@julespenner
Musician, mother, arts worker. I play violin with Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, JP Hoe, etc. Made radio/podcasts with The Vinyl Cafe and William Prince. I tend to post about Winnipeg, biking, urbanism, and politics. https://linktr.ee/JuliePenner
Canada created more jobs in 2025 (! year of the economic attack!) than the U.S., tho the U.S. job market is 7.5 times bigger.
"Health" generated 41% of the new jobs. "Care" (incl educ) almost 1/2.
Demographics guarantees that this job juggernaut will continue to dominate. Demand>supply everywhere.
Not only is February brutal in Edmonton... the leasing market feels like this snowstorm too. The absorption rate has completely shifted. Many of us predicted that Spring 2026 leasing would be different, but I don't think anyone expected this many units to hit the market at the same time. Right now, tenants have options - lots of them. They walk into a showing, and if the unit isn't exactly what they want...there is similar one just across a street. What we're seeing right now is something we haven't seen in a while - a real competition between landlords. free months of rent gift cards parking incentives flexible move-in dates upgraded appliances utility credits Everyone is trying to lease asap as the lender is coming at you and if you don't achieve proforma - you get to buy the rate down ouch! For investors this means a few things: You need to be strategic, flexible, and realistic (!!!) with pricing and incentives.
Turns out building more homes makes housing more affordable.
Edmonton real estate investors are realizing that because so many options are on the market for tenants, they need to be sweetening the pot with incentives - and being "realistic" with rent.
#yeg #yegcc
Excellent op-ed by @alexneve.bsky.social re: graduate students in Gaza waiting up to two years for study visas. "A delay of weeks is processing. A delay of months is a backlog. But a delay of a year, without explanation or end, is a de facto rejection." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
The last photo of third-grader Mikaeil Mirdoraghi, waving to his mom before he left for school. He was killed shortly after in the U.S./Israeli strike on a primary school in Minab.
The fallout:
Thank you, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers.
The 2026 Winnipeg Folk Festival lineup is HERE! 🙌 #FolkFestHappy
Full Lineup: buff.ly/9d2Llpb
Buy Tickets: buff.ly/gpttHNn
Schedule: Coming in April
It’s not disingenuous to point out that the NYT did not run a single front page story of the Minab bombing. You don’t dispute this claim because it’s true. And the story that you reference on your webpage does not attribute blame to US/Israel and frames it as an allegation by “Iranian state media”
Good for Premier Eby.
“Mr. Eby demanded the meeting after refusing to meet with lower-tier executives with the company.”
168 people reported killed. Mostly children. Their family members will never ever forgive us. I don't care that it was next to a military base - if you can't shoot straight, you shouldn't be shooting. If you're trying to call them "human shields," well, US military bases have schools too.
I think maybe we just need a near-total ban on "will you rule out?" questions for politicians.
The number of things anyone can honestly, but categorically, rule out is very limited.
Like do I think I'll ever go to the moon? No.
But can I rule it out?
I’m pleasantly shocked to see Canada on the positive end of the spectrum here.
Convoluted.
The city is poised to scrap a long-awaited temporary bike lane pilot project on Wellington Crescent, which was expected this year, and speed up the construction of permanent bike lanes instead.
Guys, I can’t do another one. I will retire to run a bar in Malta if this happens.
That is odd. And she didn’t say where the detour would be?
Powerful words from Canada’s former Foreign Affairs minister, Lloyd Axworthy. Watch on CBC:
What's scary about this story is the surveillance it hints at. This trans woman had changed her name, legally, but chose not to change her gender marker. She was apparently flagged in the DMV system as trans and her license was invalidated under a law that supposedly only concerned gender markers.
For all the news i'm numb to now, this is the thing that makes me want to scream
gavin newsom talking about israel as an apartheid state highlights just how dramatically american public opinion on israel has changed in the last couple years.
Excellent. I’m still on Team Tank, but I don’t want to die a boring death.
One little detail at the end of the piece to note, if he is picked
So this would be a leader whose father, mother, wife, and one of his sons were all killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on his country
I’m sure he’ll be eager to compromise
I hope you’re having the best time!
I hate the conversation about “productivity” because no one ever explains what it actually means or what they are talking about.
This is a fantastic explainer.
TW: gore
Maybe his most real moment tbh
An eyeroll for the ages: Watch Hillary’s expression as her stunned lawyers call out Boebert, saying basically, “Pizzagate? You shitting us?!”
Hillary Clinton has more than her share of flaws, but when it comes to "showing congressional Republicans the proper level of contempt" she is flawless.
What we should have said in the first place. That first press release from the PM was a complete comms failure. #cdnpoli