How did you learn to read? It's a question that you probably don't think about much however the way children are learning today likely differs from how you did. Should that change back or is this more modern method superior? Does the difference help kids with reading challenges like dyslexia? Guest: Dr. Erin Panda, Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University & Cognitive Neuroscientist

How did you learn to read? It's a question that you probably don't think about much however the way children are learning today likely differs from how you did. Should that change back or is this more modern method superior? Does the difference help kids with reading challenges like dyslexia? Guest: Dr. Erin Panda, Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University & Cognitive Neuroscientist - Many local Hamilton businesses are still recovering from the pandemic and the Hamilton Business Rally is here to help. Scott is joined by its creator to help explain how it benefits local businesses and how you can play a role in it. Guest: Krysta Boyer, Creator, Hamilton Business Rally - How long has it been since a Canadian hockey team has won the Stanley Cup? You might be surprised by the answer and maybe also a little suspicious. Scott discusses this and more with Bubba O'Neil. Guest: Bubba O'Neil, Sports Anchor, CHCH-TV

Air travel was once a glamorous endeavour however it's anything but that nowadays and much less so if you find yourself going through Toronto's Pearson Airport. What makes it such a slog to get through and is this something unique to YYZ or is there a larger issue at hand? Guest: Gabor Lukacs, President, Founder and Coordinator of Air Passenger Rights - The most recent season of Survivor has come to a close and we now know who the winner is. It turns out that we spoke with her a few months ago back when Survivor was just starting up! Scott catches up with Maryanne Oketch to hear about if her intense study of Survivor strategy was put to use, what it's like to win such an iconic show and more. Guest: Maryanne Oketch, Winner of Survivor 42

GUESTS: Neil LumsdenIncumbent MPP, Ontario Provincial Parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Esther PaulsWard 7 City Councillor  Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

Inflation is biting all of us. The benchmark interest rate has risen by half a point by the Bank of Canada to hopefully stimulate the economy as we did when the pandemic started. Guest: Marvin Ryder, Associate Professor of Marketing, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University - This upcoming Ontario election has seemed fairly quiet in terms of smear campaigns, hostile ads and all around negative feelings towards the opposing parties. Guest: Michael Taube. Columnist for Troy Media and Loonie Politics.  Contributor to the National Post and Washington Times.  Was a speechwriter for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  - KISS has announced their farewell tour, and in an interview Gene Simmons confirmed this will be the last one and then they will retire forever. The reason is "we don't think that people wanna see a bunch of old men on stage..." Guest: Eric Alper Publicist and Music Commentator 

An article about how journalists and the media at large has incorrectly covered the unmarked graves found throughout Canada has garnered an enormous amount of attention. What was actually said by the indigenous communities and how did that get misconstrued by the media? Guest: Terry Glavin, Ottawa Citizen & National Post columnist; Contributing Editor, Maclean's magazine; Senior Fellow, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights - We are just days away from finding out who will be crowned Premier of Ontario. As that day nears, it seems like the polls are saying one thing while social media is saying another. Does any one party leader have an obvious lead or is it a toss up as to which party will win? Guest: Stephen LeDrew, Political Commentator; Host, The LeDrew Three Minute Interview; Former President, Liberal Party of Canada

The ages of voters vary as do the priorities of those same voters. What kind of priorities does the younger voter have? Are they unique to young voters or are these priorities shared by many other voter demographics? Guest: Sarah Rana, Volunteer with Future Majority - This week's edition of Sports Talk with Don Robertson features an interesting position that the Hamilton Bulldogs may have found themselves in, consistency in referees' and umpires' calls, if the Maple Leafs should stay the course in the wake of getting knocked out of the playoffs' first round again and more. Guest: Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton features Graeme Mackay who joins Scott to talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hamilton, holding politicians accountable for things they did/said as children, Hamilton counsel making Main Street a 2-way street, is referring to someone as bald sexual harassment? and much more! Guest: Graeme Mackay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator

Guests: Are the unions support of the Conservatives a surprise?  Eric Kam Economics Professor Toronto Metropolitan University Will the Leafs be able to avoid a game seven and defeat the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champ Lightning Thursday? Is the Jays current cold streak cause for concern or is it early in the season still? Bubba O'Neil Sports Anchor CHCH News

With the recent Wayne Gretzky bridge incident with large debris on the highway, could the same thing happen in Hamilton? Guest: Lloyd Ferguson Ward 12 Councillor   With the government taking UFO research more seriously, has anything changed to make this more warranted than in the past? Guest: Chris Rutkowski Ufolofgist  Are youtubers really reacting to famous classic songs for the first time, or are they faking it for likes? What artists are the future or rock and roll music, plus this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. Guest: Eric Alper Publicist and Music Commentator 

