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Kyle Olsen

@kyleolsen.com
437 followers 828 following 127 posts

Vancouver based lobbyist. Former political staffer (Edmonton), lobbyist (Toronto, Calgary), and tax policy practitioner (Calgary)

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Reposted by Kyle Olsen
Tommy Siegel @tommysiegel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
how AI can reduce your email workload: a helpful guide
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Kevin Milligan @kevinmilligan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well, I guess they chose the 'do tighter co-operation and tag that as Associate Membership' route. As I said a few days ago, that's likely fine. Closer co-operation with likeminded countries is great. My objections were to full EU membership, which is a beast of a different colour.
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 08/09/2026
- 30 -
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 21/08/2026
Been playing with YYC-Banff new rail corridors. I started with a Kananaskis and a Stoney station near the hotel to see what happens. Then progressively removed stations to see which paths emerged. Then greatly weighted to a YYC north route to see what happened.
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City Duo @city-duo.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Following #Vancouver council’s stinging rebuke, the controversial 2030 Barclay proposal has returned with substantial revisions that largely address past public feedback. Yet, not even free food from Mr. Tube Steak could calm its opponents who dominated its open house. #VanRe
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 09/08/2026
Playing with GTFS and AI — building some great maps that would have been really hard to do no that long ago. Here is Vancouver and lower mainland, transit by frequency in the am peak.
A wide regional transit map of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley during the morning peak. Pale blue water and off-white land form a quiet background. Transit routes appear as branching lines whose thickness and darkness increase with scheduled seated capacity. Blue represents TransLink; green represents BC Transit.

The densest cluster is around downtown Vancouver, shown again in a large inset at the upper left. Heavy blue lines radiate east and south through Vancouver and Burnaby, then branch toward Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam and Langley. A prominent blue rail corridor follows the Fraser River east through Maple Ridge to Mission. Thinner routes form street-grid patterns across the region.

Green service is much sparser. One long diagonal route—the Fraser Valley Express—links the Abbotsford area with Coquitlam. Smaller green networks cluster around Abbotsford and Mission near the map’s right edge.

A legend along the bottom pairs progressively thicker blue and green strokes with hourly capacity ranges from under 100 to over 5,000 seats.
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TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 30/07/2026
LinkedIn is introducing new ways to reduce low-quality AI-generated posts, including a “seems like AI slop” reporting option. It's also replacing its own AI writing feature with a proofreading tool.
techcrunch.com
LinkedIn adds a button to report AI-generated 'slop' | TechCrunch
LinkedIn is introducing new ways to reduce low-quality AI-generated posts, including a “seems like AI slop” reporting option. It's also replacing its own AI writing feature with a proofreading tool.
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Canada has passed the 1 million ha area burned mark. Still below the 10 year normal for area burned for this time of year. However, 2026 just passed 2024 that turned out to be a very active year. Expect an active summer fire season and possibly an extended fire season going well into Autumn.
Area burned in Canada by year and date
https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/en/summary
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Aaron Wherry @aaronwherry.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Every time the United States blows up another campaign finance law, I think of the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling in Harper v. Canada. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...
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The Voyageurs @thevoyageurs.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Icky, ucky, stinky, stupid Switzerland #allezlesrouges #canmnt
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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Unpopular opinion: I think we should go back to build subsurface metros whenever feasible. With 10% of what we save in civils compared to a deep tunnel, we can put in fancy architecture Pictured : Debourg, line B, Lyon, a few steps below surface, no mezzanine.
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Charles Breton @cbreton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
In which we document how one part of Alberta has warmed up to the Federation in recent years while the other part hasn’t moved one bit.
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Fire weather outlook for Canada - June 13-18 is out. Potential for fire activity in the north during the June 13-18 period. www.tru.ca/wildfire/res...
tru.ca
Canada fire weather outlook
Stay informed with the latest fire weather conditions and what they mean for British Columbia, Canada and beyond.
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Brandon Yan 甄念本 @brandonyan.com · 08/06/2026
Vancouver?
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
First big fire of the season in Canada and it is in the Northwest Territories (fires 2026WB3 and WB4 though guessing they have merged). Over 5 k ha via the NASA Firms measure feature - see below (check ALT as well).

Map showing active fire in NWT, Canada - red areas - link below 
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:advanced;d:24hrs,24hrs;l:fires_landsat_landsat,fires_modis_aqua,fires_modis_terra,fires_viirs_noaa20,fires_viirs_noaa21,fires_viirs_snpp,countries,landsat_human,earth;@-112.4,60.1,7.7zNASA Firms approx size of the NWT fire as measured using the measure feature.
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Kristian @kristianblais.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
In honour of the opening of the new Anse-à-l'Orme (A3) branch, here is the REM overlaid other Canadian cities. I tried to roughly centre Gare Centrale with the centre of the city to convey just how much high-quality, automated rail has been built in such a relatively short period of time!!
The current two branches of the REM imposed over Toronto, with Gare Centrale roughly lining up with the intersection of Bloor and Yonge. The A1 branch (that terminates in Brossard) extends past the Beaches and into the lake, just south of Birch Cliff. The A2 branch to Deux-Montagne extends well into Mississauga, terminating around Erin Mills parkway, north of Eglinton Ave. The newly opened A3 branch would extend all the way into southern Oakville, close to Sixteen Mile Creek.The current REM laid over Metro Vancouver, with Gare Centrale centred around Granville Station. The A1 branch extends into West Vancouver and terminates west of Mount Seymour. The main branch extends roughly parallel with the existing SkyTrain ROW, branching out around Edmonds. The A2 branch extends into Surrey and terminates around East Newton. The new A3 branch reaches into Coquitlam, terminating in Port Coquitlam.The REM overlaid Ottawa, with Gare Centrale roughly lining up with Parliament station. The A1 branch extends east up to the boundary of Orleans. The other two branches extend west, with A2 terminating west of Stittsville, and the new A3 branch extending into farmland.The REM laid over Edmonton, with Gare Centrale centred over Churchill Station. The A1 branch extends north east along Fort Road, terminating in the Horse Hills area. The other two branches run south of the city, with A2 terminating in farmland southwest of the airport, and A3 terminating due south of Leduc.
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Adam Radwanski @aradwanski.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Okay, I’ll be the (possibly rare) person who cares a lot about climate change and doesn’t think the industrial carbon pricing agreement is necessarily terrible.
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Lisa Young 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @jlisayoung.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
We’re on the highway to hell open.substack.com/pub/lisayoun...
open.substack.com
On the Highway to Hell
Ignoring all the off-ramps
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Check out the weekly fire weather outlook (5-10 days) for Canada. This outlook will be posted every Tuesday during the fire season. Nationally, off to a slow start due to snow cover over much of the boreal forest. www.tru.ca/wildfire/res...
tru.ca
Canada fire weather outlook | Thompson Rivers University
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Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 05/05/2026
Re-add to get the updates
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 30/04/2026
Great to see heat pumps being installed @thompsonriversu.bsky.social which will soon be replacing at least 95% of natural gas heating in over 600,000 square feet of buildings via a new district energy system powered by hydro-electricity. Heat pumps at work @techconnectify.bsky.social !
Campus building with heat pumps on the roofa heat pump is lifted by a crane for installationa diagram shows how air source heat is then further upgraded to water source heat for use in a district energy system. natural gas will continue to provide 5% of system load.
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Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
New at the Star! The Fed-Ontario development charge deal will make new homes more affordable and help build more of them. We need other provinces to follow suit (looking your way, B.C.), along with permanent, transformative change to DCs. Read here:
thestar.com
Doug Ford and Mark Carney have bought Ontario some time. But the hard choices lie ahead
Housing may well get cheaper, but city finances still need to be fixed.
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Brandi @brandita.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Barbenheimer DC Metro Edition @wmata.com @wmatagm.bsky.social
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John Lorinc @johnlorinc.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
#topoli Walking thru Seaton Village this am: older people out for a stroll, kids going to school, birds chirping - and all this despite the presence of a sky-is-falling small apartment, going up on Barton. (Sky: still overhead.)
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 22/03/2026
Super fun today at Park Theatre. Hadn’t had Lucky Charms in close to 30 years!
A poster on a street pole poster board for a Saturday morning all you can eat cereal cartoon party at Vancouver’s Park Theatre
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Justine Underhill @justineunderhill.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Which arguments ACTUALLY change people’s minds about housing? Last year I worked with researchers testing different messages, and the results were... surprising! New video on it: youtube.com/watch?v=aCKr... Enjoyed working with @cselmendorf.bsky.social @jkalla.bsky.social @dbroockman.bsky.social
youtube.com
What Makes People ACTUALLY Change Their Minds About Housing (real experiment)
YouTube video by Justine Underhill
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William Azaroff @wazaroff.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Now, we have to demonstrate why it is so critically important to get it right. Public land is finite. Let’s protect it. Demand transparency by sharing this thread, let's make sure we get things done and get it done right.
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William Azaroff @wazaroff.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
It’s good to see real movement on the stalled "Bring Back Britannia" project. Pro-growth means getting things built, and I want to see shovels in the ground. But wait, what is the actual benefit for the neighbourhood? Will they share this facility with the public?
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Frances Bula @fabulavancouver.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Dear my delightful tweeps, some news! So after 30 years of City Hall and urban-issues stories that you all know, I'm doing something completely different — I’ve decided to run for a City Council nomination with @onecityvan.bsky.social and hopefully run on their slate this October.
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Iglika Ivanova @iglikaivanova.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
The BC government says the budget has to be "tough" to tackle large deficits. But we can’t talk about deficits without talking about revenues. And BC’s revenue as a share of our economy is much lower than it was before the deep tax cuts of the early 2000s. #bcpoli #BCBudget2026
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Do you have ideas/comments on the federal role/leadership in emergency management in Canada? If so, check out this public engagement site. www.canada.ca/en/public-sa...
canada.ca
Public engagement on how to strengthen federal leadership in emergency management - Canada.ca
The Government of Canada is seeking input from Canadians and emergency management partners on priorities, gaps, and opportunities to strengthen federal emergency management in partnership with other j...
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Abundant Housing Vancouver @ahvancouver.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
OneCity is holding a contested mayoral nomination, and their two candidates, William Azaroff and Amanda Burrows, were on the Cambie Report. Link to the full episode below. Here's what they had to say about housing (see follow up posts for alt text):
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BC Wildfire Weekly - Wildfires + More @bcwildfirewkly.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Northeastern B.C. still has some overwintering fires burning, some of which were sparked years ago.” globalnews.ca/news/1160516... - Global News #BCWildfire #Chetwynd #DawsonCreek #FortNelson #FortStJohn #TumblerRidge #Wildfires #ZombieFires
globalnews.ca
‘Zombie fires’ burning in northeastern B.C., some sparked years ago | Globalnews.ca
An overwintering fire, which is also known as a zombie fire, burns deep into the ground in the different soil levels and sparks back up in the next fire season.
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Thompson Rivers University is seeking three senior researchers to nominate through the federal government’s recently announced Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program, an effort designed to bring world-leading research talent to Canada. www.tru.ca/research/res... www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...
tru.ca
Canada Impact+ Research Chairs | Thompson Rivers University
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
New accepted paper in Environmental Research Letters on the extent of drought determines daily area burned (DAB) in Canadian forests. This study found a strong relationship between DAB and the spatial extent of fire-conducive weather conditions. Open access link iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Figure 1. Study area and models of daily area burned.  Ecozone burned areas between 2001 and 2023, and the fire weather thresholds for Potential Spread Days (PSDs) that were used to derive Realized Spread Day sum. The black curve is the fitted generalized additive model based on the paired percentage area burned by unit Canadian Fire Weather Index System (CFWIS) indices (grey points). The shadowed areas and the vertical line are the range and the threshold of CFWIS indices used to identify a PSD.
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 27/11/2025
Fascinating about the fireworks. Seemed to skirt on this important part though, that they had plenty of warning and for whatever reason just couldn’t restructure to be eligible for more funding:
Yahoo News: Although the non-profit Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society oversees the $3 million event, it is produced by for-profit BrandLive. That structure disqualifies the festival from several federal arts and culture funding streams, including Canadian Heritage grants.
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David Coletto @davidcoletto.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
What does the rise of the precarity mindset mean for universities and the future of the arts and social sciences? I break it down in my latest edition of Signals & Trends: abacusdata.ca/the-future-...
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
New Perspective - Canada’s landscape fires spreading into uncharted territory Canada clearly needs to do more. More to prevent & mitigate wildfires, more to increase our initial response capacity and capability to protect communities & critical infrastructure. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Graph showing number of fires in Canada and area burned in Canada and BC (green bars) by year for 1959-2025
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Heather Campbell @thatheatherc.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Willpower doesn’t exist. Why so much of your health isn't your fault
Dr Xand and Dr Chris van Tulleken share four small but powerful tips they've learnt over the course of 30 episodes.
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Adam Radwanski @aradwanski.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Seems a good day to re-emphasize this point. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
theglobeandmail.com
Canada needs to start thinking about an auto sector without U.S. automakers
Stellantis’s decision to shift Jeep production south of the border highlights the challenge of keeping a thriving domestic industry
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 22/10/2025
Fascinating.
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Jasper 2024 Wildfire Complex: Documentation, Reconstruction and Analysis Following a highly destructive 2024 wildfire in Jasper, Alberta, a study was completed to describe the behaviour and contributing environmental factors associated with this event. ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca/entities/pub...
ostrnrcan-dostrncan.canada.ca
NRCan Open S&T Repository (OSTR) / Dépôt ouvert des sciences et technologie (DOST) de RNCan
The NRCan Open S&T Repository (OSTR) provides free and open access to science publication and research funded by the Canadian government.
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 15/10/2025
Thank you Consul General Jongho Kyun of the Republic of Korea for travelling to @thompsonriversu.bsky.social to speak with faculty and students. Many thanks to @robertjhanlon.bsky.social and the Canada and the Asia-Pacific Policy Project for hosting.
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 14/10/2025
This is a fascinating look at the challenge of the next decade and beyond for manufacturing and in turn defence. apple.news/ADloeSFYbSUG...
apple.news
Why Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified — The Telegraph
Robotics has catapulted Beijing into a dominant position in many industries
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Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
today in "predicted by 30 Rock"
Edie Falco on 30 Rock:
I MISSED THE VOTE ON A BILL TO LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL WHALE TORTURE.
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
🔥 New fire paper out - Fire regime changes in Canada: an update. Overall, the big-picture trends remain consistent: annual area burned, the annual number and size of large fires are still increasing, but the total number of fires for all sizes continue to decline. cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
cdnsciencepub.com
Fire regime changes in Canada: an update
Given the recent rise in extreme fires, we present an update to a previous Canadian wildfire trend analysis (1959-2015) with nine additional years of data (2016-2024), an improved area burned dataset,...
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 06/10/2025
Hey @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social - your new Green rep seems to be making the opposite case on LNG than they think they are. Prices went negative in Alberta for pipeline gas. Prices are fine for LNG. The gap between the two is how LNG facilities make money. fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1MP1S
fred.stlouisfed.org
FRED Graph
FRED Graph
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Canadian fire season for 2023 & 2024(May-Aug) and 2025 (May-Jul) = 338 days with 218 days (65%) at National Preparedness Level (NPL) 5. NPL5 means firefighters and equipment in every jurisdiction in Canada is put to use, and international help has been requested. Is this sustainable? www.ciffc.ca
national preparedness level descriptions in canadamap showing Canadian wildfire location and status
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Kyle Olsen @kyleolsen.com · 14/05/2025
Canada's Cabinet Committees. Overlap between Priorities , Ops and Building Canada are interesting.
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Aaron Wherry @aaronwherry.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Feels like we should make a concerted effort to not lose sight of the fact that the president's answer here was not "no" or "never" or "that is a preposterous question" or "that is an abhorrent idea."
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