The wildfires in Ontario and Minnesota are a direct consequence of the high temperatures and low rainfall resulting from a major July heat dome event. A year ago we showed that these events had tripled in frequency due to human-caused warming: penntoday.upenn.edu/news/extreme...

Not the kind of climate change column I’ve normally written, or want to write, but I felt I had to. www.thestar.com/business/opi...

Wondering if Canadians trust elections in this country, or are concerned about foreign interference? A reminder that we have that covered here. environicsinstitute.org/democracy-an...

This week’s wildfires, smoke and sweltering heat are a glimpse into Canada’s climate future. Will Ottawa strengthen its climate adaptation efforts or will communities continue to be left unprepared for extreme weather? https://ow.ly/NgkW50ZoVCx

Strangely, this is not a call for Canada to do more to reduce the emissions that cause climate change.

George Books

Our 2026 fire season was quiet, and just like the rapid transition from winter to summer (bypassing spring) in much Canada, our fire season went from quiet to crazy full on. Rapid increase in area burned (and smoke) from fires in the NWT and QC and more recently ON. See hot spot graph below

“Sorry, when I said I’m from Chicago, I meant the one in Ontario,” said the ex-commander-in-chief, adding that he had never been to the United States but had heard some “pretty crazy things” about the “stuff going on down there.”

The shrunken emissions-reduction targets might get the most attention here. But what jumps out at me on first glance is the weirdness of giving oil sands companies a break on industrial carbon pricing stringency if they make (government-subsidized) CCUS investments. www.canada.ca/en/one-canad...

UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report confirms the typical (ie. median) Canadian is 2x wealthier than the median American. Cda ranks 7th on median wealth, US 28th. Galactic hoards of Musk, Bezos, et al inflate the US average but virtually none flows to most Americans. #canlab #cdnecon /2

A small-D democratic reform I'd like to see is fixed dates for by-elections; set 3-4 days every year on a regular schedule to fill any vacancies that occur in the legislature, take the power away from the Premier's Office.

"Unannounced fireworks show at 11pm on a Thursday night" might replace "federal officials break up lemonade stand" as the ultimate Ottawa story.

Get this: the city’s emergency management department now tells me that they strategically decided NOT to inform anyone, lest they wanted to watch and overwhelmed the existing crowds at LeBreton Flats with Bluesfest on. Absolutely ludicrous.

Okay, hear me out, what if just made random, late-night fireworks shows that happen without any warning a regular feature of day-to-day life in Ottawa?

There's a solution to this, California: provincehood! #canpoli

Baseball is cool

The other two? Republican congressmen David Valadao and John Duarte. Duarte was defeated in 2024. Valadao won. Shot (of Canadian rye): thehill.com/homenews/hou... Chaser: dccc.org/david-valada...

The California Association of Winegrape Growers didn't actually do very much in the 2023-24 federal cycle. It gave small amounts of money to three politicians, according to public records: www.fec.gov/data/committ... One is Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, Schiff's California colleague.

The oil sands being Canada's great industrial policy success story never stops being amusing to me. Breaks so many narratives - or would, if people were open to having their narratives challenged.

This is a really useful piece for showing both what the country has gotten out of Alberta's oil industry and what the country has put into Alberta's oil industry.

Feels like this should've been avoidable somehow.

On this day in 1793, Upper Canada passed the Act to Limit Slavery. It didn't go anywhere near far enough, but it did lay the institutional groundwork for the Underground Railroad by prohibiting the introduction of new enslaved people by freeing them when they entered the colony.

Look at the black line in this chart. That's the kind of sheer plummet that says "something is really wrong here". I thought this was a Trump 2.0 specialty. I was wrong. In the last decade, academic freedoms deteriorated in 67% of countries. www.not-ship.com/uh-whats-goi...

Same could be said about the Trudeau government's changes to government advertising (which the Carney government has rolled back).

This is your regular reminder that most of your neighbours pay way less attention to politics than you do.

This is the third Trudeau appointee to the Senate to join the Conservative caucus. Which is an interesting little complication for the narrative that Trudeau just appointed a bunch of de facto Liberals to the Senate.

This seems like a worthwhile endeavour.

one of my unpopular (to americans) opinions is that primaries are a pretty flawed way of choosing candidates and only superficially have more democratic legitimacy than “smoke-filled rooms”

"Logan"

Pollara asked Canadians to name politicians. Here's how many could. Name Poilievre as CPC leader: 57% Name Lewis as NDP leader: 12% Able to name at least one cabinet minister: 24% Full results: www.pollara.com/only-12-of-c...

For what it's worth, we've known about Trump's interest in the 1908 border treaty since February 2025.

The appointment of Conservative MP Richard Martel to the Senate means there will be a byelection in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord. Can the Liberals (or Bloc) flip it, or will the Conservatives be able to hold? www.thewrit.ca/p/can-the-li...

New from me. On Carney's Senate moves. Peter Harder, one of Trudeau's first appointees, doesn't think this is the end of an independent Senate.

Yep, made this exact point yesterday.

I'm not sure how much it means — and it doesn't prove that the Canadian system is inherently superior — but it does occur to me that a local candidate in a Canadian election who was revealed to have a questionable tattoo probably would have been dropped within 24 hours of the revelation.

All of the goodwill and excitement you had invested in the Canadian MNT should now be devoted to Felix Auger Aliassime.

Come work with a great team! @cangeo.bsky.social is hiring a magazine features editor, Ottawa-based:

I'd like to believe that before social media it was more common for people to see news and think, "hmm, I'm not sure about this, but I would like to hear more before I arrive at a firm position."

Combining recent announcements, I think Canada's entry in Eurovision should always be drawn from the Senate.

Genuinely very interested to see what the Conservative Party response to today's appointments is.

Rorschach's Senate reform

Not quite the triumphant return of a partisan Senate? www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

I'm excited to share the jacket design for my forthcoming book Joe Clark: Progressive, Conservative, Canadian. I'm currently working through the copy edits, and it will be in the winter catalogue from @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social. I'll be sure to share links for pre-ordering!

I think this bit from the prime minister's announcement this morning is somewhat confusing because it seems to imply there is some kind of ban on senators who have partisan experience...

I was unaware of the back story for the Belgium jerseys and this is outstanding.

Exciting news!! @cabinradio.ca is hiring an Ottawa correspondent "to help northerners understand what’s happening across national politics in all its forms." cabinradio.ca/jobs/

Canada's real GDP remains essentially on the same trend line seen from Jan 2010 to Feb 2020, although it had appeared to be well below that line until the national accounts revisions that were done last year. #cdnecon