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Aryn Toombs

@aryn

Sometimes I write, sometimes I take photos, and sometimes I use R to parse large data sets in the millions of entries.

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Latest posts by Aryn Toombs @aryn

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Alberta premier Danielle Smith responds to concerns from Calgary's mayor about the education property tax increase in the provincial budget.

05.03.2026 21:41 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Hey, neighbour!

March is Community Association Awareness Month. The 13 associations in Wardβ€―4 are essential to creating great neighbourhoods and communities. That’s why I’m working to ensure they’re properly funded as part of the upcoming four‑year budget.

05.03.2026 20:48 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Mayor Farkas probes returning officer on potential provincial tax plebiscite - LiveWire Calgary Calgary’s mayor tinkered with the politically charged idea of a plebiscite around what he’s referring to as the city’s equalization transfer payments to the Government of Alberta. Mayor Jeromy Farkas…

What do you think the question should be? #yyc #calgary

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04.03.2026 22:35 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Development paused around beleaguered Bearspaw South feeder main - LiveWire Calgary Development in the area around Calgary’s troubled Bearspaw South feeder main will be limited for the foreseeable future as the city has banned digging near the pipe. The Bearspaw South feeder main…

New no-digging rules mean a development pause around the Bearspaw South feeder main. Former Couns. Sharp and Wong tried to get the city to do something like this back in 2024. #yyc #calgary

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26.02.2026 21:39 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Ranchman's to relocate in 2027 to make way for a new mixed-use development - LiveWire Calgary Iconic Calgary country music venue Ranchman’s is on the move this year, making way for a new development at its Macleod Trail location. This year will be the final year at its Macleod Trail South…

The developer is paying homage to the iconic Calgary country music venue with the development's new name. #yyc #calgary

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26.02.2026 18:48 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I am a little annoyed at APEGA that I warned them years ago that they had to may more attention to taking software regulation seriously and was rebuffed.

22.02.2026 01:10 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Alberta Premier defends fall referendum plans Danielle Smith stumbles when asked about costs of providing health care and education to newcomers; NDP says referendum proposals designed to inflame

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber... Premier Danielle Smith said she does not know how much newcomers cost Alberta’s health care and education systems, despite arguing that Ottawa’s immigration policies are jeopardizing her province’s finances.

20.02.2026 21:42 πŸ‘ 80 πŸ” 29 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 10
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Net migration in Alberta. Up, up, up, down, down, down.

Net international migration to Alberta totalled 197 in Q3 2025, down 99% from 32,046 in the same quarter a year prior.

20.02.2026 01:59 πŸ‘ 175 πŸ” 94 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 13

It was only a matter of time before poor budgeting choices and corruption while systematically denying the realities of the economy caused the ruling party of [insert country/state/province here] to place the blame on foreigners.

20.02.2026 02:11 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

For years, people have said Canada's brand of right-wing populism was unique in lacking a xenophobic, anti-immigrant strain.

Anyone still under that illusion should watch premier Smith's speech to Albertans tomorrow.

19.02.2026 01:36 πŸ‘ 281 πŸ” 93 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 11
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Two more preventible deaths on our city roads have left me heartbroken for those families.

This traffic safety crisis is ours to solve. Every death is preventable. Please slow down. Put away the phone. Watch for pedestrians. No destination is worth a life.

Let's make Vision Zero real for Calgary.

18.02.2026 18:42 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 3

I did use the CMHC data to do some charts for @livewirecalgary.bsky.social, but it involved using R to loop through Excel files, build tibbles, and then work on those.

16.02.2026 23:46 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Road closure in effect after wire snaps detected on Calgary’s Bearspaw feeder main - Calgary | Globalnews.ca The Bearspaw feeder main, which carries 60 per cent of the city's drinking water, has experienced two critical failures in less than two years.

NEW: Road closure in effect after wire snaps detected on Calgary’s Bearspaw feeder main
globalnews.ca/news/1166656...

13.02.2026 19:11 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Province broke its own access to information laws in withholding Alberta Next survey results The Alberta government wrongly withheld hundreds of pages of results from its Alberta Next surveys an adjudicator has ruled.

An adjudicator's ruling merely confirms what was already obvious. The UCP gov't broke its own laws and went to great lengths to avoid disclosing politically unfavourable public records. Taxpayers paid for these records; they do not belong to a party. #ableg

edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...

10.02.2026 23:46 πŸ‘ 27 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2
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City of Calgary blocks ChatGPT use on city devices and networks - LiveWire Calgary The City of Calgary has blocked one of the most popular artificial intelligence platforms from city networks and devices, but it doesn’t mean they’re going AI-free. According to the City, ChatGPT was…

Mayor Farkas said that it was important that citizens felt comfortable their privacy and data was being protected. #yyc #calgary

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10.02.2026 15:40 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2

Right there with you pal. It’s like being in the Large Magellanic Cloud to the Canadian politics Milky Way.

09.02.2026 17:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Hey, neighbour!

Calgary has 26 Olympians competing for gold in Milano Cortino, more than any other city in Canada and more than many other nations competing in the games. Calgary is Canada's Olympic city!

07.02.2026 16:15 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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BRONZE FOR CANADA πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦

Valerie Maltais, in her 5th Olympics, wins bronze for Canada in the 3000m final.

It’s her first individual medal in long track speed skating. And it’s Canada’s first medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

07.02.2026 16:23 πŸ‘ 352 πŸ” 74 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 15
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Path is set for Bearspaw South feeder main Stage B replacement - LiveWire Calgary The path of Stage B of the replacement Bearspaw South feeder main line has been determined, and work will begin in late spring, the City of Calgary said. The city released plans via media release on…

The Bearspaw South feeder main replacement Stage B path is set. Work will begin in May. Find out where it will go, and the method they'll use. #yyc #calgary

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06.02.2026 18:39 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Despite the UCPs strong polling lead, six in 10 Albertans think the province is heading in the wrong direction.

04.02.2026 20:17 πŸ‘ 18 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 2
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Never again.

Today we commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and remember the tragedy that was perpetrated against the victims of the Nazi regime on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

27.01.2026 16:54 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s always interesting reading how events are reported after the fact. Take the separation event at the Big4: hundreds sounds like a lot, but from my vantage point over Stampede park there was barely more traffic than an average night where events aren’t happening.

27.01.2026 15:40 πŸ‘ 18 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

Libraries are some of the most important civic institutions we have to improve our communities. They are also a huge supporter of local journalism and provide free access for the public to that essential work. This is one of the big reasons I’m personally a big supporter of the libraries in Calgary.

26.01.2026 03:22 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.

17.01.2026 14:57 πŸ‘ 40039 πŸ” 14696 πŸ’¬ 1321 πŸ“Œ 1047
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Alberta Law Foundation board members ousted, staff resign in wake of controversial justice bill Moira Vane says she and another lawyer were told the Law Society of Alberta is removing them from the board of the Alberta Law Foundation.

NEWS: the entire staff of the Alberta Law Foundation has resigned in the wake of Bill 14, which gives the justice minister more say in how the independent org operates. This is according to a board member who says she was ousted by the law society for speaking out edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/a...

16.01.2026 14:36 πŸ‘ 111 πŸ” 74 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 14

New: Premier Smith and Alberta’s Justice Minister are applauding the appeals court for finding the use of the emergencies act during the Ottawa convoy unconstitutional under sections 2 and 8.

For context those same sections were stripped by the GOA for Albertans with the notwithstanding clause use.

16.01.2026 22:21 πŸ‘ 40 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
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Calgary ends water restrictions as Bearspaw feeder main stabilized - LiveWire Calgary Effective immediately, the Stage 4 restrictions that have kept Calgarians conserving water for the better part of three weeks are now over. During a media update on Jan. 16, 2026, the City of Calgary…

NEW: Calgary's Bearspaw South feeder main is back in service and water restrictions have been lifted. #yyc #calgary

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16.01.2026 20:26 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The repairs on the Bearspaw Feeder Main are complete, and water is once again flowing through the main to Calgarians.

Thank you for making the effort to save water during the emergency, and thank you to all the dedicated City staff who made this repair possibleβ€”quickly and safely.

As of 1β€―p.m. today, all water restrictions are lifted. Operations at our aquatic centres and arenas will return to normal.

By the end of the day, the City expects to deactivate the Municipal Emergency Plan and close the Emergency Operations Centre.

Work will continue to repair a section of the Bearspaw Feeder Main, and more work will be done in the spring to reinforce the pipe.

The repairs on the Bearspaw Feeder Main are complete, and water is once again flowing through the main to Calgarians. Thank you for making the effort to save water during the emergency, and thank you to all the dedicated City staff who made this repair possibleβ€”quickly and safely. As of 1β€―p.m. today, all water restrictions are lifted. Operations at our aquatic centres and arenas will return to normal. By the end of the day, the City expects to deactivate the Municipal Emergency Plan and close the Emergency Operations Centre. Work will continue to repair a section of the Bearspaw Feeder Main, and more work will be done in the spring to reinforce the pipe.

The repairs on the Bearspaw Feeder Main are complete, and water is once again flowing through the main to Calgarians. As of 1 p.m. today all water restrictions are lifted. Operations at our aquatic centres and arenas will return to normal. Thank you neighbours for saving water.

16.01.2026 20:25 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Province demands decades worth of documents related to Bearspaw South feeder main - LiveWire Calgary Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs has requested a slew of documents related to the Bearspaw feeder main break, including records going back two decades. Minister Dan Williams posted to social…

The Alberta government wants Bearspaw South feeder main documents. Lots of them. #yyc #calgary

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15.01.2026 00:55 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 1
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The level of the Glenmore Reservoir is now at 87.5% (20566.59 cubic decametres).

13.01.2026 02:34 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0