The Great Canadian Talk Show

Sports talk is on deck to start Episode 26. Marty and 'The Man With All The Unusual Answers' Spirited Kenny talk about some of the exciting Sunday football results and the Bombers heading to the championship game. Then Marty explains a bit of his early days as an aspiring hoopster in a sports-minded childhood, and his side-door entry to the wrestling game as a broadcaster. We encourage all listene...

Episode 25 opens with Marty's memory of how kids at Winnipeg Hebrew School were sternly lectured they weren't in kindergarden anymore, and Spirited Kenny noting the discovery of a fifth dimension that's kinda mind-bending.  6:45  We make a few corrections to civic election information discussed in our last podcast - the actual number of robocalls made by the Glen Murray campaign on E-day...

Our election wrap-up is the theme of Episode 24 - and we look at the results, the campaigns, the media coverage, and we point out THE headline that Winnipeg media has dared not utter. Hear what the result really meant about 34.00 in. And CTV gets spanked for their 'Decision Desk' faux pas and non-apology.  First- Marty walked past the Glen Murray HQ windows around noon on the way to&nbsp...

Episode 23 starts off , unexpectedly, with the lessons taught to Marty by Yoram Hamizrachi, Nick Ternette and other grassroots journalists of the 1980's about the power structure in Winnipeg; the elitists still flex their might when an election rolls around.  Encompassing the 'society' types, the political class, and the mainstream media, their circle jerk is a big reason why there was a 'lac...

Episode 22 opens with a little Bomber talk; then a rundown of the pending/requested replies to Marty's questions (via TheJ.ca) for Mayoral candidates Shaun Loney and Rana Bokhari about antisemitism, and for Winnipeg MP Marty Morantz about whether he thinks a tax increase by the next Mayor would improve middle class prosperity or do the opposite. 8:10 - We look at the latest Leger election poll, an...

This is a special episode that combines the TGCTS 2022 Winnipeg election coverage with Marty's work as editor-in chief of TheJ.ca, Canada's national onlne Jewish newspaper.  Last Monday the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg held a mayoral forum which included 2 questions specifically on antisemitism and anti-Zionism.  The board of that organization does not represent the grassroots Jewish co...

5:00  We note the passing of 'climate crisis' debunker Dr. Tim Ball , who supported us on Kick-Fm and Shaw-TV. Here is one of his excellent videos . 11:30  The flyer of St. Boniface candidate Marcel Boille makes some important points about how St. B has lost out by joining Unicity and watching their tax dollars go to "Winnipeg" and got nothing in return except for spiraling crime rates a...

A midweek special commentary by Marty that runs about 16.00 minutes with a summary explaining why the CBC-TV investigative findings yesterday  A) fit an undeniable, disturbing pattern in the career of Glen Murray, and   B) will force more questions about Glen Murray's history that Winnipeg MSM (CBC aside, keep that in mind the rest of this essay) has oddly avoided putting under the...

Episode 18, despite the numerical error at the beginning, is up! Marty educates Spirited Kenny a little bit about the High Holy Days and Jewish guilt and then veers stright into civic election news opinions and info-tainment...  5:00 Not many policy announcements had traction so far - but Tom Brodbeck told Free Press readers one that is "doable" -- is Jenny Motkaluk's idea to legally seize de...

Episode 17 begins with Spirited Kenny lamenting the Bombers bombing out in Hamilton and then the armchair versions turn to discussing the evolution of quarterbacks as athletes since the 50's and 60's.  5:30 - Two notes about local school trustees and the school board election. One, Kevin Freedman is a candidate in Ward 5, seeking to regain his seat. The other is a sitting trustee in St. James...

We open Episode 16 by talking about Marty's coverage in TheJ.ca of antisemitism in the federal government, and his upcoming story about the relationship of Queen Elizabeth II with Canada and with Manitobans. Then he offers some personal comments about his experience in Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2001 and how the aftermath led him back to Winnipeg, noting it eventually led to meeting Spirited Kenny.&...

Episode 15 is a rambling session with Marty and Spirited Kenny that kicks off with Bomber talk! And not just the close game, but the Labour Day Classic telecast. Marty compares it to the great sportscasters he knew and emulated as a teenager and says fans deserve better from the TSN broadcast booth.  7:30 - The details the media miss: The Promenade Cafe closing... where?   We noted issue...

The Magic Word Is 'Starter' as Marty finally got to the bottom of the car problems! But even without getting to live events with candidates this week, we had lots to talk about in Episode 14. And as we predicted - crime, policing and public safety continue to get big attention from the Mayoral hopefuls. 2:45 - We get a couple of small corrections on the record from Episode 13 (Attn: S. Dobson and...

One of the most popular interviews Marty conducted during the 2014 Winnipeg Mayoral race was with a political unknown - Robert-Falcon Ouellette. He parlayed an unexpected 3rd place finish to ride the wave of Trudeaumania Pt. 2 to Ottawa the next year. Now he's taking another shot at the Mayor's chair, and Marty spoke with him about his 'surface lot redevelopment tax' plan, and also quizzed RFO abo...

We received an extensive response to the comments of Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie about the entry of Kevin Klein to the Mayoral race-  if you want the entire reply of Coun. Klein, we can email it to you.  5.00   The response began with Klein's view of Wise Up Winnipeg driver advocate Chris Sweryda: "Chris is one of many who have tried to bring things to light . .. City employees, and t...

Another mid-week edition focuses on a Mayoral candidate who speaks from the inner city, Don Woodstock. He held a press conference on Wednesday, challenging Glen Murray to sign a Winnipeg Mayoral Service Agreement promising to serve the full term - unlike his last whirl in the Mayor's chair - if elected Mayor on October 26.  3.10 Don Woodstock told the media: "Glen Murray is a habitual quiitte...

Our plan to talk about those 'other' candidates took a turn on Thursday, when CBC reported that a retired Ontario small-town Mayor claims she was intimidated by Glen Murray on behalf of a housing developer in 2013. Murray wasn't a lobbyist, he was a Liberal cabinet minister in the Kathleen Wynne government. Winnipeg newspapers are ignoring this scandal, but we aren't. In Part One: 6.00 C...

On Wednesday, about 100 people gathered in Assiniboine Park to hear Councilor Kevin Klein declare he was aiming for the top spot at 510 Main Street. "The system is broken. The system is not working for you."   After winning election in 2018 as the representative for the ward of Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood, Klein spoke his mind at City Hall and established that he was no fan of the approach Ma...

Two main topics this episode: A blog post that echoed our civic election themes about crime and public safety, and then we explain- what kind of a poll did Glen Murray 'win' anyways?  In the opening banter - rest assured this is Episode #8, not #7 as Marty said (but corrected later in the show.) The highlight (?) of Spirited Kenny's week was seeing his first local Instagram star in the flesh....

In this episode, you will hear the surprising press conference where Winnipeg Mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk broadsided rival Glen Murray over his undisclosed unfinished business with Elections Canada.  Murray did not meet the deadline for filing expense and donor documentation after his failed 2020 try at the federal Green Party helm; Motkaluk discovered the province-hopping career politic...

This week the podcast turns to voters raising serious concerns that Winnipeg needs to have fixed. The message from the South Osborne Residents' Group to those vying to win the Mayor's chair is clear:  South Osborne 'is being treated like the North End of the South End', and that has to stop.  Long-suffering homeowners of South Osborne say "Transit Oriented Development" co...

Marty's got civics covered!! But first, he gets the lowdown from Spirited Kenny on his Blue Bomber gameday experience last Friday, when the locals edged the Calgary Stampeders to go 6-0 in the CFL West. It's a funny change of pace and provides a chance to hear Kenny talk about the stadium atmosphere, the fans, the game, and his evaluation of the team's biggest strength. At 6.00, we review how we w...

No Rogers network crash is going to stop The Great Canadian Talk Show from telling you what you didn't know about Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth.  At his press conference on Friday, he did everyone the favour of proving he is a major civic election issue.  Smyth spoke to the media only after feeling the heat from the police union , after Winnipeg Police Association President Moe Sabou...

'Five Questions for Candidates' kicks off with Aaron McDowell, who registered on July 4 to be a candidate in Mynarski ward, where he had done case work as an EA for over 10 years. This is a great discussion with a person who understands the ways a city does- and does not- work properly, and how that affects residents and businesses every single day.  "A meat and potatoes campaign" is how...

(... bad couple of weeks, actually.) After talking about what they did on Canada Day - Marty was hosting CWE wrestling in West St. Paul and Kenny was Mr. BBQ - the discussion steered towards The Forks. The 'New Day' didn't quite work out for the government-appointed Board of Directors.  ******* The violence continued at Winnipeg's flagship gathering place the past week, with a stabbing here a...