"The development plan by the provincial government has proved unpopular and has also raised ethical questions after reports that some of the lots removed from the Greenbelt were owned by politically connected developers" nytimes.com/2023/02/05/wor #onpoli
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John Bowker
@bowker_john
Toronto, ONJoined March 2012
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The Ford government refused to explain why it arbitrarily extended deer hunting season for one private playground catering to Ontario’s wealthy elites thenarwhal.ca/griffith-islan #onpoli
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NEW: The Ford government promised that 8,000 children with autism would have funding services by the fall and, when it looked like they would miss their target, stopped answering questions. Through FOI, we have found out just how short the province fell.
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Dismal science: when economists Joseph Stiglitz & Ira Regmi actually tested the theory that hiking interest rates halts inflation, they found that this “cure” has all the effectiveness of medieval bloodletting, notes rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/upl
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Here's the theory: first, hike #InterestRates, which makes borrowing more expensive and reduces the supply of money in circulation. With less borrowing, there's less expansion, which leads to layoffs that lower the spending power of workers. 1/
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Kraftwerk - Live on Rockpalast
1970 / German TV
🔥sound on🔥
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People experiencing homelessness disproportionately face systemic discrimination. Governments at all levels must work to limit the ongoing effects of this discrimination. Keeping members of our community from freezing to death on the streets is part of that essential work.
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Read the OHRC's statement on human rights and access to cold weather services: bit.ly/3YgiXzY
#ontarioweather
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Very pleased to see #onpoli Opposition embrace precisely the right approach to addressing Ontario's housing shortage. Adding 1.5 million homes in the next decade to EXISTING neighborhoods & designated settlement areas. Allowing apartments & townhomes in EVERY neighborhood. 1/3
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Don't look away. These are the circumstances people are staying in this very moment while the windchill outdoors is -28°C. It should not be a political debate that people should not be abandoned like this with nowhere to go. Warming centres are at capacity; we need more now.
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Everybody failed this crossing guard: the police, who did not properly investigate this intentional hit-and-run against her, and the WSIB, which is denying her claims.
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New report: rental demand surged in 2022 & outpaced supply, driving down Canada's rental vacancy rate from 3.1% to 1.9% — lowest since 2001. Meanwhile, the average rent increase for a 2 bedroom jumped to new annual high of 5.6% assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/sites/cmhc/pro #cdnpoli #onpoli
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New research shows that 41.9% of condo units in Ontario are investor-owned, the highest percentage in Canada. Nearly one-fifth of all Ontario condo units are owned by a non-resident of Canada or a business www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/46-28-0 #onpoli #cdnpoli
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February 1, 2023 marked 28 years of boil water advisory in Neskantanga. It’s not an anniversary to celebrate or to be proud of.
This is the other Ontario. The other Canada.
(Video from July 22, 2022 in Neskantanga First Nation)
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Smart people who understand business know it’s a good business move for CEOs and Executive Chairmen to tweet impulsively and contradict one another in public.
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Hi @awilkinson & @farhanmohamed, I'm confused by these two screenshots.
Did you know the employees you let go were organizing a union or not?
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A De Gasperis family company Aspen Ridge has become the first developer to cancel a condominium project in 2023
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"Serious housing advocates know the solution: bring back the government role in building and supplying housing—specifically affordable housing in the form of social housing and co-op units." breachmedia.ca/the-global-mon #cdnpoli
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Dominic Barton is mistaken. First, the book is a bestseller. More importantly, does Barton think that calling out McKinsey for pushing opioid painkillers, working w/ autocrats and kleptocrats, & recommending US Steel and Disney cut maintenance spending is "anti capitalist"? MORE
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Dominic Barton disparaged When McKinsey Comes to Town, the book by award-winning New York Times journalists, in his Feb. 1 testimony to Canadian Members of Parliament. "That book hasn't sold," he told MPs. "It's a very biased view. It's an anti-capitalist view," he said.
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Not sure what this predicts but Quebec’s groundhog Fred la Marmotte has died.
It was somewhat of a surprise - they had a whole event leading up to his prediction only for his death to be announced.
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28 years with a boil water advisory- that is what government excuses like “things don’t change overnight” and “more work to do- but we have done more than the govt before us” look like. Get clean water to Neskantaga now.
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Today is a historic mile stone for the community of Neskantaga. A milestone that the community is not proud of nor is a celebratory day. Now, are the people of Neskantaga Canadians. Do we live in a third world country. If so, please advise there leadership. #Canadians #Indigenous
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In light of Loblaw's inept efforts on social media to justify its super-sized inflation-fueling profits, this is an opportune time to remind shoppers of four crucial economic facts regarding supermarket profitability: 🧵twitter.com/loblawco/statu #cdnecon /2
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Replying to @YoniFreedhoff
While we may be the face of food inflation but we are certainly not the cause. Food prices are higher in our stores simply because the manufacturers who make the products are charging more for them.
