The 905er Podcast

Sabrina Nanji of the QPObserver joins us on this episode as we get into the weeds with the Milton By-Election. When Parm Gill announced that he was stepping down from the Ontario PC's to run for Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, it of course opened up a By-Election to replace him as Milton's MPP. Normally, By-Elections are sleepy affairs with little fanfare, however, this one has an undercurrent of importance to it. To start, the Ontario PC's need to show that they are still relevant in the 905, and to do so they have scooped former Ontario Liberal supporter as well as Milton Councillor Zee Hamid to run for them. Fans of the podcast will remember our interview with him when he ran for Mayor last municipal election. For the Ontario Liberals, there were talks about whether or not new leader Bonnie Crombie would seek a seat in the Legislature via Milton. However it appears after a lot of back and forth over candidates, Galen Naidoo-Harris will carry the banner for the Ontario Liberals in this race. What does this say about Bonnie's leadership and the Ontario Liberal brand? Especially as they only lost this seat by a narrow margin in the last general election? To discuss this all and to share her insight, we are joined by Sabrina Nanji. Sabrina is a former reporter with the Toronto Star and has since gone off to start her venture in journalism with the QPObserver. You can find her work here: https://qpobserver.ca/ Our previous episode with Zee Hamid is here: https://905er.ca/2022/09/the-race-for-milton-zeeshan-hamid/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hamilton Police have been having a pretty bad start to 2024. Last month, the Hamilton Police Board made headlines when it took disciplinary action against one of its members, Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch for asking questions surrounding its budgetary process. As of this airing date, Councillor Kroetsch is suspended from serving on the Police Board in Hamilton. This bold action on the part of the police board raises serious questions about how much oversight and accountability do our elected officials have over the municipalities biggest expenditure. Do police in this province operate without the same conditions that other municipal agencies have? We thought we'd get into this topic where it started, by asking Councillor Kroetsch to join us. We've had him on before to The 905er when we first launched this podcast a few years ago. Since that time, he was elected to represent Ward 2 on Hamilton City Council in the last election. Today he joins us to discuss what happened around the table at the Hamilton Police Board. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, we released an episode on the rise of anti-semitism in the 905. We released it and thought it would be some time before we might have to revisit the topic. We were shocked to find out that only a few weeks later the topic would rear its ugly head once again in Hamilton. On March 19th, without warning The Playhouse Cinema in Hamilton announced unilaterally it would be postponing the Hamilton Jewish Film Festival, slated to happen in April, citing concerns from emails and social media surrounding the event as justification for the decision. Later, the Cinema would clarify that no specific threats had been issued to the venue, just a general atmosphere towards the event itself because it was a Jewish Film Festival. Nevertheless, pressure on the Cinema to cancel the event because it was a Jewish cultural event can only be described as anti-semitic. We reached out to the Playhouse to invite them for comment, however they did not respond to our requests. We did want to discuss this though with the organizers of the festival to hear their side. To that end, we invite back to the podcast Jazmyn Rymberg of the Hamilton Jewish Federation, to present their side and how this setback will not deter Hamilton's Jewish community from celebrating their heritage. Tickets for the Film Festival can be found here: https://www.jewishhamilton.org/film-festival Our Previous episode with Jazmyn Rymberg can be found here: https://905er.ca/2024/01/confronting-anti-semitism-in-the-905/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, the Doug Ford government has promised Whitby a new hospital. As the region continues to grow it is becoming apparent that the status quo in terms of its health care will not do. In a notoriously safe PC riding like Whitby and Durham, it seems like they would be a shoo-in for a brand spanking new hospital, just like Doug promised. So where is it? Why hasn't the Doug Ford PC's started the process of fulfilling their promise to the people of Durham Region? In a notoriously safe conservative part of the province like Durham and Whitby, it shocked us to hear about Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy's campaign to put public pressure on the Ontario PC party to own up to their promise. Why did she have to start a PR push last month to ask the province to spend only $3 million to start the process of development for a badly needed hospital? To answer those questions and learn more about how dire the situation is in Whitby's healthcare system, we invited her to the podcast. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few weeks ago, Hamilton City Council voted to redesign its major street running into its downtown core. The new plan is to essentially divide Main St, a one-way six-lane wide boulevard running through the middle of its downtown into a two-way street, despite concerns from city staff that this would create a problem with traffic, leading to congestion. Their concern is that this move will limit the ability to travel down and through the downtown. Is this a pointless and ultimately futile move on the part of Hamilton City Council? Or is this a brave decision to take steps to transform a decaying downtown into a vibrant pedestrian and people-friendly place to live, work and play? One person who is highly critical of Hamilton City Council's decision is Hamilton Spectator columnist Scott Radley. His opinion piece criticizing the council's decision caught our eye and so we invited him to share his opinion in-depth and see if we were wrong in our approval of the city council's decision. What happened was a great conversation with two sides of the topic on how best to revitalize and improve one of Canada's most important cities. Did either side win? Not sure, but some great ideas hopefully popped out for you to listen to. This is how these debates are supposed to go, isn't it? Scott's Column in The Spec It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming off our previous episode, we wanted to examine the state of Catholic education in Ontario. Sparked by the recent York Catholic school board controversy, along with the stories of Catholic school boards fighting against raising the Pride flag, we were wondering about its future in Ontario. What is the support for Catholic education, and does it have a purpose in today's multicultural and diverse mosaic in Ontario? To dive into this topic we reached out to Paolo De Buono. Paolo is a former Catholic school teacher in Ontario as well as a lawyer, who has been highly critical of the institution in recent years. Citing its curriculum encourages homo and transphobia, and that in a modern diverse society such as Ontario and Canada, it is outdated and harmful. He is also behind the website Stop the Catholic Harm. He joins us today. https://stopthecatholicharm.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few things in the world of public education cropped up on our radar this week. In the York Catholic District School Board, the Our Lady of the Lake Academy, saw students upset at what they viewed as an inappropriate presentation from a right-wing anti-abortion organization. The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethics gave a presentation in the school auditorium, as reported by City News contained graphic depictions of aborted fetuses and upset many students and teachers with its content. In light of its history with the PRIDE flag debate, we were pondering what was happening at YCDSB. How was this permitted to happen? And is this a symptom of a larger issue in Catholic education across the 905 and Ontario? After the break, we look up to higher education and another new potential scandal emerging from the Doug Ford government. Despite being elected on a promise to stop cash-for-access fundraisers, it seems the Ford government can't help itself. As reported by The Trillium, this time it's Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop who is in the hot seat. This time seemingly encouraging donations from Presidents and Executive Directors of private colleges. The same private colleges which have encouraged a spike in foreign students in Ontario, to fill seats in what are essentially degree mills. Little credentials are being offered but big bucks are being taken in from foreign students. It is coming to light that these executives of the private colleges have been donating to the Minister and the Ontario PC party for some time now. What does this mean for higher education? Especially when their funding problems are coming to light due to the inaction of the Ontario PC government. The Story from City News on YCDSB The Story from The Trillium on Min Jill Dunlops Private College Fundraisers It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Doug Ford government is looking to protect political staffers in Ontario's city halls. As reported by The Spec on February 21, 2024, Minister of Municipal Affairs Paul Calandra will be tabling legislation that would see Mayors and Councillors thrown out of office for workplace harassment. Ontario Liberal MPP Stephen Blais had similar legislation defeated by the Ford Government, at the time Min Calandra cited that the voter should be the one with the final say to remove an elected official from office. So what brought about this 180 degree reversal? Activists for better workplace protections in political settings have put pressure on the government to reverse their reversal. Our question is, does this go far enough? What about Queen's Park? Exactly how does the political workplace differ from an everyday workplace? We thought it would be prudent to dive into this topic. To that end we invited to the podcast Jennifer Olchowy a former federal Conservative staffer, and Prof. Julie MacFarlane of the website: https://www.cantbuymysilence.com/ A group advocating for the end of Non-Disclosure Agreements in workplaces. The Spec: https://www.thespec.com/politics/provincial/ford-government-says-law-to-punish-local-politicians-who-harass-staff-coming-soon/article_79feb4c5-dd4f-5c2a-9049-f55c32497add.html#tncms-source=hamilton-region It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lorraine Sommerfeld, author of the long-running Motherlode column in the Hamilton Spectator and multi-award-winning journalist at Driving.ca returns to discuss her new novel "A Face at the Window", before taking the time to dive into what on earth is going on with the recent driving-related announcements from the provincial government. "A Face at the Window" by Lorraine Sommerfeld is published by Winding Road Stories and is available from your local independent bookstore, as well as from Chapters, Indigo and Amazon. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anyone who has looked at the news in the past 6 months knows of the enormous shift in political leanings happening. Polls from various sources have shown that an enormous shift is coming in the federal government. According to the polls, the overwhelming number of Canadians in the 905 and the country at large want Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada to form the next government. However, on the ground, it's almost impossible to find someone who is eager for this shift in politics. We saw this as a sign of our social media bubble and thought it would be prudent to step outside and find a different perspective. To that end, we welcomed Kerri Black, an entrepreneur, mother and wife from Hamilton. She is a former political agnostic who has said in recent years she's drifted right. While we're not sure that this conversation isn't going to change anyone's political leanings, it was a welcomed insight into what apparently the majority of people in the 905 are embracing. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In previous episodes, we examined the City of Hamilton's flirtation with the Tiny Shelters project—a collection of shed-sized shelters with heat and power for the homeless to get back on their feet. However, the project has bordered on failing for the better part of last year. Hamilton City Council has yet to build support for the project and find a suitable location. In the meantime, homelessness has continued to grow. Tent encampments are becoming increasingly common in Hamilton's parks and streets. It is becoming a crisis. In response, Hamiltonians look to their leaders for answers and plan to tackle this issue. To that end, Mayor Andrea Horwath has remained silent mostly on the file, failing to take leadership on the HATS project and refusing to declare a plan of action to address the encampments in parks. Mayor Horwath hasn't been visible on numerous issues facing Hamilton. The city is starting to notice, that their Mayor doesn't seem to take the lead on anything of importance at Hamilton City Hall. One critic of the Mayor's lack of leadership is a long-time friend of the podcast, Laura Babcock. Laura has been especially critical of the Mayor's absence on the homelessness file. As well Laura has a unique perspective on the matter, having been volunteering with the homeless in Gore Park, getting to know the families, individuals and volunteers literally on the front lines of this crisis. She gives us her insight on the matter of what is happening on Hamilton's streets. She also helps us answer the question that is on everyone's mind with this crisis...Where's Mayor Horwath? To volunteer with the Gore Park Outreach visit their website here: https://goreparkoutreach.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of stories have come through the news cycle this week. Roland and Joel have taken several of them to follow up with for a 905 Round-Up! Coming off our episode on Anti-Semitism in the 905, we travel down the QEW to Niagara Region. This week past at Niagara Regional Council, the Middle East found its way onto the Council's agenda. A motion was made to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to be endorsed by the Niagara Regional Council. St. Catharines Mayor and Chair Jim Siscoe put a stop to it by removing it from the agenda before the vote, citing it being a divisive topic for citizens of the region. We talk about why he's right and why our political leaders in the region want to weigh in on topics outside their mandate. Then after our break, the federal government is restricting the number of foreign students able to come into Canada. This is already proving to play havoc with post-secondary institutions as overnight it seems that a major source of their funding has dried up. At Queen's University alarms are sounding on the viability of programs and bankruptcy is being floated in the air. How many more post-secondary institutions are under threat, from decades of underfunding about to catch up with them overnight? The Ford government needs to ensure that post-secondary education remains vibrant and accessible to all. Will they make the necessary funding adjustments? Lastly, the PC MPP for Milton, Parm Gill is stepping aside to run federally for the Conservatives. If you can do the math like we did, this leaves an opening for newly elected Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie to run and win a seat in the Ontario Legislature. Will she do it though? We have thoughts on why she should. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last few months of 2023, while we were all preparing for Christmas and New Year, Doug Ford was busy with plans to further privatization of Ontario's public service. Namely Service Ontario. This month, Richard Southern of CityNews reported that Doug Ford sold several privately operated Service Ontario locations to Staples Canada. The sale would see Staples Canada move the locations inside their stores and operate by Staples employees. To further complicate matters, the contract was sole-sourced and is still not entirely public knowledge. All of this under the guise that it would save Ontario tax dollars. There is a lot to unpack in this deal. To do so as best we can, we invited you back to the podcast Frank Domenic. Frank is a well-known social media political commentator, that you might know from Twitter and Tik Tok. He has been focusing on this story for a while. He joins Joel for a discussion on what the ramifications of this deal going through would mean for the Ontario taxpayer, our privacy rights and what the costs truly might be. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,300 people and kidnapped 250 hostages. Israel launched a retaliatory strike campaign into the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas and rescue its citizens. Around the world, countries saw protests against Israel's retaliation and for it pop up. Here in Canada and around the province, news has been highlighted with Pro-Palestinian organizations marching along overpasses, at city halls and interrupting public gatherings. Along with those protests, there have been reports of anti-semitic rhetoric used by the protestors. Reports of Jewish businesses being targeted and vandalized, and even violence towards people. In Vaughan, two individuals were targeted with violence, for no other reason than that they were Jewish. While peaceful expression and protest for opinions that one may find objectionable is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it is not an excuse to explicitly target businesses or people on the basis that they are Jewish. Such behaviour can only be described as one thing: Anti-Semitism. As more and more anti-semitic actions have been reported we thought it would be important to talk about this dangerous rise in Canadian politics. We wanted to discuss the anti-semitism we are seeing in our streets. We do not dive into the Middle East's issues, mostly as that is not our beat and is not our experience. However, a community in our region, province and country is feeling isolated and alone. That is something we can talk about. To do so, we reached out to the Hamilton Jewish Federation and invited Jazmyn Rymberg to discuss this rising trend, and what can be done about it. Links to the Federation's website are here: www.jewishhamilton.org It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy New Year 2024! After a welcomed break we are back and ready to dive into what awaits us in 2024! To start the year though, it appears that for Mississauga and Peel region, it will be more of the same. As loyal listeners of this podcast know, we interviewed then-Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie back in May about her push to see Mississauga leave Peel region. Shortly after that episode aired, Premier Doug Ford announced a special team to investigate how to accomplish this within two years. And then...shortly after that, Bonnie Crombie announced her bid to become Ontario Liberal Party Leader. In November, her bid to win was a success and apparently, Doug Ford's commitment to Hazel McCallion's dying wish wasn't there anymore. In December, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra announced that the province would no longer be dissolving Peel Region citing a possible increased tax burden on the residents of Peel. This reversal upset a few folks on Mississauga's City Council. One of whom is Ward 2 Councillor Alvin Tedjo. Alvin has taken to social media to make the continued argument for Peel Region's dissolution. We reached out to invite Alvin to the podcast to discuss what is behind this sudden reversal from the Ontario government and what's next for the city of Mississauga. It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is it! Our final episode for 2023! As is usual for our year-end spectacular, and is the norm for every other news podcast and show, we wanted to focus on the year that was. What were the big stories, and how close did we get our predictions for this year? Well, as it turns out...we were pretty close. In 2022, we thought that the Greenbelt scandal would still prove to be a thorn in the side of Premier Doug Ford. Little did we realize how big of a thorn it truly was. We talk about the fantastic reporting by the Narwhal and the grassroots activism of Environmental Defense in bringing to light the depth of the corruption and incompetence surrounding the Greenbelt scandal and the Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government at Queen's Park. What at first looked like a bit of a faux pas by the Ford government has turned out to be one of the biggest political corruption scandals in Canadian History. The Federal, Justin Trudeau government finally got off the sidelines and into the housing file. Many guests on this podcast, concerning that file, from Mike Moffatt to Jennifer Keesmaat and Michelle Bilak have all said that the federal government could loosen the purse strings and change the tax code to promote affordable housing to be built. Well this summer after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre jumped in the polls, it seems that it has triggered this government to get involved. Will it change the game? Time will tell, but at least movement is being made. Lastly, we turn to a theme we returned to time and again on this podcast. The issue of trans rights in our school system. This year conspiracies of teachers forcing students to identify as trans encouraged people to protest en masse at school boards across the 905 and province. We spoke with former Premier Kathleen Wynne about the matter, as well as our first-hand coverage of the protest outside the Halton District School Board. Where was the outcry from the provincial government to set the record straight about what policy is in Ontario schools? What does it bode for the future as more and more Ford government policies fail and they need to mobilize a base that is open to believing such conspiracies? We predict 2024! Our past episodes this year for reference: https://905er.ca/2023/05/mike-moffatt-critiques-canadas-housing-plan/ https://905er.ca/2023/09/jennifer-keesmaat-draws-the-line-on-the-greenbelt-scandal/ https://905er.ca/2023/08/the-summer-of-the-tent-is-a-failure-of-housing-policy/ https://905er.ca/2023/10/what-comes-next-in-the-greenbelt-scandal/ https://905er.ca/2023/09/the-hon-kathleen-wynne-on-what-is-at-stake-with-student-pronouns/ https://905er.ca/2023/09/from-the-frontlines-of-the-1millionmarch/ https://905er.ca/2023/09/special-a-follow-up-from-the-frontlines/ This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. https://freepodcasttranscription.com/transcription/bce7a67e5d23a45a7ec3dcdbc52504436659a927.srt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a good old-fashioned 905 Round-Up! There have been a few stories that have cropped up in the last few weeks that have caught our eye. Rather than try to pick which one to spend time on, we decided to do a few for this episode. Our theme has been stories which back up things we've stated in the past on this podcast. Hamilton City Centre has been slated to be redeveloped into a four-tower condo project adding some 2,000 badly needed units for the city. Last year, the city approved the proposal and the new landlord began the process of getting the remaining small business tenants out of the site to begin demolition. Last week, the developer announced that it would put the project on hold due to financial concerns. Namely, it's no longer viable for the developer to make their projected profit on the development. Leaving Hamilton City Centre empty and Hamilton short 2000 housing units. Speaking of Hamilton, an inquiry into what happened with the report on the issues of the Red Hill Valley Parkway was released. Showing that a culture in city halls still exists to protect their own. Rather than serve the public good. Lastly, how do 905 cities plan for the future when they are addicted to sprawl? Burlington recently passed their budget. Instead of looking to build a transit system that served a denser community. It puts off any road safety initiatives. How are cities supposed to build themselves in the 21st century if they still rely on 1950's planning to do so? Burlington isn't alone in this thinking. New ways are needed if 905 cities are going to build themselves for the future. This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are closing off a series of episodes we did at the beginning of the summer on the Ontario Liberal Party leadership. Originally we interviewed all the candidates in separate episodes so you'd have a chance to hear their priorities and plans for Ontario and the 905. When the Ontario Liberal Party chose former Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie to lead them into the next election, we thought it prudent to cap off those discussions and see what the path forward for them. The Ontario Liberal Party is a former shell of itself. The big red machine no longer seems ready to take them back to the government at Queens Park. So what is the path ahead for the Ontario Liberals with Bonnie Crombie at the helm? What does she need to do to rebuild this once mighty political force in Ontario politics? And more importantly is she what voters in the 905 and Ontario are looking for to replace Doug Ford and the Ontario PC government? To that end, we invited on to the podcast Ontario Liberal party veteran staffer, Theresa Lubowitz. Theresa spent the leadership campaign studying the various camps' policies and actions, finally settling on Bonnie Crombie herself as her choice for leader. We speak with her today about the reasoning behind her choice, and what exactly is needed to bring back the Ontario Liberals to power. This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the federal government announced a deal with Google to keep Canadian news indexed on their search engine. This was fortunate for us on a few levels. The first was that we had been waiting for a while to learn what Google would do in the face of Bill C-18. As we had reported earlier, we were caught up in the Bill C-18 fiasco when Meta decided to block our posts on their platforms. We were waiting to hear whether or not Google would follow suit. With this new agreement, it appears that the worries from Google are no longer there, however, Meta's holdout still affects us, which brings us to the purpose of our episode today. The second fortunate part of the news was that it coincided with our recording of this episode with our guest. We had invited Michael Geist to discuss what seemed to us to be some inherent hypocrisies in the federal government's Bill C-18 application. With the government trying to offset the losses for media giants, through payroll tax credits, we pondered where was the support for small operations like us in this scheme. What is the future of Canadian media in this environment? Will this help or hinder us? We asked Michael all about it. You can listen to our previous episode on Bill C-18 here: https://905er.ca/2023/07/matt-cundill-on-how-bill-c-18-will-hurt-podcasters/ This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The provincial government has rolled back all of its greenbelt and development policies. Being caught in one of the biggest scandals in Canadian history tends to do that. Included in that rollback have been the urban boundary changes the province introduced for Halton, Hamilton and other communities in the 905. The consensus around this move is that it's a welcomed reset and in general what people in the 905 want. A return to protected environment and farmlands, and hopefully a renewed focus on intensification within our communities. This is why a story in The Globe and Mail caught our eye. According to the article by Jeff Gray, Milton Mayor Gord Krantz has written to Premier Doug Ford as well as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra to insist on the boundary reversal to be well...reversed. What is behind this move by Mayor Krantz? And how does it play into the larger picture of solving the housing crisis in the 905? We asked Milton Reporter, Laura Steiner to find out what's going on in Milton You can read Jeff Gray's story in the Globe and Mail here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-fast-growing-milton-asks-province-to-reinstate-urban-boundary/ This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices