The 905er Podcast The 905er

After a bit of back and forth, Roland and Joel have made a decision on how the 905er is going to be structured going forward.
We're looping all of you in on our decision making process and announcing how we'll be producing this podcast going forward.
Have a listen.
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Climate change is the biggest threat to our existence. Its effects can be seen all around us. So it's no surprise to find efforts being made to combat it's effects.
Its common place these days to find companies engaging in public relations campaigns to showcase their efforts to be more conscious of climate change. Whether that's in the promotion of a more sustainable product or service, or perhaps trying to highlight a campaign to give back to environmentally friendly causes. However one industry is taking a far more serious approach to the problem. Your insurance provider.
We've touched up on this before in previous episodes. The insurance industry in Canada has been crunching the numbers on the effects of climate change on their policies. For years now they have been raising the alarm. They do not like what they see. The costs of climate change are forcing the industry to see an increase in billions of dollars paid out under policies. That's a billion with a b, and that doesn't even go into what the uninsured costs can be.
It is clear that climate change is no longer a larger than us concept. It's real, it's here and it is already starting to affect us in the 905. So going forward what can be done in this province to help you and us, mitigate the costs of climate change to the most important asset we own, our homes? To answer that question we asked Mark Cripps from the Insurance Bureau of Canada to come on today.
Mark is a communications manager with the Bureau and works to help advocate to government and raise public awareness on the importance of shifting our mindset around climate change and how to prepare ourselves for it's effects. He has a background in communications and journalism as well, and he joins us today.
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Long time friend of the podcast Laura Steiner returns!
It's not news per se, that Peel region is a hot bed of car thefts. It's so common now, that you can find videos of thefts in broad daylight posted on social media. Cars have been reported found in shipping containers in Montreal or Halifax destined for the other side of the world to be resold by organized crime rings. Police have yet to make a dent in the ring, and it appears to be expanding. Laura shares her reporting on Halton Police's recent discovery of a chop shop in Milton along with the workings of an organized crime ring preying on the affluent cars and neighbourhoods of Milton. The evidence is mounting that this is not the actions of a few young kids looking for kicks each night. Rather a coordinated organized effort to steal cars on a whim and deliver them to overseas markets, all at our expense. The question Laura and Joel ponder, is are Halton and Peel police in over their head trying to tackle an international car theft ring? Where is the OPP or the RCMP on this file?
Then after our break: The Hamilton Centre By-Election continues on. Recent reporting from early voting shows only 5% of eligible voters have cast a ballot in this election. Low turnout isn't new in a by-election. However, the recent stories of the two progressive candidates, Sarah Jama and Deirdre Pike accusing the other of anti-semitism and racism can't make for an enticing option for voters seeking an option rather than the Ontario PC party. Is this a case of just typical low voter turnout for a by-election, or is it an example of when you throw mud you only get dirty?
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Brian Lilley waded into the Hamilton Centre By-election with an accusation of antisemitism against the NDP. The Liberals jumped on his bandwagon with candidate Deirdre Pike demanding an apology from NDP candidate Sarah Jama to the Jewish community. Jama fought back by accusing Pike of racism. Jama and Pike have both dedicated their lives to activism on behalf of disadvantaged and persecuted groups. So it makes perfect sense to have an election that paints career community activists as antisemites and racists.
And thus a man who, days later, would post a tweet ridiculing Jagmeet Singh's turban, and then furiously denied the tweet was racist asking why on earth would anybody think it was offensive, made the Hamilton Centre by-election worse for everybody, above all the people who live in Hamilton Centre.
Later in the episode we ask what happened to the climate emergencies declared in every 905 city in 2018/19? Can you guess?
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

The Ontario Liberal Party for the better part of last year was written off for dead. A humiliating result from the last provincial general election made many in Ontario think that the party would quietly fall into the trash bin of history. With no gains of seats in the legislature, the Ontario Liberal Party does not even have party status at Queen's Park. It's former leader Steven Del Duca resigned on election night, and for sometime it was a question of why would anyone want to take on the mantle of leadership? Well all that changed this past weekend. At their Annual General Meeting, new life was seemingly breathed into the once dead Ontario Liberal Party. A major change to their constitution opens the leadership race to one member one vote for all Liberals. Something that opens the doors for new members to enter the party. However most important is that there seems to be a legitimate race brewing for the top job in the Ontario Liberal Party. With three and possibly four high profile names being thrown around as contenders for a leadership race. Could the Ontario Liberal Party return from defeat to become the big red machine once again?
After our break, it appears that Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Government continue to rack up defeats in the courts. The latest loss is their Third Party Advertising legislation which was meant to curb the ability of unions and other grassroots entities from campaigning during an election. Third Party groups such as Working Families Ontario and Ontario Proud were legislated to limit the amount of money they could spend prior to a general election. Working Families Ontario took the government to court and won in the Ontario Court of Appeals, with the Court citing that the legislation infringed section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What does this mean for Ontario Elections? More importantly, does Doug Ford and his government know how to legislate? This government has not had a lot of wins since taking office and would rather invoke the Notwithstanding Clause than try to build consensus or write proper legislation. What does the future hold?
Lastly, while Doug Ford can't write legislation apparently he can throw a party. To the tune of $6.5 million. That is the sum the Ontario PC Party took in at their last fundraiser dinner in Toronto. Attended by the who's who of the elite of Ontario and Toronto's society. Who says money is not an issue in politics? Clearly it can buy you a seat close to power with a chicken dinner to go with it!
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

We like to pride ourselves on being open to opposing view points. We concede that sometimes we don't always get it right
However, we also pride ourselves on offering the chance for those opposing viewpoints to come on and clear the record.
Which is sort of the story on how we invited our guest this week to the podcast.
Last week we listened to another local podcast called What's the Point, produced by the fine people at the Pointer. They had on to their podcast Stella Ambler, former Conservative MP for Mississauga South to discuss her new non partisan political watchdog organization Municipal Watch.
Municipal Watch is billed as being a grassroots funded, non partisan organization tasked with keeping an eye on how municipal governments function and spend our tax dollars. All seemingly good things and something that no one would have an issue with...right? Well we had questions. We always do when it comes to people saying that they are keeping an eye on government. Usually it ends up being too good to be true. How does the organization decide what is worthy of their time? What makes a scandal in their books? How do they balance the competing interests and needs of the communities that they portend to look after? This is where watchdogs have to trend carefully in our opinion.
To get answers, we thought we'd reach out to Stella Ambler to see if she'd want to come on. If you're a fan of this podcast you can understand our trepidation, as Conservatives do not tend to come on this podcast...ever. To our delight and surprise, Ms. Ambler agreed to take time from her busy schedule to share her vision and passion for Municipal Watch and to fill in some of the gaps we have on this project. We were thankful to have someone with a different political take on things on to the podcast for a lively discussion on matters and to see where this new organization could fit into the political landscape of not just the 905, but Ontario and Canada as well.
Stella Ambler joins us today.
Municipal Watch
It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.
You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn't like sharing your generosity with that other 'patron' website, so we created our own patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you're not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win win!
Or, why not buy us a coffee?
Nicholas Paul: sound editing.
The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!