The Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act
I know it’s technically not a local issue, but it is one that impacts us all. The government has tabled a bill they’re calling “The Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act”. Here’s a summary: the proposed law gives police departments the ability to obtain personal information about Canadian Internet users without a warrant. That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers and Internet Protocol Addresses, among other things. I have a better proposal. We need an “internet user license” that we have to get from the “Ministry of Truth”....
Read MoreChina and transportation
China is unveiling the world’s first 300 passenger bus :Many cities in China already significantly restrict car ownership. New bus will have a dedicated lane in local highways, and has five doors for easy entrance and exit. China also just unveiled a 500 km / hr train :-That’s not it, China is also committed to adding 16,000 kms of new high speed rail by 2020 (are you listening metrolinx and Via Rail?) The problem with North America is that people are expected to make sacrifices for public transit. Make public transit a better alternative to drive and watch people leave their...
Read MoreBarcelona Central District
Cities that are designed with strict Urban Design always stand out from the rest :- (the Mathematician in me can stare at this screenshot from Google Maps for hours)
Read MorePolling Station Locations Anger Voters
From Milton Canadian Champion The province’s 40th general election was marketed as ‘easy’ by Elections Ontario. With 10 days of advance polls and 28 days to vote by a special ballot, the agency sought to make it harder than ever to give people an excuse not to vote. Tell that to the residents of southwest Milton. Many of them were required to go to north Burlington or Campbellville to cast their ballot. And some, in turn, didn’t vote.“It’s completely unacceptable. We pay taxes here, we live here. It’s very frustrating,” said Jennifer Lombardo-Seib, who resides just south of...
Read MoreProvincial Legislative Assemblies in Canada
Ontario, Newfoundland & Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and PEI are all headed for elections this fall (yes, five provinces). I wanted to see how different provinces in Canada choose to organize their legislative assemblies :-Province MPP/MNA/MLAs Population MPP / popOntario 107 13,167,894 123,064Quebec 125 7,886,108 63,089British Columbia 85 4,510,858 53,069Alberta 83 3,724,832 44,877Manitoba 57 1,232,654 21,626Nova Scotia 52 946,000 18,192Saskatchewan 58 1,041,729 17,961New...
Read MorePublic Art
One of the things I miss about both Seattle and Washington, DC is abundance of public art. Milton, being much smaller and really only going through serious urbanization now, is seriously lacking. Click through to see some examples of simple, but creative, public art. For obvious reasons, we cannot (and do not want to ) compete with Washington, DC as far as public art is concerned. However, street art does not have to cost much to put up and / or maintain. In fact, it does not even have to be overly complicated: Really, what we need...
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