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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Spacing Saturday: Election Clutter, Transit Culture and a lack of Politicians

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Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region.


Vicky Smallman checks in on the Ottawa mayoral race, profiling the character positioning of the five main candidates as the campaign heads into the home stretch.

Evan Thornton rejoices in the latest example of Ottawa’s emerging Transit Culture: the Hinton Cafe’s O’Train special grilled chili dog.

Devin Alfro highlights the pluses and minuses of the newly restored Marché Saint-Jacques. While definitely positive that building has been restored from municipal offices back to its original function, there are questions of how the new market fits into the existing neighbourhood.

Émile Thomas  gives an excellent profile of the Verdun neighbourhood; a bridge between many aspects of the city and a home to the most enlightened hipsters.

John Lorinc delves into the long and tumultuous history between George Smitherman and David Miller and speculates on how this affected Miller’s Pantalone endorsement and what would have happened had someone with a similar resume run in place of Smitherman.

As opposed to many of its suburbs which are littered with campaign signs, Toronto has very tight rules regulating when and where candidates can put up signs. Sean Marshall looks at Toronto’s regulations and at the merits of the practice in general.

Joshua Biggley reports on the troubling electoral climate in Charlottetown, where only seven of the ten wards even have challengers running and speculates on the troubles democratic stagnation could cause the city.

Veronica Simmonds profiles Halifax Housing week which aims to celebrate successes and highlight needs of homelessness in Halifax.

Photo by Brian Ridgway

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