Brian Crombie the CEO of Spyder Works Inc., Ken Tencer, who chats about his work within business management consulting and his new project "Say Hi to the Future", a platform focused on highlighting the human side of human ingenuity. Ken is the co-author of two books on innovation, The 90% Rule and the bestseller Cause a Disturbance. He is working on his third book, Never be Satisfied, focused on corporate entrepreneurship, also known as intrapreneurship.

Brian Crombie Mark Kelso shares with us his poem and cover version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" dedicated to the Residential School victims and survivors. Mark was shocked by the news this past spring, took a course about the Truth and Reconciiation Commission and decided to get his message out the best way he knew, through music.

Mark Kelso, a drummer, is an accomplished performer and the head of the percussion program at Humber College. He has performed with some of the best and used his talent to motivate us all to become more aware of, and do something about, the Residential Schools issue.

As you know, many small businesses were wiped out during the pandemic. Others face a mounting debt. Those still open for business had some help from the Digital Main Street Program.

Brian Crombie speaks to his first guest who one of 22,000 small businesses across the province that applied and qualified to participate in this innovative program that paid to launch a digital media presence during the pandemic. The results are surprising. R&G Automotive Centre's Kirk & Leanne Paty, Owners, R&G Automotive Centre, Pickering. Tech tools to second generation auto repair/service business in Durham.

Brian's second guest is Aaron Dhal, Founder/Owner, Not Your Father’s Barber. Barbering 2.0 biz adds “Digital Main Street” tools to bolster against pandemic.

Brian Crombie speaks to Joanna Goodman who is an author of the bestselling novels The Forgotten Daughter, The Home for Unwanted Girls and The Finishing School. What was conceived as a story inspired by her mother’s Montreal youth in a mixed French-English, Catholic-Protestant household evolved organically into a bigger canvas that takes in one of the darkest chapters in Quebec’s history: the Duplessis government’s 1950s conversion of church-run orphanages in the province into mental institutions in order to qualify for more funding from the federal government, a move that effectively reclassified thousands of healthy children as patients.

Brian Crombie discusses how businesses will manage the back to work issue post Covid19 with:
- Adel Melek, Global Vice Chairman Advisory, Partner – Deloitte Canada and
- Karen Pastakia, head of the Human Capital practice at Deloitte and the person leading their Build Back Better effort.
Will we all be working full time in offices again, or at home or in some sort of hybrid. How did work at home impact productivity? Culture? On boarding? Leadership? Do bosses need to see that their workers are working or can they trust them? This is a fascinating discuss if the next big issue post Covid19.

Brian Crombie interview Daniele Zanotti (he/him), President & CEO, United Way Greater Toronto about a recent report they issued on social capital in Toronto and Peel + examples of how agencies and neighbourhood groups help build trust and connections (before the pandemic and throughout) + what they hope the impact of the report is.

And Isabel Cascante, Director, Research, Public Policy, and Evaluation, defines social capital and talks about what’s encouraging and what’s discouraging about the findings, as well as what research tells us about the benefits of social capital.

Social capital is the foundation upon which thriving communities are built. Higher social capital is correlated with better well-being, improved mental health, more inclusive communities, and improved access to opportunity. The term social capital is used to describe the vibrancy of social networks and the extent to which individuals and communities trust and rely upon one another. Measures of social capital can provide insight into how well communities can work together to accomplish common goals. From: United Way Greater Toronto, Working with communities in Peel, Toronto and York Region unitedwaygt.org

Brian Crombie interviews Joe Berridge of Urban Strategies about how our transit systems and city will change post-Covid. We discuss the challenges Transit faces as riders seemingly are reluctant to get back on and how our urban centers will adapt to hybrid or third/fourth continuing wave life post-Covid.
Joe Berridge has played a key role in some of the largest and most complex urban regeneration campaigns in the world. He is an accomplished master planner of city centers, airports, waterfronts, and university campuses, with landmark projects in world capitals like New York City, London, and Toronto.

For anyone divorced or going through a divorce, Amy Jo Greene co-founder of Divorced Over 40 - Tulsa, OK tells us about the organization, some of the professional advisors and their advice, some of their members and their stories, and also shares her own traumatic story. But, she reminds us, that anything which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. She is inspirational and full of great comments and ideas. Check out our show, it might help, it did help me!

We discuss the Grassy Narrows First Nations environmental disaster that some fall either the worst environmental disaster in Canadian history or environmental racism, with Alex Vezina, CEO Prepared Canada, an expert on disasters and emergency responses.

Grassy Narrows is a First Nations community in Northern Ontario downstream from a pulp and paper plant that dumped mercury for 15 years into the river. This community that depended on fishing and tourism were first told to not drink the water, then not to eat the fish then not to fish with tourists. 90% became unemployed, many died and many had neurological and other issues. Governments were slow to act only 50 years later dedicating monies, covered up analyses and documents and provided indemnification for the polluters. Sounds familiar?

Brian Crombie continues my series investigating the impact of Covid on Transit and our cities with a Transit Alliance interview of Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney.

Caroline Anne Mulroney Lapham MPP is a Canadian businesswoman, lawyer, and politician who currently serves as the Ontario Minister of Transportation and Minister of Francophone Affairs.