The Matt Brown Podcast

Dr. Martin Horak is here to talk about the municipal election. Martin is an expert in Urban Politics and a professor at Western University. He was also a member of the London City Council Resourcing Taskforce, which that saw the current members of city council vote for a significant raise from just under $70,000 now to $94,000 as a starting point for the new term of council, coming in this Novembe...

Hello London - This is The Matt Brown Podcast. It’s the show about all things local, and maybe some other stuff too. It’s another good show for you today. You may have noticed that this show has been a little quiet over the past week or so. I want to tell you why. I’ve been working on a new start up project with my business partners - some names that you are likely to know. Steve Cordes, Mike Dona...

The London Municipal Election is well underway. Local journalist, and one of my business partners at London Ontario Online News (LOON), joins the show to tell us all about it. You can find The LOON over on Substack. As always, thanks for listening!

A new Project! This is Buckle Up, your weekly update about all things London brought to you by London Ontario Online News - that’s LOON for short. What's LOON? Mike Donachie, Cedric Richards, Diana Tamblyn, Steve Cordes and I have teamed up to provide London leaders like you with 5 products per week that will focus on all things local. You can find us over on Substack. This week, all of the conten...

Mario Circelli  joins us to tell us everything we need to know about the 24th annual Forest London City Music week it's lauches tomorrow on Saturday June 6th and it runs for 13 days wrapping on June 14th. Thanks for listening and hope to see you at a performance between now and the middle of June.

Between now and election day, I hope to have many candidates join the show to give us a sense of why they’re running, and what their vision for London is. Today, we’re speaking with the candidates from Ward 1. Today, it's Ward 1 Incument, Hadleigh McAlister during the second segment of this episode. First up is challenger, Roger Caranci. London’s municipal election is underway. We’re still in the...

What can the Urban League of London do for you? Luis Patricio, the volunteer president of the organization, is joining us for this next segment. Luis is an urbanist, an educator and a community organizer. He’s also a PhD candidate over at the Geography Department at Western University and a lecturer in the Governance Leadership and Ethics program at Huron University College. Luis is going to join...

The Municipal Election is upon us. What should we be looking between now and the end of June? At the beginning of May, nominations for the municipal election opened, and now, close to 30 campaigns for seats around the council horseshoe are underway. Journalist Mike Donachie is joining us to give us an update about what’s happening in these early days of London’s municipal election. On May 1st, whe...

City Hall Watchers Steve Cordes and Devon Peacock are joining the show to take one last look back at the 2022 - 2026 term of London City Council. In this episode we take a look at the Good, the Bad and the Unexpected. By and large, this term of London City Council is coming to a close as our local government switches gears and the focus shifts to election ahead. If you're listening to this on, or...

The 2026 Municipal Election that is nearly upon us. Political Organizer, Nathan Caranci & Journalist, Mike Donachie join the show to provide some to provide some analysis about what’s happening right now, and what we can anticipate in the weeks and months ahead. At the beginning of May, candidates, both sitting members and challengers alike, will start registering their campaigns down at City Hall...

Late last month, Prime Minister Carney and Premier Ford launched an Multi Billion Dollar Housing Affordability Program that’s likely to have a significant positive impact on the housing market - right across the country. Mike Moffatt and Jared Zaifman are joining us today to take a deep dive into the details of the plan. The program the Prime Minister & Premier launched is called “Canada-Ontario P...

Today, we’re trying something new. It’s a podcast, inside of a podcast. Devon Peacock hosts The Morning Show over on 980 CFPL. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he hosts a political panel and he invites me to join in, from time to time. So, that’s what we have for you today. Devon’s Political Panel, Steve Cordes and I join him to talk about floor crossing at the Federal level, potential term limits for el...

Today, community leaders, Mojdeh Azad and Paul Hubert are joining me to talk about the Mayor’s “Home Ownership Incentive Plan”. He called it his “Big Announcement” at the London Chamber of Commerce State of the City Address held back in January. He used what are called, “Strong Mayor’s Powers” to direct staff to develop the plan quickly and, since that time, the idea has received a bit of a rough...

Skylar Franke is currently serving her first term as Councillor for Ward 11, and serves on the boards of the Middlesex London Health Unit, Upper Thames Conservation Authority, various council committees and finally as the Chair of the London Transit Commission. That's why she's joining the podcast today. London Transit has had some ups and downs over the past year or so. In fact, 3 council appoint...

Tomorrow, The mayor’s “Home Ownership Incentive Plan” that he announced at the London Chamber of Commerce State of the City address this past January is coming back to the council’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, that’s council’s Committee of the Whole for a second kick at the can. The recommendation received a bit of a rough ride and a referral back to staff back in February, so we’ll...

You might know that London was designated as a UNESCO city of music back in 2021. The initiative is currently run out of the Tourism London Office. Ward 6 City Councillor Sam Trosow is going to join us to tell us how he thinks the first 5 years of the program have gone and he’s going to tell us what he wants to see next. UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiz...

Homelessness, a towering tower, campaign donations, wider drive ways and a look ahead to the early days of the 2026 campaign. This episode is a milestone episode of sorts - depending how you count it, we’ve just passed 30 episodes for this podcast. As we head into spring, this podcast is making its way towards its first anniversary - we’ll celebrate that at the end of June. I don’t want to count a...

Mechele Tebrake is community care worker who has 23 years experience working the front lines of the homelessness crisis. Melissa Schembri is a frontline worker who has been doing this work since 2018. There are over 2000 Londoners who are experiencing homelessness here in London and that number grows each and every month. People like Mechele and Melissa provide support to these individuals who are...

Rachel Macaulay serves as the Vice President of Philanthropy for Ronald McDonald House Southwestern Ontario. I don’t know if you are aware of, have volunteered for, or been supported by Ronald McDonald House. If you have, you will know just how impactful the work that they do is. Over the years, and from time to time, I’ve had a few opportunities to volunteer with various groups there - working in...

UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It was formed in 1945 and has 194 members states today. It manages the World Heritage Centre (which designates World Heritage Sites), promotes education for all, supports scientific research and protects cultural diversity. Back in 2004, UNESCO introduced a Creative Cities Network (UCCN). This network highlights ci...

Mike Donachie is a communications leader and journalist who’s been an engaged Londoner for many years. He’s a former City Hall reporter for the Metro London newspaper, later serving as director of communications for Libro Credit Union .These days he’s taken on a new public interest reporting project locally focused on his old beat - London City Council. You can find it over on Substack. He's joini...

Lieutenant-General (retired) Peter Devlin finished his military career as the commander of the Canadian Army. When he retired from military service in 2013, Fanshawe college brought him on board and he’s been serving as their president ever since. Under his leadership, Fanshawe College experienced significant growth. These days, the college, along with all other Ontario colleges, is experiencing a...

Episode 26, the first ever political panel was a looooong one. Guest panelists Mojdeh Azad, Steve Cordes, Carol Dyck and Paul Hubert joined the show to provide analysis of the Chamber of Commerce 2026 State of the City Address. Some listeners have reached out and asked that it be broken down into 6 segments: First Impressions, The Cumulative 4 Year Tax Increase, The London Police Service Budget, H...

Episode 26, the first ever political panel was a looooong one. Guest panelists Mojdeh Azad, Steve Cordes, Carol Dyck and Paul Hubert joined the show to provide analysis of the Chamber of Commerce 2026 State of the City Address. Some listeners have reached out and asked that it be broken down into 6 segments: First Impressions, The Cumulative 4 Year Tax Increase, The London Police Service Budget, H...

Episode 26, the first ever political panel was a looooong one. Guest panelists Mojdeh Azad, Steve Cordes, Carol Dyck and Paul Hubert joined the show to provide analysis of the Chamber of Commerce 2026 State of the City Address. Some listeners have reached out and asked that it be broken down into 6 segments: First Impressions, The Cumulative 4 Year Tax Increase, The London Police Service Budget, H...