Paris 2050 Smart City

It's so green and lovely. A vision from Vincent Callebaut Architecture.

Beautiful green concept university campus [link].

Letter to Globe & Mail regarding Leader Debate E-42

Your decision to exclude Elizabeth May from the leaders’ debate being hosted by the Globe and Mail this week was undemocratic and unjustifiable.

The CPC, LPC, and NDP have controlled the narrative and constrained our perception of threat and opportunity for generations. In recent years they have become even less differentiated, to the extent that the Press is debating today whether or not the Liberals are "left" of the NDP. Party policies are driven by electoral strategies to secure power, not to serve this country.

The whole point of Parliament as an institution is to have multiple perspectives recommend, challenge and collaborate to develop better solutions than any one perspective could arrive at alone.

Elizabeth May is the finest parliamentarian of her day. She is a party leader who brings a perspective more firmly grounded in science than any of the others, who understands law and parliamentary procedure, and who is committed to working with others to come up with solutions that serve Canadians. She is exactly the kind of voice we want bringing forward and challenging ideas.

An effective democracy cannot function without an engaged and critical Press. By excluding May from the debates, the Globe and Mail has elected to contribute to a narrowed perspective, over-ruling the clear majority wishes of the Canadian Public that she participate.

I am gravely disappointed in your decision.

3-story, conveyor-belt driven vertical farm in Wyoming. Article.

In a year, the greenhouse should be able to crank out over 37,000 pounds of greens, 4,400 pounds of herbs, and 44,000 pounds of tomatoes... 

Inside, the plants move throughout each greenhouse floor on a conveyor belt that the founders compare to a moving rack at a dry cleaner. As they rotate, each plant gets an equal amount of time in natural light on the south side of the building, saving energy in artificial lighting. On the top level, the system also pulls plants up to the ceiling, effectively creating an extra floor. The conveyor also brings each plant to workers who can transplant or harvest the crops. 

Letter to PM Harper - Fair Elections Act

Right Honourable Mr. Prime Minister and Honourable Minister Poilievre,

When I first read the details of the Fair Elections Act, I was gravely concerned by it and resolved to write and express this to you. The reduced role of Elections Canada in promoting participation in our democracy, and the overly reactionary response to the non-problem of voter fraud take us in the wrong direction as a country. Then the wave of concern from across the country erupted and I felt certain the Act would be retracted or amended. 

And yet your Government continues to pursue this course. Ten years ago, Mr. Prime Minister, you would have fought endlessly to prevent such a flawed piece of legislation from being forced on us, and you would have been correct to do so. 

Why are you focusing on the phantom of voter fraud and not the serious case of electoral fraud in 2011? That you pursue one over the other appears cynical and partisan, and is an insult to the values you once vigorously defended.

Please pull or amend the Fair Elections Act.

Tal Henderson

Toronto Centre

cc:

Honourable Chrystia Freeland, MP Toronto-Centre

Honourable Thomas Mulclair, Leader of the Opposition

Honourable Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party Leader

Honourable Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

Gorgeous Montpellier Apartment

Love this

Letter: ELA and Anti-Drought Convention

Right Honourable Prime Minister,

I strongly oppose two recent moves by your government to close the Experimental Lakes Area and pull Canada out of the UN Anti-Drought Convention. Research in the environmental sciences is of an all-time importance and these decisions run counter to an informed and evidence-based approach to determining policy and governmental response. That this is becoming a hallmark of your administration is gravely concerning. 

In the interest of good and informed governance, please reverse these decisions. 

Tal Henderson

Toronto-Centre

cc\

Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Centre and Liberal Party Leader

Honourable Thomas Mulclair, Leader of the Opposition

Honourable Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

High Speed Rail Sweet-Spot

This article on Slate discusses a recent, fictional map of high-speed rail in the US by Alfred Twu that has rejuvenated discussion on the topic. The most interesting point to me, though, was this:

Experts who study light rail often mention a “sweet spot” of between 100 and 600 miles for high-speed rail corridor trips. Shorter than 100 miles, and a rider is more likely to want to take a conventional train, a car, or a bus. Longer than 600 miles and a rider is better off flying.

Letter to PM Harper - First Nations and Bill C-45

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper

Prime Minister of Canada

You once stood against omnibus bills as a threat to democracy. Despite all criticism, the Harper Government regularly uses this approach. You know this is a tactic that thwarts the function of Parliament, yet you continue the practice.

The First Nations of Canada have alleged that Bill C-45 violates Treaty Rights. This is a serious charge and should have been debated in the House long before this budget and its long string of non-budgetary issues was rushed through. Now there are protests across the country and Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence holds her hunger strike to move you to listen. 

Parliament exists and functions to prevent this disruption to the country. By your actions, you have brought us to this state of affairs.

The Canadian people look to you now for leadership. It is time for an open discussion with First Nations and other Canadians that builds a consensus regarding our shared future. It is time for you to meet with Chief Spence. 

Sincerely Yours,

Tal Henderson

Toronto-Centre

cc/

Chief Theresa Spence, Attawapiskat Nation

Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Centre and Liberal Party Leader

Honourable Thomas Mulclair, Leader of the Opposition

Honourable Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

Subject: Grave Concerns Regarding Omnibus Bill C-38

Sent to all Ontario-area Conservative MPs via http://www.leadnow.ca/13heroes

Honourable Members,

I lend my voice to the thousands of Canadians who call for the omnibus Budget Bill C-38 to be separated into manageable, reviewable, and debatable bills.

It is the responsibility and purpose of Parliament—comprising the governing party and opposition parties—to propose and challenge bills, to thoroughly review and debate their clauses, connections and implications. This is how we arrive at balanced and thoughtful laws that have been democratically enacted to meet the needs of the nation.

In Bill C-38, too many disparate items have been included which deserve scrutiny by committees who are equipped to deal with their specialist natures and those challenges they present not related to finance or the economy but which nonetheless represent essential public interests.

The construction of this bill is over-reaching, by-passes essential, qualified oversight and debate, and fundamentally undercuts the processes of our parliament and the democratic principles it is founded upon.

Like many thousands of other concerned citizens and echoing critiques from across the political spectrum and all corners of Canadian society, I wrote early to recommend the Government of Canada separate the thematic items of this omnibus bill for independent scrutiny, debates, and votes. Though unable or unwilling to answer the concerns of Canadians, and though the majority-position Government stands to lose little, the PMO has determined to ram this legislation through Parliament with almost no debate.

I have long held respect for the values of public accountability, integrity, courage and individual responsibility that Conservatives champion with their perspective. In Bill C-38, I see these utterly contradicted. As independently-accountable members of the Government, I encourage you to represent our voices—those of your constituents and the Canadian public—and work with your party to split the bill and start the process of debate.

With respect,
Tal Henderson
Toronto-Center

cc via email to:
Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Center
Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Honourable Thomas Mulclair, Leader of the Opposition
Honourable Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

Omnibus Budget Bill C-38 (Letter)

Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Honourable Bob Rae, MP Toronto-Center

Sirs,

I feel it is important to voice that I strongly disagree with the omnibus budget bill C-38. Too many disparate items have been included here which deserve scrutiny by committees who are equipped to deal with their specialist natures and those challenges they present not related to finance or the economy but which nonetheless represent essential public interests. The construction of this bill is over-reaching, by-passes essential, qualified oversight and debate, and fundamentally undercuts the processes of our parliament and the democratic principles it is founded upon.

I encourage the Government of Canada to separate the items of this omnibus bill for independent scrutiny, debates, and votes, and to use the strengths of our system to arrive at the best legislation for the balanced needs of the nation.

Sincerely yours,
Tal Henderson
Toronto

The High Costs of Parking

Great article over at Slate about parking lots, which quotes a study by the University of California Transportation Centre (UCTC). From the article:

The cost of these spaces, measured... “in the form of adverse health impacts, building damage, and reduced agricultural production, to name a few,” ranges somewhere between $4 billion and $20 billion per year.

The private automobile - an idea whose time has GONE.

Community Savings Microfinance Model

A new article in The Economist: Small wonder - A new model of microfinance for the very poor is spreading.


From the article:

People like these schemes because they are easy to understand, says John Schiller, a microfinance expert with Plan International. And returns on savings are extremely high—generally 20-30% a year. Borrowers typically pay interest rates of 5-10% a month on loans that usually have to be repaid within three months. The rates may seem usurious but they are set by people who are in effect lending to themselves and saving the interest that they charge. 

A village savings scheme typically involves a small group (perhaps 15-30 people) who pool their savings. Each buys a share in a fund from which they can all borrow. All must also contribute a small sum to a social fund, which acts as micro-insurance. If a member suffers a sudden misfortune, she will receive a payout. 

Members select leaders and draft a constitution. The rules spell out how often the group will meet, what interest rates it will charge and what loans may be used for. At the end of a cycle (usually about one year), all the money accumulated through savings and interest is shared out according to members’ contributions, and a new cycle starts. Once members have mastered the system, the groups they have formed can take on additional tasks such as providing training in agriculture, health, leadership and business.

Why Occupy Canada Matters

Occupy Toronto - St. James Park

What happens if the occupiers go home?

Then we accept this whole global problem was just an anomalous “bank thing” that mostly happened elsewhere. A generational crisis that we’ve past, thank goodness, and one to which Canada was just an innocent bystander. We can even be smug, if we want.

And we’ll find ourselves going through another election cycle four years from now, and we’ll do something silly like double-down on our new fighter jets and our fancy prisons. Or not. Maybe we get that fancy oil pipeline and a nice austerity programme to start a generation’s work of clearing the hundreds of billions of new debt we’ve added. The Boomer retirement will really get some momentum going and we’ll hope we can pay for that tsunami of healthcare costs on, what, Financial Services growth? Tourism? iPhone app development?

What’s the plan? How do we turn the engine of the St. Lawrence Basin back on? What does it make? How does it build real value in the world? How do we use that to educate and house and invest? How do we do it in a way that is sustainable and healthy and improves our quality of life? How do we as a nation do more than finally, barely, and belatedly achieve our commitments to carbon dioxide levels and a 0.7% of GDP to developing nations?

Will we wait and hope that a suddenly government-ready and messianic NDP will save us? A newly rejuvenated (and equally messianic) Liberal Party? Explosive growth and sudden ministerial preparedness in the Greens? How strong would any one of these parties have to be to win, hold, and get things done? None of us really believes that will happen.

The real question is how can our Canadian parliaments work without a popular movement that restores legitimacy to government.

And here we suddenly have this popular movement that is reinforcing itself globally, and is making direct connection between democracy, economy, plurality, sustainability, inclusivity and human rights. They are staying there and sharing what they learn with each other and they are changing things.

The more popular support they generate, the more they accomplish.

Everyone should go to the parks and see the occupations and the General Assemblies: the ones I've seen beggar the imagination to understand how they could ever bring about the kind of change we need.

But we know the current systems of government won’t start working again on their own. They will never bring the change we need. And we’re all mystified as to how they're going to become relevant and responsive and effective. It won’t happen inside of any one party. It won’t happen if we accept that a globalized world ends at national borders. It requires a movement that grabs the governing system itself and smartens it up. Holds it accountable. Insists it smarten itself up. Makes it work for all of us and inspires us to be active, informed participants in it.

It’s not up to the people sleeping in the parks to force the changes we all want to happen. The occupations are a manifest symbol, one unlike any I’ve seen in my life. Occupy Canada is taking space and holding it, experimenting in it. Most importantly, they are buying time for the rest of us to come out and do something. And if it’s too hard to come out and stay out - and it is, winters are cold here - then we need to build something to bring it everywhere.

Omnibus Crime Bill C-10 (Letter)

Emailed today:

Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 

I am deeply troubled by the omnibus bill C-10 "Safe Streets and Communities Act" being considered by Parliament. While there are parts of this bill that should become law, others are highly problematic, and run counter to the best practices asserted by the social sciences and the experience of Correctional Services in other jurisdictions. 

Given the negative outcomes that could be a direct result of some of the parts of this omnibus bill - including increased rates of crime, rapidly increasing costs of correctional services, and a grave toll in unnecessary human suffering - I urge you to ask Parliament to do the following:

1. Debate and vote upon each of the nine Bills separately,
2. Bring experts to provide a close review of the social science, and 
3. Hear from those in the legal and correctional services in the U.S. jurisdictions of Texas and Arkansas who experienced--and now advocate against--the approach laid out by Bill C-10.

Thank you for your service to Canadians,

Tal Henderson

Toronto

cc: MP Bob Rae (Toronto Centre)

Selling the Naming Rights for TTC Stations

The Globe and Mail has an article on selling the TTC station naming rights to corporations with a possible upside of raising $324 million.  

Dundas station – a busy downtown stop in need of a major facelift – will be the test case for plans by the Toronto Transit Commission to sell naming rights, and the head of nearby Ryerson University says he is keen to talk.

TTC chair Karen Stintz said the transit authority wants to use renovations at Dundas as a pilot project that can be copied at other stations in the cash-strapped system.

This is an effort to pay for station renovations and it makes sense to involve any major organizations in the region of a station in the planning and partnership for station rebuilds. Working with Ryerson to ensure the station has entrances at the north end to connect with the new student centre makes sense and if they can be motivated to contribute financially to this, do it. Advertising in that space could absolutely be committed to the patron organization for a period of time - that makes sense.

But leave the names out of it. Some things are best left in the domain of the Public.

G20 Summit Inquiry

Emailed today.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Premier Dalton McGuinty

Mayor Rob Ford

MP Bob Rae (Toronto Centre)

MPP Glen Murray (Toronto Centre)

Councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28)

Right honourable leaders and honourable representatives,

As we approach the anniversary of the Toronto G20 Summit we find ourselves with as many questions as ever about what happened in the days preceding, during, and after the meeting. The patchwork of reviews is producing an incomplete and inadequate accounting. As a democratic society, we owe it to our citizens and our police officers to review the actions, decisions and outcomes of events and assess how they served us as a nation that embraces both liberty and good governance.  

I strongly urge you to call for a full public inquiry into the G20 Summit including:

• The manner of determining that the host site be located in downtown Toronto
• The counsel and intelligence that was used in assessing risk and planning response
• The manner of issue and public announcement of the regulation granted under the Public Works Protection Act
• Adequacy and quality of information to police officers and the Public prior to, during, and following the G20 
• The acquisition of and legal limits placed upon the use of new weapons for use against civilian populations including the four “sonic cannons”, which had use-prescriptions placed upon them by the Courts
• Tactics of crowd control, methods of arrest and detention used by the police to secure the event and protect the public
• An assessment of the extent and type of risk posed by agents provocateur, allegedly connected to the anarchist movement, in Canada 
• The freedoms and treatment of agents of the press as they reported on the events

The fact that the weekend saw the largest mass-arrest in Canadian history should itself require a public inquiry and it is time for our leaders to call for one. 

We as a body-politic and a national public need to reflect upon what the stresses to our systems posed by the G20 stress told us about the laws, policies, and processes that frame our civic lives. While the destruction in downtown Toronto was wholly unacceptable, the greater threat to our democracy lies not with a few disaffected individuals smashing windows and burning cars but with an over-reaction on part of our institutions to secure against this possibility. We cannot eliminate risk from a free society. Ultimately we must strike that balance between public safety and freedom of action that renews its commitment to err on the side of freedom and transparency. 

Thank you all for your dedication and your service.

Sincerely, 

Tal Henderson

[address]

Tough Love for Subway Development

Richard Gilbert in the Economy Lab writes that the subway plan could be saved by greater development around subway stations thereby increasing ridership, and by using smaller, automated trains as in Europe.

He's got some good points to consider here.

Key excerpts:

The mayor’s plan could be rescued by taking into account two factors ... 

The first overlooked factor is revenue from riders. Over the life of any subway line, most of its revenue comes from fares. In Toronto – and elsewhere in Canada – there has not usually been a surplus of fare revenue that can be used to pay down debt incurred for construction. This does not have to be the case. With more riders and lower costs there could be a surplus. 

More riders would come from development at and near new subway stations. Toronto has an astonishingly poor record of transit-related development. There are 54 heavy rail stations outside the downtown, but no more than 16 of them have substantial amounts of station-related development.  

This will mean maximizing the use of city-owned land, massive upzoning of land near the stations, generous buy-outs of landowners to achieve appropriate land assembly, and possible creation of one or more public development corporations to move things along. 

To cover the full cost of a subway line from the fare box, there must be 30,000-40,000 residents or jobs within a square kilometre of each station.

The second thing ... is whether the cost of the proposed Sheppard extensions ... Subway lines in Europe are built for about half this amount. Savings come from designing for short, fully automated, driverless trains that provide high capacity by running frequently most hours of the day.

Shorter trains mean smaller stations and thus lower costs. Automation allows closer spacing of trains and thus higher line capacity, offsetting shorter trains. Shorter trains are lighter, which can result in savings in track-bed and other infrastructure costs. Automation also reduces operating costs, creating more surplus to cover construction costs.

Green Belt replaces the Iron Curtain

Along Scar from Iron Curtain, A Green Belt Rises in Germany. Excerpts from the article follow:

A forbidding, 870-mile network of fences and guard towers once ran the length of Germany, separating East and West. Now, one of the world’s most unique nature reserves is being created along the old “Death Strip,” turning a monument to repression into a symbol of renewal.

... 

Conservationists and government officials are striving to make the Greenbelt the backbone of a German-wide system of ecological corridors. Since 1990, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation has established more than 20 large protected areas connected to the old East-West border. Those protected areas might eventually become part of a much larger effort — proposed by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — to create a continuous, pan-European nature reserve stretching from northern Finland to the Black Sea along the route of the former Iron Curtain. 

... 

“We wanted to prove that this is an area of value and that it can transcend the horrors of the past,” says Riecken. In collaboration with Friends of the Earth, Riecken’s agency began a painstaking inventory of the ecosystems and species along the Green Belt. “We had teams of ornithologists, botanists, entomologists, people for many different taxa, walking for hundreds of kilometers along the former border and recording what they came across,” he recalls. Observations from local birders and plant aficionados were fed into the database as well. In the end, more than 1,000 species from Germany’s Red List of endangered species were identified.
‘We wanted to prove that his is an area of value and that it can transcend the horrors of the past,’ said one official.  

Canada Under-Investing in Green Energy

From an article on the need for Canada to invest in green energy for our economic development:

Data from a recent study shows that U.S. and China spent the equivalent of about $360 and $187 per capita respectively in climate-change-related infrastructure projects in 2009, while Canada only invested $87 per capita [my emphasis]. Canada’s failure to match U.S. clean energy investments in recent years has cost our country 66,000 jobs. 

Our failure to harness opportunities to make Canada a leader in the green economy is endangering our economic future. Furthermore, this appears to be happening against the will of Canadians, 83 per cent of whom support investments in green jobs