On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast

On the Ledge – May 15, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Keith Leslie, John Wright, Tim Hudak (Kathleen Wynne sent regrets) In this episode of On the Ledge, Dave Trafford, Keith Leslie, John Wright, and Tim Hudak kick things off talking about the OTR Spring Fling at Queen's Park!  Then they unpack Ontario’s budget day, dive into the affordability crisis, and explore how interprovincial cooperation...

On the Ledge -- May 8, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Kathleen Wynne (former Premier of Ontario), John Wright (founding pollster at On the Ledge), Keith Leslie (journalist, joining from Nova Scotia) Absent: Tim Hudak (former PC leader, expected back next week) This episode of On the Ledge revisits last week's fiery discussion on judicial independence and fairness in Canada's legal system, sparke...

On the Ledge – May 1, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak, John Wright Episode Summary: In this week's fiery edition of On the Ledge, host Dave Trafford is joined by Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak, and John Wright to unpack a turbulent week in Canadian conservative politics. The panel dissects the fallout from the recent federal election, including Jamil Jivani’s scathing remarks...

On the Ledge – Special Election Edition Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Keith Leslie, Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak, John Wright Summary: In this special post-election edition of On the Ledge, Dave Trafford convenes the panel to break down the federal election results. Keith Leslie, Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak, and John Wright dive into what the Liberal minority outcome means for the country, why polling pr...

Boomer Turnout, Betting Markets, and a Liberal Path to Victory On the Ledge –  April 24, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Kathleen Wynne, John Wright, Keith Leslie, Amanda Galbraith (filling in for Tim Hudak)  In this edition of On the Ledge, Dave Trafford and the panel dig into the final days of the federal campaign. With polling margins narrowing, the conversation pivots to the strategic implica...

On the Ledge – April 17, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Kathleen Wynne, Tim Hudak, Keith Leslie, John Wright As Canadians look ahead to a long Easter weekend, the On the Ledge panel tackles the aftermath of the French-language leaders’ debate and the political blowback from the Ontario Place Therme spa deal. They analyze the debate performances of Carney, Poilievre, Singh, and Blanchet, with par...

It must be Thursday! We're dealing with another round of tariff chaos courtesy of the Useful Idiot. On the Ledge : April 10, 2025 Host: Dave Trafford Guests: Kathleen Wynne, Keith Leslie, John Wright, Tim Hudak In this wide-ranging episode of On the Ledge, Dave Trafford and the panel dig into the volatile tariff landscape shaped by U.S. trade moves, its ripple effects on Canada, and how political...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your Ontario Politics Podcast: Dave Trafford leads a dynamic roundtable with political veterans Tim Hudak , Keith Leslie , and John Wright , unpacking the seismic shifts in North American trade following Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. From the economic aftershocks of “Liberation Day” to the potential realignment of Canadian politics, the panel delivers shar...

A Special Edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario Politics Podcast. Host : Dave Trafford Guests : Lauren Bates – Chair, Ontario Caregiver Coalition Daniel Nowoselski – Advocacy Manager, Hospice Palliative Care (Canadian Cancer Society); Board Member, Ontario Caregiver Coalition Malene Stewart – Social Worker, Educator & Co-Chair, Caregiver Collective In this episode, Dave Trafford sits down wit...

The Useful Idiot is at it again. Whether he was simply trying to distract from the Signal App scandal in Washington or is Trump deliberately asserting himself into the federal election campaign in Canada, the 25% tariffs on the auto sector caught Doug Ford off guard. And it appears to be the final nail in the Can-Am relationship. In this edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast form...

This is an OTL BONUS! Welcome to POLITICALLY SPEAKING. Three days into the federal election campaign in Canada and the latest polling aggregators have seat modelling suggesting Mark Carney's Liberals are in a position to win a strong majority. But hey! It's early yet. One thing we do know is it's shaping up to be a very close race between the Liberals and the Conservatives. Veteran pollster John W...

We'll be adding episodes of POLITICALLY SPEAKING for you here in the On the Ledge feed throughout the federal campaign! Hope you enjoy it. John Wrigth and Dave Trafford break down the details of the election call. Prime Minister Mark Carney has set April 28, 2025 as Election Day in Canada. AND...Donald Trump and his trade tariffs are THE BALLOT QUESTION. Who can handle Trump? Who can manage the cu...

