Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Lorne Honickman: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1757

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

In this 1757th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike catches up with Lorne Honickman before his hard drives fills up and crashes both his primary and secondary recordings. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, the Waterfront BIA, Blue Sky Agency and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

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Today, returning to Toronto-Miked, it's Lorne Honnickman. How you doing, Lauren? I'm good. And you, Mike. Do they make Lorns anymore? I think about Lauren Green. I think about Lorne Panser. Do you know this guy?

Sounds familiar. I think he is. Pansers. The restaurant I grew up with. Is he related to the restaurant? Yeah, absolutely. And then I think about Lauren Honnickman, but are there any young Lorne's that you know about?

I don't know any young Lawrence. Lauren Michaels, of course. Oh, Lord, yes, of course, yes. He's no youngster, though. So I'm wondering if that name is in danger of becoming extinct. Well, let's hope not. We'll do everything we can to keep it going. I think it's been, you correct me if I'm wrong.

I was the first time you and I spoke down here was, what, almost six years ago to the day. day pretty close right um night 2019 and i don't think i've been down here since is this your second visit to the TMDS basement studio could that be possible because i can tell you when we spoke yeah we spoke during the pandemic i remember that the pandemic had just hit the world and we spoke then uh so we were all isolated i did a dillon hour with you when we talked about Mr. Dillon's birthday, and maybe we'll get into Mr. Dillon today. We'll see.

Yeah, we will. And I spoke to you when we did my judgment days, remember? Now, maybe I could be wrong. I think you're wrong. Okay, because I believe you were last in this basement, August 31st, 2023. That's what I said, right? Okay, but that's not your first visit. Okay, so that was episode 13th.

There we go. Hold on. All right, hang on. So, like, that's, so you were in the basement, though, for Toronto. mic, and then if I go back to your first visit, which was August 30th, you like this time a year to visit the TMDS studio, but you were here August 30th, 2019. So I was right about 2019. Oh, I was back here in 2020. So this is your third Toronto mic'd in person, but we did do a Zoom, of course, during the pandemic. But I got to say, it is always

thrilling when legal specialist Lauren Honickman is at the door. Like, it's like, oh my God, that's Lauren Honickman from City TV. And then I always say, where, is your mustache? Like, where is it? I should bring it back. You can leave it in the car? Yeah, I should bring it back. I think I should. Well, why not, right? Like, what do I have to lose coming around the clubhouse turn now? Well, at least do it for me. To get back to that look, you know, to get back to that look. I'm sure a lot of people, well, maybe two would really like that. I want a thorough update on what's new with you, how you're doing. I have some specific questions,

but off the top, can I tell you about some former colleagues of yours? I was hanging with this morning? Yeah, who's that? I was at the Imperial ballroom at the Royal York Hotel all morning. Do you ever been to the Imperial Ballroom at the Royal York? Yeah, you've got to be a big wig to get in there. Okay, so I'm there. Right. And this is a party put on by Hollywood Suite. And Hollywood Suite, one of the big wigs there, is a guy, I believe you worked with, do you remember David Kines? Sure, sure. What do you remember about David? I don't, I didn't really have dealings with David. I mean, we knew each other through the building, the city TV building.

299 Queen Street West. I guess it's not called City TV building any longer, but that's, I remember David. He was probably, we used to say they're on the second floor. The second floor were all the, uh, the wigs, some of them small, some of them big. And, uh, I'm not sure where David fit in, but yeah. So, uh, and who else? Well, was David always nice to you? want to know was he a good guy you know what no bad feelings you're asking the guy who forgot he

was here two years ago so i'm worried about you know these are dangerous signs i know so uh i have absolutely and you're my lawyer i have no memory at all of him not being nice to me all right well the other name i know you worked with some guy named gourd martine oh gordy so how is gordy i haven't seen i i was texting gordy recently because um we were hoping to get together again as we've been doing yearly for our friend bill and uh but that got kiboshed uh canceled uh for various reasons that you explaining what kibosh means like you thought maybe that would be a term i'd be unfamiliar with kibosh yeah yeah kibosh from the latin word kibosh meaning to be kiboshed such a lawyer thank you uh so yeah i haven't seen

I haven't seen Gordon. Why was it kiboshed? Bill moved out of the place that he had been in for a while and he's moved up north to a, to a nursing home. So the party couldn't take place that we usually had done and I had texted Gordy and then I had to text them back and say it's canceled. I was looking forward to seeing him again. How is Mr. Martineau? He looked good. He's got those steel blue eyes, right? Sometimes we just lock eyes and we just stare at it.

other for a while right just a mutual admiration he was hanging with a couple of filmmakers that listeners of this program will be familiar with a stew stone and Adam Rodness every time they make a movie they get Gord to do a cameo appearance in the film oh nice that was good and Gord loves it so I think Gord and Gord obviously invited by David Kines because he's a mover and a shaker but when I think about those like City TV newscasts I grew up loving like as you know I keep trying to hunt these guys down right by the on the that note before I forget. So since your last visit, I think I can't remember if it's before

after, but Harold Hussein has been over here. Do you know that? I think I, I think Hurricane Harold has been over here. Like I found him, we got him in the basement, did a deep dive, but are you familiar with Peter Gross's, and I'm going to ask you about him in a minute, but Peter Gross's attempts to get Jojo Chinto to come on Toronto, Mike. Are you familiar of this? I am, and I know that you even asked me a couple years ago. That's how desperate I am to get Jojo in the basement. And Jojo was in somebody else who I would see once a year for Bill's party. I saw him last year and, uh, and, and he doesn't want to come and talk to you. No way Jose does he want to do, forget me personally, but he doesn't want to do any

podcast of any nature. He seems really like down on the idea and he gave like a hard no to Peter Gross. Like it wasn't even like open. It's not just you. It could be just me. If I find out, if I see Jojo Chinto showing up on some other, you know, imitation podcasts that out there, I'm going to be royally pissed. Yeah, I don't know.

I remember mentioning something to him. What did he say? He shut it down right away, right? Yeah, I, I, you know what? Again, I can't, I can't remember if you said absolutely no or, or, or, but I, I think that, but Jojo would be great for you to speak to you. Thank you for telling me something. I don't know. Why do you think I'm pursuing him so hard?

Yeah. Maybe you use another name. Maybe, you know. Toronto Bill? Just pretend you're somebody else. I'm not sure if it's you, but it could be. I don't know. But yeah, it was always seeing Jojo every year when we, for the last couple of years,

when we used to see Bill, it used to be a lot of just getting together. Even with those guys, when we used to see each other for even an hour, two hours. It was always like we could sit back and just tell a few, hey, you remember this? And, you know, you say you saw Gordy today. And a lot of people, I will say this, Gord has a lot to be proud of in his career and doing what he did. And maybe a lot of people right now don't, you know, I don't even know if they're watching the news. I have no idea. I don't know what's happening with news.

But Gord was the guy. He could do things that I will say a lot of people can never do, Mike. sitting in that chair when he used to do that to be able to if something was happening and something broke quickly and you needed somebody to sit in the chair there was nobody like now i must chime in loren to ask you why the hell would a company with as much money as rogers cut costs by cutting loose somebody like gordon martineau why you know i have no idea but they didn't even replace them with another anchor at least when lisa leflam got it they said okay where we're going to put this guy in the chair.

I don't think City TV had an anchor, like after Gord. No, I don't know what, I'm not sure what they're doing. Every once in a while, I'll flip around. I'll see my old colleague Cynthia Mulligan sitting in that chair now. I don't know if she's now considered the anchor. I don't know. But it was, it was obviously a different time. And, you know, when I think about when CP 24 first went on the air and nobody really knew

about 24-hour news and we didn't realize until we until it went on the air that you had to feed the beast and that meant you you know you're doing stuff 24-7 um which i think you know we could talk about this as well at some point that 24-hour news has had i think while a great great access um effect for people it's also had a very negative aspect as as to what news is it changed you watered it down me well no it changed news to views right because you had to get your panels you had to get your people talking about here's what happened but i think of some great things with what we used to do like when it first came on and i came back to city tv after i graduated from law school as as legal specialist and so we're covering a trial and you know a jury

would go out now it's 10 o'clock in the morning let's say gort's sitting at the desk and it's you know we're at the top of the hour at 10 o'clock let's go to the courthouse Lauren honnickman's there Lauren, what's going on right now? Well, Gord, the jury's been out. They went out about an hour ago. We expect maybe da-da-da-da-da. Gordon and I chat for about, you know, five or four or five minutes. Here's a wrap and blah, blah, blah.

And anyway, I'll keep you post. If anything happens, Gord, I'll let you know back to you. Okay. Now we're on a new cycle. Now it's the 10-15 cycle. Still waiting for a verdict at the courthouse. Lauren Honickman's there right now. And we would do that, like, you know, 10-40,

15. And we just, I would be saying the same thing or adding, but we realize that maybe somebody's just tuning in now. But Gord had the ability and he made us when we were out in the field to be able to improve that way as well. You had to be able to speak. You had to be able. Even if you're saying the same thing, you may want to be able to say it a different way, but you're getting the information out there. So I don't know if there's anybody really been like him. I'm a fan, but I think that, um, and I'm sure he's, I don't know what Gord's doing right now, but I'm sure, uh, he's keeping busy. Uh, I hope he's keeping. I didn't get to, you know, grill him, but, uh, you know, he's busy with all those stew stone, Adam Rodden's, uh,

five seven film cameos, right? Wow. Well, you know, there's always one a year. Next time I talk, I'll have to ask him about. You do it. Uh, they do one a year and they always find something for, uh, he's like, he's like, but when I saw Gord at this, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, he's like, um, Imperial Ballroom at the Royal York. I just like saying that. Like apparently Tony Bennett played there, like a lot of big ways. Did you ever see Tony Bennett at the Imperial Ball? No, I did.

But there's Gord. Yeah, he's always kind of hanging around. Excellent. Stu and Adam. So that's the trifecta there. By the way, Cynthia Mulligan, is she the only person on air there that you can, that you remember working with? Like, is she the last holdover from your days at City TV?

Well, in fairness, you're talking about how long I, actually watch the news when I'm flipping through now. So from the first few minutes that I may watch, yeah, she's the only one that, uh, that I, sure recall being on the air when I was even close to that bill. What was your last calendar year that you worked at 299 Queen Street? Uh, 2009, 2010. That was when the last year of legal briefs. And, uh, that was the, uh, show that We started in 1999, 2000, weekly show was on CP 24 and it was broadcast across the country on Core TV Canada, which was another one of the properties they owned. And that was my weekly talk show that I was doing.

And it was, I guess at that time, I don't know if things have changed, but up until when I left, it was the longest running show on CP 24. And that was the last time I was in that building. Okay. Wow, this is a foregone error now when I look back. But a bunch of people who did work in that building because David Kines would be friends with them. And I think he invited all his friends except you, Lauren.

Yeah, well, that would have answered your first question of, did you like David Kines? Did you get along with it? I'm assuming that I did. Okay, good news on the live stream. So, Lauren, I'm not sure this even existed last time you were here, although it probably did, but you're live at live. com.

And the exciting news I have for you is that Jeremy Hopkins chimes in to say there are a couple, a few young lorns in his wife's family because they honor her grandfather by naming people, I guess, after their grandfather, who is a lorn. So there are young lorns in this country. Thank goodness. I don't want to say, I heard from, uh, you really put me off right at the beginning and I didn't. Well, I like the name, Lauren. I just don't know any young lorns.

My original name was Michael. That's my middle name. So I was, my name. Yeah. So I was Michael Lorne for two weeks of my life. They flipped it? They flipped it. My mother flipped it at when I was about two weeks old because she thought that she liked

Lauren better. And there were a lot of Michaels. Yeah. So there you go. At the same event, quickly here, just as we catch up and we're going to, I got so many things I want to talk to you about, Lauren. Ben Johnson was at this event and I had a chat with Ben who wanted me to know, this is me now pumping my own tires because somebody's got to pump these tires, right?

You need air in the tires. Ben wanted me to know I was his favorite interview ever he said he said the most fun he's had in an interview the most enjoyable interview experience was for Ben Johnson was on Toronto Mike

Wow You know what Is that something or what And then he told me I asked him You know we were catching up He's talking about some things he's working on And then I asked him about his dream

He told me about his dream Was to retire to Jamaica And I said how close are you to that dream He goes One more year Mike one more year And then I said, Ben, before you leave Canada for Jamaica, because he wants to just go disappear in Jamaica for the rest of his life, I said, Ben, you visit the basement for your exit interview. Like exiting the country, Ben Johnson, and he says, I would love to do that. Yeah.

Could end up being his worst interview, but it doesn't matter at that time. I'm playing of house money now. Like, you know, we have the best interview ever. Let's make the worst interview ever. So before we, again, I have like an extended intro that I haven't even read. yet. I'm going to read it and we're going to cover a lot of ground here, Lauren. But I want to, I played off the top Mark Daly and this ties to Mark Daly. So I know you were good friends of Mark Daly, right? When we work together, yeah. Yeah. Okay. When else would you be good friends?

You had to put a qualifier on that. Well, no, because I, that's, that's an, actually, it's an interesting comment and question because when you talk about being friends, good friends, at work, not at work. He was the type of guy that I didn't socialize with out of work, right? So that's what I mean by that. But when we work together and there was a time where we worked pretty closely together because we were both, I was covering courts, he was covering crime. So we're out, quote, out on the streets.

So you got to know him well on a professional level, but you weren't going out for like a beer with Mark Daly. Not all the time. Every, you know, once in a while, you know. So I'm going to, I can't even remember if I've covered this with you in the past, but I'm doing it again, okay? So I took, there's a song by Rush, a famous song by Rush. It's called Subdivisions. Okay, I used to watch this all the time, I don't know, Toronto Rocks, for example.

I met the guy who, today at this event, I met this old Coot, whose name will come to me in a minute, who tells me he's a founder of City TV and he is. He's a founder? Yeah, like there are four founders apparently. And he's one of these four. So one is Phyllis Switzer. Switzer, yeah. So, and one is Moses. Right.

And I think Jerry Grafstein. Okay, so the other one, do you remember this name? I'm going to need Wise Blutt to tell me on the live stream. But that's the guy I was chatting with at this party today. And he says, I created Toronto Rocks. Okay. I think that's a big deal. Like, I met the creator of Toronto Rocks.

Okay. Eat your heart out, Jay Gold. Toronto Rocks, the late John Major. Yeah. And I think, didn't Brad Giffon did Toronto Rocks as well? Yes, he did. Very good, Lord. Very good.

Good way. That's why you're here. But so, Rush had a big hit with subdivisions. I'm going to play 20 seconds. Listen closely. Subdivisions. In the hospital halls, in the shopping malls, come from because I'm going to be cast out.

Subdivisions. In a basement box, in the backs of cars, So there's just 20 seconds of subdivisions. Do you hear the voice saying the word subdivisions? No. So I isolated it. So now this is going to be a two-second clip so you can't miss it. So listen closely.

Do you hear the voice saying subdivisions? I'll do it again. Okay, okay. So an ongoing conversation, yeah, it's there. Several times in the song you hear a voice say subdivisions. Is this a long? way for you to say that that's Mark Daly's voice? I'm telling you so, yes.

Okay. You could have just told me. No, I'm building a story here, Lauren. Okay, this is how you set the table before you eat. Okay, I'm not an animal here. So that, there's some debate online. There are people who swear it's Neil Peart who says that. In the video, it's lip synced by Alex Leipson. That is not Alex Leipson's voice. I have had, recently I had extensive conversations with private conversations

with Ed Conroy, who you might know, better as retro Ontario. Right, right, right. I kind of hope to see Ed today, but he didn't make the trek in the city because he left during the pandemic, he left the city. He's Port Perry or something.

But I'm hearing, so I'm talking to Ed. I'm like, Ed, I'm online. There's conversations about how, no, it's not Mark Daley. That's Neil Peart or whatever, but it sounds to my ears like Mark Daly. And Ed Conroy says, he says he'll bet his life on it,

that it is a sample of a news report on City TV where Mark Daly says the word sub-divisions and they sample it in that song, he is certain and I am certain, and any, like, disbelievers or haters out there, you know, we can't get

Mark Daly sadly to confirm this because he's no longer with us, but I wondered if you, a man who worked closely at 299 Queen Street West with Mark Daly, I'm going to play it one more time and then I want to hear from you, Lauren, if you believe that is Mark Daley's voice, okay?

So one more time, now that you're thinking about your friend Mark Daly. You ready? I'm certain. I want to end this debate today. That is Mark Daly. Okay, I can't help you, Mike. But does this, okay, you can't say definitively. You're such a lawyer.

But to your ears, your expert ears, does that sound like his timber and his voice? Here's what I could say. If you told me it was Mark Daly, and I would not be able to say to it, no, it's not. but if you're saying to me, is it, you know, John Doe or Mark Daly, I'd say it sounds like Mark. But again, um, we're not in court here, Lauren. No, I know. And we're spending a lot of time on this. So I do want to be able to give you whatever, you know, I want to help you as much as I can.

I just wanted your analysis, uh, like listening with me. You're talking about my ears trying to hear something embedded in a song and you're asking me, because there's this incredible debate out there, is that Mark Daly? So my answer to you is, to the best of my ears ability, it sounds a little like Mark Daly. And I think,

I hope I've helped you there. And I want to thank you for inviting me downstairs. And I'll see in two years and we'll get into some other stuff. Do you feel like we wasted too much time discussing that sample in the Rush song that I believe is Mark Daly? because I have somebody in here who worked with him. Here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you that whoever is listening to our interview right now

is going to be saying, Lorne, thank God you got Mike off of that. I saw you working to get off of that. He wouldn't let you get off of it. I appreciate that you did your best. I think that's what people are going to say about that. Do you think this is legal briefs? This is Toronto, Mike.

I know my audience. We'll be back. They want a deeper time. We'll be back right after this with a lot more piercing, questions from Mike to Lauren. I'm going to read a scripted intro. I was going to read it off the top, but I'm going to read it now. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, but I'm going to give you because, you know,

you just did an ad break. So I'm going to tell you that Great Lakes Brewery, Lauren, has sent over some fresh craft beer for you. Beautiful. Beautiful. We love it. Brewed right here in South of Topico. They're hosting us at the GLB brew pub at Jervis and Queens Key.

They're hosting us FOTMs on the 25th of this month, September 25. It's a Thursday night. 6 to 9 p.m. at the GLB brew pub, that is TMLX20. Excellent, I'll put that. You never come to my TML. I did. I did. That's what I was going to tell you one time I saw you, remember?

Yeah, did you remember, was that at the brewery? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. When I see Lauren Honakman in the wild, that's unbelievable. So I have a lasagna for you as well, Warren, from Palma pasta. Oh, my goodness. I got to get you to Palma's Kitchen. Did I ever, did you ever come to Palma's Kitchen?

That's actually where you got me. It was Palma's kitchen. Okay, we're going to be back there, either late. November or early December. Beautiful. I'd love to get you back there. That's right. You were at a TMLX event at Palma's Kitchen.

We love Palma Pasta. See, I did come to one. Okay. And Ridley Funeral Home doesn't want to see you anytime soon. Will you, that's a good question. Sometimes I have a Jewish person on and I say, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. And they say shout out to Benjamin's. Like they have to be, can you be buried at?

Can you have a funeral at Ridley Funeral Home? Now, that might be even an easier question than was that marked? Bailey. I think I can, but I don't think there's any law. I don't know the rule. I don't know the, I think a lot of it has to do with belief, right? I don't think there's, uh, okay, there's a, any prohibition against it. But it's true. I'll say that. I'll say, uh, I know, they hope to see you one day, uh, but not too soon. And then I'll be like, oh, I have to go to, I think it was Steve Simmons who told me, uh, oh, it has to be Benjamin's or Steele's Memorial. Yeah, there's two. Yeah. Okay. You know Howard Berger? Yes. And I do. And I, and I, he saw me,

I attended a funeral and he came up to me and we chatted because we knew each other through the years. And he said, yeah, this is my new job. Yeah, he's had it for years now. I follow him on Facebook and no matter what he posts on Facebook, no matter what, he uses the hashtag Leafs. But he can post a picture of, oh, here's my beautiful daughter, we're hanging out on her birthday or something. And he'll say hashtag Leafs, like anything, even if it's not hockey related stuff, but anything. When he covered the Leafs, he covered the Leafs. But why is he using the hashtag Leafs?

I don't know. I'm not sure, but I can tell you he was a great reporter. He was a great. Came from my era. Well, you're a big Leafs fan still. Yes. The only person I think that knows as much about the Leafs as I do, because I've listened to him with you, is Steve Bacon.

But other than that, I'm not sure if anybody really does. He's going to be at TMLX 20 on September 25, Steve Pay. Oh, you know what? I always, when I, like, I'm, I'm another, another person, like we were talking earlier about Gord, a huge fan of Steve's, you know, and I thought, when I heard him, I said, you know what, I should, I should reach out to Steve.

He and I haven't talked in a long time, you know, maybe, you know, because everybody always talks about, oh, let's do this podcast. Let's put this together. I said, you know, what about, I'm thinking to myself, Honnickman and Paken together, you know, two people who used to run, two people who used to report down the middle,

like not to the right, not to the left, down the middle, like you have to use it. You know, we could, you know, pagan honic, pH, you know, there you go. I can make that happen. Acidic broadcasting or something. Now, I did tease earlier that I was chatting with a founder of city. And then on the live stream, they said the four founders, the missing guy is, has passed away. But this is David Kynes who told me he was a founder of City TV.

And David knows his stuff. So I think there may be, I'm trying to see here. So Phyllis, here we go. I know this is compelling audio. Okay, so the, interesting. The four founders that get listed on the wiki page are Phyllis Switzer, Moses, Jerry Grafstein, and Edgar Cowan. But I met a different guy, so I think there were others. Like, he's going to have to get him on to get the full story.

You can't remember his name. But absolutely was billed to me by David Kines as a founder of City TV. So I think there are others that just didn't make the Wikipedia page. So thank you to Ridley Funeral Home for sending this measuring table. over for Lauren. So Lauren, that's yours as well. There's funny comments on that you really didn't want me to go too long on the subdivisions chatter. Can you explain to me, like, was it that you just, let's get on with it? You just, you just think there's too much time spent on. Yeah, maybe, you know, I think what happens, Mike, you know, as you get older, you know,

impatient. Time seems always of the essence, right? That's another rush time. Time stands still, but not for you. You know, it's. Okay, we moved on from subdivisions. I've definitively decided it, was Mark Daley. Excellent. I'm going to read something to you. In this 1,757th episode of Toronto, Mike, Mike welcomes back lawyer and city pulse news veteran, Lauren Honakman.

Among the many topics discussed include Lauren's prominent participation in the new Crave three-part documentary streaming now on the death of Christine Jessup. His memories of covering the Christine Jessup Guy Paul Moran's story from the beginning his concerns on the state of political and legal reporting in this country the proliferation of misinformation and the dangers of confirmation bias

that is everywhere his carving down of the law practice to join his son's law firm new projects he is hoping to explore like playwriting, the possibility of returning to media in some capacity and the possibility of putting together a new podcast helping people learn to love

and appreciate the story. songs of Bob Dylan. Wow. There's a lot there. Who wrote that? That is written so well. Did AI write that? So when you and I decided we're going to get together again, you know, I just, again,

because I just don't like to waste time, as you can see. So I said, you know what, Mike, I'll write you the intro so we can get this on. The irony is not lost to me, though, that you're looking at the watch, let's get on with it. And you were like 20 minutes late for this. Or was I thought it was a 1.30. I know I thought it was a 1.30. I have one o'clock in my county. There you go.

Last time there was a mistake like that, Molly Johnson almost bit my head off. I'm a little sensitive. I'm wearing a shirt today, gifted to me by a listener, Andy, at an TMLX event because, if you remember the Molly Johnson episode, I told her, I said,

your brother was in the wire. And then she kind of, you know, says, my brother wasn't just in the wire. My brother created the wire. And she goes, she smacked my box set of the wire DVDs. That's over here. And she said, check the liner notes, check the liner notes.

It's in there somewhere. Oh, that, okay, so you. And because I, that, I know, I have, you know, I read the line. Okay, there you go. Okay. Can we talk about this three-part documentary series that I watched on Crave? Sure. I got, it's, it's streaming now.

Back in November, I got a call from a producer who said they're putting this together. Christine Jessup, the tragic story, the 10-year-old who died from Queensville. and everybody who was living around at that time and maybe even a little later we'll remember the story. Her neighbor, Guy Paul Moran, was charged wrongly convicted of the murder. He was eventually exonerated through DNA

and then very recently 2020 through DNA analysis, the actual killer was identified. So they were putting together a three-part documentary and called me up. look we spoke to the family they spoke highly of you as somebody a reporter who is really fair covering the story we'd love you to participate and it was one of those things Mike you know where you I it was it was almost a reflex I didn't I didn't hum and ha I remembered the story well and I said sure and I went there on a Saturday morning downtown we shot it I think they interviewed me for a couple two hours And one of the incredible things about it for me, Mike, was driving downtown from Richmond Hill and thinking to myself, wait a minute,

like, what if I don't remember stuff? You know, like maybe I should have Googled this beforehand. Maybe I should have sort of reminded myself about what was the most amazing thing? And I guess it's, it shows you when you do stories and in this in that business I was able to remember a lot and and that was that really as as I'm speaking and as we're as we're talking I'm oh yeah I remember what happened when she first went missing and so they don't prompt you like are they feeding you things they want you to say or are you just for two hours talking yeah no it's just it's like they're they're going through it so we're talking about first the the the when the disappearance then What happens when Gipal gets and gets arrested and the police investigation? What about his first trial?

Then what happens at his second trial? And it was like, now there's, as you can well imagine, if you see it. Well, I'm going to speak to my experience in a moment. But yeah. But there's a plethora of stuff that I talked about that wasn't used, obviously. But what ended up happening and I saw the way they edited and put it together. As, as people were telling me, starting with my son, they said, wow, the use you as the narrator, the way they edited that. You're almost stealing my thunder there.

So I watched this, and I'll admit, I watched it because I heard you were in it. And I am interested in the case. I just, I just had over here, Lyndon, do you know Lyndon McIntyre? Yes. So he was just here, like last week, I want to say. Right. And we talked about him covering that case. So we just came up on Toronto Mike.

I'm watching this document. It's called the Christine Jessup story. And again, everybody can get it now on Crave. And you are more, you're there as a talking head, but yeah, your son's right. You act as the narrator. I almost thought maybe they had scripted it for you. Your participation in this is extraordinary because you basically are other, I mean, the brother has a big role, of course, Christine's brother.

Right. So it kind of speaks for the family. Right. Because Christine's mom is no longer with us. It's the tragedy of his life that is so front and center. So he's a big part of it, but you're a huge part of this to be part series, and you're like a straw strain the drink here. Yeah, no, and it was interesting the way they did it. And I think it was because I was able to remember these key moments.

So, you know, kudos to the producer, director, and editors for being able to take my stuff. For example, there's a part of it when we're talking about the second trial when he's found guilty. And I'm sitting there just literally free associating. about because I do remember that day. You know how we look back on our lives, Mike? You go like, oh, yeah, that day, that day. The day that Guy Paul Moran was found guilty in July of 1992, I will always remember for a hundred reasons.

One of them being is three weeks after that date, I was about to start law school. I was, for people who may not know, I went to law school later in life. after being at City TV for almost 12 years. I'm going to law school. I'm still going to be working at City. So I remember that day.

And there were things that I remember that I guess they were able to have visuals of. They were able to get the actual video. Because I do remember, for example, when Ken Jessup wasn't at the actual verdict. He missed the verdict. And I remember I was with Al McCormick, the cameraman, and we see Ken running.

And I said, get that shot. So I say that. during the interview and of course they're able to find that piece of that piece of this so so good for them good for you though and i know you're mid you're about to say another wonderful sentence but it's good for you that because it's set it really said i'm watching some like do they have like a teleprompter for loren like it is so well like you're excellent in this series like i hope i don't know what other you know true crime you covered that would be worthy of a similar documentary series but you're kind of built for this right because you are

a lawyer you were there and you're well-spoken guy and i also know how to do television because i did it for most of my life so when i'm sitting there being interviewed in a television interview i i i not that i'm sitting there going oh i'm going to do this or that but i i know exactly what they need in the sense that it's they need the information and i was able to so and if i'd get prompted by questions and they and so they and so they and so they just just did a nice job editing and there was one important part and I just I think this is important for people who were living in Toronto during that time and I always say that it explains why I was probably the helicopter parent I was when my kids were born in and around that time. There was

something unbelievable in this city that was happening that it seemed maybe it was a perception but every summer there was some tragedy that some so christine jessup was 1984 before that there was a kid sharon morning star keenan her body was found in a in a fridge i covered that after uh christine jessup the next summer was um uh parrott let less yeah alison parrott alison parrott the summer after that was Nicole moran who came off the elevator. That story just came out, was revisited about a month ago. When the police, a cold case were putting out,

they're showing pictures of what she'd. Every year, there was always, there was something. And I would say in this to my kids when I was doing this Crave special, I said, I probably was a helicopter parent because that's just who I am anyway. But I think that I do recall when you're working and you're covering these stories. Was there a Holly Jones? Yeah, Holly Jones came out. A Kayla?

Yeah, of course. You know, I mean, there was, these are the things that we would, it was so strange. It was, it was happening in the summer. And it, it, it, it, it, I know I, I have a full memory of how it affected me as, as, as a, as a, as a reporter back in the 80s when, when my kids are like one and three, two and four as they're growing up. You know, you talk to my wife and I'd be calling home. home where the, oh, they're outside. Are you watching? You know, like, you know, driving her crazy. And I, and again, I'm not going to blame it all on the job and what I was covering, but I know it had an effect. And when I sat for this interview, and I'm, like I said,

I'm sitting there for a couple of hours, and I'm sort of remembering all this stuff. Because he's asking me questions like, do you remember going up to Queensville? And, you know, back in those days, when we didn't have a live eye truck that would go up to Queens, we didn't have like, well, we had a live eye truck, but that was for the six o'clock news or the 10 o'clock. We didn't have 24 hour news, but, you know, we're running up to Queensville. But you were everywhere. Yeah. Well, that's exactly. That's exactly it. You know, you'd run up there. You'd do your few interviews. You'd come back to Toronto, get it on the air and whatever. And you'd sit there and you'd interview and they'd just a family. Here they were. Their child's abducted. Eventually, a few months

later, of course, they find out she was murdered, sexually assaulted, brutally, et cetera. and you'd come up there and you'd do an interview and and like they'd be talking and you go holy cow you know and oh okay wait a minute i got to i got to speak to the people in the in the town and you grab the clips put them together run back and the story would go on the air and then you take a deep breath and then future mike here let me tell you what just happened Lauren and I about 40 minutes into our conversation I look at my computer I've got a dialogue box flashing to tell me my hard drive is full. Oh no. But luckily I have a backup recording. We'll get this. The primary and backup recording seems to be corrupt. I can't open these files at all.

I look at Lorne and I say, Lorne, I'm not sure I have that. Lorne looks at me and says, good because I actually have to be somewhere else and I realize now we need more time so Lauren and I rescheduled this episode of Toronto Mike for later in September where we can give it the time it deserves Lauren wants to cover a lot of ground with regards to the current news media in this country etc etc so there's 40 minutes I recorded with Lauren

that I actually thought was lost forever. But through the miracles of modern technology, I was able to resurrect episode 1,757. And now I can say I have never lost an episode in 13 years. And yes, I'm going to spend some time this weekend, clearing up space on this dusty old MacBook Pro because I won't run out of space ever again. Lesson learned.

See you all Tuesday with my special guest Kathleen Robertson. That's right, 902N0's own Kathleen Robertson in the basement, making her Toronto Mike debut. This is going to be one heck of an episode if you have a question and or comment for Kathleen Robertson. the Hammer's Own. Write me. I'm Mike at Trottomike.com. See you all Tuesday. I'm going to be able to be. You know, I'm going to be able to be. I'm not I'm going to be

I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to I'm going I'm I'm oh oh

yeah I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to I'm

a lot of I'm a so. Thank you.