Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ed Keenan from The Toronto Star: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1926

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

In this 1926th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with The Toronto Star's Ed Keenan about what's making waves in Toronto, including the World Cup, Olivia Chow vs. Brad Bradford, Bryan Adams's 51st State, Doug Ford, and everything in between.A version of this podcast without programmatic ads is available to all Toronto Mike'd Patrons at patreon.com/torontomike.Toronto Mike'd, an award-winning podcast, is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca.If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Ed Keenan, live from New Toronto. This is Toronto Miked. Short but sweet. Yeah. That's the end of the classic cold open, you know. Right. Live from New York. Yeah.

Live to tape from New Toronto. Yeah, but we are also live on the webcam here, right? Or something. Live.totronomike.com. Welcome to episode 1,0009. 1926 of Toronto Mike. An award-winning podcast, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great Lakes Beer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA.

Palma Pasta! Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pits this summer. No ticket required. Fusion Corpso, Nick Aienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline.

And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.C.A. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Redley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. joining me today, returning for his quarterly Toronto-Miked appearance. It is the Toronto Stars, Ed. Keenan.

1926. We're into the episodes now that sound very much like years, right? On that note, Ed, it's like you can read my notes. 1926. We're into the jazz age. Do you, right? The roaring 20s. Yeah, woo-hoo. Kelly, the Gatsby.

Gatsby party here. I dressed not for that party. I took a note that on, I don't know about this day, forget that, but in 1926, it was actually April 29, but in 1926 about 100 years ago, Maple Leaf Stadium opened. It was originally known as Fleet Street Baseball Stadium. So wait, you said it was actually 1929, but...

No, I meant, no, it was April 29, Because the British land is going to say on this day. But it's not on this day. But it was on this day. But that is something. So Maple Leaf Stadium opened and that was on the waterfront. Right. Where the tip top tailors.

Yeah. Tip Top Taylor. They call it Stadium Road or something there. That's right. That's right. And it's a shame that that is not still there. I think you and I talked about this. We talked about it a lot.

Firstly, because the Maple Leafs of baseball play there. and now a different version of that team plays at Christy Pitts. People should check it out. Here's a book for you, Ed Keenan, on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. But I did an episode recently with a chap named D.M. Fox about the 1926 Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, which won at all.

I can't remember what it was called, but whatever the hell you can win at that level of baseball, they won it all, like the whatever World Series. At one point, the Junior World Series. At one point, they were like a minor league affiliate it for the Yankees or something, weren't they? I don't know if that's true. I don't know if that's true.

Because whenever, whenever, I don't know if that's true. I mean, I know the modern incarnation, the current version of the team was always 69. Inter-county major, which is now the Canadian Baseball League. But I thought that the earlier version at some point had some affiliation with a major league team. Very likely, Mr. Keenan. But I'll tell you, they demolished that stadium, Maple Leaf Stadium. They demolished it in 68.

And as we talk here in 2026, I wonder what it would be like to have a stadium that size in Toronto where not only could the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team play. So instead of a public park like Christie Pitts, they could have a ticketed event. But also maybe in the future, the not too far off future, a WPBL franchise, a women's professional baseball league team out of Toronto playing at that same venue. Absolutely. It would be perfect. It would be great. I have been watching with interest. the launch of the women's professional baseball league.

I know a couple of the players who were drafted and are going to be playing. Amazing. It's very exciting development. So I actually literally recorded this morning with a couple of professional baseball players who will be in the inaugural season of the WPBL. Their first game is New York versus L.A.

at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. Illinois on August 1st, 2026. So they're less than a month away from playing games for real. For your regular listeners then may already know this, especially if they listen to that podcast that you just mentioned. But yeah, so for this inaugural season, all of the games are being played in Springfield, right? That's correct.

Which might seem like a random location, but of course the Rockford, Illinois, with the home of the Rockford Peaches, is a significant women's baseball, like, location. And I think there's a new women's baseball, like Hall of Fame being established there. The big national girls baseball tournament is being hosted there this year to sort of celebrate.

And so, I mean, it's, it's, you'd know better than me, but I think the economics of the league made it more practical to use one site for this, first year. 100%. But I also think, you know, there's some significance to the site. And it also means that if people are looking to sort of like make a pilgrimage, like to support the league, they know where to go for all the games, right?

You don't have to plan a cross-continental trip. Yeah. So this inaugural season only has four teams. And they're, yeah, they'll play all their games at the same venue. But this is just, I had the commissioner of the WP. B. Justine. Justine Siegel.

Yeah. And she's also a part owner, fun fact. And I asked her straight out, like, is this temporary? And she's like, the goal is to have the teams play at their own cities, like, beyond the first season. So first season, this is what's going down on August 1st. I think training camp opens on like July 27th. So it's going to be a brief training camp and then games go for real. But yeah, eventually, you know, teams will play in their own city.

and there will be expansion rather quickly, I would guess. Yeah, and since another co-owner of that league already owns a Toronto sports franchise, maybe we'd be... What franchise is that? I believe it's a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team playing out of Christy Pitts. So you're referring to Keith Stein and 100%, and he's a Toronto guy. So Keith Stein bringing a franchise to Toronto, to me, is like going to happen. It's a question of when.

it happens. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So yeah, that's, that's really exciting. I do know Justine Siegel a little bit. I think a lot of people know her, so like I don't know that she would know me. But I've spoken to her a bunch of times over the years. She organized baseball for all the women's baseball organization. And I took Toronto Girls baseball teams to tournaments that she organized. And also when we lived in Washington, D.C., my daughter played on the DC force and went to a bunch of their tournaments. And she's just like, her story is so interesting as a woman who coached in the major leagues, right? The first woman to coach with the Oakland days.

She's got good stories about Billy Bean and... Right. But, you know, and then never having really felt it, though, even being in that position until her own daughter came along. she was like, well, I want her to have a path. I want her to be able to play. And it's difficult. So that's great.

And to see them, I mean, it's like, in some ways, like the stories I hear from women's professional hockey players now and women's professional soccer players now, where they say, you know, they just got drafted. When they were little girls, they didn't think, they thought this would be the work of generations. they didn't think this would be possible for them. We're not talking about the retired veterans who were like,

I always dreamed of this. It's like women in their early 20s who've just been drafted where, you know, five years ago this seemed impossible, and now here I am. And I think having been involved in the girls' baseball community in the United States and in Canada, you know, yeah, 10 years ago, this wasn't on the radar. It was a long-term goal.

Like it was like a dream, but it was just that. It is, you know, however humble the beginnings, while being at one location with four franchises in the first year, I think it's, uh, it's a, like, amazing progress and it's so, so great to see.

And the second pick over on the inaugural draft is a woman who played at Christy Pits. Ayami Sato. Yes. She played a Chrissy Pits. Just last year. Just last year. So look at all these pieces fitting together.

Hey, I want to pay you a big compliment before we get rocking and rolling. Can you handle a big compliment? Well, I'll see. I am sitting down. I've got a drink here if you want me to do a spit take. I see that. Okay.

I just want to tell you that I think it was last time you were on Toronto, Mike. You talked about, or we talked about the first up email newsletter. And I think in real time I subscribed. You did. And as I told David Ryder, when he dropped by recently, to talk about the use of AI in an investigative piece with the Toronto Star. I love my first up email newsletter. It's like it arrives at a great time.

I love the way you do it, the six bulleted, you know, list. I also, six things you need to know today. Six for the six, and I like the list. And it's a great synopsis of things you can dive in deeper to learn about. You're doing a great job curating this first up email newsletter, and everybody should subscribe because you can subscribe to this newsletter for free. Yeah, thank you for saying that. it remains a work in progress.

This is sort of like first up phase one. And then, you know, soon, actually, I think measured in weeks rather than months. Soon there will be a sort of a phase two with, we make some tweaks to the format and whatnot. And, you know, there may be, every time I come here, I feel like I tell you there's impending podcast needs. But I think it's like there might be the same as it ever was. But it has been really fun to work on. And I have to say like, I like being a columnist. I really do, and it's still part of my job description

that may become a bigger part of my job again at some point in the future. And this is like in some ways less satisfying as a writing project, right? Because like for so long I've just been making an argument and, you know, tying in things and playing with language and just whatever's on my mind. I could kind of shape a narrative out of it. But I do think that, first of all, writing a little bit shorter and a little bit more to the point has been its own kind of fun challenge.

But also getting to try to shed a light, like share a little bits and pieces of the vast amount of work my colleagues at the Stardue, and try to put it in front of people in a way that convinces them that this is worth, reading, right? That is worth looking at. Like just saying, hey, look at this. And then look at this. It's like, it's like

if your job was to go to movies and then tell people which movies, you know, like they should go and see and what was the best part of them and all of that. So, I have been enjoying it and I think you know, we'll evolve as we go. But I do, I would love it if people subscribe.

Because as you say, it's free to subscribe. Yep. And we are very soon. I will I will give you the Do I have a sound effect for this? Start Introducing more

Or like Like we'll open up more Of the stories that are featured in first up To non-subscribers to read too Because like My hope is that actually the morning newsletter Provides you the news you need to When you're going to work

You know it arrives at roughly 7 a.m. every morning Right So I want people to enjoy reading it but also the longer term hope is that you see enough value there that the star becomes part of your daily habit that you think it's worth subscribing to read all of this stuff and to give you enough of it though to get you through the day but also give you enough of it that you realize the kind of value

that you get out of it and so that's my salesman pitch but it's like earnestly intended like no it's not part of my job description that I should come out here and pitch people to subscribe or anything like that but but I do like it has been one of the fun and energizing things about the job is like being in all the news meetings and hearing because because I have to get it out so early in the morning we have to start planning it and preparing it like like they do the front page of the print paper or something where you you hear what's coming you start to read the stories as their drafts you start to get it ready and and that's been just very exciting and energizing so

I erred a very, very minor grievance with David Ryder that I missed the bulleted six points on weekends. So you only do it Monday through Friday. That's right. At someone else doesn't. But they haven't adopted the Keenan six. Seema, who does it on the weekends, works with me on weekdays. But, you know, she had previously done next up the afternoon newsletter,

and she had worked on it a bit. And so they have had an established sort of like introduction format that that worked with their routine. And I think, you know, she might start, we might start together shifting up the weekend format a little bit. But it was sort of like first I wanted to get my feet under me and realize, because honestly, I'm never been a morning person in my life. So the fact that I got to be up at 5 a.m. working on this. Is that the time you get up to work on this first up? Yeah. I often

I often work late the night before too They couldn't pay me enough So far it's been very weird Figuring out hours that make sense And you know We'll normalize things Right But you know the last

Push of it It happens between 5 and 7 a.m. And then it gets sent out live And And so you know Seaman and I are up at 5 a.m. I'm working together on it And

And so we weren't wanted to make sure we do what we're doing with this first and then just keep the weekends sort of the way they were more or less. And then as we sort of go into phase two of the weekday version, we'll start also looking at tweaks for the weekend. But I will pass along to my team. If they didn't hear the David Ryder episode. We need the six bullet points at the top of the weekend one, too.

Maybe Seema sees it as more of a Keenan thing, this, you know, six things you need to know. So Seema's got to have like her own like Seamus picture. or something like that. You know what's better than six? Seven. 44. Six minute abs. What was the line?

People got hard to read on the weekend. Harlan Williams had a great cameo and there's something about Mary and he was talking about eight minute abs. And you know, you hear about even it goes, you know what? I'm going to do seven minute abs.

And then somebody said, I think somebody said, maybe it was Ben Stiller. He said, what about six minute abs? And it broke Harley's not, not six, six, seven. It was like a whole moment

where he realized, oh my gosh, you can keep going. Anyways, Harlan Williams once co-hosted the Ed the Sock show on Cable 10. There's your... Like regularly or one episode? Regularly. So before it got moved to City TV,

it was on... It was a cable 10 series. Yeah. And Harlan Williams was the host with Ed, I guess Ed's a cold. Well, then I have... I saw that. I just don't remember it being hit.

Well, there was two gentlemen who did it. He did it. And then he was replaced by a gentleman who always wore... I got to remember his... his name. Eric Tunney. He had the bowtie. But I remember the guy before Eric Tunney. I just didn't remember that it was Harlan Williams. Yeah. And then the first host of the city TV era was a chap I work with today. Humble Howard Glassman from Humboldt. Oh yes, of course. These are

the Ed the Sog hosts we know, we know. Hey, yeah, go ahead. Eric Tunney, uh, the late Eric Tunney was just the thing is when I saw him on Ed the sock, I already knew him so well because at a certain point in your youth, you can only go to a limited number of places. Like when we were in high school, we would go to Yuck Yucke Yucs because we couldn't get into bars, right? So it's like, are we going to shoot pool

or are we going to go to the comedy club, or are we going to go see a movie? Or maybe go bowling. I don't know, whatever, right? And so we would go to Yuck Yucke Yucs a lot, and he was a regular at the Yorkville Yucke Yucke Yucs, both as a featured performer and as a host back then.

And I can to this day, 30 odd years later, still recite whole passages of his comedy routines about, like, the recipe for eggnog is that you just need two eggs and a frothin' cup of nog. And his whole, like, indignancy that somebody had a outdated copy of ass masters monthly. Like the whole porn rack at the top of the variety store. and how, you know, why do you need a monthly? Like, why does it have to be a monthly? Like, oh, do you know what? How much has happened in the world of ass mastering in the last four weeks? And the whole bit about the condoms and perfumes you buy in,

in, like, bathrooms at CD bars and stuff. Right. Just like, of the comics I've seen live in my life, like he is probably the most memorable in terms of just like these little bits. still come back to me all the time. And now I saw him more than once, but still. It's pretty impressive. Well, Eric Tunney was the meat in the Harland Williams Humble Howard

Sandwich. So sorry, that's a long on-planned digression. But it's, when you reminded me of him, I just thought a little tribute to him. I don't know if you can find bits of his comedy routines on YouTube or anything like that. I haven't tried to look them up. But if, if so, highly recommended.

So two observations from yours truly before we do a little sports cast, even though we've been talking about the WPBL and we've talked about trauma. We've done a little sports cast. I got more. But here's one observation, which is earlier today, a guy in a sharpening guy,

the sharpening guy drove down my street, ringing the bell. And it felt very like old school. It doesn't happen that often anymore, but it used to happen all the time. You'd hear the bell and the guy would come and he'd sharpen your knives or whatever. And I thought that was kind of cool.

It was just the other day that Rebecca, my wife said, like, oh, I missed the sharpening guy. I should have tipped her off. He was here today. We need our knife sharpened, our main chef's knife. And the sharpened guy, the bell came and I was working and I couldn't get down there. And now, how long is it going to be before he comes around again? Yeah, because it's not that often anymore.

I just love, it's like when you, because I have kids who are now, you know, teenagers and young adult, like entering that age, there's more and more of this sort of like, like, when they're young kids, you tell them, like, and they're just like, they have no sense of perspective. It's like, so were you? Were you alive before TVs then? Was they like, did they invent electricity when you were a kid? Like, because if they didn't have smartphones, what the hell did they have? Like, what was pre-Intern? And it's like we talk about like stuff from way before my time, right? Like the milkman or whatever, like, because, you know, and it is one of those things where I just love a time where when you, that was the main way you could get a knife sharpened is you just wait to hear a bell ringing.

And you run out and see the guy. because you couldn't just Google it. I guess there was the yellow pages or whatever, but I don't, when I was a kid, that's how my mom did it. Yeah, well, the bell would be frequent, right? So you just wait for the bell, and now it's less frequent.

So now literally what happens now is there's like a, I think it's called Lakeshore Dads. There's this WhatsApp group of the Lakeshore Dads. And when the bell is heard, a Lakeshore Dad goes in the group and says, okay, the Sherpin guy is driving around. Currently at this street, and he's making his way to this street.

And it's like, that's now, so we're using the internet to tell. Somebody needs to create an app that tracks the sharpening guy. Right. So if you miss him, you can hop on your bike and ride over there with your knives and just greet him on the street corner. I'll provide the service where I will bike to the sharpening guy if I know where he is. Give me your knives. I'll bike him over here. Okay, here's another quick hit.

Then we got a little sports cast and then we're going to get into it. But you and I are both in our 50s, Mr. Keenan. Yes. And I just had Blair Packham from the jitters over here who's got a few years on us. Okay. He's in his mid-16. but he was telling me about his prostate and I'm telling you now, Ed Kienin,

I now feel like I can hear my prostate growing. Like if it's quiet and I close my eyes, I can hear my prostate growing because Blair was telling me how he was getting up like every like half an hour to take a leak in the middle, in the night. Like he couldn't sleep

because he always had to urinate. And it sounds horrific. So I'm not asking you for an update on your prostate problem. It's an enlarged prostate problem. Yeah. And there are things you can do. do when it gets really bad, but he kind of manages this thing, I guess.

But it sounds so horrific to me that I think I have whatever it is when you hear about like a disease in the news and that psychosomatic, I guess. Where now I can, I feel in my early 50s, I can hear my prostate growing because of Blair's stories to me just last week. Or maybe this week. Well, and now

all of us can picture your prostate growing. That sound you hear. That sound you hear is my prostate growing. Okay, you want to do a little sports cast? Yeah, sure. There's a lot of sports stuff been happening. Okay, let's start.

So when I sat down here, you might have noticed that while you were doing your introduction, I was so focused, I didn't notice anything. I took out my phone and checked something. Oh, yeah, I saw you checking something. And you might have thought I was doing some work, but I was literally checking to see if the Maple Leafs have signed anybody else in the time I had been driving here. Because it's just like fast and furious, they're coming. Okay, so we're going to do a little Leafs talk. But first we're going to talk about another team.

So let's listen. You've got to be aware of the inbounder here if you're filling. It's off the Leonard. Defended by Simmons, is this the tagger? I can't get tired of hearing that. So, you know, you and I... You took me right back. You know what I love in that clip?

Yeah. And I don't know what actually is making the sound. But it's like as I was reimagining my head, as I was seeing the bounces, I could hear the bounces. There's some sound in there. There's a mic hanging. Maybe it's picking up the bounces. It may have actually been the bounces.

It might have been the bounces. Vivid audio. That's a useful thing to have on your podcast, Mike. You know, it's like when you watch the Sydney Crosby Golden Goal in 2010, you can hear Iggy. Yeah. So this is like the Iggy of 2019, which is that those bounces here. But I feel like I want to get your take on this, but it feels very, I don't care if we gave up too much, if he's too old. I actually don't care about all that.

like sensible stuff. To me, this is such a beautiful nostalgia move that Kauai Leonard is going to spend the next three seasons as a Toronto Raptor. Yeah, at Toronto Star headquarters at the well. When you get off the elevators, the first thing you see is a picture of that shot. Of, you know, the shot became famous.

Rick Medanek from the star got it. And then also, though, a Toronto Sun and I think a CP, like three different had, they were standing near each other. They got almost identical shots. But as the ball is in the air, actually bouncing off the basket, and he's crouched down on the sidelines. And it's like a whole Last Supper kind of tableau,

where the 76ers and the other members and all the guys in the audience, like accidental renaissance is what they call that. All staring and their mouths are wide. And it's just so iconic, like such a moment and such a photograph. And that is what you see when you walk into the Toronto Star office. He was, like, one year he was with the Raptors, and yet, like, it's not just that, like, banners fly forever because they do, but it's like a memory like that is worth a decade of, of playing time in sort of how big a space somebody occupied. It's like the bat flip, right? Except they never won the World Series.

And that's the thing is I think I am so happy that Kauai's coming back for similar reasons to you. And this may be like Wendell's second go around. with the Leafs where it wasn't quite the same and all of that. But, you know, he had one of his best seasons ever last year. So if he stays healthy, he's still a play. Kauai, not Wendell.

Quai, yeah, yeah. You know, he came four times. I know how much had a good season last year, but I don't know. It would be a golf season, I guess. Just so you remember, there were four different tours of duty by Wendell Clark. Four.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. He came back. So he came back. And then he came back. Yeah. So he came back.

So his last time back was when he scored that big goal against the senators in the playoffs. I feel like it was around 2000 or something like that. But that was his. But yet him and Tony Fernandez were the two players that kept coming back. They just kept like, yeah, like a bad penny or a cat. Except we loved him both. And Tony no longer with a shout out to Ridley funeral home. But Kauai Leonard, we agree.

Don't worry about the fact we gave up a lot for us. 35 year old who... I mean, we did give up a lot. I'm not a basketball. Like, basketball is not my main sport. So, and I'm not a capologist in basketball. I'm not, like...

But it seems like, though, you know, we did give up a lot, but not... Like, if you think of it as an ingram for Kauai trade, like, you make that all day, right? Oh, yeah, it's the draft pick. Grady Dick is kind of a reclamation project. There's one draft pick swap. But there are two other draft picks, and that is a high price, it's for sure.

But those draft picks are like eight years down the road. Everybody's going to be retired by the time they make those. So we like the deal because we get to see another run. And I get to, it's just exciting to be that Kauai's back because I get the nostalgia. And it's not, you know, in my opinion, like I say you got to take these big swings when you're the Raptors, right? Like we took that big swing with Missai brought Kauai to Toronto the first time. time, you've got to take big swings. Free agents don't want to come here.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And it turns out in this case he did want to come here. I mean, his preference, by all accounts, was to stay in Los Angeles. But if they weren't going to extend them, then the one team he wanted was Toronto, is what they're saying, right? And so obviously he had a good experience here last time. He won. But, you know, the thing is, too, is that it's probably only because he played here that I really noticed how good he was.

Like, he's just so electrifying to watch when you were watching him every night in the playoffs there. You know, he took some heat over the load management and everything. But when it came time, and he turned it on, he was just such an electrifying player to watch and such a obviously dominant player on the court that is like, you know, if you're a casual basketball fan out of market like, you know, LeBron James,

you know, Steph Curry, you know, Giannis, right? But it's like, man, this guy is in that class. He's a top 10 player in the league, a top five player in the league, depending on, like, if he's on, if he's healthy. And to just, he instantly sort of makes them credible as contenders again. We'll see. We'll see how the East shapes up and all of that.

But it's going to be a fun season to watch. And even as you say, for a nostalgia's sake, right. if it washes out, who knows? Well, I'll think, but it will also be like, he was kind of the one that got away. He went home rather than staying with us after we won, and there was a, you know, not as hard feelings as there are for some other people who make similar choices, but there was still a little bit of like,

what do we have to do, right? I never felt bad. I felt like he went home. If you go home, it's okay. And so that he's coming back, it's like almost like, well, this is his second home, right? Okay, so I know what sports. I want to close on because it's going to segue us brilliantly, award-winning podcaster brilliance to segue us to municipal affairs in this city.

But before we get to that sport, John Cheka, that's how you say it, right? John, I've never said it out loud, but it's like, how do you screw up that name? I'll find a way. I'll find a way, Ed Keenan. John Cheika is our GM and it was a controversial choice, but he's done, there's been a lot happening. He's sure not sitting on his hands, right? Although he had nothing to do with the fact we drafted Gavin McKenna with the first pickover.

