Leni Spooner
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lenispooner.bsky.social
Leni Spooner
@lenispooner.bsky.social
52 followers 24 following 140 posts
Canadian from Southwestern Ontario by way of Edmonton AB long ago.
Writer @BetweenTheLines | Power, policy & politics with clarity + context.
Helping you read the system, not just the story. https://lenispooner.substack.com/
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lenispooner.bsky.social
Every new home hides a small invoice to the town that built it.
Who Pays for Growth? digs into how development fees keep the lights—and pipes—on. #Canada #Municipal #Developer #Onpoli
between-the-lines.ca/who-pays-for...
Aerial view of a growing small Canadian town with new subdivisions, roads, and water towers, representing how development charges fund local infrastructure.
October 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
We’ve started playing poker when we should be hosting potlucks.
Why Canada’s debate sounds like a zero-sum game—and what that’s costing us.
📖 #SundayRead #BookSky medium.com/@leni_las/ze...
October 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
New #BehindThePaywall:
Carney heads to Washington as Trump reopens the CUSMA fault lines — and Ottawa stalls on AI guardrails.
Can Canada stay sovereign when the rules keep changing? 🇨🇦

lenispooner.substack.com/p/behindthep...

#CUSMA #AI #Fall24 #cdnpoli
October 6, 2025 at 5:23 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
From Collingwood’s farm stalls to city halls — how we grow back local food systems. What is Canada's 'missing middle'?
#SundayRead  📚
lenispooner.substack.com/p/how-munici...
A colourful display of locally grown produce at a rural market in Collingwood, Ontario. The produce section features neatly arranged rows of red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers, leafy greens, carrots, leeks, cucumbers, mushrooms, and herbs under a chalkboard listing farm origins and prices. The scene captures the abundance of Ontario-grown food and the pride of small producers supplying local markets.
October 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
The rebellion isn’t in the streets — it’s in the mailbox.
Families are done paying for the planet’s mistakes.
🌍 When the Bill Comes Due #climate #cdnpoli between-the-lines.ca/when-the-bil...
A diverse group of silhouetted people standing on a ridge at sunrise, looking at a glowing Earth—symbolizing collective global responsibility and hope for climate action. People everywhere are beginning to look up—and insist on changing who pays to protect it. The billable path is shifting.
October 4, 2025 at 7:14 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
🇨🇦👩‍🎓 Youth unemployment in Canada just hit its highest non-pandemic level in 15 years. With summer jobs behind us, fall/winter prospects aren’t looking much better. #cdnpoli #youth #unemployment

I unpack the history and the numbers here: between-the-lines.ca/youth-unempl...
A shopfront window displays two red-and-white signs reading “We Are Hiring” and “Apply Today.” The empty bottom panel underscores how opportunities are shrinking, symbolizing the gap between visible job ads and the reality of scarce, unstable work for young Canadians in 2025.
September 24, 2025 at 5:07 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
If Canada’s media repeats the same 5–6 stories a day, what voices and issues are we missing? #cdnpoli #media between-the-lines.ca/broken-infra...
September 23, 2025 at 12:02 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
🇨🇦 From tariffs to tables: Canada can cut U.S. food dependence by 50%.
💡 $2.6B of that shift is as simple as you and me choosing Canadian at the checkout.

Full piece 👉 between-the-lines.ca/from-tariffs...
September 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
⚡ Life doesn’t run on certainty anymore—it runs on resilience.

🇨🇦 With tariffs, CUSMA talks & rising costs, the best inheritance isn’t wealth—it’s adaptability, creativity & endurance.
💭 What qualities will Canadians need most to roll with change?
👉 Read: lenispooner.substack.com/p/no-going-b...
A sepia-toned portrait of a young couple—a woman in a blouse and a man in an RAF uniform—sits on a wooden kitchen table beside a steaming metal teapot, an open notebook with a pen, and a closed journal. Overlaid text reads: “No Going Back: Families in an Age of Scarcity. Why resilience—not certainty—is the best inheritance we can pass on. lenispooner.substack.com.”
September 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
The free-trade era may be ending. From tariffs to Buy Canadian, nations are reaching back to mercantilist playbooks. Canada’s latest rupture is a case study in resilience vs retreat.
👉 medium.com/@leni_las/ca...

#Trade #Economy
September 6, 2025 at 2:38 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Carney calls it a rupture, not a transition. Canada is pivoting from free-trade assumptions to mercantilist tools — a C$5B fund, Buy Canadian push, and EV pause. A seismic shift in trade strategy. #cdnpoli #ElbowsUp between-the-lines.ca/canada-free-...
September 5, 2025 at 11:03 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Good news isn’t fluff — it’s fuel. 🍂

This September I’m seeing Canadian resilience everywhere: farm stands, classrooms, art shows.

✨ What’s a good-news win you’ve noticed this month? between-the-lines.ca/tthe-taste-o...
September 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Here’s your image — ready to drop straight into your Bluesky post with the caption:

Fresh from the farm… until the brand takes over.
The “independent” farm story ends under the shadow of a corporate truck.

