A spectre is haunting Canadian roads: the real prospect of actually having to pay a fine for not respecting the speed limit. As speed cameras proliferate, particularly in Ontario, some drivers are showing their displeasure. Many of the cameras have been vandalized and one in Toronto cut down six times.

It’s time for a deep breath.

Speed cameras shouldn’t disappear, they should multiply. The cameras are effective and, because their penalty is so easily avoided, they are fair.

...

In fact, a recent poll for CAA showed majority support among Ontarians for the cameras. Politicians who pander to the minority of drivers who hate them are gambling with public safety.

Those politicians span the ideological spectrum, from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford to former Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, now mayor of suburban Vaughan, and left-leaning Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

So busy trying to placate drivers, these politicians ignore that speed cameras work. The hit in the wallet is sufficiently unpleasant that it convinces people to slow down. For evidence, consider that the number of tickets issued by any given camera typically goes down over time.

That effect has been further demonstrated by research from a hospital and university in Toronto. According to their findings, referenced in a recent city staff report, the proportion of vehicles speeding went down 45 per cent after cameras were installed near schools and in high-collision areas.

...

A person hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 kilometres an hour has a 90-per-cent chance of surviving. Increase the speed to 40 kilometres an hour, though, and the survival rate drops to 60 per cent. A person hit at 50 kilometres an hour has only a 20-per-cent chance of living.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-sorry-speed-cameras-arent-the-problem/

As first reported by CBC Hamilton in 2023, and according to subsequent LSO investigations, Bruyn has a pattern of promising to help clients successfully navigate Canada's complicated refugee process, but then failed to complete their applications, show up for hearings or submit evidence, and in some cases lied about it.

...

In two other cases, clients paid her a total of $10,500 in fees without completing any work and Bruyn never provided refunds, LSO lawyer Kristin Bailey said at the hearing.

...

Bruyn didn't submit any evidence on behalf of her client, even after the Refugee Protection Division gave her an extension, said the LSO. As a result, the woman's refugee claim was denied. Bruyn told her she'd file an appeal, but never did.

The woman was almost deported back to Mexico, but a new lawyer, retained through a local refugee organization, intervened and helped her get a temporary resident permit, said Ushirode's affidavit. She's currently applying for more permanent status.

What's she doing now? Surely she isn't in a position to harm others:

She told the panel she isn't opposing her licence being suspended. She's no longer practising law and was appointed as an adjudicator to Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board last year, but is on a leave of absence.

The Globe has a great editorial on immigration and infrastructure:

a “hard rule” in which population intake does not exceed the growth in the housing stock, the job market and the availability of doctors.

There is merit to that approach, although the emphasis should be on using permanent residency as a tool to ease shortages of specific skills, such as doctors.

Housing advocates (like Mike Moffat) have been calling for that kind of linkage for years. The bad news? It's Poilievre that's suggesting it. Here's hoping Lemmy and Canadian politicians can take the idea and run with it, despite the current advocate.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-right-fix-for-immigration-pierre-poilievre-ottawa/

The article has a loooooong list of rent decreases in major metros across the country. Generally, we're seeing decreases that seem to erase the increase from the same period in 2024.

Over the past year, the average asking monthly rent fell between 2 per cent and 8 per cent in condos and rental-only apartments – also known as purpose-built rentals – said the report released Tuesday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC).

The drop was due to a surge in new condos and apartment buildings hitting the market along with limits on temporary foreign residents such as students and new permanent residents.

...

“It is quite evident on the demand side that there have been signs of weakening,” said Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s deputy chief economist, adding that there were stronger rental declines in regions with slower population growth.

https://archive.is/wosmf

The housing crisis is screwing generations of Canadians. Toronto City council is enabling it.

The feds need to call out Toronto's bad faith negotiations and withdraw the promised funds.

(The feds also need to change tax laws to definancialize housing, enforce money laundering laws, build affordable housing, etc - but I digress)

In 2023, Toronto city council voted in support of an agreement signed with Ottawa, pledging a variety of policy changes that included allowing buildings with six housing units on a single lot anywhere in the city. Federal money allocated from the Housing Accelerator Fund started to flow in return and then, during a debate last month, a lot of councillors got cold feet.

Instead of voting to allow the sixplexes they had pledged to permit everywhere, council watered down the proposal. In fact, they took a fire hose to it. These buildings will be allowed in only nine wards, which together make up less than one-quarter of the city’s area. Councillors for the other 16 wards can opt in later, as if they are mayors of their own area.

https://archive.is/DoPVJ

Federal cabinet ministers are being asked to find ... ways to reduce program spending by 7.5 per cent in the fiscal year that begins April 1, 2026, followed by 10 per cent in savings the next year and 15 per cent in the 2028-29 fiscal year.

I'm getting 90s vibes. Government cutbacks, threats of separation, climate change. It's all here.

But there's a modern twist: we're talking about 3C change in 2100, there's a housing crisis, our media landscape is dominated by tech bros, and the US is lost in the culture wars.

archive

"At that time, I was pregnant with my first kid," she said. "I lived in a two-room apartment … it was an OK building, but it was small for us."

[She] went to an online portal, entered her income and requirements, and was ranked alongside thousands of other residents. Soon, she was assigned a new apartment: a three-bedroom unit in a brand-new building, adjacent to Vienna's Central Station.

"I love it. It's in the middle of Vienna," she said. "A lot of young families moved in at the same time…. There's a big campus here, with a kindergarten and primary school. There's dancing classes, and a boulder bar, and a huge park."

[She] wasn't desperate to find housing. She and her partner earned middle-class incomes. But in recent years, Vienna has become renowned among housing experts for its model of social housing, which provides heavily subsidized rental units to more than half of the city's two million residents.

The key is taking profit out of construction (at least 96.5%), and a robust government that isn't afraid to impinge on the private sector.

I would love to see something like this in Canada, but I don't think our politicians (or electorate) have the guts.

Here's my theory: Carney dropped the DST because of supply management on dairy. My evidence is sparse, but:

Last month, the U.S. and Britain announced a trade deal related to a range of products. But Britain’s 2-per-cent DST was not affected.

(From the Globe)

That shows other countries have a DST but that hasn't been a sticking point in trade negotiations.

Meanwhile, Quebec really likes supply management:

83 per cent of Quebecers want governments to do everything in their power to protect the country’s supply management system.

During the next election, Carney will probably need Quebec's support to stay in power. By giving up the DST, Carney may be able to keep supply management for dairy, and avoid alienating Quebec voters.

I guess we'll see during the final negotiations. Do our dairy farmers get to keep their protections?

Fifty-two per cent of us worry a lot about our personal finances. Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed. There is not one survey indicator to suggest Canadians have made financial progress in 2025 compared with 2024.

...

Our debt-to-household disposable income has bumped up against nearly 200 per cent for years now, putting Canada in first place among G7 countries. Canada’s is 185 per cent; the average for all G7 countries is 125 per cent according to Statistics Canada. Canadian households collectively owe about $3-trillion, almost three-quarters of it is mortgage debt.

...

Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it. The housing crisis hasn’t just hobbled the hopes of many Canadians seeking affordable housing; it is undercutting middle-class living standards.

...

That thinking of retirement provokes anxiety in surveys on the matter shouldn’t be surprising. It is one more item on a growing list of aspirations many Canadians cannot afford.

“The targets and outcomes for funding available under the agreement were mutually agreed upon in March 2025 through a three-year Action Plan for 2025/26 to 2027/28. This ensures the continued availability of federal funding for Ontario.”

Flack’s office indicated he wanted to reset the relationship with his federal counterpart after a tense year. The latest agreement will prioritize rent-assisted units, according to the Ontario government.

I didn't see an explanation of the action plan in the article. Progress on rent-assisted units is great.

TD isn't fixing its money laundering problem because of Canadian penalties, but because the US regulator wouldn't put up with their shit:

It had become clear TD needed a new leadership team to usher in the sweeping changes required to fix its anti-money-laundering failures, which in October resulted in U.S. regulators announcing more than US$3-billion in fines by the Department of Justice and a host of non-monetary penalties that will carve deep trenches in the bank for years to come.

Money laundering has pushed up costs in our real estate sector and enabled the drug crisis. It's bizarre that we haven't done more to stop it.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-td-bank-raymond-chun-ceo/

The Eight Laws of ~~Robotics~~ Calmness:

1. Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention.
2. Technology should inform and create calm.
3. Technology should make use of the periphery.
4. Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity.
5. Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak.
6. Technology should work even when it fails.
7. The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem.
8. Technology should respect social norms.

I'm a little suspicious about a certification body that's paid for by producers, but it's fine if they can make it work.