The 905er Podcast

For our one-hundredth episode, we welcome back Halton Catholic School Board Chair Patrick Murphy for an in-depth interview. In June, the board took the unusual step of ordering an investigation into itself - to see whether the frequently argumentative behaviour of trustees at board meetings went as far as breaking their policies of civil behaviour, and whether there was behaviour contrary to the interests if the board and students. Included in under that remit were discussions of allegations made by a trustee about Chair Murphy's own impartiality as chair. The subsequent report vindicated Murphy, but found plenty of evidence for dysfunction and a deep divide between two factions of trustees. We discuss the background to this divide, whether it is impacting the Board's work, and what can be done to restore civility. 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. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vaccine Passports are finally being unveiled in Ontario.  However, after being requested by public health for the summer, the rollout has been typical of the Ontario PC government.  It's messy and uncoordinated.  However, they are here now and what does that mean for avoiding a possible fourth lockdown in the 905?  And is it about time for the vaccinated to stand their ground and say enough is enough with anti-vax and anti-mask protestors? As well, Roland and Joel look at some of the numbers from election night in Hamilton, and wonder what does it say about Hamilton's problems with racism?     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. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We livestreamed election night, focusing on the 905 of course. We had a great time, with some terrific questions answered live on the podcast. Thanks to everybody who joined us. Not an election that will go down in the history books as being particularly memorable, when all is said and done, but we talked a lot about the way this election was run, and just why the opposition parties, above all the CPC, couldn't seem to make any significant headway against Trudeau and the Liberals. As Trudeau reaches the point in his career where people start talking about legacy (albeit he remains young by any standard), will he be seen as one of the Canadian leaders who is synonymous with the era they live in---as his father was---or will there be a nagging sense of potential never realised? 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. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our second interview with candidates from the 905 Region ahead of the Federal Election, we talk today to Adam van Koeverden, who is seeking re-election as the MP for Milton for the Liberals, a seat he won just two years ago when he defeated former Conservative minister Lisa Rait. Van Koeverden was a Canadian household name as an Olympic Gold, and multi-Silver and Bronze medal winner in Sprint Kayak before entering politics. In his first term as an MP he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. We discuss the climate change, electoral reform, First Nations reconciliation, the COVID recovery plan and much more in a wide-ranging conversation. Programming note: we have continued to approach numerous Conservative candidates with the opportunity to discuss their platform as NDP and Liberal candidates have done. This includes offering to add an extra episode in order that we can make sure a CPC voice is heard before election day. As of September 16th only one CPC campaign office has taken the time to return any of our messages. While we make no apology for the fact the 905er Podcast sees the news through a progressive lens, the reason we exist is to let listeners hear direct from people with influence in our region. We accord anybody who is willing to be a guest equal courtesy and respect, and we are delighted that MPs, mayors and councillors from across the political spectrum have been guests during the 905er's first year. It is disappointing that not one Conservative candidate has yet been willing to speak on the record to voters interested in hearing their party's platform. 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 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. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This summer, saw climate change creep back into the headlines, stealing attention away from COVID-19.  And for good reason. This year saw a record-breaking heatwave sweep the west coast, resulting in a town burning to the ground. Climate change is killing people. And yet, it seems barely been a point of debate in this election. In keeping with our effort to focus on the issues that are important to the 905 we invited Keith Brooks from Environmental Defence to the podcast.  Keith is Programs Director at Environmental Defence where he seeks to advocate for a cleaner environment and a greener economy.  He has a Master’s in environmental studies and has written many times on the need for a more sustainable economy. You can also read Keith's blog at https://environmentaldefence.ca/blog/?author=Keith+Brooks You won't want to miss this deep dive into election politics and the environment. 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 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. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every CPC candidate in Canada is gagged---forbidden from talking to podcasts---or so we were told by a party operative. As some of the worst aspects of modern political campaigns dominated headlines and anti-vax PPC supporters threw stones, we searched in vain for a CPC candidate willing to take a free 30 minutes to talk about their platform in depth. Although actually we did find candidate keen to chat. A highly touted one, well capable of representing their party. Listen to the podcast to find out what went wrong. While the CPC aren't alone in hiding from the media and public (try finding any candidate to speak to in Humber River-Black Creek), they have certainly gone furthest in turning invisibility into an art form. Roland and Joel ask what it says about the CPC when they're really not interested in speaking about their policies to anybody who isn't already 'on their side'. Finally we wonder what this election would look like if the Liberals hadn't broken their promise on electoral reform in 2016. Would we still be talking about a party with 32% of the vote 'winning'? 