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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

No, but I'm not sure I understand the connection between your question and the rationale for fixed elections.

Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The intro to BC's fixed election law seems relevant: "The use of fixed election dates is to ensure that the timing of elections cannot be manipulated for political or partisan reasons..." www.leg.bc.ca/learn/discov...

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

My problem with No Frills is that it makes me wonder what constitutes the nature of a "frill" as I look at various items in the store. When you add the further problem that "No Name" is itself a brand name, it can make it very difficult for a philosopher to get groceries.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

But I nevertheless appreciate the food for thought here in your thread!

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

But I don't think this case can be made: for various reasons, I'd argue that projects like the Hogan's Alley CLT development and others that weren't able to progress because of suspending the Community Housing Fund represent greater social benefits than a government-run rent-to-own program.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

In other words, the government needs to make the case that the $1.45 billion spent on condo conversion yields greater social benefits than, say, spending an equivalent amount on the Community Housing Fund.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

To make this argument work - i.e., that the socialization of cost and risk in public condo absorption is reasonable policy - it needs to be shown not just that there are public benefits here but that these benefits justify the opportunity cost relative to alternative potential public expenditures.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

To be fair, the only cost to see this ticket was losing a bit of my soul by spending time in the FIFA ticket marketplace

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

It kind of reminded me of "For the Love of God", Damien Hirst's diamond encrusted skull - except in this case the audience is drawn into thinking about commodity fetishism and the FIFA ticket marketplace.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

This ticket feels like trolling or maybe even a work of art.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Current prices for the Canada v Switzerland game on the FIFA reselling platform

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Wonder if watching the Carolina Vegas replay with blue tint might make it feel like Marner was scoring a hat trick for the Leafs in the Stanley Cup Finals

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I wasn't able to make the market, but I wanted to express appreciation for the bee pun - I see no one replied to it, and I imagine that could sting.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I once had a student give a quite good and detailed presentation about the ethics of leafblowers (and the implications for municipal bylaws) in an intro urban studies course

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

One of the points she's made that has stuck with me (and I ponder often) is that, instead of the simplistic NIMBY vs YIMBY dynamic that tends to predominate housing policy discussions, we should look more deeply at the systems and power structures that generate these tensions in the first place.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I remember being blown away the first time I heard her speak (on the topic of love, justice, and housing) - she's certainly the best mayoral candidate in the field for the upcoming election in Vancouver

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

I'm thinking that you should request nothing less the creation of your own crypto coin (PJcoin?) plus a pump and dump scheme as compensation

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I find mountains, ocean, and sunshine life-giving (hiked/skied up Mt Strachan yesterday to this view)

Image of Howe Sound surrounded by snowy mountains on a sunny day

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Reposted by Elliot Rossiter

RedruM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

The main group protesting outside was the Let's Vote Association, which explicitly promotes politicians and candidates connected to the BC Conservatives on its website. Tonight's council meeting felt in ways like Conservative Party organizing grafted onto local opposition to the Tiny Homes project.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Did racking your brain to come up with a joke about Athena's origin lead to a splitting headache?

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

On the other hand, resistance to AI in some students has occasioned rich conversations about the relationship between technology and the lives they want to lead, which are ultimately critical reflections about what it means to be human - it is a privilege to have these conversations with students.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

On the one hand, the cognitive offloading is terrifying for all the reasons mentioned in the article: stunting intellectual growth, preparing oneself to be made redundant by AI, and failing to develop the habits of thought necessary to resist manipulation by the interests of the powerful.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

One of the dynamics that I've found quite interesting in the classroom (which this article points to near the end) is the split between students who cognitively offload to GenAI tools and students who are increasingly resisting the dominance of this technology in their lives.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

This website is a useful resource for understanding misinformation related to DRIPA: www.fnlc.ca/declaration-...

fnlc.ca

Declaration Act - FNLC - First Nations Leadership Council

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Premier Eby's rhetoric on this topic - e.g., British Columbians should be in control rather than the courts, the act is confusing - is sophistry that obscures the basic point that human rights legislation should allow for judicial review of cases if it is to play a role in safeguarding those rights.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

The provincial government should heed Grand Chief Stewart Phillip's statement that DRIPA must be justiciable in court to be meaningfully oriented toward reconciliation.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

My main Kraftwerk connection is learning that "fun" and "fahren" sound similar, having misinterpreted their autobahn song for years (I think I realized my error after a German reading course in grad school).

