Yeah definitely a difference there. Rural is also often further travel distances - so that’s a thing as well.
Snow clearing is pretty good in the city (generally), and the studs work well on the ice. Hardest biking days are usually 12-24h after a snowfall when its not fresh, but just a mess to ride through.
I started winter bike commuting last year, and it was great. Studded winter tires, bar mitts, and warm shoes; helmet / goggles are great. Very little “traffic” on my ~40min commute.
I start getting cold toes below -22C or so, so maybe I need some better boots, but honestly, the people who say you can’t bike in the winter have probably either never tried it, or are dressed inappropriately. Summer is definitely more forgiving if you get a flat tire though.
It’s not for everyone, because there’s some fitness requirement, and equipment isn’t cheap (but neither are cars), but I’m stoked to get ~70-80 minutes of exercise daily on my way to/from work.
Turns out, photo radar is only “annoying” if you’re exceeding the legal posted speed limit…
Its bizarre to me that the government (who is responsible for creating laws), is taking the stance that enforcing them should be optional.
Imagine if Alberta could fund fall immunization programs instead of reducing speeding fines for people speeding!
That’s very useful context that I wasn’t aware of - thanks for sharing!
For others interested: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Quebec_referendum#Opinion_polling
Yep agree. I like having the numbers with these headlines, to avoid people getting the wrong impression.
E.g. “70-75% of Albertans oppose separatism, comparable to Quebec”
Provides similar information - but doesn’t give the impression that everyone wants to separate. Its a threat, but let’s not give it any extra credibility than it deserves?
There’s polling from Angus Reid on this; it’s not particularly popular - not enough to come close to winning a referendum, but it’s still an uncomfortably high number of people who don’t value Canada.
https://angusreid.org/smith-shapiro-sovereignty/
Me as well. I don’t remember where / how I got the CD. Linux as a desktop has come so far since then!
This brought back some memories: https://www.mandrakelinux.org/
I’m in an Alberta riding which is very likely to go CPC, but exercising my right to vote is also my civic duty.
So while it might not affect the outcome this time, my vote contributes to popular vote metrics, turnout, and in the case where there’s lots people who happen to surprise (it is within the margin of error), my vote might in fact be the deciding vote that sways a riding.
It’s a shame when people value democracy so little they can’t be bothered to vote.
I highly recommend taking a look through pages like this: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/platform-crunch-3-every-party-is-promising-tax-cuts-and-cash-transfers/
Its really interesting to see how the proposed changes actually benefit different income brackets. TLDR: Proposed income tax changes from the Conservatives and Liberals predominantly benefit the richest tax bracket(s). If you happen to be in those tax brackets, I can see how conservative policies might ‘appeal’ to that demographic.
In general, when parties propose tax cuts (unless very thoughtfully targeted), they benefit the rich - who already have ample financial resources to pay for things they might need (like healthcare, private education for their children, etc.), while those who get net benefit from taxation through services are net losers from tax cuts… Because cutting taxes necessitates some reductions in service funding to balance the books. (I’m always fascinated when low income voters vote conservative as opposed to NDP.)
“I didn’t ask the US to interfere in the election, I just asked them to stop doing things temporarily so that we could get a certain election outcome.”
Feels like this is probably aimed at climate agreements, but it’s similar to the ‘sovereignty act’, intended to grant broad powers without saying exactly what the law would change.
This kind of law only creates more legal uncertainty (bad for business as well!) and wastes money on court fights, when we could be doing something constructive. Like paying teachers to educate our children.