<p>Coming off our previous episode with Evan Scrimshaw, the Ontario Liberals announced a major part of their housing platform. Their plan would eliminate development charges from municipalities, replace them with a provincial fund, end the Land Transfer Tax for new home buyers and bring in phased-in rent controls for renters. Is this what progressives seek to win themselves to the Ontario Liberals? And are we going to be eating our words after our previous episode? Well yes and no. We discuss why this is good and its shortcomings in actually getting housing built.</p><br><p>Our second story focuses on how Premier Doug Ford of all people in Canada is the one punching back at President Donald Trump. In retaliation to Trump's proposed 25% tariffs, his promise to cut off electricity to American states is the standout statement in what is shaping up to be a trying time between our two countries. Joel walks back his initial statement on social media and both of our hosts ask, is this what's needed?</p><br><p><a href="https://ontarioliberal.ca/more-homes-you-can-afford-bonnie-crombies-plan-to-make-housing-more-affordable/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ontario Liberal Housing Plan</a></p><br><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/doug-ford-tariff-threat-energy-exports-1.7408644" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Doug Ford on Donald Trump</a></p><br><p><strong>It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving and paying the bills.</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca</a>. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our 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!</p><br><p>Or, why not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><br><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p> <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4723909">Get bonus content on Patreon</a><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>The Ontario Liberal Party attempted something of a rebrand of their leader, Bonnie Crombie at the start of December. At their leadership dinner fundraiser, the party brought in $1.65 million for their coffers before an expected spring 2025 Ontario election. However, what made headlines was her keynote address where she broke ranks with their federal cousins and denounced the Carbon Tax, calling it a mistake and vowing not to implement one should she become Premier. This after years of the Ontario PC's branding her as a Trudeau Carbon Tax Liberal. In addition to that announcement, Bonnie Crombie also announced her support of funding police departments across the province. This is on the heels of many runaway policing budgets, as municipalities struggle to get their finances under control.</p><br><p>This sharp turn to the right, in search of chipping away at Doug Ford's base, has alienated many progressives in Ontario. Many of them are Ontario Liberal supporters who now feel alienated from the party. Will this rebranding of Bonnie Crombie 2.0 pay off?</p><br><p>To discuss this, we invited onto the podcast Evan Scrimshaw of Scrimshaw Unscripted. Evan has been openly critical of the Ontario Liberals as of late and his recent substack article has taken to task this recent strategy of the Ontario Liberals and made us question how viable their chances are of winning a majority of seats now in the 905.</p><br><p><a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-152616784" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Evan's Article on Scrimshaw Unscripted is here</a></p><br><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bonnie-crombie-trudeau-1.7403998" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBC's Article on Bonnie Crombie's Leadership Dinner</a></p><br><p><strong>It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving and paying the bills.</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca</a>. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our 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!</p><br><p>Or, why not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><br><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p> <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4723909">Get bonus content on Patreon</a><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>Police budgets are the biggest line item on any municipalities budget. It would logically follow that it would also be the most scrutinized. As it turns out it is virtually impossible to openly criticize and debate the use of tax dollars when it comes to policing in Ontario.</p><br><p>This is something our guest today resigned their position on Peel's Police Board for. Newly elected Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish resigned from the Peel Police Board over a proposed 23.3% budget increase which would lead to increased property taxes for Mississaugans. Something as Mayor, she was concerned with but not allowed to discuss openly due to the code of conduct for Police Board members not being able to openly criticize decisions.</p><br><p>We discussed a similar issue with Hamilton Councillor Cameron Kroetsch when he was disciplined by the Hamilton Police Board over his objections to their proposed budget increase. If duly elected municipal officials cannot publicly debate the spending of public tax dollars what does that mean for oversight or accountability?</p><br><p>These are some of the questions we put forward to Mayor Parrish as she joins us today on the podcast.</p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/2024/04/cameron-kroetsch-vs-the-hamilton-police-board/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Our episode with Cameron Kroestch on the Hamilton Police Board can be found here.</a></p><br><p><strong>It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca</a>. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our 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!</p><br><p>Or, why not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><br><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p><h3><br></h3> <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4723909">Get bonus content on Patreon</a><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>We rarely expect to return to the topic so soon when we air our episodes. However, that was the case with our last episode with St. Catharine's Mayor Mat Siscoe. We spoke with him about his reasons for signing a letter with 12 other Ontario Mayors requesting Premier Doug Ford give municipalities the power under the Notwithstanding Clause to remove homeless encampments from public parks and spaces. This proved to be a controversial debate. We were happy to have Mayor Siscoe on to provide his reasoning and give this topic the discussion it deserved.</p><br><p>Following the release of that episode though, a rebuttal letter was released signed by 40 councillors from municipalities across Ontario. The letter laid out the clear opposition to the Mayor's request for the notwithstanding clause to be used and made a direct appeal to the Premier to refuse their request. One of the signatories to that letter was Councillor Haley Bateman. Councillor Bateman represents St. Catharines in the Niagara Region. As Councillor Bateman and Mayor Siscoe represent the same constituents they would also be familiar with the details of St. Catharines' homeless population. We thought this would be a good apples-to-apples examination of the issue.</p><br><p>As such we welcome to the podcast Councillor Haley Bateman of St. Catharines to discuss why she thinks the notwithstanding clause is a step too far in dealing with the homeless encampments in our cities.</p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/2024/11/mayor-mat-siscoe-backs-his-decision-to-request-the-notwithstanding-clause/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Last week's episode with Mayor Mat Siscoe is here</a>.</p><br><p><strong>It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca</a>. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our 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!</p><br><p>Or, why not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><br><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p> <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4723909">Get bonus content on Patreon</a><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>On October 31st, 12 Mayors from across Ontario wrote a letter to Premier Doug Ford, requesting more powers to deal with the growing homeless and encampment crisis in our cities. Five of those mayors were from 905 cities.</p><br><p>In the letter, the mayors went the extra step to request the Notwithstanding Clause be used if necessary to give them the ability to override court decisions regarding the Charter Rights of homeless. Needless to say this has proven to be a controversial point. Some have gone so far as to say it’s an overreach of government and a step too far. Mayors on the other hand are saying they have exhausted the limited powers granted to them to deal with this problem.</p><br><p>We wanted to reach out to one of the signatories from the 905 to find out what made them decided to request such a controversial and impactful option with the Notwithstanding Clause.</p><br><p>Joining us today is Mayor of St. Catharines Mat Siscoe, who outlines his argument for why this option needs to be on the table.</p><br><p><strong>It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.</strong></p><br><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca</a>. 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!</p><br><p>Or, why not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><br><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><br><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p> <a target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/4723909">Get bonus content on Patreon</a><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>