Richard Blackwell

Writer. Editor. Former Globe and Mail business reporter

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

BREAKING: This is FAR faster & more ham-fisted than I ever imagined! Wasting a LOT of public money and disrupting traffic just to weaken Toronto, hurt small business, endanger lives, make traffic worse, remove choice, and increase emissions & public costs!
https://t.co/vWB41tsyE0

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

Half of business owners on this Toronto street estimated that more than 25% of their customers arrived by car. In fact, it was 4%. And the % for those who walked or cycled? 72%. Retailers routinely overestimate the # of “car customers.” Via @carltonreid
https://t.co/KCc1cD7pzB

[oliver-moore.bsky.social @moore_oliver]

Ontario Premier promises to take bike lanes off Bloor.

Inbox, BIA repping 270 businesses there says they:

"a firm believer in the actual evidence that concludes that bike lanes on Bloor Street are good for business, improve safety for all road users, and reduce congestion"

[Jennifer Keesmaat @jen_keesmaat]

Will they pay for the funerals of the cyclists who die as a result, that is the real question.

Getting rid of bikes lanes does not get rid of cyclists. Doing so just makes cyclists unsafe.

This weird war on bikes - which we know is designed to distract from the billions of dollars in failed transit delivery (Crosstown, Ottawa LRT) - is getting dangerous.

[Ashley @ashley_quan]

Talked to my dad about Ford's plan to rip up bike lanes and how it'll put my life at risk.

My father — a lifelong conservative who's endured years of my lefty rants, but gives me bike lights to keep me safe every time I see him — muttered, "maybe I'll vote NDP next time."

[Jeff Gray @jeffreybgray]

A growing number of political comms people seem to need some help with this concept, so here's a crash course: In societies like ours, with a free press, you don't get to tell journalists what questions they are allowed to ask. Ever. Period. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[Elizabeth Renzetti @lizrenzetti]

This is the destruction of the 800+ trees at Ontario Place that @ThermeCanada and @fordnation don't want you to see. It's happening right now.

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

Merci beaucoup to @AvenueMontRoyal and the staff, creatives and volunteers involved in creating North America’s longest pedestrian street (1.5mi) and for showing us all what’s possible when we’re willing to rethink the space beyond the curb.
📍 Montreal🇨🇦

[Catherine McKenna @cathmckenna]

But the saddest thing is that while Conservatives celebrate, NDP capitulates & journalists write obituaries our planet heats up and we are even father from where Canada needs to be to do our part to tackle climate change. And the people we are failing the most are our kids.

[Catherine McKenna @cathmckenna]

This piece expresses exactly how I feel. The cynicism around the supposed death of carbon pricing is depressing. I'm just a girl from Hamilton who tried my best to tackle climate using the best tools that reduced emissions, grew the economy & supported people.

[Richard Blackwell @blackwellglobe]

Globe editorial: Mr. Singh, meet your ‘big polluters’: all of us /via @globeandmail https://t.co/AfXq9mYVrP

[Catherine McKenna @cathmckenna]

Dear progressive political leaders (& media who cover them): Destroying climate policies that reduce emissions, tackle inequality & do it in the cheapest way possible IS THE OPPOSITE OF A CLIMATE PLAN!

Worse, you are doing based on lies that Pierre Poilievre has spread forever.

[Alex McPhee @ksituan]

Map of the top 54 languages spoken in Toronto.

Never lose another argument about where the local Tibetan community lives!

[𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 @grescoe]

"The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created. Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon."

— Bill Strickland @TrueBS

(Chart: Scientific American)
🚲🧵

[𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 @grescoe]

"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation."

cc @JeffSpeckFAICP

🧵

[disordered @disorderedyyc]

If you're making a video about the Canada "we know and love", maybe you shouldn't be using pictures of Utah's rockies, or the "foothills" of Indonesia?

🧵Here's a my thread of all the clips I have confirmed to NOT be Canadian.
1/
#cdnpoli #canpoli

[Barney Panofsky's Best Intentions @mynamesnotgordy]

Wanted to let everyone know how honoured I am to be appointed Assistant to the Parliamentary Assistant to the Associate Minister for Ontario’s Ministry of Small Government today.

[Richard Blackwell @blackwellglobe]

Niagara Now: "Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre delivered a plethora of lies during his visit to NOTL, forcing The Lake Report to respond with the longest editorial it has ever published." https://t.co/3Gyrq5i3OH

[Raghu Venugopal MD @raghu_venugopal]

Pharmacist and Shoppers CEO Jeff Leger thinks pharmacists can do "40-60%" of what family MDs can do and wants his pharmacies operating "no differently than doctor's offices". The end game is clear. It is corporate pharmacies acting like MDs for a historic profiteer cash grab.