Tootfinder

Good Morning #Canada
I have one final chapter for The Dirt on Canadian Farming, and it's more of an opinion piece.
As I conducted research on each province for information on their agriculture, there were numerous news stories about how farmers and farm organizations were fighting against loss of farmland. Urban growth, new housing development, and sprawling industrial parks are gobbling up prime farmland. The attached article is just one example. The statistics released by each province have common trends:the average age of farmers increasing, individual farm operators in decline, larger farms are increasing, renting of farmland is growing, and overall arable land is in decline. With the sparsely populated prairies holding the majority of fertile farmland, Canada likely won't lose our global impact because of development for houses or industry. But elsewhere, our food chain will be pushed further away from where we live. Or disappear.
#CanadaIsAwesome #SaveOurFarmland
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-region-new-update-wilmot-land-plans-1.7534644

I knew I was cranky about AI, but I guess I didn't realize just how cranky until I filled out this obnoxious and wildly boosterish questionnaire from the government of Canada.
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en/public-co…

From Taras Grescoe
Alto is Go!
Canada's 300-Kilometer-an-Hour High-Speed Rail Project Gets Another Shot in the Arm
Last week, there was big news in the world of passenger rail. Canada, the one G-7 nation without a single mile (er, kilometer) of high-speed rail, announced that it would be fast-tracking the plan to build a bullet train line between Quebec City and Toronto.

Mixed-integer Second-Order Cone Programming for Multi-period Scheduling of Flexible AC Transmission System Devices
Mohamad Charara (Polytechnique Montr\'eal, GERAD,MILA, Canada), Martin De Montigny (Hydro-Qu\'ebec, Canada), Nivine Abou Daher (Hydro-Qu\'ebec, Canada), Hanane Dagdougui (Polytechnique Montr\'eal, GERAD,MILA, Canada), Antoine Lesage-Landry (Polytechnique Montr\'eal, GERAD,MILA, Canada)

Mixed-integer Second-Order Cone Programming for Multi-period Scheduling of Flexible AC Transmission System Devices
With the increasing energy demand and the growing integration of renewable sources of energy, power systems face operational challenges such as overloads, losses, and stability concerns, particularly as networks operate near their capacity limits. Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) devices are essential to ensure reliable grid operations and enable the efficient integration of renewable energy. This work introduces a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) mod…

1/2 Thanks to @… for this interesting article. It speaks to me. :)
I’ve been weather blogging @… since 2005. It is interesting how it has changed, and how I have changed.
My website used to be just data from the (expensive) station I bought when I moved back to Port Alberni. It was a hobby and a side project to practice web/coding skills I use at work. My focus was on creating useful data for people that was more local/relevant than the official EC station outside of the city.
Then I put up a webcam and learned how to make timelapses. This got the attention of local media… because pictures. :)
Then I added a blog and started to write about the weather almost daily. This was before Facebook. There was a popular local online forum where I would post things. The media would also follow my website and they started to call me when there was extreme weather (usually very hot or very wet/stormy).
Then Facebook started to get big and I made a page that eventually had a few thousand followers. I would blog often. Lots of traffic from Facebook… this was 2010 and on. I blogged about climate and weather pretty equally.
Like anyone in Port Alberni, I was/am obsessed with the Martin Mars and got wrapped up in that issue along with others which combined with the weather following probably gave me just enough exposure to have me elected as a councillor in 2014.
I continued through that 4 years, blogging often in addition to councillor duties and work, heavily on facebook, then it all went sideways on my own poor judgement (go ahead and google it, it’s ok :)) and I was not reelected, but Facebook by 2018 had also changed. Cambridge Analytica, etc.
….Continued…
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-weather-apps-data-wildfires-storms-preparation-obsession-social-media/

"Smoke from Canada's 2023 wildfires linked to more than 80,000 early deaths worldwide, study warns"
#Canada #Wildfires #Health

Millions breathed toxic air from Canada’s record 2023 wildfires
Pollution from the five months of fires was responsible for 22,000 early deaths in Europe alone.

Good Morning #Canada
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, as of January 2025, only 38 countries recognize same-sex marriage, out of 195 recognized nations. Canada has been a leader in LGTBQ rights and, in a recent ranking, places us 5th worldwide in protecting same sex and gender affirmation. The USA ranks 23rd but is likely to drop further as the report was based on 2024 data before the MAGA morons took office.
#CanadaIsAwesome #LGTBQI
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/lgbt-rights-by-country

Hadn’t heard about this previously, but the people who are organizing the version local to me are definitely good folk whose judgment I trust: https://drawtheline.world
(Not just Canada - the web site pulls in your local version.)

Progress in the US becoming the 23rd Republic of Russia seems significantly higher than that of Canada becoming the 51st state of the US.

All I can say is 'oh crap'...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/canadian-tire-says-recent-breach-of-e-commerce-database-involved-customer-info/

🦠 Climate change driving major algae surge in Canada's lakes, study finds
#canada

Climate change driving major algae surge in Canada's lakes, study finds
Algal growth is accelerating in lakes across Canada, including those far from human development, and a new study shows that climate change is the primary driver.

Oiumet Canyon, Ontario, #Canada, near the north shore of Lake Superior. The gorge is about 100 meters (330 ft) deep, by 150 meters (490 ft) wide. One hypothesis for its formation is it's a glacial outlet channel of Glacial Lake Agasssiz cut into Precambrian bedrock. Or, it may have formed by subglacial erosion. (Photo from the archives, Sept 2017.)

Re Air Canada, this is not hard folks. If you work, you should get paid.
I stand w the flight attendants.
#AirCanada #unions

Without reading the article I can only think this is for the new #RobertRodriquez / #DannyTrejo movie:
`Dogchete`
"Its not about what do you did son, its about who you did it to. Machete was a man of focus, commitment, sheer will. I once saw him kill three vampires in a bar with a stapler.…

Haligonia.ca (@haligonia@mstdn.ca)
Attached: 1 image Police say machete and dog used in Prospect party altercation https://haligonia.ca/police-say-machete-and-dog-used-in-prospect-party-altercation-313449/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #halifax #novascotia #canada

Blue Dasher dragonfly resting on a blade of grass. Descanso Gardens, La Canada Flintridge, California, USA. June, 2024. #descansogardens #bluedasher #dragonfly

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
When most people think about algal blooms, they envision bright green water. However, blooms can also be dark red, invoking the colour of blood. A number of groups can generate red pigment blooms including flagellates like red-tide species Karenia brevis and Heterosigma akashiwo, Alexandrium spp. (Shellfish poisoning), the green algae Botryococcus braunii turning…

Hackers reportedly compromise Canadian House of Commons through Microsoft vulnerability https://therecord.media/hackers-compromise-canada-house-of-commons

Google launches Flight Deals, an AI tool within Google Flights to let users find fares using natural language queries, in beta in the US, Canada, and India (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/14/google-push…

Google pushes AI into flight deals as antitrust scrutiny, competition heat up | TechCrunch
Google has launched Flight Deals as its AI tool within Google Flights to help travelers find cheaper fares.

Secure and Efficient Out-of-band Call Metadata Transmission
David Adei, Varun Madathil, Nithin Shyam S., Bradley Reaves
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.12582 https://

Secure and Efficient Out-of-band Call Metadata Transmission
The STIR/SHAKEN (S/S) attestation Framework mandated by the United States, Canada, and France to combat pervasive telephone abuse has not achieved its goals, partly because legacy non-VoIP infrastructure could not participate. The industry solution to extend S/S broadcasts sensitive metadata of every non-VoIP call in plaintext to every third party required to facilitate the system. It has no mechanism to determine whether a provider's request for call data is appropriate, nor can it ensure that…

It’s a 5 game series now guys!!
Assist to the Canada 🇨🇦 Blue Jays fan section!!
#bluejays #mlb #gojaysgo

A Story About Bypassing Air Canada's In-flight Wifi Network Restrictions
https://ramsayleung.github.io/en/post/2025/a_story_about_bypassing_air_canadas_in-flight_network_restrictions/

Senator Baldwin:
Our farmers are facing incredible headwinds.
A lot of the fertilizer inputs come from Canada.
Those have shot up because of tariffs.
About a quarter of all farmers use the ACA for their health care coverage.
This president is just contributing to the headwinds that our farmers are facing.
htt…

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social)
Baldwin: Our farmers are facing incredible headwinds. A lot of the fertilizer inputs come from Canada. Those have shot up because of tariffs. About a quarter of all farmers use the ACA for their health care coverage. This president is just contributing to the headwinds that our farmers are facing.

https://archive.org/details/The-Best-of-Bizarre-Uncensored
Never knew there was an uncensored version as I only remember watching it on CTV in Canada.

New Zealand woman and six-year-old son detained for three weeks by Ice in US enduring ‘terrifying’ ordeal.
Sarah Shaw, who has a US visa and lives in Washington state, was detained after attempting to re-enter US from Canada.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20…

Introducing the A2AJ's Canadian Legal Data: An open-source alternative to CanLII for the era of computational law
Simon Wallace, Sean Rehaag
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13032

Introducing the A2AJ's Canadian Legal Data: An open-source alternative to CanLII for the era of computational law
The Access to Algorithmic Justice project (A2AJ) is an open-source alternative to the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). At a moment when technology promises to enable new ways of working with law, CanLII is becoming an impediment to the free access of law and access to justice movements because it restricts bulk and programmatic access to Canadian legal data. This means that Canada is staring down a digital divide: well-resourced actors have the best new technological tools and, be…

Canada's Girl Guides Suspend U.S. Trips Amid Trump's Immigration Crackdown (Jonathan Wolfe/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/world/canada/girl-guides-canada-us-trips-trump-border.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/250808/p56#a250808p56

We just got back from a staged reading of “Mary’s Wedding” by Stephen Massicotte.
Wow!!! It was intense. Just two actors, no props, no sets beyond four music stands.
It is a Canadian play, apparently far more popular in Canada than in the US. (Which makes sense because it is about WW-I, an event into which Canada was more involved than the US.)
Santa Cruz Shakespeare has a reading or similar pay-what-you-will event every Tuesday in August. Well worth it!!!

