!

This cartoon is sixteen years old but has not aged a day.

Dry season is approaching. But right now things are looking at their best! Lamb's ear, deer fern, brunnera, and vigilant meercats among the tassle ferns.

Today I'm at the blessing of the first tower of Sen̓áḵw, a landmark rental development built by the Squamish Nation on ancestral territory they won back in a court battle. It plans to welcome its first residents in the coming months. These three towers are phase 1 of a bigger plan.

UBC, SFU among thousands of universities affected by Canvas software cyber breach www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

🚀 We’re hiring a Lead Architect! If you have a background in IT, systems architecture, cybersecurity, data platforms, and/or research infrastructure, we’d love to hear from you. Please share with your networks or tag someone who might be a great fit! 🔗 Apply here:

Guess where I am. No, guess. Just in transit, on my way to a workshop in Kingston. The UPExpress has really unlocked possibility of taking Via to Belleville/Kingston after a YVR-YYZ flight. For a solo traveler it is cheaper than rental car. Much less risk of falling asleep at the wheel too....

Upcoming event May 8-10: Vancouver School of Economics is proud to be hosting the Canadian Economic Theory Conference for 2026, with 30 presentations from leading economists from around the world. See who is presenting: economics.ubc.ca/events/event...

Just saw the Spring Economic Update is tomorrow. FYI I'm at the RDC all day tomorrow trying to get some papers out the door. No phones or internet in the RDC. So, not available for hot takes media calls on this. Enjoy your number crunching!

Brunnera season! On the left is in my garden. Jack Frost variant--notice the "painted" foliage. On the right is at UBC near Gage residences. Foliage is smaller and not painted. Flowers only bloom for a couple of weeks but the Jack Frost foliage gives fantastic coverage for 6 months of the year.

Hmm. Up front concessions / 'entry fee' before starting talks? Let me remind the capitulationists: 1--you don't make concessions to an unreliable counterparty. 2--I am the wallet inspector; please make donation via DM 3--I would enjoy playing poker with you. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Fairly good treatment of the (IMHO very dumb) idea of Canada joining the EU. It is important to emphasize BOTH: a) The transition would be very costly. (e.g. 10 years of 'harmonization' of our law with the EU acquis) b) the end point would not be good for Canada. (e.g. Euro currency, e.g. CAP)

New fronds on the Japanese tassle ferns. Brunnera patch emerging.

We’re hiring a Manager for Canada’s Productivity Initiative at @UCaglary! It's a great opportunity to help build a national partnership connecting universities, governments, and policy leaders. If it sounds like a fit, take a look and please share: careers.ucalgary.ca/jobs/176253...

Great job by Ross here, setting out why the gas tax cut is ill-considered. I like his final point that it is a sign of freedom and a free society to have prices fluctuate. Societies with stagnant prices that never move are not the kind of places you'd want to live.

Adam asks a fair question here that has been bandied about. Let me offer two arguments against a windfall tax that I would wager FIN officials would make when advising cabinet on what to do. I'll also offer my own assessment of the two arguments. 1/

Hmm. Around the world I see oil/gas price caps, subsidizing demand for things in short supply. We have seen this before. Doesn't end well!

I think a lot of people supporting 'join the EU' in a poll are just reflecting positive views about Europe. The EU is pro-democracy, has excellent pastries, and many fine cities and museums. I like all those things too! That's a good reason to visit or do business. It doesn't make us European.

Yet another round of polling about "joining the EU". Just begging pollsters to ask questions that distinguish between 1) "more co-op with EU" and 2) "joining" EU. 1) is fine. 2) would be boneheaded and is only advocated by those who don't actually know what EU membership means. Read thread....

Reflecting on world affairs this afternoon, I recalled a recent op-ed by a prominent economist who lamented that Canada had not paid the $1 Billion to be a member of the "Board of Peace." nationalpost.com/opinion/jack...

Out for a walk at Fairy Fen today. Happy Easter to all!

This is so, so well-articulated.

This is the right way to think about public debt. It's about trajectories and sustainability.

Hallucinated citations are polluting the scientific literature. What can be done? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00969-z?linkId=61180560 @nature.com ↷ canadahealthwatch.ca/featured 🍁

Untitled - Toronto Dylan Cease 2026

When I told him about The New Yorker's very human fact-checking process, he crowed that "a lot of that is going to go away." To which I said, NO, AI means we need MORE fact-checking, because AI has flooded the web with bullshit. It certainly can't be trusted to fact-check itself, or anything. /

Will you join us in Vancouver? 🇨🇦 This summer, we’re partnering with UBC's @stone-centre-ubc.bsky.social to host the Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality. Applications are now open – we’re excited to meet you. Learn more: bit.ly/4lWx0ro Apply here: bit.ly/4t8Lff6

Canadian Tax Journal call for proposals: Policy Forum on National Defence and Public Finances. Canada has set targets to sharply increase defence spending. What does this mean for public finances? Write for the CTJ Policy Forum! Proposals due April 15th. www.ctf.ca/EN/Publicati...

Canadian Tax Journal call for proposals: Policy Forum on National Defence and Public Finances. Canada has set targets to sharply increase defence spending. What does this mean for public finances? Write for the CTJ Policy Forum! Proposals due April 15th. www.ctf.ca/EN/Publicati...

Dub Gleed

West Coast, Vancouver Island, B.C. Arthur Lismer 1955

lol oil prices now right back to where they were before the 'peace' posts on early Monday morning. HOOCOODANODE

Consider the possible state of the world (described below) where there is an AI-overbuild-generated financial crisis akin to the 2008 financial crisis. The scenario involves projected income flows from data centres falling short of debt payments, which then cascades through the financial market.

Spring Roster Kenneth Lochhead c. 1993

My new @opinion.bloomberg.com piece is on US aluminum tariffs - and some of the many, many reasons why they may very well be the dumbest tariffs in the world (and why the Iran war has made them even dumber). Seriously. 🎁: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

BC in a very different position relative to their WECC neighbours when it comes to snowpack this year.

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.

Sea lemon, starfish, and mollusks.

Want a thrill? Walk across a dam in North Vancouver after an atmospheric river 😵‍💫

The oil price shock seems like a very positive shift in our terms of trade. Why hasn't that affected CAN$ very much (yet)? - are there offsetting shifts? - is it just a delayed reaction thing? - should I think of the 2005-2012 high C$ era more about the capital account than the current account?

British Columbia gets yet another credit downgrade

The prompt month WTI futures is hovering near $100. The 1-year strip is around $84. Alberta’s budget forecast for the same 1-year strip is $60.50. Every $1 increase adds $680MM to Alberta’s budget. At this point we are looking at a « mark-to-market » budget change of +$16 billion 😳 [1/2]

Carolyn Rogers shouts out Sharon Kozicki's recent speech about supply shock impacts on @bankofcanada.ca decision making: when to "look through" price increases and when to act, from a demand pressure and a supply pressure side. Here's the speech. It's excellent. www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/03/cana...

Current 10-yr bond yield in US: 4.2%. Current 10-yr bond yield in CAN: 3.39%. www.marketwatch.com/investing/Bo...

Bank of Canada holds rate at 2.25% www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/03/fad-... but the calm before the storm? "weaker economic activity and uncertainty elevated, risks to growth look tilted to the downside."

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING

VENEZUELA DEFEATS THE UNITED STATES TO TAKE HOME THEIR FIRST WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP 🇻🇪🏆

EUGENIO 🇻🇪 🇻🇪 🇻🇪 🇻🇪