kar0ling

  “We’ve increased support for municipalities year after year because we know strong communities depend on reliable, stable and predictable funding increases,” Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard said in an emailed statement to the Free Press Tuesday. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/06/23/winnipeg-transit-needs-funding-boost-additional-staff-to-follow-new-provincial-accessibility-regulations-city-report This in answer to City of Winnipeg chair of Public Works Janice Lukes plea for the province to cough up money for the needed upgrades. Listen carefully because these are words I won't often say: I gotta agree with Lukes on this one. If the province is handing down new standards, given their higher capacity for raising revenues, they ought to help the city fund meeting said standards. What Simard fails to acknowledge is that those "year after year" funding increases started at the bottom basement after Conservative cuts and likely h...

The government has just rammed through legislation to turn Canada into a police surveillance state where all the democratic and processed based guard-rails have been removed.  They used some legislative loophole to force a vote on amendments without debate at a committee meeting at midnight. But this is what the front page of our national broadcaster's news site looks like. Do you see any mention of Bill C-22? Do you see any word of a midnight SECU session with a forced vote? Do you see any mention of MPs in tears at how democracy is being shredded before their very eyes? Do you see anything removing about all legal protections against having your data intercepted, read and kept on file (in a word of hackers and data breaches)? Do you see anything about how experts in Australia (who have already gone partway down the path Canada has just widened, flatted, and turned into a racetrack) are warning Canadians not to do this? No. The CBC is spineless. Just a mouthpiece for whoever wield...

 The Liberals are advertising a summer survey. Let me Mr Carney know what you think! Of course, the multiple choice questions force you to give the answers Carney wants to hear, but fortunately, there's an open box for further comment at the end with a 2500 character limit.  I don't have all day to spend on this so it's a slightly in coherent rant, but I can't let this man think everything is fine while he turns this country into a totalitarian surveillance police state whose only industry is war-making.  https://action.liberal.ca/a-summer-sound-check/ Here's what I think, Mr Carney.  The things that "stand out" the most for me are the things that horrify the most. Every single thing Carney has done or championed since April 2025 is awful for ordinary Canadians (only good for Carney's investment portfolio). You can shove your AI. Yes, Canadians need protection from AI but your disgraced grifter of a "AI minister" is the last person to do that...

A letter to the FreeP. ( They didn't publish it. ) Re: Mayor turns on lights, sirens in urgent call to province for more ambulances, paramedics Winnipeg had 22 homicides in 2025. MPI reports 21 roadway fatalities in the same year. Maybe if you (mayor & council) followed the multitude of recommendations to slow down traffic and add bike lanes, the firefighters and paramedics wouldn’t have to spend so much time scraping humans off the road and as a result wouldn’t be stretched so thin for all the other demands on their time. 7,375 collision victims. 156 pedestrians hit. 130 cyclists hit. 165 serious injuries. 932 minor injuries. 5,995 minimal injuries. Slowing all the traffic down a few kms/hr, adding mere additional seconds to car commutes: how many millions more minutes might we recoup in lives not lost?

Last week, several sources linked to a letter appealing to venerable Canadian scientist and nature advocate David Suzuki to withdraw from a supposed climate prize due to its deep ties to an unbashedly colonlialist Israeli organization. The JNF's claim to fame is planting trees in Israel. Pine trees. Non-native trees. Trees that are susceptible to wildfires. Trees intentionally planted atop forcibly-emptied Palestinian villages to try to erase their memory.  The letters worked. Suzuki withdrew. I hadn't gotten around to writing before I got the news. So when a follow up letter to other participants in the prize hit my inbox, I rushed to put my own spin on the letter and sign it. Send your own here I urge you to join David Suzuki in withdrawing from the upcoming Climate Solutions Prize (CSP) festival. CSP was instigated by the racist Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada with support from the Israeli government. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet announced the launch of CSP...

If-you-see-something-say-something strikes again.  Sick and tired of motornormativity, I'm setting event notifications straight. Don't just tell people where they can park when they attend your event. Have some hope for humanity and believe we can step out of our death machines and get around in a more human way. Especially for an event that is pitched as a picnic. This is what they sent: So this is what I wrote:  I know you already have a lot of details in this message. I know that realistically, most of your attendees will come in private vehicles. But can you please add notes for bus and bike travellers the next time you send a message like this? What constructs our view of “normal” is not only what we personally see and interact with but also how our world is talked about. When “where do I park?!” always gets top billing in event information whereas “which bus can I take?” and “is there a safe place to leave my bike?” are never even addressed, it reinforces the impre...

We don’t need another pipeline, but Mark Carney doesn’t seem to agree. The Liberal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, that announces plans for a new Alberta to BC pipeline with construction to begin as early as next fall. Leadnow hopes that if we create an immediate public outcry, we can empower Liberal MPs to stand with us in opposition to this pipeline and create an internal party fracture that Carney cannot ignore. I added a few spicy bits and sent a letter. Will you send one too? Ms Dabrusin, there is no patience left for your excuses and deflections. I am writing to demand that you stand up against the proposed Alberta to BC pipeline. At a time when we need to be transitioning to a clean economy, Mark Carney and Danielle Smith's MOU is moving us in the wrong direction. I am asking you to represent real people, stand up to Big Oil, and do everything in your power to stop this disastrous proposal. There is not i...

Just Peace Advocates has found that as of 31 March 2026 (fiscal year end 2025/2026), the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board had over $54 billion invested in 120 companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, war crimes, and apartheid. This represents 6.9% of CPPIB’s total holdings in 25/26. They're trying to fund our retirements by profiteering off mass murder. I'm not okay with that. Are you? Read Just Peace Advocates’ report Send your own letter to let them know. I am writing today after having learned about CPPIB’s 2026 Annual Report. I am disgusted by what I have learned.  After the millions you spent on a cross-country consultation tour, you are ignoring every voice that cajoled and begged and pleaded that you not invest our money in genocide. We'll be happy to have smaller returns if it means our funds aren't causing children to die at the hands of a wanton, sadistic genocidal state. An analysis of CPPIB’s holdings shows more than $54 billion invested in com...

Once again, it takes joint action from other cowardly Western states before Canada is willing to say anything the slightest bit critical of Israel, no matter how meaningless. “ International law is clear: Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, ” they say. And yet they have absolutely nothing meaningless to offer as consequence for said illegality.  Government of Canada release So, another letter, of course! Your statement "businesses should not bid for construction tenders... should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction" is not worth the paper it is written on unless you promise *real* consequences *you* are prepared to levy, not just "should"s and "reputational consequences." It is long past time for sanctions on Israel in response to ongoing violations of international law and the continued expansion of illegal settlements, and more importantly, for *your* government to divest from th...

Yesterday, I saw a post from a Dutch antiwar organization: Geen Bommen maar bomen. “Not bombs; trees instead.” I love it.  Today, I saw a campaign from MCC: “bread, not bombs.” So I wrote adapted their letter to write to the prime minister et al.: Sure, money is important, but even more crucial is air to breathe and food to eat.  War makes money for a tiny fragment of human population, but for the vast majority, war means displacement, loss, deprivation and at worst death. Even for those far away from war, like here in Canada, every bomb that drops leaves not only a crater in some distant soil but also further deepens the desperate carbon crisis we are in, which will exact its retribution faster and faster in wildfires, droughts and floods.  That is why I am writing to you today.  Canadians did not vote for war in the 2025 election.  War does not lead to security.  How could the hunger, displacement, and worsening impacts of climate change lead to sec...

Dear Mr Carney After promising to follow international law and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, you lost your nerve and failed to deny him passage through Canadian airspace.  However, you finally spoke up after Minister Ben Gvir's egregious display of sadism. Now you have another chance to keep that backbone tall, standing against genocide, by preventing the representatives of Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries from attending CANSEC in Ottawa on May 27 – 28, 2026.  This request was recently brought to your attention by ICJP and Just Peace Advocates. In their request, they provided significant evidence in support of our position that entry ought to be denied under section 35(1) of the IRPA, on the basis of the companies’ ongoing cooperation with the Israeli military during its alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Elbit is Israel's largest private defence contractor. Its finan...

“The Liberal government introduced Bill C-9 , the Combatting Hate Act , in September 2025. Although it is aimed at preventing hate crimes, it instead threatens the Charter rights and civil liberties of all people in Canada, including those communities that the government wishes to help protect,” writes the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.  The House passed it but the Senate is not finished with it yet, and thus it is not beyond the possibility of at least alterations.  So I wrote adapted the template to send this letter.  I am alarmed that the proposed Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9), which the government has said is meant to prevent hate crimes, will instead threaten the Charter rights and civil liberties of all people in Canada, including those communities that the government wishes to help protect. We already have laws against hate speech. If hate speech is on the increase despite them, is it possible that adding legislation is not the answer? If we ar...

According to Strava, I did 587 bike rides covering 3,807.3 km in 2025. Additionally, I did 81 walks covering 238.2 km in 2025. For comparison, in 2024, I did 643 bike rides covering 3,824.7 km and 75 walks covering 260.4 km. Neither of these were “normal” years for me as I spent 3 months in Europe both times.  2024 includes a few days of tourist traipsing around Istanbul and a 30 km walk from Amsterdam to Utrecht in solidarity with the people of Gaza. In 2025, I did an epic 70+ kms of biking around North Holland, but otherwise went absolutely nowhere many days, living at a retreat centre where my work was just steps away from my sleeping quarters. By contrast, in 2023, it was 761 bike rides covering 4247.4 km.

A campaign from LeadNow with a few spicy sentences from me. The CPP is funded by the wages of 22 million people across the country, LeadNow says, and the Investment Board has a responsibility to ensure those savings are not used in ways people fundamentally reject. Dear Mr. John Graham, CEO of CPPIB, and CPPIB board members, I am writing as a contributor to the Canada Pension Plan—one of millions of people whose wages fund this plan and whose future depends on it. This is our CPP, and it must answer to us. I am horrified that CPP investments include companies linked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In effect, the people who pay into CPP are having their own money used to help fund Trump-era immigration enforcement and the harms associated with it. Canadians are appalled by the actions of ICE. What a betrayal you would use our own money to fund these bullies violating human rights.  CPP is not abstract capital—it is our deferred wages. Contributors should not ...

