[PHOTO] Purple heart, Paul Kane Parkette

The purple heart of an ornamental cabbage in front of Paul Kane Parkette caught my eye yesterday evening.

[BLOG] Some Wednesday links

• Centauri Dreams looks at signs of advanced technologies detectable by SETI searches.


• D-Brief notes evidence of the domestication of turkeys in eth and 5th century Mexico.


• Dangerous Minds discusses a legendary 1985 concert by Einstürzende Neubauten.


• Joe. My. God. notes the banning of Tila Tequila from Twitter.


• Language Log looks about a Hebrew advertisement that makes use of apostrophes.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money bids farewell to one of its bloggers, Scott Eric Kauffman.


• The LRB Blog notes that Israel is fine with anti-Semites so long as they are Zionists.


• Marginal Revolution notes that Hillary Clinton won the most economically productive areas of the United States.


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer suggests anti-sprawl legislation helped lose the recent election.


• The Russian Demographics Blog notes Russia's banning of LinkedIn.


• Towleroad notes Ellen Degeneres' winning of a Presidential honor medal.


• Window on Eurasia suggests Trump could be much less easy to handle than the Kremlin thinks, and looks at claims that small northern peoples are conspiring with foreigners.

[URBAN NOTE] "When Rob Ford was Trump before Trump"

Marcus Gee's response in The Globe and Mail to Rob Ford, in the light of the book published about his life by his brother and the election of Trump, is thoughtful analysis.

Doug Ford’s new book on the rise and fall of his late brother doesn’t tell us much we didn’t already know about the Ford years. Despite his thunderous pre-publication threats to call out their media foes and “rock the political world,” this is, for the Fords, a mild tell-little memoir with none of the revelations readers might expect from someone who saw the Ford drama from the inside. Still, its release comes as a timely reminder of how potent populism can be and how badly it can go wrong.

It was only two weeks ago that Donald Trump shocked the world by winning election as 45th president of the United States. How could this have happened? How did all the journalists and pollsters and experts miss what was going on? As the results came in and Mr. Trump claimed victory, it was hard not to think back six years to the night when Rob Ford greeted cheering crowds after winning election as the 64th mayor of Toronto.

No one expected that either. When Rob Ford decided to run for mayor in 2010, he was discounted as a long-odds bet. A cranky suburban councillor known for his rants about cyclists, streetcars, potholes and wasteful spending, he had none of the gravitas you might expect in a serious candidate for mayor. But people didn’t want gravitas. They wanted change.

Toronto had recently come through a strike by city workers that seemed to underline the failure of the usual politicians to tackle Toronto’s problems, from its chronic budget struggles to its underbuilt public transit. Mr. Ford stood out in early election debates, hammering home his message of respect for the taxpayer. He had a direct way about him that came as a gust of fresh air in a world grown tired of buttoned-down, scripted politicians.

Many voters didn’t seem to mind that he had a history of dodgy behaviour, such as a drunk-driving episode or an abusive tirade aimed at some fellow fans at a hockey game. They didn’t care that he was often outrageous. That’s what they liked about him. It made them believe he would shake things up.

Many of his followers lived in Toronto’s troubled inner suburbs. Like the rural and working-class white Americans who helped boost Mr. Trump to victory, they felt left behind and shut out. When Rob and Doug poured scorn on the pampered downtown elite, “Ford Nation” cheered. Trump followers cheered their champion for a similar message.

[URBAN NOTE] "Mixed-income housing one answer for out-of-control home prices"

The Globe and Mail's University of Toronto-sponsored article arguing that St. Lawrence Market offers a way forward for affordable housing caught my attention.

Ronny Yaron was one of the first residents to move into the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood in Toronto 37 years ago. A single mother of two, Yaron was tired of moving house and was seeking a sense of community. She knew, going in, that she was taking part in what she describes as “a big experiment, a unique project” that’s “one of a kind.”

St. Lawrence was Canada’s first attempt to develop a deliberately mixed-use, mixed-income neighbourhood, one that integrated market-priced housing with public, non-profit and co-op residences and provided all the services necessary to build a true community — schools, daycare facilities, supermarkets and retail shops. Now, almost 40 years later, St. Lawrence serves as a model for new neighbourhood developments.

