Spacing Saturday: Jeff Rubin, Noir Novels and Homelessness

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

Clive Doucet weighs in on the coalition theme of the ongoing federal election by framing the suburban/urban divide as an example of the complexities that create differing political attitudes amongst Canadians. In doing so, Doucet makes the case that a coalition government would likely be more healthy than harmful.

Hans Cunningham offers a powerful argument for something that federal candidates should talking about other than threats of coalitions: homelessness. Cunningham, who is currently serving as President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, argues that society could save millions by addressing the problem of affordable housing.

Lauren Oostveen reflects on the passing of Chris Doyle, a local homeless man known in Halifax as the Clyde Street Pirate and someone who became a local landmark for his friendly and happy personality.

The Atlantic Snapshots feature this week highlighted an image that beauftifully captures the changing of the seasons in Canada.

The latest installment of the Head Space series includes a fascinating interview with Jeff Rubin the former CIBC chief economist who left the bank and went on to write the bestselling book Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller about the upcoming effects of peak oil.

Jacqueline Whyte Appleby introduces this year’s installment of the Toronto Public Library’s Keep Toronto Reading Festival. The 2011 book Midnight at the Dragon Cafe will serve as the base for an ongoing series on Spacing and events throughout the city.

Gregory McCormick continues the Montreal Lit series, this week going back to the 1950s to look at the noir novel The Crime on Cote des Neiges. The book is particularly interesting for its depictions of Montreal’s Golden Mile neighbourhood and the sexism of the time.

KC Bolton profiles the Hitting the Benchmark project sponsored by the Sustainability Projects Fund at McGill University. The project aims to inspire creative thinking about reuse in public infrastructure by making benches out of recycled materials.

Photograph by Chris Hardie