Blogs

There is a lot in this update that engineers will care about. Some of it is genuinely good news. Some of it is the same language we have been reading for two years. And a few things are missing that should not be. The federal government tabled its Spring Economic Update (SEU) this week, one year into Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne delivered the statement in a political environment shaped by U.S. trade pressure and growing public impatience with the pace of infrastructure delivery. The government’s answer, broadly, is to build more and faster, while spending with more discipline than past budgets suggested. ...

In February 2026, OSPE sent a letter to the CEOs of Metrolinx and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) with a straightforward message: Toronto’s surface rail network is underperforming, and the necessary fixes are well understood. Two months later, the TTC tabled a board report doing exactly what we asked, a win for OSPE, engineers, and transit riders in Toronto. What OSPE Said OSPE’s February letter to Michael Lindsay, CEO of Metrolinx and Mandeep Lali, CEO of the TTC pointed to specific, measurable gaps in Toronto’s surface rail network. Toronto’s legacy streetcar network runs at 11-12 km/h compared to an indicative range of 20-25 km/h for ...

Fitness trackers such as Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, and others make it easy to monitor daily movement, especially step count. While 10,000 steps is the common default goal, many people—particularly those with desk jobs—are surprised to learn how little they move each day. Most wearables include helpful features, such as hourly reminders to move if you haven’t reached a certain number of steps. These prompts encourage short walks, improve circulation, and provide a break from screen time. Friendly competition—whether with others or yourself—can also boost motivation. Simple habits such as parking farther away, taking the stairs, walking after dinner, or ...