Wilmar Kortleever

He/him. Organizer-Community builder-Journalist; frmr Co-Chair, President, Tweets mine only

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

⏳2 weeks left to apply for Leaside Garden Society's Scholarship! If you are a current, full-time post-secondary student enrolled, or planning to enroll, in a horticulture-related program, apply at https://t.co/ZB8gLX0fBe.

[Gil Meslin @g_meslin]

Here is the link to participate in the federal public consultation on the future of Billy Bishop airport. There is an online survey, and an e-mail address for long-form comments. Consultation period runs to July 24th.

https://t.co/a6FnoKTBKh

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

Happy to participate this year! Saw many Ward 15 neighbours, colleagues, and others.

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

June is #BikeMonth, and to kick it off, the City of Toronto held the annual Bike to Work Day Group Commute with Cycle Toronto this morning! 🚴

To find free cycling resources near you, visit https://t.co/QGOmD6AGTh

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

I joined @dontmesswthedon for a rewarding cleanup in ET Seaton Park today.

For 8 years, this volunteer-led group has organized cleanups and local stewardship programs to pick up litter in the Don Valley. What an amazing way to wrap up #earthday celebrations!

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

This Saturday, the Elbows UP! Market returns to the Toronto Botanical Garden from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, so stop by and enjoy a stroll through the garden, see new flowers in bloom, and shop from local, Canadian artisans.

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

Call for fixers! 🛠️ Do you know how to repair electronics, appliances, jewelry or other household items? Email [email protected] to register as a fixer in the 1st ever Don Valley West Repair Cafe. This event will take place on May 2 in Thorncliffe Park - details below! @TNOtoronto

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

Amazon just got caught running a secret price manipulation operation with Levi's, Home Depot, Walmart, and many more.

Every time you "comparison shopped" online, you were looking at prices that were already rigged.

Here's what happened:

Amazon would monitor prices on Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Chewy in real time. The second a competitor listed a product cheaper than Amazon, they'd contact the brand directly and tell them to "fix it."

And the exact emails are now PUBLIC.

Amazon sent Levi's links to two Walmart listings with the subject line "styles of concern." They basically said the prices on Walmart are too low and we have a problem.

The next day, Levi's responded: "I talked to Walmart and they have partnered with us to take Easy Khaki Classic fit back up to ladder SPP price, $29.99 immediately."

Levi's literally called Walmart and told them to raise the price. Because Amazon told Levi's to make the call.

Walmart complied. Then Amazon matched the HIGHER price.

Both retailers ended up charging more. The customer paid extra. Nobody competed.

Same playbook with Hanes:

Amazon sent them links showing Target and Walmart prices were lower. Hanes confirmed they "reached out to Target and Walmart to have the prices increased."

Target increased the prices. Walmart increased the prices. Amazon kept their margins.

But it gets even worse...

Amazon told Allergan (the company that makes eye drops) that their product was "suppressed" on Amazon because it was cheaper on another site.

Allergan responded: "Walmart got their price back up to $16.99." Amazon then unsuppressed the listing.

They did this with pet treats on Chewy. Furniture on Home Depot. Products across dozens of categories spanning YEARS.

The mechanism is simple but terrifying:

If you're a brand and you sell cheaper on Walmart than on Amazon, Amazon suppresses your product, removes you from the Buy Box, buries you in search results, and effectively makes you invisible to 300 million customers.

Brands can't afford that. So they call Walmart and Target and say "raise your prices or we'll lose our Amazon listings."

Walmart and Target comply because they need the brand's products.

Amazon captures 40 cents of every dollar spent online in America. That gives them the leverage to set prices across THE ENTIRE internet. Not just their own platform.

So turns out, you were never comparison shopping.

You were looking at a coordinated price floor set by Amazon through backroom phone calls between brands and their competitors.

"Amazon is working to make your life more unaffordable."

3 separate antitrust trials are now scheduled for 2027. The FTC has its own case. 18 states plus the DOJ are piling on.

This is literally happening during the WORST affordability crisis in a generation. Groceries up 25% since 2020. Housing unaffordable. Wages flat.

And the largest ecommerce company on Earth has been secretly coordinating with brands to make sure you can't find a cheaper price ANYWHERE.

"Competition" in retail is just a fantasy.

[David Moscrop @David_Moscrop]

This is a bad frame. The post office is a service.

How much did the military “lose” last year?

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@normsworld @trixiedoyle You think Premier Ford & Minister Calandra might re-engage current (fired) Trustees? 🤷‍♂️

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@normsworld @trixiedoyle Aha. And who draws the map - ANY local involvement left even about that?

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@normsworld Might be one ‘Super Trustee’ ;-) in TDSB with schools from 3 City Wards - haven’t run the numbers yet what the minimum number of schools for that area would be…

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@normsworld @trixiedoyle O wait - gets crazier? Because even with 12 TDSB Trustees, they have to cover all schools in 2 City Wards, b/c of the municipal election boundaries? Meaning some get 60ish schools? And one lucky Trustee even more, b/c: 3 City Wards (12x2=24 not 25). How do you ever campaign that?

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@normsworld @trixiedoyle TDSB 583 or so schools = 48+ schools on average per Trustee (if TDSB even gets 12 Trustees - does Supervisor decide?!?). How crazy is that? And for less than half the already insufficient compensation - how much time can a Trustee spend for max $10k? (Is it $10K? Who decides?)

[Rachel Chernos Lin @rchernoslin]

My Environment Day is now underway at York Mills Collegiate (490 York Mills Rd)! 🌎🌱

Drop off electronic waste, household hazardous waste, and pick up free compost before 2 p.m.

[Demetrius Remmiegius 🇰🇪 @DemetriusRO6]

38 days in and the United States Commander in Beef has already pulled off the most complete victory in modern history.

Let’s recap the wins. 🏆

• Replaced Khamenei (86) with Khamenei (56)

• Reclaimed exactly 0kg of uranium

• Reopened a strait that was already open - now with a $2M toll per ship (up from $0)

• Proved F-15s and F-35s can in fact be downed by guys who “belong to the Stone Age”

• Got US bases destroyed across four or five countries (I've lost count)

• Shattered allied trust that the US would actually show up if things got spicy

• Put Iranians back in the streets (this time for their government)

• Installed Pakistan as the region’s voice of reason. Pakistan.

• Openly admitted arming the Kurds to stir trouble in Iran. The Kurds did nothing and kept the weapons.

• Bragged about the Crown Prince of the Gulf’s biggest petro-monarchy “kissing his ass”

• Raised the cost of living for all Americans even more thanks to skyrocketing gas prices.

He really did all that to the Middle Eas for the low, low price of a few thousand civilian lives, tens of billions in equipment, and every ally not named Israel.

If that’s not the Art of the Deal, I genuinely don’t know what you people expected.

And again, we had money to do all that, but not to provide healthcare to our own citizens.

Truly a victory that could only be won by someone capable of bankrupting a casino.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with an American who genuinely believed Europe and Canada would help the United States in its war with Iran. I asked him why he thought that, given that Trump had spent months threatening to annex Canada and seize Greenland. He went quiet. Then he said he had never heard of any of that.

Not that he disagreed. Not that he thought it was exaggerated. He had simply never encountered the information. It had never arrived.

This is worth pausing on. Because in every other functioning democracy on earth, that information would have been impossible to avoid. Not because Europeans are smarter or more curious. But because of how news works outside the United States. The BBC and The Daily Telegraph hate each other. Le Monde and Le Figaro disagree on everything. Aftenposten and Dagbladet have been arguing since before most of their readers were born. But they all cover the same events. A threat to annex Canada is not a left-wing story or a right-wing story. It is a story. It runs everywhere. You hear it on the radio driving to work. You see it on the newsstand. Your colleague mentions it at lunch. Facts are not a channel you choose. They are the weather. You step outside and they hit you.

The only media ecosystems on earth that work differently are not political opposites of each other. They are North Korea and Russia. Not because the content resembles MAGA content. But because the architecture is the same. In all three cases, outside information does not get filtered or reinterpreted. It gets blocked at the door. A completely parallel reality is built inside, maintained by repetition, and sealed from correction.

This is why the rest of the world does not just disagree with MAGA voters on foreign policy. It finds them genuinely disorienting to talk to. Not offensive. Disorienting. Like speaking to someone who is absolutely certain the building has two floors when you are standing on the third.

Which brings us to today’s masterclass. And this screenshot says everything.

A Trump supporter posted: “Absolute masterclass by Trump. He got the Strait open without any help from Europe and without any boots on the ground.”

That post was written on the same day a refinery on Lavan Island burned for hours after the ceasefire was announced. On the same day Iran’s own official statement read “this does not signify the termination of the war.” On the same day Iran kept its toll system, its uranium program, its protocol over the strait, and walked away with sanctions relief and reconstruction aid.

The post is not stupid. It is not written by a bad person. It is written by someone who received a completely different set of facts than the rest of the world did. And from inside that information environment, with only that data, the conclusion is perfectly logical.

That is what makes it so unsettling. It is not ignorance. It is a sealed universe, doing exactly what sealed universes do.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[Deborah Williams @VoteWilliamsTO]

600+ teachers cut. Model Schools gutted. ESL supports slashed. Cutting supports from the students who need them most isn’t “fiscal responsibility”. Fund schools based on real needs, not cuts made behind closed doors by high‑paid partisan appointees.
#CutsHurtKids #FundOurSchools

[ForMYCanada @ForMYCanada]

☀️ Good morning Canada. Welcome to my misinformation edition

🇨🇦 Canada politics

Today’s theme: how misinformation spreads through influencer networks and social media.

• A viral claim from commentator Marc Nixon cited a “poll” from Maple Polling claiming Mark Carney had 77.1% negative approval.

When questioned and compared with legitimate polling data, Maple Polling deleted the tweet. The misinformation had already reached ~19K impressions.

• A second viral claim alleged Carney was booed on a jumbotron clip at a sports event. The claim was circulated by accounts including Tracy Wilson and echoed by others.

The accompanying TSN video clip contains no audible booing.

• Claims that Canada is planning to join the European Union also circulated online. While commentator Mario Zelaya framed this as a serious Liberal proposal, there is no government policy or negotiation suggesting Canada could or would join the European Union.

• Another viral post suggested Bill C‑9 (Canada) could criminalize passages from the Bible. In reality, the bill concerns judicial discipline procedures and does not regulate religious speech.

• Jasmine Laine claimed Carney ignored French speakers until campaigning in Terrebonne. Yet Carney’s public engagements in Quebec pre-date that event.

📉 Pattern:
Unverified claims → viral posts → impressions accumulate → corrections rarely travel as far.

This is just in the last week.

Pluralistic democracies depend on evidence-based debate, not viral narratives.

You have coffee ☕️, I’ll pour myself a glass of wine 🍷

#GoodMorning #Canada #cdnpoli #MediaLiteracy #Misinformation

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney (@markjcarney),

I was on the Toronto Ferry last year staring at our majestic waterfront.

I saw paddlers, kayakers, dragon boaters, sailors, windsurfers, fishers, paddleboarders, water taxis, and cruisers all sharing the space in harmony.

When we docked at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands I was surrounded by hikers, joggers, cyclists, birders, picnickers, swimmers, photographers, beachgoers, frisbee golfers, naturalists, and thousands of tourists and locals enjoying this lush ecological paradise surrounded by our sparkling freshwater lake.

Please don’t destroy this by paving Lake Ontario.

Three weeks ago Ontario Premier Doug Ford (@fordnation) announced he will "seize" Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) in order to expand runways into Lake Ontario (1), bring in jets against the legal contracts governing the airport (2), and nix 14,000 mixed-use homes slated to go up on the shore (which taxpayers have already spent $1.4B developing). (3,4)

Although this decision is not his to make — Billy Bishop is governed by the City of Toronto and the federal government (5) — Premier Ford says he will overrule the City to "bring in jets one way or another." (6,7)

Premier Ford says he has the "full support" of your federal government to do this. (8)

Prime Minister Carney:

It is not too late.

Please say no to expanding Billy Bishop airport into the lake.

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, and we can’t afford this.

We don’t need this.

We can already go anywhere we want to go.

I live right in downtown Toronto.

I can be anywhere I want in the world, tomorrow.

I can walk to bus, subway, streetcar, and UP express stations from my house and I fly 40x per year.

In the past year I have been to over 35 airports on 3 continents and YYZ is one of the absolute best. In fact, in the past month it has won "Best Airport Staff in North America" (9), been ranked 4th in all of the Americas in efficiency (out of 50 airports) (10), and won Best Large Airport on the entire continent (an award it's won eight times in nine years.) (11)

Right this second, checking Uber, I can get from my house by car to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in 21 mins and to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Island Airport (YTZ) in 14 mins.

Right this second, if someone at Union Station wanted to get to YYZ on public transit it would take 28 minutes (UP Express) and to YTZ would take 22 minutes (TTC streetcar).

We are talking about a 6 minute time savings here.

If we want to serve southwestern Ontario’s population with expanded jet service we simply need to use the 7000m of existing, high-capacity, under-utilized jet runways within 2 hours of Toronto at Hamilton (@flyYHM ), Waterloo (@flyYKF), and London (@flyYXU) versus entertaining a "special economic zone" to force a jet-strip into the most environmentally sensitive and densely populated waterfront in the country.

We don’t want this.

This tiny speck of ecological paradise provides critical respite from our dense and urban concrete jungle and is vital for mental health, community, and happiness.

Over 400 peer-reviewed studies show urban forests and parks mitigate depression and anxiety and enhance overall mental well-being. (12)

I know you agree because four days ago on March 31, 2026 you announced your "Force of Nature" strategy with the vision of "protecting, restoring, and valuing nature." This wonderful program declares a federal investment of $3.8 billion dollars into "protecting critical habitats and aligning industrial strategies with biodiversity conservation." (13, 14, 15)

Also, I looked into the runway expansion into the lake that Premier Ford has promised.

Right now the shortest jet runway in Canada is 1832m (YHM Hamilton, ON) and the shortest jet runway in the world is 1508m (LCY London City Airport, UK). There are also new Canadian Aviation Regulations (RESA) stating all runways need to add 150m on each end for safety. (16, 17, 18)

Today the Billy Bishop runway is 1216m. (19)

Even the most conservative assumption — building the shortest jet runway in the entire world! — still requires a minimum of 600m more runway to land jets.

Here is a current aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport. (Photo 1 / attached)

Here is an aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport with the smallest possible runway extension of 600m added. (Photo 2 / attached)

(Of course this photo doesn’t include additional parking, hangers, gates, aprons, tarmacs, fueling stations, de-icing stations, blast fences, control towers, baggage carousels, taxi pickups … )

We can’t afford this.

Premier Ford was first elected in 2018 as the right wing candidate (PC) with 40.5% of the vote (left wing side of NDP and Liberal was 53.2%) and campaigned as a fiscal conservative. (FN) He attacked the Liberals for their $6.7B deficit and vowed a "return to balanced budgets" that would "begin in 2019." (20, 21)

Since then Premier Ford has won two more elections — with a nearly identical right / left vote split and record lows in voter turnout — and has now presided over 8 budgets. (22, 23)

In order from 2019 to 2026 those eight budgets have been for *deficits* of $8.7B, $16.4B, $13.5B, $5.9B, $5.6, $1.1B, $12.3B, and, most recently, just announced last week on March 26, 2026, coming in at a 77% increase on his own 2025 forecasts, $13.8B. (24, 25)

Since Premier Ford was elected he has *increased* Ontario’s debt from $338B to $485B. Ontario now pays $17.2B a year … just in interest payments. (26, 27, 28)

Notably, Premier Ford’s most recent $13.8B deficit budget does not include any money for the projected $1-2B cost of expanding Billy Bishop airport.

(Prime Minister, you and Premier Ford are both 61 and have a seemingly warm relationship despite wildly different education and business paths. (29, 30, 31, 32) Might you have time for some evening finance tutorials?)

Prime Minister Carney:

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, we can’t afford this.

Please say no to this expansion plan.

Please allow the legal agreements governing the airport to remain in the hands of those who legally own it — the City of Toronto and the federal government — and not with Premier Ford’s provincial government who is attempting to autocratically rule something in which it has no stake.

At the Junos six days ago on March 29, 2026 you praised 82-year-old @jonimitchell and justifiably called her "one of the greatest artists of all time." (33)

Joni warned us about "paving paradise to put up a parking lot" and now that’s exactly what Premier Ford is proposing we do.

The Toronto Harbour, Toronto Harbourfront, and Toronto Islands are a crown jewel for the functioning of our great city, our great province, and our great country.

Would New York City pave over Central Park?

Would Paris put runways on the Seine?

We absolutely should not pave the paradise of Lake Ontario to put up runways and parking lots we don’t need, don’t want, and can’t afford.

It's not too late.

Please say no.

Thank you,

Neil Pasricha

//

(1) https://t.co/lgQ5WdNcwV
https://t.co/A74NIBBFil
(2) https://t.co/B3ujtqHAxs
(3) https://t.co/Heig4pdd1T
(4) https://t.co/iQuAopsifd
(5) https://t.co/Daj6zWY9mC
(6) https://t.co/AgBbiwy2R9
(7) https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
(8) https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
(9) https://t.co/I3kBjq6thM
(10) https://t.co/kgRl5vJV8W
(11) https://t.co/8stbfkcmcm
(12) https://t.co/VJiYAGJ9JJ
(13) https://t.co/7ZiPrHlVxa
(14) https://t.co/dqg5ldemUZ
(15) https://t.co/ytJ0iv8ymB
(16) https://t.co/jwQm4JzTUN
(17) https://t.co/LMheI43DKb
https://t.co/8YX8IF1gqi
(18) https://t.co/Ci7qMEMpMw
(19) https://t.co/KmhPvr48Ir
(20) https://t.co/PCk3ah5cR0
(21) https://t.co/ZuviVaCKVF
(22) https://t.co/xSk5kvX4Ym
(23) https://t.co/DwJHjj05BY
(24) https://t.co/JVmlSC4Y1z
(25) https://t.co/NXBsJyGS8g
(26) https://t.co/e2kIIzuMsy
(27) https://t.co/jKAUVglOoB
(28) https://t.co/08PLVXXUJI
(29) https://t.co/doLO2tbShf
(30) https://t.co/r98N6I0ahT
(31) https://t.co/LcMIgaigwB
(32) https://t.co/y0wFa9L42e
(33) https://t.co/HvMafmRLtK
//

CC: Minister of Transport @SteveMcKinnon, Minister of Environment @JulieDabrusin, Mayor of Toronto @OliviaChow, MP @RunChiNguyenRun, MP @J_Maloney, MP @JulieDzerowicz, MP @Coteau, MP @Rob_Oliphant, MP @Vgasparro, MP @Yvan_Baker, MP @Jzerucelli, Ontario Minister of Transportation @PrabSarkaria, Ontario Minister of Infrastructure @KingaSurmaMPP, @PortsToronto, MPP @MaritStiles, MPP @JessicaBellTO, MPP @ChrisGlover, Councillor @BravoDavenport, Councillor @DianneSaxxe, Candidate @Massey_Toronto, @Nieuport, @JenniferQuinnTO, @Envirodefense, @BirdsCanada, @NoJetsTo, @CycleTO, @TheGlobeAndMail, @TorontoStar, @CBCToronto, @TheCurrentCBC, @BlogTO

[Wilmar Kortleever @WKortleever]

@ahmednadar Well done.
Quick q/heads up: I made an error testing the reporting system few days ago. Couldn’t edit or remove it. So sorry about that. Bigger problem: I emailed the address on the site to inquire and it returned with delivery error?