“It’s a real mix,” says Yaron, now 72 years old. “A lot of single people, a lot of children, a lot of dogs — and it does work. There’s a real neighbourhood feeling when you go along the Esplanade. Children know each other, there are places where community happens, people organize events. It’s wonderful.”

The idea of mixed-use communities is not a new one. It’s been the reality for hundreds of years, in towns and villages where people lived, worked, shopped, educated their children, cared for their elders, indulged in cultural activities — all within easy reach of residents.

But history and technology are dynamic. Things change. “Since the Second World War, a lot of neighbourhood planning has really been about separation of uses,” says Graeme Stewart, a principal at ERA Architects Inc., in Toronto. “Until the 1990s, that was the orthodoxy. It was all based on the car. ”

It’s an orthodoxy that is shifting. Today’s city planners are moving away from suburban sprawl and — its converse — large public-housing developments.

[URBAN NOTE] "Now is the Time to Move Forward on Housing"

I like the Torontoist op-ed by my ward's councilor, Ana Bailão, about the Toronto housing crisis. I just wish more, and more effective things, had been done earlier.

This National Housing Day we have an opportunity for the first time in more than a generation to change direction and move forward with positive actions and a people-focused approach to take action on housing and improve housing for all Torontonians.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a lot of change across all three orders of government. We now have a new federal government that is focusing on housing and is developing a national housing strategy. The provincial government has updated its long-term affordable housing strategy with a commitment to inclusionary zoning and gives us greater flexibility to manage social housing. And, following a tumultuous previous term of council, the City is, in my view, making social and affordable housing more of a priority than any previous term of council since amalgamation.

We are coming off the heels of the Toronto Housing Summit, which increased awareness and enabled important conversations between government, housing stakeholders, advocates, and tenants. And today, we will be learning what the federal government heard from Canadians through their national housing strategy consultations.

We must look across the housing spectrum to provide relief and more opportunities. We need to innovate, build more social, supportive, affordable, and co-op housing, and at the same time revitalize our existing housing stock to improve living conditions for some of our most vulnerable residents.

The City cannot do this alone and it will be crucial that we continue moving forward with the full implementation of Toronto Community Housing’s 10-year $2.6-billion capital plan. We are now finishing year three of this comprehensive plan and have budgeted to spend $250 million on capital repairs—more than ever before.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto might turn Old City Hall into huge museum"

I approve of the ideas presented in this blogTO report about one future potential use for Old City Hall.

Toronto's Old City Hall is undeniably beautiful. The Romanesque Revival building at Queen and Bay currently houses the Ontario Court of Justice and City of Toronto Court Services. But the city's looking to repurpose it.

A report titled A New Life for Old City Hall, from the City Building Institute (CBI) at Ryerson University, argues that it should be open to public, private and civic uses.

This report examines future possibilities for this historical building by exploring case studies from both Toronto and around the world.

"A New Life for Old City Hall, does not put forth recommendations, but intends to spark creative thinking and inspire a public discussion around future uses for Old City Hall by presenting inspiring case studies, found locally and across the globe," reads the report.

Some have suggested turning Old City Hall into a city museum, so the report looks at spaces like the Museum of the City in New York City as well as how the Design Exchange uses the old Stock Exchange building to house its collection.

The report in question is available here (PDF format).

[URBAN NOTE] "On transit, Toronto’s leaders refuse to pay their way"

Edward Keenan's Toronto Star article makes perfect sense. The TTC's budget woes can be explained only by Toronto's tradition of sustained underfunding, a new tradition that serves no one well.

It’s TTC budget season, that time of year when the big brains at City Hall get to puzzle out the great mysteries of providing transit service. More than a quarter of TTC bus and streetcar routes are regularly overcrowded, the Star’s Ben Spurr reported Friday, and any regular rush-hour rider will also be able to report that the subways on lines 1 and 2 are regularly stuffed to clown-car capacity.

Meanwhile, in its budget report to the TTC board, the transit service recommends a 10-cent increase in the price of a token — a $4.75 per month hike for a Metropass — and finds it will still be $61 million short of balancing its books.

How can you solve a problem like this? Massively overcrowded vehicles and a shortfall in the budget, year after year. They’ve tried everything: they’ve kept sticking it to riders — prices up more than $300 a year since 2010 for monthly pass holders — and yet they keep cramming themselves onto vehicles, costing us money. Under Rob Ford, they tried cutting service to intentionally overcrowd more vehicles, and yet the vehicles remained crowded and the budget remained difficult to balance. How do you figure that?

Everyone stands around scratching their heads. Why is it so hard to just keep on cutting the budget year after year while planning to expand the service? I mean, here the TTC is opening a new subway extension next year, and expanding service 0.4 per cent according to the report, as labour costs are going up and while introducing a whole new fare-collection system, and yet somehow they are finding it difficult to fulfill the mayor’s simple demand that they cut their budget by 2.6 per cent over last year. You know, after having their subsidy cut by about 13 per cent after inflation since 2010 while ridership grew about 11 per cent in the same period.

After a certain amount of chin-stroking, your typical city politician might conclude, you just need to accept that some problems aren’t meant to be solved. Transit operating budgets must be like that. Might as well go back to planning massive new construction projects.

[LINK] On the growing saleability of Canadian art

Jessica Wong's CBC News article highlights the growing popularity of Canadian art on international markets, like the Lawren Harris's 1926 painting Mountain Forms set to be auctioned off tonight. Sadly, this does not seem to be one of the canvases I photographed in September at the AGO.

The thing about Canadian art is that Canadians have largely kept it to themselves — so says British art historian Ian Dejardin.

But there's definite potential for worldwide appreciation of Canadian art, and tonight could mark one instance where the cat's out of the bag.

The commanding large-scale canvas Mountain Forms by iconic artist and Group of Seven founder Lawren Harris — a vibrant Rockies scene from his coveted 1920s creative period — hits the block with Heffel Fine Art Auction House in Toronto. The work depicts Mount Ishbel, which is in Alberta's Sawback Range in Banff National Park, east of Johnston Canyon.

Tapped with a conservative presale estimate of $3 million to $5 million, the painting is expected to sell for more.

If it crosses the upper threshold of the estimate, it would likely become the most expensive Canadian artwork ever sold at auction, knocking off longtime record-holder Paul Kane's Scene in the Northwest. Harris works already take up three spots among the top five most valuable Canadian artworks ever sold at auction.

The audience for Canadian art is out there, says Dejardin, pointing to his own experience at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery, mounting critically acclaimed exhibitions on Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven as well as Emily Carr — shows that introduced Canadians to many new admirers, inspired lengthy queues, drew raves from attendees and also moved on to other European galleries.

[LINK] "Canada's rejection of coal will clear the air but impact workers and power bills"

CBC's John Paul Tasker reports on the cost to Canada of moving away from coal, not as bad as elsewhere but still significant for tens of thousands of workers and many many more payers of bills.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna hastened the decline of Canada's coal industry Monday with the announcement of a plan to aggressively phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030, roughly 10 years ahead of schedule.

The plan is a cornerstone of the federal government's move to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 in order to meet commitments it made at the Paris climate summit.

The government has already approved the construction of major new GHG-intensive projects, a massive liquid natural gas (LNG) plant in B.C., and has signaled more oil pipeline capacity could soon be approved, meaning it has to turn to other industries to reduce the country's climate footprint.

Taking the country's coal plants offline is expected to result in a reduction of roughly 61 megatonnes in annual emissions. Moreover, the plan would mean most of the country's electricity — nearly 90 per cent — would then be drawn from nuclear generation and renewable sources such as hydroelectricity, wind and solar by 2030.

But coal still accounts for 10 per cent of the country's energy supply, and the industry is a large employer with some 42,000 Canadians directly or indirectly employed in the extraction of 69 million tonnes of the fossil fuel each year, according to the Coal Association of Canada.

[LINK] "Massive tidal turbine in Bay of Fundy generating electricity for the first time"

MacLean's shares a Canadian Press article describing the successful, if expensive, working of the first installed tidal electricity generating plant in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy.

A massive underwater turbine started generating electricity from the world’s highest tides in the Bay of Fundy on Tuesday, a test project the Nova Scotia government says marks a turning point for Canada’s renewable energy sector.

North America’s first in-stream tidal turbine was officially linked to the province’s electricity grid around noon, said Cape Sharp Tidal, the consortium behind the ambitious project.

The turbine is producing enough energy to power 500 Nova Scotia homes.

[. . .]

The partnership behind the project includes Halifax-based Emera Inc. and OpenHydro, a French conglomerate that specializes in naval defence and energy. Its two-megawatt turbine was lowered to the bottom of the bay two weeks ago.

The 1,000-tonne machine is about five storeys tall, but it is only a test model. It is anchored on the seabed at the eastern end of the bay in the Minas Passage, a five-kilometre-wide channel near Parrsboro, N.S. The powerful tides there left a smaller test turbine badly damaged in 2009.

A second test turbine will be installed next year.

The completed four-megawatt demonstration project will use a fraction of the 7,000 megawatt potential of the Minas Passage, the government said.

[LINK] "Beijing’s Haze Makes a Climate U-Turn Unlikely After Trump"

Bloomberg News' article describing the many economic and environmental incentives for China to keep shifting to clean energy is a must-read.

Beijing’s air quality fell short of national standards on 179 days last year. That’s one reason why the world’s biggest coal consumer is likely to stick with its plan to clean up its energy supply -- regardless of what President-elect Donald Trump does in the U.S.

“At the current stage of China’s economic growth, the industries and the models that the nation has developed all face constraints related to the environment and resources,” said Xuan Xiaowei, a senior research fellow at a government think tank called the Development Research Center of the State Council. “Environmental pollution is so serious. Can it work without green development?”

By any account, China must curb environmental pollution to keep its public happy. About 80 percent of the 338 Chinese cities regularly monitored by the environment ministry failed to meet official standards last year, the ministry says. Resentment about worsening pollution has created cottage industries of everything from smartphone applications to low-cost monitoring devices to keep track of air quality.

[. . .]

China has been the biggest clean-energy investor since 2012, spending $384.7 billion in that period on clean sources of energy such as wind and solar power. And it’s holding onto that lead. According to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China invested $48.1 billion in new clean energy projects so far this year, compared with $9.6 billion in Japan and $32.6 billion in the U.S.

The results of all that spending are gradually beginning to appear. Coal accounted for 64.4 percent of total energy consumption last year, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous year while the share of non-fossil fuels rose by 0.8 percentage points to 12 percent, the government said in January.

"Investing in cleaner energy will help China to gain economic benefits and improve the transition of its energy structure," said Zheng Xinye, associate dean at the School of Economics at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

[LINK] "How science and First Nations oral tradition are converging"

CBC News' Nicole Mortillado describes how scientific confirmations of the oral traditions of First Nations culture is changing the way science works in Canada.

The long history of First Nations people isn't one that can be found in books. Instead, it is a rich documentation detailed throughout time — a collective enterprise carried on by tradition and culture.

Oral tradition has often been discounted as just stories — but science is proving that the facts behind those stories certainly shouldn't be discounted.

Last week, a study published in the journal Nature Communications linked the genomes of 25 Indigenous people who lived 1,000 to 6,000 years ago with 25 descendants in the Lax Kw'alaams and Metlakatla First Nation in British Columbia.

The ancient DNA was taken from archeological sites in the Prince Rupert area of B.C. that contain human remains. The researchers concluded that the genomes of the descendants were altered as a result of European colonization, making them more resistant to western viruses.

However, the other outcome of the DNA study was confirmation that the Metlakatla First Nation has been in the region for thousands of years — something the Metlakatla have long asserted through oral tradition.

The researchers also found that roughly 175 years ago, the population of Coast Tsimshian in the region declined by as much as 57 per cent. This coincides with colonization and the spread of diseases such as smallpox, the accounts of which have also been passed down in First Nations oral tradition.

"Science is starting to be used to basically corroborate what we've been saying all along," said Barbara Petzelt, an archaeologist with the Metlakatla First Nation, one of the researchers in the study.

[DM] "What demographic issues do you think matter right now?"

At Demography Matters, I ask some questions of our readers. Are there particular trends you are interested in? Are there particular regions you would like to read about? Would analyses of the present here, try to predict the future, aim for a better understanding of the past? Would you like to be the one doing the analyzing?

Discuss, please.