Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Brad Bradford: Toronto Mike'd #1269

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

In this 1269th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with 2023 Toronto Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford about his campaign, his platform, and so much more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Pillars of this community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is Brad Bradford. Welcome Brad to Toronto Mike. It's running for mayor here in the city. This is a box that I think everybody wants to check and it's a huge honor to be on the show here with you. Well, good on you for wanting to do this.

My rule when it comes to active politicians is I don't pursue any active politicians, but if an active politician wants to come on and they reach out, if they're of a certain like stature, I will happily have them on for a conversation. And that's you, buddy. So thanks for doing this. 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. I want to say congratulations to you off the top. Congratulations on the arrival of your second daughter, Bronwyn. That's exciting news during

this campaign. It is. You know, for all the father figures, parents out there, there is nothing like the birth of a new child. To really frame perspective on all the issues of the day, the things that are most important. And, you know, my partner Catherine is a hero. And, you know, having that new baby come into the world on Monday was emotional. It was very special. And it's something I'll never forget.

Yes, absolutely. Father figure, also a good something I'll never forget. Yes, absolutely. Father figure, also a good George Michael song, right? Yeah, I guess so, for sure. I always have to remind myself, though, you are a millennial. Like, you know, this is sort of the home of Gen X and the GTA. But if you win this mayoral election here, you will be the first millennial mayor of Toronto.

There's an inevitability to millennial leadership at some point and happy to carry the flag for this one. Yeah, no, I'm a 1986 model. And I definitely have a generational perspective when it comes to the city and when it comes to the issues. And so it's an opportunity for a new chapter here in Toronto. So I was thinking to myself, like, did we skip Gen X? Like if you win, you're a millennial mayor. I can tell you, you know, John Tory, uh, David Miller, these are baby boomers. And then I realized, did you know Rob Ford was Gen X? I did not know that. He carries

himself like a boomer. Like he carried himself past himself past tense sadly shout out to ridley funeral home but you uh he carried himself like a boomer but he was absolutely gen x the uh yeah etobicoke's very own uh gen x i i haven't read the wiki on uh the date 69 okay all right well so he's right in the yeah he's right i mean 65 to 80 i would say is gen x and uh he's right in there 69 so he we did have a Gen X mayor, everybody listening, and maybe we'll have a millennial mayor. So a couple of lighter things off the top, and then we're going to get into it. But if you do win this election,

I would like you to say on the record right now that we will make Ron Hawkins' Peace and Quiet the official anthem of Toronto. I think this is the most beautiful song ever written about our city. We'll let it breathe for a moment, and then we'll get your feedback on that. years old appetites like souvenirs I turned around

you disappeared into a stream steeped in silence

I'm a sweet beer What say you? Will you make a promise to me right now that we'll make Peace and Quiet by Ron Hawkins the official anthem of this city? Let's do it. Let's do it together. I love it. You know what?

Music is, and Toronto artists, I had the opportunity of chairing the Toronto Music Advisory Committee kind of through the pandemic here and the music sector, performing arts was hit so hard by all of that, but it always music and songs take you back to a particular moment in your life, a particular moment in time. And there's so many incredible Toronto artists that sing about this city and their experiences in the city. And, you know, that's that's the relatability because you hear it. It means something to you and you reflect on it. So before we get into your campaign, the politics and everything, what are your jams?

Like when you're I don't know, you're we're going to talk about this when you're on a bike ride or I don't know, you're just walking the street. So what's in your your iPhone? What's in your headphones? It's a lot of stuff. I mean, you know, you go back to the millennial space. It's funny. Like I've always been a huge Chili Peppers fan and now I hear it on like classic rock stations. So every day I'm getting older folks, every single day. Now my jams are classic rock, but you know, Stephen Stanley is a friend of mine, lowest of the low. He's got a new album coming out, Chris Bennett. Like I like a lot of the folks of the low he's got a new album coming out chris bennett like i like a lot of the the folks in the east end making music i'm also a big garkels fan and you know growing up in hamilton jackson square that original album and how they've started bringing in the horns and

the more modern stuff that they've got going on so i like a lot of rock rock and roll i had i had a probably a metal phase did a lot of metallica in high school. Any Guns N' Roses? Yeah, GNR for sure. A little bit of that stuff too. You know, those rock ballads and big anthems are always. November Rain was a big, big champion. I'm a big Guns N' Fucking Roses fan, but you mentioned Stephen Stanley, by the way, just so you know, that's FOTM Stephen Stanley. You Brad, Bradford are now in FOTM.

Love it. Very good. Better late than never. And I do, I just, before you say that, I want to credit Matt Elliott, FOTM Matt Elliott, who taught me how to say the word mayoral. It's not as easy,

you know, mayoral, you've probably said it a hundred times now, but you know, you got to remember that's three syllables, mayoral. Yeah, I guess I hadn't

actually broken it down that way. Mayoral just kind of comes out of the mouth there, but it's good. And we've got these mics and these fancy headphones on so you can really hear the annunciation of how you deliver the big words. I've got to watch myself here. Now,

another word I struggle with. Brewery. Can you say brewery Brad Bradford? Brewery. It's not easy, right? How many syllables in there? That's ridiculous, but I have a message for you and then I have a little gift for you off the top. The message comes from Troy Birch. Do you know Troy? Love Troy, yeah. Big East energy from Troy Birch. Do you know Troy? Love Troy, yeah.

Big East energy with Troy Birch. Shout out to East York. Troy says hello and he wants more porch beers with you. And if you're having porch beers with Troy Birch, you're drinking Great Lakes beer. Proud sponsors of this program. Do you want to crack one open? I got a cold one for you, but you got to do it right on the mic.

Hashtag fresh GLB. Troy, Peter, the friends out here in the Big West, we like to drink these out East too. And I'm got a cold one for you but you got to do right on the mic hashtag fresh glb troy peter the the friends out here in the big west we we like to drink these out east too and i got a a tall boy here of the canuck pale ale always in the rotation at the bradford house and i just give you a big sip of delicious here no have a big sip we've still got uh peace and quiet going here and uh love and they're perfect timing okay now what time is it bars open anyways whatever so bars oh yeah it's 11 okay here we go uh james patterson wants to know is your middle name also brad this comes up uh it's why i shot that video with with my mom the brad bradford

origin story no for the record and i don't know if i've ever if this has ever been on the record, but Toronto Mike Premier, McDonald, McDonald, M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D. That's a Scottish background. It's somebody's last name on the other side of the pond there. Okay, not Brad. Okay, because what was news to me when you announced you were running

for mayor of Toronto is that you are not Bradley Bradford. Like I could always imagine you were Bradley Bradford. You're actually Bradford Bradford. No. No, okay. No, no, no, no.

I got bad intel. I don't understand how this gets so complicated. What's your first name? It's just Brad. Show me your birth certificate. Yeah, one. Yeah, birth certificate. Let's make that a thing.

It's just Brad. So B-R-A-D. And then you've got Bradford, which is the last name. So it's not Bradford Bradford. No, it never've got bradford which is so it's not bradford bradford no it never was now and this is where it gets confusing i don't know if you want to burn the time going through the story but originally at birth i was named bradford which was my mom's maiden name and uh you know my parents ended up splitting she went back to her maiden name and we collectively as a six-year-old we decided decided to make the decision to go with just Brad as my first name.

So went back to the maiden name, Bradford, first name, just Brad. Okay. Thank you for clarifying all that. I mean, a lot of jokes came in when I said Brad Bradford was dropping by. Ty Catmat, shout out to Hamilton right there, he says, I wonder if he was born in Bradford, but you're not born in Bradford. St. Joe's Hospital, downtown Hamilton. You know, I've taken some flack for that.

You don't have to move to Hamilton lawn signs. We can get into that. But no, Hamiltonian. And I just hope the great folks at Toronto don't hold that against me. No, we would never do that. Now, I mean, where was David Miller born, right? England, I think? Like, you're fine in that.

That's another Wikipedia page I'll have to do a deep dive on. A. Milton wants to know, when was the page. I'll have to do a deep dive on. A Milton wants to know when was the last time you rode a bike, a bicycle? Um, yesterday, yesterday I ride bikes, not as much as I would like to with, uh, with the campaign and, and newborn, but, uh, you know, I'll put on some serious kilometers on a, on an annual basis. And, and you know what, honestly, bike share is just the best way to get around downtown. There's no doubt about it. If you're able to do it, you don't have to carry your own lock, whatever. You just take the bike shares. Now that we've got e-bikes, uh, and those are available, it really flattens the geography of city, makes it more accessible. So best way to beat the traffic and the chaos on transit is by

bike. If that's an option for you, it's a good one. Do you remember the first time we met? You mean lots of people. No, no, no. I do. Yeah. GLB, Great Lakes Brewery, the opening of their brew pub down there, Queens Quay area. Yeah.

Jarvis and Queens Quay. And you would have, I'm sure, ridden over and I would have ridden over. Yeah. And we had another one of those fresh GLBs. So you were there to support GLB as I was and we talked cycling actually quite a bit. I'm going to just let everybody listening know this won't be

an hour on cycling. We're just going to do a little off the top because I could do an hour on cycling. Just to be specific here, Diamond Dog wants to know, and this is kind of where we start to get into policy and it starts to get into politics again here, but dog wants to know will you brad bradford commit to bike lanes including uh standing up to any opposition to them what is your stance on bike lanes i'm naturally curious as a cyclist who bikes every day of the year all year round in this city

yeah and put me in that camp too i mean um i ride all year round and you city. Yeah. And put me in that camp too. I mean, um, I ride all year round and you just got to dress for it, but I also know not everyone is going to ride all year round. No. Um, look, I, you know, we, we put the bike lane in on Danforth, right? Like that was leadership. That was not, you know, the easiest thing to do, but it was an important thing to do. So folks in the cycling community know that I support active transportation and safe bike lanes. But I would say as an urban planner, nobody around the world looks at Toronto and points to us as a city and says, that's how you should do bike infrastructure. Like, I think we have to be honest. We have some great examples, Adelaide, Richmond, Sherbourne, and then we have some less desirable examples, some that haven't

necessarily worked out like Brimley, for example. So how you do it, where you do it matters. We need to build real infrastructure for safety, for cyclists, also for drivers and pedestrians. And I think we have lots of room for improvement on how we do it here in Toronto, but I'm not the rip out the bike lanes candidate. That's somebody else. It's Mark Saunders. Yeah. It's not me. We can name him on the show. It's public information. No, I support it. I just think we have to do them better.

Yeah, that was like when I read that, I'm like, okay, that's rather regressive. But I'm naturally curious because you do actually bike. I don't know. I know that Olivia Chow does some cycling and I know some of these candidates cycle, but I always wonder,

like it should be mandatory before you become mayor of Toronto. Maybe you should just commute through the city on a bike, at least like one day, like you're going all year round as I am, but just, just experience that because it's, it's, you know, if you're driving downtown all the time, you have no idea what it's like for those of us who are cycling this city. Yeah. You know what? And it's also,

this is a city of neighborhoods and it's just such a great way to experience Toronto. Maybe, maybe not like rolling down February with all the slush and mess that's perhaps not for everybody but you know riding in the summertime i do it man i do it yeah no i have a bike around the corner with uh snow tires on it and ask my speaking to east york i went to see ron hawkins at the only cafe and it was a in the middle of a blizzard in the middle of winter and i biked there you talked with the danforth with my buddy cam gordon so i'm just going to shout out to uh shout out cam gordon but uh yeah sorry go ahead shout out to Cam and the only cafe another great spot there on the Danforth uh but yeah I mean it's uh I I think I rode probably 14 or 15,000 kilometers last year uh that's you know that's more than I did and I'm a little bit upset now

I thought my because I went 11.5 yeah yeah so I thought that was amazing. So not a flex, uh, and not, no, no, that's not it. It's, uh, I do a lot of road riding for fitness as well. And so that's not just all commuter miles, but I put them all together and,

and that's how you land on that. What app do you use to measure these? Right. You're measuring your rides, right? Strava. Yeah. So you can find me.

We should find each other. Yeah. Yeah. I think I don't think I'm trying to Mike or something, but I will totally, uh, connect with you on Strava, but that's amazing. Good for you. Those are real clicks and you're really doing it so i

just want to give you props up front on the uh the cycling i think it's awesome that's cool and and you know i would just add like that's uh back to your point whether you're riding for for fitness or for fun clear your head or just because it's you know the the easiest most convenient way for you to get around you do see the city in a totally different light when you're doing it on two wheels. And it's something that everybody should experience. Absolutely. And I went to the Jays game earlier this week and I bike there cause I always bike there. And, uh, I was just thinking it was amazing. Like the game was like two hours and I was at home and you know, where I live, I'm at home after biking home. I i did i didn't leave early and it was

a great ride on the waterfront trail and i was home by 10 p.m it was the most wild thing i'm like oh this is the only civilized way to travel so one more bike question and then we'll move on to other things but leslie leslie writes in what specific solutions does brad bradford proposed to reduce road deaths and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety? I have delivered more road safety initiatives than anyone else on council in the last term. I think I did 109 or 110 and the next closest councillor was 70 and then some people did zero. So, you know, the performance on an individual councillor basis matters and it shows where the priorities are. So whether that is traffic calming measures like bump outs, and it's, it's design, it's enforcement and it's education. And I think as Toronto continues to grow and more and more people are moving in different ways, we have to move off of this 1970s notion of how do we move as many single occupancy

vehicles as fast as possible through our neighborhoods. That's not the way forward. I'm also like acutely aware that there are people who are in a vehicle for, you know, the circumstances and the context of their life. We have to accommodate and do a better job on that. But when it comes to road safety, it's all about design. So narrower road widths, bump outs, more pedestrian crossings. You look at the data, like where are the KSI's killed serious injuries? The bulk of them are in the suburbs and that's because you often have like 900 meters in between signalized intersections. So vulnerable

road users, seniors in particular, they think they're able to cross the street before a vehicle gets there, a vehicle speeding, and you have those types of injuries. So we've got to slow that stuff down on those big arterial roads because safety has to be the number one priority and speed kills.

Speed kills, Dell. Shout out to WKRP. My goodness. OK, so this is your first mayoral campaign. This is a unique time in history in this city where you actually didn't have to resign as city councillor. Like this is a decision usually you have to make because you can't be in two spots on that ballot. But this is unique because of, of course, the four words I never thought would be strung together, John Tory sex scandal. Here we are in a unique position

where you can keep the city councillor job and run for mayor. And I'm just curious that you're kind of in the midst of your first mayoral campaign. Like, how's it going? Is it everything you thought it would be? How is this campaign going for you? I think we need some more beer to kind of get through that but uh you know what it's it's honestly been such an eye-opening and incredible experience and i say

that with you know humbleness and humility the opportunity to go out to all the different diverse communities across the city to spend time with the Somali community in Rexdale, to spend time with the Korean community in Willowdale, the Tamil community out in Scarborough and, and people across the city, uh, all 640 square kilometers. It changes your perspective when you're a ward counselor, you know, in my case, beaches, East York, you're very plugged in on Coxwell, the Victoria park, the water up to sunrise. Like that's the world that I live in. Right. Uh, but now hearing about people's hopes and aspirations for the city, but also the challenges, um, it, it has really illustrated to me the disconnect of that council chamber, um, the social media echo chamber and

the issues that are actually impacting people's everyday lives. And, you know, regardless of what happens on June 26, I'm back there right uh and i will be fighting for those things that i've heard from everyday torontonians who are trying to raise a young family like mine or build a business or maybe they're new canadians who just arrived here maybe they're seniors who you know have given so much to the city and they want to they want to age here they want to stay in the city um i'll be i'll be fighting for that like i'm trying to think of how to phrase this one but in a sense are you playing with house money because you get this experience now which is you know the experience of running for mayor of toronto should you not win

which is a possibility as you know uh you go back to you know city hall as a city councillor and then there's another election in three years. Like in the typical times, you would have had to make a decision. I'm not going to be on the ballot as councillor for BGC East York there. I'm just going to be on the mayoral ticket. And if I lose, you're going to do something else for a few years.

Is there any sense of like, you can't, you know, Parker Lewis can't lose? Well, we're in it to win it, right? And so June 26, I hope I've got a mandate from the great folks at Toronto to be their mayor and to lead this city with their help on a go-forward basis.

But, you know, it is a unique circumstance. I don't know what your knowledge is of Toronto history with respect to by-elections, but I'm not sure if we've ever had a mayoral by-election. Not that I can think of. Yeah, so it's quite unprecedented. And, you know, we've been thrust into this election that nobody was anticipating. You sort of talked about how we got here. Nobody saw that coming.

And so it's a strange time. And I think the challenges and the pressures that's facing the city from an affordability perspective, from a housing perspective, safety, congestion, all these sort of things, they've been bubbling under the surface. And we've been really focused on, you know, getting through the pandemic, frankly, over the past couple of years. And so much of the last term of council, which was my first, was consumed with this global crisis. global crisis. But now with that in the rear view mirror, and we're looking down the horizon, we're faced with these massive pressures related to housing, to finances, to growing our economy, getting people back to work. And I think Torontonians are going to have to kind of

reconcile and wrestle with those big challenges over the next 17 days as we move towards June 26 and think about what type of leadership do we want to have to address those big challenges. Well, this kind of ducktails nicely into Lloyd Davis's question. He wanted to know why, like, why do you want to be mayor of Toronto? You know, the short answer is I care deeply about this city. I've always been interested in cities, right? That's why I pursued the profession of urban planning. And I was fortunate enough after working in the private sector and then the not-for-profit sector to land in the chief planner's office at the city of Toronto. And that was my first exposure to the bureaucracy and local government. And you know what? Friends

described me as kind of a frustrated optimist because I saw a lack of accountability. I saw divisional silos. I saw this pervasive attitude that whatever doesn't get done today will get done tomorrow. And I took that back with some friends. I saw this pervasive attitude that whatever doesn't get done today will get done tomorrow. And I took that back with some friends. I was involved in an organization called Civic Action at the time. And they said, you know what, Brad, stop complaining about it. Why don't you put your hand out, run for office, try and make it better. So, you know, we don't have to dwell on the 2018 election.

But, you know, in short, I came over the top. Very tight election against a former member of parliament. And out of 37,000 votes cast that night, I won by 288. So now I'm on council and that's exciting in the big urban laboratory of Toronto that we all care about. And what I saw was, was the big files, housing in particular, as a millennial, I saw this, you know, this culture of endless debate, deferral, delay. We were not getting anything done. Mr. Dithers, right. Well, you know, this culture of endless debate, deferral, delay. We were not getting anything done. Mr. Dithers, right.

Well, you know, council though, because the joke on the second floor, which is where all the political offices, the joke is the best way to get reelected is to do nothing at all. And it speaks to the fact that, you know, leadership is about managing change. Change is hard.

So politicians don't want to make a decision. So we're constantly punting and kicking it down the field. Get it to the next meeting. Yeah, yeah. Or the next term. Right. And that frustrates me because I don't think that we have time to waste. I don't think we can keep burning the clock when it comes to housing and affordability and transit and getting the city moving. So now we're at this, this breaking point when it comes to these big issues. And, you know, to the question there, why are you running? Because I want less talk and more action from city hall, because I think local government, that is a level of government that actually makes a difference in people's lives. Even though if you talk to people about politics, you know,

it's, it's always federal, you know, and that's cool. Like my, my mom's an MP, but Arctic sovereignty as an issue is actually quite removed from our day-to-day lives, but you care about housing, you care about congestion, you care about transit, you care about small businesses. And all of that action happens at local governments. So, you know, for me, this campaign is about less talk, more action. It's about getting things done, not being consumed with the echo chamber of social media, but actually delivering results for people that will make a difference in their lives. Okay. You might want another slug of that Canuck pale ale there because I need to learn from you. So here we are, one-on-one. I'm just going to tell everyone,

there's no one else in the room. A lot of times when he, although Amber Morley came solo, but a lot of times an active politician has somebody in the room, I've noticed. And I didn't know if you'd have somebody in the room because I didn't ask, but there's no one else in this room.

It's just you and I. I want to know how you assemble the campaign team because I got so many questions about your campaign team. So this is a chance for us to have like a heart-to-heart and get this figured out i'm just going to read a question that came in from robert robert wants to know why would you have someone from ontario slash canada proud on your campaign team so uh jeff i believe is is who they're referring to. Um, you know what, Jeff is a constituent. My campaign team is

comprised of folks who I have met both in, you know, office in my capacity as city counselor and also friends. Um, you know, a bunch of guys from my softball team, uh, folks from the neighborhood, folks I ride bikes with, you know, Dennis Matthews, um, you know, he worked, uh, you know, in Harper's PMO. And, but he's a guy I ride bikes with every day. And so while there's a lot of campaign teams out there that are, you know, high priced, expensive consultants and folks from the lobbying industry and folks from party politics, that's actually not my campaign team. Everyone who is on our team is because we have a relationship, a friendship.

We do things together outside of politics and certainly outside of this campaign. And they're there because they believe in our message and what this campaign is all about. So, you know what, it's funny because people will kind of, you know,

turn the screws on Jeff and, and his work. And at the same time, they'll say, wow, you're running like an incredible digital campaign. You've got the best social media. Your message is really resonating. Like I get that feedback too. I'm like, well, you're running like an incredible digital campaign. You've got the best social media.

Your message is really resonating. Like I get that feedback too. I'm like, well, you know who's doing it. It's this guy that had, you know, Twitter have a meltdown about. So, you know, he's an East Ender. He's a good guy. And, you know, you should get to know him. All right. I want to ask you about the role of Stephanie Smythe.

So I think your appearance all started with a phone call I got from FOTM, Stephanie Smythe, by the way. What's Stephanie's role in the campaign? Stephanie is a friend and provides lots of sage and good advice so that I don't screw up interviews like this one. But she's not here, I noticed. Yeah, yeah, no, she's not here. Like, look, in the grand scheme of things, you look at the front runners in this campaign,

they've been in politics a long time. Like they've literally been in politics longer than I've been alive. And, uh, right. You know, shout out to the millennials. Well, Olivia Chow for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And, and like, you know, decades plus on council, working in political offices, like it's their whole lives. And that wasn't my experience or my journey. I give, like I said, I was an urban planner for a decade before I kind of jumped into this arena. So that's the world I'm coming from. So, you know, I'm pretty, pretty candid and open and honest with people

and how I communicate, I guess. And Steph has obviously been in the media space for a long time and has a great career. Oh, like her record is impeccable there. I'm thinking 680, 640, CP24, absolutely. So she's a lot better at all this stuff than I am. And so I'll be the first to admit, I don't have to be the smartest person in the room.

You just gotta surround yourself with good, smart people who can offer good advice. And Steph's a great friend and she does great work. No, no argument here. Now, you know, we talked now about how you kind of, your team is people you play. Is it softball or slow pitch? What exactly are you playing there? We are playing softball. Okay.

Or are we playing slow pitch? Slow pitch is the ball has to arc like uh between six and twelve feet on its way to the that's slow pitch that's slow so that's where we're playing okay and it's in the plate and your own team is pitching to you no no no no the opposite team's pitching the opposite i think your own team i think it's three pitchers but you're the opposite team's we're playing slow pitch okay yeah that's what i played for years i loved it actually uh but okay brad bradford and by the way sorry we're we're in the f division i was that like recreational oh it's it's maximum recreation okay and this is you know sometimes we

have no competitive yeah yeah well it is though and that's what's shocking like these guys the the bombers right uh they're sandbaggers like these guys are just jacking home runs everyone up to the plate i'm like this is f division man like what does a look like you know a farm team i can tell you raging storm where i played for 15 years and there was a period of time we were we were in the comp division uh the competitive division and yeah it's like you're playing pro except you're paying to do it it's a it's quite intense here backwards is navigator uh part of your campaign like do you pay navigator to help with your campaign no no no okay let's get this straight that's out there too like the reason i

wanted you over to chat with you is like i want to talk to you and get the answers here because many people writing in about how you're paying navigator to help with your campaign wow no you must know what's out there no i don't actually't actually. And so for all my fans on Twitter, like I'm not even seeing it, guys. I don't have Twitter on my phone. Obviously, like the team is, you know, monitors all that stuff. But for my mental health, because a bunch of folks are actually pretty mean,

we don't, I don't even see it. But so no, Navigator is not, that's for when there's a crisis, right? Yeah. That's when there's a crisis. There's no crisis in this campaign. It's all good. So no, again, it's honestly, it's people who are like, we like what this guy is saying.

We like what this guy's about. You know, they care about the city too. And so are there people who, you know, volunteer their time that work in different places? Yeah, for sure. Like has Jamie Watt provided some advice? Of course. And he's a really smart guy. He's been around politics a lot longer than I have. And, uh, you know, he's offered some good advice to me, but that's, uh, we, we stood up an advisory committee at the beginning of this and it was, it's nonpartisan. It's folks, folks from different sectors and spaces. And some of those are

political people. A lot of them are community leaders that have nothing to do with politics. And I touch base with those folks on a regular basis because they're like, you know, this was great, Brad, this is where you're screwing up. You should be talking about this. Have you spoken to so-and-so?

And that's actually been really helpful and it makes me a better candidate and it gives us a better campaign. We can cut through the bullshit and just get these answers here. I love it. Bullshit. No bullshit on Toronto Mike. Okay. talk stephen wickens writes in uh i'd love to ask brad and this is related to that actually but i'd love to ask brad and again i got a hundred questions like this but i just pruned it to a couple here i'd love to ask brad if he regrets his choice of advisors for this

election i've known brad since he was a planner before he ran for council. I like the guy and he'd figure out who is asking. I don't know what that means, but Stephen Wickens is asking. He has surprised a lot of people. It's as if he had to become someone he isn't. This is a sentiment out there too. And Marcus R also wanted to talk about your centrist right-wing heel turn. And people feel like, oh, you're a cyclist with some good ideas.

You're a likable guy. I enjoyed my conversation with you at GLB Brew Pub. But now they see you as almost like running on the right and the right wing. And they deem that as a heel turn. So do you regret your choice of advisors? And what do you say to Marcus R who thinks you made a heel turn to borrow a term from wrestling shout out to stew stone so the question is do I regret a couple here okay Stephen Wiggins

do you regret your choice of advisors he feels like you had to become somebody you're not in this election no no in fact this is like I've never felt more authentic to who I am in this campaign. And the campaign message is less talk, more action from City Hall. And that's been my experience as a bureaucrat.

And it's been my experience as a one-term councillor. Endless debate, deferral, delay. And I just, we cannot, we cannot stand for it anymore. And I'm in a position now running for mayor where, you know, you can take the helm from a leadership perspective and drive the things forward that matter most. Look, like there are people from across the political spectrum. If that's what it's about, there are people from across the political spectrum that are providing input into this campaign. You know, it's no secret that the dynamic in Beaches, East York, there is a

there is a core of activists there. And like, just like, let me just say it. There's a core of NDP activists there that, you know, I'm not their guy. And I think it goes back to the 2018 election. They had a former new Democrat member of parliament. And, you know, he had every list,

every resource, all the fundraising, all the unions, all of the advantages. And the upstart guy who was not involved in politics beat him. And they didn't like that. And are they behind these flyers early in the campaign? The flyers?

They are. Like they are. Like it's in like, let's, let's, yeah, again, no bullshit. Let's be very honest. These are partisan attacks from people who, you know, are members of parties. I'm not a member of any party. I never have been. And, you know, they don't like me.

That's okay. That's democracy. Yeah. Now they're registered as a third party cause they were getting in trouble for that stuff and they don't like that either. But so, you know, I think they called it the two face Bradford campaign. That's it. Yeah. Like that's fine. Like if you want to go and plass my, you know, face on, on lampposts and stuff all over my neighborhood, that's fine. Like, I guess that's politics. I guess that's where politics is right now. But I will tell you before I ran for council, I used to think, um,

you know, I'm sitting there as my desk as a bureaucrat, you, you thought the quote progressives were, uh, were the good guys, right? You thought they were fighting for the issues that as a, as a millennial, as a young person, as an urbanist, I was like, oh yeah, like that's good. And then you get in there and you find out that it's, it is all talk and no action. Ask the question, like, why did it take 20 years for bike lanes to be put on Danforth? I'll tell you, there's a counselor next door that didn't want them, but very happy to stand at the front of the parade now that they're there. When I built 59, sorry, this is real talk. When I built 59 supportive housing units, this was the quote parking lot that was the heart of the community. I literally got death threats

on my phone over that. People were very upset. The stigmatization of those residents who were moving in was disgusting and it was hard. That was a really hard thing for a first-term counselor to do. We did it. Did I get any help or support from the, quote, progressives from the NDP in the neighborhood? No. Crickets. Literally crickets. Nothing. And yet you would think these are things that they would be all about and that they would be supportive of. So I think, you know, it gets frustrating for perhaps for them because I've probably delivered more on a progressive agenda than, than any of these folks have. But, you know, I don't stand for all of the performative BS stuff. I do, I deliver real action and my track record speaks to that. You can, you can walk on motions that are actually intended to fail on the floor of council because you don't work with staff, you don't work with your colleagues and then people vote them, or you can deliver real action and results. And that's what I've been doing. So no, it's not actually a grand departure from who I am or who I've been or who I'm going to be. It's all the same. It's just like this guy delivers real results. And I'm not, you know, not consumed by the echo chamber on social media. Do you find it's tough during a campaign? This is your first

mayoral campaign. I nail it now. Thank you, Matt Elliott. But do you find it tough to get your message, your unfiltered message out there? Like, because I'm listening to you now in the headphones chatting you up. We're having a great one-on-one conversation here. And it's just, you're just, I feel you're speaking honestly with me.

We're just going to, I have some more questions, obviously. But is it difficult to convey your message to the voters in a campaign like this it it is difficult yeah straight up it's difficult like last night um we did an debate debate here in etobicoke mci uh former counselor john campbell shout out to john campbell uh brought us all together and i was sort of laughing because you got 90 seconds to respond to an issue like encampments you got 90 seconds to respond to congestion 90 seconds to respond what's the point

right yeah and it's funny because you know counselor uh counselor matlow was sitting beside me and him and i actually have very different views on housing like and different track records on housing nice guy but but different track records and different views on on some of that stuff and when you play back the tape we're actually sort of saying similar things in like a 90 seconds sure response on housing but how do you differentiate yeah exactly exactly and you know and olivia chow doesn't bother to show up and so you know front runner uh spoiler alert, she's front runner in this campaign. And, uh, Oh, so you are paying attention to the polls. Well, yeah, I don't believe

the polls, but other than that, every poll, you can't believe the polls or you wouldn't bother every, every poll has her in front. And that's the only, that's the only thing that's consistent. And so, you know, fair enough. Front runner status name rec has been around for a long time and people like her, right. She's actually very lik name rec. She's been around for a long time and people like her, right? She's actually very likable. I've only met her for the first time during this campaign. She's very likable. But when you actually listen to the responses on some of these substantive issues, like

we're not talking about it from a policy perspective. We're not talking about it on what we're going to do on day one or the first hundred days or over the next three years. That's not what you're getting out of those conversations. So to your question, is it hard to break through? Yeah. Is anyone listening? I don't know. They're listening to this podcast, but are they listening to the mayoral debates, to the engagement in the media, to the stories online, to the social media aspect? I would actually love to know what percentage of people who will cast a vote in this election are actually paying attention to the debates.

Because I feel I'm pretty tapped in. I mean, I host this show, this episode 1269. That's right. And I've really, I will tell you a minute about like a chat I had at the beginning of the election with Ed Keenan on this show. And then a chat I had more recently with Matt Elliott. I'll tell you in a moment about that. But I feel I'm really tapped in.

To be very honest with you, I won't waste my time on these debates. Like 90 seconds of talking points. And that's why I don't'm really tapped in. To be very honest with you, I won't waste my time on these debates, like 90 seconds of talking points. And that's why I don't pursue any active politicians. In my experience, active politicians have sort of memorized these talking points and these spiels, and it's really difficult to get, like to tap in and have a real conversation with somebody,

which is why when I said I would love to chat with you, I said like, I need an hour. Like this can't be like a 10-minute thing, boom, bang. I need a little time to get into it with you and get a rapport and get some real answers. And we don't have any notes in front of us, and it's just us here hanging out and having a beer. That's true.

I have a couple of notes in front of me. Okay, well, I've got a box of pasta here. Okay, so, okay. So, I do want you to know that they don't have a Toronto location, but they're in Mississauga and Oakville, and Palma Pasta's delicious Italian food. I do have a large meat lasagna for you in my

freezer, and I want to thank Palma Pasta for that, just like I want to thank Great Lakes Brewery for the beer they sent over. And I'm going to do this very quickly. Ridley Funeral Home, which is in Toronto, they're at Lakeshore and 14th. I don't know if you ever have to walk in the dark or you need a light to stay safe here. They've sent over a flashlight for you.

That's courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Very good. Well, hopefully we don't need their services anytime soon, but I do appreciate the flashlight. And they're good. I mean, Brad Jones is a great member of this community, really helping out Franklin Horner and everything. Grilled Cheese Challenge is this weekend, by the way.

Are you going to make an appearance at the Grilled Cheese Challenge on Saturday? I'm sure you have to be everywhere all at once. Sounds like we should get in there. Get in there.

I'm telling you, it's happening here in New Toronto. Quickly, a wireless speaker for you, courtesy of Moneris, and you can listen to FOTM Al Grego, who hosts Yes, We Are Open,

which is an award-winning podcast from Moneris. Small business owners, inspiring stories. You'd love it, Brad. Very good. Thank you very much. The first time Olivia Chow ran for mayor, I heard her speak about this recently.

