As this Ontario Election moves, the polls slowly shift away from Doug Ford's Ontario PC. Is there time for the opposition parties to capitalize on this trend? Or will the opposition once again split the vote?

That's the risk in our first-past-the-post system. Without the anti-Ford vote coalescing around one party or leader at the moment, those who want a change in government are forced to consider strategic voting. The question is, does this work? Well, one person is hoping it will.

JB Burrows of TikTok fame has created a website to help progressive voters make the best strategic vote in their riding this election. His website Smartvoting.ca aims to let voters know which party is best positioned to unseat the incumbent Ontario PC choice. Will it work? Well, we sit down and talk with him today to find out.

https://smartvoting.ca/

Our Episode on the London Municipal Ranked Ballot Election

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As the Ontario Election moves a long, we seem to drifting further and further away from the issues that were prominent in our provincial dialogue only a few months ago.

Housing, development fees, homelessness. These were the things that we were covering in previous episodes. The matters which were front and centre for many 905ers. Going so far as to potentially invoke the notwithstanding clause to deal with encampments in cities. So why isn’t this the top issue of this election?

What is it that our municipalities are looking to hear from the party leaders that will help them deal with the supposed top issue of Ontario? To talk about that we invited on to the podcast Jonathan Scott, Councillor for Bradford West-Gwillimbury. To hear from the municipal government perspective about what a provincial government ought to be doing.

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It has been a whirlwind 2025, and we're only through January.

Trudeau resigned, sparking a Liberal Leadership race, and most recently, as this podcast is being recorded, President Donald Trump is imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, sparking a trade war in North America.

In the shadow of all of this, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has decided to call an election. Citing the need for a strong mandate from the Ontario people to deal with Donald Trump. Despite the fact, that he has an overwhelming majority already. There has never been a greater level of uncertainty in our provincial politics at this time.

We wanted to take a moment and get a lay of the land for what is going to be a wild 27 days in Ontario.

Sabrina Nanji of the QPObserver joins us to talk about the provincial election. Why it's happening and whether this gamble on the part of Doug Ford is going to blow up in his face? Can Bonnie Crombie and Marit Stiles take advantage of this to win government?

You can read Sabrina Nanji's fantastic work here: QPobserver.ca

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Earlier this month, the CBC broke a story detailing how Loblaws and Sobeys were overcharging customers for meat, but underweighting the amounts sold.

With the cost of living increasing this was a blow to their brand and hurt consumers where it matters most. What was most shocking perhaps about the story is how it wasn't that shocking at all. This isn't the first time Loblaws and Sobeys were caught in a price-fixing scheme. In 2018, it was discovered that they were fixing the price of bread in their favour, which led to them admitting their fault and Loblaws paying out $500 million to customers in the form of prepaid cards.

It is clear that this behaviour isn't an isolated incident. The rising price of groceries and this kind of behaviour spurred our guest today to take action. Emily Johnson is the organizer of the Loblaws boycott. We had her on previously to discuss the boycott just after she met executives with Loblaws.

We invited her back again to talk about this latest news and what powers people need to tackle this exercise in corporate greed.

The CBC Article on the Meat Pricing Scheme at Loblaws and Sobeys

CBC Article on Bread Pricing

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving and paying the bills.

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Whether or not we're going to an early provincial election has been hanging in the air over Ontario for a few months now. Doug Ford has been playing coy with will he won't he'll call one. However, the hints that he's keen to have been in the news recently.

His government has announced several big policy initiatives. Minister of Energy, Stephen Lecce announced that the Ontario PC government will be building more wind farms and solar projects in rural Ontario. As well as a green energy home retrofit tax credit, for windows, doors and other energy-saving upgrades. Including Solar panel installation. And most recently, Doug Ford instructed Metrolynx to invest in "GO Transit 2.0."

A lot of this should sound familiar to you. All of these projects were what Doug Ford initially ran on dismantling from then-Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in 2018. Ford campaigned on the premise that these projects were costly to Ontario taxpayers and bad policy from the then Ontario Liberal government. So where did this 180 come from?

To discuss this reversal 6 years later, we invited back to the podcast Kathleen Wynne. We ask her about this sudden change in heart from Doug Ford and why the Ontario Liberals brought in these policies to begin with as well as what could have been had Ontario not hit pause on these projects 6 years ago.

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing

what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep

improving and paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca.

We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

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Happy New Year 2025!

We are back in the saddle for what is shaping up to be a huge year in Canada, Ontario and the 905.

As we start the new year, we found some good news to reflect on. Rents in the 905 are dropping. As more and more inventory comes onto the market the laws of supply and demand the price of rent is dropping.

After that, we look at Hamilton Wentworth District School Board's decision to hire private investigators to go after teachers they suspect are taking unjustified sick days. We ask...' who cares?' With only 11 sick days permitted, why not let adults take care of themselves? No other profession would accept this so why should teachers?

Toronto Star Article on Rents

Six Hamilton-area education stories to watch in 2025

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving and paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

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Coming off our previous episode with Evan Scrimshaw, the Ontario Liberals announced a major part of their housing platform. Their plan would eliminate development charges from municipalities, replace them with a provincial fund, end the Land Transfer Tax for new home buyers and bring in phased-in rent controls for renters. Is this what progressives seek to win themselves to the Ontario Liberals? And are we going to be eating our words after our previous episode? Well yes and no. We discuss why this is good and its shortcomings in actually getting housing built.

Our second story focuses on how Premier Doug Ford of all people in Canada is the one punching back at President Donald Trump. In retaliation to Trump's proposed 25% tariffs, his promise to cut off electricity to American states is the standout statement in what is shaping up to be a trying time between our two countries. Joel walks back his initial statement on social media and both of our hosts ask, is this what's needed?

Ontario Liberal Housing Plan

Doug Ford on Donald Trump

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving and paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

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The Ontario Liberal Party attempted something of a rebrand of their leader, Bonnie Crombie at the start of December. At their leadership dinner fundraiser, the party brought in $1.65 million for their coffers before an expected spring 2025 Ontario election. However, what made headlines was her keynote address where she broke ranks with their federal cousins and denounced the Carbon Tax, calling it a mistake and vowing not to implement one should she become Premier. This after years of the Ontario PC's branding her as a Trudeau Carbon Tax Liberal. In addition to that announcement, Bonnie Crombie also announced her support of funding police departments across the province. This is on the heels of many runaway policing budgets, as municipalities struggle to get their finances under control.

This sharp turn to the right, in search of chipping away at Doug Ford's base, has alienated many progressives in Ontario. Many of them are Ontario Liberal supporters who now feel alienated from the party. Will this rebranding of Bonnie Crombie 2.0 pay off?

To discuss this, we invited onto the podcast Evan Scrimshaw of Scrimshaw Unscripted. Evan has been openly critical of the Ontario Liberals as of late and his recent substack article has taken to task this recent strategy of the Ontario Liberals and made us question how viable their chances are of winning a majority of seats now in the 905.

Evan's Article on Scrimshaw Unscripted is here

CBC's Article on Bonnie Crombie's Leadership Dinner

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Police budgets are the biggest line item on any municipalities budget. It would logically follow that it would also be the most scrutinized. As it turns out it is virtually impossible to openly criticize and debate the use of tax dollars when it comes to policing in Ontario.

This is something our guest today resigned their position on Peel's Police Board for. Newly elected Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish resigned from the Peel Police Board over a proposed 23.3% budget increase which would lead to increased property taxes for Mississaugans. Something as Mayor, she was concerned with but not allowed to discuss openly due to the code of conduct for Police Board members not being able to openly criticize decisions.

We discussed a similar issue with Hamilton Councillor Cameron Kroetsch when he was disciplined by the Hamilton Police Board over his objections to their proposed budget increase. If duly elected municipal officials cannot publicly debate the spending of public tax dollars what does that mean for oversight or accountability?

These are some of the questions we put forward to Mayor Parrish as she joins us today on the podcast.

Our episode with Cameron Kroestch on the Hamilton Police Board can be found here.

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

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We rarely expect to return to the topic so soon when we air our episodes. However, that was the case with our last episode with St. Catharine's Mayor Mat Siscoe. We spoke with him about his reasons for signing a letter with 12 other Ontario Mayors requesting Premier Doug Ford give municipalities the power under the Notwithstanding Clause to remove homeless encampments from public parks and spaces. This proved to be a controversial debate. We were happy to have Mayor Siscoe on to provide his reasoning and give this topic the discussion it deserved.

Following the release of that episode though, a rebuttal letter was released signed by 40 councillors from municipalities across Ontario. The letter laid out the clear opposition to the Mayor's request for the notwithstanding clause to be used and made a direct appeal to the Premier to refuse their request. One of the signatories to that letter was Councillor Haley Bateman. Councillor Bateman represents St. Catharines in the Niagara Region. As Councillor Bateman and Mayor Siscoe represent the same constituents they would also be familiar with the details of St. Catharines' homeless population. We thought this would be a good apples-to-apples examination of the issue.

As such we welcome to the podcast Councillor Haley Bateman of St. Catharines to discuss why she thinks the notwithstanding clause is a step too far in dealing with the homeless encampments in our cities.

Last week's episode with Mayor Mat Siscoe is here.

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

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Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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