Libby Znaimer is joined by Karen Stintz, CEO of Variety Village, David Crombie, Former Mayor of Toronto and Ana Bailão, former Toronto Councillor for Ward 9 Davenport and Deputy Mayor

This week: the Ford government introduced sweeping new legislation regarding housing that would cut the authority of Conservation authorities and give more leeway to developers. What does our panel think about that? Meanwhile, we recap the elections that took place and those who were voted back in including mayors John Tory, Patrick Brown and Bonnie Crombie.

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NEW CENSUS DATA

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Elise Herzig, Executive Director of JIAS Toronto and Dr. Sarah Wilkens-Laflamme, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Undergraduate studies in Sociology at the University of Waterloo.

In the news: According to new census data released by Statistics Canada, immigrants could  comprise between 29.1 per cent to 34 per cent of the population of Canada by 2041. Asian immigrants increased from just 12.1 per cent in 1971 to 62 per cent in 2021. And, India has been the lead source of Asian immigrants to the country and has contributed to 18.6 percent of total number arriving between 2016-2021. Meanwhile, as many as 34.6 per cent of Canadians do not affiliate with a religion.

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ISIS BRIDES RETURN TO CANADA

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Dr. Stephanie Carvin, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Carleton University, and an expert on national security issues as well as Dr. Amarnath Amarasingam, Assistant Professor, School of Religion, Queen's University.

In the news: at least two Canadian women and their kids are returning home to Canada from an ISIS detention camp in Syria. Our guests explain the implications of all of this.

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

Libby Znaimer is joined by Lesley-Anne Scorgie, Founder of MeVest, a leading edge financial education company specializing in money coaching for Canadians and Gordon Pape, Editor and Publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder and Income Investor newsletters.

Today: the Bank of Canada has increased the interest rate yet again to 50 basis points taking it to 3.75 per cent. This is the sixth time that the interest rate has been increased since March as the bank continues to try to fight high inflation. But what are the implications of these increases? Our guests weigh in.

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ONTARIO'S HOUSING STRATEGY

Libby Znaimer is joined by Dr. Brian Doucet, Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion School of Planning at the University of Waterloo and Frank Clayton Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research and Land Development, Toronto Metropolitan University.

This week the Ford government has announced sweeping new legislation as it pertains to housing.

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OTTAWA'S DENTAL BENEFIT PROGRAM VULNERABLE TO FRAUD

Libby Znaimer is joined by Yves Giroux, the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The PBO says that Ottawa's dental benefit program will be a target of fraud if proper measures are not in place to protect it from such incidents. According to Giroux, the cost of the program will reach $703 Million and rental support will go up to $940 million. However, Giroux is warning Ottawa that the cost could be higher if protections are not in place to prevent fraudulent claims. He's on the show to discuss.

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RECOVERING POLITICIANS PANEL:  THE DAY AFTER THE ELECTION

Libby Znaimer is joined by Howard Hampton, Former Ontario NDP Leader, Hugh Segal, Former Senator of Canada and John Milloy, formerOntario Liberal MPP who served as a cabinet minister under Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

It’s Tuesday - time to talk politics and it is the morning after municipal elections - 417 of them - which yielded few surprises, a nod to incumbency, and the lowest voter turnout in history. In Toronto, 29% - John Tory sailed to a third term with 62% of the vote. But here is the disappointing math: 62% of 29% is just under 18 which means the mayor of the country's largest city was elected by under 18% of eligible voters. Meanwhile the province is taking the lead on issues of housing and development with an announcement on zoning and things related this afternoon. And here’s one that has us scratching our heads: why is Doug Ford fighting a summon to appear before the inquiry into the use of emergency powers to end the convoy protest. Ford was the only Premier to support this and he’s been vocal about his support. So why this?

STEVEN DEL DUCA AND PATRICK BROWN JOIN THE SHOW

Libby Znaimer is joined by Steven Del Duca, Mayor of Vaughan followed by Patrick Brown, Mayor of Brampton. Both achieved election wins last night. They share their visions for their respective cities.

COMPETITION BUREAU TO STUDY FOOD PRICING BY GROCERY RETAILERS

Libby Znaimer is joined by Ellen Roseman, consumer advocate and journalist.

This week the competition bureau announced that it will be conducting a study looking into food pricing by grocery retailers amid high inflation.

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

Listeners weighed in on the upcoming municipal elections taking place on Monday of next week. And, some called in to discuss credit card transaction fees.

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

TUNE INTO THE TOWN: BRAMPTON MAYORAL RACE HEATS UP

Libby Znaimer is joined by our own Lauren O'Neil, Senior News Editor of BlogTO, Councillor Joe Mihevc for Spadina Fort-York and San Grewal, Founder of the Pointer in Brampton.

It's our last Tune into the Town panel before the election! San Grewal gives us the scoop into what's going on in the Brampton municipal election as things heat up between Patrick Brown and his major rival Nikki Kaur.

VULNERABLE PERSON'S REGISTRY

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Mississauga Fire and Emergencies Services Deputy Chief Samuel Williams.

The City of Mississauga has set up a Vulnerable Person's Registry. How it works is if you or a loved one may require extra assistance in the event of an emergency, you can sign up to this registry that will then be referred to by fire fighters so that they can more effectively help residents in times of need. It's a confidential program and cost-free. It also does not have any restrictions on age and will serve residents who have mobility issues, or visual and/or hearing impairment and those who depend on oxygen devices or require other assistance. Samuel weighs in on the latest.

IRAN PROTESTS AND THE CASE OF THE ROCK CLIMBER

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Azam Jangravi, an Iranian paralegal and human rights activist and former political prisoner who lives in Toronto.

Azam weighs in on the latest pertaining to the ongoing protests in Iran. Just this week, an Iranian rock climber competing at an event in South Korea left after she competed without wearing her country's mandatory head scarf. Azam also shares her own personal story of becoming a political prisoner in her home country.

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

CANADA'S INFLATION AT 6.9%, BUT FOOD PRICES CONTINUE RISING

Libby Znaimer is joined by Benjamin Tal, Chief Economist for CIBC as well as Pau Pujolas, Associate Professor of Economics at McMaster University and Julia Wendling, economist with Rosenberg Research.

According to Statistics Canada, the rate of inflation declined to 6.9 per cent during the month of September. It was 7 per cent in August. At the same time, our food prices went up 11.4 per cent compared to one year ago. Our economists weigh in on the latest and what this means for you.

JAGMEET SINGH ON NDP MOTION ADDRESSING "GREEDFLATION"

Libby Znaimer is joined by Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP.

Since Monday Loblaw Companies’ move to freeze prices on some lower end no name products has been front and centre. The announcement by the company’s billionaire chairman Galen Weston just reignited the debate about whether the large grocers are using inflation as  a cover for price gouging. The concept is called greedflation and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has been spearheading the discussion on this.

DR. THERESA TAM'S FORECAST OF A FALL RESURGENCE OF COVID-19

Libby Znaimer is joined by Dr. Prabhat Jha, Epidemiologist and faculty member at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

We’ve been hearing some dire warnings about a potential fall resurgence of COVID-19. The latest is from Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam who says  the Public Health Agency of Canada is looking carefully at the evolution of Omicron subvariants and preparing for a "worst case scenario". There have been some reports that the latest subvariants  have the ability to evade the vaccines and may be even more contagious.

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Libby Znaimer is joined by Charles Sousa, The former minister of finance for Ontario and MPP for Mississauga South, Lisa Raitt, Former Deputy Leader of Conservative Party of Canada, and Glenn De Baeremaeker,  a former Scarborough City Councillor, and Deputy Mayor for Scarborough.

This week: Loblaw announced a price freeze on over 1,500 no name products. And, the NDP pushed a motion calling on Ottawa to confront "greedflation" and look into grocery store chain profits. The motion received unanimous support from MPs yesterday. Also in Ottawa: the public inquiry into the government's use of the Emergencies Act during the trucker convoy continues. The departing Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson, will be speaking today.

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WORLD MENOPAUSE DAY

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Dr. Jennifer Blake, a professor at the University of Toronto and  CEO of Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, and Vandana Juneja, Vice President, Advisory Services, at Catalyst.

Today: it's World Menopause Day and we have on a leading health expert to talk about this critical life stage. It is estimated that as many as 10 million women over the age of 40 are at some stage of menopause. Catalyst is a non-profit raising awareness of the reality that menopause is often overlooked at the workplace and wants companies to implement a strategy to ensure that women employees going through it can be better supported so that they don't end up leaving their positions at this time in life.

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TORONTO'S POTHOLE PROBLEM 

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Elliott Silverstein, Director of Government Relations at CAA Insurance.

Toronto has a pothole problem. We get to the bottom of it.

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Libby Znaimer today is joined by David Cravit, Chief Membership Officer of CARP, Bill VanGorder, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Policy Officer at CARP,  and Peter Muggeridge, Senior Editor of Zoomer Magazine.

Today: our Zoomer Squad does a recap of last week's Toronto mayoral debate hosted by CARP. Topics included: "aging in place", affordability, transit, and the reality that city services don't appear to be functioning well (or at all). And, our squad reacts to the news that Loblaw is putting a price freeze on no name products.

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LIZ WEST SHARES HER EXPERIENCE OF RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL IN THE PAST

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Liz West, co-host of the Afternoon Express on Zoomer Radio, who ran for Toronto city council twice in the past and lost both times to the incumbent Paula Fletcher for the Toronto-Danforth ward. She explains what that experience was like and she weighs in on the current municipal election cycle and whether Torontonians are really engaging with it.

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LOBLAW PUTS A PRICE FREEZE ON NO NAME PRODUCTS AMID INFLATION

Libby Znaimer is now joined by consumer advocate and journalist, Ellen Roseman.

Loblaw has announced a price freeze on over 1,500 no name products to help provide shoppers with grocery bill predictability amid record-high inflation. This will go until January of 2023. Of course, this is welcome news to consumers, but what does it mean for the company? Is this just another PR stunt?

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

Today on Free For All Friday: listeners called in to react to this week's first of two Toronto Mayoral debates that was hosted by CARP. The key issues discussed included: aging in place, affordability, transit and how well City services are functioning. Another hot topic today: bike lanes and not everyone is happy about them.

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

CARP hosted the first of only two Toronto mayoral debates ahead of the election on October 24. The key topics included: affordability, "aging in place", transit, and long-term care. And, at the end Libby discussed the reality that City services just aren't functioning well enough (or at all). The event was broadcast on Fight Back with Libby Znaimer and live streamed on zoomerradio.ca

Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!