iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 22h

"Young people now were sold a dream that if they worked hard they could get ahead, however, the goal posts were always changing [...] Now, those same young people can’t afford new homes, thanks in part to the CAP."

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Reposted by Ben MacLeod 馬志斌

Government of Nova Scotia @nsgov.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Traffic Safety Act Regulations Released news.novascotia.ca/en/2026/10/0...

news.novascotia.ca

Traffic Safety Act Regulations Released

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Reposted by Ben MacLeod 馬志斌

Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

"research shows that most children are not developmentally equipped to safely navigate traffic environments designed around moving automobiles quickly and efficiently. Yet we routinely build communities around this priority, leaving children dependent on adults for their mobility"

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Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

this is what "Haligonians like to park out front" actually looks like

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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"People can just work harder to provide me with subsidies" is... a take.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Municipal staff: When capped properties pay less, others must pay more. "Because HRM must raise a fixed amount of revenue each year, any reduction in taxes paid by capped properties must be made up by the rest of the residential tax base."

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I would love to see the BRT (including the red line up Portland Street) funded first

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This old road concept was premised on the military disposing of land at Shearwater, which they ended up holding onto. It is disappointing to hear it is still being considered but it does dovetail with Tim Houston's plan for car-centric sprawl around the Shearwater Flyer trail.

A plan showing a conceptual alignment for a new road linking the dead end of Mount Hope Avenue in the Russell Lake area of Dartmouth with Caldwell Road. The plan shows a red line running around the edge of the Shearwater air base. There is one other line linking the new road to the Portland Estates subdivision.

A Nova Scotia government slide from around 2022 titled "Morris Lake Expansion Special Planning Area". It has a plan highlighting a large area of land in between Morris Lake and Eastern Passage. There are three bullet points on the slide that read: "Dartmouth East Holdings (Crestco). 3100 units. Shovel ready 2024." A small note at the bottom reads: "these are estimates and may change."

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Kristin Meekes @kmeekes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Something else I’ll add about this is that conversations around Covid are so revealing (beyond the usual contempt for disabled people that shows up right away): people have no imagination. Like we don’t have to live like this, everyone.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Jonas and @fdms.eu a day before setting off on VIA Rail on their grand North American tour 🚂

Two Austrian visitors pose, smiling, on the Dartmouth waterfront. The King's Wharf construction and land reclamation project is in the background.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've been shown around parts of Toronto by @auguststreet.ca and @fernkhahn.com so it was nice to reciprocate over one very fun week. This particular outing to downtown Dartmouth also included ice cream.

Fern and August, both visiting from Toronto, enjoying the ferry ride from Halifax to downtown Dartmouth. Fern is giving a peace sign hand gesture. August is smiling and wearing a Blue Jays ball cap. The office towers of downtown Halifax are in the background.

August and Fern stand on the footbridge over the outlet of Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth on a nice day. They are gazing at the pond. An apartment building is under construction in the background.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The last time I saw @pooledriveprivate.bsky.social, we saw a play and got hazardously tall ice cream with @shiralurie.bsky.social. It was a great Spring Garden day to mark the last of summer.

Halifax playwright Lee-Anne Poole smiling and reclining in the historic Local Council of Women house in Halifax. She is sitting next to an old-fashioned radiator and a long line of windows with lacy curtains.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Sullivan's Pond, Dartmouth 🌴 My point-and-shoot camera has a retractable lens cover that sometimes gets stuck partway closed, with interesting results:

A film photo of a placid pond surrounded by trees, green lawns, and a brown, hexagonal concert pavilion. There is an island in the pond with trees and a totem pole. Some people are sitting on benches in the distance. This scene occupies only a slim horizontal space stretching across the middle third of the image; it is framed above and below by black bars that are the result of the camera's lens cover failing to fully retract.

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Jan Brown @writenrun.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Jeebus. We’ve learned nothing. A pox on the head of Dr. Strang and his associates.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I am only an occasional visitor to Burnside, but I have noticed that gravel seems to collect in the bike lanes there (especially on Wilkinson)

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

the hands are an important component of the respiratory system :)

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

merging into 70 kph traffic on Commodore to make the left onto John Savage is exhilarating

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Tried to find a bike rack out here for @justbartek.ca's bike parking map to no avail, but there are flagpoles.

Ben's bicycle locked to a flagpole outside the suburban, two-storey professional building at 7 Mellor Avenue in Burnside, where Nova Scotia Health's public health clinic is located.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Greetings from the maskless public health clinic, where the official coronavirus guidance in the year of our lord 2026 is to cough into your elbow.

Various posters on the wall of the public health clinic. A large one is titled "how to build global community" and has a long list of guiding principles such as "talk to strangers", "question consumption", and "notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture". There are many other, smaller posters promoting such things as HPV vaccines, privacy protection, and zero tolerance for workplace abuse. One poster, titled "positive space", says: "this is a place where we uphold human rights and provide affirming, inclusive healthcare for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations".

Ben taking a photo of himself in the mirror of the public health clinic bathroom. Ben is wearing a black cap (to hide helmet hair), an N95 respirator, and a striped blue t-shirt. There is a heart-shaped, "Progress Pride" sticker on the bathroom mirror.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

the other side of the road is a mess too!

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

the bridge bikeway seemed busier than I'd ever seen it this morning!

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"We’ve come 4,000 kilometres. Many of us have been sounding the alarm on climate change for 20 to 30 years, and we feel like we’re running out of time. So, we will be persistent, we will not be violent, but we aren’t going to turn around and go home easily."

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Sad to have had to miss Kidical Mass in my neighbourhood this morning!

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Clean Air Library HRM, Protect Our Province Nova Scotia, and Halifax Mask Bloc have a table at the Anarchist Book Fair this afternoon! Old library on Spring Garden, until 6 pm. @popns.bsky.social @calhrm.bsky.social

Table at a book fair with many pamphlets related to covid safety

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is good to hear as I was afraid to look myself

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I watched the last ATAC meeting, but staff didn't mention Woodside-Shearwater at all.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It will definitely be here for next time

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

that's where drivers typically breeze through the barely visible "STOP" markings on the pavement 😭

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

the sidewalk mattress is honestly a nice change of pace

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The Quinpool Centre puddle is deserving of heritage status at this point. I swear the landlord could redevelop the entire property and they would find a way to keep the puddle

An asphalt pathway next to the Quinpool Centre parking lot in Halifax. There is a large puddle covering the path. There are two pedestrians walking on two well-established, dirt desire paths flanking the big puddle. There is also a double mattress lying in the mud next to the puddle.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 01/09/2026

an absolutely delightful week in and around halifax. like, "i got to pitch my map to a transit agency" delightful (outcome pending). i certainly won't go another 18 years without seeing the north atlantic. many thanks to @benmacleod.bsky.social for taking the time to show august and me around!

Selfie of Ben, Fern, and August at Halifax Transit offices. Fern holds three of their own Halifax Transit rider guides, and August holds one open, showing the system map inside. All three are masking.

View of Halifax's skyline and suspension bridges from across the harbour. Resting on a glass railing at the Woodside ferry terminal, August admires the skyline. Conditions are moody and overcast, and there are ripples in the water.

As a small, cable-hauled car ferry crosses the LaHave River, Fern walks away from the camera along the rocky riverbank. A clear, late-afternoon sky casts orange light and long shadows.

August leans on a curious seating installation to photograph the pedestrianized Granville Street in downtown Halifax. The street is adorned with quaint paving and ornate four-storey buildings, which give way to modern office and residential towers in the background. It is not busy as a grey sky threatens rainfall.

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 28/08/2026

halifax's waterfront is pretty impressive. it's continuous, well-lit, integrated with downtown, has some art, ample individual and group seating, and retail directly on the space. the level of activity at 9pm is testament to the success of its design. people love to hang out here

small boardwalk market with some tables with umbrellas, string lights overhead, and stalls

an pier that juts out from the main waterfront boardwalk, which forms an inclined path on the roof of a restaurant. the photo is taken from atop the inclined roof

view of the waterfront as it weasels around piers jutting out into the harbour, brightly lit and containing abundant covered tables and seats. some ships are docked

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 27/08/2026

i like that halifax route 1 is sooo frequent at night (every 10 to 15 min until 1am). in a sea of infrequent late night buses in halifax, the 1 feels like a lifeline to avoid long, lonely waits that would otherwise turn me off from staying out late, or using transit at night altogether

next bus screen on transit app showing buses in 0, 2, 9, and 23 min

halifax transit bus leaves a quiet neighbourhood bus stop at night

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Scott Edgar @scottedgar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

When I first arrived in NS, the public conversation was all about the Ivany Report, and its findings on why young people and immigrants were fleeing the province. Since then, NS has never stopped telling young people and immigrants that they're nothing but ATMs to be used by old white people.

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Scott Edgar @scottedgar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

My city has designed its property tax regime to tax younger people and recent immigrants at higher rates than older people and long-time (disproportionately white) residents. This is a genuinely villainous policy.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I would love to know the transportation modal split of Citadel students compared with those at new schools in suburban Halifax. Most classmates I knew just walked, some took the bus, because the surrounding land use looks like this:

An aerial photo of snowy Halifax, Canada in the winter, centred on Citadel High School, a long building at the foot of the Citadel Hill national historic site. The school is surrounded by mixed-use neighbourhoods including Quinpool, the North End, Downtown, and Spring Garden Road.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I had a fun morning thanks to the nice staff of the provincial archives 📽️

A 16-mm film viewing table at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax. The table has a viewing monitor, a speaker, and separate film plates for video and audio reels. An archivist is preparing a film for viewing by feeding the film through the guide rollers and syncing up the audio and video.

A closed storage room in the Nova Scotia Archives building with large artworks on hanging, sliding racks on the left, work tables in the centre, and shelving with various holdings (such as photos) on the right.

An old, grey Electrohome CRT television with two knobs

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Ysa (she/her) @ysabet.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Thread:

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

"Haligonia does not employ journalists" we can tell

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

If you feel so inclined, please also write your MP in support of the actions proposed by the petition: to increase the yearly PR admissions target and allocate sufficient quota to the humanitarian immigration pathways in order to clear the backlog.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

It parallels historical injustices: when immigration is deemed necessary and beneficial for economic reasons, the door is open – but as soon as Asian immigration becomes a serious political liability, the Canadian government pulls out the rug from under people who are already settled here.

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Some 20,000 Ukrainians and 7,000 Sudanese are facing the same backlog. Having been affected by the housing crisis, I understand the context in which the government has revised immigration levels. However, to throw people already in Canada under the bus in this way is wrong.

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