Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Nick Ainis: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1627

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

In this 1627th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike introduces Nick Ainis to the TMU. Nick has stepped up to help fuel the #realtalk on Toronto Mike'd. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1627 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online 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. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Building Toronto Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Gainey's, from Fusion Corp,

and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, making his Toronto Mic debut, is the freshest, the latest sponsor of Toronto Mike. This is Nick Ienies. Yo, yo, yo, I'm in the house. Nick, listen, I am excited about this. Are you ready to make your Toronto Mike debut? I'm here. I'm already, but you're early. I'm early. Yeah. Toronto Mike debut.

I'm here. I'm already at it, but you're early. I'm early. Yeah. So we were going to do this at nine and I saw the, uh, the Nick Aini's, uh, or big red machine parked outside on this unnamed street. I saw it at like around eight 30. So are you like, did you wake up with that tingly feeling like let's go? It's go time.

I, uh, I said to myself, I I said to myself I gotta get up I gotta get up gotta get out I'm gonna be I'm honored to be 1627 which is an amazing experience thank you on a mic thank you but I you know what I'm very excited to be here but I just want to say we got to change that intro for me So well look I have my Google dog open. What would you like it to say? So this is what I say right now I say let's hear it. Okay Building Toronto skyline a podcast and book from Nick Guainese from fusion Corp Yeah, I think it's an emphasis on Fusion Corp.

We have to say, I'm building Toronto Skyline. Yeah. Sponsored by Fusion Corp. From Nick Gainey's, sponsored by, okay, I'm making the edit right now. I have a Sir Jerry Levitan, that's my next guest, and he's gonna have this new intro. Sponsored by, so this is how it's gonna read now

So let's hear it building Toronto skyline a podcast and book from Nick Aeneas Sponsored by fusion Corp. Yeah fusion Corp construction managed construction managers construction management Inc Construct hold on construct construction management Inc Inc That sounds okay. That sounds great. Okay, so now I'm gonna do it one more time now they know that I'm that it's sponsored by fusion Corp and It's all about me obviously and those are two good things

Well, Nick, I want to introduce you to the FOTMs here and let them know who is this, this white knight, so to speak, who stepping up to help fuel the real talk here in Toronto, Mike, you did attend a TMLX event. I did. You attended. I saw all your buddies out there. My buddies, they are the- All the weirdos.

The FOTMs, you're now an FOTM. Am I allowed to insult your audience? You can say anything you want. Yeah, if you think it's good business to insult the FOTMs, go nuts. But let me just set the table. It could be very good business. Attended TMLX16, that was at the GLB Brew Pub at Jarvis and Queens Quay, and I did witness, you had a passionate conversation with the former bicycle mayor of this city, Lanric, and Lanric and you were talking about bike lanes, but what I really respected about you is you came in with one viewpoint, you listened to a bunch of

reasonable people, and I felt at the end of this event that you had opened your mind to the this the beauty the safety the progressive Nature of bike lanes in the city of Toronto. What say you about all this? Well, first of all, I did have a great time at the event. It was amazing and You got a nice group of people working with you, even though I just called them weirdos And that event was capped at 40, so we, you know. Yeah, it was really nice, it was really nice. So I think at the end of the day,

Mike, you have to listen to all the parties, you have to get all the information, despite maybe some strong opinions that you have on a subject matter, and I think you have to, you know, look for some common ground. That's a good way to put it. Keep it open-minded.

It's a compromise, someone, right? Everything's a compromise. So, I mean, no one's gonna be happy, but people have to be somewhat happy. It's not fair to the bikers, because I can see their point of view. They have to be safe happy. It's not fair to the bikers, because I can see their point of view. They have to be safe, for one thing. But they can't, we can't shut down Toronto either.

So, where is the, where's the sort of middle compromise? Right? Well, I thought it was great that, because I've talked to other anti-bike lane people who come in and they're kind of rigid in their stance they're married to their position and they won't hear you out and I just appreciate that you have an open mind you'll have a conversation and that you are willing to move your position if you evolve in your thinking on different topics. That's why we have a great relationship right right Mike? Because you're on one side of the spectrum

and I'm on the other side of the spectrum. I guess you're- And we meet in the middle. And we're able to have these great discussions, right? And we don't have to be right or wrong and or right or left and we're able to like here, we don't always agree, but we can have a nice discussion about it.

Whereas some people, you see people online, they're nasty and they're crazy and they're posting. Looking for a fight. People have a right to their opinions, people have a right to like what they like, and that's it. Well, look, I'm gonna have one of those conversations with you today.

Basically, I have some like pointed questions because we have to introduce like, who are you? What are, what is your expertise? And then I have some specific questions. I am holding a copy of Building Toronto Skyline. Obviously, I have questions about that, but I have questions about Battle of the Skyscrapers because you have a, you have a new book and I have, I love questions about that, but just please tell the listenership who are like, who is this? Who am I? Who is this guy who went to a TMLX event? Now he's making his Toronto Mike debut.

He's sponsoring the program. If you want to sponsor Toronto Mike, Mike at torontomike.com. I'm looking for great partners like Nick Aini is here. Who the hell are you, Nick? Well don't talk to me like that. I'll fix it in post. No, leave it. You gotta leave it in there. So who am I? So well, I'm a Toronto guy.

I was born and raised in Toronto. My history goes back to the early 1900s. Is that true? No, it's true. My great grandfather came from Greece and he was a Macedonian. Where I guess there was some battles that were happening. There was an annexation by Greece. So a lot of the Macedonians left Greece that's in northern Greece and he came to Canada and he was a naturalized citizen in the early 1920s. So our family comes back, we go back a few generations and then in the 1950s my dad came to Canada and met my mom. What high school did you

attend? I went to Richview Collegiate, a very popular school. So you're an Etobicoke guy? Yeah, I'm an Etobicoke guy. So actually this area right here was settled by my great-grandfather, New Toronto. It used to be called New Toronto if you know the history. Well it's still called New Toronto this neighborhood. Yeah. Of course I know the history. You know you you're talking to Nick. Yeah. I know that you live here, right? Come on. I even know that the, the New Toronto people and

the Mimico people would line up on Dwight and they'd have battles. Yeah. I'm ready to battle. Which side are you on? Well, obviously in New Toronto. Well, the history is that New Toronto was rive rivaling Toronto for industry.

And that's, that goes back to the late 1800s. Like you're talking about like good year and some of these things. Yes, yes, that's right. So they were battling for the industrial, to be the industrial heartland or the new heartland of the industry. And that's how this whole area started up.

And it was very prosperous up until probably the 1950s, 60s. And then it went into decline because I think most of the industries were supported by rail. And then we got all the highways and everything like that. That's a fascinating little history of New Toronto. Yeah. And you, you see how, uh, areas, uh, develop, go into decline and get redeveloped. This is becoming a very popular area for families to live in and so on and so forth. You get to be near the lake.

Yeah. You're near the lake. Beautiful. Now tell me about Fusion Corp. Uh, exactly what does Fusion Corp do and when did you found Fusion Corp? I want to hear some Fusion Corp. I didn't finish my story.

So I went. My apologies. So yeah, you better be. So I grew up in Toronto and, uh, you know, led, led a, uh, you know, kind of crazy lifestyle, you know, young people, they go to high school and they go to parties and then they go to parties and then they go to university and then they go to parties. Right.

