⚡️equal to about 8% of Saskatchewan’s annual ⚡️ use.

“Prairie Harm Reduction gave so much more than it ever cost. It gave life. Community. And respect. Again and again. That, at the very least, deserves our grief, our anger, and our demand for a province that does better than this.”

Carry on 🇨🇦: 35% drop in Canadian visits to US since beginning 2025. “‘In my 37 years in the travel industry, I have never seen anything like what the Canadians have pulled off’” - US analyst. It has been entirely grass-roots - no govt action.

A thoughtful post from someone who sees first-hand the impact of the closing of Prairie Harm Reduction. (He works next door). ryanmeili.substack.com/p/crisis-in-...

By April 14 Saskatoon Fire Department had responded to 195 overdose calls for the month, compared to 165 calls in the whole month of March. ~30% of calls were within 5 blocks of the now closed Prairie Harm Reduction.

Meanwhile, despite Saskatchewan’s announcement of a new vaccine eligibility season for COVID opening April 1, only one clinic has been listed by SHA for the entire province - in Beauval. We have been unable to find a pharmacy in Saskatoon #yxe with vaccine. Those contacted don’t expect to get any.

Saskatchewan’s rate of hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases in 2024-25 was the highest among 🇨🇦’s provinces. ~2400 hospitalizations could have been prevented with immunization. >40% of these admissions were for COVID. 1/

Oh, and by the way, Norway also taxes oil and profits at 78 per cent. 78 per cent! From PwC:

A 🧵 that is an example of (mostly) respectful, thoughtful, and informative debate. (This is why I’m on Blue Sky.)

...In contrast, taxing the oil and gas companies’ windfall profits means we can deploy some of those revenues directly helping lower and modest-income households, while using some of the funds to expedite our transition off these deadly fuels. Here's my piece: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

At confederation, BC’s leaders made a deliberate choice on Indigenous land rights. Now, “Every generation, a new set of political leaders faces the same Indigenous land question, reaches the same conclusions about cost & timing & legal uncertainty & finds a way to leave the question closed.” 1/2

“Worried about wildfires sending claims soaring this year, 🇨🇦’s…insurers are…urging the government to take climate issues more seriously despite economic turmoil….as claims surge & ‌in turn push up home-insurance premiums, which rose about 6% last year in Canada.”

Past head of Alberta Medical Association pulls no punches on Alberta govt plan to allow direct access to diagnostics & specialists without a referral, if you pay. If this goes ahead, Saskatchewan could well be next.

“Great Britain is on the brink of a record-breaking summer for renewable energy, which could lead to the first periods of zero-carbon electricity in the history of the power system.”

So far this government has: - removed EV mandates (and moreover paused rebates to stall the market) - removed carbon tax - removed low carbon electricity policy - removed gasoline tax - removed oil and gas cap when does the Canadian Federal government do climate policy?

#cdnpoli alt take: Or… we could let the oil situation accelerate electrification and use the $billions saved by not cutting gas taxes to support families hurt by fuel inflation thru a boost in the CCB and GST credits.

Less facetiously, Canada is in a dangerous place right now. We're scared of the US, but we're also tearing apart our climate policies & leaning into petrostate reflexes, and this recent rush of oil revenue will bolster this. By far the best & most feasible thing we could do right is pull a Norway...

Saskatoon’s plan to densify along new major corridors for bus rapid transit continues to progress. Property owners within several blocks of corridors now offered free, opt-in re-zoning applications. #yxe’s transformation to a larger, modern city continues as it grows well past 300K pop.

This creates an income stream for private business to do low value (in terms of improving health) testing, while draining the public system of staff. Referrals exist for a reason: to screen diagnostic & specialist care for those who really need it.

1. Fat shaming is mean, even when directed at fictional intergalactic gangsters. 2. My DMs are open, my email follows the Globe's pattern. Message me for my cell, then use that number to find me on Signal and WhatsApp. Let's chat!

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.

As the centre of the world economy shifts from the US to China, will it be China that stabilizes the world economic disruption Trump has set off with his war on Iran? Australia provides a view of world events from a different side of the planet:

Exactly. The most likely large reactor SK would choose, the Cameco co-owned AP1000, was most recently built at a cost of ~$🇨🇦26B. “The plant has been described as ‘the most expensive power plant ever built on Earth.’” It resulted in a power rate increase of 24% when built.

"’We need to know what went wrong last year and how it went wrong,’" - resident of Denare Beach "’I think most people know what went wrong, but this isn't about pointing fingers & blaming people. It's so it doesn't happen again.’" The review of last year’s wildfire response has yet to be released.

