Spring starts when a heartbeat’s pounding.

If I were a journalist, I’d be looking in to how much money from the oil and gas lobby is being used to fund and fuel the Alberta separatist movement. And then I’d look in to how much of that lobby are US fossil fuel corporations.

One of my pet peeves are ads on streetcars and buses that block passengers’ views of the street. One of the best things about transit is being able to look at the window and be like “I should go to that place next time”. The ads literally benefit big business over neighbourhood shops.

Toronto’s streets were NOT originally designed for cars.

We don’t need fuel. We need energy. Fuel corporations will do whatever they can to lock us into a fuel-based economy. But energy is all around us and can be gathered and stored by anyone. We have to make it easier for people to do that.

Electric cars alone won’t save us. But they can at least save us from fuel cars. My EV costs just $6 to fully charge to the top range of 400km at my local public charging station. At current prices, that would only buy me about 3L of gasoline.

Had the joy and privilege of MCing Toronto’s first Pedestrian Summit over the weekend. Over a hundred people showed up to learn and talk about building a better city for everyone. There are so many to thank that it won’t fit in a single post, so read on… (#topoli)

I’m at a provincial committee where deputants are presenting how Doug Ford’s Bill 98 will negatively impact green building standards in Ontario. On the right, opposition MPPs listening intently to the deputants. On the left, Doug Ford’s MPPs scrolling on their phones and laptops. #onpoli #topoli

A reminder that, while we usually see people flying private spacecraft in Star Wars, it’s clear by this clip from The Mandalorian that far more galactic citizens take public transportation. #ThisIsTheWay #MayThe4thBeWithYou

I used to live in Vancouver and I’ve wondered this myself. My best guess as to why there isn’t a ferry directly from Vancouver to Victoria is (a) because BC Ferries is primarily built to accomodate cars, not people, and (b) neither downtowns have enough space to hold all those waiting cars.

Toronto’s First Pedestrian Summit is about to get underway!!

The federal government is currently discussing privatizing Canada’s airports. That’s a very bad idea. To explain, let’s look at a project we need: the proposed Alto high speed rail line from Quebec City to Toronto. And how it’s a much more difficult project because of privatization in the 90s.

2/3s of UK Reform’s money comes from oil and gas interests. How much money are oil and gas interests pumping into Canadian politics?

Coming this SUNDAY MAY 3 Toronto’s first community-organized Pedestrian Summit is happening! Come meet and organize with sustainable mobility advocates from across Toronto, including me!! Sliding scale: $5-$45 (Dinner is included) Secure your spot here: bit.ly/PedestrianSu... #topoli

Someone may have been permanently paralyzed. But the headline only talks about some drivers being temporarily inconvenienced.

People from outside Canada are getting millions of views making YouTube videos about separating from Canada. And they’re doing it because Google rewards them with ad revenue. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

When politicians don’t take action on climate, it drives up the cost for everybody.

France is banning gas boilers in all new buildings starting in 2027. "As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price for other people's wars."

One of the reasons people love the Toronto Islands is because there are no cars are allowed there.

Blockades in the Strait of Hormuz are causing massive fuel supply problems. In Ontario, 70% of the so-called ‘natural’ gas used to heat buildings come from the US. Meanwhile, the sun and the wind continues to be largely untapped because corporations like Enbridge are locking us into their systems.

The fact that most adults on Planet Earth now have access to the exact time is a new phenomenon.

Oil and gas corporations extract all the wealth out of a community, pollute people, the air, and the water while doing it… and then leave the cleanup to taxpayers.

Corporations pushing oil and gas and buying politicians, ‘experts’ and fake grassroots campaigns to do so are literally trying to lock us into a more expensive life. Energy is everywhere around us. Gathering, storing, and using sunlight should be cheap. They’re making it as expensive as possible.

University Avenue used to be called The College Avenue, and was a tree-lined park with hundred year-old trees. In the 1940s, the trees were ripped out using money from gas taxes. The avenue was widened to prioritize the cars over people. #topoli

A reminder that that majority of people living with disabilities do not own a car.

Doug Ford has gutted the Ontario Endangered Species Act. Among the species now threatened by Doug Ford’s government is the Barn Owl, which as a society we’ve been trying to protect since I was literally in primary school.

For some time now the social sciences have shown that climate denialism goes down when people actually experience weird weather they’ve never had before. The challenge is how to harness that into action.

Digital-first services pretend that they’re unable to do some very, very basic things to protect users and consumers. But they’re already doing it. We just need governments to act with morality and ethics, not with bogus corporate talking points.

Doug Ford’s ‘housing’ bill — Bill 98 — slashes green building standards that ensure that homes are built well. Slashing green building standards will lock new residents and homeowners into higher bills for decades, not to mention increase the danger they face from more extreme weather.

For comparison’s sake, if you are driving in a car 40km/h over the limit, the fine is $280

Fossil fuel companies will never transition away from oil and gas. Their entire business model relies on the world to be locked into an economy where the only way to get energy is to buy fuel that only they can extract, ship and sell.

"You import a solar panel or an electric car only once. You import oil every day."

This is the kind of policy we need here. It would transform the clean energy market, support thousands of jobs, and save residents money… all while protecting our environment and cutting the revenue of oil and gas corporations that literally profit from war.

Looks like Toronto is moving ahead with this idea! When I was a kid, a few friends I knew get jobs as lifeguards. It was often their first experience working. It’s going to help young people and new immigrants get work experience… without first needing the years of swimming lessons.

Doug Ford is simply attempting to recreate the thrilling experience of landing in pre-handover Hong Kong

The reason why people like Billy Bishop airport is because for people who are downtown, it’s easy to get to, and not very busy. But if you allow 4x the number of jets to fly out of there, neither of those will be true anymore. #TOpoli

And we should also pedestrians Bay Street between the two City Halls as well. #topoli

One of the key underlying reasons why electricity prices don’t fluctuate nearly as much as gasoline prices: You can create electricity from a wide variety of sources, including directly from the sun itself. Oil and gas only comes from a few places. So corporations want to keep us locked.

This is true of most places. That’s because renewable energy doesn’t need fuel. All you need to do is store the electrons.

It’s still technically winter for a few more days. (These temperatures are in Celsius, not Fahrenheit)

"In 2026, the average car in Canada sits parked for 22.6 hours a day (nearly 95 per cent of the time), making the high cost of ownership even more difficult to justify."

Yesterday I took the GO train from Barrie to Union Station, then a subway and a streetcar home. Total cost: $12.29 At today’s gas prices and average gas car fuel efficiency, that same trip would have cost at least around $15 in gas prices alone.

Oil and gas fuels global conflict. And global conflict fuels sharpened oil and gas costs. All because oil and gas is a rare commodity that only exists in some parts of the world. And enriches a small number of corporations who use a portion of their profit to lock us further into fossil fuels.

We have a great opportunity here. And the way to get there isn’t just to put good use to this building: It’s also to turn the entire area around Old and New City Hall into a pedestrian-first area.

Oil and gas companies fuel climate change. Oil and gas companies fuel conflicts. Oil and gas companies fuel imperialism. Oil and gas companies fuel anti-science misinformation. Oil and gas companies fuel civil strife. It’s time to get off fuel and gather and store electrons instead.

We need transit signal priority. But transit signal priority is not effective against drivers who don’t respect traffic lights.

So let me get this straight… we live in a world where one of the key sources of energy enrich dictatorships, burn our climate… and when there’s a global conflict, the privately-owned oil and gas corporations get *richer*? If only there was a source of free ‘fuel’ that’s received by almost everyone…

The Bay du Nord oil and gas platform is situated *outside* Canada’s territorial waters. So instead of shutting it down, the federal government will be covering the fines… which could be up to $1 billion.

And way more people would be able to use that carway if it was instead cleared for more buses.

Schrödinger’s Cyclist: “Rich” and “entitled”. Yet somehow also “too poor to own a car”.