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billthompson.bsky.social
Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
@billthompson.bsky.social
130 followers 360 following 19 posts
Leafs. Sceptres. Raptors. Toronto criminal defence lawyer.
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Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
alanderminna.bsky.social
The new US National Security Strategy, in its predictable and characteristic ugliness, is a good occasion for Europe to finally let go of the time-consuming transatlantic crisis management efforts and start focusing on a proper and proactive own strategy instead.
Europe Needs A New Strategy Too
The new US National Security Strategy helps - or forces - European leaders to let go of the consuming transatlantic crisis management efforts and to focus on an own strategy instead.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:49 PM
billthompson.bsky.social
As someone who has litigated many sexual assault trials that seem to do more harm than good for all involved, I welcome LEAF and CJI's call for a restorative justice approach.
New report explores restorative, transformative justice options for sexual harm in Ontario
‘Criminal legal system continues to fail survivors’: LEAF executive director
www.canadianlawyermag.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
rachelgilmore.bsky.social
Trudeau-era environment minister Steven Guilbeault has published a resignation letter detailing the reasons for his departure from Carney's cabinet.

He directly cites today's MOU:
Statement by Steven Guilbeault This afternoon, it is with great sadness that I submitted my resignation to the Prime Minister as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, Minister of Nature and Parks Canada, as well as his Lieutenant in Quebec. As you know, I chose to enter politics to champion the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment. Over the past ten years, our country has made historic progress in reducing climate pollution, protecting nature and the environment, while our economy continued to grow. I believe I have contributed to these advancements, and I remain deeply proud of the achievements I have helped bring forward: • Standing up to tech giants and major polluters • Implementing Canada's first emissions reduction plan, slowing their growth and placing them on a downward trajectory • Establishing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation • Modernizing the Canadian Environmental Protection Act • Developing the country's first national climate adaptation strategy to protect our communities • Eliminating harmful single-use plastics • Implementing the most ambitious nature conservation plan in the country's history • Continuing the modernization of the Official Languages Act • Making historic investments in arts and culture, including during the COVID-19 crisis and in the most recent budget Changes in our relationship with the United States have led to profound disruptions affecting the global order, diplomatic relations, and the economy. I understand and share the Prime Minister's efforts to ensure our country First, there was no consultation with the Indigenous nations of the West Coast of British Columbia or with the provincial government, who would be greatly affected by this agreement. Furthermore, a pipeline to the West Coast would have major environmental impacts, particularly as it could cross the Great Bear Rainforest, contribute to a significant increase in climate pollution, and move Canada further away from its greenhouse gas reduction targets. Lifting the tanker ban on the West Coast would also significantly increase the risk of accidents in the region. This moratorium was established in 1972 following a unanimous vote in the House of Commons, notably because navigation in the Hecate Strait is highly dangerous. Its removal would also hinder the creation of a marine conservation area in the Great Bear Sea, a project our government has been actively developing with Indigenous partners and the government of British Columbia for several years, protecting more than 100,000 km of this ecologically sensitive region. We cannot hope to decarbonize our economy without decarbonizing the electricity sector. The proposal to exempt Alberta from the Clean Electricity Regulations in exchange for stricter industrial carbon pricing rules and the Pathways project is, in my view, a serious mistake. As shown in the analysis submitted to the House of Commons, without this regulation, the electricity sector-which has halved its pollution over the past 20 years-would return to an upward emissions trajectory. This regulation also saves lives by reducing air pollution, generates over $3 billion in healthcare savings, and ultimately reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 182 million tonnes. Finally, over the past few months, several elements of the climate action plan I worked on as Minister of the Environment have been, or are about to be, dismantled: the consumer carbon pricing, the Zero Emission Vehicle standard, the oil and gas sector emissions cap, the framework to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and the Clean Electricity Regulations. In my view, these measures remain essential to our climate action plan. I want to express my sincere gratitude to the citizens of Laurier-Sainte-Marie for the trust they have placed in me since 2019. I will continue to represent them as their Liberal Member of Parliament with dedication. I also thank the Prime Minister for the honor of serving in his cabinet and as his lieutenant in Quebec. When I entered politics, it was because I had a deep conviction that I could make a difference in fighting climate change and protecting our environment. My commitment to leaving a better world for the future of our children and our planet remains unchanged. Steven Guilbeault Member of Parliament for Laurier-Sainte-Marie
November 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
emmettmacfarlane.com
We've fallen into an anti-immigration, anti-climate, short-sighted economic doofus era, brought to you by the guy who we thought was a smart policy wonk.
November 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
billthompson.bsky.social
Why Toronto is a top women’s sports city (despite The Athletic’s snub)
Why Toronto is a top women’s sports city (despite The Athletic’s snub)
Despite not cracking The Athletic's list of top women's sports cities, Toronto boasts pro women's sports teams with passionate fan bases.
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
wpri12.bsky.social
#BREAKING: A student intern at Rhode Island Superior Court was briefly taken into custody by ICE this afternoon before a judge intervened, 12 News has learned. Story by @jusolyn.bsky.social and @timwhiteri.bsky.social: ⤵️
RI judge intervenes after ICE mistakenly detains Superior Court intern
A teenager was nearly taken into federal immigration custody in Providence Thursday afternoon before a Superior Court judge intervened, according to the Rhode Island Judiciary.
www.wpri.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
mspratt.bsky.social
The Supreme Court applied the Charter. Politicians answered with fear mongering, Charter-bashing, and even calls for vigilante murders. These politicians care more about scoring political points and undermining the rule of law than protecting kids:
www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion...
The Supreme Court's Senneville decision rejected moral panic, so should politicians
Kinew, Poilievre and Smith distort the reality of mandatory minimums for political gain
www.canadianlawyermag.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
mendelmatt.bsky.social
The administrative state in Canada prosecutes the poor and says getting taxes from wealthy people is too complicated.

www.canadianaffairs.news/2025/11/12/o...
Op-Ed: Ottawa's costly pursuit of the poor
The government cites inefficiency as a reason to end taxes on vacant homes and yachts — yet keeps pouring money into futile litigation over pandemic-era benefits
www.canadianaffairs.news
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
I like how Krasner winning an almost unprecedented third term as Philly DA by stomping the walrus mustached city court judge who quit the bench to try to take him out first in the primary and again as a Republican in the general isn’t even folded into the national Dem sweep coverage.
November 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
alyshah.bsky.social
Everyone who talks about bail reform should also have to read Brendan Kennedy’s investigation of the abuse “akin to torture” of people awaiting trial, and the cover-up at Maplehurst jail.

www.thestar.com/news/investi...
Inside the many lies told by Maplehurst jail officials trying to cover up the ‘torture’ of inmates
The deceit ranged from serious attempts to conceal what happened, to absurd, easily disprovable lies that left an Ontario judge stunned.
www.thestar.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
rianjohnson.bsky.social
Whoever wins, we all win
November 1, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
thebulwark.com
Be exceedingly careful who and what you make a deal with www.thebulwark.com/p/the-transa...
The ‘Transactional’ Trap
America’s partners shouldn’t think they can deal their way out of Trumpian chaos.
www.thebulwark.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:31 AM
billthompson.bsky.social
I ❤️ Vladdy
October 28, 2025 at 2:45 AM
billthompson.bsky.social
An excellent explanation by @coleenlisa.bsky.social of the lack of evidence to support the federal government's proposed changes to restrict the availability of bail and the danger that it poses to an already broken pre-trial detention system: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Ontario’s jails are in no position to handle new restrictions on bail and that’s bad news for everyone
Crowding and inhumane conditions in Ontario jails are resulting in sentences being reduced or stayed. No one should want these outcomes, least of all politicians promising law and order.
www.thestar.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
strategic-cities.com
“In plain English, Ford’s government is once again trying to handcuff cities and erase years of progress on making roads safer and more livable.”
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Say it louder for the people in the provinces, please @cycletoronto.bsky.social
For folks frustrated driving in our cities, Doug Ford knows you’re not stuck in traffic because of bike lanes. Where is the same focus and intensity from the province on real solutions like opening the endlessly delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT?” In plain English, Ford’s government is once again trying to handcuff cities and erase years of progress on making roads safer and more livable.
October 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
motherjones.com
Moments after they shot his 19-year-old daughter, Diana, San Jose police rushed Jim Showman to an interrogation room, isolated him from his ex-wife, and questioned him for 27 minutes before revealing they'd killed her.

