Thanks for the link, OP. Very worth the read.

These moments of hostility are more than personal insults; they represent a fracturing of the Canadian sanctuary I once knew, signaling a shift from a culture of mutual support to tribalism that now threatens, at various levels, the very multicultural fabric of our nation. In this delicate moment for both Canada and the world, it is time to confront the rise of these harmful ideologies and make a better country for all who live here. […]

This situation demands that we look beyond immigration laws and address the social sickness spreading within our communities, where everyone identifies as “Canadian” only to label the next person as the “alien.”

This reality is agonizing because when I first arrived in Canada, I felt I had reached the safest place in the world for social rights and harmony. Now, I feel that arguments are no longer arguments; they are one-dimensional screams. No one is looking for a calm, shared logic to solve our communal responsibilities. Instead, we are following egos and deceptive rhetoric that only seek an audience. This is the breeding ground for extremist ideological demagoguery.

Where hog bosses do favours for hog bosses? Pretty much.

I hope so too.

In other news:

The Ontario government is welcoming a multi-billion-dollar investment from Microsoft, as part of the company’s previously announced $19 billion commitment to Canada. Through this investment, Microsoft is expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure across Ontario, significantly scaling up the province’s computing capability while reinforcing Ontario’s position as a leader in the tech and digital economy. […]

This expansion in Ontario will further bolster the reliability of its data infrastructure to strengthen the province’s domestic data capacity as more businesses begin to adopt and scale AI technologies. Through the company’s Community-First approach, Microsoft will also prioritize alignment with regional economic priorities, including advancing Ontario’s investment readiness and competitiveness, fostering the conditions for job creation and apprenticeships and laying the foundation for advanced AI innovation. (Apr 7, '26)

Not even that. I’m seeing nothing about any fines in the linked article.

For being nice about being investigated and promising to do better next time, they get to continue trawling and stealing whatever the fuck they want (if I’m reading this right). Same shit when the parasite class rolled out Uber, AirB&B, PayPal, etc. “Yes, this breaks every applicable labour and privacy law we have to protect people, but it’s here so what are you gonna do about it.”

Wonderful writing. Thanks for the link!

Yes! All that civility and decorum training. I’ll add to yours “Don’t speak ill of the dead.”

Stops people from learning about intergenerational trauma and fascists/terrorists in the family. Sure, my grandad was wildly abusive to his daughters and disgustingly racist about black people in Nova Scotia, Canada (the ones in Jamaica are fine btw). But he’s dead now so “we don’t talk about that.” Totes cool to mention his army medals tho.

One of the worst, isn’t it? Blaming the victim in advance.

He’s just looking for attention. Paying attention to him makes him do more of the thing he’s already doing, so if he’s doing a thing and you’re paying attention, it’s actually your fault now because circular reasoning works because circular reasoning works.

I knew we couldn’t trust the Netherlands and Indiana.

Well worth the watch! Also, TIL about the nifty Media Ecosystem Observatory project.

…

Some related astroturf history in Canada:

EthicalOil(dot)org - 2012

Conservatives hired actors to play supporters at the Ontario leaders debate. “You know, politicians hiring actors to play supporters is like the way it works in the Third World.” - Devanshu Narang, an actor who didn’t answer the casting call. - 2018

The Manning Centre (rebranded as the Strong and Free Network in 2020) and the Proud crowd pumping out anti-Liberal ads during the federal election in 2019.

Hundreds of bots geotagged in Russia, France, etc posted messages saying they went to a Poiliviere rally in Kirkland Lake, Ontario in 2024.

Blatant astroturf in Caledon, Ontario (again) in 2026.

Literally just mocking democracy at this point.

I found more details about when those resignations happened from a link in OP’s link:

Feb 9 - council approves a zoning change “to allow the AI data centre to proceed to a design stage”

March 16 - another closed meeting, this time something about ethics complaints

March 18 - 4 of the 7 council members resign and they’re all mum about it. Maybe an NDA?

With the four resignations, Sherwood’s council no longer has quorum to conduct any meetings to address regular business. […] In the meantime, per The Municipalities Act, the Minister of Government Relations will appoint “one or more persons to act as members of council” to meet quorum requirements until the fall.

Also Middle of March, the Bell Canada President and Scott Moe came out and said “the data centre would be moving ahead in this spring.”

Now, April 20, another closed-door meeting. “We get so many emails tho.” “Oops, our audio was off until the vote part! Our bad!” “Don’t worry - they did a self-assessment.” It’s so blatant, it’s almost funny.

And when the Freedom City brainiacs suck up the last drop of fresh water during fire season to power a monstrosity nobody wants and only makes more work and less security for people, at least Interim Reeve Ray Orb will have the comfort of knowing it wasn’t wasted on some useless plant or person.

The R.M. arranged a livestream of the meeting but audio was unavailable until just before council voted unanimously

I want to live in a world where people go to jail for doing shit like this.

[edit to remove ranting about techbros]

Slanted - Shad (English)

If he’s new to anyone scrolling by, I’ve been listening to Shad for over a decade now and my favourite track of his is Fam Jam. Classic Canadiana.

My conspiracy theory is Corey Comperatore was a blood sacrifice for Project 2025 ghouls. He was also proof that the gun was loaded with real bullets.

Leading up to the election, Christian fundie social media spaces were stuffed with bible verses (Leviticus and Revelations) and commentary about whether earblood was A Sign. So now they’re shifting the narrative from Trump’s being annointed by god to being the outright antichrist? Even when his supporters seem to be distancing themselves, you can see he’s still the most important person in the world to them. It’s so frigging weird.

Another nepobaby grifter Ford amplified by the press they’re attacking. jfc how many of them are there?

This is why Anti-SLAPP laws are so important. Alberta doesn’t have them, so Caylan’s whole case gets heard in full before a judge can rule on its merit. Rotten business.

Just a reminder for anyone scrolling by, Caylan also wrote that she was “saddened by the demographic replacement of white peoples in their homelands […] [I]t’s clear that it will not be a peaceful transition.” - press progress 2019

Just for context, the CTV story linked doesn’t mention it, but before Trump’s ragetweet, one of the Morouns met with Lutnick, Trump’s secretary of commerce. For anyone who hasn’t heard of them yet, the Moroun family across the water makes passive income in the billions off the Ambassador (troll) bridge. They even donated 1M to a Trump superPAC less than a month before Trump’s tweet.

The timing of the donation and Trump’s seeming change in position toward the new bridge is “somewhat of an unusual case” in the campaign finance world, according to Devin Judge-Lord, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

“Usually everybody has strong incentives for these kinds of donations to not get attention,” said Judge Lord, adding that a position change “would normally only be taken if they didn’t believe they would generate a lot of news coverage.” CBC, Feb '26

The Morouns spent something like 30M back in 2012 opposing the Gordie Howe - made a fake group called The People Should Decide that created a petition that called for a referendum to amend Michigan’s constitution, just to preserve their monopoly. When that didn’t work in their favour, the next year they started suing:

Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun has named the U.S. departments of State, Transportation, Coast Guard and Homeland Security, as well as the Canadian government, in a lawsuit to stop a new Detroit River bridge.

In the 92-page lawsuit filed in federal court in February,  Moroun claims he has a “perpetual and exclusive franchise right” to operate the Windsor-Detroit crossing without competition from another bridge […]

“I’m not surprised, they have an enormous sense of entitlement.” The bridge company’s claim to exclusive rights to bridge traffic at the Windsor-Detroit crossing is something “nobody takes seriously. They are lashing out in all directions and trying to stop progress,” [Canada’s Consul General Roy Norton] said, “This is what they do.” - Windsor Star, Apr 2013