John Bowker

Oligopoly update: Telus wants the CRTC to block consumer complaints unless there is “verifiable documentary evidence” the dispute was escalated to the provider’s “second-level” support (presumably after “first-level” support failed to resolve it) www.thestar.com/business/the... #cdnpoli

After letting a few private career colleges rip off the OSAP system with impunity, the Ford govt used the scam as an excuse to cut OSAP grants for all students, accusing them of wasting money on “basket weaving courses” & “fancy watches & cologne” www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... #onpoli

Please donate to our Bike Lane Protest Fund: gofund.me/4b115029b 4 have been arrested & require criminal lawyers, daily protests need snacks & hot coffee etc. Be among the first 50 to donate & get a free hi vis vest (email info@thebikinglawyer.ca with proof of donation - no min amount) 1/2

Again, this is on the Liberal government for allowing the sale in the first place. Stelco was profitable, and it was obvious it would not be a priority for an American owner.

“In effect, Mr. Goncalves paid $2.5-billion to prevent Stelco exporting into the American market. Why, after all, allow more efficient Canadian steel to compete with Cleveland-Cliffs’s pricier American steel when it can just pay to restrict supply?” www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com... #cdnpoli

Oligopoly update www.cbc.ca/news/busines... #cdnpoli

Inside the Greenbelt scandal’s lost Leafs game

And this is exactly why we asked. The end of a great studio. The loss of hundreds of jobs. More corporate carnage to come no doubt.

Earlier this year, @cwacanada1.bsky.social asked the Carney government and the Competition Bureau to review the sale of BioWare's parent company EA to a private equity firm owned by the Saudi government and Donald Trump's son-in-law www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #cdnpoli

Ford government spent all-time high on ads in 2025-26: records

The developers at BioWare know how to run the studio. They know how to make the games we all love. They should be given the first opportunity - and the federal support - to buy it and run it themselves.

This is private equity, this is what it does. Buy up businesses, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for short-term profit. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

PM Carney announces billion in aid for ON industries, including the auto sector "from Windsor to Woodstock". Appreciate alliteration in speechwriting but... this excludes major automaking parts of the province such as Oakville and Oshawa #pedantry

Bioware has shut down. Founded in 1995 in Edmonton, it was the software studio behind iconic video game series such as Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Bike lane standoff in Etobicoke sends construction crews packing toronto.citynews.ca/2026/10/20/b... #TOpolo #onpoli #bikeTO

Canada is weirdly uninterested in protecting Canadians from online investment scams: “I see that Canadians are target No. 1. I think it's because law enforcement has made no real prosecutions of the scammers” www.cbc.ca/news/ukraine... #cdnpoli

The Ford Government, everyone. www.cbc.ca/news/investi...

I think we should still be angry when public officials lie to us. www.thestar.com/news/gta/dou...

SIEMIATYCKI: “Brute-force solutions like forcing projects through the planning and construction process at warp speed, conducting rushed Indigenous engagement, and outsourcing as much as possible to the private sector and contractors have failed” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... #onpoli

David Piccini’s assistant sent developer’s request to housing minister’s office before land was removed from Greenbelt

In which @althiaraj.bsky.social wonders whether the supposedly progressive Liberal MPs defending Bill C-39 have actually read the anti-labour, anti-environment bill www.thestar.com/politics/pol... #cdnpoli

They’re fundraising on road violence

Also: "The flood of feedback that caught Ford’s government off guard" Well done, everyone!

Ford govt MPPs collected donations from shady private career college operators while the OSAP system was being ripped off under their noses. When the scam could no longer be ignored, they kept the donations but cut OSAP grants for all students www.thetrillium.ca/news/educati... #onpoli

Internal docs show MTO staff warned against Ford government’s bike lane removal: “No empirical evidence that ties bike lanes as the sole source of congestion, nor is there data that shows removing bike lanes help with better traffic flow” www.thestar.com/news/gta/dou... #onpoli #bikeTO #TOpoli

The Ontario government commissioned a study to track rates of problem gambling. When they didn’t like what researchers found, they shelved the study. That's what I found in internal govt documents after a long FOI journey. Here's a gift link to the full story: www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...