Should everyone go to University? If they do, will their post graduate salaries be close to their expectations? Guest: Trevor Buttrum, Executive Director Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers With the ongoing effects of the pandemic on education, does reintroducing Grade 13 makes sense? Guest: Paul Bennett, Director and Lead Researcher of School House Institute After the Leafs game four defeat to the Lightning, what is the outlook for the rest of the series? What is standing in the way of more accountability for officials and referees? Can the CFL endure the possible strike with Collective Bargaining talks stalling with the players? Guest: Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton features Jamie West who joins Scott to talk about whether people can handle a joke anymore, whether or not Hamiltonians  should have to pay the same taxes regardless of the services they receive, swearing in politics and more. Guest: Jamie West, Host, The Jamie West Podcast & CEO, Westpro Media

If you spend any amount of time with your eyes open, you'll see an advertisement for some gambling site. Does constantly getting bombarded by these ads at all time of day make you want to place a bet or change the channel? Guest: Rick Zamperin, Host of Good Morning Hamilton & The 5th Quarter, News Director & Sports Director, 900 CHML - With Mother's Day only days away, Scott welcomes Dr. Jean Chamberlain who's done incredible work to improve women's health in developing nations. How is this being accomplished and how can you help this Mother's Day? Guest:  Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese, M.D.; Obstetrician, St. Joseph's Healthcare; Professor of Obstetrics, McMaster University; Co-Founder of Save the Mothers - Canada's rules surrounding who can access Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) may be changing in the not too distant future and that's made for a lot of controversy. What should qualify someone for MAiD and are morals something that should be considered in this conversation? Guest: Dr. Sonu Gaind, Chief of Psychiatry & Medical Director of Mental Health, Humber River Hospital; Co-Director of Adult Psychiatry Health Systems Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto

What makes a politician more likely to be voted in? Well as we approach an election here in Ontario, a professor has written an article about who he thinks will win and why. Scott welcomes that same professor to the show to talk more about this and why people are more likely to vote for one type of politician than another. Guest: Dr. Robert Danisch, Professor, Department of Communication Arts, University of Waterloo - If you take a look at pictures from back in the day circa 1970, you might notice that it seems like no one is carrying some extra weight on their body compared to today. Why is that? Why do we see more overweight people nowadays compared to "back in the day"? Guest: Richard Fast, Author, "Obesity: Cause and Cure"

May 9 is known as Victory Day in Russia, marking the defeat of the Nazis in World War II. The intelligence community is warning that there's a chance Vladimir Putin may use the holiday to increase his war effort against Ukraine. What would this look like and what could it mean for the conflict & the world as a whole? Guest: Dr. Christian Leuprecht, Professor at both the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen's University, and a Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute - The NFL draft is something that many football fans get together for and watch on TV but why isn't that the case for the CFL's draft? Should this be something TV networks start covering and if they did, is the viewership even there? Guest: Rod Pedersen, Host, The Rod Pedersen Show; Former Play-by-Play Announcer, Saskatchewan Roughriders - As the Johnny Depp & Amber Heard trial continues, many are tuning in to watch on their TVs. Should Canada consider bringing cameras into the courtroom to broadcast trials as they happen? Guest: Jeff Manishen. Former prosecutor; Criminal Defence Counsel, Ross & McBride LLP

The Green Party of Ontario's leader, Mike Schreiner, was in Hamilton today where he made a few campaign promises. Scott welcomes Mike to the show to talk more about what he wants to get done, his thoughts on potentially working with the other parties and more. Guest: Mike Schreiner, Leader, Green Party of Ontario - The war in Ukraine has interrupted a major element in the world's food supply. How large will this impact be? Dr. Sylvain Charlebois has written an article about this exact topic and the results don't sound pretty. Guest: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois a.k.a. The Food Professor, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University - As another week begins, another edition of Sports Talk with Don Robertson welcomes you to it. The Toronto Maple Leafs playing their first game of the playoffs tonight, the Blue Jays starting their series against the Yankees, officiating strictness between regular season and playoffs and more is on the docket tonight! Guest: Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

This week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton features Lorraine Sommerfeld who joins Scott to talk about the safety of Hamilton's streets, trusting autonomous cars, creating laws for space, equalizing the workforce, the prospect of kissing each other through the internet someday and more. Guest: Lorraine Sommerfeld, Auto Writer with Post Media; Motherlode columnist, The Hamilton Spectator; Host, Lemon Aid Car Show

Ontario has released its proposed budget however as we near a provincial election, you can be sure a portion of it was made with reelection in mind. Does any of it come as a surprise? How likely are we to see changes made to it? Guest: Dr. Eric Kam, Professor, Macroeconomics, Toronto Metropolitan University - 24 Sussex Drive is known to many as the home of the Prime Minister however it currently is anything but. We hear about how it's fallen into disrepair and how the PM doesn't even live in it. Is fixing it up worth doing or should it get bulldozed and have a whole new facility built? Guest: Chris Wiebe, Manager, Heritage Policy & Government Relations