California has finally banned the practice.
California cops can no longer conceal police killings while interrogating loved ones for dirt
A Reveal investigation helped spark a crackdown on a disturbing, widespread practice.
www.motherjones.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
bhaggart.bsky.social
Mark Carney sold himself as a pro-sovereignty, transformational leader, but he has acted like a defender of a status quo based on confined dependence on a Trumpist United States.
In any case, that’s not what Canadians voted for. But I’m not sure that Carney cares about that small point.
October 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
lilianasegura.bsky.social
Say it louder Nashville
An 8x12 sign on a telephone pole reading: “Whatever you allow your government to do to others they will eventually do to you.”
October 9, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
kyivindependent.com
⚡️Europe 'no longer at peace' with Russia, Germany's Merz says.

"Let me put it in a sentence that may be a little shocking at first glance ... we are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sept. 29.
Europe 'no longer at peace' with Russia, Germany's Merz says
"Let me put it in a sentence that may be a little shocking at first glance ... we are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sept. 29.
kyivindependent.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
hunterw.bsky.social
The point about extra houses and sneakers is spot on. Many of these performers at the "Riyadh Comedy Festival" were already very, very rich.

Pete Davidson has been all over the jewelry district buying Rolexes and chains to try and match everything owned by Tony Soprano.

How many more did he need?
donniemarvelous.bsky.social Don House @donniemarvelous.bsky.social · Sep 29
David Cross folks.
September 30, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
adamserwer.bsky.social
The white supremacist conceit that everyone in antiquity was living under some kind of global jim crow segregation is just complete bullshit news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Pure bloodlines? Ancestral homelands? DNA science says no. — Harvard Gazette
Geneticist explains recent analyses made possible by tech advances show human history to be one of mixing, movement, displacement.
news.harvard.edu
September 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
zeteo.com
"The Palestinians have cages on their windows because they're under constant attack."

From the new 'We're Not Kidding', Irish actor Denise Gough tells @mehdirhasan.bsky.social what she witnessed during her recent trip to Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Watch: zeteo.com/p/exclusive-...
September 23, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
mark-carney.bsky.social
Today, Canada recognises the State of Palestine.
 
My statement: www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...
Quote graphic featuring the following quote from Prime Minister Carney’s statement on Canada’s recognition of Palestine: “Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel.”
September 21, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
sarahrankin.bsky.social
There is no feminism in essentializing women as body parts, subjecting us to additional surveillance to prove membership, and policing entrance to the category woman. We do not make women safer or freer this way.
September 19, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Bill Thompson 🇨🇦
conradhackett.bsky.social
Canadian opinion about the U.S. is at the lowest point since
@pewresearch.org started asking in 2002.

34% of Canadians have a positive view of the United States, down 20 points since last year.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Chart showing favorable views of the U.S. are now at their lowest point since we started asking this question in 2002, tied only with the 35% who had a favorable view of the U.S. in 2020, the final full year of Trump’s first term. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians (64%) have an unfavorable opinion of the U.S., including 39% who have a very unfavorable view. This is the highest percentage of Canadians with a very unfavorable view of the U.S. in surveys dating back to 2002. Views of the U.S. vary by ideology among Canadians. Those on the ideological left (17%) are less likely than those in the center (32%) or on the right (52%) to view the U.S. favorably. However, across all ideological groups, the share of Canadians with a favorable view of the U.S. has dropped by about 15 percentage points or more since last year.
September 18, 2025 at 8:55 PM