'In a perfect world,' federal government would nationalize Stelco, says Hamilton union leader www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

“I can’t get medication covered but the Ontario government can spend upwards of $45 million to do something that is dangerous and unnecessary… this is a waste of money and people will die toronto.citynews.ca/2026/10/15/e... #onpoli #TOpoli #bikeTO

Here is Aly Van Wyck-Smart being arrested today. 🎥 dani3lp3rry

A two-time Canadian Paralympic swimmer was arrested while participating in an ongoing protest by cycling advocates opposing the removal of bike lanes on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke on Thursday toronto.citynews.ca/2026/10/15/e... #onpoli #bikeTO #TOpoli

Yikes #onpoli

A cop car carrying a flashing neon sign that says "DOUG FORD HATES YOU." Perfect, no notes, thanks for the great visual @ TV writers of the universe!

I'm grateful for the support of @beynate.bsky.social, former Liberal MP in Beaches-East York. Scarborough Southwest got to know Nate from his decade of leadership representing the west side of Victoria Park. Now I am looking forward to serving our community east of Victoria Park...

Toronto bike lane removal. When your infrastructure project has huge police protection and the contractors hide the logos on their trucks and gear, you are in the wrong.

“While a senior source said the government would take a ‘wait and see’ approach, they suggested the country is facing the larger question of whether it wants to maintain a domestic steel industry” globalnews.ca/news/1210091... #cdnpoli #onpoli

Good on the protesters. Ford has disenfranchised Toronto voters from deciding what this city should be. www.thestar.com/news/gta/for...

First bike lane removal truck blocked.

Cycling group asks Supreme Court to weigh in on Ford government bike lane removals

At Queen's Park, NDP leader Marit Stiles is calling on the Ontario government to buy Stelco from the current owners who are not, uh, strongly committed to Canadian employment.

Chrystia Freeland book spills the tea on her ‘Unreliable Boyfriends” and Justin Trudeau does not come off well www.thestar.com/opinion/star... Find out more at nationalnewswatch.com

Former staff say he drove them to tears. Some colleagues call him a bully. But Brad Bradford is betting that this election day, enough Torontonians will be as angry as he seems to be. New from @royinori.bsky.social, a portrait of the man who really wants to be mayor. thelocal.to/brad-bradfor...

Ex-Tory MP appointed to tribunal rules membership in a 1% biker club is no disqualification for an alcohol delivery licence nationalpost.com/news/canada/... just weeks after ruling membership in the same club is a disqualification for a horseracing licence lfpress.com/news/outlaw-... #onpoli

“I swear by it”: Longtime PC power broker Paul Godfrey alleges Premier Doug Ford‘s office used his son’s government-funded company and an unsigned contract as “political leverage” while seeking help publishing a pre-election column in Postmedia newspapers www.thestar.com/politics/pro... #onpoli

“I understood what this demand from the Premier’s office meant. This was using political leverage and power over a small company to extract a benefit” globalnews.ca/news/1209087... #onpoli

Not content with blighting the night sky, Loblaw moves on to defacing the public space under our feet. Should be fined

“The premier needed a favour from Postmedia”: In a sworn declaration, Postmedia ex-CEO Paul Godfrey claims Doug Ford’s former chief of staff told his son that approval of a Skills Development Fund grant depended on Postmedia publishing the premier’s pre-election letter to voters #onpoli

Postmedia ex-CEO alleges Doug Ford’s office used ‘leverage’ over son’s company to get newspaper chain to publish pre-election letter

“Ford’s failure to properly manage OSAP should not fall on the backs of students. By Minister Quinn referring this scandal to the Ontario Provincial Police,the Minister is admitting that his ministry is calling the cops on their own mismanagement.” - Peggy Sattler 👏👏👏