 Depending which forecast you consult, it's either going to be cool with a chance of rain tomorrow or an April snowpocalypse.  But today it is spring, so I put air in the tires, wore my spring jacket and cool weather hat and took omafiets for a whirl today. Cut a full 10 minutes off my fastest commute time on the fatgirl.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

World Beyond War is leading a campaign endorsed by 32 other organizations including Mennonite Action Canada to oppose the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank.  Learn more about the campaign here Or use their template to send your own letter as I did (with tweaks) World Beyond War letter template I am calling for you – Mr Carney, M Champagne, Mr Long, Mr McGuinty – to reject the DSRB. (My MP I trust, is already opposing it.) The proposed war bank would provide a steady flow of public and private funds to weapons manufacturers to facilitate a rapid expansion of military production. Making money off death! The institution’s mandate – to raise public-private funding towards increasing the manufacturing and procurement of weapons – is fundamentally at odds with hopes for a peaceful world. Moreover, the DSRB will mark an escalation in public spending on weapons and militarism, drawing money away from critical spending.  The DSRB would redirect public money away from urgent social ...

Israel is now committing a second genocide.  Funny thing, when you turn a blind eye to human rights abuses because you think the folks it's happening to are expendable, the abuser doesn't stop; they move on to a new victim.  Israel is seeking to permanently depopulate a large swath of southern Lebanon, ordering the evacuation of all Lebanese south of the Litani River. On Sunday Defence Minister Israel Katz said the IOF will “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in the line of contact villages, to thwart threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah,” which are cities in Gaza that were largely flattened. Since the start of the month Israel has killed over a thousand Lebanese and destroyed large swaths of Beirut. Before Hezbollah launched a half dozen rockets in response to the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Israel violated the fifteen month ‘ceasefire’ 10,000 times, killing 300 Lebanese, according to the UN mission in Leb...

Manitoba's budget dropped last week. The premier pasted that huge smile on his face and hauled out some prevaricating hyperbolisms. One of the much touted "gifts" of the budget was free transit for youths aged 12-18 in Winnipeg.* “We have money set aside in the budget to work with municipalities to cover the cost of transit for high school-aged youth,” a spokesperson for the province said Monday. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/03/23/provincial-budget-includes-free-transit-passes-for-youths-in-winnipeg-four-other-cities  Let's think about this. Young people are *already* riding the bus because they aren't even allowed to have a driver's license until 16 and not everyone gets one right away or at all. So this doesn't provide any new ridership. And the province promises some money to cover the resulting shortfall. We just gotta hope and trust their math/predictions are right. So how is this a gift? It's nice for the teens an...

This message is directed at all the CCs: Mr Carney, Mr Champagne, Mr Long, Mr McGuinty. My MP is surely already well aware and fully concerned about the steps the Canadian government is currently taking to play a leadership role and potentially host the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. I am calling for you to reject the DSRB.  The steady flow of public and private funds to weapons manufacturers the war bank would facilitate for a rapid expansion of military production will only harm Canadians.  Public-private funding is usually just a shady way of ensuring private enterprise is subsidized by public money so it can maximize its profits. To do so with the goal of increasing the manufacturing and procurement of weapons is fundamentally at odds with hopes for not only a peaceful world but a liveable one.  Moreover, the DSRB will mark an escalation in public spending on weapons and militarism, drawing money away from critical spending on social needs and the climate ...

Who needs the nefarious Evan Duncan when you've got dastardly Sean Fraser to curtail freedoms federally? The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group provided this form letter. Obviously they know their stuff way better than I do so I didn't touch the bulk of it, but I slapped a first paragraph on there to try to get my letter counted as unique. Use the template to write and send your own Dear recipient's full name will go here , At a time when Canadians are overstressed, worried about jobs and affordability and now war, it unconscionable that the government would try to sneak through legislation that harms us while people are too busy with other worries to take notice.  I am alarmed that the proposed Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9), which the government has said is meant to prevent hate crimes, will instead threaten the Charter rights and civil liberties of all people in Canada, including those communities that the government wishes to help protect. I am doubly alarm...

A letter from World Beyond War, Just Peace Advocates, Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Canadian BDS Coalition. Slightly adapted.  Send your own Dear Prime Minister Carney, How could you possibly suggest formally dispatching Canadian troops to assist Trump and Netanyahu’s completely illegal aggression? A recent Angus-Reid poll shows that 70% of Liberal party supporters *oppose* this war. The US and Israel have already killed over 1200 Iranians. They’ve been committing a horrific massacre everyday. On Wednesday US War Secretary Pete Hegseth bragged about killing 100 Iranians by blowing up a defenseless, ammunition-less Iranian navy vessel taking part in a ceremonial exercise far away in the Indian Ocean. In Lebanon – which Israel has no reason to pick a fight with -- Israel has killed more than 100 and demanded half a million evacuate their homes. Israel is ramping up its bombings in the country and ground invasion. Even musing about Canada formally dispatching troops boost...