We're back with On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast! Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, former Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak, Queen's Park Commentator and broadcaster Keith Leslie, and our founding pollster John Wright are around the table with Story Studio Network's Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford. Doug Ford and his "new" cabinet have been sworn in with a couple of new seating a...

Hello On the Ledge listener! Welcome to POLITICALLY SPEAKING on Now and Next. Former Bank of Canada Governor and self proclaimed political outsider, Mark Carney won't nearly 86% of the vote in his bid to be leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He set a new tone for the party while setting his sights on CPC Leader Pierre Polievre in anticipation of a soon-to-be-called federal election and he set...

We've arrived! It's the FINAL edition of the DAILY election edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast. Ontario has voted and given Doug Ford another strong majority mandate at Queen's Park. But the discussion got side-tracked by the latest GONG SHOW performance from the Oval Office. The screaming match among Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has the...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast: How, if at all, will the weather affect voter turnout, which is expected to be low? How quickly does Doug Ford need to get back to the business of governing, (assuming the polling trend doesn't turn upside down). Some seat models suggest the Liberals and NDP would win 17 seats each based on the latest polls? They'd both have official...

John Wright, Lindsay Broadhead, Anne Marie Aikins and Bob Reid join the pod to do three things. Taking time to remember radio journalism legend Tayler Parnaby  What's going on in Olivia Chow's office (if not her head?) How will Doug Ford manage what's shaping up to be a landslide majority? You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!) Follow Dave on Faceboo...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your DAILY Ontario election podcast, we're joined by Pedro Barata, President and CEO at Habitat for Humanity, Neil Hetherington, CEO at Daily Bread Food Bank and Gerard Kennedy, CEO at Enterprising for Good. (Neil's golden lab Charley also offers an opinion:) And we talk about the ramifications of the Ontario government's failure to get its arms around the growing...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your DAILY Ontario election podcast, Doug Ford releases his party's "costed" platform. It includes $40b in new spending, including a $5b Protect Ontario Account to fend off the effects of the Trump tariffs. But there's no indication where that money will come from. Meanwhile, Bonnie Crombie's campaign steps on a bilingual rake during a stop in the Ottawa area. The...

We wrap the final full week on the campaign with former Toronto Mayor John Tory, former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy, the Queen of Corp Comms Lindsay Broadhead and our resident/founding pollster are around the table for out 300th episode of On the Ledge! What does a hockey game have to do with the campaign on a day when Doug Ford's in Washington and the opposition parties release thei...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your DAILY Ontario election podcast, we're joined by Public Affairs Consultant Bob Richardson, CH Television commentator Keith Leslie, Counsel Public Affairs Partner Tim Hudak, former Toronto Mayor John Tory and our founding pollster John Wright. With less than a week of campaigning to go, the question is which opposition party will emerge as the Official Oppositi...

In this episode of On the Ledge - your DAILY Ontario election podcast, we're joined by Monique Smith (Global Public Affairs), Lindsay Broadhead (Broadhead Communications) and Amanda Galbraith (Oyster Group). Question: How does a campaign keep volunteers and workers enthusiastic when it appears the Tories are going to run away with the election and there is still more than a week before election da...

Only 9 more sleeps before Election Day in Ontario. In this episode of On the Ledge - your DAILY Ontario election campaign podcast, we're joined by Laura Babcock at Powergroup Communications, Public Affairs Consultant Bob Richardson, Former Deputy Mayor of Toronto Ana Bailao and Toronto Sun Columnist Brian Lilley. The crew says early assessments of the leaders' performances in the debate has shifte...

The second half our of On the Ledge DOUBLE HEADER included Deb Hutton from Newstalk 1010, Lindsay Broadhead - a member of our Now and Next C.A.S.T. (Comms and Strategy Team), Tim Hudak, Counsel Public Affairs, Keith Leslie, CH TV commentator and our resident pollster John Wright. Key takeaways: Doug Ford did what he had to do. He stayed out of trouble and won by "not losing" Bonnie Crombie came ou...

It's the first show on a DOUBLE HEADER day for On the Ledge! Tim Hudak, from Counsel Public Affairs, Monique Smith at Global Public Affairs and Keith Leslie, Queen's Park Commentator at CH Television join DT to set the table for the Leaders' Debate set to go later this evening. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!) Follow Dave on Facebook , Instagra...