Today's 20m #HamRadio #POTA activation of US-3844 Jordan Lake State Recreational Area. The first 10 QSOs (conversations) were 2-operator on SSB with my wife doing her first-ever activation, then once she successfully activated and called it quits, I went on to hunt another 10 park-to-p…

150,000 Sq. Miles to Be Protected in Canada’s Northwest by Coalition of First Nations https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/150000-sq-miles-to-be-protected-in-canadas-far-northwest-by-coalition-of-first-nations/

150,000 Sq. Miles to Be Protected in Canada's Northwest by Coalition of First Nations
Over 12,000 members of various First Nations' people lived there as of 2021, making up over 40% of the territory's population. 

United Church of Canada issues apology to LGBTQ community – CTVNews
https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/united-church-of-canada-issues-apology-to-lgbtq-community/

Natural Disaster In Canada (2024)
H. Hao
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08594 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.08594

Natural Disaster In Canada (2024)
This paper is a follow-up to our earlier study, Natural Disasters in Canada (2017). We analyze the Canadian Disaster Database (CDD) to examine the frequency and severity of various natural disasters over the past 120 years and to identify emerging trends. We generate annual loss distributions for individual disaster types, as well as an aggregate annual loss distribution across all event types. Our analysis provides evidence that Canada is experiencing warmer and wetter conditions and indicates…

@… Oh my! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/8-ottawa-neighbourhoods-urgently-need-more-tre…

8 Ottawa neighbourhoods urgently need more trees. Here's where they are | CBC News
As part of the inaugural 'tree equity' analysis, city staff have identified eight priority areas across the city where more trees are badly needed.

Indigenous Beadwork as a Method of Teaching Linear Algebra
Sarah Plosker, Cathy Mattes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10477 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.10477

Indigenous Beadwork as a Method of Teaching Linear Algebra
In this work, the authors describe efforts aimed at Indigenizing a second-year linear algebra course at a small liberal arts university in Manitoba, Canada. This is done through an assignment, part hands-on and part written work, that explores the connection between Indigenous beadwork and linear algebra. Our collaboration was perhaps unconventional: Sarah, the first author, is a mathematics professor; while Cathy, the second author, is an associate professor in art history. However, we both ha…

Good Morning #Canada
Recent news may have some of you panicking with the announcement that AOL Dial Up Services will officially shut down on September 30th of this year. Yikes! But, the Canadian government has your backup plan as they attempt to provide high-speed internet services to 100% of Canadians by 2030. Current estimates put access at 94.5%, and the next target is 98% by the end of 2026.
I kinda miss the phone couplers, bragging about the size of my "Baud Rate," and the beep booping screeching announcement of going online. OK.... not really.
#CanadaIsAwesome
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/high-speed-internet-canada/en/high-speed-internet-all-canadians

ElasticMoE: An Efficient Auto Scaling Method for Mixture-of-Experts Models
Gursimran Singh (Huawei Technologies Canada), Timothy Yu (Huawei Technologies Canada), Haley Li (Huawei Technologies Canada), Cheng Chen (Huawei Technologies Canada), Hanieh Sadri (Huawei Technologies Canada), Qintao Zhang (Huawei Technologies China), Yu Zhang (Huawei Technologies China), Ying Xiong (Huawei Technologies Canada), Yong Zhang (Huawei Technologies Canada), Zhenan Fan (Huawei Technologies Canada)

ElasticMoE: An Efficient Auto Scaling Method for Mixture-of-Experts Models
Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) models promise efficient scaling of large language models (LLMs) by activating only a small subset of experts per token, but their parallelized inference pipelines make elastic serving challenging. Existing strategies fall short: horizontal scaling provisions entire replicas of the current configuration, often tens to hundreds of accelerators, leading to coarse granularity, long provisioning delays, and costly overprovisioning. Vertical scaling offers finer adjustments …

From Clean Energy Review
In Edmonton’s Blatchford neighbourhood, a new “virtual power plant” is flipping the script on how communities use energy. Twenty (but soon-to-be 100) townhomes, each equipped with rooftop solar panels and energy storage, are not just powering themselves—they can feed the grid, manage peak demand, and even provide emergency backup when the lights go out. It’s a glimpse of what clean households could look like across Canada.

This is amusing. In a story about Laufey’s upcoming concert in North America, it states that 400,000 tickets were sold and that’s the same as 80 of the big arena in Reykjavík.
Unmentioned: this is the equivalent of every person in Iceland buying a ticket!
https://icelandmonitor.mb…

A major achievement for Laufey
Leifur Björnsson, head of exports at the Iceland Music Office, says the demand for tickets to Laufey Lín’s upcoming concert tour in the United States and Canada is almost without precedent in Icelandic music history.

Hunderte aktive #Waldbrände in #Kanada beeinträchtigen derzeit die #Luftqualität weit über die Landesgrenzen hinaus.
Besonders betroffen sind

30 years ago, the #G7 met in #Halifax, #NovaScotia , #Canada. The event already had a website. And it's…

🔥 The unexpected upside of Canada's wildfires
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/09/23/climate-change/canada-wildfire-upsides/
🆓

The unexpected upside of Canada's wildfires 
Canada is the world's largest producer of canola, growing 21 million acres in a band along the country's vast northern forests.

2/2 I continued blogging Alberniweather and on FB and Twitter but I gradually removed my personal self from Facebook and eventually during the Pandemic, I decided the Facebook environment was just too toxic even for weather stuff and I shut down my page and left Facebook completely.
The impact on traffic to Alberniweather.ca and its prominence in the community was, and still is, significant.
I have diehard followers, many who have become friends over the years, I still get the odd call from media, or even the public about random weather things.
I have good connections with a few folks at Environment Canada (though their staff have become thinner and more transient :(
and major events still get spikes of local traffic but I since about 2022, and after I removed myself from Twitter that year, I don’t blog nearly as much. I would do a few posts in a week, and then go months without posting. I just got out of the habit I guess.
But I am still interested in the weather. I still feel like Alberniweather is a useful service for people in my community. I still feel a willing obligation to inform people about the weather and I believe I am trusted to do so by the public and local leaders. I’ve never made any money at it, I sold ad space on the website for a few years but it wasn’t worth the hassle and I didn’t feel comfortable taking the money when I was councillor. I have had some generous spontaneous donations at times.
But mainly I do it because it’s interesting, and I hope it is useful for people especially when people are looking for information during a major event.
The highest traffic I have ever had on Alberniweather pre-FB exit was the local Dog Mountain forest fire in 2015.
post-FB exit: the #underwoodfire
People want easy access to reliable local, trusted, information.
Large media orgs have mostly given up on this.
I am grateful we still have an active local newspaper and radio and that both trust me and I trust them.
@… @…

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Verification of Scientific Software
Stephen F. Siegel, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12314 https://

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Verification of Scientific Software
This volume contains the proceedings of the Verification of Scientific Software (VSS 2025) workshop, held on 4 May 2025 at McMaster University, Canada, as part of ETAPS 2025. VSS brings together researchers in software verification and scientific computing to address challenges in ensuring the correctness and reliability of large-scale scientific codes. The program featured five peer-reviewed papers, three invited contributions, and a set of challenge problems, covering themes such as deductive…

Ukraine, Canada sign joint defense production agreement: https://benborges.xyz/2025/08/24/ukraine-canada-sign-joint-defense.html

Statement by Prime Minister Carney following the Alaska Summit

#Russia #Ukraine #Europe #Canada

1/2 Neil Young, outdoor show, 2025/09/06. Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-young-and-the-chrome-hearts/2025/deer-lake-park-burnaby-bc-canada-2b5bc4de.html
Show was super political, e.g.

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts Setlist at Deer Lake Park, Burnaby
Get the Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts Setlist of the concert at Deer Lake Park, Burnaby, BC, Canada on September 6, 2025 from the Love Earth World Tour and other Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts Setlists for free on setlist.fm!

The province of Alberta pauses its broad ban on books depicting sex or "inappropriate" topics in schools, after backlash from authors including Margaret Atwood (Vjosa Isai/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/world/canada/a…

Alberta Backs Off on School Library Book Ban
Alberta ordered schools to pull “inappropriate” books, but paused its plan after a large school district banned scores of books in an apparent effort to make a point.

RAISE: A self-driving laboratory for interfacial property formulation discovery
Mohammad Nazeri (Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada), Sheldon Mei (Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada), Jeffrey Watchorn (Acceleration Consortium, University of Toronto, Canada), Alex Zhang (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada), Erin Ng (Department of Chemical Engineering and A…

RAISE: A self-driving laboratory for interfacial property formulation discovery
Surface wettability is a critical design parameter for biomedical devices, coatings, and textiles. Contact angle measurements quantify liquid-surface interactions, which depend strongly on liquid formulation. Herein, we present the Robotic Autonomous Imaging Surface Evaluator (RAISE), a closed-loop, self-driving laboratory that is capable of linking liquid formulation optimization with surface wettability assessment. RAISE comprises a full experimental orchestrator with the ability of mixing li…

Parallel and perpendicular diffusion of energetic particles in the near-Sun solar wind observed by Parker Solar Probe
Nibuna Siranjeevi Madam Subashchandar (Department of Space Science, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, USA), Lingling Zhao (Department of Space Science, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, USA, Center for Space Plasma,Aeronomic Research), Andreas Shalchi (Department of Physics,Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), Gary Paul Zan…

Parallel and perpendicular diffusion of energetic particles in the near-Sun solar wind observed by Parker Solar Probe
We investigate energetic particle diffusion in the inner heliosphere (approximately 0.06-0.3 AU) explored by Parker Solar Probe (PSP). Parallel (kappa_parallel) and perpendicular (kappa_perp) diffusion coefficients are calculated using second-order quasi-linear theory (SOQLT) and unified nonlinear transport (UNLT) theory, respectively. PSP's in situ measurements of magnetic turbulence spectra, including sub-Alfvenic solar wind, are decomposed into parallel and perpendicular wavenumber spectra v…

There are no innocent bystanders in this. As long as TACO remains in power, calling us the 51st state, thundering his 'tariffs' on any any country who displeases him, unleashing the various departments to punish those who oppose him, masked & armed toadies terrorizing your people, ignoring the constitution and laws why the hell should we do business with a dictatorship and populace that allows that.

