He's on to something, Toronto

With all respect to my colleague, the Canada-as-Norway dream would hold up better if Ottawa hadn’t spent this year scrapping or suspending policies (consumer-facing carbon price, ZEV mandate, Clean Electricity Regulations) targeting domestic consumption. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

There aren't many multipartisan consensuses in Ontario politics, but the one we can be most grateful for beyond nuclear is agreement on regional rail build-out. It may be slow, frustrating, and occasionally subject to pork barrelling, but we *have* come a long way and a lot of great stuff is coming.

Although I didn’t join the 30DayMapChallenge, but it still got me in the mood to plot some city grids using the osmnx library. #osmnx #matplotlib #pyfonts #dataviz

In Ontario regulatory governance news, wild stuff happening www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

This is a lot a lot more than Toronto Bikeshare membership costs and single ride costs

Recently made a few maps of the new Finch West Line 6 + surrounding land-use More here: schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/maps-of-line... #toronto #transit #maps

I hope the "rapid" part can be improved over time, but, uh, this is not a great situation

Imagine the hole in Alberta’s budget when the price & demand for oil is in long-term decline in 2030s as a result of the energy transition and increased demand for clean energy. Not nostalgia for the past, it’s about winning the future. Just economics, folks.

Fun new Vacancy Chain study from my UBC colleague Limin Fang (& others). Tracks what new vacancies open up elsewhere from the people moving into a new condominium building containing 202 market-rate and 310 affordable units from inclusionary zoning?

Generally speaking, more options is better than fewer options.

Looking forward, one day, sooner better than later, to seeing this beautiful sight extended north to Eglinton

Cabinet resignations based on principle are exceedingly rare in Canadian politics: until today, only 26 cabinet ministers (4% of total since Confederation) had resigned over disagreements with the govt. Trudeau had a few; Harper had one. This is not a decision anyone would make lightly, if ever.

so our government made a big deal about banning speed cameras but one city left theirs running to see what difference the ban would make and you are not going to believe this

Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.

We've fallen into an anti-immigration, anti-climate, short-sighted economic doofus era, brought to you by the guy who we thought was a smart policy wonk.

Ok, now, that's a amount of corruption that doesn't feel abstract

He's high in the polls, thinks people love him for him and that he's politically invincible. But his success was due to ndp/green/bloc supporters who felt a vote for lpc was better than a cpc majority. This will split his coalition, slowly at first, but it will happen.

So the province’s replacement for speed cameras (now banned) are giant signs that are too big for municipal signposts and large enough for an adult let alone a child to hide behind (good luck crossing the street safely). Ontario also only gave @toronto.ca 20 signs for 600 school zones & 75 cameras🤯🤬

Line 6 Finch West is opening soon - here's a chart of 25 years of population change along the route I adapted this from Michael Liu's great work here: schoolofcities.github.io/tod-toronto-... #transit #dataviz #toronto

This is great, but the exclusion of Eglinton and Marlee are troubling omissions in North York

Watching this video, my takeaway for Toronto is of the importance of finishing the bike lanes on Eglinton so cycling in North York is safe, connected, and visible. Side streets and back alleys are no substitute for high quality bike lanes!

Note the very limited number of signs Toronto is getting, compared to the hundreds of school zones across the city

914,000 arts and culture workers in Canada nodding in agreement.

I will believe in the end of identity politics when steel and lumber (28,000 jobs and 105,000 jobs respectively) stop getting bailouts, while higher education (310,000 jobs) collapses in front of our eyes because it's full of ivory tower elites

Wild that in the next few years GO will likely overtake the 24/7, higher frequency, and much larger LIRR in daily ridership. Can only imagine how much higher it will be as service continues to grow to rapid transit levels. Fare and service integration and a *nice* system clearly help.

Regional government reforms in Waterloo Region and York Region. Appointed chairs, no elected councillors, and population-weighted voting by mayors sitting on council.

Toronto! This can be us!

So - it's becoming clear that the endgame for our zoning advocacy should be a "kit of parts" for both buildings + zoning rules. A toolbox that works on all lot sizes (including small lots). It will be 2 pieces: 1. Town centres (attached here, w no side yard) 2. Distributed (w side yards)

Carney thinks he’s still a banker, or a central bank bureaucrat who only has to worry about one thing. His idea of how to maximize Canada’s economy, let alone our diplomacy, is shockingly blinkered, even given his background.

Finally figured out why Ontario's GO trains/busses are painted green. Green means go.

The Carney govt got this in Oct but released it on a Friday to minimize coverage. "Canada should create a pharmacare system that offers free access to essential medicines to anyone with a health card and allows private insurance to continue playing a role, an expert committee report recommended"

Saturday morning on Marlee and Lawrence Ave West. Cyclists need better protection from the raging traffic here. #onpoli #topoli #biketo #visionzero #toronto

I see the boycott as a related political phenomenon to the also remarkable pro-social pandemic response by most Canadians

Thunder Bay and westward annexed to Manitoba, and the rest of Ontario split into two provinces

Who gets to keep their nostalgia and who must accept change? Asking for North York

Toronto, and urban history. Notably, Mayor David Crombie and his anti-development Council colleagues were sworn in on December 1, 1972. Local elections matter!

Carney’s “joke” is actually an admission that the government has no capacity to assess & implement digital economic policy (which is to say, economic policy). And instead of treating this as a problem to be solved, he’s cutting capacity further and turning policymaking over to industry. Bad, indeed.

For the Star, I make the case for the condo/apartment as aspirational -- that the Canadian dream can also be an apartment in a dense neighbourhood and not, as is so often the case in this country, be taken to only ever mean a detached house. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...

Here's Marlee where bike lanes are opposed in favour of "quieter streets" by opponents. Ironic given the unsafe drivers. Here's what cycling & walking look like today. Double threat of 1 car blocking sidewalk & another driving towards cyclist. #topoli #biketo #onpoli #walkto #visionzero

There are several Canadian housing price indicators available. Here is StatCan's, which is based on a survey of construction companies. It shows big and continuing declines since March 2022 in the CPI-adjusted prices of both land and the houses themselves. But there are wide geographical variations.

I second @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social: destroy the Toronto Parking Authority. The [parking arm of the] TPA is "an explicit subsidy for car users in a city that’s already choked by traffic congestion...[and] occupies a massive amount of land in a city that’s being crippled by a housing shortage." #TOpoli

If you're interested in making this spine a little chunkier, the latest on the North York Secondary Plan should be at Planning and Housing Committee on December 3rd. No new details available yet but opposition from the low-rise Neighbourhood is expected.

The Carney government wants to pare back aspects of Canada’s anti-greenwashing law, telling @meyer.bsky.social it prevents the fossil fuel industry and other groups from sharing their environmental claims. Critics say the law might be working as intended. thenarwhal.ca/greenwashing...

It's November, and bikeshare use in Toronto is currently above the summer peak numbers just a few years ago.

Building code (single stair) policies in Toronto. Good to see this moving forward.

Related to the redevelopment of the Lawrence/Bathurst parking lot in North York

This is the start of round 2 of program cuts. A number of colleges tried to hold off these closures for a year, hoping the feds might change their mind about the visa programs. Now, the hope is gone.

Nova Scotia muni/province relations and (ridiculous) public policy

Great discussion that has been going on for serval days now up and down this thread and in the quotes (up and down). Metrics matter, and some of our main metrics in the housing discourse simply aren't responsive to the issues: Standard affordability metrics suffer from massive collider bias.