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If it pans out, good opposition oppo research in action
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#BREAKING - The NDP present new information to the integrity commissioner which it contends is evidence someone may have known about the decision to open up protect in Greenbelt land before the government made the formal announcement on November 4. 1/4
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A land developer’s promise, made just days before Ford’s greenbelt announcement, to gift a share of his windfall to a municipality for health care shows advanced knowledge of policy change, says NDP’s Stiles
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Vehicular Assault: Read our letter to & . On Jan. 21 a cyclist was targeted by a motorist w homophobic slurs & run off the road on Bathurst St. The cyclist crashed & sustained a head injury. The horrible ordeal was caught on video thebikinglawyer.ca/post/vehicular
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🧵(1/5)Remember Tim? In Oct. 2022, Tim was purposefully run off the road by a motorist, then the motorist jumped out of his car to fight Tim. On Oct 19 he filed a dangerous driving report w .
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In a functional democracy, this would be the scandal that brings down the Ford government.
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NEW: The Ontario NDP submits fresh evidence to the integrity commissioner in the Greenbelt investigation.
Here are the details of the complaint.
globalnews.ca/news/9450647/o
#onpoli
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PJ O'Rourke once quipped that "The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." But conservative parties have unlikely allies in the project to discredit public service: neoliberal "centrist" parties, like @liberal_party. 1/
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Janice Walker lived with her mother in a Parkdale apartment for 35 years. Now she faces eviction or a rent hike because her mother passed away and her name isn't on the lease
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'It will be chaos': Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority Chief Administrative officer says Bill 23 changes will cause confusion. yorkregion.com/news-story/108 via @
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Ford knows one thing: when you starve a person — or a health care system — even rotting food will be devoured without complaint
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Why did the Ford government prioritize development on unserviced Greenbelt farmland in Pickering, instead of accelerating planned & approved development in nearby Seaton, which has been proceeding at a snail’s pace? thestar.com/news/gta/2023/ #onpoli
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In which explains his grand theory of why big tech platforms all get worse over time: their market logic means they inevitably end up abusing first the users and then the business customers on whom they relied for their success.
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The mayor of Toronto takes $100,000 a year from the Rogers family trust.
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In view of recent safety issues, it is unacceptable that @RogersHelps (and @Bell_Support& @TELUS) are still holding out (for 100% biz reasons) enabling cell service in subway tunnels. The technology has been in place for 10 years.
thestar.com/news/gta/2022/
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There’s no sexy hook for this but last week did an incredible episode about the Trudeau government’s relationship with McKinsey that zooms out to how governments become dependant on governance by management consultants. Spotify link here: open.spotify.com/episode/0j0oy8
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Eventually, governments lose the capability to even manage consultants. Consider the Ottawa LRT. What is a big P3 but a declaration that your government lacks the competence to run a complex construction project?
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We need to reverse this trend - by making it easier to build multiplexes, and harder to convert existing Multis to McMansions. That’s why the Board proposed a “Housing Elimination Charge” in our #MissingMiddle report.
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Want to convert a single family home into four apartments? Be prepared for years of legal headaches — if it's legal at all in your neighbourhood.
Want to convert four apartments into a single family home? Get in! We're going to Home Depot. toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-85m-opulent-
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Publicly owned land should be used for affordable housing, not sold to private developers. Lots of ways to make this happen!
My latest piece in
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From this interview it’s quite clear: This government is ready to force cities to build sprawl, but not (as they should) to build intensification.
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The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force recommended allowing four homes up to four storeys on any lot in the province, but Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister @SteveClarkPC went with a much less bold plan. He tells @spaikin why, at 8/11pm | Producer: @carastern #onpoli
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Minister Clark has no problem acting unilaterally & angering municipalities if favoured land speculators & PC donors stand to profit from more costly sprawl. But these speculators don’t profit from the missing middle housing policies recommended by the housing task force #onpoli
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The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force recommended allowing four homes up to four storeys on any lot in the province, but Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister @SteveClarkPC went with a much less bold plan. He tells @spaikin why, at 11pm | Producer: @carastern #onpoli
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Minister Clark likes to accuse municipalities of NIMBYism, but he chose to delay a council-approved supportive housing project in Willowdale because of opposition from the local PC MPP & the PC donor building luxury homes across the street: theglobeandmail.com/canada/article #onpoli #TOpoli
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Replying to @TheAgenda @SteveClarkPC and 2 others
…for the record, this weekend will mark Six-Hundred 
days since Toronto City Council requested a Minister’s Zoning Order (#MZO) for their new Modular, #SupportiveHousing development in #Willowdale. Thus far, Minister Clark has refused to APPROVE that #AffordableHousing? 
twitter.com/GraphicMatt/st…
days since Toronto City Council requested a Minister’s Zoning Order (#MZO) for their new Modular, #SupportiveHousing development in #Willowdale. Thus far, Minister Clark has refused to APPROVE that #AffordableHousing? twitter.com/GraphicMatt/st…1
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