Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Return of Brad Bradford: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1620

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

In this 1620th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Toronto City Councillor for Beaches - East York Ward 19 Brad Bradford about what he learned from running for mayor, his support of Doug Ford's Bill 212, Toronto's need for shelters and affordable housing, and what he'll do in 2026. Heather Purdon joins him and tells Mike why she quit her producer job at AM 640 to work with Brad. 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 1620 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's Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Aynes from Fusion Corp and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Joining me today, making his Toronto mic return, is Toronto City Councillor Brad Bradford. Welcome back Brad. Great to be here with you. Good morning Mike. Good to be in Etobicoke. Good to have you here. Did you take my advice and go by the moniker Rad Brad? Because if I were a Brad I'd be wanting people to call me Rad Brad. You know what? If you tune in online people call me Rad Brad. You know what? If you tune in online people call me a lot of different things. Okay well we're gonna talk about that so I'm excited to have you back and we're gonna have a great chat. If people want to hear your Toronto mic debut it was a day you'll

never forget right Brad? It was June 2023. 1069 or something. 1269 close, close only 200 off there. But, but who's counting. Okay. It was episode 1269 and I chatted with you because at that time, Brad, you were campaigning to be Toronto's mayor. That's right. Yeah. That was happening then that was happening then. So that came like just before the 20, uh, what was, yeah, 2023 by-election for mayor, which Olivia Chow won and Olivia Chow got like 269,000 votes. And then FOTM Anna Bailao got like 235,000 votes. And you finished eighth with about 9,000 votes and change. And I'm wondering if you could, right off the top, what did you learn from that experience,

being a councillor running for mayor, not winning, but being able to just pick up where you left off as councillor? Well, that was pretty sweet, wasn't it? You know, you don't get a lot of those opportunities to kind of take a shot. And then continue to be in the capacity of councillors. So that was unique circumstances and I think everybody can agree the 23 mayoral by

election was the election none of us saw coming. But it was a great experience right? You know you you don't let defeat define you. You are always learning and there's lots of lessons learned when you lose. But really it was it was an opportunity to go all across Toronto, 640 square kilometers, and hear from people about their hopes, their aspirations, their concerns, their challenges. I learned a lot about campaigns. People will tell you that winning the mayoralty in Toronto

is one of the most difficult elections to win in the country, because you're effectively campaigning in 25 federal ridings. So, you know, from a communications perspective, the messages that you have in Etobicoke might be different than in Scarborough or North York or downtown, but you need to knit that together with an overarching vision for the city. The ground game, if you're gonna try and stand one up, that is very difficult across the city the size of Toronto. So to get into the brass tacks of politics you'd want to have ward captains pulling votes in each

one of those 25 wards. You're trying to identify supporters and all that stuff that you know typically would take place over a six-month campaign in a municipal context was expedited for the by-election. It was a shorter run. So I think what you saw happen was the candidate that had the most name-rec, universal name-rec, which is Mayor Olivia Chow. She kind of rose to the top there to her credit. She was supported by what is effectively a political party at City Hall, Progress Toronto. They had organizers, they had been building lists, working with volunteers, putting all that together for the past eight years. So when the election was called, all that was available.

And then you had a ballot that was split with 101 other candidates running on the ticket and the results were the results. But it was a catalyst for you to finally make your Toronto mic debut. It was yeah Put that in the positive long time listener first time caller It was it was we reached out and you were super gracious about that. Yeah, sure Come on on the pod. I think you said at the time. I don't ask politicians. I still don't write. Okay I still don't active politicians. I never invite them don't. Active politicians, I never invite them on, but if an active politician reaches out and says, Hey, would you chat with like, it's

usually like their office, but would you chat with like Charlie Angus had somebody reach out and say, would you talk to Charlie? And I said, yeah, I would talk to Charlie. Like I would like to talk to Charlie Angus is a cool guy. Absolutely. Like, it's like a punker from the eighties and it, you know, I just talked to Greg Keeler and he was part of that scene on Queen Street in the 80s. We're too young, Brad, to maybe have been participating, but it's like fascinating to me. Well, speak for yourself. I'm...

