Urbanism
You may think you know everything (or is that just me) and there, out of the blue, you realize nope, you're just arrogant in your crass ignorance. When the National Capital Commission tweeted about the Holt-Bennett Plan of 1915 that would have made Ottawa something prettier than it
Gender
There are half-baked ideas, and then there are ideas that are so stupid they deserve to go back to the oven to die of 16th degree burns. Somehow today Pierre Poilievre managed to produce not one but two such clunkers. The first one concerns a private member's bill,
Politics
Before we start, you should know that I have nothing against lobster even though it is a giant bug. Except for poached eggs I also don't like boiling my food. So the odds of catching me luxuriating in some exotic locale enjoying sea-bug meat with butter sauce are
Culture
It’s been another incredibly busy week with more projects than hours available to work on them so the piece I wanted to write on Wednesday is the second part of this article and — well, why not. We’re a species that used to be able to handle two very
Urbanism
Housekeeping note: The social media Bluesky has emerged from invite-only testing mode to become wide open to everyone. I’m here, come say hi. Not too much happened in print this week because I was up to my eyeballs in another big project that won't be out for
Gender
You didn’t think this could happen here because we in Canada should never be faced with disgusting American nightmares from times past. Yet here we are. The McRib is back. At the very same time, Danielle Smith is trying to turn Alberta into Florida minus the warmth. Coincidence? I
Urbanism
Monday night, along with my good friend the awesome architect Toon Dreessen, I went to the urbanism book club and was very surprised, A), that so many people showed up to discuss somewhat nerdy things and B), that the people who did show up came from all over the city
Parenting
OK, so I snorted pretty hard when I saw the headline on that story. Telling kids to go ahead and break an arm is not my idea of parenting, and I sure was not, am not and have no intention of ever resembling a helicopter mama. ‘Break an arm, we’
Politics
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I talk about an idea whose time, finally, is coming: Giving legal personhood to natural phenomena worth protecting. Like the Magpie River in Quebec – the subject of a documentary that premieres Thursday on The Nature of Things by award-winning filmmaker and all-around awesome
Culture
English will follow and be different from the French because the older I get the more pleasure I take in writing in two languages. As usual I invite my bilingual readers to enjoy both versions. Moi, vous me connaissez, je n’aime pas faire les choses à moitié. Le mois
Culture
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I enthuse, loudly, about the new heritage building program at Algonquin College that combines building, construction and other craft stuff, including practical business skills and significant elements from the humanities. What wags whom, and for what? Fascinating story in The Atlantic (behind the
Culture
Holy bullshit, but is this (behind paywall) a whack of nonsense. It’s a business column in the Globe that warns slackers that having work ethic is back in fashion. Among the many nuggets of wisdom I have received about building a successful career is this: Be the one who