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Aug 3 2023

[Second try] Fraser’s mission. Manitoba spending. Land squeeze. [copy]

Aug 3, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
TECHNICAL NOTE: If this is the second copy of this newsletter that you received today, my apologies. This second mailing was done on purpose in response to a potential problem with the way this platform -- Goodbits -- is managing (or mismanaging) the subscriber list. 

If this is the ONLY copy of this newsletter you received today (in other words, if you did not get two copies), would you be so kind to just respond to this message to say you only received copy two? This will help me trouble shoot the subscriber management problem. 

Thanks for your patience. And thanks for reading.
Canada

"Before I found out which job I would be given, I had two local visits, one down toward Fossil Farms, which had no home construction. I met a group of newcomers, mostly Ukrainians, who fled the war and were being trained to build houses for Nova Scotian families. They are, in fact, living in the kinds of homes that they are now building for other people. Embracing those kinds of training opportunities for people who may have come here many generations ago or arrived more recently is going to help the private sector build more housing." - Housing and Infrastructure Min Sean Fraser. [SaltWire]

Despite high operating costs and barely reduced travel times, Ottawa and the province are still talking about proceeding with the project. [National Post]
Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau unexpectedly announced their separation, likely marking the end of their 18-year-long high profile marriage. [Global]

B.C. is a key province for the NDP electorally, and even small boundary changes to tightly contested ridings there can make a big difference, says polling analyst Éric Grenier. [Hill Times]
Company profits are not to blame for the high inflation Canadians experienced in the past two years, a Bank of Canada report suggests. [Global]

A ready to use SQL database that we can consult with dplyr. [Pacha.dev]
From the provinces
Province spending $1.5B to rebuild core of Manitoba's largest hospital
The Manitoba government is spending $1.5 billion over six years on a massive rebuild of the Health Sciences Centre and an expansion of its Bannatyne Avenue campus. [CBC]
The NDP claims the governing Progressive Conservatives could only afford its $2.5 billion in new pre-election promises and repeat funding announcements by making cuts to social services. [CBC]

What if an opposition party fixated on unseating Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives held a leadership race and people were actually interested? [TorStar]
A new study shows that the combination of fentanyl and benzos is making Alberta's street drugs more lethal. [Global]
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Elsewhere
What's Causing the Global Land Squeeze?
"... new WRI research projects that by 2050, an area of land nearly twice the size of India will be converted to agriculture, while an area the size of the continental United States will be needed to meet the world’s growing demand for wood." [World Resources Institute]

Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy. Focusing on the most significant developments and long-term changes, Alan Blinder traces the highs and lows of monetary and fiscal policy, which have cooperated and clashed through many recessions and several long booms over the past six decades. [New Books Network]
Media
Meta and Google are blocking links to news in Canada. The US might be next.
The companies are protesting Canada’s new "link tax" law by pulling news links off their platforms. [Vox]
Michael Geist: For months, supporters of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, assured the government that Meta and Google were bluffing when they warned that a bill based on mandated payments for links was unworkable and they would comply with it by removing links to news from their platforms. However, what has been readily apparent for months became reality yesterday: Meta is now actively blocking news links and sharing on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.  By the end of the month, the world’s largest social media platform will become a news desert in Canada, with links to all news - both Canadian and foreign - blocked on the platform. [Michael Geist]
A Halifax YouTuber has been ordered to pay $175,000 to an Egyptian diplomat for defamatory comments made on her YouTube channel. [SaltWire]
Through a case study comparing Australian Murdoch media coverage of an industrial dispute to that of non-Murdoch media, this paper proposes a third type of advocacy journalism: conservative advocacy. Through the development of a model of journalistic influence on democracy, conservative advocacy is proposed as the least democratic form of journalism due to its suppression of voices that challenge power. [Journalism]
Tech
Microsoft comes under blistering criticism for “grossly irresponsible” security
Azure looks like a house of cards collapsing under the weight of exploits and vulnerabilities. [Ars Technica]
This quick tip can help you get set up a meeting notes template in no time. [Google]
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Issued this day ...
... in 1976: Scott #694: Handicapped Olympics. Design: Tom Bjarnson. 
Issued to mark the 1976 Olympiad for the Physically Disabled held Aug 3-11 in Toronto. It was the first Olympiad for blind, paralyzed, and amputee athletes. More than 1,500 athletes from 38 countries took part in 31 events.

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