[NEWS] Twenty news links

• NOW Toronto looks at the Pickering nuclear plant and its role in providing fuel for space travel.
• In some places like California, traffic is so bad that airlines actually play a role for high-end commuters. CBC reports.
• Goldfish released into the wild are a major issue for the environment in Québec, too. CTV News reports.
• China’s investments in Jamaica have good sides and bad sides. CBC reports.
• A potato museum in Peru might help solve world hunger. The Guardian reports.
• Is the Alberta-Saskatchewan alliance going to be a lasting one? Maclean’s considers.
• Is the fossil fuel industry collapsing? The Tyee makes the case.
• Should Japan and Europe co-finance a EUrasia trade initiative to rival China’s? Bloomberg argues.
• Should websites receive protection as historically significant? VICE reports.
• Food tourism in the Maritimes is a very good idea. Global News reports.
• Atlantic Canada lobster exports to China thrive as New England gets hit by the trade war. CBC reports.
• The Bloc Québécois experienced its revival by drawing on the same demographics as the provincial CAQ. Maclean’s reports.
• Population density is a factor that, in Canada, determines political issues, splitting urban and rural voters. The National Observer observes.
• US border policies aimed against migration from Mexico have been harming businesses on the border with Canada. The National Post reports.
• The warming of the ocean is changing the relationship of coastal communities with their seas. The Conversation looks.
• Archival research in the digital age differs from what occurred in previous eras. The Conversation explains.
• The Persian-language Wikipedia is an actively contested space. Open Democracy reports.
• Vox notes how the US labour shortage has been driven partly by workers quitting the labour force, here.
• Laurie Penny at WIRED has a stirring essay about hope, about the belief in some sort of future.

[NEWS] Seven links about politics in Canada and around the world

• The immigration fiasco in Québec shows the tension between different strains of local nationalism. The Conversation reports.
• The Québec labour market, Le Devoir notes, actually bears up well to a comparison with Ontario. Gaps in employment have been closed, and then some.
• Barry Saxifrage at the National Observer notes how, in terms of climate pollution, Alberta and Saskatchewan are heading in the opposite direction from the rest of Canada.
• Many Canadians, displaced by the collapse of the oil economy, have gone south to Texas. Global News reports.
• Will the divisions in the United States only get deeper? How bad will it get? MacLean’s considers.
• The chaos in Iran, and the terrible death toll, deserve to be noted. Is the Islamic Republic nearing, if not its end, some other transition? Open Democracy theorizes.
• Terry Glavin at MacLean’s notes how governments around the world are facing crises of legitimacy, here.

[CAT] Seven #caturday links: Lil Bub, Pallas cats, Smudge, adoptions, expressions

• This Wired obituary for Lil Bub, arguing that the time for the Internet to be a place fo whimsy is over, does make me sad.
• Norwegian forest cats look amazing! The Dockyards has photos.
• The Pallas cats newly in the Calgary Zoo are, rightfully, becoming big hits. Cottage Life has more.
• Ottawa cat Smudge, already a meme hit, has become a celebrity. CBC Ottawa has more.
• Unsurprisingly, cats bond with their owners in the same sort of way as dogs and even human infants. More here.
• Happily, record numbers of cats are being adopted from shelters, given new homes. Global News reports.
• Some few people are apparently good are deciphering the expressions of cats, 15% of the total in one study sample. VICE reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Ten city links: Laval, Calgary, Vancouver, Cleveland, Machu Picchu, London, Görlitz …

• The Québec city of Laval now has a cemetery where pets can be buried alongside their owners. CBC reports.
• Talk of Alberta separatism has already cost Calgary at least one high-profile non-oil investment, it seems. Global News reports.
• A new piece of public art in Vancouver, a spinning chandelier, has proven to be a lightning rod for controversy. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities looks at the continuing fight against lead contamination in Cleveland.
• Machu Picchu was built in a high remote corner of the Andes for good reasons, it is being argued. The National Post reports.
• Wired looks at how rivals to Uber are currently fighting for dominance in London, here.
• Guardian Cities shares a cartoon history of the birth of Nairobi, here.
• The east German city of Gorlitz offered interested people one month’s free residence. The Guardian reports.
• JSTOR Daily notes that Hong Kong was born as a city from refugee migrations.
• Is Tokyo, despite tis size and wealth, too detached from Asia to take over from Hong Kong as a regional financial centre? Bloomberg View is not encouraging.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Guelph, Innisfil, Montréal, Asbestos, Québec City, Alberta, Richmond

• Guelph will be holding an open house to see what development will replace the Dolime Quarry. Global News reports.
• The town of Innisfil has extended its Uber subsidy program for people in need of transit. Global News reports</u.
• Archeologists in Montréal have found a mass grave of Irish famine victims. CTV reports.
• The Québec town of Asbestos is changing its name so as to avoid the link, in English, with the toxic mineral. CTV reports.
• A subway, alas, would be too big for Québec City. Streetcars would work better. Le Devoir reports.
• Can a hyperloop be built to plug Edmonton together with Calgary? Global News considers.
• Richmond, British Columbia, has unveiled a cultural harmony strategy to help its diverse population get along. The National Post reports.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Ottawa, Longueuil, Montréal, Winnipeg, Saint John, Halifax, Lethbridge

• The Ottawa Citizen suggests a recent audit of OC Transpo should have offered warnings of the Confederation Line problems to come.
• A project office has been set up for the extension of the Yellow Line in Longueuil and elsewhere on the south shore. CTV News reports.
• La Presse looks at the concerns of some artists in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie that they might be forced out by gentrification.
• That the Bay Building in downtown Winnipeg has been evaluated as being of little value offers an opening to Heritage Winnipeg. Global News reports.
• The New Brunswick government is forcing suburbs of Saint John to pay for city facilities that they also used. Global News reports.
• Short-term rentals are having a negative effect on real estate markets in Halifax. Global News reports.
• Downtown Lethbridge faces struggles to attract business. Global News reports.

[NEWS] Ten #cdnpoli links

• CBC looks at the internal splits within British Columbia, between the Liberal-leaning coast and the Alberta-leaning interior, here.
• The legal departure of oil company EnCana from its Alberta headquarters is the cause of great upset. CBC reports.
• Will Andrew Scheer survive as leader of the Conservative Party, with challengers like Peter MacKay? The National Observer reports.
• People in Lloydminister, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, reflect the frustrations of the populations of the two provinces. CBC reports.
• Philippe Fournier at MacLean’s writes about the sharp rural-urban political split in Canada.
• Green Party Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin is interviewed by the National Observer about her goals, here.
• The Treaty 8 chiefs have united in opposition to the separation of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Global News reports.
• CBC reported on the multiple MP candidates who, genealogist Darryl Leroux found, falsely claimed indigenous ancestry.
• Jessica Deer reported for CBC about the near-universal boycott by the Haudenosaunee of #elxn43, and the reasons for this boycott.
• Scott Gilmore recently a href=”https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-u-s-is-sinking-maybe-its-time-for-canada-to-jump-ship/”&gt;suggested at MacLean’s that, noting American instability, Canada might do well to secure itself and promote its multilateralism by seeking to join the EU.

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[URBAN NOTE]Seven city links: Ottawa, Montréal, NYC, Calgary and Edmonton, Vancouver, Sao Paulo …

• Ottawa mayor Jim Watson vows to vix the LRT Confederation Line. Global News reports.
• Home-buyers in Montréal are having to buy outside of the city, in the West Island and even the mainland. The Montreal Gazette reports.
• VICE looks at the legacy of Michael Stewart, a New York City graffiti artist famously killed in the 1980s, here.
• The LRT projects in Calgary and Edmonton are currently facing terrible uncertainty thanks to new legislation. Global News reports.
• New maps show the great damage that could be caused by sea level rise in Metro Vancouver. Global News reports.
• Spacing reports on an amazing graphic novel biography of Sao Paulo.
• Guardian Cities looks at the problematic gentrification of Soweto, here.

[URBAN NOTE] Nine city links

• The new LRT that will unite Brampton and Mississauga looks very cool. blogTO reports.
• The small farming town of Belfountain is apparently facing a major influx of Toronto tourists seeking fall sights. Global News reports.
• Ridership on Kitchener-Waterloo transit generally has increased sharply since the opening of the Ion LRT. CBC reports.
• London, Ontario, is trying to regenerate its downtown. Global News reports.
• CTV Ottawa reports on O-Train Fans, a new fan community devoted to exploring the Confederation Line.
• La Presse looks at how people cross the street in Montréal in a way different from people in Québec City, here.
• A high-density apartment development in Fredericton is unpopular among some neighbours. Global News reports.
• Hillsborough, New Brunswick, is trying to keep its grocery store alive. Global News reports.
• Calgary hosts a new development of compact homes for military veterans. Global News reports.

[AH] Six #alternatehistory maps from Reddit: Irish, Canada, Alaska, Russia, Prairies, South Africa

• This r/mapporn map shows the scale of the collapse of Irish as a spoken language across most of Ireland. Was this avoidable?
• This r/imaginarymaps map shows a Canada where the 1837 rebellions were successful, with an autonomous Upper Canada and a Lower Canada with a Patriote state. Doable?
• This r/imaginarymaps map depicts a common alternate history trope, that of an independent but culturally Russian Alaska. What would it take for this to happen?
• This r/imaginarymaps map depicts a world where Eurasia, from Germany to Korea, was dominated by a successfully industrializing Russian Empire. Was this common fear of the belle époque actually achievable?
• This r/mapporn map shows the different proposals for different territorial configurations of the Canadian Prairies. (I like the ones with north-south divisions.)
• Was a single South Africa covering most of British Southern Africa with relatively liberal racial policies, as Jan Smuts wanted, actually achievable? r/imaginarymaps hosts the map.