So I went to Ryerson, I studied architecture at Ryerson. I almost actually flunked out almost and last ditch chance. I went to my Dean and he said, no, there's something wrong. Let me see what's going on and He fixed a couple things for me Not in a bad not in a small Did you make the Dean an offer he couldn't refuse is what I'll know nothing like that

So he really helped me out and I had to go back take retake an exam a log exam. Okay, I did that and That was my turning point actually the TSN turning point for Nick. I need that and that was my turning point actually. The TSN turning point for Nick Gainey's. So after that, you know, that year, the following year was my last year, my fourth year, and I got on the Dean's List the following year. So I really applied myself and you know, it was great. And you almost changed your name to Art Vandele. And I graduated. Okay, but you didn't become an architect.

No, so there's a couple of streams of study in architectural science at Ryerson. You can go into project management, you can go into design, you can also go into building science. So I chose project management. I think I told you about this on the last show. There was a nemesis that I had in the university and we were competing with each other and he worked for a developer. So I went to work for a developer. Wow.

Yeah, and by the way last episode I got to chime in once in a while to give a little context, but you're referring to your excellent podcast Building Toronto's Skyline, which we'll talk more about soon, but that's what you're referring to there. Yeah, that's what I'm referring to. Yeah. So then after that, I worked basically in the construction development community. I built condos. I started in the condo industry.

My first condo was at Bay and Cumberland or Bay Yorkville area. And it was, I haven't looked back. So I worked for a bunch of developers and then at some point I decided to go into my own business I always for some reason I always wanted to be you know, I Don't know maybe be rich everybody wants to be rich, right? Well a lot of people see I think I do many things to ensure that doesn't happen to me

Well, you're one of a kind You know when everyone's going one way I sometimes I get a zag the other way But listen the the key here is and we're going to talk about a lot of other things related to what I'm about to say Is that you do things that you love to do and if it's if you're passionate about something That's that should be you know use that energy into something that you have to do every day Could I know why go to work and hate your job, instead do something you love, and it's not really work at the end of the day.

No, that's ideal. If you can do what you love and still put food on the table, still pay the rent. Go for it. Still buy that Fusion Corp condo development. Okay, so you're developing condos. Yeah, well, Fusion Corp is a construction and management company, primarily,

but we do our own developments. I have some of my own development projects. Well, one I wanna ask you about here, and then I have some very specific questions, especially about the current state of the condo market, but you have an excellent, like a new development in Orangeville, 160 on Broadway, and you can go to 60, it's numeric 60, on Broadway.com to get all the details. And that's at Orangeville.

But that's an example of a recent launch, I guess you'd call that? Yeah, it's a recent launch. It's with one of our developer partners and we're always leading the way in terms of whatever needs to be done for that project. And it's quite exciting. If you weren't a sponsor, I'd be looking at you like you got to turn off the bells and whistles on that laptop. But because you're a sponsor, I'm going to let it go. I turned it off. Are you going to make me Orangeville, Mike, and put me in a nice new condo in orangeville?

Well, you look you're looking orange these days. Oh, well wait to you like a friend We'll get to him too. I got I say I I was very excited I'm doing a little bio off the top so we know who the hell we're talking to right and then I'm gonna get very specific. Yeah, so my family wasn't rich and I wasn't rich and I wasn't rich and at some point I just said okay I'm gonna start my own construction company. So believe it or not if I thought about what I where I was back then it's amazing that I'm here today but I had a dream and you know that's all that's the you know the fun

about being an entrepreneur. You have a dream, you go for it. And I respect the mess out of that. Absolutely. And I love the fact that the part of this dream is one day you'll get on Toronto mic'd and we'll be having this conversation. And that's happening right now.

Should I be recording this Nick? You want me to record this? You know, that's always been the goal. You didn't know about this, but I've been watching you for years. Private eyes, I'm watching you. Nick Aini's, he's watching you. Okay, not just Santa Claus.

You're freaking me out, man. Listen, we play music on this show. I, again, specific questions and one question, again, we're gonna go a little rapid fire and there'll be tangents along the way, but you just, you literally just published a new book called battle of the skyscrapers. Yes. Okay. Please.

I don't know why I don't know this, but CN tower is a, is not a skyscraper. Obviously. Right. What is the tallest skyscraper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada right now? Okay. skyscraper in Toronto Ontario Canada right now. Okay well there's the one, the one is the one is basically the super tall condo tower in Canada right now. And where is that one exactly? That's at Yonge and Bloor. Is it finished? Both are at Yonge and Bloor, there's a one adjacent to it's called Pinnacle on Pinnacle one I believe it's called and that's that's

going to be taller than the one and they're both in a battle to get completed. And that's, uh, that's kind of why we say battle of the skyscrapers because it's a, uh, it's a battle to the top. It's a, you know, a show it's what I learned is that basically essentially most of the skyscrapers started in New York city, Chicago for very prominent and successful business people, wealthy individuals.

They built these skyscrapers as a competition, show of power and money and wealth. And then throughout the world, you just follow the trail. It's like, it's easy to spot where all the money is. And right now the largest towers in the world are going in the Middle East. So just follow the money. Like follow the money. You know, yeah, just like a word,

who's the Steve throat, follow the money. Okay, now I need to know how many, so you mentioned young and bluer. It's around, I think the money. Follow the money, okay. Now I need to know how many, so you mentioned Young and Bloor. It's around, I think the tallest skyscraper and tower in Canada is gonna be roughly 340 meters. So is that the one at Young and Bloor is gonna be 340? Yes. Okay, what's happening at one Young Street,

the bottom of Young Street by the lake, where the Toronto Star Building is. Is that also gonna be a skyscraper? Which project is that? Where the Toronto Star Building is now. Oh, I do know about it, but I just don't recall. Because it's all blueprints and stuff. Art Van de Lee's just got the model.

Art Van de Lee's working on it. I need some frame of reference, and again, I'm putting you on the spot here, but you are the expert What's the tallest building in the world right now skyscraper in the world? Yeah, it's the Burj Khalifa. That's the largest completed tower. There's one in Saudi Arabia that's gonna be higher and it's It's pretty amazing. How high is that? Jetta towers. Okay. How high is that Burj Khalifa Burj Khalifa? It's called Jeddah Towers. Okay, how high is that Burj Khalifa? Burj Khalifa? Like how many meters? Well, that's a good question. But are we, because I guess I'm wondering, so we're getting, we're finally going to have some skyscrapers here over 300 meters, and I guess

that's the, that's the, like the bar, right? To be a skyscraper. No, you have the terminology, you wrote the book, but it's, what's the term when you get over 300 meters? Super super tall super tall super tall skyscraper. So now we have some of these coming in but I Guessing that the Burj Khalifa would dwarf like would make our our skyscrapers here. Yeah, so tiny Yeah, so it's so I just looked it up. I don't I don't have it in my hand So Burj Burj Khalifa is roughly is 829 meters. Wow. What, what, what's how tall is it? So look at that. So you think about that.

So we're at 300. Yeah. They're already at 829. So I just want to say something. So it was interesting because I, like, obviously I'm going to include a chapter about Canada, even though, you know, when I was doing my research, there wasn't really much, no one was really really talking about Canada and I guess there's a reason for that so I went back and I and I noticed that we barely have any super tall skyscrapers in Canada and it basically has something to say about possibly our the way we build it could be about our economy where we stand on the economy So and there's a lot of cities that all around the world that basically just don't build very high structures I

Mean Paris is a good example, right? You know, they are everything is pretty much low-rise over there Makes the Eiffel Tower look bigger. Yeah. Well, you know, that's what they do makes the Eiffel Tower look bigger. Yeah. Well, you know, that's what they do. I I've heard that. Okay. That's how they looks tough. Well, on that note, I'm giving you a chrome looks tough. I'm giving you a, right. I'm giving you a measuring tape from Ridley funeral home and they're at 14th and Lake shore. So they're in new Toronto and Brad Jones has a great podcast as

well. I think I met these guys at your, Oh, Brad. Yeah. Brad would have been at that TML X event. So Brad, who's a sweetheart like you, he, and also a sponsor of this program, I'll be the judge of that. Okay. Don't, don't tell it. Don't man, explain to me what a sweetheart is. Okay. I've decided you're a sweetheart. I remember, I should tell the listenership I've known you a while now. Like we've, we've, we've recorded many episodes of building Toronto skyline. You know, we've met at your, while now like we've we've recorded many episodes of building Toronto skyline You know, we've met at your office and we've had many conversations. So I'm telling the listenership they can trust me Nick is a sweetheart. Okay, so it's Brad Jones and his podcast is called life's undertaking

So people should subscribe to life's undertaking when they're subscribing to building Toronto's skyline and we'll talk more about that But since I'm doing this, let me do it now. I do have fresh beer for you from Great Lakes beer when they're subscribing to Building Toronto's Skyline. And we'll talk more about that. But since I'm doing this, let me do it now. I do have fresh beer for you from Great Lakes Beer. Oh wow, that's great. Delicious beer, we met at GLB Brew Pub that time and I did actually meet you at the brewery, I remember now. I think the great VP of Sales came by to pick up some GLB.

So I gotta hang out with Great Lakes too. I might have an event there one of these days. Honestly, I'll hook you up. They're great for events and we love Great Lakes too. I might have an event there one of these days. Honestly, I'll hook you up. They're great for events. And we love Great Lakes beer here, brewed locally. Drink Ontario's beer, man. Don't go drinking the American beer. Oh, yeah.

That's why you give these giveaways. Now I get it. Well, yeah, we support local. And nothing's more local than Palma Pasta. They're in Mississauga. They're always studying things, you know? So, you know, obviously you got sponsors and you have to integrate them in the show.

You bake them in, man. I'm not going to stop. If I stop down and I air some canned ads for three minutes, you know what you're going to do? You're going to fast forward three minutes. Okay. I might go to something else. You might, you might turn the channel and maybe you might be listening to Rogan. I'm learning things too, right? You're learning. Andma pasta who were all pasta They're in Mississauga in Oakville. Is there that it's in the freezer. I kept it in the freezer

I have in my freezer right now actually was delivered this morning. I have a frozen lasagna for you, Nick You're taking that home to the family. Oh my your wife will love it. Yeah, that's it. We'll eat it today Yeah, you'll love it doesn't have to cook. Well, it's about time if you're listening, you don't have to cook. Nick's taking care of dinner tonight here. And I do want to tell everybody, including you, Nick, that the next TML X event is June 26 from six to nine p.m. I'm talking twenty twenty five, if you're listening in the future. And we are all going to collect not at the GLB Brew Pub this time.

That was at Jarvis and Queen's Key. We're going to collect not at the GLB brew pub this time that was at Jarvis and Queens Key we're gonna collect at the brewery which is 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard it's where we met the first time Nick it is down the street from the Costco here in South Etobicoke so everybody convene collect June 26 be there be there I'm gonna be there I'm gonna be there because palma pasta is gonna feed us, that's amazing. So GLB will buy you your first beer and then Palma Pasta will feed you. And everybody's going to have a great time. A hell of a time.

Hell of a time. Okay. I want to understand. But I want to promise from you. What? You gave us one beer. I think it was a half pint. That was GLB Brew Pub, which is the half pint, because it's more expensive rent over there.

At the brewery, you get a full beer. We got a full beer. Yeah. I got your promise. It's different story. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to get everybody to like oust you and chase you out of your own event.

I love this free event where I'm giving you free food and I'm giving you free beer. You're complaining how much free beer you're getting, is that what I'm hearing? Well, the brewery and the brew pub are different in what they pay for the rent, right? So GLB owns the brewery and therefore can charge less for the beer, but at Jarvis and Queens Quay where they pay rent, it's a very very high rent. So essentially we get a free half pint at the GLB brew pub, but we get the free pint at the brewery. You understand the property values and we're gonna talk about that.

Well, I'm gonna be there for sure. It sounds like an exciting event. You're gonna bring your wife? I'll bring my wife. How long you been married? Five years now. Alright, congrats to you. You in love? Let me look at you. Yeah, you know Valentine's Day is coming up. You're going to do anything special? Yeah, I always do.

So you're going to give her some GLB and you're going to give her a measuring tape. I was thinking TLC. Okay. You should do that every day. I noticed my wife said, Hey, let's, let's celebrate Valentine's Day early. There's this winterlicious going on and you get it. There's a nice restaurant in Long Branch actually. And we've got a, a hot Valentine's Day date on Feb 12.

Nice. Get in ahead of the dog. Why Feb 12? Something to do with the Winterlicious. February 14th is Friday. It's gotta do with the Winterlicious. You get like 50% off, is that the idea? There's a deal.

You know Winterlicious, Summerlicious. I'm always loving to my wife every day. She's a lucky woman. If I was in love, yes, I'm completely in love. Didn't think it would happen to me, but it did. Because five years married, did you date a long time before you got married? No, three months.

Wow, okay. So I'm now looking at you, you're what? You're like 35 now? 35, yeah. Funny guy. 51. 51. Okay, you know, I, funny guy. 51. 51. Okay, you know, I'm turning 51 in June.

But I look better. You look like you're 51. But I have better hair. Well, if you wanna, it's great. I know you're into martial arts, so I gotta be careful here. Yeah, martial arts. Do you wanna tell the people,

because I don't know what these words mean, but tell the people what your specialty is in the world of martial arts. Okay, so martial arts, I study what's called Kali, it's a Filipino martial arts, and it's based on stick and knife fighting, but we also do a sort of mixed martial arts where we're doing boxing, kickboxing. It's called United Martial Arts, and you gotta bring

Anil here one day so we can talk fighting. Done, so listen, you stay on as a sponsor sponsor and I hope you're on long-term. I'm bringing it up. Cause you know what? This is, this is interesting. I'll tell you a good story. So he, uh, he worked for someone for years. The other guy, uh, the other, um, sensei,

whatever you want to call him. He went to Calgary, set up his own deal in Calgary and, uh, and essentially, uh, and Neil bought the Ontario branch. So he's the now as of like a couple of days ago, the owner of United martial arts. Okay. Well that's big news. So I will do, I will do this episode. That's my pledge to you.

Yeah. So I do private martial arts lessons and I love it. It's a good way to unwind, good way to you know, just forget about the challenges of the day, the stresses of the day, and it's really great. Well, we're gonna get to those stresses. I'm gonna take a note not to mess with you because you could beat me up and I think it's cool this Filipino martial arts. I'm gonna tell my wife this, she'll be impressed. She is of Filipino descent. Nice. she'll be very impressed by this I have numbers so I was curious about this and I know you looked up some numbers on Burj Khalifa and you told me 828 or whatever yeah the CN tower

this is a fun fact for all my Toronto listeners uh it's only 553 meters I don't think I ever I guess I thought it was taller than that that barely, that's only a little more than half a kilometer. But you know, when you're looking up, it's like a different perspective. It just seems taller. So yeah, 553. So that's interesting to me that, um, so you, it was one of the tallest towers. So it's always these, this thing where, you know, you built this skyscraper, it's the tallest building and then it gets overtaken very quickly. So, and that's, that's happening all over the

world right now. Will any, will, and again, I know, you know, you don't have a crystal ball, but will any skyscraper in the city of Toronto ever be taller than the CN tower? Well, I mean, it's based on. In your guess, just guess. I, I probably, I would say no.

I think you're looking at over the 300 meter mark. You know, there could be a couple of very high towers, but there probably might be something where you can't be higher than the CN tower. I kind of like that rule. Maybe for like broadcast purposes, the antennas and everything. What is it called? The signals and stuff.

I remember when CFNY, what was your, so you grew up in Toronto. What was your, so you grew up in Toronto, what was your radio station of choice when you were in high school in Richfield? Well I think it was Q107. Q107, did you have a favorite jock or DJ on Q or you just jugged the jams?

I just liked the music. Did you like Guns N' Roses? Yes I did, I was a big Guns N' Roses fan. Me too, Appetite for Destruction, it was my mind. It was like the best, yeah it was one of the best albums of all time in my opinion and definitely, you know it came out when I was 14 years old and That was like the high school album Appetite for destruction and then Lies came out eventually. Yeah, and then had Patience on it.

And then they had their Use Your Illusion albums. I bought Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 on opening day. Yeah I got it before opening day. How'd you make that happen? Well at Richview we have connections. Okay geez, because we're the same vintage, I have the same story about all of this. I can just tell you I was listening to a lot of Q107 when Appetite for Destruction dropped and they played it like crazy It's the top 10 of 10 remember Crazy, but Paradise City Sweet child of mine, of course welcome to the jungle but and more the whole album was fantastic front and back man I gotta show you before you leave. I'll show you my my appetite for destruction pennant

I bought it a head shop downtown in 1988. Wow. So, I freaking love it. Did you ever go see them live? Yeah, I did. I finally, have you seen them live? Yeah, I did once. Okay, how?

Use your illusion to her. Okay, so I was- We were probably there. No, because I caught them much later. I caught them much later. But I did, Slash was with the band when I saw them, but it was, I was like in my 40s when I saw them, so. them in their heyday. No, I was saying it was great. It was a great concert. I remember it Well, this is a great great combo so far because now I want to ask you again

I'm gonna bounce around a bit and I'm gonna definitely dive in a bit further with your your podcast and your your your books, etc Yeah, and I'm gonna add some stuff too. So, okay. Well, I'm gonna make sure that's good We started early so we can go a little longer now I'm going to add some stuff too. So. Okay. Well, I'm going to make sure that's good. We started early so we can go a little longer. Now I'm curious about the current state of the condo market in this country. And before you answer, cause I'm going to lean back, drink my coffee and listen, I just want you to know, no, I listened to the most recent episode

of building Toronto skyline with Rod Robotham. Yeah, Rod. He's from One Space Unlimited Inc. And he was down here talking to you and I'm here producing and I'm listening. And he said something that I mean, this ties in because it's going to tie in. I want to talk about the American threat and the tariffs that are that sort of Damocles that Donald J. Trump is holding over us with that. And he talked about the state very eloquently talked about the current state of condo development

where even a dummy like me could understand. But then he also referenced what he called the triple. No, he called it the third strike. He said we had the pandemic, right? Then we had inflation and we had to manage these two things back to back bang bang and now the American threat in the tariffs and he called it strike three and it was really three year old it was it was real talk when it comes to where we're at in this economy so I'm now say that as like a context and

preface before we hear from you the expert what's the current state of the condo market in this country and maybe current state of the condo market in this country? And maybe more specifically in the city. The condo market is essentially dead right now, almost dead. On life support. It's not good. So I think if you're, if you're buying something in Toronto, I'll tell you the

situation, it's sort of geographically different. Uh, there's some variations here and there. Uh, yeah. So you're going to see probably there's still condo sales happening for sure. But the condo market, everything is on hold or they're shifting to rental. A lot of the developers out there, because they have staff and they have to keep their projects going. So they made a, you know, they adapted to rental, the rental market, but the condo market is, is basically essentially in a big trouble right now.

Um, so we have, uh, prices that, uh, prices have come down about 10% in the GTA on average. We have a lot of inventory units out there in the marketplace. So we're competing with retail. It's a great time to buy a resale condo. You can probably get a pretty good steal from there. And essentially not too many people are building condos there these days. The interest rates are coming down, which is good news. But it's how Canadians feel is the main thing, right? So if you're looking at people who want to buy a house or a condo right now, they're going to put it, they're going to say, I'm on hold right now.

One, I got to wait till interest rates come down. Um, we got to wait till the market starts, starts picking up again. So I think, uh, in terms of all those issues that we're having, plus the cost of a house these days is really, really high for most Canadians. They can't afford it. So if you have a house, you're lucky. Uh, I consider myself lucky.

Uh, me and my wife, we have a house and, you know, and it's not a perfect house, but we love it. And, uh, I know on that note, I feel incredibly like lucky. I feel blessed that we got in the market before it was getting nuts to be honest, but it got nuttier. Like I feel like I couldn't afford to get into the housing market today.

Yeah. It's a, it's, it's challenged for a lot of Canadians. So, you know, there's a lot of, um, mixed feelings about the marketplace right now and, you know, to put that into perspective. So there's a lot of mixed feelings about the marketplace right now. And to put that into perspective, now we have this lingering threat with Donald Trump down south and the tariffs. And that just adds more uncertainty to the market. That was a great point that Rod was talking about.

When I was in software, I was working for B2B software companies forever. Sorry, you're in the mid sentence there? Well, I just wanted to say- Although I was actually mid sentence. Yeah, you were. I'm going to interrupt because it's a very important point. So a lot of the economics of, or the feasibility of, of building condos these days, it's much more challenging. You can't sell it at the, they don't work,

the numbers don't work as much as they used to. Development charges are too high. There's a big sort of, and we had Richard Lyle here. Remember Richard Lyle? Of course. Yeah, from Rescon. So there's a big proponent out there. He's a big proponent for reducing development charges

from municipalities. That's gonna bring the cost of the housing down. Because you can't drop the labor too much. You're not gonna be able to drop labor costs because they just keep going up with inflation, right? And the cost of goods and services supplied to the industry, that's not gonna change too much. But, and you know, we had all these issues with inflation,

so how is it possible that the cost of construction is gonna come down? And the value of units? That may make be able to make it more affordable is Only on the municipal side and development charges if they come down It'll make the numbers work better for developers You know everybody thinks developers, you know make so much money these They're greedy and you know they all so much money, they're greedy,

and you know, they all have these bad images or portrayals, and it's not true. Always when we look at a condo, we look at a pro forma for a condo, the numbers are somewhat tight sometimes. And that's what we're seeing there. So right now, there's some opportunities to change, to make it more, um, economical for

people to buy everything in Canada. However, Canadians have to feel comfortable about buying that house. And the investor market is, I think is gone right now. And was that investor market propping things up? Driving up. Yeah. Well, that was, that was really fueling the condo market, uh, over the last two decades. Okay. Wow.