How old are you, Brad Bradford? Is that public record? Yeah, 38. So 1986. Yeah, yeah. So you were in diapers. Yeah, I wasn't participating, but I just like to point out and particularly... You were around for the 80s. Yeah, I wasn't participating but I just like to point out and and particularly

Yeah, I was here in the 80s. Oh and and I wish I actually got to enjoy that more fully 86 okay, so when I drop references to the drive of 85 I have to take a mental note that Brad wasn't watching when when George Bell was on his knees catching that fly ball So I'll have to take that note, but okay So a few things like there's a lot of ground I want to cover with you here. And you have somebody with you who I do want to chat with in a moment, Heather Purden, which is a name like I just met Heather for the first time at the door. But I know the name Heather Purden because I've had on this program people like Mike

Stafford, I think four times he's dropped by. And I'm going to talk to Heather in just a moment. But you mentioned that the 2023 by-election is the election that nobody saw coming. And just last week, Alan Gregg was over here, and Alan Gregg managed John Tory's political career. He told me, you know, we were talking about this, the four words that nobody thought to string together, John Tory sex scandal. Like, these are, you like these are you know nobody so Allen but firstly I'm just saying to listenership like Alan Gregg's episode is epic next level listen to Alan Gregg but he was a shock he still can't believe that by the book Tory would make

such a misstep nobody saw that coming yeah I, that was the, yeah, that was the resignation. Yeah, it was floored. Yeah, it was, it was surprising. It was shocking. You know, it's people's personal business is their personal business. But obviously, he felt he needed to resign. And again, but you would agree with me, I think that we don't, we didn't want him to resign because he had a consensual affair with a younger person.

That's not the reason I think we wanted him to resign. I think it's because it was a city hall staffer. He was mayor of the city. I would actually say I was not in the he needed to resign camp at all. So we might disagree on that. But yeah, no, that was obviously a personal decision for him. And I think part of that was probably family considerations and not wanting to have to air all that stuff out. Yeah, you probably felt some shame. Well, and if

you stayed on, those questions wouldn't have gone away. You would have had to address it in perhaps more of a fulsome way and that would have been pretty uncomfortable. So it's a, you you know his personal call but obviously as someone who doesn't necessarily agree with the direction of the current administration on a lot of different things although some things we do agree on you know I look at where we are right now and yeah I worry about the direction the city's headed in and and if you go back to the by-election, that's kind of how we got here.

Well, we're going to cover that ground and you did say the words progress Toronto and I want to get back to that too, but I do want to say hello to Heather Purden. So hello Heather. Hi, thanks for having us, I guess. Very good. Now our mics aren't as good as the 640 mic, so you got to get closer. They're more beautiful. There you are.

There's Heather there. So nice to finally meet you Yeah, I feel like we've known each other forever, but not really well You know the name Heather Purden is legendary in the Toronto radio landscape here, so Just a couple of quick notes before we get back to Brad, but You were a producer at a.m.. 640. Yes. I was. So what shows would you produce? I know you produce Mike Stafford show. Yes, most recently I produced for Greg Brady in the morning since February. I've

produced for many people Mike Stafford, Matt Gurney, Sapriya Devetti, Alex Pearson. Yeah, everyone you named has been in this basement except Sapriya gave me a very polite, I'm not visiting your basement. Yeah, not surprised. And I love that for her. You know, and it's named has been in this basement except I haven't talked to Mike maybe in about a year or two. Maybe like comment on a Facebook status or, but no, I think he's pretty involved with his family taking time to himself. So no, I haven't talked to him. Did you hear his visits, the two visits post chorus? I've heard two of them.

Yes, I have. Yeah, there's only been two. Okay. So let's just learn right now. Why did you leave your production job at Chorus? Yeah it was really hard to leave. I was there for 13 years and just the state of radio I saw the future was not looking so hot. Especially at Chorus? Yeah and just there's not really much movement a producer can do like once you're on the morning show

or the afternoon drive what's the next step? Didn't want to be a manager of any sort not really any positions available. So, and this is where Brad comes in. Brad was a weekly panelist on our station and I had a good relationship with him and I thought, you know what? So did Brad tap you on the shoulder or did you say, hey Brad, I'm looking to make a move?

Is there anything shaking over there? Yeah, I kind of caught him by surprise. I was like, hey Brad, do you have time to meet for a coffee? And he was like, okay. And then here we are. are and he said I like the cut of your jib. Yeah, I think so Something like that. Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like something I could say. Yeah people born in 86 1886 they say cut of your job 92 over here. So I can't even talk to you about the first world series. No, it's like it was my goodness gracious What will we talk about? Can't even talk about Pearl Jam's 10 spice girls.

Okay. I got to, you know, tell me what you want, what you really, really want. Okay. So any regrets? How long have you been working for Brad? Just about four months now. And no, it feels like I look me in the eyes. Like you in the eye or him in the eye?

No, me because I need to know. No regrets. Is it good working for Brad Bradford? I have a lot of fun. We get to do fun things like this. This is hilarious. I did not know this was happening. Well, I did, cause you know what happened.

You were scheduled for 10 o'clock, Mr. Bradford, and I was preparing for the 10 o'clock visit. And then I got a nice text from Heather that you were running a little late. And then I think I said fashionably late. And I think I said something like, okay, I'll allow this, but I do want a few minutes off the top with you. And then we made like a deal.

Yeah, because I'm a master negotiator. Yeah, it's pretty easy. Yeah. Maybe soon I'll be working for Brad Bradford. I just got asked. Do you have any more role in any of your jobs over there? OK, goodness gracious. So no regrets. And chorus, of course, people who know that

they're in huge financial troubles over there, they're cutting costs everywhere. So, you know, it's not like it's a place you wanna be if you're looking for a future. I think it's a tough place to be. Well, like the people were so amazing. So that was really hard to leave them. And just doing radio work itself was really fun,

but getting up at four in the morning. I was dear friends with Pete Kik's brother. Oh, I know Pete Kik. Yes, I do. Yeah. He's a top of co-guy too, isn't he? Yeah. Yeah.

Look at us name dropping. He's a proud conservative voter too as well, as I recall. But anyway, so there we go. Heather Purden just made her Toronto mic debut. And podcast debut. Is that right? Yeah. I'm shocked by made her Toronto Mike debut and podcast debut. Is that right? Yeah, I'm shocked by that. My mind is blown right now.

Okay, so I'm honored that you did it here. And thank you for that. And I will just ask you one last question, Heather, and then it's gonna be all Brad the rest of the way. That's what you know, that we're all here for the Brad show here. But would you have like would Brad Bradford have been if he had a 10 o'clock on? CBC let's say Metro morning with David FOTM David common and Brad Bradford at a 10 o'clock would he have arrived at 1020? Well CBC would have had him ready for 930. So no he would not be late

So it's my fault cuz I didn't tell him to be here at 930 They're just extra cautious those ones. So just was checking in on that because I know you were closely with Brad. Okay your mic will stay open if you ever want to say anything or correct anything as I turn my... It's the Rad Brad show now. So you're gonna stick with that? I think Rad Brad is how I would brand him. We're working on that one. Different strokes for different folks. I would just say on the on the tardiness, my goal for 2024 New Year's resolution was to be more on time. So that's not on time all the time. It's more on time less than.

But that's for 2024. Right. But what I would say this morning, we are dealing with, and don't worry, I've already had hand, foot and mouth disease, but you know, we've got the HFM with the toddler and a little chaotic this morning, run the kids around. So this, you know, this is, CBC would have had to deal with that too. This is where kids come in handy. And this is, it's also where like, you know,

balancing the sort of everything on the home front, sometimes you gotta be there. How old is this child of yours now? So yesterday, shout out to Briar, she turned four January 28th. Oh wow. Yeah, and then the other one, Bron out to Briar. She turned four January 28th. Yeah. And then the other one, Bronwyn is 19 months. Okay. So I've been there like twice. I've been there actually with that same kind of age gap.

And yeah, it's like, so that's a nice segue because I wanted to ask you about, you know, the work life balance being a city counselor. And I just had over here, Amber Morley. So in Amber, she could waltz over here Amber Morley so and Amber she could waltz over here okay so she she's got no excuse for being late she can walk over here she doesn't live too far but Amber Morley dropped by and she told me like very very honestly that she was trying to do less because she was burning out like she was in real danger of burning out and she was seeking this

work-life balance and I mean you're a young man. You're a fit guy. We'll talk about the cycling in a minute. But you know, Amber's even younger than you. Amber's been a nice addition to council. Yeah, she we've talked about that candidly and I've had those conversations with some of the other newly elected class of 22. So I'm class of 2018 for for the listeners. That's when I first showed up. But we got Amber Morley and Chris Moyes and Jamal Myers and a handful of others that joined us in 22. And I think it is a huge adjustment. And you talk about the wards, you know, you're operating local government services and a federal riding. We've got constituencies. Amber I think has one of the biggest ones,

but we're all roughly around 120,000 people. And so when you look at the jurisdiction, federal government dealing with, you know, CRA and immigration. So those are not necessarily calls that you're making to your local MP on a, on an everyday basis, provincial, you know, ODSP, um, maybe some education staff, again, not a lot of interface necessarily, but everything else from getting your kids into swimming lessons to potholes to picking up the dead raccoons off the road, that's local

government, that's where the rubber hits the road, so the volume is significant, the schedule can be very intense and it doesn't easily lend itself to family or personal time. I've been trying to balance that by just doing it as a family. And so my girls are getting a great sort of civic education to the degree that they're picking it up as a four year old, but they're coming out and we're hitting the bouncy castles and painting the faces and you know, people are always able to grab me in the community and tell me what's up. So you're holding up. Okay. No danger of burning out? No no I mean I I love it I love the intensity I love working with

people I love here. You're like give me more. Yeah yeah like pile it on got the broad shoulders happy to do the work and you know that's what you have to keep in mind is you know it is it's a challenging and demanding job but you it's an honor to have it so I'm not gonna have this is, it's a challenging and demanding job, but you, it's an honor to have it. So I'm not going to have this forever. And it's a privilege each day. And you think about what can I get done in the day that's in front of me and how can I make a difference? You're the richest man in town.

Not financially, no, but like rich life. It's very rewarding. Now, okay. You mentioned some things that are, you know, local government, you know, picking up the dead raccoons, swimming lessons. Look, I'm old. This is how old I am, Brad. I'm old enough to remember when bike lanes were a local government decision. That's how old I am. What's the, like, the applause or the laugh track? I think I have one. Hold on. Yeah, I got a few things here.

That's for my morning zoo show that I do earlier in the morning. But okay, so you're a dad, you're a city counselor, but you're also a cyclist. Like you do winter cycling? I do. Yeah, I rode to City Hall yesterday. Yep. Yep. And I follow you on Strava. Of course I checked in on you to make sure. Come on. I'm always checking in on my guests. Yeah. No, no. Yeah. I ride a lot. You know, I grew up doing

two things. Figure skating was like the big sport of choice for a long time. And in the off season I played rugby. And so a long story short, I ended up playing rugby in university and doing more of that. But I tore four ACLs, which is not... Do you have four ACLs? You start with two and then you keep replacing them. So I've got a part of my hamstring in there. I've got part of my patella in there. Wow.

And then most recently I have a cadaver. I think they call it an allograft, but a tendon off of somebody's outside of their foot is in my right knee. And so anyways, I'm all put back together. They rebuilt you. But the point is cycling is a nice sport because it's linear in the knee motion, there's no pivoting.

And I kind of got hooked on that, got into bike racing, took that to a pretty high level here in North America. I was living down in Boston at the time, racing all over. How long do you live in Boston? Three years. Yeah. So about three years, I was doing renewable energy policy work at a nonprofit and racing bikes in the evenings and on the weekends. And all that is to say, you know, I'm a commuter by bike, probably 75% of the time in the city hall. It's about eight and a half K

from my place at Danforth and Woodbine down to City Hall. I go across the Danforth bike lanes. I go down Sherbourne, bang a right on Wellesley and then over onto Bay. It's a nice route and but I don't do it because I'm a I'm a zealot about cycling. It's not an ideological thing. It's like I know if I'm going to be in a car it's gonna be a horror show with the traffic and I know if I'm gonna be on transit probably three out of four times I shouldn't say that let's say two out of five times. There's gonna be a disruption So the bike is I'm physically able to do it. It clears my head. I like that. I can listen to a podcast and

And it's consistent. I know it's gonna be 25 minutes As long as you don't pop a tire you can I know to the minute what time I'm arriving That's exactly it. You can time the lights like all that stuff. So I love that. It works really well for me It doesn't work for everybody and it's not gonna work for everybody But you know, I think mobility in Toronto just generally it's about balance and trying to make sure that we've got viable options for everybody So yesterday I had he like a business coffee at where was I? Eglinton and Weston Road, Mount Dennis. And to me, I didn't even consider, I knew exactly what I was gonna do. I was gonna take my Royal York bike lane up to

Eglinton and then Eglinton's got a great bike lane that gets me to Weston. It was so slick and I knew to the minute what time I was gonna arrive. So I've got you. So on this note, so I knew you were coming over and I'm like, okay, when did I see Brad Bradford last? Because you do come to TMLX events. By the way, I don't know if you're gonna stick this in your calendar now or if Heather's gonna stick it in your calendar. It'll be me. Okay, so this is an important announcement for the listeners as well. So TMLX 18, that's the 18th Toronto mic listener experience is going

to happen. I just confirmed the date with Great Lakes Brewery, who by the way, have sent over fresh craft beer for you, Brad. And I got to get some for you too, Heather. Oh, that would be perfect. I'm going to get you some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes before you leave today. Well, and you know what? Actually, next on the calendar is a little stop by to visit our friends over at GLB, pick up a couple more pints and say hi to Troy so okay yeah so we're big GLB fans. Troy is in your ride is it called a riding yeah what do you call it? It's called a ward but you could say riding because it's the same boundaries yeah he's a

he's an East Ender stamps his passport when he comes over here to work in Etobicoke but he's he's a good friend. And, you know, I'm obviously not a sponsor by GLB like you are, but I would just say the value on the tall boy here, the free delivery, the fantastic beer that tastes like beer. And that's a big thing for me. There's all these beers under the sun now that take, tastes like fruit smoothies, et cetera. You can go to great lakes and you can get a beer that tastes like beer, which is what I like, great value for money and free delivery, tough to beat. Look, you know what?

You had me at hello. So Troy Burch, who I was texting with this morning, he's dropping by on Monday, but where was I going with that? Oh yes, okay, so this is the date. June 26, 2025, from 6 to 9 p.m., TMLX 18 at Great Lakes Brewery, which is 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard down the street from the Costco is how I usually tell people, but it's near rural York and Queens Way area. And everyone's invited and the exciting news is not only will your first

drink be on the house and then of course it's a delicious fresh craft beer in the retail store there after that, But I have the exciting announcement that Palma Pasta is gonna feed everybody. So if you like Italian food, Brad, you like Italian food? I love it. And I love the Palma Pasta. And when we do the Toronto Mike Live over there in Mississauga, which is very far away,

but it is worth the time. But you were there. You were there in late November. Yep, there for the friends and the free food. Okay, so good. What a great segue. So I do have a frozen lasagna for you. Anthony Petrucci, whose family owns Palma Pasta,

big Brad Bradford fan, and he phoned me after your first appearance, and he totally loved our initial chat. So, well. That's nice to hear. Well, thanks, and big fan of the Palma pasta. This will feed my family for a couple. We'll get a couple nights out of this. If there's a lot of hasn't seen it, it's thick. It's thick and delicious and then

so you've got that. But now that you've mentioned your appearance at TMLX 17 which was at Palma's kitchen in Mississauga, long way for you. We did a live recording. It's actually the only TMLX recording we do each year. So we'll be back there in like, I don't have a date yet, but late November or early December, we'll be back at Palmer's Kitchen, but you were there. So when I saw you there, I said, Hey, Brad, pop on the mic because I have a couple of open mics and anybody who attends that event who wants on the mic, I put on the mic, like literally, you don't have to be Brad Bradford. In fact, it's even better if you're not.

In fact, no one's gonna throw tomatoes at you maybe. Okay, so, so I want to get this out of the way. This is for the FOTM listening and then we'll get back to everything you're up to at City Hall and of course we'll get back to the bike lanes and build two one two and all this stuff. But you came on the mic and it was right. I think it was shortly after the bill two one two passed. And I think city council had some kind of remind me, Brad, some vote about like, do you approve of this provincial cause I mean, you guys don't get a vote,

but the MPPs voted to pass bill two one two. And I think there was something at city council where, Hey, do you approve of this? Am I right? It's probably not approve. I'm sure it was emotion to city council where, hey, do you approve of this? Am I right? It's probably not approve. I'm sure it was a motion to oppose. Oh, a motion to oppose. Yeah.