There are many options other than coal for powering SK: “Saskatchewan has among the best wind & solar power potential in Canada. While the province has made some progress on wind power, it is very much behind on utility-scale solar installations. Placing such facilities at Estevan.., 1/2

“Annual cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), a rare but dangerous bacterial infection, have hit the highest level seen in 🇨🇦 in more than a decade….Overall uptake of meningococcal vaccines has also dropped…adding another complication for…trying to manage this challenging disease.”

The biggest difference between 1990s Internet and 2020s Internet is that the bulk of our online activity has been corralled onto unregulated for-profit digital platforms The profit motive driving the way these platforms are designed and run is the root cause of everything that goes wrong on them

Prairie Harm Reduction closing after Saskatchewan Govt pulls program funding leaves huge hole in services for homeless, addictions in Saskatoon. PHR faced “a nearly 300% increase in demand for its services over the past year”. 1/2

Holy smokes! An incredible start to the 'Wildfire Season' in the US this year - owing to an abnormally hot and snowless winter in some parts of the country.

California’s $🇨🇦28/hour fast food minimum wage did not reduce employment. “It led to only…modest…price increases — barely noticeable to a consumer. It significantly improved the lives of 100s of 1000s of California workers in…the…largest fast-food chains, with an average wage increase of >10%.”

4 years after Sask Govt declared “COVID over” in Feb 2022, 5 months after it announced measures to “solve” #yxe over capacity, Saskatoon hospitals at mid-day today continue yet again seriously over-capacity. 1/

“this year will be his ‘litmus test’ for whether Canada's wildfire seasons, already in uncharted territory & fuelled by human-caused climate change, have entered a ‘new reality.’ … 1/2

Firstly, property law is a provincial constitutional responsibility in Canada, not federal. Secondly, 🇨🇦 already had a political debate about property rights in the early 1980s. That debate showed how complicated it is & how much opposition there is to entrenching such a right. 1/

Who influences city govt decisions on multi-family housing zoning? The people least affected. The case of Calgary:

A devastating loss for the most vulnerable folks in #yxe. After 40 years of dedicated community service, and a Sask government that denied funding for years, PHR is closed. #HarmReduction #poverty #housingcrisis #addictions #overdose #HIVprevention #youthhome #dropin #shelter #Saskatchewan

MORE evidence COVID vaccines hugely beneficial. MORE lies & spin by RFK Jr et al. CDC delays report showing benefits from Covid vaccine www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a... "Covid vaccine cut their risk of urgent care and emergency visits by 50%, and Covid-related hospitalizations by 55%..."

The instruction to replace safety with perceived safety came directly from Calgary police. Around 2023, as crime stats were dropping, then-Chief Neufeld started testing it in public comms. It helped translate residual pandemic fears into funding requests and new downtown business allyships.

Saskatchewan wildfire protection agency predicts later start to the fire season than last year. 2 of 10 water bombers remain out of service until mid-season. Review of last year’s wildfire management due in February not yet released. Forest thinning around communities continued this winter. 1/2

The Alberta health care procurement controversy, explained, by @moirawyton.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber... via @theglobeandmail.com

This piece is spot on. The current Kinew govt, following in the footsteps of the previous Conservative govt has stupidly embraced deficit-exploding tax cuts. The $400 million squandered on the showcase gas tax cut didn't help those who need it most. #MbPoli www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/edit...

New poll from @mario_canseco: Canadians Back More Climate Action Most Canadians accept its urgency and favour stronger action, though partisan divides remain. The latest from @canadianpolling.bsky.social for 338Canada ↓ threethirtyeight.substack.com/p/research-c...

“Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery shortened the amount of time Elections Alberta has to penalize political finance violations while his friend and relative Sam Mraiche was under investigation by the regulator, a Globe and Mail investigation has found.”

thestarphoenix.com/opinion/colu... An article from 2022 reminding us who we have to thank for the rise in online gambling.

As we reflect on Horst Schmid's life and legacy, I am reminded of a time when it wasn't politically unfashionable in Alberta for politicians, including Conservative politicians, to care about the arts, to champion immigration and multiculturalism, and to see Alberta as a welcoming place. #ableg

So if trust depends on this VDA infrastructure, the next question is: how does it degrade? I think of this as the Arc of Democracy, a pattern where democratic institutions move from substance, to performance, to simulation.

Saskatchewan doctors’ code of ethics: “‘Respect the decisions of the competent patient to accept or reject any…treatment’”. Addictions Minister “acknowledges the concerns of SK doctors [but] says the govt has no intention of pausing the legislation to incorporate their advice.”

So in with SaskPower in Saskatchewan, marginal home recharging costs for electric vehicles = a gas price of ~$0.30/L, with no costs for oil changes & other engine maintenance. This is less than 1/6 the running cost of a gasoline vehicle.