Kevin Wilson
@kwilsonhfx.bsky.social
Epidemiologist. Housing maximalist. Reviewer of local bike lanes and urbanism opiner at HFX By Bike: https://youtube.com/@hfxbybike
ANALYSIS: What if we hold municipal elections but nobody runs? — By @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social www.tvo.org/article/anal... #onpoli
ANALYSIS: What if we hold municipal elections but nobody runs? | TVO Today
More local seats go uncontested with each passing cycle. Provincial changes might make 2026 the worst year yet
tvo.org
it's heeeeeere, you may now read my essay about how i achieved the millennial dream of home ownership and immediately lost my mind on nextdoor. thanks to the @oaklandreviewofbooks.org crew for their ongoing support of me being Like This
How I became the villain of El Cerrito’s Nextdoor
“I had a panic attack. Then I wrote an apology letter.”
oaklandreviewofbooks.org
Politicians are increasingly brazen in their attempts to circumvent the Constitution: maggiemcneill.com/2026/08/05/i...
The problem is that as we're seeing with the Strait of Hormuz, "the USA forfeits its global ambitions" does not lead to a new age of peace and sunshine, but to global recession and instability. The Strait of Hormuz is not the only load-bearing instance of US power backstopping modern economies.
@tupolev22m.bsky.social · 1h agoI think the traditional answer is actually "forfeit your global ambitions because you can't afford them and voters won't make the sacrifices necessary to restore them," unfortunately
I'm excited to share some professional news.
The Independent@the-independent.com · 8h agoJames Bond producer shares update on 007 casting: ‘It’s got to be really different’
This is genuinely astonishing: a piece by the Globe and Mail’s editorial board lamenting the “new normal” of wildfires and summer smoke and no mention whatsoever of a) climate change, or b) the burning of fossil fuels that causes it. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
Globe editorial: A summer season of fire, smoke, ashes and fear
The carefree feeling of summers past has been incinerated as wildfires rage across the country
theglobeandmail.com
If you liked the @grandparade.bsky.social podcast with @parismarx.com, you should probably check out season two of the Gloves Off podcast.
Stephen Marche@stephenmarche.bsky.social · 5h agoCanada is a digital colony, and the biggest lesson we learned doing Season Two of Gloves Off is that digital sovereignty IS sovereignty. Episode 6 of Season Two. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApt...
For federal elections, splitting the GOP into two competing crank Nazi movements would be great for Democrats. At the state/local level, however, we'd be condemning large portions of the South and Midwest to governance by Crossfit George Wallace's.
The group that wants to preserve/rebuild the Forum being against a small town being built next to it is so grimly funny. "We need to restore and expand the Forum for all the future generations of people that are about to live in this neighbourhood!" ...is right there!
Honest question: What's the Democratic solution to this problem? I think they need one because this is likely going to be a problem until Trump's not in office, and nobody's going to be able to put the toothpaste back into the tube.
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 2h agolol. lmao, even.
I'm a frivolous prediction market hater but I want to short this so bad.
FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 5h agoSPACEX PLANS MOON FACTORIES POWERED BY HUMANOID ROBOTS
'Make the tolls voluntary' That's... not how tolls or protection rackets work.
Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 3h agoReuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be unlikely to risk transit without paying."
In today's Morning File, I wrote about Democracy Talks, a series organized by women in Pictou County, who call themselves The Mothers of Democracy. The talks started in the spring of 2025 and get people offline and out to talk about the basics of democracy. www.halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file...
Pictou County Mothers of Democracy inspire a 'reawakening of the civic consciousness' through series of talks in their community - Halifax Examiner
Democracy Talks gets people offline and into their communities to have real, in-person and respectful discussions.
halifaxexaminer.ca
Me, an anti-car weirdo: It's important to pick your battles when arguing for a better transportation system. There's no value in needlessly antagonizing drivers. The car industry to drivers: subscribe to Driving Premium on the app to enable driving mode in your car. Or watch the ad.
852dude@852dude.bsky.social · yesterdayThis sucks ass. When I start my car I want to be able to put my foot on the pedal and drive off. I dont want to watch an ad. A distracting ad. Right in the middle of my console. Again. This sucks ass.
He’s going to meet an American cyclist mid-span going the other way and the two are going to have an epic bike duel
Cheryl in Nova Scotia 🇨🇦🍁🍁@minibubbly.bsky.social · 7h agoMeet the cyclist who wants to be the first to bike the Gordie Howe International Bridge #Windsor #Ontario www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
there is a strain of lefty discourse where you can’t come to any unflattering conclusions about the populace—those must be explained away by how they are being acted upon by capital—but I think you’ll understand things better if you understand capital can also exploit weaknesses it didn’t create
Lloyd Robertson has died. Born in 1934 in Stratford, he was one of Canada's most celebrated journalists. He was the anchor of CTV's national nightly news from 1984 to 2011. He was also one of the longest-serving news anchors on English-language North American television. 📸 CTV
in terms of our energy superpower-ness the US is currently adding 1/3 of our grid in solar annually (at 100% capacity), and mostly in texas. Pretty sure we could do stuff like that if we wanted
Meanwhile, in Halifax
The Savage austerity trap: Halifax’s decade of decline
Why doesn’t council value Haligonians?
grandparade.news
Jacob Loo Dawang@jacobdawang.com · yesterday🧵 NEW POST: Edmonton’s $15M infill property tax dividend Matching permits to assessment data shows that small-scale infill from just 2024-26 will grow the tax base by $1.8B, and revenues by $15M. That's equivalent to a 0.7% property tax rate increase! #yegcc www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2026/pr...
Got a new paper out today... "Urban areas with lower commute mode share by car and, to a lesser extent, lower VMT are most strongly associated with lower per capita transportation fatality rates." (and it's open access if you are the type of person who wants to read a research paper)
What drives urban transportation safety? Exploring the role of modal composition and travel exposure
Purpose. Past urban transportation safety efforts have largely focused on controlling road user behavior through tactics such as speed management and separating users in space and time. This research ...
doi.org
I do think its kind of undercovered how big the wind energy expansion is in Nova Scotia I think we have something like 2.8 GWs, and we're expecting to break ground on 1.2 GWs of onshore (some fraction of that in practice) by 2028 and calls for bids on leases up to 5 GWs starting this year
A downstream consequence of starving the military of resources for 20+ years is that you don't have a military that can Do Things. Which is bad if you want to retain your sovereignty.
ᵀᴴᴱꀤNGᒪOᖇIOᑌᔕ¹@inglorious.bsky.social · 19h agoLiterally the end of an era. Canadian peacekeeping over. www.hilltimes.com/2026/08/04/c...
Canada is a people united by living on lands that draw the unaware to their deaths.
Trevor Heywood @metroscapes.ca · 23h ago👏 STAY 👏 AWAY 👏 FROM 👏 THE EDGE 👏 OF 👏 THE 👏 BLUFFS
Upcoming on HFX By Bike: 04AUG: Codex (out now) 18AUG: South End Halifax to Birch Cove Beach (Dartmouth) 01SEP: Let's Fix: Chain Lake Drive Painted Bike Lanes 15SEP: Salt Marsh Trail (spotlight)
Emily Wilson gets one more piece on The Odyssey and then she needs to move on and let us know what she thinks about Mallrats
We are looking for some feedback on some new ideas, can you spare a minute for a survey?
Grand Parade listener/reader feedback
Just a quick feedback survey about things we are considering.
forms.gle
We can estimate the eventual incremental property assessment uplift from all small-scale infill post-ZBR reforms based on this 2024 cohort. Rowhomes do most of the heavy lifting. They add the most units per lot and have been the most common redevelopment path since ZBR.
