The BC government says the budget has to be "tough" to tackle large deficits. But we can’t talk about deficits without talking about revenues. And BC’s revenue as a share of our economy is much lower than it was before the deep tax cuts of the early 2000s. #bcpoli #BCBudget2026
Do you have ideas/comments on the federal role/leadership in emergency management in Canada? If so, check out this public engagement site.
www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
OneCity is holding a contested mayoral nomination, and their two candidates, William Azaroff and Amanda Burrows, were on the Cambie Report. Link to the full episode below.
Here's what they had to say about housing (see follow up posts for alt text):
BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Northeastern B.C. still has some overwintering fires burning, some of which were sparked years ago.” globalnews.ca/news/1160516... - Global News
#BCWildfire #Chetwynd #DawsonCreek #FortNelson #FortStJohn #TumblerRidge #Wildfires #ZombieFires
Thompson Rivers University is seeking three senior researchers to nominate through the federal government’s recently announced Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program, an effort designed to bring world-leading research talent to Canada.
www.tru.ca/research/res...
www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
Figure 1. Study area and models of daily area burned. Ecozone burned areas between 2001 and 2023, and the fire weather thresholds for Potential Spread Days (PSDs) that were used to derive Realized Spread Day sum. The black curve is the fitted generalized additive model based on the paired percentage area burned by unit Canadian Fire Weather Index System (CFWIS) indices (grey points). The shadowed areas and the vertical line are the range and the threshold of CFWIS indices used to identify a PSD.
New accepted paper in Environmental Research Letters on the extent of drought determines daily area burned (DAB) in Canadian forests. This study found a strong relationship
between DAB and the spatial extent of fire-conducive weather conditions.
Open access link
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Yahoo News: Although the non-profit Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society oversees the $3 million event, it is produced by for-profit BrandLive. That structure disqualifies the festival from several federal arts and culture funding streams, including Canadian Heritage grants.
Fascinating about the fireworks. Seemed to skirt on this important part though, that they had plenty of warning and for whatever reason just couldn’t restructure to be eligible for more funding:
What does the rise of the precarity mindset mean for universities and the future of the arts and social sciences?
I break it down in my latest edition of Signals & Trends: abacusdata.ca/the-future-...
Graph showing number of fires in Canada and area burned in Canada and BC (green bars) by year for 1959-2025
New Perspective - Canada’s landscape fires spreading into uncharted territory
Canada clearly needs to do more. More to prevent & mitigate wildfires, more to increase our initial response capacity and capability to protect communities & critical infrastructure.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Seems a good day to re-emphasize this point. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Fascinating.
Jasper 2024 Wildfire Complex: Documentation, Reconstruction and Analysis
Following a highly destructive 2024 wildfire in Jasper, Alberta, a study was completed to describe the behaviour and contributing environmental factors associated with this event.
ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/pub...
Thank you Consul General Jongho Kyun of the Republic of Korea for travelling to @thompsonriversu.bsky.social to speak with faculty and students. Many thanks to @robertjhanlon.bsky.social and the Canada and the Asia-Pacific Policy Project for hosting.
This is a fascinating look at the challenge of the next decade and beyond for manufacturing and in turn defence. apple.news/ADloeSFYbSUG...
today in "predicted by 30 Rock"
🔥 New fire paper out - Fire regime changes in Canada: an update. Overall, the big-picture trends remain consistent: annual area burned, the annual number and size of large fires are still increasing, but the total number of fires for all sizes continue to decline.
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
Hey @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social - your new Green rep seems to be making the opposite case on LNG than they think they are. Prices went negative in Alberta for pipeline gas. Prices are fine for LNG. The gap between the two is how LNG facilities make money. fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1MP1S
national preparedness level descriptions in canada
map showing Canadian wildfire location and status
Canadian fire season for 2023 & 2024(May-Aug) and 2025 (May-Jul) = 338 days with 218 days (65%) at National Preparedness Level (NPL) 5. NPL5 means firefighters and equipment in every jurisdiction in Canada is put to use, and international help has been requested. Is this sustainable?
www.ciffc.ca
A friend noticed that and will be commenting further. @amymarlene.bsky.social
Canada's Cabinet Committees. Overlap between Priorities , Ops and Building Canada are interesting.
Feels like we should make a concerted effort to not lose sight of the fact that the president's answer here was not "no" or "never" or "that is a preposterous question" or "that is an abhorrent idea."
And?
You end up some economies of scale going higher voltage/capacity, but labour is still the big one.
If UHVDC was a crazy awesome technical breakthrough driving down costs by an order of magnitude, we’d see it popping up everywhere. You can’t just project costs across borders.
That’s a bogus number. The two Alberta lines which totalled 800 km or so were the price you quoted a decade ago!
OneWeb today it seems, Lightspeed eventually.
Flashing lights, large screens ablaze with animated graphics reminiscent of the oughties. The CPAC logo spins around as generic rap-rock blasts across the crowd. Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the DOGE update. Please welcome Newsmax host, Rob Schmitt. Schmitt: Man. That is a big crowd. And they are not here for me. Crowd cheers. Schmitt: How you guys doing? Nice vibe this month, right? After the best month we’ve ever had. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming out. It’s good to see you. Let’s not kill any more time, let’s bring out Elon Musk. Crowd goes wild. Elon Musk enters stage, pumping both fists high in the air, walking slightly unsteadily. He is wearing a black MAGA baseball cap and sunglasses that look like they were bought in a gas station in 1989. He continues to pump his fists as he makes his way in front of the beige arm chairs at the front of the stage. Rob Schmitt attempts to get his attention, but he turns and waves at the crowd. Schmitt: We’ve got one more surprise, in case this wasn’t enough.
![Musk: Well, President, uh, President Milei has a gift for me.
Schmitt: [hamming at camera] Javier Milei from Argentina, you guys know who that is, right?
Milei, a friendly-looking figure who resembles Bilbo Baggins right before he Smeagolifies, enters the stage carrying a chainsaw. He presents the chainsaw to the billionaire, who then waves it around unsteadily.
Musk: This… is… the chainsaw for bureaucracy. [pumps the chainsaw in the air] CHAINSAAAW!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4t2ziwnnescprzorvmrfduey/bafkreiaq5wpff25isb2ylypajpm57h5xlpb7ms6ws4fghayhnge2wqqbom)
Musk: Well, President, uh, President Milei has a gift for me. Schmitt: [hamming at camera] Javier Milei from Argentina, you guys know who that is, right? Milei, a friendly-looking figure who resembles Bilbo Baggins right before he Smeagolifies, enters the stage carrying a chainsaw. He presents the chainsaw to the billionaire, who then waves it around unsteadily. Musk: This… is… the chainsaw for bureaucracy. [pumps the chainsaw in the air] CHAINSAAAW!
He takes a beat to examine the chainsaw. He is still wearing his sunglasses. He turns around and starts wandering to the other side of the stage, waving the chainsaw around. Musk: Uwaaauwaargh! Milei lurks awkwardly in the background, trying to wave goodbye to Musk, before Schmitt takes notice. Schmitt: Mr. President, thank you so much. Nice to meet you. I love it. We love it. Musk’s attention snaps to Milei. The two men shake hands with the Argentinian president, who then departs.
elon musk at cpac was so fucking weird you guys I know this reads like a parody but I literally just wrote down what happened www.theverge.com/elon-musk/61...
With already having comprehensive defence and or basing rights in Canada and Greenland, how would you apply the lines on map framework here?
The thing not said…the choice left on the table that the Mayor won’t consider, is raising property taxes like other municipalities do across the country to fund operating costs. That 50% service cut threat is entirely a choice.
1000% this.
I am increasingly exasperated and frustrated that so many people do not seem to realize what this is.
Trump is not a rational actor looking for a fair deal. He's a thug who believes every activity is zero sum and every compromise is weakness. Plan accordingly.
