Rafty

When's the pod episode coming out?
I would like to hear your thoughts on where Canada faces the same challenges and where we are distinct.

Going back to 1985, there is nothing like this in the data.

It is wild enough that U.S. uncertainty levels have been pushed to covid shutdown levels, but in Canada we are at more than triple that.

Graph showing an index of economic uncertainty between 2019 and March 2025 for Canada and the United States of America.

Uncertainty in the Canadian economy is being pushed to insane levels right now.
#cndpoli #cndecon #econ #tariff

How does the affordability compare to other similar sized cities?

So at some point they will decline and they will declare victory?

Bro, it's not really about Sisyphus at all. You must imagine him happy

Atlas

Great play from the high IQ defensive stalwart we all know and love

♟️Ding Ding!
I think we must entertain the idea that he has been sandbagging all year - the championship is all that matters. #WCC

This alarming trend of cost escalation is echoed throughout Canada, and the English-speaking world.

Meanwhile, in other developed nations, transit construction costs have stayed lockstep with the rate of inflation - a clear sign that project delivery practices are at fault.
4/

Why is Ding your guy?
I desperately want him to win, but I'm not sure why

100%. I lived in Vancouver for years and this was one of my favourite spots in the city.

Ding Liren, world chess champion: ‘I remembered Camus: ‘If you can’t win, you have to resist’’ The 30-year-old talks about his dramatic win over Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, his love of poetry and why he describes himself as both a ‘very emotional and rational’ person

I'm pulling for Ding Loren to win the World Chess Championship for one reason, he once quoted Camus
english.elpais.com/sports/2023-...

It's decades overdue! I used to live in a 10-storey in Kits and there was hardly anything around like it because they changed the zoning in the 70s to suppress growth.

Honestly, they got everyone in the same place at the same time facing the same way. That's better than a lot of us are doing.

And the population was less than 23 million then compared to like +40 million now

Are We Really Trying to Solve the Housing Crisis? | The Tyee Four reflections on a superheated market as we mark National Housing Day.

Excellent piece from @bychrischeung.bsky.social
that lays out both the harm and the history of Canada's housing crisis.
thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Missing Middle is consistently the best pod in my feed not just on the Housing Crisis, but policy and quality of life in Canada in general.
Great stuff in this episode in particular!

Best season: pre-time change Fall

Worst season: post-time change Fall

New CMHC housing starts data. Starts in Ontario are collapsing, while they increase in most other provinces.

Rising development charges and increasing red tape at both the provincial and municipal levels is killing homebuilding in Ontario.

I really wonder how much of Canada's economic malaise and low productivity is directly a result of all available cash going to rent and land speculation.

Annual pace of housing starts in Canada up 8% in October, CMHC says The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 240,761 units in October, up from 223,391 in September

Good news! But importantly, Ontario lags behind and "will bring down the national figures".
#ONpoli #Cdnpoli #HousingCrisis
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/eco...

Ontario’s ‘unofficial estimate’ of homeless population is 234,000: documents The province’s shelter system is 97% full and tens of thousands of new supportive housing units are needed, according to a Housing Ministry document

Source: www.thetrillium.ca/news/housing...

There are 234,000 people in Ontario experiencing homelessness. That is enough people to be the 10th biggest city in Ontario just ahead of Windsor.

A huge policy failure decades in the making.
#ONpoli #CDNpoli #housing #HousingCrisis

The first thing that stood out is the 234,000 people in Ontario experiencing homelessness. If they all lived in one community, it would be the 10th biggest city in Ontario just ahead of Windsor.
Truly a stunning policy failure decades in the making.

ben, I have great news for you

I recently re-read it and I found the scene where he was struggling to accept his execution very impactful.

Any book recommendations on the French Resistance?

What stayed with you from the stranger?