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Michael J. Wigginton

@wigginton.ca

158 followers 453 following 37 posts

Political Scientist. Nova Scotian turned Quebecer turned Nova Scotian. Unreasonably fond of trains. michael.wigginton.ca

Posts Replies Media

Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 24/06/2026

Yeah it's really all dependent on what the purchase price actually is, relative to the hypothetical cost of building similar units today. If it's comparable then it seems like a clearly good idea to me. I think part of the issue is that an early CBC story erroneously attached a $3bn figure to this

Text from CBC article:

Corrections
A previous version of this story said Ottawa and B.C. would spend up to $3 billion to buy vacant condos and turn them into affordable housing. In fact, that fund is for building housing-enabling infrastructure and lowering developer fees. The dollar figure for the condo conversion plan hasn’t yet been announced.

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 22/05/2026

Quebec's 1980 referendum may have had a longer question, but Alberta may be setting a new record for most convoluted referendum question.

Alberta 2026: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

Quebec 1980: "The Government of Quebec has made public its proposal to negotiate a new agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations; this agreement would enable Quebec to acquire the exclusive power to make its laws, levy its taxes and establish relations abroad - in other words, sovereignty - and at the same time to maintain with Canada an economic association including a common currency; any change in political status resulting from these negotiations will only be implemented with popular approval through another referendum; on these terms, do you give the Government of Quebec the mandate to negotiate the proposed agreement between Quebec and Canada?"

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 25/04/2025

Recently I was in a painted bike lane on Beechwood and had a car veer suddenly into my lane (and nearly me) as it prepared for a right turn. Painted lanes absolutely aren't sufficient, and it really doesn't help when they curve around car parking. Once the paint starts to fade the lane disappears

Google maps screenshot of the intersection of Beechwood and Springfield. Shows a painted bikelane which curves to accommodate a lane of car parking.

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 20/04/2025

PSA for people looking to vote this weekend: Elections Canada's data suggests that, unlike on election day, the evening of advance voting days is the least popular time to vote. So waiting until after 4pm might get you a better experience (Election Day is of course also an option)

Elections Canada Graphic: Peak voting times on advance polling days (adjusted for the holiday weekend).

Early morning to 1 p.m.: red arrow indicating busiest period

1 p.m. to 4 p.m.: yellow arrow indicating a busy period

After 4 p.m.: green arrow indicating a low-traffic period

Elections Canada Graphic: Usual peak voting times on election day

Early morning: red arrow indicating busiest period

10 a.m. to noon: yellow arrow indicating a busy period

Noon to 4 p.m.: green arrow indicating a low-traffic period

After 4 p.m.: red arrow indicating busiest period

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 18/04/2025

Dual monitors have a lot of uses, but making following the debate less boring is an pretty great one.

Picture of my computer set up, with the debate on one monitor and the game Transport Fever 2 on the other

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 15/04/2025

Maybe I misunderstood your point, but there is a travel advisory for China and not for the USA? While they've added some language about increased scrutiny at the US border, the advisory for China is very clear about arbitrary law enforcement. If anything we're still understating the US situation.

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 15/04/2025

It's ultimately just a simple typo, but given that the point of this press release is to pander to Quebecers, it's pretty funny that they got the French version of the headline so wrong.

English announcement from NDP, calling for the French debate to be rescheduled to avoid a conflict with the Habs game

French version of the same announcement, the headline of which calls for the debate to be rescheduled to *cause* a conflict with the Habs game

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 11/04/2025

#votewell.ca handles this a lot better imho, and just tells voters that they don't have any reason to vote strategically in this riding.

A screencapture from votewell.ca, showing the same figures as the previous picture, but with the advice to "please vote for your preferred candidate"

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 11/04/2025

I'm lukewarm on strategic voting overall, but if orgs like @smartvoting.ca are going tell people to do it they should be more nuanced about it. Voting 'strategically' to keep the CPC out of a seat they have no hope of winning makes no sense, as does picking one party out of a 3-way statistical tie.

Screencap of Smartvoting.ca's recommended vote in Berthier—Maskinongé. It shows the BQ at 29%, LPC at 28%, NDP at 28%, and CPC at 12%. It advises that the Bloc are the strategic vote choice.

Available at: https://smartvoting.ca/ridings/federal-2025/24012

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 11/04/2025

Le PQ, qui veut que le Québec soit indépendant du Canada, trouve ça injuste que le Québec ait sa propre politique sur le prix du carbone, et suit pas celui du RoC 🤨

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 28/03/2025

I can be a bit of a stickler for citations when I teach, but this National Post article is full of some incredibly weak accusations. The example below is a formulaic stock phrase, not an original thought. Nowhere near the sort of conduct that gets degrees revoked. nationalpost.com/news/mark-ca...

“The setting for the game is a pure exchange economy with a finite number of states.” — H.S. Shin, “News Management and the Value of Firms,” The RAND Journal of Economics, 1994, p. 60.
Article content

“The setting for the game is a pure exchange economy with a continuous number of states.” — Carney thesis, 1995, p. 211.

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 25/03/2025

I also find some of their stances for the parties questionable. In a question about funding for universities, they rely on Singh saying tuition should be free. In questioning if our hate speech laws go too far, they rely on parties stances on a *proposed* law. Neither exactly matches the actual Q

How much federal funding should universities receive?
NDP: Much more
Source: Analysis

Jagmeet [Singh] has a plan to make sure post-secondary is accessible which includes: Making post-secondary education part of our public education system; [...] Working towards a future where tuition is free.

Canada's laws against hate speech place too many limits on freedom of expression.
CPC: Strongly agree
Source: Analysis

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday his party is vehemently opposed to the government's forthcoming online harms legislation, a bill designed to combat hate speech, terrorist content and some violent material on the internet. Saying he won't accept "Justin Trudeau's woke authoritarian agenda," Poilievre said the prime minister and his government shouldn't be deciding what constitutes "hate speech" online and called the legislation an "attack on freedom of expression."

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 14/03/2025

Assuming that an election happens by the end of April as rumoured, Carney will set a new record for shortest time in office for a PM if the LPC lose government. If they win he'll still be the first PM to never have held elected office when appointed. A future trivia question either way.

Photos and terms of Canada's shortest lived PMs from Wikipedia.
Text: Canada's three shortest-serving prime ministers, left to right:
Sir Charles Tupper; 68 days
John Turner; 79 days
Kim Campbell; 132 days

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Michael J. Wigginton @wigginton.ca · 19/02/2025

I somehow managed to snap the bridge of my glasses during my commute to the office this morning. Efforts to tape them back together have been going... less than excellently

Me wearing glasses crudely taped together at the bridge. They're slightly askew, but on my face at least.

Me, 5 seconds later. The right half of my glasses have fallen off my face and are dangling from my ear. I have a very dejected expression, slowly realizing that my plan isn't working.

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