Jamie MacKinnon
Let's reduce economic inequality & build a just, environmentally sustainable society.
Joys include ale, good conversation, travel, literature & theatre.
Interests include design, green engineering & international development.
- "The agencies charged almost seven times the hourly rate of hospital staff." #DougFord and #SylviaJones -- neither of whom have a university degree -- are killing health care AND bankrupting #Ontario. #Hamilton #nurses www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...
- We need this. Now. #Ontario is losing more than 300 acres of farmland PER DAY--a trend that accelerates as #DougFord paves the province (and accelerates the expansion of landfills) & as municipalities approve more low-density housing. #agriculture #farming #food #ONpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
- From the Earthbound Report. #Walking, #biking, and taking #publictransit are by FAR the cleanest/greenest. But in the mind of #DougFord and #DanielleSmith it's cars, trucks and highways. Note that EVs take the same space as non-EVs & their greenness depends on the local grid. #onpoli #abpoli
- #DougFord keeps promising to open #Ontario up to other provinces' products. Like so many of his promises, it's all bluster. Most LCBO stores in Ontario have zero – none – British Columbia wines. We'd rather sell wines from 🇷🇴 , 🇧🇬 , and Georgia 🇬🇪 than support Canadian producers.
- Image shows one wine at the LCBO from British Columbia. The product is in fact, not a wine, but a mead.
- Ah, Texas, where child-rearing is taken seriously. "Rep. Stan Gerdes introduced a bill, known as the Forbidding Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education (FURRIES) Act, based on a years-long hoax that kids are sexually identifying as animals." www.newsbreak.com/share/400495... #USA
[Not loaded yet]- Good thanks. Though useful to remember, I think, that citizens are preeminently citizens, not "customers." Customers can be bribed, sacrificed and manipulated. Citizens--real citizens--have agency and social awareness.
- www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/u... Opposition to #Trump is pusillanimous, on a spectrum from - spluttering "But it must be unconstitutional--I think" to - muttering "Oh my! Someone should do something" While the worst are full of passionate intensity, the best lack all conviction. #democracy #USA
- "One factor which explains a lot of the variation for beef is whether it’s sourced from a dairy herd or a herd dedicated to beef production. 44% of the world’s beef comes from the dairy sector. And it produces 60% lower emissions because its footprint is shared with dairy co-products." #environment
- Executives and their families have "donated ~ $200,000 to the PCs since 2018." "Under the developer’s proposal, a small landfill that holds 40,000 cubic metres could expand to a total of 1.6 million cubic metres." On prime agricultural land. #ONpoli #DougFord #soil www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/poli...
- [Not loaded yet]
- Dabrusin has a record of working with others to build. Smith has a record of insulting/demeaning others to tear down. More divisive posturing from Smith.
- www.bbc.com/news/article... #Putin leaves a long & bloody trail. - Russia's military casualties in the war against #Ukraine "are approaching 300,000. The number includes as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injured troops." - Dissidents defenestrated. - MH17.
- "India is gaining, the Middle East is gaining, China is gaining, Europe is doing quite well,” Simpson says. “It’s only Americans that are being left behind and losing out.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article... #tourism #travel #economy
- @nytimes.com bsky.app/profile/nyti... In January, #Canada and #Mexico sent firefighters, technicians, and equipment to help fight the LA #wildfires. This time? We will see.
- www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic... "The developer owners of the dump property in Dresden are prolific donors to Ford’s PC Party. Together with their family members and executives of their companies, they have donated ~ $200,000 to the PCs since the year they came into power." #onpoli #cdnpoli
- Of the 61% of Albertans who are 3rd (or more) generation Albertans, VERY few would have grandparents who were native born Albertans. 1. Most so-called separatists are recent arrivals, with less than 4 generations in AB. 2. The only Albertans with deep roots in the province are first nations.
- "This is the legacy of foundational choices. Canadians are who we are today because, in the 1770s, Franklin and the revolutionaries made clear that they did not welcome difference. In defining freedom narrowly, they drove us to imagine it more broadly." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
- The proposed referendum question: "....become a sovereign country & cease to be a province of Canada?" - is aimed at settlers (whose rights are contingent upon respect for treaties) - ignores First Nations legal rights Smith is fanning a dangerous fire. #abpoli #cdnpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
- Redbud (Cercis canadensis) The flowers can be eaten fresh or fried, but can also be left for others to admire. #photo #Ottawa
- Another #DougFord record: 2024 was "Ontario’s Deadliest Year for Cyclists and Pedestrians." All politicians should be obliged *by law* to take public transit or active transportation as part of their commute. #transit #cycling #pedestrian #onpoli #toronto www.bergeronclifford.com/blog/ontario...
- www.netnewsledger.com/2025/05/11/a... Don't let the gosh-shucks folksiness fool you. #DougFord attacked the independence of the judiciary. Now with Bill 5, he's aiming to - make vast parts of #Ontario into lawless zones and to - deny #aboriginal people their legal rights. #cdnpoli #onploi 1/2
- 2/2 Doug Ford has already gutted Conservation Authorities of their powers. Bill 5 would repeal the Endangered Species Act. Doug Ford has already slashed funding for aboriginal support programs. Bill 5 would *impose* environmental degradation on first nations. A very bad bill.