That was just luck. He gets no credit for that. But Stan, Stan, Pat, Brad, those days are over. Right. Like, just the number of trades, people moving in and out, the number of... We signed, I'm trying to remember. Radish. I think it was seven people yesterday on the first day of free agency, but two of them

were trades, right? So we... But Goldie Bob's coming in, of course, Bobrovsky. Yep. But Radish is coming. That's another big one. A lot of the other ones are, oh, and then Paul, right, from Tampa Bay. I mean, these are, there's, like, with Bobrovsky and Nick Paul, there's kind of a like,

these guys were really crappy for the Leafs to play against, so Leafs fans have an even inflated sense of how valuable there might be. Well, Bobovsky did win the cup two of the past three years. He did. Two out of three years, yeah. Right. Although an off year of that. But, you know, we talked about.

And we rescued him from the horrible Kachuk family. No, we did it. We did that. So, okay, so we talked about Kauai. There's a big risk because he's 35, right? Yeah. But Bobrovsky's older than that. Yeah.

He's a big risk. This is the interesting development yesterday. Anyways, Sergey Barbrowski, Toronto Maple Leaf. We haven't had a bona fide number one in the city since Ed Belfore. And he's probably the go-to comparison for Bobrovsky. because again, when we drafted, when we traded for Belfour or signed Belfour, trying to think, did we sign him as a free? I think we signed him.

He was coming off a down year. Right. And people were saying he's 37 or something. He's washed. Right. And then he went and had two sort of like MVP caliber seasons in a row. The Leaves, you know, those are the last hurrah of them in the playoffs before a long, sallow period.

Fallow period But yeah So I'm trying to think You're probably right I mean we've had a lot of goalies since then But I mean John Anderson Wow

Frederick Anderson I just said John Anderson You can still I think there's at least one John Anderson's Hamburger's joint in the GTA You can still go to Mississauga made me

Passed it somewhere yeah Yeah I've seen it too I used to work not too far Yeah I think maybe New York But Freddie Anderson You could talk about you know,

Freddie Anderson's probably your closest thing for that. But really, but really, but not like, we had, we had that run where it was like, uh, Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph and Eddie Belfour and it's like,

I mean, those guys were number one goalies. Those guys were. Yeah. Then we went through the, uh, Andrew Raycroft period. And here we are coming out the other side.

So let's hope he, uh, can rebound yet an off year. Before we transition to a different sport, I want to talk about the Toronto Scepters for a second. Yes. Oh, Yes, please. This is one of the places I get to talk about it.

And as people who've heard me on your program here before will know, I have been a season ticket holder since day one. And big, big fan. My whole family are big fans. Like, my family has eight tickets. And we attend together. My mom and my siblings and my kids. You know,

some configuration of us is at every single game. And we have invested in jerseys. We've invested our hearts. our hopes, and it just like, feels like the PWL Jahl kind of hates us. Like, because the league has expanded so aggressively and design expansion so that like, like, so now Emma Maltese was probably our favorite player from day one. Natalie Spooner is my favorite. She's a Scarborough girl.

She went to high school a couple blocks from where my parents still live. Like, she is a superstar. She had an MVP first season. But even going in, she was, she was my favorite player. got a spooner jersey at the first game. But Emma Maltese is so fun to watch. She's like kind of the face of the team. And now she's gone to sign with Montreal.

Through the expansion drafts, we lost Sarah Nurse last year. We lost Hannah Miller last year. We lost Daryl Watts, who was my other favorite player, you know, who led the team in scoring this year, right? So it's like a lot of SEPTers fans are like my, the price of my season tickets is like doubled in the last two years. It went up 35% this year. And we had a debate about whether we could afford to keep hold on to them.

And then after we had already paid up, they gave away half our team to expansion franchises. And there's just a sort of like sadness. But like, I will see how this season goes. I'm still rooting for the team. I still love Natalie Schooner. Blair Turnbull, the captain of the team, is pregnant. So she's going to miss this season two.

That's great news for her. Terrible news for the team. So we'll see how it all works out. But I just wanted a little, among Toronto Scepter's fans, and I think some other, like New York Sirens fans, like in the PWHL long-time established fan base, there's a lot of sense that the last couple years

the league has been like they don't care about the established fans. They're kind of screwing us in... Right, because they want these expansion franchises to be instantly competitive. Right. And that means like each team can protect like three players. And then the expansion teams can also sign them to like more attractive free agent offers. And it's just, I've been so...

varnishedly, whatever the word is. Unabashedly. Unabashedly enthusiastic about the Scepters in the league for a couple of years. I've never said a critical word before, but I have to say like I'm not the only one feeling really deflated and disappointed after the, like the Scepters didn't have a great season this year anyway. Right. But then the fact that like four or five leading scorers are now no longer going to be playing on the team next year is, is kind of hard to swallow. Ed Kien, you are the official. SEPTors correspondent of Toronto Mike. In every quarter, I look forward to the updates.

I'm sorry, I didn't prompt for it. No, no, that's okay. That's okay. But I do need to know what's going on. There has been a lot going on in the sports world in general. When I segue to this other sport, I was at an event. I'm wearing the jersey I got from this event. This Japan World Cup jersey, Adidas made it and it gave it to me.

And Adidas had this event I was at in the stacked market, like a viewing area. And not only was Sarah Nurse was there. And Natalie Spooner, I guess they're Adidas athletes, a whole bunch of Adidas. But I was like, so I was like right beside Natalie Spooner. And I guess I almost told her, but I didn't. But Natalie, I did a 90-minute one-man show at the Elma Combo since your last appearance on. Oh, that's right. That's right.

Sorry I didn't make it there. Well, listen, it was a, you have a lot going on. I did see the social media posts about it. Well, that's not just as good. I was enthusiastically following the social media post. Right. You saw my name on the marquee there. But I did have a bit about Natalie.

Spooner. So Natalie Spooner made my one-man show at the Elma combo. So I just thought that would be a... So did you tell her that? No, that's what I was saying. So I'm standing beside Natalie Spooner at this event and I'm having a... Adidas is so big on their logo, being the only logo at the damn place. They wouldn't let the bartenders.

I was chatting with them about it. Like if they were serving, let's say they were serving Heineken, for example. You can't, you have to pour it in a clear glass and you can't display it with the logo out. All the alcohol had to be turned around. so the logos face the bar tender. So no logo was allowed to be shown. I mean, if I were wearing a logo, they weren't going to make me change or anything.

Like, that'd be no way. But everything they could control, the only logo could be the Adidas logo. I know, this, all the World Cup and their sponsors are like this all the way around. I saw a photo and I'm trying to remember who was Houston. One of the other venues, like they have like a whole selection of hot sauces. It's just part of their snack bar setup is that they've got like 40

bottles of hot sauce there and you could choose them. And all of them had black, like, electrical tape over the name, over the name brand of the sauce because these are not paid sponsors, right? Well, we've all seen that photo of the Levi's logo or whatever. Yeah, yeah, it's covered up at the stadium. I guess that's like calling it Toronto Stadium and removing the BMO or BMO or whatever, BMO, wrong bank anyway. But I'm going to play a clip and then we're going to change the channel here.

So a little more sports, but then back to, it'll segue it. All right, all right. You know, I won an award for podcasting, Ed. You know this, right? I have heard. All right, here we go. See if this works. I'm playing it from YouTube.

Jonathan David. Oh, yeah, give it a moment. There you go. There we go. Alfonso Davies wants it played down the left. Oh, hopefully that's sliding. You're tired. Jonathan David.

Oh, my goodness. Last couple of bits there are really tired. Oh, that's annoying, Ed. That's annoying. It's buffering. Yeah. What year is this that it's buffering here? I'm going on.

So I normally, I normally make these. reboot the modem. Yeah. I'll be right back, everybody. I'm going to reboot the modem. Normally I make these MP3s and I play them, but because this is so tightly controlled by FIFA, it's a TSN channel and they have, of course,

official rights or whatever. All my programs to convert to MP3 failed. So I thought, oh, I'll just play it on YouTube for Ed. But I'll give it one more shot. If it buffers, I'm out because I can't do this anymore. This is FIFA is frustrating your unlicensed use of this clip. You are not allowed to play this clip. They know I'm doing this here.

So this is a lot. Honestly, this is my. lash on here. Oh my God. You know what? Canada with the better of the... You know what? That sucks. You know what I'm getting to here.

And I'm not fixing this in post. You know what, that's it. I'm bailing. Okay. So I'm trying to play the big goal against... Yeah. In the knockout round. But Canada still lives to fight another day. We are in the round of 16.

We play on Saturday. I believe it's like 3 p.m. Is it 3 p.m? What time is that game? Noon maybe. Maybe it's noon. I think it's 3 p.m. Why do I think it's noon?

I'm going to check because I put it in my calendar. But we are playing today. I'm going there quickly. This is a sports chat because I want to talk about hosting these games. Yeah, noon. Okay, because my son plays at 10 and I'm going to be back in front of a TV for 12 o'clock to watch Canada. Is your son also playing football? Yes.

Yeah. Am I football? I always wondered if I should be calling it football. Now that we were watching the World Cup, we got to be, that Bruce Arthur and the Star keeps saying, we're becoming more and more of a footballing nation. We're not there yet, but we're maturing as a footballing nation. And that's what these soccer fans do. But yeah, it's still soccer to me, obviously.

Yeah, I mean, I was raised with soccer because we have a football. Like, how confusing can life get for us, right? So I just called soccer. But, okay, so I want to know your thoughts so far, but not just forget, yeah, Canada, round of 16, that's amazing. We play Morocco on Saturday. Wow, we've never ever been to the knockout. So it's amazing. It is amazing.

It's amazing. So you can comment on that if you like. But more importantly, how has Toronto done hosting games, including one today at 7 p.m? Yeah, there's one. The last one is coming up, right? So first let's talk about the soccer because... Since we heard that clip and it was so amazing.

I am not, you know, the biggest soccer fan in the world, but, you know, I'm... It's like the Gordaunty thing. Like, I can get behind anything. Like, when they're... shooting a big movie in town, I'm down, right? Right. Right. And so in Toronto FC went on its run, I watched

all the playoffs, I read up on the team, I became a, so like, you know, and so I love the spectacles. I love to get into it. And when I know something's on, big is on the line, even when Canada's not in the World Cup, I tend to start getting into soccer just for the

World Cup, right? And so getting to watch Canada actually do something. Yeah. Has been really energizing. and amazing and the storylines are great and that goal you were trying to show me. You stock you. Late in the game when it like and it was just

whew, boy, baby, yes. Amazing. Amazing. And so I hear this from some soccer fans. People who are really down on FIFA as an organization who are often down on the World Cup as a, as a like giant shakedown of whoever the host side and all that. They literally gave Donald Trump

a peace price. But those people will always say, like, the game wins. Yes, I agree. Like, it doesn't disappoint. It's not, like, you get these upsets. You get these epic matches. You get messy coming in when people are saying he's washed up. Last time was supposed to be his final go-round.

Then he opens a tournament with a hat trick, right? Like, it's, there's just so many moments that are, are so amazing that as somebody who often, when nothing's on the line and I watch soccer, I'm a little bit like, are they going to score? We need high states. How come the net is 400 feet wide

and they can never put that little ball in it? But watching it in the World Cup has I've been swept right up and I've been swept up by Canada. So that said, I think also the... So I said back when my job was to write opinion columns, It's like this, there's almost no world in which you could, it doesn't matter. Even if it's never going to be financially worth it to host the games, right?

You're never going to make your money back. But, of course, that's not the only measure of whether something's worth it, right? Like a lot of people today will, like couples will spend $100,000 on their wedding. And they'll get some backing cash gifts in all of them. that, but they're not expecting to turn a profit on their wedding. They're not expect, they're, the investment is not economic, right? The, the investment is in throwing a giant party to mark the most important day of your life that everybody you know will remember for the rest of their lives and feeling like beautiful,

feeling loved, feeling like this is a party that lives up to the commitment you're trying to make to each other. Like, that's how you're measuring the value of what you, the dollars you spend. And a lot of that's a shakedown too, right? Like, everybody, I keep hearing about how, like, when you book a hair appointment for a fancy updo, they say, okay, $150. And then when you say it's for a bridal thing, they say, oh, $500, right? Like, there's a bridal premium on these things.

Wow. But families will also spend, not my family, families will spend $25,000 on a trip to Disneyland. By the time you get the hotels there and you pay for the express passes and the premium experiences, like you can do it cheaper than that. And a lot of people do. But the people paying that money don't think that it's going to pay off somehow in return on investment. They think they're buying an experience they'll remember forever, that their kids are going to remember forever. And, you know, the one more example I could give is that it's like when somebody buys a 200,

thousand dollar Mercedes-Benz SUV, they don't think it's worth $150,000 more than the Kia SUV in terms of like the gas mileage or lower maintenance costs or something like that. It is not paying back. Right. Like for them, the brand, the snob value and the luxury finishes and the prestige is worth it, right? And so I think when you like bid to host an Olympics or World Cup or whatever, you think that's partly what I'm buying. It's like there's a lot of talk politically that gets made about whether hotel revenue is going to like whatever, right? Tourism dollars and all of that.

They try to put multiplier numbers on it. But there's no way you're going to make it make sense where you like actually make money on this thing. It's going to cost you a tremendous amount of money. And the question is like, are you getting what you bought? Right? And my skepticism with this games in particular was that we're not the hosts. We are one of 16 co-hosts, right? So we don't even get to be the bride at this fancy wedding we're throwing, right? We're sort of like, or we're one of 16 brides, and we're not even the highest profile ones.

We don't, our biggest game now here is like a round of 32 game, right? And now it is big for Toronto because we have a giant, emphatically celebratory Croatian population and an even more giant and even more famously horn-hunky soccer-happy Portuguese population

and so, you know, today at 7 when the game goes, it's going to be an ecstatic moment for a lot of people in this city and we get to it's happening right here and, you know, we have watch parties all over the city and all of that. And so I think by all accounts

we're having a really good time. And we're getting something back from being a part of it, right? Like I think, like, getting to be a part of it is a lot of fun. I think we've done an okay job in terms of traffic, which everybody was so paralyzingly worried about, has been better than usual, right? Like, less traffic on game days than there usually is, even though the gardener is closed, right?

Or not the gardener, but Lakeshaw Boulevard for a big, stretch of it. But like, I've been, I've biked and ridden transit down to work on game days at the well at Front and Spadina. And, you know, the downtown core is like, people are staying home on game days because they don't want to fight traffic and all of that, right? Right. That's very close to stacked market.

Transit seems to be working from what the city reports were saying from the early games anyway. Ridership is up, but the extra service that they put in on the roots to to like Liberty Village and and the areas around it to the fan fests like people have been taking advantage of it

it mostly seems to be working you know as well or better than transit in Toronto typically works um now the fan fest the main fan fest location which is a ticketed location

most of the tickets are free but you still have to get them the Bentway and Fort York yeah yeah It was a surprise to me the first time they closed it down and kicked everybody out because of weather. Yeah. Right? Thunderstorms.

Because it's like, how could you... Like, they didn't empty out the stadium for the thunderstorms. It's like, there's lightning there too. Like, why is this a particular problem with the fan fest area? And I've heard some complaints about lineups there. Some people with tickets being turned away because actually they overbook it because a certain number of people don't show up. And it's like a flight when you show up. up and they're like, we need some people to volunteer to be bumped because we don't have

enough seats on this, uh, this journey, uh, that's kind of disappointing. So I mean, I think, but I, I do think some of the other, I heard, oh, so, there's so many watch party locations, like unofficial, un-affiliated with FIFA, but affiliated with the city, uh, watch locations over the city. They've heard occasionally like, oh, this one didn't have the game on, like, the TV wasn't working or whatever. But for the most part, I keep hearing from people who are like, oh, I went down to U of T. I went to Canada Soccer House and Harborfront.

Right. I went to, you know, Mississauga and like having great watch parties. Now, when we come back to the economic return, which we already knew was going to be scarce, and unlike an Olympics where whether you wanted it or not, your $10 billion or whatever the hell you spend on hosting the Olympics, guess what? what? You got a new velodrome. You got a new athlete's village, right? You got a, you got a, like, all these facilities for sports you never even thought of, right?

Like, we got a bobsled track, right? Like, and you at least have that legacy infrastructure. We get zero legacy infrastructure. The one infrastructure we built is temporary. We're going to disassemble those seats at BMO field when it turns back into a BMO pumpkin, right? when the FIFA strikes midnight. We're losing 20,000 seats. Yeah.

And one of the things we were supposed to get, not that it is, it's, it was like a add-on, right? Like, they're not being constructed for the tournament, but there were some mini-pitches that were supposed to then be like neighborhood facilities for like youth and people who want to go and play soccer. And the number of mini-pitches,

these are all being funded by private donations, has like gone down from 12 to like four. or something, right? Right. And Josh Rubin, the business reporter at the Star, who's been on the sort of the business slash economics angle since the beginning, has reported basically that like hotel bookings are slightly down in Toronto versus this time last year, right?

So a lot of tourists have come. But what happened is that other people who normally vacationed in Toronto said, maybe not, right? Or maybe we'll go. at a different time of year. Right. And all the business conventions and things that would normally be hosted here at this time of year,

they're like, we're not doing that during the World Cup. Are you crazy? And so they did it. And I think bars and restaurants are seeing a similar kind of phenomenon where, like, they are seeing a lot more tourist business than usual. Like foreign tourists, especially, you know, from far away, not Americans or not, like, people from Quebec,

but like people who come here from Germany or or from Paraguay or, you know, Croatia, like, flew in to watch their team. Yeah, there's a lot more than there were, but then there's a lot more of the, a lot less of the regular business you would get at this time of year. Like, we got the pride parade going on. We got the, like, this is our tourist season. And so these tourists are not like net new tourists. they're just replacing tourists that are squeezed out by the World Cup. And so I think, you know, when the receipts are counted, is going to be somewhat disappointing economically for us.

But I think a lot of people who had their eyes open were expecting that. Like the numbers we were looking at, according to Josh Rubin at the Star, were always based on reports commissioned by FIFA. Right. So like there's one big consultant, report that the city government documents were all citing about economic impacts was like paid for by FIFA, right?

The study. So it was rosy to begin with. And then like, so I said this is the thing too. It's like, I already said this and I've been rambling on for a long time about it. But I do think that like, unlike say Vancouver 2010 or London. was it London in 2020? When did London host the games? Like when you host an Olympics,

people, Calgary 86, right? Like people... 88, 88, 88. It was Expo 86 in Vancouver. Sorry. Calgary 88, right? Like, people will forever refer to those Olympic games by the name of your city.

Like, you are indelibly attached. When we talk about Jesse Owens, we talk about the Berlin Olympics, right? Like, I can't remember the specific year. I know the era, but I can't remember the specific year. But I can remember what city it was in, right? Like, that marketing value in terms of like, like to use the wedding analogy or the, like, you imagine like a coming out party or whatever where you're like introducing this is your big debut. This is your big like, look at me world.

I'm the host, right? We're not getting any of that here, right? Like, I don't think people are going to find Toronto to be a particularly memorable part of this World Cup. Like, people who came here, sure they will, right? But people watching on TV from Africa or South America, like, I don't think. Well, it depends what happens tonight, Ed. Yeah, yeah, maybe. I mean, Rinaldo's in town.

Yeah. But I do think Canadians have enjoyed it. I've had a blast. I love it. Yeah. And so it's a very expensive party, but, it's been a fun party. The headline,

you reference this, but the headline in the star that I copied says, FIFA is no Taylor Swift, new data shows why the World Cup isn't delivering a massive economic boom for Toronto.

That's the headline. You can dive in. By the way, that's a hop pop. Can I drink this hop? Cup? Great Lakes brewery sent over fresh beer, and there's hop-pop for you

from Great Lakes. I do enjoy the hot pop. I think it's refreshing and delicious, especially in a hot day like this, hot enough for you. you, Ed? There are a few,

oh my gosh. There are a few, um, dear beers that I really like now, but, um, some of the ones, especially in the summer when it's hot,

like, I like, not because they're so beery, but because they are like, you know, like those times when you want to drink, um, what's,

what's the Italian, uh, Peroni or Corona. Like when you're on a patio and it's really hot and you, and it's almost like water, but like that delicious, just beer flavored water, right? And it's so refreshing.

And so I find like hop pop is like that too, right? Yeah, enjoy the hot pop. They hosted us. We missed you. One week ago today was TMLX-22 at Great Lakes Brewery in South Atobico. We missed you, Ed, but one day I will get you to a TMLX. One day you will. It's going to have to be when it's not softball season.

Because before we definitively move off sports, I realized we had to segue into city politics stuff for city life stuff already. Yeah, it's a little bit an hour. Man, my, I am leaving here and driving to Windsor, Ontario for the Eastern Canadian qualifiers of, of my daughter's softball team that I'm a coach of. So, but basically every weekend is spoken for from April to September, or until she moves to Montreal.

Right. In late August. My daughter lives in Montreal, so I like, Like I said to you on Facebook, whenever you want to do a road trip to see our daughters in Montreal, let me know. We got to do it. We got to do it. I mean, I'm up for a road trip to Montreal most times anyway, even before my daughter is moving there. But I'm going to have all the more excuses to get there. So lots of softball in your life right now. Now, one thing, I don't know if your listeners are hearing. I'm trying to be discreet about it. But the hop pop does give you the burps. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's a hop pop, of course. So I also would tell you. because at TMLX22, which you missed Ed Keenan. We were all fed. We all left with full happy bellies, full of palma pasta. I do have a frozen lasagna from palma pasta in my freezer for you, Ed Keenan. Well, I do appreciate that. I actually feel like now, like I really missed an opportunity to go and get fed. Yeah.

Honestly. And the meatballs are there and you got your lasagna and you also have the penny, which was all that was left when I got around to eating. that and of course Leslie Taylor's cookies and I think the next TMLX event will be in like October on a Monday night and I'm going to aim to get you there. So what, well, okay, that would be nice.

Monday night is usually a good night. Okay, I'm going to try to get you there to the next TMLX 23. Yeah, and as you know, but yeah, like I would like to, yeah, I would like to come. So let's try and make that work. Okay, that's a commitment. I'm going to ask you what you thought of this World Cup.

I mean, obviously you're enjoying the games and all of that, but as a host, either the politics or the culture of being a co-host, what's your take? So my take is, much like you, which is, I, you know, I'm no economist, and I don't know what the ROI is, but I think this is kind of bigger than that. And I feel like a sense of pride that we're putting on this great show. I watch the games differently when they're taking place in Toronto. Like, I'm watching on my TV. and I'm like, I can bike there in 30 minutes.

Like, that's how, it blows my mind up. Tonight, I'm going to be, I'm going to watch that game for my living room upstairs. Especially, Croatia versus Portugal. Like you say, that are not. Like, the Canada games are one thing. But then when you're watching Croatia versus Portugal. Yeah. Because it's in Toronto.

That's why you chose that game to watch. Well, I watch, I've actually watched a lot. Like, I watched so much yesterday. Actually, I want to just touch on a couple things here. So yesterday was the first day of an official FIFA viewing thing that was happening at Humber College here in South Atobico. Okay? Humber watch party, I can't remember the full title,

but it is very close to where we're sitting right now. Is that Colonel Sam Smith Park? Yes. Cumber campus? Yeah, okay. Yeah. So yesterday they had, so it was there. Now, we were a little ignorant in terms of how ticketing works,

but we heard it was a free event and it was steps away, right? So the family, Waltz is over in like 45-degree temp. Okay, so we're like, it's very, very hot. It is hot. It's 40 plus. It felt like 40 plus anyway. And we're even in South Atopico by the lake. So we're waltzing over.

Yeah, I think it was like 38 and the humid X was up as high as 46. I read somewhere. It was the warmest Canada Day in recorded history in the city. I did hear that as well. That's something, right? Okay, so we did go to this FIFA. Again, you've got a gateway you enter. There's these, these, it's hard to see inside because they have these big

walls or whatever, but I did peer over the top. And I saw, oh, there's really no one there. It was like maybe there were 10 people, because it was so hot. Nobody was there at this viewing party at Humper College. So the four of us were going through the gateway. There's security there, and there's a couple of nice volunteers. And I swear to you, this happened yesterday. I wrote about it on TorontoMike.com because I couldn't believe it.

Because remember, it's almost empty. I haven't read it, but I know what's coming. Okay, you know what's coming. So we get there. And they go, oh, do you have a ticket? They're going to scan our ticket. And my wife says, oh, we didn't know that you needed a ticket. We don't have a ticket.

Can I get one right now? and they say, I'm sorry, it's sold out. Now, whatever that means, sold out, because these are free tickets. But it's sold out, but you can get tickets for another day this week coming up. So what happened was they turned us away. So we were not allowed to go on, but there was no one there, Ed? I took photos. It's completely empty, right?

It's almost completely empty. And there's a band playing, okay? Yeah. Kind of like smooth jazz is playing because we're between matches. We came for the, whatever, the second game or whatever. So maybe the Senegal match, I think we were there for. But between matches. The band is playing.

There is like food truck thing, some shwerma and some stuff, but there's no one there to buy it to eat it. And I'm thinking, oh my God, right now there's four bodies that are ready to go in this. Watch it there. And they wouldn't let us in because we didn't have a ticket. And then Monica on her phone tried to see if they dropped new tickets. And no, it said

no tickets available. So we couldn't produce a ticket to get inside, which means we actually walked home and just watched it on TV. And I just thought that was wild to me because, yes, I understand these free tickets were gone. But there was nobody there, Ed. Yeah, well, this is where... It was hot.

This is where the question is, and I don't blame you for not sticking around to find out because you wanted to watch the game and you're coming home. It was too hot, too. But it's like I... I know... So I used to run a restaurant. I used to work in restaurants for a long time.

And it is a common phenomenon that you'll walk in at 6.45 p.m. And the dining room will be completely empty. And you say, table for four, please. Right. And I say, I'm sorry, we're fully booked. And then you go, there's nobody here. But if you came back at 7.15, like...

It's full. Yeah, or 7.30. Like, I can't seat you if somebody's got a reservation in 45 minutes because you're not going to eat a three-course meal. I hear what you're saying. So, I just wonder if it's possible that all those ticket holders were going to show up, like, exactly at game time or something. Like, I...

See, I wouldn't know if they were driven away by the heat, it seems much more likely. It was really oppressive. And it does seem like what they could have a policy of, like, there's no tickets left but if if nobody's here in 20 minutes we'll let you in

or what I thought was let us in and when that wave of the people start coming in the waves then we have to leave and we'll leave or whatever

anyways we didn't participate in this Humber watch party and I watched it at home and it was really hot like we did it just because it was so close and we wanted to see what it was like

and it was free the price was right one more little thing on the World Cup which I am enjoying watching and I am proud to be hosting is that they did cancel the Canada Day...

How do you say that word? They canceled the Canada Day fireworks that take place at Centennial Park because that was the training facility and that is literally where, you know, Rinaldo could be found yesterday, you know, training for today's big match. So there are a few of those things

that typically happen. I think Beer Fest was canceled too. Like that's a traditional... I have gone and saw the fireworks at Centennial Park. before. So it's like, that's a tradition

in Tobacco. Right. But it did not happen yesterday. Disrupted by Rinaldo. Rinaldo again. Prima Donna. The guy can't handle a little fireworks.

Yom I'm training over here. No, yeah. I guess the crowds were what they were trying to, they don't. Well, it didn't happen. That's for sure here. There wasn't only yesterday.

It was so hot. Last time I went to there to see the fireworks there was also a rib fest happening there. Oh, yeah. I've served beer at that rib fest. I got to say my experience of the rib fest was not all that great. Maybe it was just too hot that day, but it was also like,

oh, you go and the ribs are like more expensive than any ribs you're going to buy anywhere else. And you have to eat them sitting on the ground in the park. Right. And it's like, it's not even like... Because it's hard to get a picnic table. It's so popular. You've got to choose which food truck you want to line up 45 minutes to pay 45. $5 for a half rack of ribs at.

I'm glad you brought up rib-est. They were tasty, but my experience was not like, I wasn't in a hurry to get back because it was Canada Day. Right. And so the lines were epically long, and it was blazing hot. I've been there, brother, and I've been serving Great Lakes at that exact event. But guess where it was held this year because of Centennial Park was unavailable? Guess where rib fest occurred this year? You'll never guess.

I don't think you'll guess. I'm going to... You have to know. You're ready for me to tell you? Wait, no. is it's Colonel Sam Smith Park? That's a good guess, but no. Thompson Park and Scarborough?

No. We're talking about the atopical. Yeah, the one that would typically, it's called the Rotary Park Rib Fest, that typically happens at Centennial Park. Yeah, yeah. But it was unavailable last year too because they were building out the facilities where it,

not available this year. This year it was held at Cloverdale Mall. Ha! Wow! Yeah, Cloverdale Mall had the ribfest this year. In the parking lot or inside the mall? Well, I didn't attend. I just saw the signs in the neighborhood.

Air conditioning would change the whole dynamic. Can I mix things up? Because we are going to get into... Before we mix it up, let me take a bathroom break here. You take the bathroom break. Yeah. Actually, no, okay, do that because I want to thank some more partners here. Don't trip over your wires here.

Shout out to the wire, the greatest show of all time. And watch your head there. And let's see if Mr. Keenan's clear. There he is. He's clear. Okay. So Nick Aienes is on the show next Friday. Nick Aienis has some questions of mine to answer

because I have questions about what he knew, what happened, a lot of stuff that might get him in trouble, but it's all regarding his live podcast recording of Building Toronto Skyline with his special guest Brad Bradford, a name that will come up with Ed Keenan in mere moments. So looking forward to getting Nick back on the podcast. He's a proud sponsor of this very program, and he's got a couple of podcasts that I'm involved with. One is called Building Toronto Skyline, and the other is called Mike and Nick.

I'm the mic in that podcast. So we'll record a new episode of that as well. Friday. So, if you have old electronics, old devices, old cables, do not throw them in the garbage. Go to Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Put in your postal code and find out where you can drop that off to be properly recycled. Much love to recycle my electronics.ca. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921. Watch your head, Ed. I have a measuring tape for you, Ed, Keenan, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home, and they have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking.

We recorded a new episode this week. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. You ready for a little music here? You need anything measured? I got a new message. I do actually, but maybe when I stop recording, this is private. Okay. You're ready for, you got to measure my prostate.

I want to know if it's growing. If I'm qualified to measure prostate. I need to know if it's growing since Blair was here. I don't know if I'm inclined either. Earlier in the week. It's enticing as it is. So this is a brand new song that dropped yesterday by a globally famous Canadian singer.

Okay. You ready? Yep. And Kenan, what do you think? Let me give it to your strength. We'll never be the 51st stage. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian. And Kenan, what do you think?

A 50 first date? It's fun. You know, I can't wait until the, like, Brian Adams' Toby Keith showdown. the big like my anthem is bigger than your anthem You know what? The timing of it

obviously came out yesterday for Canada Day, right? Right. And Brian Adams was motivated to like respond to this stuff that Trump's been saying

and like feeling a pediatric swelling up in his in his loins to put this on paper. It's like it seems very specific like you can

could load us up with tariffs, but we'll never be the 51st state? Because he kind of shifts gears. Okay. What do you think? Okay, so I took a note on the lyric. By the way, I need to break in to tell you this showdown between Brian Adams and Toby Keith

cannot happen. Do you know why? Toby Keith is dead. Toby Keith is dead. Shout out to Ridley, Hughong. Who's the other guy then? Kid Rock? Who else do you want? No, yeah.

I guess it could be King Rock. There's a lot of candidates there. But Brian Adams always was kind of like he was never this cool. But I think when he first, arrived on the scene, at least when I first noticed him with, you know, run to you and all that stuff, he seemed to be kind of like our, our Bruce Springsteen kind of like our, like halfway between Bruce Springsteen and Rick Springfield. Okay, you know the other name?

It gets good, but also I was thinking of John Cougar. Yeah, yeah. No, no, he definitely has that same vibe. And, and John Cougar's all about Americana, though, right? And so it's Bruce Springsteen, right? in different registers sometimes, but like those songs are just Americana. And Brian Adams has for a long time

tapped into the same vibe and I think the same gruff vocals, but like the same the same though to like nostalgic scene setting but without any kind of geographic specificity. Like summer of 69.

Yeah, it's like, when you listen, to John Cougar or Johnny Mellencamp, John... Or John Cougar Melanchamp. And I'm not trying to insult him. It's just that... That's his real name.

My first album that I bought of his was John Cougar. Jack and Dan. I first knew him. And then for a while he was John Cougar Mellencamp officially. So... But yeah, like, these are like... He's conjuring specific places in Middle America, right?

In small town America and whatnot. And then Springsteen often has the names of those places in the songs, right? is like Asbury Park, New Jersey, or Nebraska, or Philadelphia. Like, these songs are about these places, much like the tragically hip-wrote songs, where it's like you can really tell what, where they're writing about. Brian Adams had a bit more generic, but here he's really nailing his colors to the mask. Well, I'm going to read it, so, and it's not a very long song.

One thing I was going to say about the lyrics, but I'll wait until I'll read them. Oh, I'll read this, and then you'll tell me about the lyrics, because he's, one of the lyrics, I think the most prominent lyric is, when you're talking about my home, You better show some respect. Because up here, we take care of our own. So let me give you some advice, mister. You might have too much on your plate. Go and load us up with tariffs,

but we'll never be the 51st state. So I like the sentiment very much because I agree. Yeah, yeah. Tariff the fuck out of me. We're not going to be the 51st state. And this is one of those things where, um, where I feel like just, um, this is an occasion, like,

when you have like a poet, laureate or like, you know, like tradition, like old-fashioned poets would write occasional poems. And it's like, this is a poem written for the Declaration of Peace that happened today. This is a poem written about the Queen's inauguration, right? This is an occasional poem that not only came out on Canada Day, it came out on the day when the United States declined, officially declined, to renew the Canada, U.S., Mexico free trade deal for another 16 years. So now that doesn't mean it's, it's terminated, but they have to have annual negotiations

as it gets sort of like for the next decade, it will still stay in force, but with like an annual set of like fighting about it, right? And I think this is just a prelude for Trump trying to ramp up tariffs again because there's certain expiries of his authorizations and court decisions on things coming up that mean he'll start monkeying with us again. And so it's well-timed and it's on the nose. One thing I was going to say is it's like it's a mixture though. So if you listen to contemporary country music, there's a whole genre of song.

And possibly probably the best example is chicken fry. But like it's a genre of song. If you listen to a bunch of them where they're like, let me tell you something about where I come from. Where I come from, we like a pair of jeans that fit just right. A cold beer on a Friday night. Sitting out on the front porch with a girl on your arm and love of your mother. And it's like, you are naming things that everyone everywhere loves, right? They're like, I don't know about you big city folks.

But here in the small town, you know what we do? We enjoy is like good food, good friends. and so a little bit of that take care of our own and all of that let me tell you about my home as we take care of our own it's like everybody from everywhere in the world would sing those same lyrics

but then it shifts gears to like the 49th parallel and you can put the tariffs on and it's very oh no this is specific this is not generic this is the real deal on the nose like you said yeah sometimes people are more subtle with their metaphors or whatever

and Brian Adams is no I don't want any confusion because the title is confusing because when I first learned Brian Adams has a new song called 51st State. I was nervous for a moment. Like I was, there was a moment because he has, I remember with... He could go either way.

Because with COVID, I remember he was going off in the, the, the, I can't remember where they were going to go, the wet markets or whatever. Like, he could be problematic right with certain thoughts he expresses. So I wasn't sure where Brian Adams, who's,

for all I know, he's living in L.A. Like, I don't know where... Is Brian Adams even living here? I can't imagine. He's on the radio now, right? There's Brian Adams, I think, on the Mighty Q for an hour or two every week. Brian Adams. I have been in my car and Brian Adams comes on. Wow, I didn't know this.

It's like Little Stevie's underground garage, except not underground. Like Randy Backman had garage. It's just him telling sort of stories. So has he like rediscovered his Canadian roots or something? Like he kind of became a global thing and now he's like back in his seems like I really, he's on the nose. but it's how I feel. And I like to hear something like Brian's singing it. No, and I, I thank him for it too, right?

Thank you, Brian. Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo released a song about, we used to be the best of friends, like as soon as this Trump 51st day stuff started happening. And I thought, too, like that, at that moment, it's like, like, I'm glad these guys are doing what they can do. But the difference is, of course, Jim has no fans to lose in the United States.

Like I say that, you know, Brian Adams is actually an internet. He's actually very famous and popular in the USA. So he is alienating people that would want to hear summer of 69. Yeah, he's not going to be on the big bill with Vanilla Ice and Kid Rock anymore. He's not going to be playing America's barbecue 250 Trump festivals. Yeah. But he could play with Neil Young. Yes, absolutely.

He could play with Neil Young. And so. So I'm glad for that. I am glad for that. I will say the one, I went to see Billy Bragg at the old Ontario Place forum once and on the rotating stage. Of course. And that same night, the cure was playing at the Skydome. And they had the roof open.

And so in the middle of the show, Billy Bragg was like, because you could kind of hear off the water, like from Skydome or whatever. Like, sure. And it's like not like you could really make it out. But it's close enough you could hear the song of like whatever the cure was playing. And he said, do you hear that? And then he started, like, singing along. And then he said, like, this is England's revenge on you for Brian Adams.

Everything I do, I do it for you. Which famously was a big number one. But in the UK charts, it was like at the top for like four months or something. Yeah. Like it was inescapable in the UK. Look into my eyes. Yeah, not even Cancon, as I recall. Yeah.

No, no, yeah, yeah, because it does satisfy the maple requirements. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there you go. Like maybe the, just a little surprising. I expected that from Corey Hart, but I wasn't sure where Brian Adams is going to fall in. Yeah, yeah.

No, and I think it was like, it's like almost like Taylor Swift or Drake will like unexpectedly just drop a track and everybody goes crazy. And you don't really expect that from Brian Adams, especially not a disc track against the president of the United States. Right.

But, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Well, you know, I just played it on. Toronto Mike, there you go. I might play it for Susie McNeil tomorrow. Who knows what mood I'm in? But 51st state by Brian Adams.

Spoiler alert, he says Canada will never be the 51st date. Okay, so I just saw the clock. You know how easy it is to talk to you? We're just starting now. So let me do it this way. Let me get this out of the way. So it is June, we had the Pride Parade. Big, big, big event in Toronto.

And of course, both candidates that we know of in this mayoral election, We're marching in the pipe raid. Although I heard Olivia Chow did it twice. Like she was in front with Kearney and then she ran. She's very fit and she did it again. Like so she kind of did. If you can imagine that.

She is very fat, fit. Like I, yeah, she's very fit. I know she's like runs 5Ks for fun and stuff. I mean, Bradst did too. I know. I follow him on Strava. But yeah, but I think, so maybe she was marching with the politicians with

because the prime minister was there. And then she had some friends back and did it again. Right. Right. She wanted to march with them. But I'm going somewhere with this, which is that Warren Cancelo recently made his Toronto Mike debut. He sat right there.

We had a good chat. He wrote a book about the rise of anti-Semitism in this country. And coincidentally, yesterday my guest was a gentleman named Joel Greenberg, who was a longtime theater producer. He was with the 180 theater. But he wanted to talk about perceived anti-Semitism in, Canada and Toronto's theater industry. So he came over to talk to this.

They've signed on to this manifesto that says no Israeli playwrights can be performed at your theater, et cetera. So regardless of your slant on things, just the fact you are Israeli, your band. And he was commenting on this. And I asked him about this, and I'm going to ask you about it, but Warren Kinsella is amplifying

these two words said by Olivia Chow at the Pride parade. I think a regular person, like a citizen of this city was chatting with Olivia Chow for social media, her social media account and they were talking about the Pride parade but I'm going to play this. It's like eight seconds or something.

And then I want to ask you about this. Okay, so this is from the Pride Parade just a few days ago. Okay, so she says the words free Palestine. Yeah. Okay. So Warren Kinsella is suggesting on social media that that is anti-Semitic of Olivia Chow to be happily exclaiming free Palestine.

And I was asking Joel Greenberg about it, because I'm trying to understand it. I don't know if you'll have an answer for this one or not. But I'm trying to understand, is the term free Palestine in any way anti-Semitic? Because I don't believe that these are equated. And what do he say? He says, he says that he was very eloquent in explaining that as a Jewish person, Joel Greenberg, here's the rest of the statement. I had to take a note because I'm a little ignorant to all.

this. But free Palestine, the two words Olivia Chow said by themselves is not anti-Semitic. But what Joel hears in his head, because he's heard it so often from people in Toronto rallying against what they call Zionism, but this is the rest of it. Free Palestine, the rest of it is that Olivia did not say yesterday or the other day, from the river to the sea. And this is the part that is anti-Semitic in the eyes of Joel Greenberg. So he hears the rest of it which is very disturbing to him. And this may explain why so many Jewish citizens... In much the way that when you

say black lives matter, the racists here and white lives don't, right? Nobody actually thinks that's the rest of the statement. Right. Right. Except the person taking offense. They imagine you to hold opinions you don't. And then they attack you

for holding those opinions that you've never expressed. Because in their head, the boogeyman is behind every door, right? Now, Warren Kinsella is actively supporting Bradford in this campaign. Right. So he's not a newcomer to

picking up whatever club is at hand. But I also would say, to his credit, he's not a newcomer to the fight against anti-sabitism and to anti-racism, like to his great credit, I think. Right. This is something like from back in the sort of like anti-racid skinhead days. He has been writing about,

talking about. Well, he left the punk scene because of the skinhead movement that was merging with the punk scene of the late 70s. But I mean, I don't have the most deeply informed opinions on Israel and Palestine and the war in Gaza and the history of anti-Semitism and the history of colonization in Palestine and et cetera, et cetera, right? people have, for good reasons, really strong, deeply felt opinions on these. They often seem to me to be talking, shouting past each other, and then accusing each other of really meaning something different from what they claim to me, right? And so I don't think I have any reason to think that Olivia Chow,

wants to abolish the state of Israel or extend, uh, I free Palestine to eliminate Israel. I have no reason to believe that that, whatever opinions she held on that conflict, uh, which as far as I know, there's no daylight between her and like the federal,

liberal and conservatives parties. Like, uh, uh, like I have no reason to believe that she has some secret agenda there, motivated by anti-Semitism, but the,

Like, it seems to me like when you're banning Jewish playwrights, or banning Israeli playwrights. It's Israeli. But can you imagine if when Russia attacked Ukraine, we took all the Tolstoy books out of the library, like made them unavailable to people because no Russian could be? Like, that's absurd. And I think, frankly, like, obviously anti-Israeli,

possibly anti-Sab. like they seem to be on to something there, right? But then when they point at somebody who's like, it's very complicated and I have no expertise in it, right? And so, you know, there's a very good chance Warren Concella starts publicly attacking me over whatever I've said here because that's what Warren Concella does, right?

And you make a good point, though, that he is not an unbiased observer here. He's working with Brad on Brad's campaign. He told me that when he was here a couple of months ago. So he's essentially creating the great old. old fud, right? Fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the competitor. Yeah. But this is, so let's use this as a gateway to the... But I don't know that there's a

widespread audience that that is going to be all that receptive to that in this particular case, but it's like this is an axe that he is grinding where he gets to grind it anyway. Like, I mean, this is obviously a issue where he is like very sensitive at the moment.

He's been passionate about it for a long time. He has very strong about it. Yeah. So... Now, Okay, so this is going to be a good opportunity. So a couple of questions that came in, we're going to wrap them together. So Walk of Life has a different question.

I'll ask you in a moment, but he wants to know, again, so don't answer this one yet, but Walk of Life wants to know how you see Brad Bradford's chances of winning the mayor's seat. That's a big general question there. But St. Catherine's Chris also wants to know, do you, Ed Keenan, think any other mainstream candidate

will step up to challenge in this mayoral election? Because as we speak on July, second 2026. There's only two mainstream, I'm using that quote, mainstream candidates that are running for mayor. It's Brad Bradford and Olivia Chow. Yeah. So to answer the second question first,

I think that it seems more and more unlikely, right? I think when people thought John Torrey was going to get back in, including I think at some points John Torrey thought he was going to get back in, you know, Brad Bradford was clear that he was going to get back in. was going to run anyway. So it seemed like there's going to be a three-horse race here. And maybe some other people who were, hmm, don't want to be the spoiler, but if it's going to be a wide-open race, like maybe I'll get in and try my chances too. But as soon as John Tori announced he wasn't

going to get in, I started hearing names. And like, you, it was reported like Michael Ford, right? I think that was a surprise to Doug Ford, honestly, because I think when a lot of people heard it, they were like, that must be Doug saying Michael Ford should run. But I think other people, were putting his name forward and he was thinking about it carefully. I heard Rod Black, right? I heard, or Rod Phillips. Not Rod Black. Not Rod Black.

Rod Phillips. You know, there was a former Liberal MP. There's like a lot of names, some bigger than others, some big in some circles and not really household names, like got bandied about. And I think a lot of those people seriously thought about it. And then one by one, they all were like, no, I'm not. I'm not going to do it. And what happened, though, I think, is that, like, now it would have to be somebody who's a bona fide celebrity, right?

Like somebody who has a political brand that is so well established, like Doug Ford himself, right? But he doesn't need to run for mayor because he gets to run the city from Queens Park. Right. Because the amount of money you have to raise and the sort of the runway you need to establish your, build your persona, right? To do a mom-dami or something, right? You need, that needs to be a year or years-long project where you are sort of meeting people and building, you know,

an audience as you go and then turning, like, you get this snowball effect, right? We're almost out of time. There's not weather for snowballs now, but there's almost out of time for that to take place, right? because we're a few months away from an election. So, you know, one way to overcome your lack of name recognition would be if you had already a war chest of millions or tens of millions of dollars

that you could just like blanket the airwaves with your advertising or something like that, except that spending limits mean you can't spend that kind of money. The limits on when you can actually do certain types of advertising, like they start in September. So you couldn't do that. And you can't start raising money until you're already in the race anyway. And so it's like, that's not a possibility for most people.

So really we would be talking about somebody like John Torrey or Doug Ford, like with that kind of name recognition, that kind of established political brand. And I don't think anybody like that is seriously considering doing this. but you know there might still be some people talking about it depending on how the polls look over the next little while

because I remember for example when Jane Pitfield was running against David Miller it was like the middle of the summer when a bunch of liberal fixers started publicly musing about trying to draft in other members of the federal cabinet or whatever like trying to look for other big names because like as they were saying like that horse isn't that horse won't right like it's just becoming clear pitfield's not going to come close so maybe we just need to

bring in some other big name candidate and that but that candidate never materialized either right like so it's there may be some more rumblings among people who are unhappy with with the choices available to them but um i i doubt we're going to see one now yep what does that mean for brad brad bradford's chances which is the question you have and i you know i haven't been as as closely reporting on or following this as I would have been, say, six months ago, right? But I think, like, Olivia Chow so far appears to have a substantial, but not necessarily insurmountable lead in the polls, what polls we've seen.

Bradford is presenting himself as the... He has positioned himself. the only real alternative that people have heard of to her there are in some polls like a good deal of like Toronto's on the wrong track sentiment so like if he can tap into that

if he can compellingly put himself forward as a person who can reasonably lead the city then you know I think he's got a shot like I don't think he's an odds on favorite but I think this is going to be a contest.

He recently proposed changing the name of Sancofa Square and cleaning it up. I was going to ask what you think of that. I don't know your pre-execis... I might have known it at some point, but I've forgotten. I don't know your pre-existing opinion on Sancofa Square. We talked... You told me what it means. We talked about it.

I don't know. I call it that now. The square is called Sancofa Square to me. And I'm told the reason... I can't remember them right now. know, but you told me what it meant, and I'm fine with that. Like, I don't have any passionate. I feel like this is the election.

I think the enemy of Brad is absentee voters. So I feel like if you want change or you, I've seen the sentiment on social media. People are like, oh, we have to get rid of Olivia Chow. Like, she's a terrible mayor. We need to replace Olivia Chow. If that's you, you're going to vote for Brad Bradford. I think historically, these municipal elections have such low voter turnout. I think the issue that Brad would have is that some people will just,

I mean, most people will just stay home. Yeah, I mean, I do think a lot of people will stay home, but he has to hope that they're not the people who would be most likely to vote for him, right? I think, like, I don't, I don't even remember what all I said to you about Sancova Square last time. You explained what it meant. It's like one, but this is an issue where I never really had a strong opinion, right? Right. I had no problem with Dundas, but I was not among the people who would have been offended by it anyway, right? I'm not in the demographic.

Me neither. That would take it personally, right? And so I don't love the name, Sancofa Square, but it's like, whatever we call it, I'm going to know where it is, right? Like, I got used to it. I don't feel all that worked up about it, right? I do think, though, that...

And when I hear about it, to be completely frank, from my point of view, it's just kind of like, do we have to keep talking about this? Because some people are really worked up about it on both sides and is like, it's exhausting, listening to them argue about it, right? Whereas like the rest of us just want to get on with fixing the problems of the city. But that said, I think as a political move, I think this might be one of those issues like bike lanes, like the Jarvis bike lanes for Rob Ford way back in the day, or Kyle Ray's

retirement party for Rob Ford way back in the day, or at a certain time, they would Adam Vaughn's Capitia maker. put these ballot measures, the American Republicans would put these ballot measures on gay marriage, on state ballots, even though there was no chance of them passing or whatever.

And they would put them there because, like, people come out to vote for that, right? Like a certain interesting. The people who are going to vote who hate gay marriage are going to vote Republican. So we put a ballot measure on the ballot in order to get those people out to vote. And while they're there, they'll vote for the Republican

too. And I, this is not a ballot. measure thing, but I do think that this might be one of those not all that important, but big symbolism for some people. The people who would want to go against Chow will come out to get rid of Sankova. Anti-woke warriors who really hate this Sankova Square. But I've talked to a lot of people who are otherwise like kind of brass tax people, but otherwise fairly

sensitive to things. Like people who might show up to the pride parade if, if like, like somebody they knew was marching in it, right? Like who, people, people who are not, like, actively, stridently progressive, but are mostly, like, sensitive, like, not anti-woke warriors, is what I'm saying, right? Like, who are a little put off by this Sankova Square thing. Like, they don't understand why we had to rename it. They don't understand where this word come from.

They don't really understand what it means. When they do hear it on talk radio, it's like, well, is Ghana the country, want to be taking our names from. They had a slave trade too. They blah, blah, blah. And it's all kind of like this sense of like, like maybe this is just that step too far. Like, why did we have to do this?

But this was the compromise. I knew where Young Dundas Square was, even if we just called it Young Square, right? Right. But so now he's bringing that back up. And I think maybe for a certain amount of people, this becomes, it could be one of those. And it might not be.

It might be something that we don't talk about after today, like that it just falls off and people forget it, right? But it could be one of those things where there's enough people who think it's symbolic of something wrong with the way Olivia Chow and her supporters think, prioritize things, right? And it becomes almost like a bumper sticker rather than a policy. So maybe for that reason it might be good politics for them. But I guess we'll see, right? but I'm, yeah.

I'm fascinated that we just have the two name brand candidates. Like, you either want to keep the existing mayor, who only had the three years, not the typical, you know, she came in as in the by-election. By the way, because I'm thinking of John Torrey right now, I guess you know that John Torrey Jr. Has rebranded. He's rebranded himself as John A.D. Tori,

and he's running to be an MP to replace Nate on Team Carney. That's right. That's right. Out in Beaches East York. I found this out from Steve Paykin. It would be the most interesting. Scarborough Southwest and Beaches, East York are where all the action is happening in these elections, man, because it's just like one high-profile candidate after another. So you've got to give me one minute again. Sorry.

No, hey, love means never having to say you're sorry. So I'll set the table for Ed Keenan, who's gone for a biobrose. that walk of life's question is, I would be interested in Mr. Keenan's, you know you get respect when you're Mr. when you're this big they call you Mr. I think I can hear, I think I can hear Ed Keenan's prostate growing.

Hold on, quiet everybody. Yes, it is growing, okay. I would be interested in Mr. Keenan's thoughts on the proposal to create more temporary pedestrian-only streets during the summer. So I am going to ask that. Chris Ward makes a good point, which I'll just throw out because we already covered this,

but, you know, they were comparing the Taylor Swift bump to FIFA's bump, but Chris Ward, not the VJ. Nice seeing yet, TMLX-22, Mr. Ward. No relation to Andrew Ward, right? Let me know. Or Turner Ward or David. Oh, there's a lot of wards, as I think about it.

Okay, but he says Taylor Swift came in November, which is not normally a big time for tourists. So this would be a big time regardless of FIFA or not. Here's a question. Real quick hit on this. I think Chris Ward makes a good point there. And I loved him on much music. You know, he was tied for first because he busted through that paper for the first ever day of much music along with J.D. Roberts.

They both bust through at the same time. So it is a tie who's the first of E.J. It's Chris Ward and J.D. Roberts. But real quick here, because I realize the time here again. But Walk of Life, Monsanto. Do you have any thoughts on the proposal to create more temporary pedestrian-only streets during the summer? Yeah, I like it. Yeah. I like it, too. I think there are legitimately concerns in some places about the connectivity of the traffic network, right?

I'm not somebody who, as a columnist, for a lot of years, gave a huge weight, because I think City Hall already gives huge weight to the movement of cars in the city, and I think in some sense that's an insolvable problem, like induced demand means, Like the better the traffic flows, the more traffic there will be. But that said, I think, like, if somebody talked about, you know, closing Lakeshore Boulevard or, like, some key East-West connection, like the bluer viaduct, pedestrianizing the bluer viaduct, right? It's like, well, this is going to make it very difficult for almost everybody else to get around the city.

But I do think we already do quite a lot of street festivals where we, and there is something liberating. Like, I remember moving to the junction, and we lived at first right on Dundas Street above a store, and going out with my toddler son for the Junction Arts Festival. And just he was so happy to be running down the middle of the road, first of all. And then you have activations, they would call it now in marketing speaker, whatever,

but you have stuff out on the road. You've got like street performers out there. You've got vendors. You've got, like, once the road is closed, you've got people out there turning it into almost a linear park, right? And if you look at Times Square was possibly the most famously traffic congested place

in the entire world. At the time when Bloomberg's administration just almost overnight closed traffic and put a bunch of like, they call them Adirondack chairs. We call them Muscoca chairs. out there in the middle of the street for people to sit in. And traffic actually managed okay around it.

And it became a different version of Times Square that is now a huge tourist attraction and is celebrated. But also, you go to many other cities that I've heard about, but I certainly noticed the last couple times I've been in Montreal, where they have some of them are seasonal pedestrianizations and some of them are year-round, but some of their major streets and a lot of their minor streets

have become pedestrianized, and they have built permanent infrastructure so that it doesn't look like somebody just put up some construction fencing. It's like... And it does... Like, I think when we debate these things, often what we have is a fight between...

Like the things that make a street a great place to be, a great place to live, a great place to visit are often the things that make it a terrible place to drive through. And sometimes I don't think you can satisfy both ends. But I think that in a lot of neighborhoods of Toronto, making them a better place to spend time and doing things that can make them like really a joyful place to spend. time is worth doing. And it's worth having, this is like Josh Matlow's proposal, is to have a policy for how you would evaluate that,

how you would identify the places that are good candidates for that, right? How would you, what's the process? Because right now there's no process. So I think it's worthwhile to really talk about some more. And I would just add that my understanding at this stage is that

from the Stars Bureau of reporters, but my conversations with her previously is that this is something that Olivia Chow doesn't seem to be personally against. I would say that. People would suspect that she'd be the big champion of it. But I think she's been very careful in how she talks about it.

It's not a fight she wants to pick with the war on the car people, right? Like she doesn't want, it's not a priority for her to pedestrianized streets. So if these other counselors get something rolling and people seem to love it, she'll vote for it.

but she personally at this stage is saying, you know, well, we have a lot of street festivals, we have a lot of good parades, but traffic movement is really important and there are people feel strongly about that. So I'm willing to listen is what she says.

So really, counselor Josh Matlow is championing this right now and Chris Moyes, who pedestrianized Church Street, like championed that and got city council to pass a pilot version of it. I think those are the people behind it, but I think it's,

I think it's really looks worthwhile to me at this stage. Okay, so in the last 10 minutes here. I talk too much with every rapid fire question. I love it. These aren't even rapid fire. You know, you're amazing, okay.

I love that you're here every quarter. I urge everybody to subscribe to the Toronto Star. This is not a Toronto Star slogan, but it'll steal it from whoever owns it, Washington Post or whoever that was. Democracy dies in darkness. That was the Washington Post. Washington Post.

And so there was like the, The first Trump administration, the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, was like, our owner is too rich, so you can't threaten us with anything. And so we are going to be like the resistance, right? The holding you to account. And then when he got elected again, it was like, our owner is super rich, and so now we're not allowed to say anything bad about you. But certainly that first time around, democracy dies in darkness was the Washington Post banner.

I was going to say, now he'll finance the millennial. a documentary. Have you seen that yet? No, I have not. I have not. The star hasn't had you. He's no longer my job to watch that stuff. Right, that's right. So there's four things we're going to kind of tie together and they're all, they're all Doug Ford things, okay? So

I'm going to read all four of them and then in this last 10 minutes you can just talk about Doug Ford. If that's okay, that's what you were going to do here. Okay, so the first one and then if we have one or two minutes left, I have a question for you. Well, do you want to do the question first? I mean, oh no, we'll make time for your question. We'll make time for you question. Okay, yeah. So,

Premier Doug, this one, funny, I talked about this with Nick Aini's on Mike and Nick, and both of us are greatly disturbed by this. Premier Doug Ford's daily calendar will now be kept secret from the public following recent changes to Ontario's freedom of information law, which no longer includes access to records held by ministers and their offices. Okay? So there's that. But also, I just took a photo of what's happening in an Ontario place. I called it My Empire of Dirt, okay? Shout out to 9-inch nails there.

But the interim location of the Ontario Science Center is now open, but construction's underway to get a new one that's going to open at Ontario Place in 2029. Meanwhile, somebody was, uh, uh, jumped on me on my own blog because I posted that pile of dirt, basically chastising me for even believing for a millisecond that there ever will be this private spa built there. Okay, like, if you, you, believe that this thermase spa, I don't know how to say it's saying. Then you are a gullible idiot and whatever, whatever.

And then the last thing I'm throwing in there, because I was just there earlier today, is the no jets, no, if you will, the airport, you know, Doug Ford wanting to expand it and allow jets there. So there's like, really it's three, because the science center, auditorial place can be grouped in with the private spa. But just go off on what your thoughts are, columnist Ed Keenan. That's a lot of Doug Ford in Toronto. Yeah, yeah.

But I think there's a couple distinct things there. So I think my colleagues at Queens Park and at the Star have done quite a lot of writing because I think the changes to the Freedom of Information Act and what is accessible to it really do limit what we the public have access to and what we journalists have access to. And traditionally, we have been able to... There are certain, like, political deliberations and whatnot that would be exempt anyway, that, like, we would get the documents, they'd be blacked out

because this is not responsive to your policy question or whatever. This is a... It's redacted. Political strategizing, right? That's, like, actually cut out of that stuff, right? But we would still get to see that there was correspondence between this minister's office and this lobbyist, or this minister's office

and the deputy minister who's running this project and we'd see that these instructions are coming here or who said what, right? And now that stuff's going to be hidden. And then the personal cell phone and email information for the premier but also all of his cabinet ministers.

And I just generally think that that the less information, the less government information that is public, the worst things are. I think by default, we own all of that information. This is being done in our name, on our behalf, using infrastructure and equipment we paid for by people who are our employees,

and we should have a right to see the records of that. I do think that there was like some logistical problems. There still are at the same. city level, at the provincial level, at the federal level, with how much time and effort it takes for them to, like, gather the records and vet them for certain types of requests. So it's like, maybe there needs to be something streamlined about how this information is looked up or accessed or how records are kept or something like that. But, yeah, I think, I think democracy dies in darkness and that public information

should be public. It should be available to the public. Then we got the waterfront questions, right? So the new science center, the Ontario Place, and the Therma spa. I occasionally hear this theory that there's never going to be a spa there. There are some people who think it's a stalking horse

for a casino. Now, my reading has been a while, So I have to look it up again, but I actually think the lease with Thermay specifically forbids them from ever subletting it to a casino use or like gambling use. But I think they actually plan to put a spa there. I think Doug Ford expects them to put a spa there. I think that's what they're trying to build. There is some questions that I've started to hear from some people about how like 10,000 jet flights

a day or whatever Doug Ford is promising at Billy Bishop Airport are going to affect the spa experience. Like sitting out there trying to have your Swedish hot tub facial scrub under the glass ceiling while all these planes are flying right there and shaking the foundation or whatever. I don't know, right? But yeah, that's all proceeding of pace. Now, I have heard what seemed to me to be. more grounded questions about the viability of that spa?

Like these are business questions, right? And some people wondering if it is viable as a business, if it will be able to succeed in the long term. And those people ask questions about the wisdom of, like, entirely rebuilding that whole island or that whole peninsula that man-made island there. around that spa if there are questions about how long that spa will

be a viable business that's a different story, right? Like, but I don't have any reason to believe that the spa is a giant ruse. I think that's what they actually want to build there and what Doug Ford believes will make a really excellent addition to that park.

And then the Billy Bishop Airport. So this is interesting and it's like this is less like an opinion and more of just kind of an update if people haven't been paying attention, is that essentially like, Doug Ford is all in for expanding it. I think some people have questions, even some aviation experts who are nominally in favor of allowing jets,

their say, or of expanding the amount of traffic there, have questions about how much demand there is for the kind of increase in jet traffic that would make it economic, economically viable. Like, Pearson has some excess capacity that could be picked up, and especially with the UPA Express, the commute into downtown is not that bad. The island airport would have to be dramatically expanded,

and then you would have to fly a lot, lot, lot more flights in and out of there to ever make that pay for itself. But, so the members of the... Basically, this comes down. down to the federal government because the province has taken the city's rule out of it. And the Port Authority, which is a mostly federally appointed board, is the third party to this tri-partite agreement. So it's now the province, the Port Authority, and the federal government. But Carney seemed to be originally sort of noncommittally supportive, but like, oh, interesting idea we've got there.

We're going to take a good look. Sounds promising. And he's gone a bit quieter. Adam Radwanski had a column in the star recently about how he's gone a bit quieter on that and a lot of his local Toronto MPs in particular are really nervous about it. They're either vocally opposed to it already

or they're quietly opposed to it because they think it's going to be a big loser for them politically. And then maybe that's cooled the federal government off a bit. They've launched consultations. The federal government could kill this. And it's not, I don't think for sure, they will, but I don't think it's a done deal. Like, I think it's still an open question,

uh, whether they'll come through with it. As a guy who just enjoys our waterfront and enjoys biking there, even some kayaking there, this seems like a very bad idea to me to, to, to the, the, the damage, like in terms of what it will do to our very rare waterfront in the city, uh, to me, I, I don't know how it's got this far. Like, I'm concerned it will happen. Yeah. I mean, and it could happen, right?

The question is, see, I was trying to think about this, and I tried to, I operated for a long time in a political, you could say it's a political bubble. I don't think of it as a bubble, but like the people who I was politically sympathetic to were so clearly against this, right? that is not like a lot of vibrant arguments in my friend group or my political friend group about it, right?

But I started trying to think about it because the one example was that when I lived in Washington, D.C., if you go down to the National Mall, you're less than like 10 kilometers from Reagan National Airport, which is like the Dulles International Airport way out in Maryland is like the largest regional airport there. also international traffic coming into BWI, which is in Baltimore, which is like the distance of Hamilton to Toronto, right? But Reagan National Airport is the busiest national airport. There's

flights, lots of jets coming in from the West Coast, coming in from everywhere to Texas. I flew in out of there regularly. And the flight of the approach there, when you fly into Reagan National Airport, depending which direction you're coming from, but mostly when I was flying in, you come down so low that you look out the window over the wing, if you're sitting near the wing like me, and you see the Washington Monument, you know, the Oblisk, like just out

in a straight line beyond the wing. You're right over the Potomac River, like you know, a few hundred feet, I guess, up. Like, you're right low over the city. And I like, the only thing that gave me pause is that like, I can't say that I went, when I was there, that I noticed the amount of

jet traffic as like a frequent annoyance, and it's so close. And so it's like, but I do notice the existing plane traffic in and out of Billy Bishop when I'm in downtown Toronto. Like it does come in a lot. And that approach has on both sides, like are, like, it's very close to the downtown core. Like the runway is right there, right? So I just have a hard time imagining the amount of traffic that will justify this. because it's like if it was just a matter of

if they didn't have to radically expand the runways and whatnot, if you could just fly a jet, like a non-proplane in and out of it right now, and it was going to be like one an hour or something, it would be kind of like, eh, I don't know, like that would be kind of annoying. Let's look at the pollution effects or whatever, but I don't know that I would like mount barricades to stop it.

but if we're really talking about like, like there's just no space there to put the number of runways you'd need, though. This is what I have so many questions about it. Like, I'm not sure it's a done deal. I'm not sure it's a good idea. I tried to open my mind a little bit to consider it from different angles from where I previously thought this is obviously not the way we would want to build a city, to wonder if there's an argument for it

and I've had a hard time coming up with it. There's too many questions. So here's, you already, the one question I was going to ask me. Yeah, lots of time. Because I think you may have already started answering it. No, because recently the star had a panel of music experts and critics

come up with like the top 25 greatest Toronto songs of all time. You're playing my music. And a lot of... For a guy of my generation, I wrote half jokingly that like the Shuffle Demon Spadina Bus was like a glaring omission from that list. I love that song. Yeah. But also, a lot of the things that are not on that list that I would put on are, I think, middle-aged white guy songs. Like, is Echo Beach there?

Echo Beach is there. Okay. But Cherry Beach Express is not. The Pucca Orchestra belongs there. Absolutely belongs there. Yeah. But you started playing a version of, like my personal list, not the list that I would think would be most widely embraced,

would include a lowest of the low song. Although I'm not sure if under the Carl Abreach or the only blues or bleed a little while tonight. At least that's a bit, kiss me on Bathurst. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm thinking of the Toronto. They have so many Toronto lyrics. By the way, listening to Brian Adams earlier, there's a little bit of a Ron Hawkins thing going.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. I hear a little Ron Hawkins in the, and then you said Billy Bragg, and I remember having a chat with Cam Gordon that is Ron Hawkins are Billy Bragg. Like, he's a candidate there. So Charlie Angus and I had this chat as well. Like, who is Canada's Billy Brake? But back to the Toronto songs. Did you suggest it might be Charlie Angus?

No, you know what? I should have. It's Charlie Angus. But it is Charlie Angus. No. I love Charlie Angus. But, okay, so we have Toronto Jams off the top of it. Ambulance Blues.

by Neil Young is an essential Toronto song. There you go. Is that on the list? I'd have to go back in check. I gotta get this. You know what? There's one Neil Young song. Why don't you assign?

There's one Joni Mitchell. So we'll assign that. Joni Mitchell, eh? Joni has one. She did write as Joni Anderson. She played the Purple Onion at your film. And it makes some references to, like, and there's one Bar Naked Lady's song.

Oh, the old apartment would be great. The old apartment is the one they did. Danforth, that'd be great. But remember, the last line of one week, which went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, The last line is, you know it, but I'm going to do it anyway. Birchmount Stadium, Home of the Robby. That's the last line of a number one Billboard Hot 100 song.

There's going to be a Drake song in there. There is, there is. You're going to get a... It's a... Probably a maestro-resh-West song. Maybe 905 to the 416 or whatever that song was called. And number one was interesting to me. Do you want me to tell you what it was?

Hold on. I feel like I need more song here. because I'm just going to, off the top of my head, so we talked about Echo Beach. I talked to Mark about where the hell is Echo Beach. Okay. I feel like there would be... Can tell me what number one is?

Crab Bucket by Chaos. Which was a surprise to me. But... I guess I have to think about the lyrics again. I'm trying to get down because you're moving up. Crab in the bucket. Is there... Oh, you know what he does say in that song?

Tragically, hip ahead by a century. That's a lyric in that song. That doesn't make it Toronto, though. But I have to revisit the lyrics to the chaos jam. That's a great song, but I need to hear what the Toronto part is. There must be a Toronto part in there. Okay, I love this. You know what?

Next time we... Yeah, yeah, we can come back to Toronto songs. I'm going to burn through this X-show in 20 seconds here. But we've got to revisit Best Toronto Songs. I'll come up with my list. You can come up of yours and we'll do it. And that brings us to the end of our 1,926th show. Go to Torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs.

And much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. Palmer Pasta, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Nick Iini's Recycle My Electronics.Ca and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow with Susie McNeil. Bye-bye!