🔗 The Illusion of Independence → lenispooner.substack.com/p/food-polit... #food #canada
August 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Trump fired a top stats official. He also gets to pick a new Fed governor—early. If U.S. data turns to spin and the Fed to politics, Canada won’t be spared the fallout.

🔗 lenispooner.substack.com/p/e4682663-d...

#FedWatch #CdnPoli #DataMatters #BetweenTheLines
A digital illustration of a globe centered on North America, visibly cracked down the middle to suggest geopolitical and economic fragmentation. The image symbolizes rising instability in the U.S. and its impact on Canada and global markets. AI-generated image by ChatGPT, designed for the post “The Data Doesn’t Lie—Until It Does” on Between the Lines.
August 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Performative outrage isn’t leadership.
The smoke signal wasn’t from the forests. It was from inside the halls of power. What a letter actually signals. #cdnpoli #wildfires #America #politics
lenispooner822538.substack.com/p/to-my-amer...
A helicopter flies through thick wildfire smoke above a dense forest, dropping water over smouldering treetops. The headline reads: “To My American Friends: We’re Watching—and Worrying. The Smoke Signal Wasn’t From the Forests.”
July 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Shout out to @anulaskitchen.bsky.social I recommend her Etsy shop and her customer service in highest terms! Thank you Anna. You made supporting small business a true pleasure!
www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Anul...
Anula's Kitchen Esty store banner, her logo and images of yummy vegan baked goods.
July 2, 2025 at 1:52 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 9:31 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
🇨🇦🧭 Part Five: Delivering on the Deal.

🇨🇦 5% GDP for defence + infrastructure by 2035.
New NATO pledge. New EU partnership. Big ambitions.
What's real, what’s recycled,what’s still missing?
🔗https://lenispooner822538.substack.com/p/the-quiet-build-up-part-five-delivering?r=36whu
#cdnpoli #NATO #EU
A digitally composed image showing the Peace Palace in The Hague at sunset on the right, blended with a semi-transparent silhouette of Canada's Parliament buildings on the left. A bold red maple leaf overlays the sky with the text “Canada at The Hague,” surrounded by golden EU stars.
June 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
🇨🇦 is on track to spend $33B+  on fighter jets arriving two years too late. All 88 F‑35s—or just enough to defend NORAD, with a smarter plan for the rest?
What you can do #cdnpoli #F35 #Gripen #QuietBuildup Part 3: Fleet Math: What Canada Actually Needs in the Skies
open.substack.com/pub/lenispoo...
Side-by-side view of two modern fighter jets in flight: the Swedish Saab Gripen (left) and the American F‑35 Lightning II (right), flying above a cloudy blue sky. The image represents Canada’s current decision point between different strategic and procurement paths.
June 16, 2025 at 11:59 AM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Waiting until 2032 isn’t a defence plan—it’s a deferral.
In Part 2 of The Quiet Build-Up, I break down Canada’s real posture, the F-35 gap, and why Arctic-ready alternatives still matter.

lenispooner822538.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...

#G7Canada #NATO #geopolitics #cdnpoli #DefencePolicy #Gripen
A Saab Gripen fighter jet sits on a runway in front of a line of trees under cloudy skies. Bold text reads: “The Quiet Build-Up, Part 2 – The 2% Myth: Canada’s Real Defence Posture.” A yellow line separates the title from a caption that says, “Waiting until 2032 is a readiness strategy, not a spending strategy. It’s time to know the difference.”
June 15, 2025 at 6:25 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
🇨🇦 says it’ll meet NATO’s 2% 🎯 by 2032.

But this isn’t just about budgets—it’s about readiness, sovereignty -Arctic reality. Still time to pivot. Still time to write your MP.

Part 2 of The Quiet Build-Up:
leni.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
#G7Canada #NATO #geopolitics #cdnpoli #DefencePolicy #Gripen
A Saab Gripen fighter jet taxiing on a runway under cloudy skies, with trees and grass in the background. Bold white and yellow text over the image reads: “The Quiet Build-Up, Part 2 – The 2% Myth: Canada’s Real Defence Posture.” A thin yellow line separates the subtitle from the tagline: “Waiting until 2032 is a readiness strategy, not a spending strategy. It’s time to know the difference.”
June 15, 2025 at 6:11 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
Happy #Caturday ! I’d like everyone to meet my number one muse….Lucky (I get that is weird because he’s a black cat, but seriously he IS my good luck charm!)
Black kitten staring into camera perched on his cat tree
June 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
lenispooner.bsky.social
He spoke up today right after Smith posted her ultimatum to Ottawa today on X. Screenshot here:
Transript of post screenshot: A new Prime Minister and a new cabinet allow us to reset the tone and discuss how provincial and federal governments can work together to improve Albertans' lives. Instead, the Premier took it as an opportunity to make demands in the most juvenile and childish way. Her actions were insulting and certainly won't get us what we need. And what we need is an ethical, competent government. Yet again, Danielle Smith and the UCP have failed to deliver.
March 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM