This week, the On The Ledge crew marks the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic noting some school boards intend to extend the mask mandate for students. It's also two years and a few days since Steven Del Duca became the Liberal leader in Ontario and this week marks the fourth anniversary of Doug Ford's ascendancy to the PC leadership. Just so happens to be the same week Patrick Brown and CTV News settled an $8 million dollar lawsuit. Brown alledged CTV defamed him by inaccurately report...
Mar 11, 2022•37 min
Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman has announced he will not seek re-election in the fall. Instead, he is expected to land the Liberal nomination in the riding of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte and challenge the incumbent Doug Downey, who is the Attorney General in Doug Ford's government. We also talk about Health Minister Christine Elliott's decision not to run for re-election in June.
Mar 04, 2022•39 min
The calendar says we're ten months from Christmas but the gift giving season is already upon us in Ontario. The Ford government is already trotting out pre-budget trinkets aimed at helping folks cope with the increased cost of living. That includes giving up an estimated $1 billion dollars in annual revenue by cancelling annual licence plate fees. That amounts to less than 33 cents a day. Not even enough for you to buy a coffee at Timmie's.
Feb 25, 2022•30 min
The Ontario legislature is set to get back to business next week following a 2 month recess. And there's no shortage of STUFF to get at today. Keith Leslie, John Wright and Sabrina Nanji from the Queen's Park Observer join me to review the latest in the Ottawa Occupation and the use of the Emergencies Act. How will that shape the ballot question for Doug Ford as we we head towards the June election here in Ontario.
Feb 18, 2022•30 min
Here's an OTL Bonus episode for you! This is from today's (Feb 11, 2022) edition of The Daily Brief. OTL Contributor, Founder and Editor of the Queen's Park Observer, Sabrina Nanji joins us. Get-tough plans at Queen's Park are great but they're still just talk unless the OPP and local police forces are prepared to enforce the measures. Cutting off fuel and funding for the blockaders is a long game that might get results in weeks(?) The need for action is immediate. The border crossings need to b...
Feb 11, 2022•19 min
It's been a minute since the Ledge rose for the Christmas break at Queen's Park. We will be back at the roundtable in a couple of weeks with the usual suspects parsing the provincial politics in Ontario. But today, we have a treat for you. John Wright and I sat down Thursday of this week, the morning after the federal Tories dispatched Erin O'Toole and discussed the future of the Conservative Party of Canada. It's a new podcast I launched this month called The Daily Brief. Check it out.
Feb 04, 2022•22 min
It's been more than a week since we knew the omicron variant had arrived in Canada. We know the positive cases are among those who have travelled internationally. Do we know their vaccine status? Nobody seems to know. Why? Because, it seems nobody's asking. The Queen's Park Press Gallery floated through an entire Q&A session with the CMOH Dr. Kieran Moore and no one asked whether the patients were vaccinated. Instead the bulk of the newser was taken up with questions about the possibility of...
Dec 04, 2021•31 min
It's always the coverup that causes a crisis! This week, the On The Ledge crew with Sabrina Nanji from the Queen's Park Observer, weigh in on the Wiarton Willie coverup. Oh ya, and we get around to the $10 a week Child Care plans, the pediatric vaccine rollout and the 4-13 is the project that just keeps on giving Ford Nation a headache.
Nov 28, 2021•36 min
Put up your hand if you understand the COVID test plan for school kids over the Christmas holiday? Seeing none...we move onto the next item of Suck and Blow. Seriously! It is becoming increasingly wearisome to have to figure out what's driving the Public Health strategy at Queen's Park. I'm all for connecting dots if need be, but this week we're left, AGAIN, having to draw our own dots!
Nov 19, 2021•29 min
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has commanded the political high ground by creating a political distraction - namely Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. They are to the media and the general public what a SQUIRREL is to Dug the Dog! Love or hate the idea of expanding a ring road around the GTA, it's turned out to be a stroke of political brilliance. Ford and company have created a ballot question while, at the same time, forcing the Opposition into a corner. If they criticize the highway plans, they'...