I think I've seen this photo before (it's from 2022) but I don't know that I've read the article or seen the photo right before the owl landed.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/great-grey-owl-lands-on-camera-1.6397792

Great grey owl flips the script on Quebec City wildlife photographer | CBC News
An amateur photographer got more than she bargained for when the owl she set out to photograph landed on her camera lens.

For those out of the Loop:
#Google, #Meta, Microsoft, any of the tech companies who provide "portals" to news and content, scrape this content and shove it in a feed that they have control over (obstensibly based on your "habits" and "preferences"). The portal keeps the $ad.revenue$ th…

I don't know art. I can't do art. Not familiar with in a purely basic sense, but have a level of respect (that is likely rooted in some way as jealousy) for those who do understand and can do art.
But if I were to try to define what art should be - I think that the Nova Scotia rocks painted as eyes would be the penultimate* example of what art should be
"We wanted it to be something that would make people laugh and it certainly did that, so I'm quite proud …

Nova Scotia's painted 'eyeball rocks' will soon be no more | CBC News
Jason Smith, one of the original artists, says he's sad to see them go, but he hopes they made people smile over the years.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #MiddayShow
Boards of Canada:
🎵 Dawn Chorus
#BoardsofCanada
https://checksumrecords.bandcamp.com/track/boards-of-canada-dawn-chorus
https://open.spotify.com/track/1AzyK709SaGmKOT32r0jSj

Good Morning #Canada
Normally, I'm posting about history or geography or trivia, but the July tourism numbers are dominating the news. We "Nasty" Canadians are choosing not to visit the USA, and trips across the border continue to drop month after month. At the end of 2024, U.S. tourism revenue from Canadians was projected to increase 16%. Surprise! Losses by USA businesses are already estimated to be in excess of $20B USD, and some states are bracing for government cuts due to a decrease in sales taxes.
#CanadaIsAwesome #ElbowsUp
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/08/11/canadian-car-visits-us-plunge-37-percent/

OK, now do a story on how scapegoating international students hasn't solved the housing crisis please.
#cdnpoli

International student visas for Canada plummet | CBC News
Permits for students from abroad to study in Canada plummeted in the first half of this year, with nearly 90,000 fewer issued than a year earlier, when the federal government introduced a cap on international student visas.

An 11,000-year-old settlement in Canada is challenging the idea that early Indigenous people were nomadic.
The newly uncovered village site of Âsowanânihk, which means "a place to cross" in the Cree language,
is one of the oldest archaeological sites found on the continent
and suggests that an organized society existed in central Canada far earlier than experts previously thought.

11,000-year-old settlement in Canada could rewrite history of Indigenous civilizations in North America
The discovery of an 11,000-year-old village in Saskatchewan could rewrite Indigenous history in central Canada.

This is the moment to defend the right to strike in Canada - CCPA https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/this-is-the-moment-to-defend-the-right-to-strike-in-canada/

This is the moment to defend the right to strike in Canada - CCPA
The ongoing strike by CUPE flight attendants at Air Canada has sparked a moment in the Canadian labour movement. Unions across Canada have been pledging their support for CUPE flight attendants and showing up on picket lines at major airports. 

The 2020s: It was the phase in the climate crisis in which we had to start asking ourselves whether it was dust from the Sahara or smoke from Canada's forest fires.
(The former, this time, I think, looking at @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social CAMS maps)

Hourly maps at ground level of Wildfire Smoke Fine Particulate Matter PM2.5, for regions and North America | Environment #Canada
https://weather.gc.ca/firework/firework_anim_e…

@… cf the Liberal party of Canada vs the Liberal party of Australia. Opposite ends of the spectrum.

"What's slimy, green and flourishing thanks to climate change?"
#Canada #Climate #ClimateChange

What's slimy, green and flourishing thanks to climate change? | CBC News
Canada's lakes are changing because of warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Here's why scientists are concerned.

#Ikea 's smaller "city-centre store" does not always work. One of 2 such smaller stores in #Canada will close.

Netanyahu rebuffs 'shameful' European plans to recognize Palestinian state (Joe Stanley-Smith/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-europe-palestine-france-uk-canada-gaza-war/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250810/p38#a250810p38

More on CBP treatment of Canadians at the US border, this time with CBP’s own statistics, which are interesting: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/us-canada-device-searches-1.7619944?cmp=rss

Surge in U.S. customs searches of electronic devices raises concerns about harsh treatment of Canadians | CBC News
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports a sharp rise in electronic device searches at crossings, raising concerns about privacy, discrimination and harsher scrutiny of Canadians. "There's a lot of fear going into the United States," a Toronto-based immigration lawyer says.

