The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer, has taken the day off from the podcast.

In this episode:

• A post mortem on the Ontario Liberal Party's Annual General Meeting.
• We re-litigate the benefits of a Wieghted One Member One Vote process to choose the next party leader.
• The Financial Accountability Officer says the Ford government is underfunding healthcare by more than $46 billion over two years.
• Meantime, a private company is setting up surgical shop in ORs at The Ottawa Hospital.
• AND, Premier Ford's former Chief of Staff is promoting formber Toronto police chief Mark Saunders as a candidate to succeed John Tory as mayor of Toronto.

On this week's edition of On The Ledge:

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.

• Can Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie save the Ontario Liberal Party? Why would she even want the job? But the panel agrees, Mayor Crombie would be a formidable foil for Ford.
• One-member-one-vote or a delegated convention? How should the OLP choose its next leader? The party will spell out the details at this weekend's AGM in Hamilton.
• Why hasn't the Premier changed the municipal election rules to require sitting city councillors to give up their seats if they want to run for the Mayor's chair?
• John Wright rants his way into running for Mayor of Toronto!

The OTL gang is assembled!

Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.

• The New Democrats seem to think they'll get a different answer from the Integrity Commissioner to the same complaint about the Ford family "stag and doe".
• Meanwhile, the Minister of Health has NO answers, NO guarantees that privately operated surgery clinics will poach medical staff from hospitals.
• The Liberals would like you to think they're circling the wagons in anticipation of the as-yet-unannounced leaderhip race. But the party's circling the bowl.

We're BACK!

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.

In this episode:

• John Tory steps away from the Mayor's Office in Toronto. What does that political hand grenade do to the Ford agenda at Queen's Park as the Ontario Legislature gets back to business next week?

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:

Premier Doug Ford tells Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie to stop whining and be a good partner! (At least he didn’t tell her to stick to her knitting).

Ford goes off on a rant over Crombie’s opposition to Queen’s Park’s plan to eliminate Developer Charges as a means of incentivizing developers to build more housing.

Crombie wants to know how municipalities are going to cover the added costs of new infrastructure if the DCs disappear.

Ford doesn’t have an answer.

John Wright says the Ford government has taken a turn towards autocracy and that’s good news for the Liberals.

OTL will be taking a break over the Christmas recess. We’ll be back around the table in the New Year!

BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.

Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.

You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: nowandnext.supercast.com

OTL SHOW NOTES

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:

Why do we even listen to Bonnie Lysyk? Sure, the annual Auditor General’s report makes for great headlines. So, what?

John Wright says the AG report is nothing better than clickbait.

Toronto Star Investigative reporter Kevin Donovan has had more effect on holding governments accountable than all of Lysyk’s annual reports combined!

Doug Ford says he won’t use the Notwithstanding Clause to overrule a court decision striking down Bill 124. (He also said he wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt.)

And, what does it say about the NDP when they’re on the verge of acclaiming the Official Leader of the Opposition?

BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.

Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.

You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: www.nowandnext.supercast.com

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:
Ontario’s premier has been AWOL this past week, skipping out on Question Period, failing to attend the Order of Ontario ceremony and ghosted Ottawa’s newly elected Mayor Mark Suttcliffe.
Could the average Ontarian pick the Health Minister out of a line-up? Sylvia Jones is proving to be a complete failure while the hospital and healthcare system is in crisis.
Jones has the nerve to suggest this second term government inherited this mess.
And the hits just keep coming. The Auditor’s Report, as Sabrina notes, the Annual Government Phonebook of Fail is set for release in the next couple of weeks.
BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.
Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.
You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: nowandnext.supercast.com

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:
CUPE and the province go down to the wire hammering out a contract for support workers.
If Ford Nation is all about taking care of the Children, where are they on the overwhelmed paediatric wards?
The Health Minister has the gall to think we'll believe she had a plan all along to deal with the pressures.
And the Children and Social Services Minister is too busy to talk to us about the latest report from the Daily Bread Food Bank suggesting we are in in a deep food security crisis.

BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.

Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.

You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: nowandnext.supercast.com

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:
It’s Remembrance Day in Canada - November 11th.
We take time to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our military and their families.
AND, we are featuring an archived presentation of Embedded in Kandahar - a radio documentary Dave Trafford produced with the late Christie Blatchford. The show is based on Christie’s Governor General Award winning book, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army.
It’s posted in our SSN anchor show Now and Next.
You can LISTEN HERE https://now-and-next.sounder.fm/episode/special-embedded-in-kandahar


BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.
Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.
You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: nowandnext.supercast.com

The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table.
In this episode:
Ford Nation may have won the battle, forcing a contract on education workers but what kind of war has begun?
Has Ontario's use of the Notwithstanding Clause pushed Canada towards a constitutional crisis?
This is the third time the Ford government has used the Notwithstanding clause to push legislation. In this case, it’s clearly contrary to the Charter.
What’s the next step? More strikes? A general strike? The feds invoking the Disallowance clause. 


BTW, if you enjoy On the Ledge, you’ll probably enjoy our daily SSN podcast - NOW and NEXT with Dave Trafford and Erin Trafford.
Support Now and Next! For $10 a month, you can subscribe to our Exclusive Supercast feed for access to Now and Next EXTRA with Dave Trafford on Saturdays and Sundays - including the full length interviews featured on The Daily Brief, early access to Now & Next episodes, AMAs and our message board.
You’re just a few clicks away. Start here: nowandnext.supercast.com