The 905er Podcast

This week we’re talking to Melanie Walker, co-chair of “Walk to the Lighthouse” in Burlington, and social worker in Mental Health and Addiction Services at Burlington’s Joseph Brant Hospital, where she has worked for 22 years, in addition to her own private practice. In the previous decade Jo Brant hospital received a major expansion and renovation via a large new patient tower, funded by the prov...

Warning this episode deals with child abuse and endangerment We welcome back to the podcast Ajay Sharma for this episode. As we prepared to cover this episode several news items broke ground in Ontario that we felt could not be ignored. First was the Ontario PC government's plan to back out of the $ 10-a-day daycare funding formula for private daycare providers. The result could be disastrous for...

It's the end of summer and Ontario and the 905 are returning to work and school. We thought it prudent to take a moment and look back on the summer that was. This summer, Doug Ford faced the first LCBO strike ever, suddenly shut down safe consumption sites across the province based on his gut feeling, and lost his Education Minister at the last minute just before the start of the school year. Norm...

We are back from vacation folks! After some needed time off Roland and Joel are back to talk shop and of course the first you do when getting back to work is...cleaning out the ol' email inbox. In the process, we discovered an interesting email from a San Francisco start-up Optiwatt. Optiwatt is partnering with The Atmospheric Fund here in Ontario to offer an app that can lead to cheaper rates to...

A day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. Joel is away, and for technical reasons the upload is a little later than usual, but hopefully you'll forgive us. Standing in for Joel, we have a return visit from Ajay Sharma, professor in the political science department at the University of Guelph, and a contributor to the Toronto Star on recent political events in Mississauga. We take a look at a c...

The news moves fast and people are moving on from the flooding in the 905 last week. However, those affected by the intense rainfalls still struggle to make themselves whole again. Joel's neighbourhood was one of the most intensely impacted by flooding, and thus he attended a neighbourhood meeting with his city councillor to discuss what came next. What he took away from the meeting is that ten ye...

Last week the 905 saw flooding that overwhelmed many parts of its respective cities. Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto saw an estimated $3.1 billion in damage to infrastructure and homes. This isn't an isolated incident either. In the last few years, the region and Canada have seen an increase in the frequency and severity of storms and conditions affecting our communities. The fact is...

It looks like this is going to be a dry summer for Ontarians. Just as schools let out, the government's talks with LCBO Unionized employees broke down. All LCBO retail locations are closed for the summer, leaving only grocery and convenience stores available for Ontarios to purchase wine or beer. For the union, this is to ensure that LCBO locations retain the sale of ready-to-drink cocktails from...

The proposed Highway 413 is the Doug Ford government's landmark project. It has been promised for years by the Ontario PC, despite facing court battles and criticism from grassroots organizations and environmentalists. It has been heavily criticized for its effectiveness and the environmental impact it could have on habitats and farmland. Yet despite all this opposition, the project is still being...

Last week, Premier Ford visited Burlington's small business community. The purpose of which, of course, was to find clout with the small businesses. In the lead-up to a potential election? Who knows. During the visit, however, Premier Ford was asked about Hamilton's LRT project, and when it would begin construction. Ford reiterated his government's support for the project, but the question remains...

We planned on finishing our coverage of the Mississauga Mayor's By-Election with our episode last week. However, something crossed our path that we couldn't ignore. A column appeared in the Toronto Star, titled Good luck, Mississauga. With your new mayor, you’re going to need it. The column was written by Ajay Sharma, a university political science lecturer specializing in municipal governance. Hi...

When Bonnie Crombie stepped down as Mayor of Mississauga to be the Ontario Liberal Party leader, it triggered a by-election to replace her in the city's top seat. Twenty people put their names in the ring to run for Mississauga Mayor. Of those twenty, four rose to the top as contenders for the job. Dipika Damerla, Alvin Tedjo, Steve Dasko and Carolyn Parrish. A close four-way race emerged, with po...

It's a good old-fashioned 905 Round Up! The Ontario government is on break now until October. However, Doug Ford shuffled his cabinet before he let out the Ontario Legislature. It's not anything incredibly noteworthy in our opinion. However, one raised our attention, and we thought threw fuel on the rumours from last week of an early election in Ontario. Stephen Lecce is out of the Ministry of Edu...

Rumours are circulating in Queen's Park of Doug Ford's interest in an early election for Ontario. Polls show he is riding high, possibly earning another majority for the Ontario PC party. He just won two by-elections in Milton and Lambton Kent Middlesex. He is moving ahead on the construction of the new Highway 413 in the 905 and is currently announcing beer in corner stores by year's end. All in...

A couple of stories caught our eye the previous week. In Newmarket, the town council heard pushback from the community over a proposed 9-story condo project, over concerns that a Tim Horton's drive-thru down the road could face increased times at the window. In Oakville, the Town Council received a harsh letter from Federal Liberal Housing Minister Sean Fraser threatening to withdraw their Housing...

Times are tough these days. It's getting harder and harder to make ends meet. Rent, mortgage, and gas are increasing, outpacing real wages and salaries for the average Canadian. Most noticeable to Canadians coast to coast is the price of food. It's harder and harder to stretch your dollar when feeding your family these days after stepping foot in a supermarket. Politicians like Pierre Poilievre li...

At the beginning of May, Pam Damoff, the Liberal MP for Oakville - North Burlington announced that she would be retiring from federal politics at the end of this term. She would not be seeking re-election. Her reasoning was a common refrain from female politicians across all party lines. The misogynistic and violent threats to her personhood and family had become too great to make the job worth it...

Well, the Milton By-Election has come and gone. The people of Milton handily supported Zee Hamid and the Ontario PC’s to represent them in the Ontario Legislature until the next general election. During the by-election, Doug Ford gave special attention to the riding.   In the last week of the campaign, Doug Ford made a point to reiterate that the controversial Highway 413 construction would begin...

When we started this podcast, one of the first episodes we ever did was covering the aftermath of the basic income pilot project here in Ontario. One of the first acts the then-newly elected Doug Ford government did was to break their word and cancel the project without warning. In that episode, we interview Jessie Golem, a resident of Hamilton who was one of the recipients of basic income. We spo...

The City of Hamilton saw itself come under attack by cybercriminals in early 2024. City Council, apps, phone communication and the city's library system were all inaccessible or unavailable. Criminals used malware to hold the city hostage until it paid a ransom. The city did not pay and eventually, and order was restored. This is not an isolated event though. Toronto Public Library saw its system...

Sabrina Nanji of the QPObserver joins us on this episode as we get into the weeds with the Milton By-Election. When Parm Gill announced that he was stepping down from the Ontario PC's to run for Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, it of course opened up a By-Election to replace him as Milton's MPP. Normally, By-Elections are sleepy affairs with little fanfare, however, this one has an undercurrent o...

Hamilton Police have been having a pretty bad start to 2024. Last month, the Hamilton Police Board made headlines when it took disciplinary action against one of its members, Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch for asking questions surrounding its budgetary process. As of this airing date, Councillor Kroetsch is suspended from serving on the Police Board in Hamilton. This bold action on the part of...

Last month, we released an episode on the rise of anti-semitism in the 905. We released it and thought it would be some time before we might have to revisit the topic. We were shocked to find out that only a few weeks later the topic would rear its ugly head once again in Hamilton. On March 19th, without warning The Playhouse Cinema in Hamilton announced unilaterally it would be postponing the Ham...

For years, the Doug Ford government has promised Whitby a new hospital. As the region continues to grow it is becoming apparent that the status quo in terms of its health care will not do. In a notoriously safe PC riding like Whitby and Durham, it seems like they would be a shoo-in for a brand spanking new hospital, just like Doug promised. So where is it? Why hasn't the Doug Ford PC's started the...

A few weeks ago, Hamilton City Council voted to redesign its major street running into its downtown core. The new plan is to essentially divide Main St, a one-way six-lane wide boulevard running through the middle of its downtown into a two-way street, despite concerns from city staff that this would create a problem with traffic, leading to congestion. Their concern is that this move will limit t...