The 905er Podcast

The 905 Round-Up: Hey Doug, Where’s our Housing?

It shouldn't surprise you to know that housing is at a crisis in not just the 905, but all of Ontario.  In fact, across Canada, housing prices and supply are in crisis mode.  Our supply of housing in whatever form you wish to choose, whether it's a detached house, a condo or rental isn't keeping up with the population.  We have just not built enough to keep up our numbers.  We do not have enough places to live, is what it comes down to basically.

Which is what Bill 23 was supposed to help solve.  Premier Doug Ford and Minister Steve Clark were going to unleash the power of the development industry by allowing them to do what they do best.  Build homes.  According to the Ontario PC government, the biggest impediment to doing that was the red tape and dastardly municipal governments around the province that held back the honest hard working developers.

So with that Bill 23 was enacted, the Greenbelt was carved up and we are all now living in a housing development paradise.  Well not quite.  This week, TVO published an opinion piece wondering what Plan B was for the province's housing plans?  According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation new housing starts were down 31% in Ontario, in Toronto down 51% and only a 7% bump up in Hamilton.  In essense our housing plans are not working and we are not building enough to keep up with demand.  We need to build 1.5 million new homes over the next ten years so when is that going to happen?  Why are we not building like crazy at the moment?

In our second half of the episode, we flash back a few episodes to our chat with former Ontario Liberal candidate Kate Graham, who was a signatory to a now infamous letter asking Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to run for the top job in the Liberal party.  Well Mike finally got back to everyone, and it's a no.  So what does that mean for the Ontario Liberal Party?  Was it a good plan to ask Mike? And what does the future of the Ontario Liberals look like?  In that regard what does the future of the opposition in Queen's Park look like for the next four years?  Should Marit Stiles and the NDP be worried?  Should Doug Ford?  

Plan A for Housing is Failing in Ontario. What's Plan B? - TVO Today

Mike Schreiner's Response to the Ontario Liberal Letter

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Kojo Damptey on Why Black History Month Matters

February as many of you are aware is Black History Month

Each year through the month of February figures and prominent individuals of african origin whether they be activists, politicians, artists, musicians, authors or historical figures, are front and centre in our schools and libraries.

People of African descent have lived and worked on this continent since the first Europeans arrived.  Slavery was a part of colonisation of the continent and is tied to the foundations of Canada as much as it is the United States.  The struggles for equality existed here in the 905 and in Canada too.  And yet, how can over 400 years of history in North America be confined to merely one month of the year in our schools?  

No doubt you can agree this is very very surface level telling of a rich and complex history in Canada.

So does this mean we aren’t doing a great job of telling what ultimately is our own story? The story of black Canadians and for that matter other minorities who have worked to build what today is the country of Canada that we all wish to enjoy?

On that note, we welcome back to the podcast Kojo Damptey to talk on the importance of Black History Month, and how it ought to be a stepping stone to a much more rich and diverse conversation of the true history of this part of Ontario and Canada as a whole.  And how it can help to dismantle systemic racism that permeates our culture.

Kojo is the former executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.  He is a former candidate for Hamilton city council, an award winning musician and instructor at McMaster University.

Kojo joins us today.

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

How Did The 15 Minute City Become a Conspiracy Theory?

If you're a fan of this podcast, then you'll no doubt be aware of our fan of smart urban design.  

For years the car guided how we designed and built our cities.  The idea was that we would alway require a car to get from place to place where we live.  Spawl became a way of life and almost official policy for development in the 905.  In recent years however, sprawl has become problematic.  We have come around to the notion that we cannot keep building over greenspace to accomodate the growth that the region is experience.

So what does that mean for our cities?  Well, for urban planner policy wonks, the notion of a city where the vital amenities of life would be within walking distance of our homes began to take hold.  Thus came the idea of the 15 minute city.  Groceries, doctors offices, small businesses, clinics etc, would all be within a 15 minute walk of one's home.  Is this doable? We honestly don't know.  But as a utopian goal for us collectively to build our cities around, it seemed like an interesting idea.  It's entirely a policy wonk's fevered dream.

Which is why we found it ridiculous to find it coming up in Op-Eds and rallies by the far right as an evil plot by the World Economic Forum.  That this was just another step in an evil move by the WEF, or George Soros or whichever boogeyman you want to substitute into the argument to put us in manageable pens and fenced off districts to limit our movements.  All of which is laughably ludicrous and not true.

However, in the world post-pandemic these conspiracy theories have a life of their own and often tend to poison discourse around good ideas.  We didn't want that to happen to the 15 minute city.  In that spirit we reached out to former guest of the podcast Glyn Bowerman of Spacing Radio to come on to discuss how we got here, and how we can work to keep the 15 minute city from becoming a bad word in politics.

You can catch Spacing Radio here

http://spacing.ca/podcast/

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

The 905 Round-Up: Stag and Doughs and Resignations

The Premier hosted a Stag and Doe for his daughter's wedding last year and surprisingly all of his closest developer buddies got an invite whether they liked it or not to attend. To literally hand over envelopes of cash. How this does not topple his Premiership is a mystery to us. This event singlehandedly might make Doug Ford's government the most corrupt in Ontario political history.

 

So where are the calls for his resignation?

 

And speaking of resignations, we look at the resignation of John Tory as Mayor of Toronto. Surprising? Uncalled for? The last desperate play to save face? Joel and Roland can't seem to agree on what this means for politics in the 905's biggest neighbour?

 

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

The 905 Round-Up: The Nuclear Option

Another weekly brace of stories affecting the 905. When is disrupting a democratic meeting appropriate? Uncle Doug is building nuclear power plants. Uncle Justin is thowing money at the provinces to spend on healthcare to make up for the fact the premiers won't throw enough money at it themselves. Isn't that just rewarding the delinquents? And is the fact Canada's 'fiscally prudent' premiers are all demanding more money from the feds than they're being offered an example of nauseating hypocrisy? 

Yes. Yes it is.

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Postcards from the Tram - What Edinburgh Can Teach the 905 About LRT

Roland spent most of January in Scotland, and took the time to record his impressions of Edinburgh's Tram network, which opened it's first phase in 2014. The tram's construction was anything but smooth (sound familiar?), but now it's here, what's it like?

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

The 905 Round-Up - Hurricane Hazel Departs

Laura Steiner sits in for Joel as we discuss the late Hazel McCallion's legacy for Mississauga and the 905 region. And we share some first impressions (recorded before Tuesday's interview with Kate Graham - go and listen to it if you haven't heard it yet) on the 40 Liberal insiders who have put their names to an attempt to co-opt Mike Schreiner from the Ontario Greens.

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Kate Graham Talks About That Liberal Letter

At 10am on Sunday former Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful Kate Graham posted an open letter on her Twitter account which certainly achieved something Ontario's Liberals have not done too often lately--it got people talking about the Ontario Liberals.

The letter was a public invitation, signed by forty prominent Liberals, including such noteable party grandees as Greg Sorbara, Deb Matthews and Lyn McLeod, for Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party, to throw his hat into the ring to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership.

The reaction from Liberals, Greens and independents has been strong, and runs the gamut from strong support on one side to feelings of betrayal on the other. Some voices within the OLP (some likely supporting rival leadership candidates) are, quite simply, furious and feel the letter is damaging in both what it says about the once mighty Ontario Liberals, and what it says about prominent Liberals' faith in their own party.

And while many would agree that politics in Ontario needs to change, is headhunting a leader from a rival and less-successful party the way back to electoral relevance for the Ontario Liberals, or a demonstration of callous disregard towards both the Ontario Greens and the party grassroots?

Kate Graham joins us today to answer these questions and more in a fascinating exclusive interview.

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

 

The 905 Round-Up: Roland Returns to the Show!

Roland returns to the show, and Joel has the privilege of bringing him up to speed on all he's missed around the 905 and the province in his absence.  Share in the shock and awe!

We recap privatization of health care.  It turns out Hazel McCallion, who made her reputation on sprawl in Mississauga is now over seeing the Greenbelt. And speaking of which it appears our property taxes are poised to take a hike.

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Michael Twigg Shares with The 905er a New Vision for The Greenbelt

The Greenbelt continues to be front stage in Ontario politics.  Doug Ford's reversal on his stance to allow developers to begin building inside the Greenbelt is proving to be rather unpopular to say the least.

According to the Ontario Progressive Conservative government the land is too valuable to not build housing on.  However, is that the only way to view the Greenbelt?  As a plot of land waiting to build housing on?  Michael Twigg of the Smart Prosperity Institute says otherwise.

He helped to author a paper which views the Greenbelt as an invest waiting to be made in the conservation of the land.  Helping to preserve it to offset insurance costs, environmental concerns as well as the recreation values to be extracted from the Greenbelt.  The paper goes on to see how actual fiscal rewards can be extracted from the land now, rather than as land speculation down the road. 

We speak with Michael on this episode about his report and how we can shift our thinking on the Greenbelt to something more productive for all Ontarians.

Read the report here: https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/publications/investing-ontarios-greenbelt

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

Why not buy us a coffee?

Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.

Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!