Canada to send over $700 million in drones and ammunition to Ukraine in September: https://benborges.xyz/2025/08/24/canada-to-send-over-million.html

Rail service is in Canada is beyond half-ass. When booking a ticket between Toronto and Montreal - the country's two largest cities, their urban areas representing something like a third of Canada's population - you learn that, "We are currently experiencing delays of 15-45 minutes on certain Corridor trains due to unexpected speed restrictions imposed by CN, the railway infrastructure owner." It's almost as if government after government after government couldn't b…

#Thanksgiving Day in Canada
Columbus Day in USA

Good Morning #Canada
There is a lot of news coverage about a USA president that lusts after a Nobel Prize like he attacks a family sized bucket of KFC. So let's celebrate that OTD in 1957, the first Canadian won the peace prize - Lester B. Pearson. Before he became our 14th Prime Minister, he spent the majority of his career as a diplomat. He was one of the founders of the United Nations and almost ended up as its first Secretary General. He was instrumental in ending the Suez Canal crisis by suggesting and helping to implement the first U.N. Peacekeeping Force.
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianHeroes
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1957/pearson/facts/

Weather Alerts Metro #Vancouver -
Warnings
8:10 AM PDT Monday 11 August 2025
Heat Warning in effect for:
Metro Vancouver
This is a heat warning. Temperature are very high and there is a moderate risk to public health.
What: Temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius combined with overnight lows near 17 degrees Celsius.
Metro Vancouver (inland and eastern sections)…

Good Morning #Canada
For those of you dreaming of moving to an idyllic lifestyle in beautiful #PEI, consider this to be a public service announcement. No disrespect to our beloved potato province.
#CanadaIsAwesome
https://youtu.be/CJxffIMhBd0?si=89VPMfodAtgSMrxS

Eh que c'est beau, le milieu universitaire !
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2190591/climat-toxique-uqac-professeurs-chicane-guerre

500 000$ pour une guerre de profs qui perdure à l’UQAC
Un climat toxique plombe le département des arts, des lettres et du langage depuis plusieurs années à l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.

"Right now, a lot of condos [are] coming online that people don't really want to live in."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/unsold-condos-metro-vancouver-bc-2025-1.7647776

Canada and Mexico are creating a new trade route,
the "Northern Corridor",
that bypasses the United States entirely.
This move is projected to cost the U.S. economy $125 billion
while adding billions to the economies of Canada and Mexico.
https://www.

Skipping the US: Mexico and Canada enter into trade bypass agreement
It seeks to safeguard the continuity of trade flows between the two nations without US border interference.

…oooohhhhh this s____t FINALLY might start hitting the fan! I, and many others, have been pointing out the monopoly that BC company ConAir has over firefighting contracts for Canadian governments for years.
Coulson Aviation has been doing firefighting aircraft for decades and has never been picked by its own home province on a long term contract.
The bias has been glaring.
Looks like they're going to fight it out in Court in Saskatchewan!
#BCWildfire #BCPoli
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/government-overpaid-firefighting-planes-manufacturer-says-1.7630608

John Aquino is a phat fraudster
Former Bondfield president, St. Michael’s Hospital executive convicted of fraud related to redevelopment project
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-two-men-convicted-of-fraud…

Former Bondfield CEO, St. Michael’s Hospital executive convicted of fraud in connection with redevelopment project
The men faced charges stemming from the $300-million redevelopment of the Toronto heath care facility, awarded to Bonfield in 2015

Canada courts Mexico as Trump escalates tariff fight (Mike Blanchfield/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/08/canada-mexico-trade-trump-00499436
http://www.memeorandum.com/250808/p54#a250808p54

Bonus content on PEI's focus on disappearing farmland. The island isn't getting smaller, or bigger, but housing and industrial development are putting pressure on those potato fields.
#Farming
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-news-farming-land-agriculture-1.6974633

The forest this weekend.
Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.

Canada wildfires cause poor air quality in the midwest and northeast U.S.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/03/g-s1-80826/canada-wildfires-cause-poor-air-quality-in-the-midwest-and-northeast-us

From David Suzuki
We need real solutions for affordability, energy security and responding to the threats from the United States.
Canada’s electricity demands are set to triple in the coming decades. We have an opportunity to build shovel-ready, made-in-Canada projects by upgrading Canada’s power grid with renewable power, not fossil fuels.
Did you know Canada’s provincial electricity grids are more connected to the United States than with each other?
1/n

Good Morning #Canada
#HappyBirthday to
Sir James Douglas (August 15, 1803 – August 2, 1877) who was a Canadian fur trader and politician who became the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia. He is often credited as "The Father of British Columbia." Douglas was born in Guyana to a wealthy Scottish planter and a free woman of colour. He was educated in Scotland, and in 1819, at age 16, he went to Canada to work for the North West Company and then the Hudson's Bay Company. After a long career managing remote outposts, in 1851, he became Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver. In 1858, he became Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, where he oversaw gold rushes and fought against American annexation.
#CanadaIsAwesome #History
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-james-douglas

