• 6 Posts
  • 359 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • I think just about anything would be better than what he said.

    I wouldn’t say that it was a different time, or anything about the circles I kept.

    I’d go with:

    Clearly, I was ignorant of the harm my costume could cause. In the seventeen years since that photo, I’ve learned a lot about Canada’s history of racism and how harmful stereotypes further marginalized racialized Canadians. If I had better understood the iniquity that racialized Canadians faced, and continue to face, I never would have engaged in what I now recognize and denounce as a gross and harmful caricature.

    My detractors imply that people can’t change. They’re wrong. People can change, and our town can change. I work hard to make this a thriving, welcoming community and I know that we shouldn’t let anyone distract us from the important work we have to do.


  • I think that the classic objection to rail transit is

    What about the last mile?!

    I think that that objection can be almost entirely adressed (on both ends of the ride) with close integration with [e-]bikes/scooters

    But it gets cold!

    So… pedal?

    But it rains and snows!

    Yes, and we’re Canadians with rain and snow gear.

    What about in a blizzard? Well, what do you do in a blizzard right now? Stay home, or risk getting stuck in the cold right?

    Range and charging!

    Right, but when the battery is flat, it’s still a bicycle…






  • in bc we have two tier pricing, the first X kilowatthours per month is I think 0.08CAD (~0.05USD), the second is 0.15CAD (~0.11USD)

    Our power mostly comes from hydroelectric dams, but we wheel and deal it interprovincially so within the course of a day we’ll spend some time importing and some time exporting which gives us lower rates, and lets other places run more efficiently (ie Fewer gas turbines)


  • Headline and article mischaracterize the report’s findings.

    The country added nearly 1.3 million people last year — a 3.2 per cent increase — while the economy grew by just 1.1 per cent in the same time period. That means more people taking slices out of an economic pie that hasn’t grown much bigger.

    Right, but if we’re talking about GDP per capita growth, we should probably subtract retirees from the population number, and not count new residents that don’t have the right to work. Also, one year data is probably not very valuable because I think the we’re only just now reaching a post-pandemic equilibrium in terms of retirement/ migration flows. Probably a lot better to look at 10 year numbers.

    The news isn’t all bad. Data shows real weekly earnings — a person’s take home pay — has actually increased in Canada, even when accounting for inflation. The household savings rate is also up.

    So it’s not that we’re getting poorer, it’s that we’re not getting richer as quickly?

    This is toxic ‘keeping up with the Joneses’.

    We should focus on equity and sustainability, not growth for growth’s sake.




  • I agree that the government should govern not politick, but isn’t it a bit naive to think you can make lasting change without politicking?

    I wonder if it’s useful to look at “governing”, and “politicking” as either end of a spectrum with “leading” as the sweet spot.

    Just my two cents though.





  • It’s really telling that Chinese EVs (like imported Teslas) were basically considered fine until the prospect of them being affordable to the middle class arose. That’s when we started hearing about labour abuses and fires that only happen with * cheap Chinese* batteries.

    It’s not like Tesla has a stellar reputation for quality and reliability. They started powerwall as a way to offload bad/ prematurely failing batteries. Don’t get me wrong, powerwall is a good idea. But pretending like BYD is going to have terrible batteries and that’s why we need tariffs is bad.

    China has labour and human rights abuses (eg genocide of Uyghers in Xinjiang [cultural genocide is still genocide]). Imo Canada is doing a better job of reconciling with its history/present of cultural genocide than China is. Canada’s TFW program probably results in lots of horrible abuses that we don’t hear about, but i think this program may be on its way out too. These issues don’t only apply to EVs though.

    The only things that’re EV specific are lithium batteries and automotive manufacturing.

    EV tariffs are protectionism: We want to protect domestic automotive (and para-automotive) manufacturing capabilities, and our investments in EVs/green tech.

    I don’t think 100% tariffs can be justified on EVs alone.





  • If they know these people are active criminals they will have no problem citing just cause for arrest and search.

    I live in Canada, our gun rules are different than the USA. This week in my city some charges against a dangerous criminal were dropped because the police had a “flagrant disregard for charter rights” (according to the judge) (oir charter rights are similar to American civil rights)

    They searched him improperly, and found a loaded, illegal gun. Charges dismissed. If they had handled it properly they could have made the charges stick. What a waste of everyone’s time. Police didn’t respect his rights because they don’t respect my rights.