Now the, where I was going, just, uh, I think I didn't get sent to. Yeah. So in the software company, you know, you have competitors and it was the job of marketing to supply the salespeople with FUD. FUD was fear the software company, you know, you have competitors and it was the job of marketing to supply the salespeople with FUD. FUD was fear, uncertainty and doubt. So, Oh, you're looking at them. Well, and then I heard they're going to be selling to Microsoft or whatever,

whatever, you know, throw some FUD at the competitors and everything. And that same fear, uncertainty and doubt is what has, uh, many Torontonians and Canadians, but particularly Torontonians, if they have money for the home, they're going to keep it in the bank account or keep it under their pillow or maybe under their mattress. I don't know if you keep money under your mattress, but just hold on to it to see what's happening. See what's going on.

I can't comment on that. Okay, well, I don't have your address yet, so I can't go break in and check what's under that mattress there, but I'm sure there's some cash there. Maybe it's in the, like Tony Soprano, he had it hidden all over the place, right? I don't go break in and check what's under that mattress there, but I'm sure there's some cash there. Maybe it's in the Tony Soprano. He had it hidden all over the place, right? I don't do that. And Carmella found out Carmella took it where it was. Yeah. Could go from your spec house, you know, Palma pasta the family, the Petrucci family owns it and operates it.

I was talking to Anthony yesterday. So Anthony is Tony, right? Anthony, Tony. So he's Tony, his wife's name is Carmella It's Tony and Carm. Oh my god. Isn't that perfect? Can't wait to meet them. Well, you'll meet them. Hey Tony How you doing Tony? What do you say he'd love it if you did that but we are having a good chat about so I'm curious What can we do? For example, is there a different government that we should have in place that would do something differently? Well, I mean, that's a good, very good point.

Well, first of all, that uncertainty in the marketplace is caused by fear, and right now people are afraid to buy anything right now. Right, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. That's right, so the only thing that can change that is the economy has to change. Now you have this problem with Donald Trump in South of the border. So can we talk about that guy? We're going to get to it, but just the best thing that can happen in Canada, first of all, we need good political leadership with vision. That's what we need.

You're talking federally. I'm talking all levels of government. We have, I'm sorry to say, I'm gonna give you my opinion. Yeah, well you're speaking for Nick, not for the FDCM. Our governments are a joke, okay? I just said it very strongly. They're a joke and they're socialists. Whoa.

They're not entrepreneurs. They're not business people. They waste taxpayers money like you wouldn't believe. And I don't agree with that. That's very, very, very. And are you being specific to federal or provincial or both? Well, I don't like, there's some things in the Canadian, you know, democratic process that I don't like.

One, we don't get to pick our leaders. The parties pick the leaders. The parliamentary system, right? Well, that's the parliamentary system. I'm not saying that I prefer the American system, but they get to elect their leaders, and it's a longer, the election period is a longer election period.

So you really get to participate in the vote. You can pick people. The only difference in the United States is money usually gets you that victory. However, there's always a dark horse that can win in politics, but in Canada, I don't see it. I don't see people able to do... There was an Indian fellow who wanted to join or jump into the liberal leadership race.

They told him no. They wrote him a letter and said no. Did you know about that? No, you got any more detail on that one? I can't, I don't recall the guy's name. All right, but. But we need better leadership. We have no offense to people's names,

but Trudeau was not a good leader. Well yeah, you're speaking for Nick, so you can say anything you want. Yeah, Trudeau wasn't a good leader. Olivia Chow, I'm not a big fan of her either. What do you think of Doug Ford? Well I think he's got his positive points, yeah for sure. I would say he's a lot more pragmatic as a politician, I think he's pretty good.

What do you think of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America? Wow, that's a very, uh, loaded question. This is the home of real talk, Nick. I can't, uh, throw you softballs because you're a pain sponsor. We got to talk here. What do you think of Donald Trump? And in, and maybe I'll help you out by saying Doug Ford was caught on a hot mic just like, just as last week saying he was for saying he was happy when Ford

beat Kamala Harris. I'm sorry, that's a Freudian slip. He was happy when Trump won the election here in 2024. He was happy. Now he's not happy because he's talking 50 for his state and putting 25% tariffs, but he was happy on election night. He was extremely, he was as happy as when he dressed he was.

He's a conservative. And you know, I'm a conservative. We like probably, it's hard to root for someone on the left because you don't agree with their policy, right? You're for business, you're for more of like a free society, less a fair sort of economic system, leave it alone without government intervention, without government regulation. So I mean, you know, in many respects and regards, you know, it's very unpopular to

say if you like someone these days, you get cancelled. Well, we won't cancel you, Nick, but I will say that if you were looking at wasteful spending, I would say look at, look at, add these up. Just add up Ontario Science Centre, add up Ontario Place, add up ripping up bike lanes, add up, I can't remember the highway, the 416 or whatever, what's that highway that's called? Is that you blaming Doug Ford for that? I'm saying, look at what he spent to get the beer in the convenience stores one year earlier,

right? I don't necessarily agree with most of his policies. Wasteful spending. Wasteful spending. I'm not sure if I agree with every policy that he does. But I think he's definitely pro-business, he's pro-development, he's trying new things, which is experimental, and I think some of these things

work, some of them don't, but at least he's trying. I think he has something to offer. Back to Donald Trump for a moment here. So what were your feelings about Donald Trump on November 6th, was that the date? November 5th, what was election day? Okay, November 5th, 2024 when he won, what were you feeling about him then?

What do you feel about him now? Are you concerned as a developer, are you concerned about these tariffs? I have to tell the truth, is that right? Well, I don't want you to lie to my listenership. Is it gonna affect my... I'm gonna cancel your check if you tell me bullshit. We're here to have a real chat. Okay, well, so I...

If you're an aspiring construction guy and you're into real estate development, you know, you were looking, I was into like, everybody's biography. and you're into real estate development. I was into like everybody's biography. I used to, you ever watch that show A&E Biography? Of course I did, absolutely. It was an amazing show. You watched Larry King at night and all these great guests came on the tube.

And I bought the art of the deal when I was in university maybe in high school probably university and I've always been sort of a fan of Donald Trump I was I watched I studied his career and in real estate and Trump towers and and a lot of probably there's probably a lot of people like myself who wanted to get into the development community because of something like that So in Addition to that everybody watched the apprentice where there was a very popular show at the time They loved it and then he decided to get into politics

So I Found Donald Trump when I saw this. For me, I think he's funny. I think he's a little bit, obviously he's a little bit crazy. But for me, it was always entertaining. And my uncle was conservative and I had a great relationship with my uncle and he passed away since. I'm sorry.

And we love to watch it. It's like we love the chaos. Like some people like that. I like it. Yeah, the Joker like that in Batman, right? Some people just want to watch the world burn. Well, I wouldn't call it that, but I just found him very entertaining to watch. So I, and I like, I guess I'm for disruption. I'm for change. I'm not for status quo. I'm not for safety. I'm a business person.

I like risk. I like the underdog, okay? Because if I don't root for the underdog, I'm not rooting for myself. So, and I truly believe that, you know, there's a lot of probably major corruption all over the world, in all levels of government. So he blew the system up.

So I enjoyed it in 2016. And I've been a fan of, uh, of Donald Trump. Now at the end of the day, and probably hopefully no one's listening to this right now, but at the end of the day, um, obviously I don't like it when he hit Canada, so I'm prepared to fight anybody who comes after Canada because that's hitting my home. Well, I'm relieved to hear this. So I'm definitely standing up for Canada. Now, you know, this, you got to get a general context here. What's he want? He wants something. So this guy, he only operates when he wants something.