The most recent census information released included the topic of aging. How will things like housing and medical attention be addressed differently to address Canada's aging and aged population? Guest: Dr. Lauren Griffith, Co-Principal Investigator, Canadian Longitudinal Study On Aging; Associate Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact, McMaster University - A press release from the CFL was sent out today announcing some changes that are being made to the game for this upcoming season. Some of the changes are ones you may not have ever considered but will certainly make for an interesting sight. Guest: Steve Foxcroft, Sports Broadcaster, NFL Chain Gang Member, NBA Court-side Administrator, Referee & Vice-President, Fluke Transport

Maintaining a city costs a lot of money but the income doesn't always match the costs a city faces so what's a council to do? Guest: Maureen Wilson, Councillor, Ward 1, City of Hamilton - We've just seen a ton of spending be done by Doug Ford's Conservative government thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic however as we near a provincial election, it seems like every party is announcing billions and billions in spending. Why isn't anyone considering cutting back spending and trying to get things back into a somewhat normal state? Guest: Dr. Ian Lee, Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University - Do you remember what your first concert was and how much you paid for that ticket? In the words of Bob Dylan, the times they are-a changin' because the average cost of a concert ticket has gone way up. Why? Guest: Alan Cross, Music Historian & Journalist; Author 'A Journal of Musical Things' & Host, The Ongoing History of New Music

A judicial inquiry into the Red Hill Valley Parkway began today and as this inquiry begins, there are lawsuits waiting in the queue to enter the courts. One such lawsuit is a class-action worth $250 million and the lawyer leading this suit joins Scott to talk more about what his suit is hoping to achieve and why it's being pursued. Guest: Rob Hooper, Lawyer, Grosso Hooper Law - As the Ontario provincial election nears, the political parties are putting out their platforms just as the NDP did today. While it can be described as many things to many people, Scott welcomes NDP MPP Monique Taylor for Hamilton Mountain to talk more about the platform and what the NDP wants to accomplish should they be voted in. Guest: Monique Taylor, MPP, Hamilton Mountain - This week's edition of Sports Talk with Don Robertson features Scott, live from FirstOntario Centre, and Don who talk about the Dundas Real McCoys' recent championship win, if it's better to be an underdog or not, if modern-day hockey will ever generate a player with the status of a player like Guy Lafleur and more. Guest: Don Robertson, Head Coach & Owner, Dundas Real McCoys & Broker of Record, ComChoice Realty

Scott welcomes Mike Fortune back to the show for this week's edition of The Brightest Conversation in Hamilton. Together they tackle topics like gun bans, the passing of Guy Lafleur, becoming one of the few to score a perfect game of Pacman, tuning out from the troubles of the world, fasting from social media and more. Guest: Mike Fortune, Co-host, The Hamilton Network, Cable 14

This year marks the highest rate of inflation in 3 decades! It's not something we should celebrate but it certainly is something that we need to talk about. Guest: Dr. Eric Kam, Professor, Macroeconomics, Ryerson University - How do we feel about the government in Ottawa? It's a question that has varying answers depending on where you live but if there's one thing that appears to be prevalent, it's a sense of pessimism. Guest: Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist & Founder, Nanos Research - This is not the first time the driver of the vehicle that hit and killed prolific conductor Boris Brott has had a vehicle-related incident. How might that previous incident, and the causes behind it, relate to the killing of Brott? Should this indicate something bigger that needs to be done? Guest: Jeff Manishen. Former prosecutor; Criminal Defence Counsel, Ross & McBride LLP

Steven Del Duca, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, joins Scott to talk about some of the things he wants to enact should be voted in as premier of Ontario and how he plans on actually getting them done. Guest: Steven Del Duca, Leader, Ontario Liberal Party - The Hamilton Bulldogs are crushing the competition this year in the OHL. The entire regular season yielded only 4 losses which means there's an obviously huge amount of pressure on the team. Luckily they've got loads of talent in the form of players like Arber Xhekaj. He's big, he's tough, he's talented and he's playing for his hometown team. How does he feel about all of this? Guest: Arber Xhekaj, #8 Defenceman, Hamilton Bulldogs - Not all streaming services are flying high with record numbers of subscribers, in fact, quite the opposite is happening to some. With Netflix seeing a drop in subscribers and CNN+ hitting way below its projected mark, we're also hearing about the potential for commercials to come to certain streaming services. Why are we seeing this happen? Guest: Bill Brioux, TV blogger, brioux.tv

We've seen many city councillors move on to provincial and federal politics under the banners of various parties while others have come from those domains into municipal politics. Is having municipal politicians associated with political parties something that we should strive for or avoid altogether? Guest: Larry Di Ianni, Host & Community Producer, Cable 14 & Former Hamilton Mayor - When athletes, coaches and general managers do poor jobs, they get replaced however this doesn't seem to be the case for referees and officials who do poor jobs. Sports like baseball rely on the keen eye and mind of the umpires to determine how the game goes but sometimes they are anything but consistent. Would having a computer replace the umpire make for a better game? Guest: Bubba O'Neil, Sports Anchor, CHCH-TV