“The airline's latest offer included a 38 per cent increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years, that it said "would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada." “
Ya…. Because I am sure WestJet and ultra-budget Flair are so well compensated. 🙄
#racetothebottom
#union #aircanada #workerrights #strike #canpoli

Ukraine and Canada have signed an agreement on the joint production of defense equipment,
Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Aug. 24.
The announcement coincides with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's first official visit to Kyiv.
The prime minister arrived in the capital on Aug. 24 to celebrate Ukraine's Independence Day and announced a military aid package worth over $700 million.
"The agreement aims to deepen bilateral defense and industr…

Ukraine, Canada sign joint defense production agreement
The deal will make it easier to establish Ukrainian defense companies in Canada and provide Kyiv "with modern weapons and military equipment in the long term," Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

How to put a positive spin on xenophobia.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/canada-rebounds-as-a-top-choice-for-international-students-new-survey-finds/article_0c9e94c0-81d2-4a…

Canada rebounds as a top choice for international students, new survey finds
According to ApplyBoard, Canada rose to second place among six countries for students intending to go abroad as an “open, safe and welcoming” place.

Some extra content this morning - how Canadian government money tried to save mink farmers in a dying fur industry.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mink-farming-canada-agristability-boom-bust-1.5495165

Food Banks Canada is the organization that supports the 5,500 food banks that so many Canadians rely upon. It's a great source on the impact of hunger in Canada, and you can use their guide to find a food bank near you.
https://foodbankscanada.ca/

From Amnesty
Right now, governments in Canada are pushing forward development bills Bill 5 (Ontario), Bill 15 (British Columbia), and Bill C-5 (Federal) that fast-track corporate interests while sidelining Indigenous Peoples’ rights, labour rights, and environmental protections.
These bills would:
Bypass the right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC);
Rush through major infrastructure projects, like pipelines and highways, without meaningful public input or envi…

Good Morning #Canada
There are over 100 ghost towns in Saskatchewan, including Saskatoon in early February. One was Bonne Madone, a community founded in 1902 in the scary Rural Municipality of Woooo Boooo. (Editor - it's actually Hoodoo). The area was granted by the federal government to French settlers, the main contingent of which arrived in 1902 from Dauphiné and Franche-Comté, led by fathers Laurent Voisin and Jean Garnier. A convent run by the Sisters of Providence was established there in 1905. Nuns with rulers are very scary. A school was built there in 1908, and the town's chapel was first built in 1910, and the town also had a Royal North-West Mounted Police station and a Post office. It was an active community in the 1920s and the 1930s, but its population dwindled over the next few decades, and by the end of the 1960s, it was abandoned..... and haunted.
BTW - Some provinces have a Ghost Town Trail, like this one.
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianGhostTowns
https://www.prairiepast.com/blog/explore-3

"I have made [PM Mark Carney] very popular”
"We're going to be talking about Gaza”
"We could have peace in the Middle East”
he jokes “The Merger of Canada and USA”
Carney: ‘that's not where I was going”
Carney looks bemused as The American Fascist talks about the ‘hell hole' that DC was.
he's talking about "zero" people coming through the south border.
... Carney doing his best to keep a straight face... the things that must be going through his mind as the Fascist rambles about Canada benefiting from Venezuelan boats being blown up.
#canPoli #CdnPoli #US

Least shocking news of the day goes to the NHL welcoming back accused sexual predators with open arms. 🤗 🏒 🤗
…… 😒
#believewomen #violenceagainstwomen #sexualassault #nhl #hockey #toxicmasculinity #believevictims
https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/breaking-news/article/carter-hart-signs-tryout-deal-with-golden-knights-3-months-after-acquittal-in-hockey-canada-sexual-assault-trial-180801774.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9hcHBsZS5uZXdzLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK7hGd8DF0DUpFo_EebyLiiGYmlf4IIdxF5rAcr4czq_1_vFZbWwN6_fbzf5C_SmV6xX3m0Lj0umstANfJVU8h-7WlK9sdgsawPqpoOpP6Tdp2Awo-kCv9nXzxVy-p0Uqo_6SKCvb3b14lqV3lW2nmbjHj3ILkPmntMBPrfw544n

I've been watching the Canada Games today as I do stuff around the house. It took me a while to understand why teams from Ontario were wearing red rather than green. I guess I've been assimilated into French-speaking Ontario more than the rest of the place.

