A third proposal for downtown venue options has been brought forward to council, this time by Pearle Hospitality.

Guest: John Best, Publisher of the Bay Observer

-

How did the President do on his State of the Union speech last night? And the latest results for the Iowa Caucus show that Pete Buttigieg is holding a small lead over the other candidates, with Bernie Sanders close behind.

Guest: Jack Colwell is a distinguished visiting journalist with the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy at the University of Notre Dame

-

Is there chaos coming to Ontario court rooms? An Ontario Court of Appeal decision that found a legislative change in the law was incorrectly applied by Ontario judges in a dozen cases since September.

Guest: Jeff Manishin. Criminal Lawyer, Ross & McBride/ Former Crown Attorney 

 A new city report says that jobs are increasing and vacancies are down in the downtown core.

Guest: Jason Farr, City Councillor, Ward 2

-

There is a plan in place to phase out the sale of paper HSR tickets and replace them with PRESTO cards.

Guest: Chad Collins, City Councillor, Ward 5

-

An ad that appeared in multiple Toronto papers that were ‘sponsored’ by a mystery organization slammed the teacher’s unions during the strike. Does this break election ad rules? The NDP are calling for an investigation.

Guest: Taras Natyshak, NDP MPP for Essex

PJ Mercanti joins Bill in studio today to outline their proposal for a new entertainment district for Hamilton.

Guest: PJ Mercanti, CEO of Carmen’s Group

-

How bad is the off-loading of health and social services onto Hamilton’s charities and other organizations as governments cut back on spending.

Guest: Brother Richard MacPhee, Executive Director of the Good Shepherd

-

The federal Tory leadership race is underway but could Peter Mackay be a shoo-in for the role, as he has taken a major lead over other candidates?

Guest: Michael Taube, Troy Media syndicated, columnist, and Washington Times contributor

Brexit has finally come. After 3 ½ years, 3 Prime Ministers (Cameron, May and Johnson), the EU signed off on the Brexit process. But what are the politicians and EU saying about this? One of the aspects of Brexit is that Britain will have to figure out trade within the next 11 months. How difficult will this be and are there some fears that are still standing?

Guests: Redmond Shannon, Global News
Armand de Mestral, Professor Emeritus, Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration

-

A report from Zoocasa has compared the 2019 home values to local incomes in 27 Hamilton neighbourhoods. What did they discover?

Guest: Penelope Graham, Managing Editor, ZOOCASA

-

The Trump impeachment trial could soon end with a key senator planning to vote ‘no’ to bringing on witnesses. What kind of impact could this have on the trial?

Brian J. Karem. Executive Editor - Sentinel Newspapers/ WH reporter for Playboy/ Political analyst at @CNN

Is the Conservative Party undergoing a bit of an identity crisis? Bill writes about this today in his blog and Steve Paikin joins the conversation to discuss whether there will be a shift within the party.

Guest: Steve Paikin. Host, The Agenda, TVO

-

The province has told the city manager for Hamilton to not share information about the task force she is on. She has been quoted as saying she’s uncertain as to what she can share with council after the first meeting.

Guest: John-Paul Danko, City of Hamilton Councillor for Ward 8

-

 Hamilton’s city council will be trying to trim down a 3.8 per cent budget increase.  Right now it looks like so far the average Hamilton homeowner is facing a potential $145 increase.  
John Best. Publisher of the Bay Observer