iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 8h

The Centre BC candidate in my riding is Andrew Weaver for whom I have great respect. Centre BC has recruited 35 candidates who seem capable and would enhance the quality of government. Their values are well-aligned with my beliefs.

We believe in ensuring families and individuals have access to affordable housing, quality healthcare, childcare, education, and mental health supports—and that seniors can age with dignity and security. Strong social systems create strong communities.

Our decisions are guided by research, fiscal responsibility, and a deep understanding of the challenges facing British Columbians. Leadership means listening first, acting thoughtfully, and always putting people and families ahead of partisanship

Prosperity means building a balanced, sustainable economy that supports good jobs, innovation, and opportunity for all. We champion small business, responsible resource development, and investments that help families build secure futures.

We believe in strengthening relationships between Indigenous communities, public land users, private property owners, and families who depend on these lands. Through cooperation, understanding, and shared purpose, we can find solutions that serve all British Columbians

The future of British Columbia depends on empowering our youth. When youth thrive, innovating, contributing, and believing in their future,so does British Columbia.

We’re committed to restoring civility in politics and fostering open, honest dialogue. We believe real progress happens when everyone—parents, youth, workers, seniors, the business community, and other stakeholders—has a seat at the table and a voice in shaping solutions for the province we share.

Thriving communities are built on creativity, culture, and connection. We support investment in the arts, local events, and creative industries that bring people together, spark innovation, and celebrate the diversity of our province. When communities are vibrant and expressive, they attract talent, strengthen belonging, and enhance the quality of life for everyone in British Columbia.

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 10h

Centre BC is the first and only BC party to publish an actual costed platform for the 2026 Election. Most other parties have "Plans," but BC NDP has neither a platform nor a Plan.

Page Title: BC election platforms 2026: Compare the party platforms
bcballot.ca

Subtitle/Description: BC election platforms 2026 compared by issue: 1,261 commitments from five parties, each with the party's own words.

Timestamp / Verification: Checked October 10, 2026.

Summary of Party Platforms on the Page

BC Green:

Plan published: "Our Plan" / "Full platform coming soon"
bcballot.ca

Commitments: 495 commitments

Candidates: 74 candidates

BC NDP:

Plan published: No platform or plan page on bcndp.ca

Commitments: 119 commitments
bcballot.ca

Candidates: 92 candidates

CentreBC:

Plan published: "2026 Platform"
bcballot.ca

Commitments: 496 commitments

Candidates: 34 candidates

Conservative Party of BC:

Plan published: "Our Plan"

Commitments: 105 commitments
bcballot.ca

Candidates: 93 candidates

OneBC:

Plan published: "Our Plan"

Commitments: 46 commitments

Candidates: 34 candidates
bcballot.ca

210

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

What message is Quebec sending to the BC NDP? "The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) was governing Quebec before the 2026 election, holding 90 out of 125 seats in the National Assembly."

Elect Lead Total
PQ. 39. 21. 60
LIB. 27 11 38
PCQ. 14 6 20
QS. 4 5 9
CAQ. 0. 0. 0

010

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

An important opinion piece that everyone should read from the Financial Times

Multilateralism is not idealism, it is a necessity
We need to strengthen our system of co-operation, not replace it

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, António Costa, William Ruto and Mark Carney
The writers are president of Brazil, president of the European Council, president of Kenya and prime minister of Canada

156

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

History of the price of oil related to global events and inflation. Note the precipitous drop in 2014 due to US Shale boom - not to the Trudeau government.

Global average oil price ($ per barrel)

1: Yom Kippur war. 2: Iranian revolution. 3: Gulf war. 4: Iraq war. 5: Demand from emerging markets brings record high, followed by slump during global financial crisis. 6: US shale boom. 7: Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 8: US & Israel attack Iran

022

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Started to respond to your message and I saw this message from BlueSky. Should I reply in Japanese?

BlueSky says: The post you're replying to was marked as being written in Japanese by its author. Would you like to reply in Japanese?

210

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Is there, perhaps, a long-term market for Alberta heavy oil in Asia? @maxfawcett.bsky.social

REUTERS
Asia is poised to take up 70% of Canadian oil exports, pipeline executive says
2 hours ago

SINGAPORE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Asia, led by China, ‌is expected to buy 70% of Canadian crude oil exports after the country's only pipeline that provides access to the continent expands its capacity by a third by the end of 2028, a Canadian industry executive said on Tuesday.

• Demand from Asia for Canadian crude has increased as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted supplies from the ⁠Middle East.

• The 890,000-barrel-per-day Trans Mountain pipeline from the province of ‌Alberta to British Columbia's west coast from where oil can be shipped to Asia hit full capacity for the first time in June.

• Canada's oil ‌output, the world's fourth-largest, this year is set to ⁠exceed last year's record of 5.3 million barrels per day, according to Canada's energy regulator.

• Mark Maki, chief executive officer of the pipeline operator ⁠Trans Mountain, said ‌the pipeline expansion would add 90,000 bpd transport capacity in ⁠the fourth quarter, and another 210,000 bpd by the end of ‌2028.

• "About two-thirds of ships that leave the dock go to ⁠Asia and then as we expand, I would expect ⁠that most of ‌that (expansion) will be going to Asia," Maki told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual industry gathering APPEC ‌in Singapore.

• Canada in July also announced plans to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific coast, which would give the country greater capacity to export to Asia.

• China, the world's biggest importer of oil, will ⁠remain Canada's single largest customer going forward, as heavy Canadian oil is an ideal feedstock for petrochemicals, Maki said.

• Maki said he expected some new countries to become customers, including Thailand, and that India, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam would increase their purchases of Canadian oil.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Trixie Yap)

222

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Article By: Jakub Pachocki, Chief Scientist at OpenAI Basically a cry for help to Please stop us before we create superintelligent agents who will destroy humanity. openai.com/index/an-ali...

Currently I believe that no lab has solved alignment and monitoring to a sufficient degree to continue responsibly scaling at maximum speed for much longer. I expect and hope for voluntary slowdowns to become commonplace until shared safety bars are established. And I believe that international coordination on future AI development needs to become a top priority for governments around the world.

122

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This could be a model for at least part of Canada's auto industry, although the ownership should be Canadian.

Reuters

Volkswagen finds defence future for German plant amid major overhaul
37 minutes ago

By Christina Amann and Christoph Steitz

OSNABRUECK, Germany, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Volkswagen on ‌Monday struck a preliminary deal that will see one of its German sites switch to defence production, a first in the automaker's efforts to restructure plants struggling to compete with lower-cost Chinese rivals.

The deal offers a potential blueprint for other Volkswagen sites facing an uncertain future as Europe's largest carmaker embarks on its biggest ever restructuring to revive margins and battle chronic overcapacity in its stagnant European market.

Under the initial terms of the deal, Volkswagen will sell its factory in Osnabrueck to Israel's Aurelius Capital and Volkswagen's home state of Lower Saxony, in a move labour officials ⁠said could preserve about 1,400 of the site's 1,800 jobs.

The agreement comes days after Volkswagen unveiled a major ‌revamp to cut jobs and simplify its structure, highlighting how rising defence spending in Europe could help absorb excess manufacturing capacity in the automotive sector.

Volkswagen has warned that up to four German plants could face closure or repurposing unless ‌alternative uses can be found amid weak demand, high costs and growing competition from ⁠China.

032

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Here's an account of that interview by a commenter in the Wall Street Journal.

Comment from the Wall Street Journal:
DELBERT A WHITAKER
1 minute ago

The US Trade Leader Greer's 25 minute interview today with Canadian Broadcast Corporation Reporter Rosemary Barton seemed to say the breakdown of the trade agreement was not caused by what has been reported in Canada. They went through every major issue and Greer gave extremely detailed data on each issue which is very different from what Carney said. There is probably a 100% chance Greer will be testifying before the US Congress soon, and he would have to be insane to make the comments he made if they were not true. The interview is on CBC Website under politics. I sensed some of the CBC reports believed him and seemed to get concerned.

341

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Is this someone in the mainstream of the Democratic Party?

000

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

When the WSJ writes him off, you know Trump's goose is cooked. www.wsj.com/opinion/trum...

Trump Is Starting to Look Precarious
Iran, the economy: An insurgency that becomes a government is eventually responsible for conditions.
Peggy Noonan
By
Peggy Noonan
Aug. 13, 2026 at 5:46 pm ET
It has seemed to me this summer that people avoid the subject of Donald Trump as much as possible. What is there to say? People stand where they stand, no one expects to win anybody over. The subject is both boring and harrowing, so why disturb the moment?

A classically conservative insight is that no mere political figure should be given the power to fully colonize your brain and heart, so going to other topics is a good impulse. But I think something has been happening while we haven’t been talking about him. His position in the political cosmos is changing. In some new way good fortune is not on Mr. Trump’s side. There is a new precarity there.

All this is connected, obviously, to the dangerous mess of Iran, widespread economic anxiety and a rise in the energy and electoral success of the left, which hates him and, in its political bloodlust, apes him.
All this is expressed in his approval ratings. The RealClearPolitics average has him at 39% job approval, 59% disapproval. The Economist this week had a piece titled “How unpopular is Donald Trump?” Its own poll found him dramatically underwater, 34% to 61%. The magazine said voters are “uneasy about the president’s ability to deal wisely with an international crisis.”

An insurgency that becomes a government is eventually responsible for conditions. MAGA as a force has been around more than a decade. You can’t blame everything that doesn’t work on the bad governance of the past when the past is fast receding and your candidates have been controlling Washington for a while.

It is said that in politics friends come and go but enemies accumulate. In a presidency good news comes and goes but bad news accumulates. ICE excesses, Epstein, Ukraine, Iran, inflation, tariffs—none of these things have ever destroyed Donald Trump, but when you’ve been in office a while people start seeing not individual and discrete issues but a rolling blur of problems, one after another, and they start to think: This feels bad, out of control, or I don’t like his performance. That is the Incumbent Problem.

Here is the Things Pass Problem: Everyone knows a post-Trump world is coming, about two years after the November election. This lessens his mystique. His future is finite. Knowing that, people reposition themselves, feel less fear.

Mr. Trump has always had a hearty appetite for combat, and there is no reason to believe that will change. Combat is his default political mode. But more is needed now because competence, not combat, seems to be the growing issue.
He has taken, at rallies, to calling the Democrats “communists.” Does labeling them this way help his party’s position? Or would it help to explain exactly what the progressives’ platforms and past statements contain? He continues to have no patience for cool, careful argumentation. I think the single most revealing statement Mr. Trump has made in his second administration is the one reported in “Regime Change,” the deeply reported history of the first half of the second administration by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

Mr. Trump was talking to Tucker Carlson by phone in the weeks before the Iran war commenced. Mr. Carlson was trying to warn the president against military action. Mr. Trump said, “I know you’re worried about it, but it’s going to be OK.”

Mr. Carlson asked how he knew. Mr. Trump replied, “Because it always is.”

Things just break his way.

It is hard to understand such a breezy gloss on history, or on life. Presidents don’t say that kind of thing, because presidents are precisely the people who learn each day that many things don’t work out for the best.

Mr. Trump seems to have a real fear of boredom. Even at his age he is restless; when there’s peace and quiet he seems to become anxious, as if he can’t tolerate normality. He shows little faith in quiet progress, as in: Set good policy in place and hope it succeeds inch by inch. Instead he creates drama or a crisis, arouses a counterforce, attacks this new enemy, experiences fear—will my luck hold?—defeats the new enemy, feels relief, relaxes. Then, restless again and on the prowl, he creates new drama . . .

That is a real weakness in life, needing drama. It will find you on its own. When you need it you’re always generating new stakes, and in a presidency they’re often high, and when you fail that is some big failure.

0138

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Dippers attacking their own, while their leader is left in the dust by Don't Know and PP.

Nanos Research, 2026-07-24, polling for preferred PM: Carney 54%, Poilievre and Don't Know tied at 18%, Lews 4%.

120

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The benefit to Canada, in the 2nd quarter of 2026, was $6.9 billion in Crown royalties and $4.4 billion in current taxes (all jurisdictions) according to RBC.

Fueled by elevated oil prices, we estimate that Canada’s majors—Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor
Energy, Cenovus Energy and Imperial Oil—will generate combined second-quarter free funds flow
(before dividends, including A&D) of $13.2 billion (up $5.1 billion sequentially) after paying some $6.9
billion in Crown royalties and $4.4 billion in current taxes (all jurisdictions), while their net debt fell about $8.3 billion dollars.

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I've never heard of it, but this is what it is.

**Nuanced with Aaron Pete** is an independent Canadian podcast hosted by Aaron Pete, a law graduate and the Chief of Chawathil First Nation. Originally launched in 2020 as *The Bigger Than Me Podcast*, it later rebranded to *Nuanced* to reflect its evolving focus on complex, substantive issues.

The show features long-form interviews and discussions centered around the political, cultural, economic, environmental, and social questions shaping Canada. Its stated goal is to challenge political polarization by fostering thoughtful, good-faith conversations that explore competing arguments, rather than relying on outrage or slogans.

The podcast regularly features a wide array of guests, including:

* **Political Leaders:** Such as Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre and British Columbia Premier David Eby.
* **Public Figures & Experts:** Including environmentalist David Suzuki, national journalists, academics, economists, and Indigenous voices.
* **Entrepreneurs & Artists:** Examining business strategy, workplace culture, and community building.

It is available across major audio platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) and on YouTube, where it has grown into a recognized platform for long-form Canadian public discourse.

021

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

RBC Capital Markets bullish on major Canadian Oil & Gas producers.

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Policies have always fallen short of what countries promised while even the promises fell short of what is needed. What's important is that Carney is moving fast to double electricity in Canada which is the most effective thing we can do. Also you can forget about oil. It has already hit its peak.

The 'age of electricity' will send fossil fuels into decline.

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Alberta would be doubling oil production while demand is falling.

World energy demand for 2015-2050. Renewables quadruple, while nuclear doubles, coal drops to half, and oil and natural gas peak and decline slightly, remaining relatively flat.

2141

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The figure below shows the future of energy sources for electricity production. Solar will soar while coal plummets. Hydro and nuclear will increase, while natural gas will remain relatively flat (as PM Carney has indicated). 1/2

Solar generation of electricity is set to quadruple by 2030, sending coal power tumbling.

153

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Here is part of the PM's statement on electrification from his June 30, 2026 video. The full text can be found here. medium.com/p/0a9b9a1b0695

Electrification
Thirdly, we are recognizing that, while we have no control over the price of oil, we have a lot of control over the price of our electricity. And this makes the issue for me a simple one. We can’t allow the ability to power our lives and put food on our table to be forever at the mercy of outside forces. We need affordable, homegrown energy, and a lot of it. Our answer to domestic energy affordability, security and sustainability is the same answer as Sir Adam Beck’s: to power our way to a stronger, more resilient, more independent country that works for all. Because the path to affordability is electrification. The path to competitiveness is electrification. The path to sustainability is electrification.

200

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

From the Financial Times: Data centres will dominate the use of increased electricity supply in the US for 2025-30, while transportation (EVs) is expected to dominate in the EU. Canada will likely be more like the EU than the US. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Data centres account for much of the growth of US electric power demand whereas transportation dominates in the EU.

085

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

What's happened to the price of oil since the start of the Mid-East war? It's fallen back below $70 even though hostilities continue. Now think where oil will go when the wars end in the Mid-East and Ukraine. It will plummet which is why no new pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast will be built.

Price of oil was below $70 before the Mid-East war started in late February, rose over $100 during the war, and has now fallen below $70 again even though the Strait of Hormoz is still blocked.

110

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

CAD/USD at lowest since 3-31-2025, presumably due to US threat not to renew NAFTA and also the recent drop in oil prices.

Canadian dollar falls to its lowest value since March 31, 2025 at 0.7023USD/CAD.

231

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Carney and Smith are speaking about the Alberta pipeline proposal today at 5:00pm Pacific time.

PM Carney and Alta. Premier Smith Outline Proposed Pipeline Project
CPAC

020

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I'm not sure what market you're looking at Max. Here's a chart, which, as far as I can tell, is for as long as NovaRed has been trading. It claims that the 52-week range is 0.5300 - 1.7300, so right now it's near the bottom of that range.

OTC Chart for NOVARED Mining showing it ended today at $0.60, near the bottom of its range for 2026.

220

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

To learn more about how the rich avoid responsibility, read Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism (A Norton Short) by Brooke Harrington (Author)

Cover photo for Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism (A Norton Short)
by Brooke Harrington (Author)

000

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Here's where Canada has been shipping LNG (from RBC Capital Markets). Our biggest customer is South Korea. It may not be a growing market, but it appears to be a steady one.

Cumulative shipments by LNG Canada from Kitimat to Asian customers. Total of 366.3 bcf in 99 shipments to South Korea (170.2 bcf), Japan (77.7 bcf), China (66.6 bcf) and Taiwan (25.9 bcf).

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

From meeting of RBC with Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (BEP)

Incredibly bullish on batteries. Management indicated that they were incredibly bullish on battery storage over the next 3-5 years,
which reflects about 25% of its development pipeline. BEP has a global footprint, and believes that the cost reduction and available
capacity / firming revenues make projects economic. Management believes that battery storage is ideal for grids with a large
concentration of renewable, hyperscalers that want clean energy, and providing generation during peak demand. Management
expects solar plus battery storage to be the dominant generation to be deployed within 5 years.

121

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

After a bit of work to get things in consistent units, it breaks down like this:

Added demand category (2050). Approximate increase

Transportation electrification. 150–215 TWh

New industrial activity 96–140 TWh

AI data centres ~88 TWh

Housing growth ~16–52 TWh

100

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

DECISION MAKING & NATIONAL UNITY UNDER THREAT: Foreign Interference, Cognitive Sovereignty, and the Alberta Referendum disinfowatch.org/wp-content/u...

Executive Summary
Foreign adversaries are exploiting the Alberta separatist debate to erode social cohesion,
deepen domestic divisions, undermine trust in democratic institutions, and amplify perceptions
of political instability that damage investor confidence in Canada. In this crisis, Canada’s
cognitive sovereignty — the ability of Canadians to make political decisions freely,
without foreign coercion or manipulation — is not simply under threat; it is being actively
contested by foreign actors seeking to shape Canada’s democratic future. Three distinct
actor types exploiting the Alberta separatist debate are in focus: Russia, the United States, and
economic opportunists using AI. While motives and methods differ, impacts are similar:
normalize separation, amplify distrust, portray Canada as internally divided and politically
unstable, and create uncertainty that could deter international investment.

040

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

They also fail to mention that, in spite of reduced further investment, the production of oil from the Oil Sands continued to increase and is still increasing to this day. 3/4

‪Alberta Oil Sands Production (ex-mining) Crosses 2.0 Million bbl/d in November 2025

122

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Without saying anything about what happened to the price of oil in that period, where it dropped to $50/barrel. It was their own decision not to invest more capital during this glut in supply.

Price of oil since 2000, showing the shop drop from $100/barrel to $50/barrel that occurred in 2015.

131

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This industry is absolutely insufferable. They bemoan the fact that investment in the Oil Sands plummeted in the mid-teens 1/n

131

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Shell and other energy giants sold their Canadian Oil & Gas assets in 2017 when oil was $50/bbl. Now they're buying back in with oil over $100/bbl. It's the old Sell Low - Buy High Strategy.

Chart of price of crude oil showing that oil was around $50/barrel in 2017 while it has risen to 100/barrel today.

000

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

A better question you should be asking is why all of the continuing boil water advisories are in Ontario and Manitoba. Provinces have a roll to play in this.

Map of First Nations boil water advisories showing that all remaining ones are in Ontario and Manitoba.

220

John Berlinsky 🇨🇦 @berlinskyjohn.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Neskantaga FNation water purification plant is currently under construction.

Neskantaga Public Water System
Region : ONTARIO
Type of advisory : Boil water advisory

Date Advisory Set : 1995-02-01
Long term advisory since : 1996-02-01
Date Advisory Lifted :

Population : 101 to 500 people
Corrective Measure : Upgrade and expansion of existing treatment plant
Project Phase : Under construction

131