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Steve Lafleur

@stevelafleur.bsky.social

Canadian public policy guy. 🇨🇦

3284 Posts5643 Follower497 Folgt
Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 2d ago

Can't think of a thing that will radicalize a generation faster than "you've gotta let that old man in the corner over there see what's inside those pants before you play Kindergarten volleyball."

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

The Campaign to Force Genital Exams on Girl Athletes Soon Washington State could require sex-verification tests for those playing sports in schools. Portrait of Andrea González-Ramírez By Andrea González-Ramírez, a senior writer for The Cut who covers systems of power.
Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · 2d ago

One thing I'm increasingly worried about is that information doesn't always seem to make it's way to people in positions of influence. It's a slightly different problem than in America. There: slop and propaganda obscure the truth. Here: information doesn't travel from bubble to bubble.

Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · 4d ago

Thoughts in advance of some personal news. Canada isn't as divided as partisans think we are. We're an island of sanity in a world coming apart. We should be proud of that. Disagreements are good and natural. Democracy is messy. Your side won't always win. We need sensible people of all stripes.

Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · 4d ago

Thoughts in advance of some personal news. Canada isn't as divided as partisans think we are. We're an island of sanity in a world coming apart. We should be proud of that. Disagreements are good and natural. Democracy is messy. Your side won't always win. We need sensible people of all stripes.

Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · 5d ago

Was debating whether to Uber or streetcar home. She wanted to take transit, so I grabbed a couple waters to tide us over for the much longer trip, and I think we're basically saving two dollars for an extra half hour trip.

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Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · 5d ago

Homownership is good for many people at various stages of life. But it is not unambiguosly good for everyone all the time. For some, it might not make sense at all. We need more alternatives to owner-occupied housing. More non-market housing is part of it. IMO, purpose built rentals even moreso.

Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 5d ago

Example #2 of the strangely common idea that the real problem with our housing system is that rentals exist. And that we solve housing not by having more housing, but by forcing rentals to be condos only for ownership.

Kent Fellows@gkfellows.bsky.social · 6d ago

An interesting take on this, but it doesn't really address the accusations of market power. High ROI on capital and low margins do not stand as an argument that the grocery sector suffers from a lack of competition. Quite the contrary. 1/5

Isabella M. Weber@isabellamweber.bsky.social · 6d ago

Grocery margins are low is a frequently rehashed point to argue against Mamdani’s public grocery stores. Grocery is indeed a low margin business. But its median return on invested capital is above that for all firms, so it is NOT a low profitability business. Let me explain. 🧵

Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · last wk.

This is why I've lost patience with right type of supply arguments. Yes, we need family sized units. Yes, we need affordable housing. Yes, we need missing middle. Yes, we need ground-oriented. Yes, we need TOD. YES to all of it (or at *least* most of it). Tinkering won't solve shortages!

G | Builds Stuff, Goes Places 🦀@whereisgraeme.bsky.social · last wk.

The issue with The Villages plan was it was too dense and not dense enough and it wasn’t 150% affordable but also didn’t provide opportunities for mom & pop landlords and it wasn’t close enough to transit but not far enough from neighbourhoods and too many young people liked it and old people di-…

Steve Lafleur@stevelafleur.bsky.social · last wk.

The temporary bout of political will to permit more housing has evaporated. This won't end well.

Peter Waldkirch 華彼德@pwaldkirch.bsky.social · last wk.

The Vancouver Villages plan was defeated. This is a huge blow to housing policy in the city. This was the easiest part of the Vancouver Plan to implement; Ken Sim directed staff to prioritize it. If we can't pass this, what's the point of any of it? All housing policy work here is in limbo.

Oh The Urbanity!@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · last wk.

Edmonton has traditionally retained a more sane housing market by Canadian standards. Most recently by legalizing townhouses/multiplexes up to 8 units broadly across the city. And they get prices people in other cities would love to have, like a *new* 3-bedroom for $1,900. (Americans: USD$1,350.)

Jacob Loo Dawang@jacobdawang.com · last wk.

Edmonton continues to show it's possible to have newly built, ground-oriented housing for families in existing neighbourhoods at a reasonable price. You only have to make it legal and feasible. Here's a 3bed for $1,895 with a $500 lease signing bonus.

Exterior photo of modern contemporary townhouse units featuring brick and white siding with black trim and metal railings. Three townhouses are visible with large windows and private entrances. Landscaping includes young trees and shrubs. Image is labeled '2 of 18' indicating multiple units available. Listing shows 3 beds, 2.5 baths townhouse at $1,895 per month, located nearby within 6 kilometers.
Jeremy Venook@jvenook.bsky.social · last wk.

I don’t think this adaptation of “The Odyssey” actually does though! It’s basically a three-hour long walk from the audience’s assumption that he’s a glorious hero on a crazy adventure to “Odysseus and ‘great warriors’ like him are responsible for repeatedly destroying civilization”

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · last wk.

The Odyssey ending up glorifying Odysseus is a side effect of a huge problem with the Western canon (& most canons probably?) - much of it is written to memorialize & entertain the warrior aristocracy & their virtues.

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app · last wk.

Ontario construction nerds: this may be your chance to get egress reform and update elevator rules so point-access blocks are as viable as stacked townhouses. What parts of our building code need changes?

Gil Meslin@gmeslin.bsky.social · 2w ago

Attention single-stair/missing middle people: as part of OBC review, the Province has opened a consultation on the Building Code, seeking to “identify ways to reduce unnecessary costs, delays, complexity, and administrative burden”. Runs to August 14. ero.ontario.ca/notice/026-0744

Philip Bump@pbump.com · last wk.

A good design decision to put the domestic money at the bottom, so you can see that it — putatively Trump’s real business genius — barely moved at all.

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