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A weird day to cross the border

March 4, 2025 By Democracy, Featured, Travel 17 Comments

I’m here in Columbus, Ohio doing my annual gig with the Physcians’ Leadership Academy. Every year I get to run a half day complexity workshop for local physicians. It’s a fun gig and gets me a chance to see friends in this region and make a stop in Toronto on the way. Today was a weird day to cross the border though. For the past month, and especially the past weekend, the conversation that almost everybody in Canada is having is about the US tariffs that came into effect at 12:01 this morning. Blanket 25% tariffs on everything that crosses …

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Government is not business

February 21, 2025 By Democracy, Featured 5 Comments

If you scour the pages of LinkedIn, it won’t take long before you begin running into folks from the corporate sector who are attempting to rationalize Elon Musk‘s current approach to organizational change within the US federal government. Many of them are drawing on their experiences, or their veneration of, startup culture, and I have seen posts lately, that I’m not going to bother to link to, which talk about the principle of “move fast and break things“ being worth a shot when it comes to government. Treat it like a startup. That way you get more innovation. It shouldn’t …

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Slhawt’ spawning season has begun in Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound!

February 11, 2025 By Bowen 3 Comments

A report today from Bowen Island’s marine steward extraordinaire, Adam Taylor: 2025 Herring Spawn started today in Squamish accompanied by Whitesided Dolphins feeding. Herring spawn in Snug Cove was last observed in the +/- 1960s but you never know when nature decides to return. Please keep an eye out for enthusiastic seabird or marine mammal activity along Bowen’s shoreline. Will report back when I hear from folks monitoring Coal Harbour as that’s a bit closer to us. A sure sign of spring! Slhawt’/Herring spawning season is the first big ocean activity to take place after the winter. So although it …

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To my Canadian friends

February 5, 2025 By Being, Democracy, Featured, First Nations 10 Comments

In the past few weeks, the President of the USA has issued explicit challenges to the sovereignty of Canada, both political and economic. In response to these challenges, some of my Canadian friends who lie on the more progressive and of the political spectrum have expressed a slightly disconcerting attachment to feelings of nationalism. I understand where they’re coming from. Over the past five days Canadians have been engaged in a nationwide conversation about what it means to be Canadian, what our country stands for, and in some cases, whether we shouldn’t just join with the United States anyway. Ironically, …

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