So he says something, like for example, like thing with Gaza, US is gonna take over. So it throws everybody in a frenzy. Everybody goes nuts. Everybody's talking about it. People all over the world saying, how dare you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he's throwing something out there

and it's a distraction in my opinion. So he's probably got some other purpose, some other strategy for the Middle East, for Gaza or for Palestinians and let's see what it is. Do you think maybe these outlandish things he says and does is simply a tactic to distract from the fact that he and his billionaire assistant, billionaire, uh, assistant manager, uh, Elon Musk, they're, uh, they're, you know, dismantling the infrastructure, the government piece by piece. And they're only a month, less than a month into this, uh, term, like simply,

like, so you don't like Elon Musk because he's associated with Trump. Now he's Elon Musk is a devil. Everybody loved the, I don't like Elon Musk primarily because, uh, he's associated with Trump. Now Elon Musk is a devil. Everybody loved Elon Musk. No, I don't like Elon Musk primarily because he's a Nazi. You see, these are the extreme positions that people on the left are taking. I watched him give the salute twice. Okay, I don't think he's a Nazi. I don't think so. I don't believe he is. Alright so you're in favor of all things Trump until he started threatening Canada.

I'm not in favor of all things Trump. If he's right on something, I'll say I agree with it. If he's wrong on something, I'd say something else. However, in this case with the tariffs. Yeah, let's talk about that. Obviously, I'm going to get upset. So I was, you know, I said, turn the lights off. Uh, you know, stop the, stop the energy from coming

over to Canada. I said, we got to fight them. You know, obviously I'm going to be pro Canada, but again, back to what my, um, original thought was is that it's, these are tack negotiation tactics. Look what happened. Like nothing happened. Right. thought was is that these are negotiation tactics. Look what happened, like nothing happened, right? But nothing happened, but we bought a month reprieve and then we'll find out, we all have to

put pens and needles to see if it happens next time. Yeah, because that's what he does. He says he's gonna do something and then everybody squirms. It's like- Because he can do it with the stroke of a pen. You can't ignore him. Like you know what, it's an a-hole thing to do. Yeah. You can swear on the show.

It's an asshole thing to do. And he's being an asshole. So he's negotiating like an asshole. Okay? Yeah. And there's lots of people like that. I don't like it. If something does that to me, it's like, you say, mother, you know, is that allowed to be a monkey? You know what? You can say it. That word, I can say that word. I say among you? You know, you can say it. That word, I can say that word. You know, I say, holy, like this guy's being an

asshole, these motherfuckers are doing a nasty thing to me. So that's the way you feel when people negotiate like that. I don't do it like that. I don't agree with negotiating like that. I don't think necessarily it's the right approach. But that country and you're back to your

whole sediment about, um, whether he's, uh, they're dismantling the U S government. The U S government is in major debt and someone's got to do something about it. So maybe they're So maybe there, maybe there is drastic measures that need to be taken. Now let's see what happens. All I can say is let's see what happens. Last four years, you know, if it's his true colors are going to come out and if you mean they haven't come out yet. Well, it depends on your,

your point of view. Like, I mean, he did something in women's sports, for example, not allowing trans men or trans athletes to compete with women. I mean, why is that bad? Women deserve to compete with women. It's an unfair advantage in sports. So he put an end to that. Is that a bad thing? I don't think it is.

Yeah, there's a lot, a lot more collateral damage with that one though. But okay, let's stick to though, let's stick to. So you can't say everything he does is bad. Like you have to watch what he's doing. Like, you know, and let's see the actions he takes. Like, okay, so there's the, there's the statements, there's this, there's that. And a lot of that stuff a lot of people don't like. I find it funny. Okay?

I'm entertained. You're in the condo. Okay, so as long as we entertain Nick, it's all good, my friend. Now you're in the condo development industry, and we just did a whole talk about the fear, uncertainty and doubt that has tanked this condo market right now in Toronto. It adds uncertainty to the market. It's not good for the market. It's not good for the market. It's not good.

It's not good. So the threats of the tariff, huge uncertainty. Well, one thing I'm gonna say is when things happen, you have to, there's always a chance to, you know, self-reflection. So what did we learn about Canada when this happened? You always have to take something negative and say, okay, what are we learning here? One, we're too reliant with our trading partner in the U S.

So that's a bad thing. I don't think that's a good thing. You need to be, every business has to be sort of diversified. So, you know, maybe we should look for oil markets. You know, there was this pipeline idea that came east-west and maybe we should be shipping oil other places in the world. If you're into that, maybe you're an environmentalist and you don't agree with that. But it showed that we are very dependent on the U.S. and that's not good for Canada. We need to be standing on our own feet. And in addition to that, I also said that our military were very dependent on the US

for national defense. And I actually looked it up. I said, you know, I'm curious how many people are in like in North Korea, this world, what is it? 20 to 10 million or something like that. 20, 2 million soldiers. Like I can't remember what it is, but they're one of the largest armies in the world. So is China.

So is everybody else. So at the end of the day, um, you look at it. So I looked it up and did you, do you know what the number is? No, 65,000 soldiers in the military in all of Canada So what do you think of that? I think I think his story historically we've been far too reliant on our Big buddies to the south to protect us and we've always so thought that if anyone ever

encroached on our space the Americans would have our back and we'd be fine and I think until now We took it for granted. We took for granted that we were allies and best friends and they would always have our back. Like we would, you know, we just took it for granted. That is a, first of all, we're a country, they're a country. There is no way we're your best friends.

Why are we best friends with the United States? We're allies. We have common values. So we're definitely allies. Common language. We're absolutely allies. We don't treat your allies like this. No you don't.

I agree with that. Okay, that's why you lied. I said he was a negotiation, that's a negotiation tactic. So what does he want? And I said, I also said, it's an asshole thing to do. Right.

Because I've been in that position as a business. Right. Where someone does something on a contract or they're fighting you or they wanna bury you or they want to bury you with something and that's like a terrible way to do something. And we have a contract that he essentially is ignoring with the tariffs in the first place because we do have, I don't remember his new name for NAFTA, but we have a contract.

So he wants something, I don't know exactly what he wants. There's all sorts of theories and ideas of what, what's, you know, where this, where this is going to head. And, uh, all I can say is that, um, you know, we're doing the right thing in my opinion. I think Trudeau, if I'm going to say anything about Trudeau, a positive thing is that he, the speech was good. Yeah. And also that, that, you know,

he's trying to negotiate. So if the, if it's security that they're concerned with, and I think it's a good move to, you know, try to, there's no harm in proving something to protect, uh, Canadians and the United States. So if we want to limit people from illegally coming into Canada and going to the United States and vice versa, if we're going to fight fentanyl together, then that's not a bad thing because people are dying from fentanyl all over Canada and the USA. No, let me say this. Fentanyl is the worst. I've had guests on this program who have broke down crying talking about their children who have died because of accidental federal abuse. I mean and not crying but Ken Daniels for example and I mean there's

more than that actually and it's terrible but I don't believe for a second that there is a crisis with I think the study showed 0.2% of fentanyl. It wasn't much so if you compared it to Mexico, I think they were over 2 million illegal immigrants coming from the south and we were like 200,000. And in terms of fentanyl, I don't remember what was down south, but it was only 40, 50 pounds of fentanyl from Canada. So it's unfair, definitely. It's probably not right when what was done. It's definitely the way he did it was wrong too. So there's a lot of wrongs that I would definitely say

that I'm not happy about either. But you still gotta, unfortunately when you're dealing with assholes, you still gotta deal with them. Well listen, you're not an asshole, happy to deal with you. And I want to talk about your podcast for a moment here because the current existing- You just ruined my career by the way. Well, you did. I will say this, Nick.

I appreciate that you, you could have come on and we could have said, Oh, you know, Toronto Mike's audience is a more progressive audience and, uh, hearing from a sponsor who, you know, doesn't, isn't disgusted and grossed out by Donald Trump. Maybe that's not like the wisest move, but you came on and you were the genuine article. Like I absolutely respect that. We're just having a conversation. I have Bruce Dobegan coming back in the basement

later this month, he's gonna drop by. And Bruce is another guy who feels like you feel about Trump and I'm gonna find out how Bruce feels about Trump with these current threats. I gotta say, I gotta say when I hear him talk about making Canada the 51st state, I've never wanted someone else to die more in my life. Like, like I don't want this guy breathing the same oxygen on the same planet as me with this rhetoric about 51st state because he's the commander-in-chief of the biggest army in the world. That's not

funny. Yeah and he doesn't mean it. Well, I think please please tell me what he thinks. I love it when people tell me what Donald Trump is thinking. So, again, he throws this thing out there. Everybody freaks out. Yeah, you know, probably he's not very respectful to Trudeau, of course, but calling him Governor Trudeau, but it's not real. It's not very respectful to Trudeau, of course, but calling him Governor Trudeau. But it's not real, it's not real.

He just wants something else. There's a negotiation out there. Maybe it's good for all of our countries, but we don't know. But do you see where we're at? In 2025, the Commander in Chief of the world's largest armed forces is somebody that we are supposed to not believe. Like, don't believe what he says. He's full of shit. Like this is where

we're at, but I will just say this. It's easy to ignore people. So you're going to believe Biden, but he's lying all the time. Well, I can't even compare Biden, but he was like, yeah, but he was, first of all, they were lying to us all the time that he was okay. He was sharp as attacked That was that was like propaganda. You do realize it was a joke not equals. I know but It's it's but you know what wouldn't you rather have someone who's you know, everybody was Harris like everyone But they were lying they lied to us all the time.

Just a reminder that remember like the people are the innocent victims in all of this. I know. I feel like a victim right now, because what I'm trying to, what I'd love to spin it to is the podcast because you are the condo expert and you are the CEO and founder of, um, fusion corp developments, Inc. And your podcast, which people can subscribe to right now is called building Toronto's skyline.

And we talked about Rod Robotham, I hope I'm saying his name properly. Rod Robotham. Right. And there's been, I've been really, really educated and impressed by the quality of your guests in these conversations, but I do want to shout out one guest, a recent guest.

I want to shout out Steven Velasco because he does 3d visualizations of what, you know, the GTA will look like in like six, seven years when all the developments are done and you can go to his 3d visualizations at Steven, which is pH and Steven, by the way, Velasco.com. And you can, I spent hours just going through the city. Oh, this is what it's gonna look like at Cloverdale Mall. Here's what it's gonna look like at Park Lawn in Lakeshore. Here's what it's gonna look like at, you know,

Young and Queens Quay. And I've been doing these pockets of curiosity and it's amazing. I just wanna say what a great conversation, what a great guest. And we got to see these 3D visualizations. It was awesome, yeah. So I love, it what a great guest and we got to see these 3D visualizations. It was awesome, yeah. So I love, it's a great, I like talking with people as you can tell and we have some really

good guests and they talk about their expertise, what they do. We had guests who were trade people like Mario Riviero from Triumph. We had a property management company come on board. I think it was Melbourne, right? That's right. Yep. And we've had a lot of great guests and yeah, we're going to continue to have amazing guests. And you got to book a few people too.

Well, you know, we got to talk about that. So every two weeks we drop a new episode. We got to talk about that. We every two weeks we drop a new episode. We got to talk about that. We drop a new episode of building Toronto skyline every two weeks, but I did hear a rumor and I want to know if this is true. Is there a second podcast that's going to launch soon?

Yeah, so let me tell you about a few things. So you know what you take us home. So the floor is yours. You pay for your time. I like to be, even though maybe I'm not poor, but I'm not rich. And I wouldn't say, rich is a relative, I guess. Probably you might look at me and say,

well, maybe he's wealthy. Well, your watch is worth the price of this home. Well, we're not gonna talk about that. Okay? So, um, the, uh, so I, I love being entrepreneur, um, and I like helping people and, uh, I love new ideas and when I get a new idea, I always like to try to do something about that. So I,

I usually take action entrepreneur. I guess I guess I wrote, when I was young, I read a book about entrepreneurism, and they define it as like action almost. It's like being a catalyst and taking action. That's what you gotta do when you wanna be an entrepreneur. You gotta take action. Just put it on your to-do list and do it. Take, and I learned that through martial arts. You know, you don't get, you know, take giant leaps

and one quickly gets tired. If you take small steps, you know, small, the small steps are the ones that get you to your goals. So, you know, I told you about my trip to Miami. You know, I went to Miami. It was a great place, really amazing place. And, you know, that's something Miami. It was a great place. Really amazing place. And, uh, you know, that's something that I'd like to pursue is maybe do some work in the U S we're

looking into that. Um, now, even though it's unpopular, well, I was going to say, this is the climate where everybody's trying to do less, uh, less work in the U S and you're going to do more work in the U S. Well, yeah. People are zigging. You're like me when people are zigging, you're like me. When people are zigging, you zag. Yeah.

I follow where... Listen, at the end of the day, I can't do anything about Donald Trump or his tariffs. There's people in government, they have to solve those problems. And I have to, you know, I'm going to do my part, whatever I can do as a Canadian. But at the end of the day, you know, of the day, you have to look at your business and the economy is not great here in Canada right now. That's not the reason why I wanted to go to the US. It's something that I've always wanted to do.

I've always wanted to go somewhere hot and maybe do a little bit of business. And, uh, Miami was a great place. So South Florida is really nice. So we can be a snowbird. There's a lot of, there's a lot of Canadians out there too. Well, I'm not going to get totally into it, but I might write a book called building Miami skyline. It's a great way to get introduced to the Miami community and so that was one that's one thing I have for Fusion Corp. We'd go down and do so

there's like all these amazing condo towers all over Miami skyline and I said to myself look it would be cool to go in and fix some of these older condos because we do that at Fusion Corp. Not only do we do new construction, but we do condominium refurbishment. So we go into the older condos. They have outdated lobbies and common spaces. And so there's tons of towers in Toronto as well as in Miami that require that. So I'm interested in doing that. That's a possibility that I might do. And yeah, and the thing that,

and I have obviously the Royal Rose project in Owen Sound, which is amazing. Well, tell us about that. I've heard about it, but the listenership, and this is amazing. Yeah, and yeah, so, you know, I've got a bunch of things that I thought I'd like to do. I don't know if they're all going to work out, but in terms of Royal Rose, I bought an old courthouse in jail and I'm converting it to an amazing event venue, restaurant, dining facilities. It's going to be a private social club, business club, a cocktail bar, a speakeasy, a shared workspace and business incubator. So I want to touch on the, so that project is going to be amazing.

I've got mostly all the approvals in place. I'm looking for financing to get started. And we had the architect here. Yeah, that was Eric Rodriguez from Bodera Architects. And yeah, that's going to be very exciting. And I'm going to start demolition soon in some of the areas, selective demolition. And the interesting part though is there's a shared workspace and I'm gonna have a business incubator

and I'm gonna try to help people from Owen Sound but also from elsewhere as well. And I guess that's where I'm getting into and I think you wanted to segue into this one. Well is there a, are you gonna launch a new new podcast? Is that only cause I heard you tease it on, on a whole thread. I'm, I'm interested and we're going to try a couple of episodes, but it's, I, it's a, it's building success series. It's the building success podcast. And I want to talk about investing real estate investing and people who want to start a business or need help growing their business because Because we all need help, and even myself,

I am looking to continuously improve my business, and how do we do that? So we know what our problems are, it's just how do we get to that next phase? So it's always, and you know what, there's a lot of people out there that are trying to help people, and I would like to help people too, I think I can.

And, cause I'm very goal oriented and when I want something, I just do it. I don't hesitate. I'll take one step, even if it's a, that step takes five, maybe that thing's not going to hit the ground for five years, but you have to plant the seeds today to reap the rewards later on. And not everybody can be an entrepreneur and not everyone can be a successful real estate investor or anything like that. But there's a lot of people that want to learn and they may have a great idea, but they're scared to get out there.

And so that would be the point of our podcast is to talk to people, talk to people in the industry, talk to other entrepreneurs, talk to successful real estate developers, real estate investors, and hopefully maybe we're going to offer some courses, some events in addition to that, but one step at a time. So I'm calling it building success and the art of real estate investing and start a business, grow a business. That's what it's gonna be all about.

All right, Nick, now my turn. I wanna address the FOTM's listening. Okay, so, because I've been, you know, we had a great chat over an hour right now. We got to know you, we got to learn more about your entrepreneurial spirit, what you're up to at Fusion Corp. And we talked about the state of the condo industry, we talked about the skyscrapers. Can't believe our tallest skyscrapers, like 300 and change.

Like I think that's interesting because we think of Toronto as like a major city in the world, but maybe, maybe. Well, don't be, it's not, it's not terrible. 300 meters is a good height. You're telling me size doesn't matter. Well, you got the measure. You know what? Size does matter.

However, you know, the thing is back to, back to ambitious plans. In Saudi Arabia, they're doing the most amazing projects. They envision it and they do it. And they have a completely different government than we do. But we need the vision. That's what it's all about. We need the vision. But I want to address the FOTS because we heard you, you were very honest about a

number of things. One thing, I think some people will be rubbed the wrong way when they hear that you were, you know, happy when Trump beat Harris back in November. Like I think that will, like I'm being very honest with you. I think some people will be like, Ooh, like I don't, Ooh, yeah. Because this is a Toronto show and you know, you know, Toronto is a little different than maybe, uh, I don't know if this was like, I don't know what an Alberta show or something like that. It's a little different, okay. So I want to make sure everybody realizes that you and I, Nick, and again,

some people accuse me of being a bleeding heart lefty because I bike everywhere, okay? We politicize biking in this city. What's up with that? If you're gonna politicize something, don't politicize cycling. I think conservatives should bike too. Okay, and I know Brad Bradford loves to bike,

so maybe some conservatives do bike. But here, Nick, I'm addressing before I play out here, because I love this chat, and I love that you're the real deal, you're the authentic article. Like you came in and you told me the truth, and I knew this, but I wasn't sure what you'd reveal on the public record, and you came clean about everything. You were pleased to see Trump win the 2024 election.

And you keep repeating. Well, you know, and then now you're a proud Canadian and you don't want a Canada sovereignty threatened in any manner. Like I'm hearing you and I'm hearing what I want to hear, which is no, this is a bridge too far. You're pro Canada and against Trump when it comes to fight for Canadians at the end of the day. And I'm going to be fighting alongside you. You got that. I live here is my home.

I've lived here all my life. No one's going to mess with our economy. We don't need that right now. Love what I'm hearing there. So I just want to make sure listenership knows that I put out a episode, I think it was New Year's Eve, but basically a recap, you know, over a million downloads, this is going on, this is going on. And I said, Hey, I'm looking to work with

another partner in the first quarter of 2025 and beyond. And I just put out this plea. And then next thing you know what, we're having a meeting and we're putting together a deal. You know, you are a master negotiator. I can vouch for that. And here you are now as a supporter of what's going on on this very podcast. You are fueling the real talk and I'm just here to say thank you to you. And I'm glad we can have these reasonable conversations. I have similar conversations. Anthony Petrucci votes conservative and we have long conversations about everything.

And I'm not, I get flack sometimes when I have over somebody who supports Pierre Poliev or they support Doug Ford or maybe they even support Trump. And I'm here to have conversations. I know what I believe, but I don't know everything. And I'm open-minded like you were about bike lanes at TML X16. I love the conversations. I support you.

I love your entrepreneurial spirit. I may not agree with you on anything, but man, am I grateful on everything? Did I say anything? I may not agree with you on everything, but I am just so pleased you stepped up with your wallet You're keeping this going and you as far as I'm concerned are a valued member of the TMU And now you're an FOTM Nick Aynes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you And we're gonna get our photo by the tree. All right. And this photo will follow you to the grave. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Are you kidding me? What a terrible thing to say. Well, what I mean by that is for the rest of your life, when they Google you, they're gonna see us by the tree. That's amazing. That's what I mean by that.

We're the same age. You got another 50 years to go, buddy. Great. And keep it up with the martial arts, we will do that episode and maybe. Yeah, we gotta bring in Neil here and he's gonna talk a lot about martial arts. Less Trump talk in that episode, right? But we'll see what happens.

What's Humble and Fred gonna say? I'm trying to keep them in the dark. I'm trying to protect you, because if Hum humble and Fred find out you were happy that Trump won that election. They aren't as open minded as I am. I'll still talk to you. They might not. They might kick me off the show.

They might do worse than that. You don't want to get Fred angry. I've seen him angry. I've seen him here. All I can say is that we love those guys and you know they probably know a little bit anyways. They're catching on okay and that brings us to the end of our 1627th show. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. I'm active on bluesky at torontomike.com but I'm elsewhere. You'll find me if you're looking

for me. What's the best website? I know 60onbroadway.com if you're interested in this wonderful orangeville development that Fusion Corp has. But is there a Fusion Corp website we should send people to? Yeah of course www.fusioncorp.ca and you can always check out nickainis.com and you can always check out nickainis.com, nickainis.com. And there's building Toronto skyline, you can get that on Amazon. You can get Battle of the Skyscrapers on Amazon. I launched a little YouTube video about the Burj Khalifa,

you can check that on Battle of the Skyscrapers and YouTube. There's all sorts of fun things we're doing, fun things I like to do. Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery. You got your beer. Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Nick, if you have old cables in a drawer or maybe a room full of old tech and old laptops, don't throw that in the garbage. The chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to Recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you can drop it off to be properly recycled. Got it? Of course, you, Nick, at the end end I say Building Toronto Skyline. Is there another way you want to

be referenced in the outro? Well you said, well it's sponsored by Fusion Corp Construction Managers Inc. We love building buildings, we're passionate about building condos, that's our bread and butter and we love the Toronto Mike audience today too. That's our bread and butter. And we love the Toronto Mike audience today too. That's what we want to hear. Okay. And shout out to Ridley funeral home. I'll see you guys at the events. If anybody messes with me, I know martial arts.

Kick your ass. And if Nick messes with you, let me know because I'm like the Nick whisperer. Okay. I'll talk him out. I just want to say one thing. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mike. And you know what? That's what we need more lefties like you Who you can just have a nice conversation about these things?

You don't have to agree and you can listen to other points of view at the same time That's how we learn everybody See you all Soon with Sir Jerry Levitan making his Toronto Mike's return. See you all soon with Sir Jerry Levitan making his Toronto Mic'd return. See you then. You