She said that she had all these high-priced advisors advising her, and she felt like she couldn't communicate the real Olivia Chow in that election. She ended up finishing third in that election. And this time, she said she decided to take a different route. Like, she didn't want to go with the high-priced advisors. But it is interesting to see that model that sometimes, you know, you just got to be, you know, Brad, it's got to be Brad. And Olivia found that she had to just be Olivia to find some greater success in the polls. Yeah.

And like since people are looking at my campaign team, like let's also be honest. Go ahead. She's surrounded by the party apparatus, like progress Toronto, um, you know, which is not nonpartisan. Um, it, it, the executive director there is running the campaign, Chris ball. Like it's a, it's a, it's a lot of, uh, you know, NDP party apparatus that's around that campaign and that's fine. Right? Like people bring what they can to the table. Uh, you've got other campaigns with the high price consultants. And it's interesting because that's not our campaign.

But you look at the people who get involved and it's like, oh, wow, this is a, here's an election and a pay bonus that we didn't think was going to be available in 2023. So that was actually, you talk about what it's been like running for mayor. That was kind of surprising for me, having never done one of these things. All of the people that come out of the woodwork that are, they don't actually, you talk about what it's been like running for mayor. That was kind of surprising for me, having never done one of these things. All of the people that come out of the woodwork that are, they don't actually, you know, even necessarily care how the campaign goes, what the outcome is, what they're doing. They're like, oh, here's a paycheck. I run a call center business, so I can, you know, make $400,000 worth of calls from my

call center. So that's a paycheck I wasn't expecting to get in 2023. And I think they're pretty excited about that. But again, that is not our campaign team. It is folks from the neighborhood, folks in my orbit, friends and family who, again, believe in the message and what we're doing. And that's why they're there. When this election began, way back when we got the surprising four words strung together, I think Ed Keenan came on. He comes in once a quarter. the surprising four words strung together.

I think Ed Keenan came on. He comes in once a quarter. Good FOTM, just turned 50, by the way. So happy birthday, Ed Keenan. Yeah, I think he was hosting a debate, the Star and United Way debate, on his birthday. That's a dedication.

There you go. What a guy. I'm sure he wanted to spend his birthday with me. Well, who better, right? He said, Ed said at the time, this is at the very beginning, before there was 102 candidates, we were just talking about

some of the more popular candidates we thought would be running. And he said, he had you as a centrist, okay? This was Ed Keenan kind of breaking it down, left centrist and then right. And then fast forward, late May, Matt Elliott comes on. And now we really only talked about the big six

and you can debate who the big six is, but we had to pick six because we couldn't talk about 102 people. And he put you on the right, like right beside Mark Saunders. So it was like from the right to the left, Mark Saunders, then Brad Bradford. And I'm curious, like,

are you at all concerned maybe that now that there might be a perception of you as moving to the right in this election, does that at all cost you your councillor gig in three years? Or I'm just curious if there's any concern that the shift to the right and is there a shift to the right or is that just more twitter and uh media observation yeah i mean yeah like twitter is not real life uh news flash

for everyone out there and i'm sorry but matt elliott is uh like i'm just so he's he's got you moved to the right beside marks's on. Is he, is he wrong or is it like explain? You know what? Daily bread, food, brank and shout out to, to Neil Hetherington. Yes. Love him. I got asked a question, I think by, by Olivia. I don't even remember what the question was, but I said that, you know, being in government, you have to make tough decisions and leadership is about making those tough decisions. Don't, don't quote me directly. It was something to that effect. And I got booed by the audience. I got booed and I'm like, what did I just say that was actually offensive there? Like, honestly, like leadership is about managing tough decisions, making tough

decisions. Boo. Uh, and I kind of laughed laughed like i didn't laugh at the time but upon reflection i'm like fuck what like what was what was off putting about that right and so um i think there is such a there's a desire and perhaps a need for you know pundits and columnists or whatever to put people in a box uh i are you a centrist if you're for common sense practical solutions are you center right are you center left i don't know like it's funny and you look at this in the political context federally provincially i think parties have moved so far in either direction in a polarized way and i don't actually think that reflects the electorate like i think there's a lot of folks out

there and as we've discussed i'm like a 365ist, but I think it's nuts to tear down the Gardner for 240 meters just to ramp it back up to the DVP. I think that's insane. I think that's crazy as an urban planner. And yet these things become ideological proxy issues for different sort of partisan stripes. And so I am not about that. I'm not about parties. I'm about people. I'm about practical common sense solutions. Does that make me a centrist? Like, I think it makes me a centrist, but like, am I positioned or put in a box of center, right? People do like to put people in boxes.

Yeah, 100%. And Matt Elliott writes the columns and I, you know, we subscribed to City Hall Watcher and I'm actually like, I've sat down with Matt Elliott, I think once um shortly after being elected and and not a lot of correspondence since but sometimes i read these things and i'm like just as a person sort of genuinely surprised at the take um that these people who have who who follow it way closer than 99.999 percent of people and i'm so And I'm surprised at the perspective

and the take of some of these things. And I'm sort of like, oh, like, you know, what am I doing wrong if that's their perception or what am I missing? And, you know, I'd love to have a beer with Matt Elliott. I can broker that deal. You, me, Matt Elliott. I think he's got my number.

He could text me, but yeah. Like what's the three of us should. He's listening right now. He's listening right now. He's listening right now. Hey Matt, what up? I love to bike to Ontario place and I'm very interested in what you think of the private spa project that is apparently already underway.

I mean, part of Ontario place is already closed to cyclists as we speak. I know that. Can I go there at least twice a week? I've seen the photos. Do you, yeah. Do you support this?

I never know. The term a, how do you say the name of the spa? I don't know least twice a week. I've seen the photos. Do you, yeah. Do you support this, I never know, is it Terme? How do you say the name of the spa company? I don't know. Terme? Therm? Therme? Therme? Do you support the private spa project at Ontario Place? This is a good example of like practical, practical solutions.

So it's, it's Ontario Place. It's not Toronto Place. And that is like where we have to start. And I think, frankly, as an urban planner, the much more important conversation is to have about Exhibition Place, which is the City of Toronto Lands, and Ontario Place, and how those can interface together in a cohesive and, you know, effective way. And beyond that one bridge that I ride over when I go into Beemo Field. It's such an incredible opportunity. You've got the Metro Toronto Congress Centre, which is owned by the province. You've got the Enercan Centre, which is owned by the city. Both of them are undersized in terms of the types of events and conferences that we would like to have. You've got the stadium there at Exhibition Place. You have buildings and facilities that are only actually used 18 days a year. And it's a ton of space. And we have a housing crisis. And there's a lot of things that we could do there in a coordinated fashion,

married with the Ontario Place lands. And that's a conversation that is not happening right now. So the bottom line is, I'm hearing you right, that basically this is a provincial decision. So the mayor of Toronto doesn't have the power to stop this spa. Well, that is the reality. I like reality. Yeah, just tell me what it is. That, that is the reality. I like reality. Yeah, just tell me what it is.

That's straight up the reality. But what we can do is be at the table to negotiate the best outcome for the city of Toronto. And that is what I would be doing as mayor, is being there to say, okay, you need, and the mechanics of it, they need a particular parcel of land that is ours. There's an opportunity for us to add additional part space

to city-owned lands in a land swap. There's an opportunity for us to add additional part space to city-owned lands in a land swap. There's an opportunity for us to secure a number of community benefits for the city as part of this. And there are candidates out there that are just going to say, hey, freedom rockets to the province and take the ball and go home. And so what's the next step? Stop playing checkers, start playing chess. What is the next step? The next step is expropriation. And then we get, we get market value for parkland, which is nothing versus actually being able to secure additional land adjacent to, to existing parks that we have and the cash value on, on the deal we would get through expropriation.

Maybe I'm putting too much on the table here, is nowhere near what we could secure if we were negotiating with the province. So that's why those are, you know, it's always great for politicians to go and pick a fight with other levels of government. But that actually, that sells us short, and it doesn't get the best outcome for the city. And so that's where, you know, practical common sense leadership would actually get us further. Now I'm wishing, like I'm literally wishing right now we had a good 90 minutes to 120 minutes. Uh, and we have a hard stop in like 15 here. So I'm going to burn through some questions here. So I'm going to give you the old 90 second trick you got at that last debate. No,

you got a little bit. You know, this is why I like podcasts because I'm a long form guy. Yeah. Right. And do you listen to Toronto Mike? Oh, it's in the rotation. It's in the rotation. Yeah. We listened to, I haven't listened to all those stuff. Steph Smythe. Uh, I haven't die yeah right and do you listen to toronto mic'd oh it's in the rotation it's in the rotation yeah we listened to your favorite episode i haven't listened to all those steph steph smith uh i haven't listened to all 1269 but you know again it's it's the stuff of toronto folklore of course this podcast well enjoy the uh the molly johnson at the very least there okay good good good and then then do uh gino vanelli just as a as a chaser glenn mcdonald says you once competed at the canadian figure skating championships this is in pairs with your sister how far did you go in

competitive figure skating i went all the way to senior which is sort of the that's the top top level there uh so i did that for a long time until i was 18 and um andre morin was my final partner in that last season she's a veterinarian now if if i recall correctly uh yeah so i went really far and the and the how i got into figure skating was my um my mom thought she was a single mom. She raised three kids on her own. She thought hockey would be too expensive, all the equipment and everything like that. Now it turns out skating is actually not cheap. No, uh, ice time, coaching, travel, all that sort of stuff. But the idea at the beginning was, well, you just need a pair of skates. Uh, so we got into that.

We always did it on a shoe. Wait till your mom discovers soccer. Yeah, we always did. We always did it on a shoestring budget, but I did that for a long time. And, uh, you know, those 6am practices and, you know, I could have been a lot more disciplined about it and done a lot better job, but I made it to the top level and I was like a bottom finisher at the top level. Okay. And so I was, you know, there was a question cause I got into school. Am I going to defer for a year and, uh, have one more crack at the sort of top circuit? And, uh, and then I blew out my first knee, my ACL playing rugby. I, that was the other thing I did was rugby and how I got into rugby was because rugby was during the springtime.

So I had a little bit more flexibility with the bigger skating schedule. So I w I played rugby through high school and university but uh i've had four acl reconstruction so really which is how i got into cycling and bike racing that's so there you go i actually got into cycling again in my adult life because i could no longer run because of some strange sports injury that we could never figure out so i just couldn't run more than like 3k without pain and why would you want to running's brutal right well no you're preaching to the choir here buddy derek raymaker that's cool name raymaker it's almost like rainmaker derek raymaker says how will you pay

for your promises without raising taxes or cutting services what a good question i wish that question got asked more often of other candidates uh i haven't made a uh you know policy binder worth of promises um i'm working with primarily within existing complement, existing resources and doing it in a better way. I like to say getting more juice from the squeeze and more accountability at City Hall. So I can tell you the fact that the ferry terminal washrooms are not open when we are running the ferries, that's not a money problem. That's a competency and accountability issue. And having worked at the city of Toronto, I've seen that time and time again. There are incredible, incredible professional public civil servants that do an amazing job. But like anywhere with a workforce

of 40,000 people, there are folks there that should take the package and retire. And I will stand up mayor mandate letters that require the top civil servants of every division and agency to transparently demonstrate how they are acting with the same urgency on those mandates, the things that they need to deliver for Torontonians, and I'll usher in a new era of accountability. The other big thing, I know you probably want to cut me off, but the other big thing I'm going to introduce is open tendering. And open tendering would be fair open tendering processes for municipal infrastructure projects. Every other municipality in the province,

the provincial government, the federal government, they all have open tendering. We have a closed shop where we have, because of political insiders, a select few favorite unions, and it comes at the expense of all the other unions who could bid on the jobs. It costs us more money, it takes more time, and we don't have as many people available to work

on the infrastructure projects that the city needs. So that would save us $200 million a year annually. And I think that given the financial challenges in front of the city right now, that is a really important cost-saving measure that we ought to be pursuing like every other city in the province. Well, kind of a nice follow-up from David Martin is he wants to know, given the budget deficit, how do you plan on paying for 50 extra police officers and 40 special constables on the TTC when both the federal and provincial governments have ruled out extra money for Toronto?

So, good question. I think it's about meeting the province and the federal government on our shared priorities, whether that's housing or transit or community safety. And, you know, folks might recall, this guy sounds pretty plugged in, that I came out with bail compliance units. And, you know, there's 1,500 violent offenders who are out on bail here in the city of Toronto. We continue to have challenges with bail compliance. And that's because there are not resources to do that bail compliance enforcement.

Like it literally doesn't get done or it gets done very little. And we continue to see repeat offenders over and over again. And so I came out with the bail compliance announcement, 68 officers dedicated to bail compliance units across 17 divisions in the city of Toronto. And just a few short weeks later, the premier echoed that and said, we're going to come to the table with municipalities for funding for bail compliance units. So the point I'm trying to make here is working with our partners in the province and the federal government. And that has to be the relationship, one of partnership to build transit, to build housing, to unlock gridlock, to keep our community safer.

That's how you get that stuff done. And if you want me to elaborate, I will. We have to have an honest conversation about what local government ought to elaborate, I will. We have to have an honest conversation about what local government ought to be delivering, what the tools are to pay for it. And you look at our shelters and they are full. We've gone from 6,000 shelter beds to 9,000 shelter beds. They're always 99.9% full. But the reality is 30% of those shelter beds any given night are filled with refugees. And we're a city that cares and we want to help out. But that is a decision that is unilaterally made at the federal government. And Toronto is holding the bag.

We're holding the bag for that. So the message to the federal government is sometimes I feel like they've taken us out for dinner and then walked out on the bill. Right. And so they need to step up. If they're making those decisions, they need to step up. And I would say the same about the province, because there's a lot of other programs that we, we effectively deliver on behalf of the provincial government and they're not paying for it either. So the property tax base, which nets $49 million per percentage point,

that is the, not, not the way that we are going to solve a billion dollar shortfall. We have to have an honest conversation about what level of government is delivering what services and who's paying for it. And the nice thing is that should you lose, I know you're in it to win it, but should you lose- I'm in it to win it. On the 26th, which is a possibility,

you will acknowledge, that you're still at City Hall because you're, again, a unique situation here where you are going to go back to your city councillor job and have a voice there. I'm actually moving offices in the mayor's office. But yeah, in that off chance that we're not successful on June 26, I guess. So you, again, real talk, lots of time to go here,

although people are now casting ballots because I know, for example, I plan to vote tomorrow and advanced polling is open and I just, you know, poll schmoles, I understand. Otherwise we would have had Hillary Clinton in the White House if you believed in your polls. But that's my go-to example now when people say a poll. I say, oh yeah, like the polls that said Hillary Clinton was absolutely going to defeat Donald Trump in the American election. And that usually shuts that down. But okay, before you say anything, the recent poll that I just this morning, I think was a Main Street Research poll has like Livia Chow's at 29

then Anna Bailao is at 20 and then you got Mark Saunders 13 Josh Matlow is at 11 Anthony Fury is at nine percent Mitzi Hunter's at nine percent Brad Bradford's at four percent so just I'm looking in the eyes again can you win this election we can't And I would just say this poll from this polling firm, and I don't want to get sued, Keto, don't sue me, is different than every other poll. Every other poll has some variation of, you know, Olivia Chow out in front, and, you know, I think then there's four of us that are

all within the margin of error. This poll from main street is different than every other poll. And so media and folks who are looking at this closely should ask questions about why is this poll different than every other poll? And it's very convenient that it drops on every Friday and it's been sowing the same narrative for the past you know two months right but um it doesn't line up you're raising a spockian eyebrow yeah that's right yeah for i guess i'm on a webcam maybe but uh yeah like whether it's forum or ipsos or lege or or whatever like they're all not the same as this poll so this poll. So this poll is not the poll. A bit of an outlier in your

humble opinion. And in anyone's opinion who is looking at the numbers, it is totally an outlier. The way, again, I just checked the clock because I'm the host of the most running the show here on Toronto Mike. This isn't Toronto Bradded. Toronto Bradded. This is Toronto Mike.

Cambrio. I might close with this. I do want to shout out Diane Leifer, who had some questions, but main thing she wanted to say is, again, congrats on your baby, and she wanted to thank you for visiting. She says, thanks for visiting us a few weeks ago.

So wherever Diane is, I'm sure you visited her. There you are. Congrats on that baby. Cambrio. I've seen him at some TMLX events. I hope to see you, Brad. We have a TMLX 13 August 31st

at Great Lakes Brewery, Southern Etobicoke location. You should come and make an appearance. I'd love to be there. Amber Morley won a Canna Cabana Cannabis Prize Pack at a recent TMLX event at Great Lakes.

Did she inhale? You're allowed to, you know. It's legal now, Brad. Come on, that's a dated thing. Cambria wants to know, can you say one nice thing about, I won't make you say a nice thing about each of the 101 other candidates

because we don't have that kind of time, but maybe the top candidates. Do you have a nice thing you could say about Olivia Chow, Mark Saunders, Anne Balao? Can you say her last name by the way? Balao. Okay, because I talked to Al Grego, who is of Portuguese descent, and he says we're all doing it wrong.

There's like a little bit of an N at the end. It's supposed to be Anna Balaon. Like there's a bit of an N at the end. I'm no expert. Oh, yeah, I'm not going to try and pretend I'm doing it correctly. I know. Say a nice thing about each of these other candidates here uh you know what i would say is um can i just do everybody yeah

101 people go in alphabetical order you know what running for office is super hard and you know you alluded like there's literally people plastering my face all over lampposts in a not very, uh, fair, I shouldn't say the two faces. Yeah. Like not, not a very nice way. No. Um, people are, are pretty ruthless and you forget that like there's someone on the other side of that phone, uh, or that computer screen and it's a person and you know, uh, no campaign is immune from this. There's lots of stuff flying at Olivia and, and Mark and Anna and, and everybody. Right.

And so at the end of the day, I believe that politicians, the vast majority are in this because they care and they want to make a difference in their community. We might have different approaches. And in fact, for sure we do. And we have a different vision of what that looks like,

but they're doing it because they care. And so all of the negativities that, that exists out there, particularly on social media, um, that turns people off. It pushes them away from public service. And that's what this is. So I have a lot of respect for anyone who puts their name on the ballot. And there's only a handful of us, although a lot, 102, but a handful of us who have kind of been through that and walked across those coals and it's fucking hard. Right. And so I, um, yeah, I just got a lot of respect for anyone who's doing that. And I know that they want to do good here in the city. And I appreciate that they're stepping up and putting their name forward. Straight up Brad Bradford. I am super,

uh, happy that you did this. I think it would be easy not to do this again. If one of the major candidates reaches out and says, can we come on? I would have said, yes, you're the only major candidate. Some lesser thans in that 102 wanted to come on and I took a pass, but you're the only significant candidate who actually was willing to sit down with me on Toronto Mic and chat for a good hour. So I just want to give you kudos for that. This is the best Toronto podcast. And I know people really love what you've been doing for 1,269 episodes. And I'm glad to be a part of it.

A little bit of history here. So thanks so much, Mike. And that brings us to the end of our 1,269th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Brad, where do people go to learn more about you and your platform and your campaign and all that exciting stuff?

VoteBradford.ca and on the social media channels, you can get all that stuff there. We, we put stuff up on a daily basis. You can find them. Trust me. Our friends, our mutual friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

I got some beer for you. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. I have a lasagna for you. Mineris is at Mineris. I have a speaker so you can listen to Yes, We Are Open. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA Canada. I want to just say recyclemyelectronics.ca is a great resource. If you have old electronics you need to get rid of, go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and find out a safe place to drop them off so those chemicals do not end up in our landfill. They're doing good work there. The Moment Lab,

they're at The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. I'd say see you next week, but actually we're recording tonight. It's Rob Pruce, keyboardist for Spoons, and Bob Ouellette here in the basement tonight, sometime around 7 p.m. for the next toast. I'll see you all then. is coming up rosy and gray Yeah the wind is cold

but the smell of snow won't stay today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well I've been told

that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true

How about you? They're picking up trash and they're putting down roads They're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes