Wag The Doug

Until just a few years ago, staking a mining claim in Ontario demanded banging physical posts in the ground. Now, you can simply head online and click a square on a map.

But while that may be an abstract exercise for office-dwellers in Toronto, the stakes are quite real (if no longer literal) for many First Nations in Northern Ontario — including those that sought, and failed to obtain, a face-to-face meeting with Doug Ford this fall.

On the new Wag the Doug, Allison and Jonathan behold the mining megaproject the premier touts as the future, and take the first steps in a very long process toward someday, maybe having a mine of their own.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

Sponsors: Douglas

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Bluesky: @goldsbie.bsky.social 

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some say Queen’s Park is haunted. Others say it’s merely possessed by the Progressive Conservatives. Either way, there’s some spooky stuff going down.

This month, Allison and Jonathan guide you through Doug Ford’s ministry of terrors, as they probe into the perils that are — or ought to be — keeping the premier up at night, from the Therme deal to the Greenbelt investigation.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

Sponsors: Douglas

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Bluesky: @goldsbie.bsky.social 

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The first episode of Canadaland was published ten years ago today. If we were to announce this is the last episode of Canadaland, no one would be surprised.

Journalism in Canada is in a fight for its life. You can have an impact. Head to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With his polls diving, housing minister resigning, and ill-begotten Greenbelt scheme unravelling, what’s a Doug Ford to do? Why, talk about anything else, of course!

In the face of yet another report laying bare the haphazard chumminess with which power is exerted in the PCs’ Ontario, the premier would like to assure you that everything is fine. And also that he knows where you live.

This month, Allison and Jonathan look at the (figurative) spot marked by lobbyist “Mr. X” and then play a game of “What Does the Ford Say?”

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

Sponsors: Douglas,

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ontario’s Auditor General has confirmed what we suspected: that Doug Ford’s government effectively redrew the map of the province, opening up thousands of acres of land for development, based largely on solicitations made at a party. It just wasn’t the party we thought.

Either way, it could make for an entertaining movie.

Allison and Jonathan look at the ways the Greenbelt story could be told on screen and who’d be best suited to star in it.

Hosts: Allison Smith and Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

Sponsors: Douglas, Apollo Cinema, Bytowne Cinema, Fox Theatre

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a Doug Ford policy move from 2019 lead to 10,000s of international students schlepping their backpacks to strip malls across the GTA? Allison and Jonathan investigate how Ontario colleges have cashed in on an international student free for all — and whether the party could be coming to an end.

Further reading, watching and listening:

• Sold a Lie, Fifth Estate (https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2132310595766) 
• Cash Cows, W5 (https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/priest-neighbours-issue-plea-for-help-for-struggling-international-students-in-cape-breton-1.6337730 
• Dami’s Canadaland episode (https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/707-canadas-international-cash-cows/) 

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

This episode is supported by Douglas and MoMugi.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie 

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toronto is in the midst of its most exciting election in a decade, tickling us with the possibility of hope. But does it still make sense to get invested in the outcome, when Doug Ford could easily run roughshod over Council, squashing the new mayor like the Monty Python foot?

With Allison away this month, Toronto Star columnist and City Hall Watcher Matt Elliott joins Jonathan to look at the candidates, explain why this matters, and consider what Toronto’s next mayor might do to wag Doug Ford before he can wag them.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Matt Elliott

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ten years after becoming famous as the mean older brother of Toronto’s crack-smoking mayor, Doug Ford spends his days peddling fast-food promotions and posing for pictures with cops. Which is pretty much the future we might’ve guessed for him — just not the part about his being premier of Ontario all the while.

This month, Allison and Jonathan peer into Ford’s parallel fixations on law enforcement and cookies. To him, there isn’t a problem that one or the other (or both) can’t solve.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

This episode is supported by Douglas.

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie 

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doug Ford claims he’s all about building, but he sure has a thing for enthusiastically bulldozing the utopian public projects of yesteryear.First it was Ontario Place. Now it’s the Science Centre. At what point does he train his sights on TVO?Allison and Jonathan reflect on the legacy of Ontario’s public broadcaster and why its survival now rests on the shoulders of Steve Paikin.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

This episode is supported by Douglas. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s every-Ford everywhere all at once, as we celebrate the year’s most absurd and distressing developments in Ontario politics. What was the premier’s Falsest Promise? The Most Harmful Policy? The Best Fordism? You’ll never guess what insects Allison and Jonathan will swallow at the fourth annual(-ish) Douggie Awards.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Nathan Burley (Music)

This episode is supported by Douglas. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music - included with Prime.

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Socials:

Jonathan Goldsbie on Twitter: @goldsbie

Allison Smith on Twitter: @queensparktoday 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.