iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 02/10/2026

Ok sorry but Tim Hodgson's interview on Power and Politics really gives the game away. He's asked, isn't there language in Bill C-5 that all projects listed as in the national interest should be considered for how they *contribute to Canada's clean growth and climate goals*? Oh! There it is 👇

Factors
(6) In deciding whether to make an order under subsection (1) or (4) in respect of a project, the Governor in Council may consider any factor that the Governor in Council considers relevant, including the extent to which the project can
(a) strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience and security;

(b) provide economic or other benefits to Canada;

(c) have a high likelihood of successful execution;

(d) advance the interests of Indigenous peoples; and

(e) contribute to clean growth and to meeting Canada’s objectives with respect to climate change.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 02/10/2026

Looks like residential school denial movement spokesperson Frances Widdowson hasn't bothered distancing herself from *literal Hitler lover* Simon Hergott since we revealed his repeated statements in favour of Naziism. Huh! www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/23/n...

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 01/10/2026

Smith frowns like the woman in Obsession when Malbeuf asks Carney to clarify how many billions of public dollars will be put toward this project

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 28/09/2026

Can YOU spot what's wrong with this picture?

A screenshot of a letter showing an ATIP request from 2020 was delivered on Sept 28, 2026

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 23/09/2026

The Bradford campaign has given conflicting answers about whether, and how, these comments involve AI. They've said: -the comments are written by volunteers -the comments are edited by volunteers These are two very different things, and evidence suggests they're both mischaracterizations.

An email from the Bradford campaign showing how to post an AI-generated comment.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 23/09/2026

It's also important to consider the source — and whether they have ever cared about the health of the public debate.

But leaving aside Ballingall’s downplaying of the worst of the process, what’s more insidious is that he calls it “inevitable.” I’d rather not leave the decision on where our political future is headed up to the guy who’s best known for selling our political discourse out through a network of propagandistic Facebook pages like Canada Proud and Canada Crime Watch. In an earlier investigation, White showed that these torqued pages aren’t even a partisan political project, per se.

It turns out all that rage bait, car-crash, crime-porn content is just an eyeball-farming operation for sale to the highest bidder.

Ballingall once wrote: “Manufactured legitimacy is the new machinery of digital politics, and online ideological silos are what make it possible. Identify an ideological silo, master its language, and then you can inject whatever you want under the cover of being perceived as legitimate.”

So, yeah. The guy who’s proudly selling out our political conversation for a quick buck wants you to think cyborg propaganda is inevitable. That should tell you a lot about how good this stuff is for the public sphere.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 18/09/2026

Now you know: if you see any of these sites show up in your Google News feed, you can quickly block them.

A screenshot showing how to block spam websites in Google News.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 17/09/2026

This relies on two big assumptions: a) that the US will just go back to "normal" after 2028, which is far from a guarantee, and b) that Canadians will ever be able to trust the US again, which is absolutely unjustified. The rupture is permanent; the question is how much of it could be healed.

Carney’s willingness to align with von der Leyen reflects the degree to which Trump has alienated traditional allies. But time is a great healer. In this case, Canada and the U.S. are due for a reset in just over two years. A new president will take office in January 2029, and the disastrous results of tit-for-tat tariffs, if they continue, will be even more apparent on both sides of the border. By then, though, Canadians could find themselves firmly in the grip of Brussels bureaucrats.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 17/09/2026

lol Carney paused the Digital Services Tax *because of pressure from Trump* — so the argument that Canada would be better off sticking with the US in order to not be "forced" to adopt a Digital Services Tax is... uh real dumb www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 03/09/2026

"I'll show you, my enemy, what happens when you call me your enemy, for the things I'm doing to you, which will result in bad outcomes for you because of your recognition of those things."

Trump: "It is very good for Canadian Politicians like Prime Minister Carney to make President Donald J. Trump 'the enemy,' until their Economy collapses, then it will prove to be very bad for Politics — Worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician. Just watch!"

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 03/09/2026

My favourite photos from this trip, for which I had to spend the night on the sea ice. This was about an hour after Devon stopped his sled, pulled his rifle off his back and shot the seal from about 100m away. That seal fed his dog team.

A qamutik, or traditional Inuit wooden sled, loaded with the two vital types of fuel for travel on the Arctic ice: gas for the snowmobiles and a seal for the sled dogs

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 24/08/2026

And here's me, at 4:10 am, on my way back from an all-nighter on the sea ice, laying in the bottom of a boat, under another boat, on top of a qamutik. An experience for the books, even though at the time all I wanted in the whole world was a bed that wasn't being dragged behind a snowmobile.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 24/08/2026

Some of the pictures from the story. I'm so grateful to the @ijnr.bsky.social for funding the travel that made this story possible, and to my colleagues at @nationalobserver.com who gave me the space to do it.

A qamutik loaded with gas and a seal on the sea ice.

Larry Audlaluk, an Inuk Elder from Grise Fiord, Nunavut

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 21/08/2026

He's going to nuke the bond market

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 20/08/2026

This is an objectively funny thing to ask Justin McElroy, Attender of Meetings

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 20/08/2026

Just because it's there, doesn't mean anyone's gonna buy it.

Poll: "If American alcohol is put back on store shelves, are you likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely or unlikely to buy it?" shows 69% of Canadians are "not likely" to buy US alcohol.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 19/08/2026

From r/Alberta, some peak AI poster content to start your day

A horrible AI slop poster promoting "the birthing of a nation through prayer" featuring a pregnant white woman in front of an eagle and a flag

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 18/08/2026

It's a really good scoop and I don't want to be pedantic but I wish at least one Canadian reporter (or reporter with knowledge of Canada) would have been among the three bylines — because they would have caught this. Lumber does not have "supply management" in Canada.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 18/08/2026

I have a story coming out soon that I'm really happy with, for which I travelled to the northernmost community in Canada this spring. Some of the photos I really liked didn't make it into the final draft for a variety of reasons, so here they are as #bonus #socialmedia #content

Devon Manik, an Inuk guide and hunter, drives a ski-doo across the sea ice.

Terry Noah and Silas Pijamini deliver cargo containing science equipment from the Grise Fiord airport.

A sign laying on its side reads "WARNING: POLAR BEARS & MUSK OX MAY BE IN AREA," on a hill overlooking Grise Fiord, Nunavut.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 09/08/2026

There is absolutely no way this is true. Any ship of that size would be monitoring channel 16 (the coast guard/general channel) even if they were doing their own operations on another channel. Doesn't pass the smell test for a single moment. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

But Brian Baker, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, told Forbes that the couple were not on board his yacht, named Launchpad. The yacht crew had been operating on a different radio channel, Baker told Forbes. “The assist was already under way” by the time they reviewed the broadcast, he said.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 06/08/2026

Seems like a good task for the machine that, we're constantly reminded, can't be prevented from breaking containment

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 02/08/2026

(Because there's already a war in the Middle East so the White House doesn't need me to create one)

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 28/07/2026

nine it's featured nine times

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 28/07/2026

The jackals at Juno News are celebrating a talented journalist being laid off. Must be nice to never have to do layoffs because you can just invent reporters and pretend you hired them instead, eh Keean?

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 27/07/2026

SpaceX is out there blazing paths where no one has tread before, yet you mock

SpaceX Stock Hits All-Time Low of $115
It's been a bruising couple of days.

SpaceX stock drops 27% post-IPO, marking one of the worst U.S. IPO performances in a decade.

SpaceX Just Erased $1 Trillion in Value. Here’s Why the Worst Could Be Yet to Come.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 25/07/2026

Hey that's not fair. It's also benefiting Morgan Stanley

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 21/07/2026

A police-ordered sentence of “death by burning” followed by them full-on lying about it just isn’t really the justice system we’re supposed to have in Canada.

“The goal was to remove Mr. Hackl from the residence for arrest, have a lethal confrontation with Mr. Hackl, or have Mr. Hackl perish in the fire.”

As the house burned, the suspect eventually walked outside —naked, apart from some body armour—and surrendered while laughing.

When CTV News asked how the fire started the following day, RCMP said they were unable to confirm the cause.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 20/07/2026

Did an oyster write this headline

Oystercatchers, known for sharp bills and beady eyes, are making a comeback thanks to conservation

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 15/07/2026

Hajdu was one of the many Liberal ministers who punted @rorywh.bsky.social's questions about her continued use of the app to Evan Solomon, the AI minister, instead of explaining her decision. www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/30/a...

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 15/07/2026

Patty Hajdu, the MP for Thunder Bay—Superior North, has posted a lengthy explanation of the situation in her region, on X, the child exploitation app. She has not posted the same to @pattyhajdu.bsky.social, her Bluesky account.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 13/07/2026

I was blown away (hehe but actually) by this graphic showing the growing size and power of wind turbines installed in Alberta: www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/10/a...

Graphic: Bigger blades, taller towers and more power: 30 years of wind turbines
Wind turbines have grown in height and blade length, and power output over the last three decades. Here's how they evolved in Alberta.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 12/07/2026

Left: Victoria, BC Right: Grise Fiord, Nunavut

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 02/07/2026

Needless to say, every idea these kids have is better than anything Elon Musk will do as a trillionaire. www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/pos...

Table: What kids said they would do with $1 trillion What they can actually do with $1 trillion
"A selfish thing I'd do for myself is buy a whole McDonald's just for myself."

— Godswill Opera
15-year-old in Toronto, Ontario

According to McDonald's, you'd need at least $1M Cdn to even be considered for opening a McDonald's restaurant.

But with a trillion dollars, you could open one million McDonald's restaurants.

"I'd buy my favourite English Premier League team, Arsenal F.C."

— Yasbirra Derege
14-year-old in Toronto, Ontario

According to Forbes, the soccer team was worth $5.4B US, or $7.7B Cdn, as of May.

That means you can buy about 185 Arsenals, or similarly priced teams, with a trillion dollars.

"I would buy the biggest yacht I could find and go to the Bahamas so I could tan."

— Madison Perreault
17-year-old in Surrey, British Columbia

According to multiple reports, the History Supreme is the most expensive yacht in the world. It's reportedly valued at more than $4B US.

With a trillion dollars, you could buy a fleet of about 200 History Supremes.

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 29/06/2026

Hello from the meltwater ponds, which have roughly tripled in size since I was here last week

A male and female long tailed duck flying over water

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 28/06/2026

Hello from Resolute Bay, still, where the puppies are still free range and still so good

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 26/06/2026

Hello again from Resolute Bay, where my plane got a flat tire and I'll be stuck until Monday

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 25/06/2026

So my flight was cancelled out of Grise Fiord today due to weather. It's a beautiful day. I can see the tops of the mountains here on Ellesmere Island — and across Jones Sound on Devon Island. Then I spotted this poster in the terminal:

A hiring poster for an "observer-communicator"

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 25/06/2026

This one goes out to everyone in a heatwave right now (is that everyone?)

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Jimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 24/06/2026

Hello from the new small craft harbour in Grise Fiord where see if you can spot the walrus skull

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