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 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 .... 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first of our 905 candidate interviews, we speak to Roberto Henriquez, who is running for the NDP in the Hamilton West--Ancaster--Dundas riding. Henriquez moved to Hamilton as a student, and now practices law where he represents 'everyday Hamiltonians'. We dive into the NDP's platform and look in particular at the housing affordability crisis that is a concern for millions of people across our region, as well as First Nations reconciliation and the NDP's environmental and climate change platform. The study Roland mentions during the interview, which analyzed each party's climate change policy and was critical of the NDP's plan, was carried out by Mark Jaccard at Simon Fraser University (not the Fraser Institute as Roland suggested) and published on September 3rd in Policy Options. Jaccard's analysis is only one assessment of each party's greenhouse gas reduction policies, and his conclusions have been suggested to be too narrowly construed by the Pembina Institute and disputed by Climate Action Network. It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please considering supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and 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... 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our Thursday 905 roundup this week we give our impressions of the early days of the 2021 election and why all the parties seem so far to be struggling to break through the apathy barrier, or find exactly what this election is about. The media landscape is dominated by pointing at the flaws of other parties rather than the qualities of their own platforms. It's a well-worn path, certainly, but does it have to be this way? Why does it seem like all the mainstream parties are falling over themselves in their attempts to lose? Joel and Roland give their free advice on what they think the parties should be doing to inject some life into this election. Are they right, or are they talking a lot of nonsense? Decide for yourself by listening and then let us know! The best comments may get shared and discussed on air in future episodes. This episode was recorded before the release of the Liberal Party platform on September 1st.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weeeee'rrrrrreeee back from our August break a few days early so we can fit in some great election coverage that focuses on the issues the 905 is facing. We promise as close to zero coverage of partisan games and gotcha politics as we can get, and a maximum of investigating real, honest-to-goodness policies, both those that the parties should be promising, and exploration of the policies the parties are promising. We kick off our election coverage with the return of Mike Moffat, Senior Director, Smart Prosperity and Assistant Prof, Ivey Business School, as we look at one of the issues dominating the early days of federal campaigns - housing affordability. Today we'll be looking at what an expert like Mike thinks the parties should be doing. In future episodes we'll putting those points directly to party representatives as we explore their platform promises. Mike Moffatt is Senior Director, Smart Prosperity and Assistant Prof, Ivey Business School. You can find much more on this subject and others at https://mikepmoffatt.medium.com/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now on Fountain.fm fountain.fm/the_905er987 Support us there and help keep the podcast going! “I Like Movies” is the debut film from Chandler Levack, set in 2003, and telling the story of Lawrence Kweller, a 17 year old boy attending Aldershot School in Burlington who is obsessed with movies and movie-making and who is hired to work in his local video store. Levack grew up in Burlington and attended the real-life Aldershot School, and so the film has a clear autobiographical side, but Levack chose to make her protagonist male rather than female, something that allows her to explore the world of obsessive young men in a fresh and interesting way. Isiah Lehtinen gives an outstanding performance as the awkward and sometimes infuriating Lawrence, and the movie features a number of other excellent portrayals from his co-stars, most obviously from Romina D’Ugo as Alana, Lawrence’s long-suffering boss at the video store. If you would like to see I Like Movies, it is released today (June 6th 2023) to on-demand services such as You Tube movies and Amazon Prime for viewing at home. More details can be found online at Mongrelmedia.com. We are delighted to welcome Chandler Levack onto the podcast to talk more about “I Like Movies”. This Episode is brought to you by Graham Agnew of Dominion Lending https://grahamagnew.ca/ It takes money and time to this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. 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! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobody works harder than Joey Coleman to monitor and report everything done at Hamilton City Hall. His opinions demand respect. After October's change election saw major changes in personnel on Hamilton council, there were high expectations for not just a change in tone at City Hall, but an activist and courageous council. Yet it came into being with perhaps its greatest challenge already determined by the province, when the Ford government declared as the new council was being sworn in that the previous council's decision not to expand the city's urban boundary was to be thrown out. That was just the start, as the provincial government has since made sweeping changes that reduce municipal powers over the planning process, and slashed essential city funding sources, leaving a funding deficit at the heart of every city in Ontario. But how has the new council responded to these challenges? Who is doing well? Who is disappointing? And how are the novice councillors and old hands handling their most ... erm ... delicate relationship - the one every councillor in Ontario has with City Hall staff? Because one thing appears to be clear: while there have been some big changes on council, the institution of Hamilton City Hall has begun the new era much as it ended the old one. With a host of baffling decisions and proposals that seem designed to highlight an institution with deep and systemic problems. 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. You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. 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! Or, why not buy us a coffee? Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m writing this introduction at 1am, about 6 hours before this episode goes live. I’m doing so despite the fact I could have written and recorded this introduction more conveniently at almost any time in the last five days. Instead, I left it to the very last minute, and literally the most inconvenient and unpleasant time to write and record. The reason why I’d do such a counterintuitive and counterproductive thing is, I learned about three years ago, because I have ADHD, like some three to five percent of adults, and have done my whole life. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder - which, among many other things, means it’s something physically built into my brain that makes me bad at doing the things I’d ideally like to do at the times I’d ideally like to do them. But I'm an expert at delving into unexpected by-ways, rabbit-holes and tangents. For me, it’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s both what has caused me to do the things I’m most proud of in my life, and the thing which has lain behind the greatest unhappiness. For others, it can be anything from a daily irritation to a debilitating lifelong condition. ADHD is the subject of today’s episode. Heidi Bernhardt, is a psychiatric nurse by training, mother of three grown sons with ADHD and the founder of the Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada (CADDAC), a Canadian charity dedicated to awareness, education, and advocacy for ADHD. Heidi was the Executive Director of the Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance (CADDRA), a national not-for-profit organization of the leading clinicians and researchers in ADHD in Canada, from 2006 to 2012. During these years she built CADDAC in her volunteer life, nationally incorporating CADDAC as a not-for-profit in 2006 and becoming the Executive Director and President from 2012 to 2019. Heidi currently focuses on the development of ADHD education and advocacy material and systemic advocacy while holding the role of Director of Education and Advocacy for CADDAC. She also continues to teach and present on ADHD for CADDAC. 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we are joined by Flavio Volpe, President of the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, who talks to us about Project Arrow, and how it has the potential to change the auto industry in Canada, internationally, and be part of the electric future of transportation. Flavio was a wonderfully engaging guest, and you won't want to miss hearing him speak about the innovation and discovery that is happening in one of Canada's most economically crucial sectors, as it faces the the challenge of moving from an oil-based to sustainable energy-based industry. If you like the what the 905er does, please consider supporting us at Patreon. For a week, for a month, for a year --- it all helps cover our costs and helps us cover more of the stories you want to see. Thanks to: Nicholas Paul: sound editing Our fantastic Team 905er Patrons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year into Covid-19 and our already-stretched mental health services in the 905 region are seeing unprecedented levels of demand. Adults and children alike are finding the uncertainty and isolation of life during pandemic to be a challenge, and as months have become over a year, those challenges only become more difficult. In today's episode Joel and Roland talk to Melanie McGregor of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Halton Branch, about how Covid-19 has affected our mental health services, and the fact that access to mental health professionals can be far more difficult than it should be, because it is not fully funded under OHIP. If you are facing mental health challenges because of Covid-19 or for any other reason, there are multiple services available to you 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Please make sure you speak to a professional as soon as possible. If you are experiencing a crisis, call Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST): 1-877-825-9011. If you are not in crisis, but need counselling, support or advice, CMHA Halton provides free walk-in counselling. At present this is being provided by phone. Call 289-291-5396 to speak to a counsellor within 24 hours. Outside Halton, CMHA has branches across the GTHA and all of Ontario. Visit cmha.ca to find your local branch. You can make a donation to support CMHA's work at cmha.donordrive.com. Mental health services specifically for children are provided in Halton by ROCK (Reach Out Centre for Kids). Their crisis line is 905-878-9785, and they provide multiple other methods for children and parents to contact them for assistance and support, detailed on their website. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel and Roland welcome back 905er regular, first ever '3rd time guest' and awesome Patreon supporter Shannon Gillies to discuss some of the problems with how debates on urban planning and intensification are discussed, how inevitable public resistance to change is handled, and how it can prevent us approaching the more complex discussions that need to happen if we are to design the best possible cities for our future. And do we need stronger city governments and stronger democracy to overcome the dysfunctional patterns we see in many 905 city halls? Then we look at the recent revelations with regard to Brampton's CAO, whose problematic career in Niagara has followed him to Brampton in what many would suggest is an entirely predictable manner. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are welcoming back Karl Dockstader and Sean Vanderklis to speak again about the latest developments that touch on the dispute at 1492 Land Back Lane on the edge of Caledonia and the Six Nations Reserve about 20 km south of Hamilton. Sean and Karl co-host the fantastic 1 Dish 1 Mic radio show on Sunday Mornings at 10am on AM 610 CKTB. You can also listen to current and past episodes. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year into the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to take stock and remind ourselves why we locked down. Amidst the sound and fury of the political debates, the voices of those who have experienced Covid-19 have largely been drowned out. Ashley Comrie spent two months in hospital with Covid-19 a year ago. She is still recovering and dealing with serious ongoing physical and psychological health challenges caused by the nightmare of Covid. A few weeks ago she wrote a Twitter thread about the government’s handling of the third wave that went viral. It perfectly summed up the frustration many of us have had with the failure to do the things needed to stop spread, combined with the insight that only a person who has experienced the worst of Covid can have. Every day of this pandemic, we need to keep the experience of people like Ashley Comrie front and centre. She has experienced everything … not just the worst of Covid, but the worst behaviour that the pandemic has brought out in a vocal minority. The fact that, after all that, she is still cheerful and delightful guest is testament to an extraordinary person. Follow Ashley at @ashleycomrie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are joined today by Dr Alexandra Power, a GP who works extensively with young adults through her practice at York University. Dr Power was one of the people who delegated on Tuesday night to Halton Catholic District School Board in support of a motion to fly the Pride flag over schools in June to show support for LGBTQ+ students in a motion brought by trustee Brenda Agnew. But on Tuesday night there was no decision. The numerous delegates who attended the meeting spoke and were questioned at length by trustees; over 200 members of the public provided their opinions on the subject by letter or delegation, clearly signalling the importance with which the public views this topic. And yet, when it came to their moment to make a decision, a majority of trustees voted to adjourn the meeting because it had reached 10pm. They could have extended the meeting. They could have made a decision. No explanation was given. No apology was made to the many people who had given up their time to contribute. The meeting ended, and with it the entire subject was adjourned until the next board meeting - when the process starts again. From scratch. In this episode we discuss the subtext to why the meeting was adjourned, the messages that are sent - whether intentionally or not - when democratic processes seem designed to belittle those foolish enough to want to contribute to their community, and the inherent problem with a publicly funded education board even considering LGTBQ+ issues - and the experience of LGBTQ+ students - in the third decade of the 21st century. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight will be a momentous night for the Halton Catholic District School Board. For weeks, the board has been wrestling with itself over whether or not the Pride flag ought to be raised over its schools. A motion brought by Trustee Brenda Agnew under the title "Supporting Our Diverse School Community" would direct the Pride flag to be flown over HCDSB schools and mandate a safe space poster in every class "to ensure that students in the 2SLGBT community are supported throughout the school year". This motion has attracted the support of numerous parents and students, who have written letters or registered to delegate in support for the motion.  However, others have expressed opposition to the flag, claiming it is not in line with the tenets of Catholicism. The motion has divided the Catholic community in Halton, Ontario, and the debate has raised questions once again about the place of publicly funded Catholic education in the province. We invited a former Halton Catholic School Board graduate, Niamh Shallow, onto the podcast to give her perspective.  Niamh is a third year Sociology major at Trent University, and has written in support of trustee Agnew's motion, and will be part of a delegation in favour of the motion at the HCDSB board meeting on Tuesday evening. Joining her is Deirdre Pike. 905er listeners will remember Deirdre from our episode on Hamilton Universal Basic Income pilot project.  She is also a recent nominee for an Ontario Newspaper Award for her column in The Spectator. Today she joins us as an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights who is also a practising Catholic. https://www.thespec.com/authors.pike_deirdre.html You can watch the HCDSB Board Meeting Live on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs1eFo6E0Cm7B2TwyDNIzMw The meeting agenda, including letters and delegation notes in support and opposition to the motions can be downloaded here: https://www.hcdsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/BOARD_2021_04_20_REPORT.pdf Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They didn't pave Paradise. Instead the City of Hamilton released 24 billion litres of untreated sewage into it. Thursday's episode covers three 905 stories: the latest changes of direction on our schools and an education minister with egg on his face; $5 million for Burlington City Hall's front yard; a new stinky mess in Cootes Paradise. But don't worry, the rotting mass of odiferous gunk is 'just algae', although that algae may be a product of damage caused by the sewage spill. Joel and Roland roll up their sleeves and dive in, so you don't have to. Thanks to those who help us put this together: Thanks to our 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. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to your automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices