🇳🇱 Netherlands - December 25 - BEV Trajectory 65.4% BEV 9.1% PHEV 25.5% ICE Trailing 12 months are: 41.3% BEV 17.9% PHEV 40.8% ICE Graphs are available in the Gallery: leraffl.github.io/LeRaffl-Gall...

We have reached the point where a judge literally has to order federal law enforcement officials not to destroy or mess with evidence from a homicide scene.

Regarding the ongoing signature collection in Alberta for a referendum on separation, @piosmo.bsky.social writes in Le Monde: "The MAGA ecosystem has seized on this political moment – the signature drive is scheduled to continue until early May – in an attempt to destabilize Canada."

Trump’s back to threatening 100% tariffs on Canada this morning, wow I can’t imagine why the Canadians now see the Chinese as a more reliable trade partner

This is the essential point - even if the threat to Greenland or Canada passes for now, we simply cannot return to normal and wish away the critical failures of US institutions & many US voters that made this possible

Coming off big canola win for Saskatchewan in China. Remarkable how quickly Carney has managed to bring the premiers of Canada's 2 largest oil-producing—and most conservative—provinces onside (AB MOU the other example) after decade of deepening animosity. Scott Moe, Sask Premier:

We’re in a real race between science immeasurably improving life by curing ancient diseases and social media and its reckless and hateful political spawn destroying civilization for the LOLs

Trump likes “Donroe Doctrine” but it’s really the “Darth Vader” doctrine: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.” Whatever government thinks they've reached an agreement with the US is deluding itself. These agreements are not worth the gold embossed napkins they are written on.

Our piece on single stair: a crucial change that is slowly coming to Canadian cities By me and @johnlorinc.bsky.social

It would be an honour to be subject to higher tariffs for opposing this insane and irrational need for conquest

Having seen several abductions up close, it is really hard to convey how much the thing they’re doing is roaming in military convoys until they see someone who is alone and isn’t white, and then jumping out in large numbers, pulling them into a van, and screeching off, all in 90 seconds or so.

The CBC has just posted a transcript of my recent As it Happens interview about X and Grok. I’m posting a couple of screen shots here - since they are a bit too long for alt text, I’ll post the link to the full transcript below. #cdnpoli #X #Grok #yeg #CSAM

Great news for Canada

The decline in market share for internal combustion engines and the rise of battery electric vehicles in even a cold country like Finland is nothing short of astonishing

Large protests are erupting across Iran tonight. In Tehran, gunfire can be heard as crowds gather in massive numbers. Despite nationwide internet disruptions by the Iranian government, aimed at silencing the movement, footage continues to emerge.

Hoping against hope the Iranian people can free themselves in 2026

Toronto should do this on the Allen Road, while adding housing

Absolutely fantastic piece from @chittimarco.bsky.social on the Finch light rail and why dismissing speed as some have done is a mistake. open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...

New billion-dollar transit lines shouldn't get stuck for *this long* waiting at red lights. That's why we're happy to see a motion coming to City Council this week to implement stronger transit signal priority and other measures to speed up LRTs - but it won't happen without your voice! 1/2

I wanted to compare what I saw on Seattle's Line 1 LRT with Toronto's Finch LRT. In Seattle, you can see left turning cars waiting while fast-moving transit gets priority. Help TTCriders make it happen in Toronto: www.ttcriders.ca/greenlight 📸: @wk1998.bsky.social / @kevinrupasinghe.bsky.social

Here’s my cut at what the stop removal portion of a St Clair streetcar upgrade could look like, cuts intermediate stops by a third, from 26 to 17, with only limited reduction in rider catchment within a 5 min walk. Together with signal priority upgrades, would cut travel times a lot -worth piloting!

It’s beyond unacceptable that Via Rail keeps stranding people for lengthy delays like this - perhaps some of the money going to frequent PR ads for Alto’s vague plans could be redirected to investing in actually existing passenger rail

Next challenge: crank it up EVERYWHERE there's a red dot below. We already paid for the infrastructure; make it work!

Happy IKEA Monkey Day to all who celebrate

Let’s do this on Spadina and St Clair and make give the streetcars a green light more of the time @joshmatlow.bsky.social @cllrjamaalmyers.bsky.social

Since Transit Signal Priority is a hot topic right now, here is a reminder of why. In a since deleted Q&A post from Metrolinx, they outline that the TTC essentially kneecapped transit priority on the Finch LRT and Eglinton LRT. We need to push Toronto to do better!

Certain members of Toronto City Council will insist to you that Toronto's development charges are 100% necessary and no municipality could fund its capital budget without them and that they have no impact on housing construction. I don't think those beliefs can survive contact with reality.

This is the TSP setup that must be standard on #TTC streetcar, LRT, and priority Ten Minute Network bus routes along with fully actuated signals to get transit moving and make TTC the better way then general traffic in @toronto.ca @ttcriders.bsky.social @mayoroliviachow.ca @moretransitso.bsky.social

“To finish off survivors in the water” Sickening

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

This is a solid analysis, and a good counterpoint to some of the more knee-jerk reactions floating about. Very worth a read.

Another month of NASA CERES satellite data and it's only getting worse! 0.11 W/m² added to the 4-year average Net-flux increase over the North Pacific. Absorbed Solar Radiation is almost 5W/m² higher than at the start of the century. All added greenhouse gases since 1750 cause a 4.1 W/m² forcing

Hopefully all the attention on the unacceptably slow streetcars lately will finally result in actions from the city to address this problem they’ve been ignoring for decades.

Grizzly attack on 11 kids & teachers in BC. “one teacher jumped in front of the bear to allow the children to get away…he jabbed the bear’s eyes with his fingers and that’s how he was able to… how the bear just left him.” “That teacher was later airlifted from the scene.” Teachers are heroes.

Proposal to call these transit cocoons

Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago

Jealous, but congrats to Montreal and everyone who got the REM built

New Crosstown line extension bridge coming up

Yet another reason to be grateful for coffee

Congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays on a magnificent season. It is a shame either team had to lose. And this was a gut punch. 💔💔 Classy players, fanbase, and truly one of the finest cities in the world. Future is bright with Yeasavage, Barger, and Vladdy. Now go re-sign Bo.

Let’s gooooo

IP, software, biotech, and pharmaceutical exports are not constrained by geography like auto parts and other heavy goods, so if we want to diversify our markets we should be investing in these knowledge sectors

Good News! The Finch West LRT has successfully completed its revenue service demonstration. The line will be handed over to the TTC by November 3rd and will open shortly after. news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...

I’ve been thinking a lot about a new kind of polling I’d like to see. We have polling that measures public opinion, which is obviously important, but I’d love to see a little more empirical work on public knowledge: what do voters know about politics and policy?

MechaHitler now fully in charge on X. I wonder if this will cause any self-reflection among the pundits & journis still hanging out there.

the population-weighted density of Canada is higher than Germany

NEW CANADIAN JOBS DATA: Employment Growth: +60k Unemployment Rate: 7.1% (+0%) Prime Age (25-54) Employment Rate: 83.3% (+0.6%) Employment Level: 21.0M

Toronto is the greatest city in the world now. I don't make the rules

Imagine we had a crime problem in school zones so cameras were added along with warning signs saying “remember, don’t do crimes here, camera present” and we had a study from SickKids that showed the cameras reduced crime in those zones, but then we turned them off because criminals didn’t like them

Nothing to see here just years on end of the streetcars miserably failing to meet an incredibly lax on-time departure metric.