Stephen Tweedale

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout joins the Liberals, NDP leader says The NDP says Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has crossed the floor to join the Liberals, pushing Prime Minister Mark Carney's government closer to a majority.

Five days after speaking at a Lewis campaign event. Politics can be weird! toronto.citynews.ca/2026/03/10/n...

Next up for the book club is the Bob Williams memoir, Using Power Well. Gonna try to spread that one out over more than two sittings. Not sure what’s after that, but I believe it’s going to be one on BC labour relations in the 90s coauthored by the father of Helo from Battlestar Galactica

Overall, really fun and interesting read - felt very much like having the kind of long, candid discussion you’d want to have with a respected retired leader. The book is a real gift to politically minded BCians and especially to members of the party.

The reflections on climate change exhibit some frustrating doublethink. Thoughts like “BC is too small to make much of a difference, and if you disagree you’re just arrogant” sit uneasily with the aspiration of making BC a major world energy exporter, in my opinion.

Similarly, the negative-seeming stuff about Adrian Dix is specifically about Dix thinking out loud about remaining in the leadership after 2013. Horgan is mostly glowing about Dix otherwise.

E.g. the actual thrust of the passages that reference safe supply are less about safe supply or the toxic drug crisis more generally, and more lamenting that he wasn’t able to get an ambitious mental mental health program for BC off the ground.

One of the interesting things about this book is that (almost?) all of the quotes I saw ahead of publication turned out to be quite misleading when taken out of context.

Protest signs about arts, culture, and heritage cuts. On Granville Street in Halifax with an office building in the background

One of the chants:

"Bring back the HST! Don't cut our community!"

Reverse that 1% HST cut and the museums and festivals and music and Nova Scotia publishing are secure again

There is an unresolved tension between Carney’s desire to project a new, purely realist Canadian stance driven by pragmatic need, and his desire to create a break from the U.S. sphere and play a major role in the alliance of surviving liberal democracies, defending their values. Visible here.

From the American Meteor Society - this was "undoubtedly a fireball", which is basically a meteor that's larger/brighter than usual. This one was probably the size of a softball for it to produce this flash. Most meteors are the size of a pea!

Also - Fireball Report Coordinator is a real job.

If I were a betting lady, I’d say GAC originally thought it could ‘clever language’ Canada out of overtly disagreeing with the US over Iran

“Our statement said we support “efforts to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons”, BUT WE DIDNT SAY WHICH SPECIFIC EFFORTS CHECKMATE DILEMMA AVOIDED”

fuck, I’m sorry, I can’t compete with this

Spending a wild ‘n’ crazy Saturday night trying to finish John Horgan’s memoir for my riding association’s book club (I’ve got to pass it in to the next person tomorrow). Delightful so far - insightful, informative, and funny.

New generative AI statement for @hinterland.bsky.social's games, being added first to the Episode Five build launching at the end of March.

(Needs some formatting tweaks for widescreens apparently...😅)

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim started false claim councillor 'handed out illegal drugs' Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim accused city Coun. Sean Orr of “handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day” in a briefing for Chinese-speaking reporters earlier this month, in a false assertion that was partially repeated and then retracted with an apology by a Sim ally.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim started false claim councillor 'handed out illegal drugs'

Oh dear, that poor CPAC translator :(

We're actually doing better than most. BC has the third lowest gross debt to GDP ratio and second lowest net debt to GDP ratio. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo...

The BC government says the budget has to be "tough" to tackle large deficits. But we can’t talk about deficits without talking about revenues. And BC’s revenue as a share of our economy is much lower than it was before the deep tax cuts of the early 2000s. #bcpoli #BCBudget2026

Frederick Wiseman, American documentary filmmaker, dies at 96 Run your finger over a map of any American city, and you'll come across many familiar places: the store, school, city hall, zoo, ballet, gym, racetrack, park and court.

Frederick Wiseman, American documentary filmmaker, dies at 96 reut.rs/4aABJtQ

Frederick Wiseman Dies at 96: The Documentary Legend Was One of Cinema’s Greatest Masters Wiseman's 50-plus year career started with a bang, "Titicut Follies," and only got better.

In film after film, Frederick Wiseman watched with preternatural patience as systems revealed themselves through the tenacious, irreducible vitality of the people inside them.

I kept returning to his films while reporting my book, hoping to absorb some of that patience.

Such a profound loss.

Ad for "Party Rats," little things you put on your fingers that light up and are "ideal for night blogging"

Insufficient adoption of this revolutionary technology, which was marketed as "Ideal for NIGHT BLOGGING," is clearly why blogs ultimately failed to become the lasting dominant media format

Please enjoy our research paper on how Bluesky is the preferred home of academics of all stripes, including professors of rare moths. (Yes, we actually have lots of entomologists here).

academic.oup.com/icb/article-... 🧪

Congratulations!

Had an unusually topical naptime dream in which Trump became obsessed my ideas for a Babylon 5 reboot. This gave me a reputation as the person with the greatest influence over Trump, and incurred the murderous jealousy of Dean Cain. Woke up while trying to figure out next steps

The future of primary care in BC This webinar series explores a better direction for primary care in BC with not-for-profit team-based models where diverse teams of practitioners offer a broad range of health and social supports that are responsive to local community’s needs.

From Feb 11 to Apr 22 join us for 5 webinars on the future of primary health care in BC.

From the not-for-profit advantage, learning from Ontario, primary care and mental health, nursing roles, learning from Oregon. Attend 1 webinar or all 5. Information and registration:

The Vancouver Police Board's investigation of a complaint about the exclusion zone was insufficient and absurd, at best

"For an investigation to be conducted by the very people who are subject to the investigation is at best an absurdity and at
worst a perversion of justice," the report concludes

Despite seeing T2 eleventy million times, I never noticed that the T-1000 grows extra arms during the helicopter chase so he can fly and shoot at the same time

Thomas Nagel · Now and Then: Living in Time Our lives don’t just play out over time: we lead them over the course of that time, shaping them as an extended whole...

Ooh, new Samuel Scheffler. Looks pretty good! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

On the #onpoli podcast, @spaikin.bsky.social talks with @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social about "the greatest convention day speech" he's ever seen, and the value of delegated conventions: youtu.be/R5RnbQa2ibg?...

‘Canada is not Minnesota,’ minister says in reaction to U.S. immigration raids Ottawa removed more than 22,000 people last year "in a compassionate and humane manner," said the public safety minister.

"Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says he won’t pass judgment on the U.S. crackdown by federal forces in Minnesota that resulted in the deaths of two residents."

The 🇨🇦 government is looking to amend & pass sweeping surveillance legislation. Minister, you might want to have an opinion.