@julespenner
Musician, mother, arts worker. I play violin with Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, JP Hoe, etc. Made radio/podcasts with The Vinyl Cafe and William Prince. I tend to post about Winnipeg, biking, urbanism, and politics. https://linktr.ee/JuliePenner
Manitoba is now outpacing every other province in measles cases, prolonging an outbreak that has persisted in Canada for roughly a year and a half. The province recorded 198 cases last month alone, by @alannasmith.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com
Very interesting episode of @nprfreshair.bsky.social on the history of “amateur” blackface in America. I learned a lot.
1/ Today, the Carney government joined the Conservatives and the Bloc to defeat @jennykwan.bsky.social's No More Loopholes Bill — legislation that would have stopped Canadian weapons sent to the U.S. from being used to fuel the genocide in Gaza.
#NHLJets just took their annual team photo here at Canada Life Centre. Players, coaches, management, staff. Once it was over, captain Adam Lowry helped rink staff move the very large podium off the ice. Good human.
a winnipeg rapid transit bus and a pickup truck head-on collision that crumpled the hood of the truck. the bus banner says “SORRY”
a winnipeg transit bus hovering awkwardly behind a smashed up sedan. the bus is steadfastly avoiding eye contact but its banner reads “SORRY”
a winnipeg transit bus facing a cop car as if they are two people in a hallway who shifting the same direction so neither can pass. it’s awkward. the bus banner reads “SORRY”
a winnipeg transit bus slumping away, guiltily. the banner sign on the back reads “SORRY”
current favourite genre of photo: winnipeg bus looking sheepish
Brushing up on my Louis Theroux to review Inside the Manosphere, I watched his last BBC documentary, 2025's The Settlers. His final encounter with Daniella Weiss, godmother of Israel's settler movement, is truly chilling.
It's available on Kanopy in Canada - which I access through my TPL account.
How Much Has The 13-Month Canadian Boycott Cost The U.s. Economy? In the years leading to 2025, Canadian tourists were the biggest single source of international visitors to the U.S., comprising roughly one-quarter of all foreign travelers who came to the country, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). The U.S. Travel Association (USTA) warned early in 2025 that even a 10% reduction in Canadian inbound travel could translate to $2.1 billion in lost spending and 140,000 lost jobs in the hospitality sector. The actual decline was 22%—more than double that hypothetical drop. Based on the $20.5 billion Canadian tourists spent in the U.S. in 2024, last year’s 22% decline in visitation indicates an economic hit of roughly $4.5 billion. The drop has bled into 2026, with double-digit declines in both January and February, on top of last year’s slide.
>>> "Based on the $20.5 billion Canadian tourists spent in the U.S. in 2024, last year’s 22% decline in visitation indicates an economic hit of roughly $4.5 billion." <<<
“Tourism boycotts do come up over one issue or another, but in my 37 yrs in the travel industry, I have never seen anything like what the Canadians have pulled off,” Amir Eylon, President & CEO of Longwoods Intl, told Forbes.
“This is one that’s being felt and it’s not going away quickly.”
🇨🇦💪🏻
Long-time buddies Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were out for a pleasant van drive in Oklahoma when, all of a sudden, their lives would change.
There are other things too. The 70s was part of a kind of long postwar extended cultural "now," even before cable. You can see it on The Muppet Show, where it was treated as normal that kids would know who George Burns or Danny Kaye or Vincent Price were.
I've heard it speculated that the rise of cable television from the late-'70s thru the '90s accounts for this phenomenon of deeper pop culture exposure among X'ers and millennials, and that makes sense to me. I'm sure other factors are presently at play, as well.
New: A Houston woman is suing Tesla in Harris County, alleging that her Cybertruck, while using Tesla's "Full Self-Driving mode" tried to drive the car off of a bridge. Here is the dashcam footage provided by her lawyers: www.chron.com/culture/arti...
The school bldg had been part of the mil compound until about 15 years ago—FIFTEEN YEARS—but was completely walled off by 2016. Same was true for a health clinic that was also hit by the US attack.
US was either targeting with ancient intel, or didn’t care about all-but-certain collateral damage.
“As an example, Neufeld said Caspian billed the city for $24.4 million based on invoices Caspian attributed to a subcontractor called Fabca. Neufeld said he could only find evidence of $5.4 million in actual work related to those invoices.” #Winnipeg
So much of what's going on feels like the result of complacency about the achievements of the 20th century (trade, multilateral institutions, international law, human rights, public health, modern medicine).
i just can't... i fail to can
#BikeTO
Almost 90 people being cut.
Canadian historian Adam Chapnick, a professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada:
“I don’t know how you justify this decision if you have any sort of commitment to history."
I had never heard of Angine de Poitrine until this past Thursday, when they were announced as part of the Winnipeg Folk Festival line-up.
But we listened to them last night over some Catan games and the whole family loved it!
He was filming a Sony tv series called Shortwave for several months. My youngest son was cast as his son! Small part, but very fun.
I love how much Jon Hamm got into the Winnipeg community. Just like Bob Odenkirk, he made a point of really getting to know the city.
Hope he comes back, like Bob did.
Healthcare in Canada is not perfect. Many people don’t have a family doctor. Non-urgent issues can face long waits.
But we’ve had overall very good care from pregnancy to delivery to follow-ups, check-ups, and emergencies more recently. I’m thankful.
Nothing makes you appreciate universal healthcare (and other social programs) like having a child.
I have never spent so much time in a hospital.
I can’t imagine compounding the stress of a medical emergency with worry about how much it’s going to cost.
I can’t believe I’ve started checking the standings again. Ugh.
Whenever Vilardi scores, this chorus pops into my head (it’s just the way my mind works). #GoJetsGo
This is what we need right now. Political leaders with a combination of solid principles and moral courage.
Canada created more jobs in 2025 (! year of the economic attack!) than the U.S., tho the U.S. job market is 7.5 times bigger.
"Health" generated 41% of the new jobs. "Care" (incl educ) almost 1/2.
Demographics guarantees that this job juggernaut will continue to dominate. Demand>supply everywhere.
Not only is February brutal in Edmonton... the leasing market feels like this snowstorm too. The absorption rate has completely shifted. Many of us predicted that Spring 2026 leasing would be different, but I don't think anyone expected this many units to hit the market at the same time. Right now, tenants have options - lots of them. They walk into a showing, and if the unit isn't exactly what they want...there is similar one just across a street. What we're seeing right now is something we haven't seen in a while - a real competition between landlords. free months of rent gift cards parking incentives flexible move-in dates upgraded appliances utility credits Everyone is trying to lease asap as the lender is coming at you and if you don't achieve proforma - you get to buy the rate down ouch! For investors this means a few things: You need to be strategic, flexible, and realistic (!!!) with pricing and incentives.
Turns out building more homes makes housing more affordable.
Edmonton real estate investors are realizing that because so many options are on the market for tenants, they need to be sweetening the pot with incentives - and being "realistic" with rent.
#yeg #yegcc
Excellent op-ed by @alexneve.bsky.social re: graduate students in Gaza waiting up to two years for study visas. "A delay of weeks is processing. A delay of months is a backlog. But a delay of a year, without explanation or end, is a de facto rejection." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
The last photo of third-grader Mikaeil Mirdoraghi, waving to his mom before he left for school. He was killed shortly after in the U.S./Israeli strike on a primary school in Minab.
The fallout:
