Mark Shaw
@markshawtoronto.bsky.social
🍁 Toronto transit & urbanism nerd | 👨💻 Software Developer | 🌈 Your gay best friend
Pinned
Mark Shaw
@markshawtoronto.bsky.social
· Nov 15
This #followfriday I’m just going to repost the Toronto Urbanism Starter pack.
It’s got more content since you last saw it!
go.bsky.app/3drLJRM
It’s got more content since you last saw it!
go.bsky.app/3drLJRM
You should just have to pass a B2 language test *before* running.
It’s not an Emily in Paris job.
It’s not an Emily in Paris job.
I wrote up a rare Saturday column about the NDP leadership French-language debate. And osti de marde c'étiat merdique.
noraloreto.substack.com/p/is-the-ndp...
noraloreto.substack.com/p/is-the-ndp...
Is the NDP sabotaging its own leadership race?
"Dans cette cohorte, Mark Carney passerait pour Molière" - La Presse
noraloreto.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:46 PM
You should just have to pass a B2 language test *before* running.
It’s not an Emily in Paris job.
It’s not an Emily in Paris job.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
if you want to know why toronto's new light rail line is going to be slower than the bus it replaces, here's one reason why:
finch west LRT is currently being tested ahead of opening. like its counterpart, the eglinton crosstown, it's stuck behind left-turning traffic.
note the transit signal showing red while lines of left turning cars advance.
40,000 people are projected to use this line daily when it opens.
note the transit signal showing red while lines of left turning cars advance.
40,000 people are projected to use this line daily when it opens.
November 29, 2025 at 6:37 PM
if you want to know why toronto's new light rail line is going to be slower than the bus it replaces, here's one reason why:
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Uh oh, Ontario transportation minister Prabmeet Sarkaria liked this IntegrityTO video blaming bus lanes for car congestion…
November 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Uh oh, Ontario transportation minister Prabmeet Sarkaria liked this IntegrityTO video blaming bus lanes for car congestion…
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Fun little evening side quest: the subway and streetcar network in April 1954, but in contemporary style.
November 28, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Fun little evening side quest: the subway and streetcar network in April 1954, but in contemporary style.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
At the November Toronto and East York Community Council meeting, I introduced resident-supported motions for new traffic-calming on Davenport streets. These measures will help slow drivers and improve safety, especially after the Province removed Ontario’s speed cameras.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
At the November Toronto and East York Community Council meeting, I introduced resident-supported motions for new traffic-calming on Davenport streets. These measures will help slow drivers and improve safety, especially after the Province removed Ontario’s speed cameras.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
No swearing in parks is the most Toronto thing I’ve ever heard 😭😭
November 28, 2025 at 5:16 PM
No swearing in parks is the most Toronto thing I’ve ever heard 😭😭
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Narrator: it did not help them long term
Gotta be honest, the levels of online adulation for Mark Carney are starting to get uncomfortably close to 2015 Trudeau levels, and at the risk of sounding like a wet blanket, uncritically embracing the hype train risks missing flaws in the Liberal platform. That doesn't help us long term.
November 28, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Narrator: it did not help them long term
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.
November 28, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
This afternoon, I informed the Prime Minister of my decision to resign as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Minister responsible for Official Languages, Minister of Nature and Parks Canada, as well as his Lieutenant in Quebec.
You can find my full statement below.
You can find my full statement below.
November 27, 2025 at 10:32 PM
This afternoon, I informed the Prime Minister of my decision to resign as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, Minister responsible for Official Languages, Minister of Nature and Parks Canada, as well as his Lieutenant in Quebec.
You can find my full statement below.
You can find my full statement below.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Reposted by Mark Shaw
The children yearn for Cybersix and Totally Spies
I think if Canada wants to have a strong cultural identity we need to go back to doing what we're best at, making the weirdest fucking TV shows you've ever seen
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
The children yearn for Cybersix and Totally Spies
K but we’re the world’s leading exporter of gay hockey romance though
November 26, 2025 at 7:54 PM
K but we’re the world’s leading exporter of gay hockey romance though
Reposted by Mark Shaw
probably the strongest case for Ashton for NDP leader
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 AM
probably the strongest case for Ashton for NDP leader
Reposted by Mark Shaw
me: I need Ontario government officials on here
also me: so I can yell at them
also me: so I can yell at them
November 25, 2025 at 2:21 AM
me: I need Ontario government officials on here
also me: so I can yell at them
also me: so I can yell at them
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Like, how do you make a poster like that when your own chair stood with Hazel 25 years ago about this?
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Like, how do you make a poster like that when your own chair stood with Hazel 25 years ago about this?
Reposted by Mark Shaw
This is one of the reasons congestion pricing works.
i wonder how much of Americans' views on driving vs. transit would change if they had to pay for gas/insurance/etc every time they turned on the engine
"i'm not paying $5 to take the train to work twice a day when i can just drive" is a genuine opinion held by so many people
"i'm not paying $5 to take the train to work twice a day when i can just drive" is a genuine opinion held by so many people
November 24, 2025 at 1:17 AM
This is one of the reasons congestion pricing works.
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Some more footage of the ride over to Queen’s Park:
Loved seeing everybody pass by the “You save this bike lane” banners by @cycletoronto.bsky.social
Loved seeing everybody pass by the “You save this bike lane” banners by @cycletoronto.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Some more footage of the ride over to Queen’s Park:
Loved seeing everybody pass by the “You save this bike lane” banners by @cycletoronto.bsky.social
Loved seeing everybody pass by the “You save this bike lane” banners by @cycletoronto.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Imagine the Vulcans land in 2063 and we don't have high speed rail from Toronto to Montreal yet?
Star Trek: First Contact was released 29 years ago today.
We'll be soon halfway between the film's release and First Contact Day (2063). 😄
We'll be soon halfway between the film's release and First Contact Day (2063). 😄
November 23, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Imagine the Vulcans land in 2063 and we don't have high speed rail from Toronto to Montreal yet?
Reposted by Mark Shaw
ttc looking a lot different this week
November 23, 2025 at 1:44 AM
ttc looking a lot different this week
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Charting number of rental units in apartment buildings in Toronto by year of construction
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
(This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago)
#toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay
November 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Toronto deliberately killed apartment construction in the early 1970s, after a generation-long building boom.
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Almost all of that housing was built by “the market.”
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Apparently "build enough homes"
I want to hear your uncomfortably big ideas for Canada!
November 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Apparently "build enough homes"
A single pedestrian street in our biggest city
I want to hear your uncomfortably big ideas for Canada!
November 22, 2025 at 2:43 AM
A single pedestrian street in our biggest city
Environmental assessment: 2019-2022
Approved: 2021
Construction start: 2030
Completion: ???
C’mon just close the street to cars already
Approved: 2021
Construction start: 2030
Completion: ???
C’mon just close the street to cars already
"New Democrat MPP for Toronto Centre and former city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam says nothing is stopping the city from deploying temporary measures that would widen sidewalks" www.thestar.com/news/gta/wal...
Walking on Yonge Street shouldn’t feel like a contact sport — so why the delays to widen the sidewalks?
Despite the city having taking steps in the form of YongeTOmorrow, a project that hopes to increase and improve pedestrian safety — relief for that busy stretch of Yonge Street
www.thestar.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Environmental assessment: 2019-2022
Approved: 2021
Construction start: 2030
Completion: ???
C’mon just close the street to cars already
Approved: 2021
Construction start: 2030
Completion: ???
C’mon just close the street to cars already
Reposted by Mark Shaw
Gonna check in on Canada, where politics is more normal... I see there is a convoy headed to Ottawa to avenge a flock of dead ostriches
November 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Gonna check in on Canada, where politics is more normal... I see there is a convoy headed to Ottawa to avenge a flock of dead ostriches
Reposted by Mark Shaw
For the Star, I make the case for the condo/apartment as aspirational -- that the Canadian dream can also be an apartment in a dense neighbourhood and not, as is so often the case in this country, be taken to only ever mean a detached house. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Navneet Alang: Condos get a bad rap. Here’s why they should be part of the Canadian dream
My parents bought their first home for 11,000 pounds (approximately $20,000) in 1974. It was an ordinary small row house on a dour street in East London. Now, more than
www.thestar.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:18 PM
For the Star, I make the case for the condo/apartment as aspirational -- that the Canadian dream can also be an apartment in a dense neighbourhood and not, as is so often the case in this country, be taken to only ever mean a detached house. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...