The 905er Podcast

This week, I finally get to tackle a topic that’s been on my mind for a while: dead malls. You’ve probably noticed them too — those once-busy shopping centres across the 905 that now sit half-empty, a shadow of what they used to be.

I’m joined by urban researcher and writer Sean Marshall to dig into why this is happening, what it means for our communities, and whether there’s actually a future for these spaces. We talk about how malls went from being the centre of suburban life to fading into irrelevance, and what might replace them as developers and cities scramble to reinvent these properties.

If you’ve ever hung out at the food court, worked your first retail job, or just killed time wandering the mall, this episode will make you think differently about what’s happening to these familiar spaces.

SeanMarshall.ca

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.

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The Ontario Liberals have been dealing with a lot of drama since February.

A less-than-stellar performance, failed to deliver them out of third place in the Ontario Legislature. Their leader, Bonnie Crombie, failed to win her seat. The only gain that was won was a return to official party status.

As we discussed with Nathaniel Arfin, of the New Leaf Liberals before our summer break, this was unacceptable. As is often the case in Liberal circles, the knives are out for their leader. Bonnie Crombie has spent her summer vacation travelling the province trying to quell dissension in the ranks and keep her position as Ontario Liberal Party leader.

Is it working? Well, we will find out this weekend at the party's AGM on Saturday. During that meeting, Ontario Liberals from across the province will vote on whether or not Crombie should stay on as leader, or should another leadership race be triggered.

With such stakes on the line, I thought it would be good to talk with an expert on Ontario politics. So to do so, I reached out to Sabrina Nanji, of the QP Observer, to talk about the summer of Ontario Liberal infighting, who might succeed Crombie, and what is at stake for the third-place party of Ontario.

https://905er.ca/2025/07/nathaniel-arfin-talks-about-the-new-leaf-liberals/

https://qpobserver.ca/

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

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

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Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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The Burlington Sound of Music Festival is a staple in the 905.

Over the Father's Day weekend, Canada's largest free music festival is held on the shores of Lake Ontario in Burlington. Acts such as The Trews, The Arkells, Big Wreck, Walk Off the Earth, and Finger Eleven have all graced its stages.

In recent years, troubled times have come to the festival. Keeping this festival free has become harder and harder to do. The situation has become so dire that this year's festival might be its last. That is, unless private sponsors come forward to help keep this legendary event going.

To talk about the situation the festival finds itself in, we've invited to the podcast Brent Kinnaird, the Executive Director of the festival.

You can find out more about the festival on their website, as well as how to support it on their website here:

https://soundofmusic.ca/

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!

Or, why not ⁠⁠⁠⁠buy us a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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We've covered the issue of Municipal Councillors bullying their fellow elected officials and even staff. The problem has seemingly always existed in politics. However, nothing is really done about it, because, well, there is no HR department for those we elect.

They are held accountable for their actions, truly, once every four years at the ballot box. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in a system that is woefully inefficient at maintaining civil politics. The matter has been raised a few times at Queen's Park to amend legislation and make it easier to hold such misbehaviour to account. Yet no legislation has actually been passed.

In this current legislative session, Bill 9 has been brought forward to deal with this matter again. A grassroots group called The Women of Ontario Say No has been working hard to highlight the need for this legislation.

To talk about the work this group is doing and the importance of finally getting this legislation across the finish line, we've invited to the podcast Emily McIntosh, the organizer of this movement.

https://www.thewomenofontariosayno.com/

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!

Or, why not ⁠⁠⁠buy us a coffee⁠⁠⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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In February Ontario saw a provincial election that returned the province essentially to the status quo. Doug Ford remained Premier, Marit Stiles remained Leader of the Opposition, and well Bonnie Crombie still didn’t have a seat in the legislature.

The Ontario Liberals have returned to official party status with some new faces sit in the legislature. Ontario Liberal Executives are proclaiming this as a huge win for the party. However, the fact that this is the only victory the party can claim from the election isn’t sitting well with a number of grassroots Liberals.

They were looking for a return to power. The fact that they are still a distant third place party in the legislature does not sit well with them. These failures are being blamed solely on the leader Bonnie Crombie‘s lacklustre performance. The fact that she did not win her own seat does not help her case with them either.

They are calling themselves the New Leaf Liberals, and we invited on to the podcast one of their organizers, Nathaniel Arfin, from Burlington in the 905 to discuss this movement, what they hope to achieve and where they hope to take the Ontario Liberal Party.

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!

Or, why not ⁠⁠buy us a coffee⁠⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are we going to do with the unhoused of the 905?

That is becoming the question on the minds of every municipality in the region. Last week, we had St. Catharine's Mayor Mat Siscoe to discuss Niagara's housing plan. In that episode, we mentioned the encampment bylaw that the city enacted.

To say that this is a controversial bylaw is an understatement. A critic of the bylaw is Sean Vanderklis, a friend and previous guest of the podcast. Sean was the host of the One Dish One Mic podcast and is an indigenous journalist and advocate in the Niagara region. He has been critical of the approach to unhoused encampments in the region, in particular with the treatment of indigenous people.

Frankly, the image of police forcibly removing First Nations people from land they are living on is not one we would think any government in Canada would want to repeat. However, the safety of public parks and spaces needs to be maintained for all residents of the city. So, what do we do to remedy this dilemma?

Well, that's what we discussed in this episode with Sean.

https://905er.ca/2020/11/18-sean-vanderklis-and-karl-dockstader-converse-about-caledonia-2/

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

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

Or, why not ⁠buy us a coffee⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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Last week we listened to Mayor Carolyn Parrish’s plan to build housing in Mississauga. Today, we travel down the QEW to St. Catharine’s to talk with Mayor Mat Siscoe about the recent actions Niagara Region has undertaken to work on the housing file.

Last month, the region passed a plan to fund subsidized housing for low-income individuals. As well St. Catharines passed a by-law enabling the city to remove encampments from public areas. A move that followed up on our previous episode with the mayor.

We invited Mayor Siscoe back to the podcast to talk about these changes to Niagara Region and St. Catharines and see how this part of the 905 is trying solve the biggest crisis of our generation.

Our previous episode with Mayor Siscoe is here:

https://905er.ca/2024/11/mayor-mat-siscoe-backs-his-decision-to-request-the-notwithstanding-clause/

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 own 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!

Or, why not buy us a coffee?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish was elected in a by-election to replace Bonnie Crombie, she came into office during a runaway housing crisis.

Upon taking office, one of the first actions she undertook was to create a Housing Task Force to review Mississauga's by-laws, zoning and policies to find ways to spur new housing development. Talking with city staff, developers, and stakeholders, this was a comprehensive mission to identify the barriers to addressing the crisis of a generation.

100 days later, that task force delivered its recommendations, and the city council enacted them. The result has seen a boost in housing starts, particularly rental purpose builds.

To discuss this approach, we sat down with Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish to talk about the task force and its goals for reshaping Mississauga.

Our Previous Episode with Mayor Parrish 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.

Or, why not buy us a coffee?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doug Ford is hellbent on building a tunnel under the 401. It's his magic solution to solving gridlock traffic in the 905, by moving millions of cars and trucks underneath Toronto. Right now, no price tag has been placed on this massive project. However, all experts have put it into the many billions of dollars. Not to mention the feasibility of building it in the first place.

At the cost to the taxpayer, so high, we've often questioned the logic of this public works project. Traffic is a problem, no doubt, but is this the solution to our woes? Well, one person seems to think we can do better. With the tools already available to us.

Spacing.ca editor John Lorinc has written a piece for the magazine highlighting how better funding and planning of GO Transit along the northern communities of the 905 can help alleviate much of the congestion we are experiencing. At the cost of millions to increase bus service between communities, we can save billions over the single use of a tunnel.

I invited John on to speak about his thoughts and how we can get moving again in the 905.

John's Piece in Spacing

John's Piece in The Star

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

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

Or, why not ⁠⁠buy us a coffee⁠⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the country moves on from the latest federal election, some ridings are still being counted. Several ridings' final vote counts were so close that a recount was conducted to determine who the elected MP was under our rules.

Normally, this is done fairly and with little drama. However, this time around, conspiracy theories are being thrown into the mix. Bad-faith actors are trying to undermine the process by spreading rumours that Elections Canada denies ballots or adds them to the final tally.

The facts are that our elections are some of the most transparent and definitive electoral processes on the planet. Our elections are reliable. An example of which happened right here in the 905. The newly created riding of Milton East - Halton Hills South and forth between Conservative Parm Gill and Liberal Kristina Tesser Derksen. At the end of the day, Kristina Tesser Derksen won by only 21 votes.

We invited Laura Steiner of the Milton Reporter to talk about what has been happening in Milton and to set the record straight on the reliability of our electoral process.

https://miltonreporter.ca/

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

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

Or, why not ⁠buy us a coffee⁠?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices