Council Conversations

Barbara Swartzentruber is currently the Executive Director of the Smart Cities Office at the City of Guelph. As winners’ of the Canada’s Smart City Challenge, the City and County of Wellington, are collaborating with public and private sector partners to create a data and technology enabled Circular Food Economy. Building on the principles of a circular economy and leveraging the power of data and...

Bil was born and raised in Kitchener. He is a lifelong resident of Ward 7 where he currently lives, along with his wife Laura and his two children. Bil holds a degree from Carleton University and worked as a financial advisor with Investors Group where he specialized in retirement planning before turning his attention full-time to serving the citizens of Kitchener on City Council. Bil was first el...

The connections Mayor Ted Comiskey has to Ingersoll date back much farther than the beginning of his time of holding office. The Comiskey family came to Canada from Ireland in 1835, settling in the town now known as Ingersoll, Ontario. Growing up in Ingersoll, Ted attended Sacred Heart School and Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute, going on to attend and graduate Western University. Ted began...

Michael Di Lullo was raised in London Ontario and attended Western University completing both his undergraduate and graduate schooling attending the Local Government Program.  Michael has progressed as a Municipal Clerk onto a Senior Administrator with experience working across the Province in large urban such as Brampton to small rural in Huron County.  He is now the Chief Administrative Officer...

A Teaser for Season 3 - Come back Thursday at 7pm between now and Christmas for Season 3 of Council Conversations

A special episode that provides a tease of what Patreons' get to listen to after every episode of Council Conversation as well as the monthly "Month in Review" Podcast. If you want to support the Podcast can you here on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SWOCouncilWatcher You can follow support Council Conversations on the following platforms. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwoCouncil Facebook: https:/...

A discussion of Season 2, hints of season 3 and more. You can follow support Council Conversations on the following platforms. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwoCouncil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SWOCouncil Support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SWOCouncilWatcher Like or rate and leave a comment on your favourite podcast platform. Please like and comment where you get your podcasts! Musi...

Darrin’s passion is giving back to the great community he lives in. Besides co-chairing the 2018 International Plowing Match, Darrin is the past Chair of Mainstreet Credit Union, past Chair of Entegrus Inc., past co-chair of the United Way Campaign, past Director of the CKHA and past Chair of the Prosperity Roundtable. Darrin was first elected to Council in 2014 and served for one term as Councill...

Sarah grew up in the City of St. Thomas. She has a husband Theo and two sons – Alex and Nathaniel. Sarah has a BSc. Biology from the University of Waterloo and a MSc. Geography (Environmental Science) from Western University. Over the years, Sarah has worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Imperial Oil – Cold Lake Operations. Currently, she manages a small goat farm. Sarah supports susta...

Gary Kaschak was born and raised in the City of Windsor. As a lifetime resident of the city’s east end, Gary has come to know Ward 8 and the City of Windsor very well. He began his schooling at Coronation Grade School before graduating from W F Herman Secondary School. He continued on to post-secondary education at St. Clair College and the University of Windsor. In 1981, Gary accepted full time e...

Born and raised in Leamington, Hilda MacDonald was elected Mayor of the Municipality of Leamington on October 22, 2018. Mayor MacDonald served as Leamington’s Deputy Mayor for one term and as a Leamington Councillor for two terms. Mayor MacDonald sits on Essex County Council, and serves on many local boards as well as the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Board of Directors and Ontari...

The Head Coach since 2012, Stephen has been with Libro since 1988. He spearheaded the combination with United Communities Credit Union in 2013 while focusing on economic development in southwestern Ontario, while enabling and ensuring outstanding customer satisfaction levels. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor, and an Executive MBA from the Ivey School of Business....

Aina DeViet, was elected Mayor of Middlesex Centre in 2018 having served on Council since 2010 and County Council since 2016. In 2018, Aina was also elected to the Board of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and appointed as a County representative to the Board of Health (currently MLHU Vice-Chair, and Finance and Facilities and Governance Committee member). AMO appointed Aina as t...

Sworn in as the city councillor for Ward 4 on 1 December 2014. Jesse Helmer was re-elected in 2018 by ranked ballots and is serving his second term on city council. He served as Deputy Mayor for two years, ending my term in Dec 2020. As a city councillor representing Ward 4 he considers his role as a legislator, a resource allocator, helping residents and listening, connecting, advocating and info...

Josh Morgan is the Deputy Mayor of the City of London. He is an active member of the London community and was first elected to London City Council as Councillor for Ward 7 on October 27, 2014. He was re-elected to a second term on October 22, 2018 with support from 75% of voters. He was appointed as the Special Advisor to the Mayor on budget during the 2016-2019 Multi-year Budget and was formally...

Kelly Elliott is the Deputy Mayor for the Municipality of Thames Centre, as well as Councillor with Middlesex County. She is a member of the Women's Caucus of Middlesex County Council, Director with both the Ontario Good Roads Association and Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Board Member of the Middlesex-London Health Unit. She sits on various Committees both on a local and federal level....

Zachary Spicer is the Director of Research and Outreach with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). He holds a PhD in Political Science from The University of Western Ontario and began his career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University after completing post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Municipal Fina...

A conversation with Dr. Mike Moffatt where we talk about housing, and more in SW Ontario! You can follow support Council Conversations on the following platforms. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwoCouncil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SWOCouncil Support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SWOCouncilWatcher Like or rate and leave a comment on your favourite podcast platform. Please like and comme...

A Prologue for Season 2: - Look back at Season 1 - Some tweaks to how people can contribute - Setting the conversation line up for season 2 - Thursday's episode Teaser. You can follow support Council Conversations on the following platforms. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwoCouncil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SWOCouncil Support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SWOCouncilWatcher Please like...

In the season 1 finale I welcome, Armine Yalnizyan is the Atkinson Foundation’s Fellow on the Future of Workers. She served as Senior Economic Policy Advisor for the Deputy Minister at Employment and Social Development Canada from 2018 to 2019. In this episode we talk with a leading Canadian economist on Housing Affordability, "She-session" caused by COVID, Economic Development and Basic Income in...

Councillor Colquhoun and I talk about the challenges and opportunities in Sarnia Ontario. A wide ranging conversation about a City with our Wards, Climate Change in chemical valley and the comings and goings of Sarnia and Lambton County. Music notes Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-roulette License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Councillor Anstett and I talk about the challenges and opportunities in North Perth Ontario. One of the shortest but most jam packed episodes of the season! Music notes Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-roulette License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Councillor Eric Beauregard is the Ward 2 Councillor in Port Colborne. Music notes Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-roulette License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Full Disclosure - Chris and I went to high school together, but he got elected to municipal council and I just run this podcast. We have a great conversation about what is happening in Tillsonburg Ontario - the challenges and opportunities. Music notes Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-roulette License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Mayor Ryan and I talk about his story in Zorra Township as well as what is happening in a small community nestled in the heart of SW Ontario. We touch on rural schools, development, innovation and aggregates to name a few topics. So join us for this Council Conversation Music notes Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-roulette License: https://fi...