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Well, maybe I should get to work on writing the next Great Canadian Novel, though I suspect that my literary fame ultimately peaked at being awarded "Best Letter to the Editor" in the New West Record back in 2018

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

For my high school, I'd like to say it's me, but Margaret Atwood probably has me beat

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The graphic kind of looks like a New Urbanist version of Where's Waldo?

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I was thinking more that philosophers are annoying, but I like your explanation better

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I wonder what the philosopher-per-capita figure is for each of those cities and how it correlates with livability - my intuition is that they're inversely proportional.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I'm more of a Bay 8 man myself at 22nd St station

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Yes, Solidarity by Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor was a great read - I second this recommendation.

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Reposted by Elliot Rossiter

Nadine @nadinenakagawa.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

In New West, the political rhetoric has gotten completely out of control, stoked by the New West Progressives. At our Monday council meeting, the two NWP members voted against me attending a conference about countering online harm and misinformation. Meanwhile, on their social media page, there is

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

I thought delegations were an opportunity to use abstruse philosophical jargon in front of a public audience

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

As a Leafs fan, my failure has materialized over the course of my entire life

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

If you're at all interested in that type of economics, I tend to read a fair bit of stuff coming out of the Levy Institute at Columbia: www.levyinstitute.org

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

The Keynesian assumption in your comment isn't implausible on the surface (countercyclical saving and spending), but I think the economy is more complex for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of a Bluesky thread. In short, I tend to think that Post-Keynesian and MMT approaches are more plausible.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

I'm happy to engage on this topic, but ideally not with an anonymous account. Nevertheless, the cupboards are bare metaphor doesn't work for two reasons: first, there's lots of evidence that austerity measures don't generate economic growth; and second, sovereign fiat currencies don't work that way.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Well, I can't say that I have strong feelings about the Music Man one way or the other (aside from that Gary, Indiana song sometimes being an earworm), but I'd be happy to hear your takes on the musical sometime.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

The post itself is an interesting assessment of the limits of looking at housing starts rather than sales in assessing the productivity of housing markets in the present, though presumably sales volume is less reliable as an indicator where a greater share of new units are purpose-built rental.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

A robust expansion of non-market housing through Build Canada Homes would be a good nation-building project and would fit with the kind of mission-oriented economic framework that Carney lays out in his values book, though this would require a turn from the current austerity governance approach.

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

One way to address the looming threat of job losses amidst downturn in the housing sector could be to stabilize housing production through countercyclical non-market housing development at scale (in addition to reforms and innovations that make housing production generally more cost-effective).

missingmiddleinitiative.ca

The Coming Wave of 20,000 Job Losses in Vancouver’s Housing Sector

Policymakers are staring at starts, while sales show the collapse

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Elliot Rossiter @elliotrossiter.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

You and the Music Man have different sentiments about Gary, Indiana - catchy tune regardless! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z617...

youtube.com

The Music Man - Gary Indiana(1080p)

YouTube video by Joe Simonetta

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Reposted by Elliot Rossiter

Office of the Federal Housing Advocate @housinglogement.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

#Canada is missing millions of affordable homes. The Federal Housing Advocate is calling on #Canada to scale non-market housing to solve the housing and affordability crisis. We have the tools – we need the political will to act. Her advice to government includes:

A magnifying glass placed on a set of two documents sitting in front of an opened laptop. The black text box that reads: “New Reports”. Below the text reads: “Human rights-based housing targets for Canada”.

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