Okay, one minor edit. This podcast started as a daily show covering the 2018 Ontario Election Campaign. John Wright and I decided to jump in with both feet and we haven't looked back! Episode 1 kicked off on May 9th, 2018, the day the election writ was issued and the started the campaign that would result in Doug Ford's win. This is the 233rd episode. Today, we take a look at how much has changed in the province while, at the same time, noting how little things have changed in voting preferences...
May 09, 2023•32 min
In this episode of On The Ledge, your Ontario politics podcast: Keith Leslie and Dave Trafford wander down a podcast path about podcasts! (You won't believe how much it costs to produce a narrative podcast at CBC!) Also: the Health Minister has no co-ordinated plan to support people living with Long Covid. the University of Ottawa bails on Huawei over Chinese security issues. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie's seriously assessing whether to throw her hat into the OLP leadership ring. Horse race ...
May 05, 2023•41 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: We've learned the Therme has landed a 95 year lease at Ontario Place but still no details on the structure of the contract. And Jeff Gray reports in the Globe and Mail , the province is in talks with Ontario LIVE to "lease a prime spot in its Ontario Place redevelopment". Turns out the prinicipal and sole director of Ontario...
Apr 28, 2023•32 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: The Ford government made it "official" this week, unveiling fancy new renderings of the Ontario Place park that now includes a new and improved Ontario Science Centre. But beyond colouring inside the lines, there isn't a great deal of detail about the overhaul...
Apr 21, 2023•36 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: The Globe and Mail has exclusive reporting on the state of Long Term Care homes in Ontario. The Globe has discovered several for=profit LTC operators have opted to sell their properties to housing developers rather than pay for legislated upgrades. The province knew this was coming! Where's the plan to make up the shortfall...
Apr 14, 2023•35 min
The On the Ledge crew is taking the week off for the Good Friday holiday. But, we've got a great panel assembled to talk about the need for some form of a basic, guaranteed income. This is an episode of The 2030 Project - a podcast series produced for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto recorded in May 2022 and was released November 9, 2022. This week, Daily Bread released the latest stats on food bank visits in Toronto. They have hit an all-time high since the Daily Bread opened its doors fort...
Apr 07, 2023•32 min
The OTL gang is depleted! John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer are on the IRL, using up their portion of our healthcare dollars. That just gives Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford more elbow room around the table. In this episode: Keith and Dave run down the longer than usual list of items on last week's FRIDAY DUMP list.
Mar 31, 2023•37 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. It's the morning after the latest Ford government budget. It represents the largest spending in the history of the province. It's also the largest revenue numbers. All BIG numbers but to what end? Will it have any ripple around kitchen tables across the province? Meh. But it will resonate in municipal assemblies. The province keeps kicking t...
Mar 24, 2023•35 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Ana Bailao has made it official. She is running for Mayor of Toronto. Bailao is a former city councillor and served as Deputy Mayor during John Tory's first term in office. Bailao told John Moore on Newstalk 1010 it's time for the province to pay for the upkee...
Mar 17, 2023•36 min
Welcome to the first EVER edition of On The Ledge EXTRA! In this episode, we feature a sit down interview with former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. It ran as the March 7, 2023 episode of Now and Next. How does she view the state of the Liberal movement and Ontario. Wynne admits she prefers the delegated convention. She doesn't think she'd have won the OLP leadership in 2013 if it had been a one-member-one-vote convention. She thinks Trudeau mishandled the question of whether China has meddled ...
Mar 10, 2023•37 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer, has taken the day off from the podcast. In this episode: A post mortem on the Ontario Liberal Party's Annual General Meeting. We re-litigate the benefits of a Wieghted One Member One Vote process to choose the next party leader. The Financial Accountability Officer says the F...
Mar 10, 2023•38 min
On this week's edition of On The Ledge: The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. Can Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie save the Ontario Liberal Party? Why would she even want the job? But the panel agrees, Mayor Crombie would be a formidable foil for Ford. One-member-one-vote or a delegated convention? How should the ...
Mar 03, 2023•38 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. The New Democrats seem to think they'll get a different answer from the Integrity Commissioner to the same complaint about the Ford family "stag and doe". Meanwhile, the Minister of Health has NO answers, NO guarantees that privately operated surgery clinics will poach medical...
Feb 24, 2023•37 min
We're BACK! The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: John Tory steps away from the Mayor's Office in Toronto. What does that political hand grenade do to the Ford agenda at Queen's Park as the Ontario Legislature gets back to business next week?
Feb 17, 2023•31 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Premier Doug Ford tells Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie to stop whining and be a good partner! (At least he didn’t tell her to stick to her knitting). Ford goes off on a rant over Crombie’s opposition to Queen’s Park’s plan to eliminate Developer Charges as a...
Dec 09, 2022•35 min
OTL SHOW NOTES The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Why do we even listen to Bonnie Lysyk? Sure, the annual Auditor General’s report makes for great headlines. So, what? John Wright says the AG report is nothing better than clickbait. Toronto Star Investigative reporter Kevin Donovan has had more...
Dec 02, 2022•39 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Ontario’s premier has been AWOL this past week, skipping out on Question Period, failing to attend the Order of Ontario ceremony and ghosted Ottawa’s newly elected Mayor Mark Suttcliffe. Could the average Ontarian pick the Health Minister out of a line-up? Syl...
Nov 25, 2022•29 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: CUPE and the province go down to the wire hammering out a contract for support workers. If Ford Nation is all about taking care of the Children, where are they on the overwhelmed paediatric wards? The Health Minister has the gall to think we'll believe she had...
Nov 21, 2022•37 min
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: It’s Remembrance Day in Canada - November 11th. We take time to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our military and their families. AND, we are featuring an archived presentation of Embedded in Kandahar - a radio documentary Dave Trafford produced with th...
Nov 11, 2022•23 min•Ep. 214
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Ford Nation may have won the battle, forcing a contract on education workers but what kind of war has begun? Has Ontario's use of the Notwithstanding Clause pushed Canada towards a constitutional crisis? This is the third time the Ford government has used the ...
Nov 04, 2022•37 min•Ep. 213
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Horwath, Del Duca, Brown, Tory and Crombie are likely to help Ford Nation move quickly on the affordable housing file. The province has a surplus! Good for taxpayers. Bad for Ford. What is Ford thinking by refusing to testify at the federal inquiry in the use ...
Oct 28, 2022•32 min•Ep. 212
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion, Sabrina Nanji, Publisher and Editor of the Queen’s Park Observer and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: The Ford government is prepared to cough up $365 million to parents of school kids while telling education workers the government doesn’t have enough money to meet contract demands. So much for not negotiating in the media. Education Minister Stephen Lecce tel...
Oct 21, 2022•33 min•Ep. 211
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Is there room for optimism in the education contract talks? Is it time to declare education an essential service? John Wright admits he’s not a Mathlete! Where is the Health Minister? Latest numbers say hospital wait times are up across the province.. Newsrooms are dropping the ball when it comes to reporting on Queen’s Park...
Oct 14, 2022•47 min•Ep. 210
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: Quebec re-elects Legault and the UCP in Alberta chooses Danielle Smith to succeed Jason Kenney and the province’s premier designate. It puts pressure on federal-provincial relations. Is Trudeau up to the task? An Angus Reid survey says Ontarians “overwhelmingly” say Ford Nation is mishandling the healthcare, LTC, and housing...
Oct 07, 2022•37 min•Ep. 209
The OTL gang is assembled! Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: We mark the second annual Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and the truth is dozens of First Nations communities in Ontario remain under boil-water orders. We hear from Sol Mamakwa, MPP for the riding of Kiiwetinoog in Northwestern Ontario. One of the communities in his riding has been under a boil-water order for 28 years! ...
Sep 30, 2022•33 min•Ep. 208
The OTL gang is assembled! Sabrina Nanji from the Queen's Park Observer, Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: It's not debatable but we talk to Keith from his vantage point in Nova Scotia on his preparation plans as Fione bears down on NS, PEI and NL. The latest Angus Reid survey suggests Doug Ford’s approval rating has dipped four-percentage points settling in around 41%. John Wright sa...
Sep 23, 2022•35 min•Ep. 207
The OTL gang is assembled! Sabrina Nanji from the Queen's Park Observer, Keith Leslie at CHCH-TV, John Wright SVP Maru Public Opinion and SSN Chief Executive Producer Dave Trafford are around the table. In this episode: MPP's barely got back to business at Queen's Park and the Ford government has adjourned the legislature until AFTER municipal elections on October 24th. The “More Beds, Better Care Act" is a complete misnomer and does nothing to solve the long term problems in long term care. Bar...
Sep 16, 2022•34 min•Ep. 206
Friday, September 9, 2022 is the first full day of the Caroline Era. King Charles lll arrived at Buckinham Palace midday, meeting and greeting some of the thousands of people who are holding vigil outside the palace to pay tribute to the new king and his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth ll. Charles delivered his first public speech as the monarch at 6pm in the UK. He acknowledged the sacrifice and service his mother offered during her reign and made the same commitment. While he admitted he woul...
Sep 09, 2022•28 min•Ep. 205
We've got a newish cabinet at Queen's Park. It's version 1.5 - not quite 2.0 considering how few changes we see around the table. One exception is the announcement of Michael Ford as Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism. The On The Ledge panel joins this edition of The Daily Brief to talk what's next and what to expect in the next Ford mandate.
Jun 27, 2022•31 min
All this talk about a Liberal-NDP merger in Ontario is utter nonsense. Why would the NDP waste any energy or time "merging" with the leaderless Liberals, when they're well positioned to stage a hostile takeover. A re-energized NDP could easily render the Liberals irrelevant before the 2026 campaign. Sabrina Nanji at the Queen's Park Observer quotes a pair of party insiders on their thoughts about the party's future. " — JONATHAN SCOTT, longtime operative who ran runner-up MICHAEL COTEAU’s 2020 l...
Jun 09, 2022•14 min