- globalnews.ca/news/1117050... Fox News is a bottomless pit of misinformation. "I think we want Alberta, because they’re the powerhouse,” he said. “They have all [gasp] . . . the minerals." (But Fox News is a big fan of Danielle Smith because she's weakening Canada.)🍁 #foxnews #orwell #abpoli
- www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art... "Orphan" oil and gas wells. 1.4 trillion litres of toxic industrial waste on the shores of the Athabaska. Ground water at risk. Wildfires more severe/frequent because of climate change. Danielle Smith's priority? Crapping on environmentalists. #abpoli #cdnpoli
- bsky.app/profile/demo... And perhaps the most important metric of all: Life expectancy in the #USA is 4.1 years less than in comparable countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.) #healthcare #cdnpoli
- [Not loaded yet]
- Premier #Ford, who recently attacked the independence of the #judiciary in ON, is now: a) proposing LAW-FREE zones b) sidelining Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which "represents 49 First Nations whose territories cover two-thirds of Ontario." #ONpoli #environment #cdnpoli www.thestar.com/business/cri...
- "The Church supports protecting children and preventing abuse BUT . . ." Indefensible. #Catholicchurch #abuse #children wtam.iheart.com/content/2025...
- @aptnnews.bsky.social "This kind of rhetoric’s not just an attack on First Nations, but it’s an attack on all the people who call Alberta home,” Crowfoot said." Smith should listen. But she's too busy feeding her base. #ABpoli #cdnpoli #poilievre #Alberta www.aptnnews.ca/national-new...
- Provinces - cut taxes, then - demand federal money to make up the shortfall - blame Ottawa for all problems (including of their own making) - resist accountability for the funds And then do it again. #québec #cdnpoli www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/...
- [Not loaded yet]
- Jones has no background in health or science. She has no university degree. Doug Ford has no post-secondary education. Our undereducated Deputy Premier and Premier are dangerous. Their decisions are often lethal.
- Eighty years ago, more than 7,600 Canadians died liberating the Netherlands from the nazis. In gratitude, the Dutch Royal Family and the people of the Netherlands send 10,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa each year. Gratitude plants love.❤️ #Netherlands #WW2 #Ottawa #Canada I-pad #photo taken today.
- The Doug Ford government spends a lot of time settling lawsuits for the stupid stuff it did months or years ago. And they're still doing stupid stuff now, so . . . #onpoli #Ontario #cdnpoli globalnews.ca/news/1116507...
- Another 30 days we don’t have to listen to his yap!!
- PP is getting coaching on how to distinguish canola from oats. He needs those 30 days.
- So the old party leader who the party yeeted is now the new party leader and the old party leader who got yeeted by his constituents is trying to get back into Parliament by running in the safest riding in Canada so he can be the new party leader again and the party's newest slogan is "Change"?
- And holding down the fort is a dough-headed life-time #CPC pol with zero accomplishments to his name. There are more people in this sub-category of humanity than I would have thought.
- “.. The bottom line is it appears like he's profiting off of his public office ..” @cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-f...
- You'd think CBS would know the meaning of the word "investment."
- Premier #Ford, who recently attacked the independence of the #judiciary in ON, is now: a) proposing LAW-FREE zones b) sidelining Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which "represents 49 First Nations whose territories cover two-thirds of Ontario." #ONpoli #environment #cdnpoli www.thestar.com/business/cri...
- Will Smith consider a "yes" vote to separate binding? Asked directly, she won't say. Column. calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu... #ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli #yyc #yeg
- DS has no endgame, no goal. Like PP, her immediate aim is to stir the pot, to get people anxious and riled---mostly so that they won't pay attention to her disastrous record on health and the environment.
- The "Babylon weeping willow" is named "from a Linnaeus misunderstanding that this willow was the tree described in the Bible in the opening of Psalm 137" By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows . . . #photo #reggae
- Just trying to keep up with the antics in the right-wing romper room. Please Bluesky, show me a "causal diagram" that identifies the various vectors of scorn & hate among & between Cdn conservative politicians. #abpoli #onpoli #nspoli #poilievre #COC #conservatives www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
- globalnews.ca/news/1116001... Scott Moe says he's "Canadian," but won't do a damn thing to protect or enhance the country. And tellingly, he will NOT defend the "sacred" treaty rights of First Nations (treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10) that he is obliged BY LAW to do. #Saskatchewan #Saskpoli #cdnpoli
- "The signed treaties are constitutionally protected international agreements, and therefore cannot be "unilaterally altered" by provincial governments." #Saskpoli #ABpoli #ABleg #Cdnpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
- Dear Travel Advisor: Is it safe flying in the #USA? Staff "in a Philadelphia air traffic control center temporarily lost radar & communications with the aircraft under their control,” & were “unable to see, hear, or talk to them.” We advise the use of seatbelts. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/n...
- When Ford first became premier, "Ontario's unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent. It's currently 7.5 per cent." And it’s early days in the tariff wars. Ford's unorthodox approach to rising unemployment: cut univ/college programs & close the Science Centre. #ONpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
- The fight we face is with President Trump, not Ottawa, and certainly not each other. Danielle Smith is dividing our country and picking fights in a moment that calls for national unity. Watch my response to the Premier's address: youtu.be/d4e8Xu5xtqU
- Thanks. Would have been nice if you'd mentioned and supported the Chiefs who reminded Smith of their Treaty rights (Treaties 6, 7 and 8 among them), and who denounced Smith's rhetoric and ploys. www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/vid...
- www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... Doug Ford's mismanagement of ON's health care system costs so many lives . . . A heartless, incompetent, lethal government. #ONpoli #healthcare #Ontario
