The SK govt has refused to prioritize the fixing of health care for years and so this is where we are. They can’t blame the NDP, the Feds or trans kids for this. The Sask Party owns this. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Old man yelling at clouds dept: WTF is up w people watching movies in public places without headphones? When did this become a thing?

Latest addition: David Garneau. 2025. Preserve (Métis Identity). Acrylic on panel, 24 x 18.

Danielle Smith on X today: "There is no universe where Alberta will tolerate being landlocked in our own country by our neighbouring province ..." I hate to be a geographic determinist, but yes there is such a universe and Premier Smith lives in it. Welcome to federalism, Premier ... get used to it

It seems that Carney’s honeymoon is slowly coming to an end, though he remains the preferred choice as PM. This should be an opportunity for the NDP to pull progressive voters back into the fold. Whether this leadership race will do that is still an open question. www.338canada.ca/p/338-sunday...

When did people forget how to use an elevator? Isn't it pretty standard to wait until people exit the elevator before you get in lest you force exiteers to the back and cut off their ability to leave? Why is it so hard for people to figure this out? Okay ... I'm done yelling at clouds for the day

This is peak Ford ...

CBC reporting on the opening of the first nurse-practitioner led primary care clinic in Ottawa. Though the medical associations will howl, this is a key component of solving our nation-wide lack of access to primary care in both urban and rural settings.

Felix Auger-Alliasime is a US Open semi-finalist. It wasn't a pretty match, with both players succumbing to the pressure at various points. But Felix held on the longest and pulled it out of the fire in the match's second tie-break after a roller-coaster fourth set. The hill gets steeper from here.

Turn on TSN ... Felix is on his way to extending his run and taking down a second top 10 player ... up two sets to one over De Minaur (Aus). It's a weird mix of some great shot-making, mutual lapses in concentration and the pressure of the venue. Fingers crossed he pulls this off ...

Wordle 1,535 1/6* 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 It had to happen eventually! A Labour Day miracle 😀😀😀😀

Flying high @ US Open! He took down the #3 (Zverev) on Saturday and the #15 (Rublev) today. Felix Auger Aliassime is back to the form he showed a few years ago in his run at the Aussie Open. And Layla Fernandez’s pairing w Venus Williams is burning up women’s doubles. youtu.be/8N-4kkCfeAk

Tis to dream: BRUCE FANJOY WINS BATTLE RIVER CROWFOOT BY-ELECTION www.thebeaverton.com/2025/08/bruc...

Question: Are airlines explicitly exempted from labour regs that would require them to pay for all hours worked (like the idea of a "server's minimum wage" that's lower than the regular min wage)? Or have they just done this because they could get away with it?

For some reason we allow airlines the right to require flight attendants to work without pay for duties performed 'on the ground'. This needs to be rescinded across the industry. ALL work necessary for the safety & comfort of passengers should be adequately compensated.

A reminder from Professor Doorey as to why s.107 is such an authoritarian power grab by the federal government to intervene in labour disputes.

You can’t have a constitutional right to free collective bargaining (including a right to strike) if govts can simply ignore it. This may be the test case (w a very sympathetic group) that forces govts to tread far more carefully before sacrificing workers’ rights. canadianlabour.ca/canadas-labo...

If @aircanada.bsky.social workers can’t have free collective bargaining cuz they’re essential to the economy, then maybe we should renationalize AC as a federal Crown. Prioritize service to all regions over profits as a bulwark to the economy. The current situation serves neither workers nor Cdns.

Credit Where It’s Due Dept: Got a letter in a plain envelope from my MP. Written on HoC (not party) letterhead was a list of non-partisan services & supports MPs offer to ALL constituents. I’ve never received such a mailer from an MP (or MLA) of any stripe. Should be done more often by all reps.

Wise advice ...

The long life and short career of musical satirist and mathematician Tom Lehrer. He quit performing, in part, because "political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

It’s real! It’s real!

Perceptive analysis of how Canadian universities may mistake themselves for American ones and forget the centrality of teaching & research in the process.

So @aircanada.bsky.social eliminates all flights from Regina to Calgary (now its via Vancouver) & reduces flights to Toronto. Then they inundate my email inbox with offers for Canadian & international ‘getaways’. Interesting marketing choice.

This week I am the Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies, Acting Associate Dean Undergraduate & Acting Associate Dean Academic Integrity and Equity ... if only the Dean would go on vacation ... then all of the power would mine! All mine!! 😁😈

Not sure if this looks worse for the recipient or the nominator ...

From the Even Broken Clocks Are Right Twice a Day Department: AB Parliamentary Secretary says (1) the monarchy is outdated and (2) too much power is concentrated in the hands of the PM. Well ... ummm ... he's not wrong. Long-winded, unfocused and somewhat scattered? Undoubtedly. But wrong? Nope.

It takes a unique degree of political chutzpah for Premier Smith to decry “finger-pointing” and blaming others after years of making that her go to (and only) modus operandi. (I think I deserve bonus points for getting both Yiddish & Latin into a single post) www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

“Late Night in Exile with Stephen Colbert”. Canada hasn’t had a late night show since Gzowski’s 90 Minutes Live & Soles’ Canada After Dark in the late 70s. Just the offer of a show would make some US heads explode which, if nothing else, would be fun to watch!

I’m glad you like music. But can you listen to it on headphones when you’re in a public place? Seriously, when did this become a thing? Okay, I’m off to yell at some clouds …

The Roosevelt Hotel, once the site of Guy Lombardo & the Royal Canadians' NYE parties, spent the last 3 yrs as a migrant shelter. 150,000+ were provided shelter, respite & support to make new lives. An unexpected final chapter for what was one of NYC's grand hotels. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/n...

Smith doesn't understand that there are some people ahead of AB in constitutional reform line -- QC hasn't yet signed the one we've got & Indigenous peoples have been waiting 150+ yrs for a fair deal from Canada. They'll talk abt AB once their concerns are dealt with. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

That feeling when you can turn around a review in about 24 hours -- the confluence of two days without meetings, having just completed a submission of your own and taking a breather, and a paper that was really, really interesting. Time for a G&T methinks ...

It is not enough to "acknowledge" that this has an impact on people's access to care. The point is to do something. At some point no amount of baling twine & prayers will hold the system together. Nearly 18 yrs in office and this govt still has no real healthcare plan. leaderpost.com/news/saskatc...

A very good (with spoilers) look at James Gunn's entertaining but still weird reboot of Superman. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

Summer in Regina. Experiencing my regularly unscheduled power outage … every summer the same thing … just random outages at random times … 3rd one this summer.

Qualifying for a senior's discount is very much a double-edged sword ...

When a piece you published 18 years ago gets cited in a new policy framework from Health Canada there are two possibilities. One, your piece is timeless & authoritative. Or, two, the authors of the framework quit reading new material 17 years ago! Either is equally likely ...

Deja vu! Last year SPHERU published a report chronicling the crisis in rural healthcare as seen through the eyes of healthcare workers. Nothing, it seems, has changed. The govt & the SHA have made no progress in restoring confidence in the system. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The SMA won’t like this, but the long-term solution to this would be to give the SHA responsibility for the funding of physician services. Primary health reform, wait times, etc. wld be easier to manage with docs integrated into the org responsible for managing the system. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The SK govt has a fixation on "magic bullets" vis a vis the state of health care. First it was LEAN, then importing nurses, then a single health authority, now Urgent Care Centres. But no integrated, coordinated plan that looks at the whole system. Always the one-off "fix" www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The cuts being contemplated by the feds will make Chretien’s 1995 “we must balance the budget” cuts look like happy days. The ‘95 cuts downloaded massive cuts on the provinces, which in turn downloaded them on citizens by cutting services. Deja vu all over again (with a vengence)!!

For reasons unknown I get a lot of bunny pics in my feed. Well, a new bunny has arrived at the UofR and it’s a doozy…

For reasons unknown I get a lot of bunny pics in my feed. Well, a new bunny has arrived at the UofR and it’s a doozy…

There is a special place in hell for golfers who have Bluetooth speakers on their golf carts and people who watch videos at full volume in public spaces. Buy some freakin’ ear buds!

There was a joke during the federal elxn that Carney represented “all the Conservative policies, none of the Poilievre”. It’s not that funny anymore … to pay for his spending commitments it means either massive social spending cuts a la 1995 or some very big tax hikes. I’d bet on the former.

So, we’re gonna tie new pipelines to carbon capture technology. Great. Except, of course, CC&S is hugely expensive and consistently underperforms. Boondoggle is the word that comes to mind. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

Boy, did they misjudge the public mood on this one! The APP proposal had two objectives -- to stick a finger in Ottawa's eye and free up $ for energy investments the private sector wouldn't back. Albertans saw neither as a reason to risk their pension funds.

It's getting closer every day ... the full cover to the new book from @profsmithsask.bsky.social and me -- The New Politics of Western Canada: Contested Histories, Uncertain Futures (UBC Press, Fall 2025).

I’m continually surprised by how little attention mainstream media has paid to stories about AI-based academic misconduct. It is reshaping university education in profound ways & creating some very negative dynamics in the classroom. www.theguardian.com/education/20...