Today on NOW and NEXT:

Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has made it official. Steve Clark has tabled legislation intended to dissolve the Regional Municipality of Peel. Doing so means Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon will become single tier municipalities with the elimination of the regional layer of government.

ALSO:
West Jet is cancelling flights in anticipation of a Friday morning pilots' strike.

AND:
It's Feed Drop Thursday on NOW and NEXT. We feature the fourth episode of The Next Normal, originally published on July 28, 2021.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

Five of the top six candidates for the Mayor's job in Toronto took to the debate stage this week. The event was hosted by the Daily Bread Food Bank. The issue was AFFORDABILITY.

We're joined by Daily Bread CEO Neil Hetherington to get his assessment of the debate and we take an in-depth look at how the candidates performed as wannabe mayors.

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Today and NOW and NEXT:

The morning after Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank hosted a Mayoral debate featuring the top candidates for the job, it's clear all levels of government are failing the most vulnerable in our communities.

In this episode, we talk to Owen Charters, President & CEO of BGC Canada (formerly Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada). The issues of housing, affordability and poverty hit home for BGC Canada. Owen says Clubs across Canada use to be about keeping kids busy and out of trouble. Now, they're being called upon to do everything from feeding kids to connecting teenagers to social and municipal services.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

What were the big brains at CNN thinking? They coughed up an hour of prime time on the network for Donald Trump to not only spew misinformation, downright lies and exaggerations to a room full of sycophants who laughed when he challenged the jury decision this week finding he did sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll.

This was NOT a townhall. This was a mini-rally intended to pump Trump. And it only put the "moderator" Kaitlin Collins in an impossible situation. She never moderated anything. She engaged in debate. Sure, the journalist on the stage should be there to provide context and to represent "the record" but she didn't do that because they allowed the former president to drive the show. No matter how she responded, she was either letting him off the hook or torquing the proceedings.

As CNN's Dana Bash said of the first Biden-Trump debate of 2020, "this was a Shit Show".

ALSO:
We continue with Feed Drop Thursday and feature another episode from the first podcast series we produced at Story Studio Network. In this episode of the NEXT NORMAL, we reimagine our cities and our physical environments. What immediate and long-term needs has the pandemic exposed in our communities and what opportunities do we have for inspiration and innovation that lay ahead?

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

John Wright, EVP at Maru Public Opinion joins us to talk about the latest Maru Household Outlook Index.The numbers suggest Canada's in a "funk" but there are hints of growing optimism across the country when it comes to the national economy and our personal finances.

BUT FIRST!

John and I remenisce about our Dad's. Today, May 10, 2023, would have been my Dad's 85th birthday. John's Dad would have celebrated 100 years later this month! And we also learned John's family has tracked relatives back 1000 years to the UK.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

David Coletto, Chairman and CEO at Abacus Data joins the show and weighs in on the popularity of podcasts, the popularity of Justin Trudeau and what that means to the federal Liberals, whether the Chinese interference scandal is moving the needle among voters, how have the wildfires disrupted the Alberta election campaign, and what's the biggest worry for Canadians as we face the COVID reckoning.



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Today on NOW and NEXT:

Actor. musician, playwright, producer, Beau Dixon joins us.

He is among four other performers, including Jacob MacInnis, Evangelia Kambites, David W. Keeley and Chilina Kennedy who offer their exceptional talent and interpretation in Episode 9 of Northern Tracks: A Canadian Mixtape. It was released on April 30, 2023, and focused on the classics of Gordon Lightfoot.

Sadly, on May 1, only one day later, the world learned of Ligtfoot's passing.

Listen here. It's 20 minutes well spent, and, as we note in this episode of NOW and NEXT, sheds a whole new light on Lightfoot.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

With all deference to my Star Wars friends, May 4th is Dave Brubeck Day!

Write the date 5/4 and it's all about Dave's legendary jazz composition TAKE FIVE (in 5/4 time). Check it out here https://youtu.be/vmDDOFXSgAs

ALSO:
It's Feed Drop Day and we share an episode of The NEXT NORMAL, first published on July 13, 2021. It focuses on the Future of Work in this COVID era. This is the first series we produced at Story Studio Network, featuring Challenge Factory President, Lisa Taylor, Dave Hardy, President at Hardy Stevenson and Associates, cultural anthropoligist Ujwal Arkalgud, Co-founder of Motivbase, and Sarah Thorne, President of Decision Partners.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

Former Harper cabinet minister, Lisa Raitt joins us to discuss the latest leaked top-scret documents that suggest MP Michael Chong was being targeted by Chinese intelligence agencies here in Canada and in China. Chong is demanding to know why he wasn't told about the potential threats.

Raitt says the Trudeau government is losing all credibility on this file.

Also:
To use a Dana Bash expression, will the Donald Trump Townhall on CNN be anything more than a "Shit Show"?

And Canada's international economic clout is in freefall at a time when we need to be building back better as we emerge from the pandemic. Raitt co-Chairs the Coalition for a Better Future and the group's latest report says labour productivity, an uncertain climate transition, risks around fiscal sustainability and a lack of global competitiveness are challenges for the Canadian economy.

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Today on NOW and NEXT:

The legendary singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot passed away May 1, 2023 at the age of 84. Veteran, award-winning broadcast journalist Barb DiGiulio joins the show to talk about Lightfoot's extraordinary career and catalogue of music.

Lightfoot appeared at a Hugh's Room gathering in 2016 to celebrate what would have been Stompin' Tom Connor's 80 birthday. He tells a great story of his encounter with Stompin' Tom and plays a song he thinks Tom would have liked.

You can check it out here. It's 13 minutes well spent.

ALSO:

• The Leafs win the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 19 years and kick off Round Two at home to the Florida Panthers.
• Barb spent Monday going back and forth with the bank because her credit card was compromised!
• Enough with the bag bans already. Shouldn't it be part of a retailer's service to provide you with some vessel to carry your goods in?
• And we weigh in on "Bare Minimum Mondays".

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