It’s snowing at Hotel Bonaventure.

Brilliant thread by Michèle

Space ship city

“When a man is tired of Montreal brutalism, he is tired of life; for there is in Montreal, all the brutalism that life can afford." — Samuel Johnson, 1777

In Toronto last spring, there was the curious case of “Protect Bathurst”: An anti-bus lane business owner seems to have used angry “AI”-gen personas and mobile video campaigns to fake “resident concerns”. It was @shawnmicallef.bsky.social who found the videos questionable.

Meta has a history of “journalism capture” in Canada. It wants to shape public opinion and policy to its benefit with: Sponsored talks at magazines, like The Walrus; Fellowships with news partners, like The Canadian Press; Paid content in partisan news sites, like The Hub. – cc @vassb.bsky.social

Plan of winter garden for Place Bonaventure, 1964-69, by Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Sise. Digitisation of the plan courtesy of the @ccaconversations.bsky.social.

It’s true ducks in the Bonaventure pond 10 storys up

Le ministre Steven Guilbeault se défend.

Une protestation bien pensée.

Hotel Bonaventure in Montreal is the best.

Remember this term: “a permission structure to doubt”.

Here's some more AI making up a quote from me. It's gonna be a nightmare, so let's pray the bubble pops soon and big.

Never read him. Never wrote about him. "Murakami, conversely, has faced accusations of emotional detachment and circular storytelling. Yet, writer Rebecca Solnit defends his approach...." Did AI write this? pakobserver.net/lawrence-and...

“Happiness is a state of mind.” – via @glindsay.bsky.social

Some users are losing touch with reality during marathon sessions with ChatGPT and other bots.

The point is the economics of “AI”—in its current form—, which concentrates investment, wealth, credibility, and power. It promises productivity and focuses on automation, which erode labour rights, increase inequality, and undermine information spheres that nurture things like truth and falsity.

Le Canada est en retard sur ce tableau.

Son premier film.

Along with 160+ civil society orgs & individuals, I signed this open letter that raises serious concerns about the Canadian government's proposed AI strategy. With all of the harms associated with AI-based technologies, greater public consultation is needed. bccla.org/policy-submi...

I was quick to sign onto this open letter from a wide range of organizations and experts calling on Canada to rethink its 'move fast and break things' approach to AI governance. It’s ever more urgent that governments move away from the industry-first/only approach to AI. bccla.org/policy-submi...

“This budget seems to have a case of mistaken identity. Instead of asking for sacrifices from those able to make them, [it’s] leaning on individuals and sectors already struggling.” Arts and culture is one of them. Health is another:

PEN Canada joins 43 organizations and 123 individuals in open letter opposing “National Sprint” consultation on AI strategy, which proposed a mere thirty-day window on short notice. pencanada.ca/news/open-le...

“L’IA a été faussement présentée comme une innovation scientifique alors qu’elle est en réalité le résultat d’une concentration de pouvoir entre quelques acteurs historiques.“ il faut lire @meredithmeredith.bsky.social à propos de la bulle IA qui tourne autour de 3 entreprises.

“Based on interviews with more than 20 people who worked on The Line ... this is the inside account of how MBS’s dream was designed and undone by the laws of physics and finance. All requested anonymity, fearing legal repercussions.” – cc @glindsay.bsky.social – cc @sarahkmoser.bsky.social

Here is @canadianinnovators.org's 2025 Federal Budget debrief. It speaks to its own members—Canada’s growing tech firms, leaders—but its findings are relevant to Canadian artists, designers, architects, and engineers. (And TBH, it’s doing a better job at debriefing than “arts and culture” groups.)

Précisément : This is the Carney government in Canada. Even members of his insider “AI” Task Force are alarmed. I’ve been party to dozens of rush consultations in Canada and Holland. The shortest ones for narrow policy ranges were 60–90 days. This dangerous, wide-ranging area was given 30 days.

We protest and reject the deeply misguided and wrongheaded approach to public consultation demonstrated by the government’s thirty-day “national sprint” on Canada’s artificial intelligence (“AI”) strategy. pencanada.ca/news/open-le...

Delete your Facebook account—and stop using Instagram and Threads. In 2009, I was a recent Dutch graduate—in debt—and I was told I needed Facebook for networking. I quit anyway. After that, my career took off internationally. You can do it too.

Researchers at the Citizen Lab and director @rondeibert.bsky.social sign open letter to the Canadian Minister of AI and Minister of Industry rejecting the “National Sprint” on AI strategy. Read it here: bccla.org/policy-submi...

Exactly.

So many harms have already emerged from reckless and oppressive uses of AI, with such wide-ranging & far-reaching consequences, to so many groups of people, that it seems almost impossible to document them all. But we tried, in this open letter to Minister Solomon: bccla.org/policy-submi... (1/x)

Mark Carney vs. Michael Burry

Il est difficile de se pencher sur un budget canadien obsédé par l'« IA », qui réduit les capacités publiques et ignore l'art, la culture et la participation citoyenne, alors que des jeunes gens brillants remportent des élections ailleurs en prônant l'inverse.

I noticed this too. It’s not a good sign.

I hadn’t seen the word “jittery” in a while.

Quel dommage.

It's inappropriate to "sprint" a national AI strategy in 30 days. I've signed this open letter along with +160 civil society and human rights groups, academics & other experts, and privacy & equality advocates to protest the AI Minister's "consultation" and to demand a re-do. tinyurl.com/yytcbwna

More than 160 civil society and human rights organizations, academics, field experts, and privacy and equality advocates, myself included, have boycotted AI Minister Solomon's AI consultation process, and call on ISED to shake up the AI Strategy Task Force: bccla.org/policy-submi...

Along with numerous orgs and individuals, I have signed on to an Open Letter to the 🇨🇦 Minister of AI raising serious concerns about the government's approach to AI strategy. Details are here 👇 bccla.org/policy-submi...

Canada Post started using “AI” customer service on the phone and it was absolutely terrible: It was unresponsive and repetitive. I started shouting—not swearing—and the option to speak to a human magically appeared.

When Amazon ditched Quebec, Ottawa suggested it might ditch AWS as part of a review of its deals with the firm. Documents obtained by @thelogic.co show that Ottawa concluded it would take years, and cost huge sums of money, to do so. Scoop by @lauraosman.bsky.social. thelogic.co/news/ottawa-...

Not long ago, the Canadian government “invested” $240 million in Cohere’s plan to, among other things, team up with American cloud provider CoreWeave to launch a new data centre in Cambridge, Ontario.

Good reporting from @lauraosman.bsky.social.

“The Cloud Act also allows the U.S. government to ask American companies that have offices or infrastructure in other countries to hand over data they hold abroad if it's required for law enforcement.” Cohere is headquartered in the US as well as in Canada.

Chronique de la folie.

Si peu, si tard.

Le symbole qu'est le Village olympique.

Je me souviens de Sidewalk Toronto.

In other Lemay news: