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
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
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
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
Politics
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I enlisted the help of BeePBot, my own personal imaginary AI writing assistant, to create a short sci-fi story about how cool Ottawa would be if we started making all the right decisions. No legal writing to share this week and if I
Politics
A follow-up piece on that recent video from Pierre Poilievre in which he discussed extraordinary Canadians like electricians who wield lightning, farmers who master all kinds of science and waitresses who, technically, should be dead from exhaustion. English will follow and be different than the French; as usual I encourage
Urbanism
My personal big news this week is my departure from Substack, for reasons I explained here. I had first heard about the moderation issues in early December and didn’t really want them to be true because damn, migrating from one platform to another is not the most fun in
Politics
The magic happens approximately two minutes into this video that Pierre Poilievre tweeted earlier today and man, the fun we’ve been having deconstructing that. Here's to the (extra)ordinary Canadians. pic.twitter.com/s9G56XMdE4 — Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 2, 2024 It’s an aggressively anti-elitist screed, and
Urbanism
In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I express gratitude for the privilege I have of engaging with readers in the paper, online, and on jogging and bike paths throughout the city. Columnizing is my absolute favourite thing to do, because a) it’s cheaper than therapy to get most
Politics
It’s difficult to be festive these days, what with so much nonsense happening everywhere and a dramatic rise in hate crimes right in this town. In my Ottawa Citizen column this week I express hope that with more talking to one another and better listening to each other that
Politics
My, oh my is there a lot of activity suddenly on housing. About time, of course. But at the same time, shame that it’s all upside-down. I guess when you’re dealing with politicians politicking in political ways, that’s to be expected. Momentum got going in October when