NOW and NEXT

Today on NOW & NEXT NYC Mayor Eric Adams has unveiled a $20 million plan to support those facing mental health and addiction challenges. The chorus of concern sounds similar to the latest issues arising in the City of Toronto. Is the NYC approach the right path? Mental Health Advocate, Host and Executive Producer of The Modern Minds Podcast Mark Henick weighs in to talk about the need to treat...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Anyone who thought you could write-off Donald Trump needs to give it another thought. Hamline University Political Science and Constitutional Law Professor David Schultz says Trump's appearance at last week's Conservative Political Action Coalition gathering made it abundantly clear, Trump controls the conservative base in the United States. Schultz says Trump's message wa...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne weighs in on the state of the Liberal movement and Ontario. ALSO Wynne admits she prefers the delegated convention. She doesn't think she'd have won the OLP leadership in 2013 if it had been a one-member-one-vote convention. She thinks Trudeau mishandled the question of whether China has meddled in Canadian elections. Toronto's next ma...

Today on NOW & NEXT A Richmond Hill woman is on a mission to make 52 friends over 52 weeks. It made me do a self-audit on the friends in my life. I've got a lot of people in my life I would call a friend and, in fact, I've probably got something close to a dozen GOOD friends. I came away feeling pretty lucky:) The Toronto Maple Leafs - not so lucky. One day after settling their roster to make...

TODAY on NOW & NEXT EXTRA is this week's edition of On The Ledge: The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. Can Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie save the Ontario Liberal Party? Why would she even want the job? But t...

Today on NOW & NEXT Erin and I had the great opportunity to speak to the Forestry for the Future National Stakeholders at the Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto. I dare say everyone in the room was a Leaf fan no matter where they came from. This gave a whole new meaning to Leaf Nation! ALSO: Congratulations to the CBC team in Ottawa for their investigative story about the joint replacement cl...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Bob Reid, Principal at Broadway Strategy and a long time colleague, tells us about his decision to become a living kidney donor to save his sister-in-law's life. Oh ya, and we can't have a conversation without talking about politics:) You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!) Follow Dave on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and X...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Communications veteran Lindsay Broadhead weighs in on what Toronto needs in its next mayor. Lots of name being kicked around as possible candidates and plenty of them are City Councillors. Is it wrong that MPs and MPPs who run for the job have to resign their seats AND the councillors get to run their mayoral campaigns while hanging onto their council seat? Of course it is...

Today on NOW & NEXT: The SSN team is coming off an historic weekend. It's the FIRST TIME since we launched the Network in April 2021 that we all met face to face, as in IN PERSON! We attended Podcamp Toronto at Toronto Metropolitan University. It was a great opportunity to meet "our kind". Also graet to see the excitement around podcasting. I sat in on a lots of terrific discussions but the BE...

Today on NOW & NEXT EXTRA it's On the Ledge! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. The New Democrats seem to think they'll get a different answer from the Integrity Commissioner to the same complaint about the Ford family "stag and doe"....

Today on NOW & NEXT: David Schultz, professor of political science and US constitutional law at Hamline University in Minnesota weighs in on the year long war in Ukraine. How is it affecting and informing domestic and international politics for the Biden administration? David says this has become a proxy war between NATO and Russia and, if recent history tells us anything, this war of attritio...

Today on NOW & NEXT: It's hard to keep up with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence. We're just getting our heads around ChatGPT. Now, Microsoft is using the AI tech to boost the search capabilities on BING! Cyber security and tech strategist Ritesh Kotak says it's a game changer for Microsoft and its business clients. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channe...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Veteran, award winning broadcaster Barb DiGiulio joins the show to kick around the stories of the day, including: Jully Black's anthem edit at the NBA All-Star game. They're back to business at Queen's Park in Ontario and expanding healthcare clinics will lead the agenda. Cue the complaining about private sector clinics delivering public sector procedures. Nevefr thought o...

