Wag The Doug

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.

It turns out Doug Ford and his "developer buddies" are more than just a metaphor. A recent report by Global News found a fleet of lobbyists and developers were invited to a Stag & Doe last August for the daughters of Ford, where they were "browbeaten" into making $1000 donations. While they have not been individually identified, the Ontario integrity commissioner confirmed the developers were "personal friends" of Ford. At this point are weddings and backyard barbecues in Etobicoke the only way to get an ear from Ontario's premier? And why would Ford need a Stag & Doe? All this on Wag the Doug today.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

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.

Conservatives don’t like Canada’s public healthcare system. They think it makes us like Cuba and North Korea.

Now, after years of working to gradually undermine it, Doug Ford has declared that the “status quo” isn’t working, throwing open Ontario’s doors to new for-profit clinics. But when it comes to performing surgeries, just how steady is the market’s invisible hand?

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), André Proulx (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.

This episode is from our friends on the CANADALAND network, COMMONS! This season they are digging into monopolies and asking, is there something special about Canada that makes it especially hospitable to monopolies? To listen to the rest of the COMMONS: Monopoly season, use this link or search COMMONS in your podcast app of choice.

Canadians are being squeezed at every end. When it comes to cell phone bills, grocery bills, housing, entertainment, we’re all paying more than ever before.

But a small number of companies that dominate their industries are reaping in enormous profits.

This season of COMMONS we’ll be digging into all of the monopolies, oligopolies and cartels that dominate our lives. And for our first stop, we head to the supermarket.

Featured in this episode: Vass Bednar, Marco Chown Oved (Toronto Star)

To learn more

“Supermarkets are hiking prices faster than necessary — and profiting from inflation, Star investigation suggests” by Marco Chown Oved in the Toronto Star

Regs to Riches by Vass Bednar 

“Canada’s competition watchdog to investigate grocery industry in wake of soaring food prices” by Ghada Alsharif in the Toronto Star

Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)

Additional music from Audio Network

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

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

Doug Ford loves calling things “corrupt.” But just how often must his party’s friends and donors reap rewards from their policies before the word can be liberally flung back? On this month’s show, Allison and Jonathan look at who benefits from dismantling the Greenbelt and then trade fave findings from the latest Auditor General’s report.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), André Proulx (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.

This week, Doug Ford learned that while it’s stunningly easy to toss out constitutional rights, it’s a heck of a lot harder to get away with that. By passing the Keeping Students in Class Act complete with notwithstanding clause, the government mounted an unprecedented attack on CUPE, and essentially all organized labour, picking a fight for which they were thoroughly unprepared.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Kattie Laur (Producer), André Proulx (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.