The Life of a Servant

Season 4, Episode 2 MP Scott Aitchison Urges Creation of Thousands of Affordable Housing Units While Also Preserving Canada’s Legion Branches The lack of affordable housing has reached crisis levels across the G7, and Canada no exception. The good news? Ther e are some solutions. On February 2, 2026, Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development and the Status...

Season 4, Episode 1 Parliamentary Ethics: Should Canadian MPs Be More Independent? That was the question Massey College 's Public Policy Chair, Tom Axworthy , put to a panel of distinguished experts, including Dennis Mills as a former Parliamentarian, at a live event on January 6, 2026. Moderated by Tom Axworthy, the session explores the growing tension between Canada’s elected Members of Parl...

Season 3, Episode 3 Working Towards a National Food Plan for Canada In a recent episode of The Life of a Servant we talked about the importance of protecting Canada’s fresh water resources. In this episode we take another trip back to the year 2001 to hear a speech delivered by Dennis Mills in Canada’s House of Commons about food security . On March 20, 2001, Dennis was serving as the Member of Pa...

Season 3, Episode 2 This episode of The Life of a Servant takes listeners back 24 years, to May 8, 2001, in Canada’s House of Commons. On that day, Dennis Mills and several other Members of Parliament from all parties participated in a debate that focused on strengthening the safety, management and protection of Canada’s freshwater resources. The two other voices you hear in this episode are those...

Season 3, Episode 1 Who has what it takes lead now? Welcome to Season 3 of The Life of a Servant . In this episode, radio personality and podcaster Brian Crombie , of the Brian Crombie Radio Hour , chats with Dennis Mills about leadership. They talk not only about who’s who in the Liberal Leadership race in Canada, but what national leadership really means -- leadership values in our communities,...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 11 of The Life of a Servant . This episode features the uncut interview by John Oakley with Dennis Mills, originally aired on 640am in Toronto , in early December 2024. John talks about Dennis’ newest memoir, “ From the Wood Chair to the Green Chair ”, and how a couple of chairs ended up becoming a metaphor for a life in service. And while John dives deep into the deta...

Season 2, Episode 10 Insights about “From the Wood Chair to the Green Chair” with Vince Nigro In this episode, celebrated Media Personality Vince Nigro , Host of Insights on CamoesTV+, chats with author Dennis Mills about his newest Memoir, "From the Wood Chair to the Green Chair". In this 30-minute conversation, you'll learn about the inspirations behind " From the Wood Chair to the Green Chair "...

Season 2, Episode 9 In this episode, host Brian Crombie , of the Brian Crombie Radio Hour , chats with Dennis Mills about his newest book, F rom the Wood Chair to the Green Chair: A Memoir . Published in October, the book is a memoir about a life in service. Brian Crombie reviews the book, describing From the Wood Chair to the Green Chair as a compelling narrative about the value of working for ot...

Season 2 Episode 8 In this episode of The Life of a Servant , host Brian Crombie and Dennis Mills ask the question, Who Speaks for Canada? This episode was recorded for the Brian Crombie Radio Hour , aired and streamed on NewsTalk Sauga 960 AM, on September 30, 2024 – and was put in motion by a Facebook post by Dennis the week prior. During that week, the Bloc Québecois, a separatist political par...

Season 2, Episode 7 Food prices are something all of us are intimately aware of these days. So we thought we’d reach into the vaults and pull out a radio interview from 24 years ago that shows you’re not alone in your concerns about food security and making ends meet.  This episode features an unedited conversation between Dennis Mills , internationally celebrated musical performer, Sylvia Tyson ,...

Season 2, Episode 6 This episode features a conversation with Dennis Mills and John Oakley -- host of The John Oakley Show . Originally aired on AM640 (CFIQ) on July 31, 2023, and originally titled, "Remembering Sarsfest with Dennis Mills." This episode is the third in our series of interviews that looks back on Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto in 2003, how that event actually came to b...

Season 2, Episode 5 This episode was recorded for the Brian Crombie Radio Hour , aired and streamed on NewsTalk Sauga 960 AM , on August 4, 2023. In this episode, award-winning Host Brian Crombie interviews Dennis Mills about servant leadership. Dennis passionately explains that the 2003 event, Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, was successful because leaders collaborated and cooperated selflessly...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 4. On July 30, twenty years ago, more than 450,000 people joined the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, and a stellar lineup of performers at Downsview Park in Toronto for an event that became known as Sarstock . At the twentieth anniversary of that record-breaking event, Dennis Mills, your host of The Life of a Servant , chatted with celebrated radio broadcaster, Greg Brady...

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 3, of The Life of a Servant . In this episode, Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka, Scott Aitchison, and Bala Legion President, Dennis Mills, talk about the need for affordable housing in Bala, Ontario. They describe a community-planned solution that would provide assisted living to people over the age of 55. The plans are in place. The community partners are...

As we celebrated Canada Day this year, my grandchildren and I and talked about the overwhelming smoke caused by the wildfires in 2023, smoke that had been polluting the air in countless communities across the continent. We talked about the environment and what people could do to make a positive difference. That conversation reminded me of something similar that my team and I put together in 1989:...

We start Season Two with this first episode, one that was originally recorded last December, and one that exemplifies how a successful leader is also an authentic servant. On December 3, 2022, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, former Member of Parliament in Canada, and founder/owner of Future Bakery, served as the keynote speaker at a special charitable dinner hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion in Bala, Ontari...

Part 9: Social Cohesion and Moving the System Forward This final episode of the series, Part 9 of 9, focuses on a discussion of social cohesion. The discussion culminates into the question of how to move the "system" forward, and is from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. Part 9 features John Duffy, Gordon Dryden, Paul Martin, Bruce Powe, Michael Kirby and Serge Joyal....

Part 8: Health Concerns and Moving the System Forward This episode, Part 8 of 9, focuses on a discussion of healthcare and related health concerns, and culminates into the question of how to move the "system" forward, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. Part 8 features Carolyn Bennett, Hugh Cameron, Jim Coutts, Michael Marzolini and Tom Kent. We have enhanced the qu...

Part 7: Social Justice and Aboriginal Issues This episode, Part 7 of 9, focuses on a discussion of social justice issues, with a specific highlight of Aboriginal issues, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. Part 7 features Mark Podlasly, Tom Axworthy, Carolyn Bennett, Desiree McGraw, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, John Roberts, Michael Kirby and Dennis Mills. We have enhanced the quality...

Part 6: The Economy ... Continued This episode, Part 6 of 9, continues the discussion on economic issues, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. Part 6 features Robert Greenhill, Barry Appleton, Kimon Valaskakis, Robert Richardson, Dennis Mills, Sandford Borins and Jerry Grafstein. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurposed the di...

Part 5: The Economy This episode, Part 5 of 9, features a discussion about economic issues, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. The discussion features John McCallum, Michael Phelps, Dennis Mills, Tom Axworthy and Lorna Marsden. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurposed the discussion into this nine-part podcast series as part...

Part 4: Internet Issues This episode, Part 4 of 9, features a discussion about Internet issues how Canadians were facing the challenges of connectivity in 2002, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. The discussion features Candice Callison, Dennis Mills, Michelle Baert and Carolyn Bennett. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurpos...

Part 3: Culture, Cohesion and Connecting Canadians This episode, Part 3 of 9, features a discussion about how Canadians connect and find cohesion in such a vast geography, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurposed the discussion into this nine-part podcast series as part of our efforts to ad...

Part 2: Environment and Sustainable Development This episode, Part 2 of 9, features a presentation on the Environment and Sustainable Development by Desiree McGraw of McGill University, from a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurposed the dialogue into this nine-part podcast series as part of our e...

Part 1: Introduction This episode, Part 1 of 9, was the Introductory session of a conference held more than 20 years ago in Toronto. This session features commentary by Howard Aster, Tom Axworthy, Richard O'Hagan, John Roberts and Lloyd Axworthy. We have enhanced the quality of the original audio as much as possible, and have repurposed the dialogue into this nine-part podcast series as part o...