Good Morning #Canada
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty was signed August 9, 1842, and resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that very soon would become the Dominion of Canada). The treaty would end disputes and controversies over the vague indefinite terms and text of the old peace agreement of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolutionary War. Specifically, it defined borders between Maine and New Brunswick, territory surrounding Lake Superior, and reaffirmed the western border on the 49th parallel. More importantly, it began a period of peace and friendly diplomacy between the two countries... until Americans decided a moronic spray tanner, suspected abuser of women, convicted felon, golf cheat, and narcissistic conman should be their president.
#CanadaIsAwesome #History
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/webster-ashburton-treaty

Good Morning #Canada
#HappyBirthday to William Eldon O'Ree, born October 15, 1935, in Fredericton New Brunswick. O'Ree is recognized for being the first black player in the National Hockey League, playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins. His accomplishment of breaking the colour barrier in the NHL has led him to sometimes be referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of hockey." But O'Ree's legacy goes well beyond the small number of games he played in the NHL. He has spent his non-playing days as an ambassador for hockey and focused on diversity and expanding the audience for the sport. His post hockey career is undoubtedly why he has collected so many honors and awards.
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianHeroes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_O'Ree

“The company had argued… "there was an operational need for additional staff," while what was described as a "pervasive anti-union campaign" was protected by employer free-speech rights.
The panel disagreed.
"In our view, the original decision adopts the correct approach, which is to consider the employer's conduct as a whole," the decision says.”
✊ workers rights over “employer free speech” to lie to regulators and artificially inflate employee numbers to “dilute” support for unionization.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/amazon-delta-bc-warehouse-unionization-1.7602892

Good Morning #Canada
English speaking Canadians feel that Quebec ghosts are not very scary because they have funny accents. But there is a ghost town near Montreal that could send shivers down your spine, especially in early February. Out of the hundreds of abandoned towns in LA Belle Province, the town of Goose Village has the most chilling history, and ultimately, it was wiped off the face of the earth. This municipality of Montreal was officially called Victoria Town, but Goose Village was the common name. It was the infamous site of 22 quarantine sheds where thousands of immigrants, mostly Irish, died in 1847 and 1848. It continued as an impoverished neighbourhood until the entire community was bulldozed to make way for Expo 67 parking. There is ZERO chance that the area is not haunted given its history.
#CanadaIsAwesome ##CanadianGhostTowns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Village

Good Morning #Canada
It's World #Emoji Day! Let's all celebrate by sending small cartoonist images that people over 50 can barely see. Why are they so small
It's also a great day to celebrate the creation of the most important Emoji in history. Yes, after thousands of years waiting, the iconic 🦫has only been with us 6 years, but it feels like forever. Here is a repost of how Canada’s favourite mammal opened up communications with the rest of the world.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Beavers #History
https://slate.com/technology/2019/05/beaver-emoji-proposal-is-hilarious-and-extremely-correct.html

Good Morning #Canada
It's a holiday across most of our nation today, so why not take 14 minutes to find out why Alaska isn't part of Canada and discover why Lord Alverstone is the villain you've likely never heard of.
Lord Alverstone, whose full name was Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone, played a key role in the Alaska Boundary Dispute of 1903. As the British representative on the arbitration tribunal, he ultimately sided with the United States, leading to a decision that favored the US claim over Canada's claims regarding the Alaska panhandle. At the time, the British government was trying to rebuild relationships with the U.S. and likely instructed Lord Alverstone to rule against Canadian border claims.
#CanadaIsAwesome #History
https://youtu.be/woXBk3OAtSM?si=-pTwI7OKidfK2g2L

Good Morning #Canada
Today, while doing my morning Google thingy, I learned that Elon Musk has Canadian Citizenship. Now I need a shower.
Canada is pretty picky when we look for individuals who should be Canadian. Only 6 non-citizens have ever been recognized as Honorary Canadians, which takes an Act of Parliament to be designated with the honour. It provides zero rights or privileges but looks good on your resume. It is far more likely that non-citizens could be awarded the Order of Canada as they are eligible if they have made a significant contribution to Canadian society or had a positive impact on the world at large. As of August 2025, 8,647 people have been appointed to the order, an average of 150 per year since the honour was established in 1967. There is no list of non-Canadian recipients, as the government doesn't track them separately, but Queen Elizabeth II was awarded her Sovereign badge in 1970.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Welcome
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/who-are-the-honorary-canadians-1.1155903

On September 28th, 1867, Toronto officially became the capital city of the new Province of Ontario, and universally accepted as the centre of the universe. It was kind of a pity decision since Toronto had recently lost out to Ottawa when the Queen, the one in England, chose the capital for the Province of Canada. Confederation decreed that the Province of Canada would be split with Canada East becoming Quebec, and Canada West would now be known as Ontario. Toronto got the last laugh because the entire country now revolves around the city, at least in the minds of certain provincial politicians who may or may not want all of Canada to pay for a tunnel under #Hwy401.
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianCapitals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

Good Morning #Canada
We've arrived at our final province on Day #12 of The Dirt on Canadian Farming. It may not be the middle of the country, but I think we can all agree that it's the centre of the universe.
Ontario leads the nation in agricultural exports and is #1 in the number of farms, poultry and egg production, sheep and goat, vegetable and melon, and greenhouse, nursery and floriculture (31.8%). The province is home to one-quarter (25.5%) of total farms in Canada while making up 7.7% of the total farm area. It also employs 870K, more than any other province. There are numerous agricultural centers in Ontario but the Holland Marsh is significant. Just 50 Km north of Toronto lies 21,500 acres of rich black soil that provides vegetables to nearby cities and exports into the USA.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Farming
https://www.canadaaction.ca/ontario-farming-facts