3437 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

From a landscaping perspective, it’s very tricky to plant larger trees because they’re no longer in pots but in the ground. And you risk killing them when you dig them out for transport, or they won’t take to their new environment and eventually die. The best case scenario is to plant small potted trees.

 

Even then, the first 5-7 years can be tricky if you do not care for them well.

[dasmo]

From a landscaping perspective, it’s very tricky to plant larger trees because they’re no longer in pots but in the ground. And you risk killing them when you dig them out for transport, or they won’t take to their new environment and eventually die. The best case scenario is to plant small potted trees.

Ya. But it's $85 million..... I have been to the nursery that sells large trees and seen them moving them. It's not that crazy.  and they could at least have gone for the $300 Trees and not the $60 ones. I ask you to justify the $85 million for that parking lot. It is $5 million tops. Not anything nice about it even. 

[dasmo]

I planted bigger trees and they all lived but one. Two fir and three cedar. It's not that hard with native trees. 

[Mike K.]

That’s about the size you want to be planting trees for best results. And they will require a lot of upkeep to keep them healthy enough to take over the first few years.

It’s not a big deal. Maybe some battles just aren’t worth it? I’d say that’s easily a $300 to $400 tree.

[aastra]

For reasons unknown I happened to be watching Toronto local news the other night and I gotta say, it's very funny how that town falls apart every winter because nobody-but-nobody could have possibly expected the 200th-successive season of severe weather (due to climate change, duh).

Apparently the newest transit line (TTC Line 6) has had no end of snow-related issues? Sometimes it seems like Torontonians believe they can somehow wish away the city's actual weather if they really try hard enough, and thus fool people into believing it's like southern California or wherever.

 

Here's some funny stuff from a 2025 news story:

 

 

After heavy rain in July and heavy snow in February battered the TTC's infrastructure, its board has decided it will look at new plans to prepare for extreme weather.

At its city hall meeting on Wednesday, the TTC board reviewed a report that outlined ways to minimize disruptions when extreme weather hits, and will plan based on the city's latest climate projections for Toronto.

The board also decided the TTC will work with city staff on a review of winter maintenance operations to ensure the "resilience of TTC operations" remains a top priority and it will continue to work with city agencies and divisions to find ways to keep the service running during severe weather events.

Coun. Jamaal Myers, chair of the TTC board, said the board will look at "technologies and innovations" of other cities to see how they have coped with extreme weather. (aastra observes: we're supposed to accept the premise that Toronto needs to investigate how other cities have coped with extreme weather, because Toronto is so new to that kind of thing.)

Coun. Josh Matlow, a member of the board, said the city and the TTC need to accept the current realities of climate change.

 

 

[Mike K.]

What reality is that? Snow in winter? Is that what they’re all caught off guard by?

Have you been to Toronto? Goodness gracious it’s an ugly town. There’s no curb appeal across so much of that city. Heaving stairs, leaning walls …caused by frost, and just left alone. Maybe eventually the stairs will heave in the opposite direction and level out, and walls lean back in.

[aastra]

Every year they're unprepared for snow because they don't get snow anymore. So now they need to start doing some serious investigation into what other places do when they get snow. It's the first day of school in Toronto re: learning about this thing called winter.

 

Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone from Toronto, Calgary, etc. claim they never get hard winters anymore while they're complaining about the present hard winter, I'd surely be eating in the same restaurants that Mike K. eats at. For 30+ years we've been hearing this stuff.

[aastra]

 

Sometimes it seems like Torontonians believe they can somehow wish away the city's actual weather if they really try hard enough, and thus fool people into believing it's like southern California or wherever.

 

Back when Murdoch Mysteries was developing its international popularity I remember seeing reviews from people who wondered why winter episodes were rare, as if it was always a beautiful day in turn-of-the-century Toronto.

[Mike K.]

Locally, we now don’t know what to do with all the rain our rainforest climate gets.

Latest rainfall data from the CRD shows us at 106% of the average dating to 1914, through February 15th.

[dasmo]

That’s about the size you want to be planting trees for best results. And they will require a lot of upkeep to keep them healthy enough to take over the first few years.

It’s not a big deal. Maybe some battles just aren’t worth it? I’d say that’s easily a $300 to $400 tree.
 

Numa would sell a 14' tree for $350. That's the $69.99 tree 4' tree. I see you had a look. Pretty fuggly huh? Especially for something designed by the premier architect of the city. 

Edited by dasmo, 19 February 2026 - 03:58 PM.

[Mike K.]

They’ll grow quite quickly and in a few years they’ll be much bigger.

But I totally get the jarring disconnect between renderings and reality of the landscaping plans.

[dasmo]

The trees are just an outward example of the poor design veiled in “good design” hot air costing ten times what it should because it is government work. Nothing for the community at all. Just facing the neighborhood with a giant FU utility block, chain link fence and a brutalist utility pole. Not even a piece of public art.
The scrappy forest with the archery club was better….

Edited by dasmo, 20 February 2026 - 06:59 AM.

[Mike K.]

The prison complex just down the road set the architectural tone, though.

[dasmo]

The prison complex just down the road set the architectural tone, though.

It’s actually a lot nicer architecturally. They hid it from view….

[Victoria Watcher]

A small gathering in Langford this weekend marked a symbolic milestone for Vancouver Island’s long-idle rail line — and renewed debate over what should come next.

 

On Saturday, members of Friends of Rails to Trails – Vancouver Island (FORT-VI) handed out slices of cake to the public to mark 15 years since the last VIA Rail commuter train ran on the E&N corridor on March 19, 2011 .

 

The event, held near Goldstream Avenue, was meant as both a commemoration and a critique, with cake decorated in dollar signs to highlight what the group calls years of public spending on an unused rail line.

 

 

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...tinues-1313197/

 

 

A small gathering in Langford this weekend marked a symbolic milestone for Vancouver Island’s long-idle rail line — 15 straight years of beating a dead horse.    

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 March 2026 - 06:27 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne released a letter on Monday recusing himself from the $90 billion Alto high-speed rail project, where his partner works as a senior executive.

The letter, which Champagne claims he sent to Prime Minister Mark Carney in September, outlines a “conflict of interest screen.”

Champagne said he recused himself from involvement in the Alto high-speed rail project due to his relationship with Anne-Marie Gaudet, who serves as the company’s vice president of environment.

 

https://www.junonews...tm_medium=email

 

 

 

A businessman charged with running a Hells Angels-linked methamphetamine lab managed to "negotiate" his acquittal with the Crown just as his brother, now a federal minister, was preparing to enter politics.

This is what Judge Chantal Lamarche reports in a recent judgment against Guillaume Champagne, the brother of François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade in the Trudeau government since last January.

https://www.journald...on-acquittement

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 April 2026 - 03:51 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Island Corridor Foundation says construction stopped during the First World War, then after the war ended, improved highway and trucking services meant the train service ended just beyond the Courtenay station.

“Huge historical, lots of significance to the community,” MacDonald said.

“Very unfortunate that we keep having these fires in this area but hopefully we can find the root cause and get it dealt with.”

Mann notes this is the second fire at the train station in about a year-and-a-half.

“It’s disturbing and definitely something we want to try and prevent in the future,” Mann said.

Mann said they’ll hopefully increase their security system at the train station.

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...tation-1316100/

 

 

The root cause might be flame.  Or even just spark.        

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 April 2026 - 11:42 AM.

[splashflash]

Let's fix the E&N - one minute video

https://m.youtube.co...h?v=dT4rwZLjgAc

Edited by splashflash, 07 April 2026 - 12:12 PM.