Nov 12, 2021•34 min
He passed away in August of this year and he was memorialized this week by family, friends and political colleagues of all stripes. Former Ontario Premier Bill Davis is remembered as a politician whose success came from his innate ability to include the opposition in his policy and legislative process. The service happened the same day the Ford government unveiled its Fall Economic Statement. What was in it? What was missing? One thing is clear, the Progressive Conservatives are saying "YES!" to...
Nov 06, 2021•33 min
Ontario's Minister for Long Term Care tabled the Ford government's bill outlining the province's latest promise to address the needs of our elders and most vulnerable. More money for more inspectors, more money for more staff training, more more of more... But what good are more inspectors if the standard of living in an LTC isn't properly addressed? What good is more tuition support for PSW training if there are fewer and fewer people interested in doing a poor paying job under the glare of pub...
Oct 31, 2021•30 min
At least it came with a Q&A opportunity. The Doug Ford government tells us what we already know, unveiling its cautious plans to step out of STEP 3. But Ford Nation still struggles with its obsession with the fringes when it comes to vaccine policies, voting down Opposition motions to make vaccines mandatory in the healthcare and education sectors. Meanwhile, hospitals and police forces across the province are already suspending non-vaxxed workers and preparing to fire those who don't comply...
Oct 22, 2021•31 min
Great to have Sabrina Nanji at the Queen's Park Observer join this week's edition of On The Ledge. The province of Ontario has started rolling out its proof of vaccine QR code initiative. But it won't be implemented until October 22nd. The Ford government says they want to make sure businesses and individuals have enough lead time to load their QR codes before they go into use. But the overwhelming and, as of yet, unsatisfactorily answered question remains: why didn't the province include restau...
Oct 15, 2021•29 min
Really? The province of Ontario decides major sporting events, cinemas and theatres are among the blessed sites that are now allowed to have full capacity. That means the Leafs and Raptors will be playing to full houses. But the "rules" still don't apply to restaurants, bars or gyms. Needless to say, the out-of-the-(Tory)-blue announcement prompts plenty of questions. But there's nobody to ask. The Chief Medical Officer of Health only offered his proclamation by way of a news release/statement o...
Oct 11, 2021•30 min
Chantal Hebert at the Toronto Star summed it up best on Election Night. "It was an election that nobody wanted and nobody got what they wanted." You can't even say we ended up with the status quo because the campaign only served to make politics more divisive at a time when the country cries out for leadership and vision to ensure we recover physically, mentally and economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions: Who among the federal leaders will live to fight another campaign? Is Doug Ford...
Sep 24, 2021•34 min
These final hours of the federal election campaign have made things clear as mud. The polls have consistently suggested the Liberals and Conservatives are in a dead heat among decided voters. The only confident prediction is we will have a minority government when all is said and done. Who will sit in the PM's chair? Not at all clear. Meantime, the Liberals have dumped Kevin Vuong as their candidate in a downtown Toronto riding after the Toronto Star reported he'd been charged with sexual assaul...
Sep 19, 2021•33 min
Is this an all or nothing campaign for Erin O'Toole? Does he have to win the September 20the federal election to keep his job at leader of the Conservative Party of Canada? Matt Gurney at the National Post joins us for this episode of The WRIT Race. He suggests O'Toole's term as party leader may be short lived unless he can boast "some kind of win", whether that's winning a minority or weakening Trudeau's minority. "O'Toole is out on a moderate, eastern, centrist Canadian limb for a party whose ...
Sep 16, 2021•33 min
It's not that silly a question when you consider two things. First, most Canadians didn't want this election to begin with. So, to see the Trudeau Liberals barely survive with a slimmer minority, (not the majority the prime minister coveted), will call his "mandate" into question. Second, it leaves it up to a wounded Trudeau to mop up the divisiveness of the campaign while coping with a new year that will be dominated by the fourth (fifth?) wave of the pandemic. Brett James, Senior Counsel at Su...