Today on NOW & NEXT Extra! We feature "Your Ontario Politics Podcast - On The Ledge" with Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford around the table. Follow On The Ledge Apple https://apple.co/37EMdbT Spotify https://spoti.fi/2NTJFiU You can watch OR listen to thi...

Today on NOW & NEXT: John Tory's mayoralty ends at 5pm on February 17, 2023 and all we know is the next Mayor will be a Weak Mayor, no matter how many Strong Mayor powers the province has conjured. Apparently not everyone listening to N+N likes my idea of having Tim Hudak's name on the bye-election ballot! Thanks to a LinkedIn connection, I've decided to add a "fun" story. He suggested somethi...

Today on NOW & NEXT CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association and former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, Tim Hudak joins the podcast today for a wide ranging conversation on the state of politics and life in the City of Toronto. We also get into the new "hunger games" model to land tickets to an A-list stadium concert! You have to be a "Verified Fan" to get on the list t...

Today on NOW & NEXT: Should City Councillors have to resign if they want to run for the Mayor's Chair in Toronto? OF COURSE THEY SHOULD! But let's play this out. There is already a long list of current City Councillors, Ontario MPPs and federal MPs who are apparently considering a run for Mayor in Toronto. Only one, (if any of them), will be successful. Are they all willing to quit their curre...

Today on NOW and NEXT: It's Arm Chair Quarterback Monday! Veteran broadcast journalist Barb DiGiulio joins sits in and offers her two cents on John Tory's decision to step down as Mayor of Toronto after admitting he had an inappropriate relationship with a former staffer who worked in his office. Also, could Soccer Canada be any worse at managing the optics around paying the Olympic Champions Wome...

Today on NOW and NEXT: Porter Airlines has a fleet of shiny new jets and that means it's able to take on longer routes - flying in and out of Pearson International Airport. Is that good news for air travellers in Canada? Can the Canadian market support three national airlines? History suggests not. John Tory Jr. is a pilot and has been a commercial aviation executive. He joins us with his analysis...

Today on NOW and NEXT: US President Joe Biden put on a master class in political rhetoric during his State of the Union Address. He managed to goad Republicans to heckled him , calling him a liar when he pointed out some GOP members support a proposal to "sunset" medicare and social security David Schultz, professor of politcal science and US constitutional law at Hamline University weighs in on t...

Today on NOW and NEXT: Cultrual anthropologist Ujwal Arkaguld says human intelligence is pushing back against artificial intelligence. He and his team at LUX Research says we humans are increasingly pushing back against the "personalized" AI driven content served up to us on the internet based on algorithms tracking our online behaviour. But first: The First Ministers health care meeting is the so...

Today on Now and Next: Challege Factory founder and President Lisa Taylor says we have less than 8 years to figure out "how old is old". "In 2030, the last of the baby boomers will reach 65 years old. That’s our deadline for avoiding an age-based workforce crisis. The early warning signs are already present. So, what do we need to do?" But first: A Leger poll conducted for the National Post says 6...

Today on N+N Xtra! We feature an episode from the Story Studio Network podcast series - The 2030 Project produced for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Among the values expressed by Daily Bread is the commitment to pursue, to create, to support evidence based solutions. So, to that end new research from the university of Calgary draws, a solid direct line between food bank visits and specific...

Today on NOW and NEXT: The knee-jerk, reflexive response to "random acts of violence" is to declare it's an issue of mental illness. Mental health advocate, author and podcaster Mark Henick says there is no evidence that anyone involved in these reported incidents have any mental health problems. But first: Community groups in Toronto are facing a 6.7 per cent budget cut, yet they're expected and...

Today on NOW and NEXT: Will the torturous, fatal beating of Tyre Nicols prompt any significant change in police culture in the US or Canada? Courtney Betty, Senior Partner at Betty's Law in Toronto is doubtful. But first: Canada's national standards for long term care are meaningless. The aren't mandatory. And they amount to little when you consider we don't have enough beds for those in need. In...