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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 detached house, a condo or rental isn't keeping up with the population.  We have just not built enough to keep up our numbers.  We do not have enough places to live, is what it comes down to basically. Which is what Bill 23 was supposed to help solve.  Premier Doug Ford and Minister Steve Clark were going to unleash the power of the development industry by allowing them to do what they do best.  Build homes.  According to the Ontario PC government, the biggest impediment to doing that was the red tape and dastardly municipal governments around the province that held back the honest hard working developers. So with that Bill 23 was enacted, the Greenbelt was carved up and we are all now living in a housing development paradise.  Well not quite.  This week, TVO published an opinion piece wondering what Plan B was for the province's housing plans?  According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation new housing starts were down 31% in Ontario, in Toronto down 51% and only a 7% bump up in Hamilton.  In essense our housing plans are not working and we are not building enough to keep up with demand.  We need to build 1.5 million new homes over the next ten years so when is that going to happen?  Why are we not building like crazy at the moment? In our second half of the episode, we flash back a few episodes to our chat with former Ontario Liberal candidate Kate Graham, who was a signatory to a now infamous letter asking Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to run for the top job in the Liberal party.  Well Mike finally got back to everyone, and it's a no.  So what does that mean for the Ontario Liberal Party?  Was it a good plan to ask Mike? And what does the future of the Ontario Liberals look like?  In that regard what does the future of the opposition in Queen's Park look like for the next four years?  Should Marit Stiles and the NDP be worried?  Should Doug Ford?   Plan A for Housing is Failing in Ontario. What's Plan B? - TVO Today Mike Schreiner's Response to the Ontario Liberal Letter 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

February as many of you are aware is Black History Month Each 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 and centre in our schools and libraries. People of African descent have lived and worked on this continent since the first Europeans arrived.  Slavery was a part of colonisation of the continent and is tied to the foundations of Canada as much as it is the United States.  The struggles for equality existed here in the 905 and in Canada too.  And yet, how can over 400 years of history in North America be confined to merely one month of the year in our schools?   No doubt you can agree this is very very surface level telling of a rich and complex history in Canada. So does this mean we aren’t doing a great job of telling what ultimately is our own story? The story of black Canadians and for that matter other minorities who have worked to build what today is the country of Canada that we all wish to enjoy? On that note, we welcome back to the podcast Kojo Damptey to talk on the importance of Black History Month, and how it ought to be a stepping stone to a much more rich and diverse conversation of the true history of this part of Ontario and Canada as a whole.  And how it can help to dismantle systemic racism that permeates our culture. Kojo is the former executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion.  He is a former candidate for Hamilton city council, an award winning musician and instructor at McMaster University. Kojo joins us today. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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.  Spawl became a way of life and almost official policy for development in the 905.  In recent years however, sprawl has become problematic.  We have come around to the notion that we cannot keep building over greenspace to accomodate the growth that the region is experience. So what does that mean for our cities?  Well, for urban planner policy wonks, the notion of a city where the vital amenities of life would be within walking distance of our homes began to take hold.  Thus came the idea of the 15 minute city.  Groceries, doctors offices, small businesses, clinics etc, would all be within a 15 minute walk of one's home.  Is this doable? We honestly don't know.  But as a utopian goal for us collectively to build our cities around, it seemed like an interesting idea.  It's entirely a policy wonk's fevered dream. Which is why we found it ridiculous to find it coming up in Op-Eds and rallies by the far right as an evil plot by the World Economic Forum.  That this was just another step in an evil move by the WEF, or George Soros or whichever boogeyman you want to substitute into the argument to put us in manageable pens and fenced off districts to limit our movements.  All of which is laughably ludicrous and not true. However, in the world post-pandemic these conspiracy theories have a life of their own and often tend to poison discourse around good ideas.  We didn't want that to happen to the 15 minute city.  In that spirit we reached out to former guest of the podcast Glyn Bowerman of Spacing Radio to come on to discuss how we got here, and how we can work to keep the 15 minute city from becoming a bad word in politics. You can catch Spacing Radio here http://spacing.ca/podcast/ 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 Premiership is a mystery to us. This event singlehandedly might make Doug Ford's government the most corrupt in Ontario political history.   So where are the calls for his resignation?   And speaking of resignations, we look at the resignation of John Tory as Mayor of Toronto. Surprising? Uncalled for? The last desperate play to save face? Joel and Roland can't seem to agree on what this means for politics in the 905's biggest neighbour?   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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 premiers won't throw enough money at it themselves. Isn't that just rewarding the delinquents? And is the fact Canada's 'fiscally prudent' premiers are all demanding more money from the feds than they're being offered an example of nauseating hypocrisy?  Yes. Yes it is. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 yet) on the 40 Liberal insiders who have put their names to an attempt to co-opt Mike Schreiner from the Ontario Greens. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 Liberals. The letter was a public invitation, signed by forty prominent Liberals, including such noteable party grandees as Greg Sorbara, Deb Matthews and Lyn McLeod, for Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party, to throw his hat into the ring to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership. The reaction from Liberals, Greens and independents has been strong, and runs the gamut from strong support on one side to feelings of betrayal on the other. Some voices within the OLP (some likely supporting rival leadership candidates) are, quite simply, furious and feel the letter is damaging in both what it says about the once mighty Ontario Liberals, and what it says about prominent Liberals' faith in their own party. And while many would agree that politics in Ontario needs to change, is headhunting a leader from a rival and less-successful party the way back to electoral relevance for the Ontario Liberals, or a demonstration of callous disregard towards both the Ontario Greens and the party grassroots? Kate Graham joins us today to answer these questions and more in a fascinating exclusive interview. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!  

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, who made her reputation on sprawl in Mississauga is now over seeing the Greenbelt. And speaking of which it appears our property taxes are poised to take a hike. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 Conservative government the land is too valuable to not build housing on.  However, is that the only way to view the Greenbelt?  As a plot of land waiting to build housing on?  Michael Twigg of the Smart Prosperity Institute says otherwise. He helped to author a paper which views the Greenbelt as an invest waiting to be made in the conservation of the land.  Helping to preserve it to offset insurance costs, environmental concerns as well as the recreation values to be extracted from the Greenbelt.  The paper goes on to see how actual fiscal rewards can be extracted from the land now, rather than as land speculation down the road.  We speak with Michael on this episode about his report and how we can shift our thinking on the Greenbelt to something more productive for all Ontarians. Read the report here: https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/publications/investing-ontarios-greenbelt 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 to solve long time problems in the city, and possibly re-shape the relationship between the city and possibly the 905 and the province. A few months later, we ponder has the lustre been lost from that vision?  Laura chats with Joel about how new Mayor Andrea Horwath is settling into her new job as leader of the 6th largest city in Canada.  And if she's in step with the needs of Hamilton? 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!  

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 anything political, chances are you’ve come across Frank Domenic.  If you’re not entirely familiar with his online content we’ll provide a link to his profile in our show notes for you to get caught up. Those of you who do follow Frank, you are no doubt familiar with his passion for social equality, justice and fair play.  As well as his equal criticisms of the Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau governments.  Especially as both awkwardly navigate the effects of runaway inflation and the growing inequality in our economy.  Frank caught our eye with his quick and effective criticisms of Doug Ford’s overreach in the Notwithstanding Clause against CUPE workers.  And he continues to target the growing scandal list of the Ford government in their second mandate. As conservatives in Ontario seemingly enact more and more legislation without consultation of the public or accountability to anyone other than themselves, where does outrage and anger go?  Is there a role for individuals like Frank and to be truthful us, to inform and channel that anger into something productive? Frank's Tiktok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@frankdomenic 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 announced they were looking into what actually happened in Bill 23.  As well what the results of no development charges will actually mean for a town like Milton and others like it in the 905.  And lastly, it seems Burlington got a win, or did it? 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 and will face their charges in a court of law.  This episode is not about the details of that case. Instead this is about a tweet.  Just after news of this tragedy spread across the province, condolences and messages of sympathy were expressed by all peoples towards Officer Pierzchala's friends, family and colleagues.  One of those messages came from the Halton Police in the form of the Thin Blue Line logo on their Twitter feed.  In response to that, Indigenous journalist and former guest to the podcast Karl Dockstader tweeted a response, advocating his unease at the imagery being used.  Shortly afterwards the Halton PD took down the tweet. For many in the BIPOC community the Thin Blue Line imagery contains a lot of emotions and history to process.  And yet in a time like this, that image is perceived by many in the law enforcement community as a sign of respect and honour to a fallen comrade.  I wanted to chat with Karl to get his perspective on this and see where a common ground could be reached and what relations between all Canadians and their law enforcement services should look like in 2023 and beyond. 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 the surprising twists and turns of the Hamilton Municipal race topped out the stories.  As we highlight in the episode, Hamilton is turning into a new media ecosystem with more and more new media filling in gaps in coverage.  It's a trend we're proud to be a part of.  As well, we look forward to what's next. Speaking of what's next, we look a head to 2023 and what we predict will be the top story for the beginning of the year at least.  Our suspicion is that Doug Ford's greenbelt troubles are only starting.  And that this will prove to be an even larger scandal as more and more details become known. This is it for us in 2022!!! We'll see you in 2023!!! This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

(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 major PC donors. Last week Environmental Defence and Democracy Watch formally called for a police investigation into the circumstances surrounding apparent insider information leaks to developers ahead of the announcement of lands being removed from the greenbelt. Joining us to discuss the nature of the evidence, and the implications for both the environment and our democracy if the allegations prove to be true, is Tim Gray of Environmental Defence. Tim has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing environmental policy change efforts, and has worked with multiple governments across the political spectrum in pursuit of better environmental protections, working both with government, and alongside other activists on the front lines of the battles to combat climate change and defend the environment. This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

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 handling of casino money laundering by telling her to stay in her lane.  Why would he use such sharp language to these public figures?  Our theory is that it's because they are both women.  Which leads us to ask if Doug Ford has a problem with women criticising his actions? And then after the break we look at whether or not the Ontario NDP might have hurt their soon to be new leader Marit Stiles by not giving her a leadership race.  How is it that the opposition couldn't find another person to run for the leader of that party and potentially becoming the next premier of Ontario?  What does it say that no one else wanted the job?  And does Ms. Stiles have a bigger problem now of introducing herself to the province? This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

This month the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board reinstituted a masking policy. A decision which to no surprise drew the attention of both sides of this contentious debate. After a few pauses in the meeting, and a few removals of people by the police, the board was able to become the first board in Ontario to put in place an official masking policy.   Why did the board decide to wade into this hotbed issue? We invited on board chair Dawn Renchko Danko to the podcast to find out the answer.   This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

This podcast started as a bit of a passion project at the start of COVID-19.  We wanted to be able to talk about the issues and news of the region in a way that legacy media just wasn't able to.  A podcast seemed to be the best option to do that. Two years later, this is still a passion project for us but it's grown so much beyond just that for us.  We have been wanting to grow and expand to reach more people and take this project to a next level.  Recently an opportunity has presented itself to us to do just that. On this podcast we are joined by radio personality as well as podcaster, Dean Blundell as we announce our joining with his network to bring The 905er to a greater audience and help us develop resources to expand our coverage and storytelling for the next 200 episodes. This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

It turns out that the city of Hamilton continues to have problems with sewage.  This time it appears that for 26 years raw sewage has been emptying out into Hamilton Harbour.  The good news in this situation is that it also appears that Hamilton City Council is not covering it up and working to act proactively on the issue.  A sign of things to come? We shall see. A few weeks ago we talked with now Councillor Ted McMeekin about the Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters or HATS.  For sometime they were looking for permanent site for the shelters, and it appears they are one step closer to it.  A site on Barton St is where they are currently housed. Will it last? Lastly, Bill 23 has passed at Queen's Park.  Critics have been pointing out the costs that will be downloaded onto the municipalities of the 905 on top of the loss of greenbelt land.  However, the government is immediately going into spin mode to convince Ontarians that this will save them money.  Spoiler: It won't. This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

A question we constantly come back to on this podcast is what do we want our communities to be like. One of the ways to accomplish this is to ensure that our streets are pedestrian focused and safe for all who are on them.  This year a grassroots organization mobilized to bring this issue to the forefront of Halton politicians. Safe Streets Halton is a community organization focused on the elimination of traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in Halton region while promoting sustainable and healthy forms of transportation. It is a resource for the community and local government in reaching these goals and making Halton a safer and healthier region for all. We invited on Nick Morrison their founder to discuss with us Safe Streets Halton's vision for the 905. https://safestreetshalton.ca This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing.  Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing 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. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. 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. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!