Sep 15, 2021•28 min
Yes, the tone has changed on the federal campaign trail. And that may have been predictable. But there was a nasty moment when protestors began making inappropriate comments about Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie. Deb Hutton says that's not new, but it doesn't make it right. Deb advised a couple of premiers in Ontario, worked on leadership and election campaigns and experienced campaigning as a spouse when her husband, Tim Hudak, led the Progressive Conservatives in the 2011 and 2014 Ontario electio...
Sep 14, 2021•22 min
This federal campaign has been dominated by wedge issues, personal attacks, and a disaster of a debate. Where is the vision? Where is the deep discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing Canada? Scott White, CEO and Editor in Chief at The Conversation Canada, joins John Wright and Dave Trafford in this edition of The WRIT Race.
Sep 13, 2021•28 min
The english federal leaders' debate was, in the words of Dana Bash, "a shit show." I heard "pundits" complaining that we always complain about the format and never focus on the substance of the debate. That's because the format is the problem. It doesn't allow for substance, let alone debate. The time has come to either overhaul the system, (take it out of the hands of the media consortium), or scrap the debates altogether.
Sep 10, 2021•27 min
Warren Kinsella is our guest on this edition of The Writ Race. He offers his insights on debate prep and whether, whether he wins or loses, Justin Trudeau is likely to lead the Liberals into the next election campaign. Kinsella doesn't think he wants the job anymore.
Sep 09, 2021•33 min
On today's episode of The WRIT Race, we're joined by Laura Babcock at Power Group. In a normal campaign, we'd be focussing on the french and english consortium debates. But that's been overshadowed by the increased harassment and violence that has target the Liberal campaign. John Wright points out this coincides with slow but steady gains in the polls by the People's Party of Canada. Has this underlying anger highlighted by anti-vaccine demonstrators and opposition to the vaccine "passport" set...
Sep 07, 2021•25 min
The french and english "consortium" federal leaders' debates will be broadcast this week. Bob Pickard, Principal at Signal Leadership Communications assesses the campaign messaging and tactics as the race to election day tightens. And Nik Nanos and his Nanos Research team have been doing daily polling. Nik says we're at a point in the campaign where an issue that may not be a top priority for Canadians can shift voting preferences in some key areas of the country.
Sep 05, 2021•15 min
This morning we woke up to news that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has decided to prorogue the provincial legislature. The Ledge won’t sit again until October 4th - two weeks after the federal election. Keith Leslie weighs in on Ford's strategy. And Thomas Mulcair, former leader of the Official Opposition in Ottawa, joined to assess the Labour Day effect on the national campaign.
Sep 04, 2021•15 min
Anne Lagace-Dowson joins The Writ Race #cdnpoli #podcast to offer a view from Quebec, the morning after the first federal leaders' debate in the 2021 campaign. Did Erin O'Toole's performance move the momentum needle for the Conservatives? Did Justin Trudeau do anything that would turn the tide for his Liberal fortunes?
Sep 03, 2021•29 min
Erin Trafford and Amanda Galbraith join us for this special edition of The Writ Race to talk about the role women should be playing in Canadian politics. And we also explore the idea that Rural Canada is increasingly being left out of the political discussion in this country.
Sep 02, 2021•23 min
Amanda Galbraith is back! So, another F-Sharp warning is in order:) We're now half way through the federal election campaign in Canada and the latest seat modelling suggests the Liberals and the Conservatives are in a dead heat. It suggests to Amanda that the televised debates will matter. It may well make the difference in motivating voters to go to the polls.
Sep 01, 2021•23 min
Bob Richardson is a longtime Liberal Party organizer and strategist. He's critical of the Trudeau campaign to date but says there's still time for recovery. It will be a fight between Trudeau and Conservative leader Erin O'Toole. Bob says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh isn't ready for prime time. Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair did the "gut work" to put the party on solid footing. And "this guy's doing TikTok videos."
Sep 01, 2021•25 min
