Roland and Joel announce a big change to the format going forward

Mark Cripps of the Insurance Bureau of Canada shares why the industry is warning us all of climate change costs

Laura Steiner Chats about the Trend of Car Thefts in the Region and we look at low voter turnout in Hamilton

Brian Lilley waded into the Hamilton Centre By-election with an accusation of antisemitism against the NDP. The Liberals jumped on his bandwagon, and the NDP fought back. Who does it help?

Have the Ontario Liberals turned a corner? Meanwhile, the PCs are swimming in corporate money in a world where corporate donations are illegal. What gives?

<p>We like to pride ourselves on being open to opposing view points. We concede that sometimes we don't always get it right</p><p>However, we also pride ourselves on offering the chance for those opposing viewpoints to come on and clear the record.</p><p>Which is sort of the story on how we invited our guest this week to the podcast.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Stella Ambler joins us today.</p><p><a href="https://municipalwatch.ca">Municipal Watch</a></p><p><strong>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.</strong></p><p><a href="https://905er.ca/membership-account/membership-levels/">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><p>Or, why not <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p><p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a></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>

Joey Coleman of thepublicrecord.ca joins us to share his take on the first 100 days of Hamilton's new council.

<p>The 905 Round-Up is coming to you early this week!</p><p>A follow up on stories we've already touched upon on the podcast. Starting with the Halton District School Board. Last year, the board made international headlines when a transgender teacher was photographed wearing enormous prosthetic breasts in a shop class at Oakville Trafalgar High School. At the time the board stated that it had no dress code policy to enforce teacher attire. It's concern was over the potential human rights violations when it came to any other transgender teachers in their employ. At the time, freedom convoy protesters shifted their focus from COVID-19 to the high school and set up shop outside. At the time we had Caryma Sa'd on to share her coverage of the protests. Since that time however, the story hasn't gone away. Parents have organized and petition not just the school board but the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce to intervene. Pressure is on for the HDSB to come up with a workable policy to solve this issue. Last week, the Toronto Star published a story detailing the latest developments at the board. Surprisingly, parents are not pleased with the latest proposals for a policy and the board is looking to re work it. Joel and Roland debate who's really to blame for this predicament and how can a solution be found?</p><p>After the break, we look at the ongoing saga of Highway 413. The potential legacy of Doug Ford has had its problems. Despite the Premier's eagerness to see it built, he just can't seem to get the job done. It was one of the few promises he made during the campaign. Yet, it appears that not all the paper work is in order. According to the Toronto Star, the province is skipping over some of the environmental assessments that should be done prior to breaking ground on a project of this scale. This has caught the attention of the federal government and they have begun their own assessments of the project. Why the urgency to skip the rules in the first place? Could it have something to do with who will actually profit from this highway? Will it even be built? Joel and Roland discuss.</p><p><strong>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.</strong></p><p>Why not <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/the905er">buy us a coffee</a>?</p><p>Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See <a href="https://www.patreon.com/the905er">https://www.patreon.com/the905er</a>. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions.</p><p>Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/the905er">https://www.patreon.com/the905er</a>. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team.</p><p>Nicholas Paul: sound editing.</p><p>The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!</p><p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a></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>

It shouldn't surprise you to know that housing is at a crisis in not just the 905, but all of Ontario.  In fact, across Canada, housing prices and supply are in crisis mode.  Our supply of housing in whatever form you wish to choose, whether it's a d...

February as many of you are aware is Black History MonthEach year through the month of February figures and prominent individuals of african origin whether they be activists, politicians, artists, musicians, authors or historical figures, are front ...

If you're a fan of this podcast, then you'll no doubt be aware of our fan of smart urban design.  For years the car guided how we designed and built our cities.  The idea was that we would alway require a car to get from place to place where we live...

The Premier hosted a Stag and Doe for his daughter's wedding last year and surprisingly all of his closest developer buddies got an invite whether they liked it or not to attend. To literally hand over envelopes of cash. How this does not topple his...

Another weekly brace of stories affecting the 905. When is disrupting a democratic meeting appropriate? Uncle Doug is building nuclear power plants. Uncle Justin is thowing money at the provinces to spend on healthcare to make up for the fact the pre...

Roland spent most of January in Scotland, and took the time to record his impressions of Edinburgh's Tram network, which opened it's first phase in 2014. The tram's construction was anything but smooth (sound familiar?), but now it's here, what's it ...

Laura Steiner sits in for Joel as we discuss the late Hazel McCallion's legacy for Mississauga and the 905 region. And we share some first impressions (recorded before Tuesday's interview with Kate Graham - go and listen to it if you haven't heard it...

At 10am on Sunday former Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful Kate Graham posted an open letter on her Twitter account which certainly achieved something Ontario's Liberals have not done too often lately--it got people talking about the Ontario Liberal...

Roland returns to the show, and Joel has the privilege of bringing him up to speed on all he's missed around the 905 and the province in his absence.  Share in the shock and awe!We recap privatization of health care.  It turns out Hazel McCallion, w...

The Greenbelt continues to be front stage in Ontario politics.  Doug Ford's reversal on his stance to allow developers to begin building inside the Greenbelt is proving to be rather unpopular to say the least.According to the Ontario Progressive Con...

Joel is joined by guest host Laura Babcock for this episode.The last municipal election saw Hamilton being the only municipality which saw real change.  An old council was effectively replaced by fresh blood.  Bringing in new ideas and perspectives ...

While searching for stories to cover on this podcast, we often look through social media to keep an eye on what we think is relevant to life in the 905.  In that process, we come across various personalities online.If you’re on Tiktok and follow any...

With Roland on a break for a bit, we reached out to a former guest of the podcast, Laura Steiner to come on and fill in on the mic.We pick up on our closing story of 2022, and how Doug Ford's greenbelt troubles are only starting.  This week the OPP ...

We are back from our break for 2023.Just prior to the New Year, word spread around the province of the tragic killing of OPP Officer Gzregorz Pierzchala in the line of duty, just outside of Hamilton.  The accused in that case have been apprehended a...

This is our last episode for 2022 folks!As per a yearly tradition, Roland and Joel look back at what they saw as their top stories of 2022.  Without going too much into detail, the Halton Catholic School Board's fight over the Pride Flag as well as ...

(Updated with corrected interview file.) Once again we are looking today at the Ford government’s attack on environmental protections, and its handing of power and financial windfalls to a small number of major developers who just happen also to be m...

Doug Ford in a public interview shot back at criticism of his Bill 23 from Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, by saying she should 'quit her whining'.  Earlier this month he shot back at Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk's analysis of his government's hand...