mayoralbyelection

Guests: Toronto Star columnists and guest hosts Emma Teitel and Edward Keenan

When Olivia Chow won the mayoral election Monday night, she ended 12 years of Conservative rule at city hall, bringing a message of hope, harnessing hunger for change and riding a bicycle festooned with flowers. Ed and Emma recap how she won the election, discuss Ana Bailão’s last-minute surge, discuss the performance and prospects of some of the other candidates, and try to assess the difficulty Chow faces now that she’s taking office.

This episode was produced by Paolo Marques and Edward Keenan

Guests: Toronto Star City Hall Bureau Chief David Rider, and reporters Alyshah Hasham and Ben Spurr, join guest host Edward Keenan

Just before the final weekend of the Toronto mayoral campaign, Premier Doug Ford and former Mayor John Tory told us who they’re voting for. The fact that they did it at all was a bigger surprise than the names they came up with. How much difference can it make at this late stage? Our panellists look back on the campaign that was, the post-election prospects for councillors and the unknowns they’ll be looking at on an election day where the question might be “who and what is Toronto for?”

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Crawford Blair.

Guests: Toronto Star City Hall Bureau Chief David Rider, and reporters Alyshah Hasham and Ben Spurr, join guest host Edward Keenan

One week before election day, undecided Toronto voters are wrestling with the choice of who to vote for as the city’s next mayor. To help, we’ve assembled the reporters of the Toronto Star’s city hall bureau, who have been covering the campaign. Together they go over the latest poll results that show Olivia Chow with a more commanding lead than ever and tackle questions from readers on provincial relations, public space, budget issues, who gets to keep their job while they run, who gets coverage and other issues.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Paulo Marques.

Guests: Denise Balkissoon, Ontario Bureau Chief for The Narwhal, speaks with guest host Edward Keenan

In the final weeks of the mayoral election campaign, journalist Denise Balkissoon wrote a piece for The Local looking at the environmental platforms of the major mayoral candidates and mostly found them wanting. She joins Edward Keenan to walk through the promises and approaches of front-runners including Olivia Chow, Mark Saunders, Josh Matlow and Mitzie Hunter, and talks about a sense of resignation not just about the issue but about quality of life in Toronto.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Sean Pattendon.

Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan

With less than two weeks to go before the election, candidates are making their closing pitches to voters and in this campaign, a surprising number of those involve claims to be the only candidate to beat Olivia Chow. Our Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel talks about some of claims and assesses their credibility, including a comical trip into Mark Saunders’ website FAQ. The panel also discusses the potential for surprises, which losing candidate might still come out ahead in the long run and a range of other ballot-box issues.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Sean Pattendon.

Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan

Signs are blooming on lawns across the city. The advanced polls are open, which can only mean that the election is nearing. With just over two and a half weeks left before the city goes to the polls, it’s time to reconvene our Toronto Star All Star Opinionator panel.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Crawford Blair.

Guests: Jennifer Keesmaat, former Chief Planner of Toronto, 2018 candidate for mayor and partner with Markee Developments speaks with guest host Edward Keenan

We all know that fundraising is a key part of running a mayoral campaign, and that the rich and well connected have a leg up. But how? Former candidate and former top city planner Jennifer Keesmaat talks about her first-hand experience of trying to fund a campaign for mayor of Toronto and how she thinks grassroots candidates should try to overcome those challenges. She also dishes about her first-hand experience with the current crop of candidates, her assessment of the race so far and why she thinks it may be turning into a wire-to-wire walk to the finish line for one candidate.

Toronto Star columnists Emma Teitel and Edward Keenan co-host this episode of “This Matters” to discuss how Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Olivia Chow, Mitzie Hunter, Josh Matlow and Mark Saunders performed at the Toronto Star-United Way sponsored debate at the Ted Rogers School of Management, a part of Toronto Metropolitan University. It was moderated by Keenan and held May 31.

This episode was produced by Alexis Green, Edward Keenan, Emma Teitel.

Audio source: CP24

Guests: Scott Reid, advisor to former prime minister Paul Martin and political analyst with CTV, speaks with guest host Edward Keenan

Exactly 21 years ago, Scott Reid’s boss, then Finance Minister Paul Martin, delivered a speech on the need to give cities a new source of revenue. It was regarded as the new deal for cities, and a speech Reid recalls led to Martin’s departure from Jean Chrétien’s cabinet. Now all these years later, as Reid and guest host Edward Keenan agree, Toronto needs to demand a new deal that acknowledges Toronto is different than any other city in Canada. Reid, a “lifelong political hack,” talks through how mayoral candidates should approach it as a campaign issue to win a mandate and how it might work out in practice to create leverage if anyone won the election on that message.

Audio source: CSPAN, Canadian Question Period, June 3, 2002

Guest: David Rider, City Hall bureau chief

We are learning a lot more about the candidates running to be mayor of Toronto, particularly the six leading contenders who have floated to the top while 96 others are in the mix somewhere else. Amid a busy week of campaigning that included a handful of debates, here’s what we are learning about their policy positions and what we know our city wants in a mayor post-John Tory.

This episode was produced by Brian Bradley, Paulo Marques and Raju Mudhar.

Audio Sources: Twitter, City News

Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan

Our political panel talks about the election race as Toronto enters the feverish debate season, and asks what to make of the polls, how a big lead can disappear, whether voters want hope or anger and which candidates are bringing real talk on taxes.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Paulo Marques.

Guest: Mark Richardson, technical lead for HousingNowTO

According to polls and the platforms, housing affordability is THE big issue in this mayoral election campaign, especially as the city’s Housing Now program has failed to get shovels in the ground (or people in apartments). Mark Richardson’s citizen-led HousingNowTO organization has monitored the problems and progress all along, and has been taking all the major mayoral candidates on walking tours of proposed sites to show what’s holding things up and what potential is out there. He joins guest host Edward Keenan to outline what all the major candidates are proposing to build on city land (so far) and how.

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques and Edward Keenan.

Guest: David Miller, former mayor of Toronto and managing director of the C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy

While other issues have grabbed more headlines, Toronto faces no more fundamental challenges over the next few years than its billion-dollar budget gap and a provincial premier eager to force his will on the city. David Miller draws on his experience as Toronto mayor (and on lessons learned in the schoolyard for how to confront bullies) to offer his perspective on the way ahead, the power of a mayoral mandate and where to find a sense of optimism for the city.

This episode was produced by Ed Keenan and Paulo Marques.

Guest: David Rider, City Hall bureau chief

Ontario Place is becoming an election issue in the Toronto mayoral byelection. It is early days, but the province’s controversial plans to redevelop the waterfront site is something candidates are already using to stake out their ideological turf while also signalling how they plan to deal with the Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford.

This episode was produced by Alexis Green, Paulo Marques and Raju Mudhar.

Audio sources: CityNews