So you did not oppose bill two one two. So I had some questions about this because I know you're a cyclist. I'm a cyclist too. I happen to be a big fan of the blue or bike lanes. We'll get to that later, but we're having a little chat about that decision that this like it's imminent. I think there's a cycle Toronto thing that needs to be addressed in like, I feel like it's going to be addressed in April.

I hope I'm doing this off the top of my head, but there is a cycle Toronto thing about whether it, you know, can you rip out these bike lanes? And I think that has to get addressed like legally. And then after that, I think they can send in the send in the tanks or whatever they do when they get rid of these bike lanes, whatever Ford's going to do, but it's imminent. It's like, whatever's going to happen, it's going to happen in the next few months. do when they get rid of these bike lanes, whatever Ford's gonna do, but it's imminent It's like whatever is gonna happen. It's gonna happen in the next few months We'll get back to that, but I wanted to talk to you about it and I need to know from your perspective

So you're on the mic. We're having this chat. My buddy Elvis is beside me Like when you're chatting, did you see somebody rush the stage essentially? Like did you see were you paid attention when when Alan's why who's a great filmmaker? He's in attendance. I guess I don't have to guess he didn't like our conversation about bike lanes And he was yelling at us from the audience, but you and I with our headphones on chatting We don't hear this audience like I didn't hear it Yeah, you hear the yelling from the audience No, not really there was a bit of a kerfuffle and so, and I wasn't familiar with this gentleman and

so I'm, you know, I should be more familiar. That's on me. But he, he seemed to not like me. He seemed to not like politicians. He doesn't like politicians. And I wasn't sure if he liked bike lanes or didn't like bike lanes. So you know, whenever you're an advocate, it's, you got to have your key messages dialed in so that everybody understands it.

So I'm actually not sure what his position was, although it did seem clear. He wasn't like big on me. I don't think he likes politicians. Like I, my vibe was it wasn't so much that you're Brad Bradford. It was more that you were, we were talking about political stuff. Like again, it's my show. Like I'll talk about what I want to talk about with whom I want to talk about. And I think he, on some, he completely does know that. But he was yelling at us to basically shut the fuck up. Basically, he's yelling at us from the audience, but we don't hear it. So I guess to help us hear him,

literally, I have it on video, right? I had a camera, I have this video. He kind of storms the, he yells at us, he puts his hands on the table and he starts yelling at us. So I'm just curious, were you worried worried like for your like security at that point? You know what the the Toronto Mike fam? I think is pretty good reasonable people here. So I I actually never felt Never felt unsafe. No, no because you're not gonna be there if you're that type of type of individual It's a good crew good loyal listeners and whether or not people are

Brad Bradford fans of the politician like I don't think anyone wants to go hands on. So I wasn't concerned about that, but you weren't concerned. You know, he, I remember he went up afterwards and started sort of ranting. here and then we'll get back to all the policy stuff here but Alan Zweig did that he rushed the thing told us to basically you know stop talking about bike lanes basically and then we finished our chat and then I invited Alan to take your mic basically and then I put Katie Lohr on the other mic because Katie Lohr had produced and co-hosted a show of Alan Zweig that was on the Canada land network it was called the worst podcast so I had questions about that, but we won't do that on this episode instead I'm gonna play like I don't know 80 seconds from Allen's wagon I hear Alan you yelled at me, but no one could hear you because the mics weren't pointing

Are you because it was really boring and you let a politician? No offense make a speech for 10 minutes on your fast talking. On the other hand, I did understand what he was talking about, which I haven't understood a fucking thing since I got here. But I'll just say this. Thank God we have Doug Ford, whose decisions are all driven by data.

Thank God we have Doug Ford, whose decisions are all driven by data. You know what? People from Etobicoke are complaining about bike lanes. Not because when they're on their bike, they hate being in the lane, but because when they're in their car, they hate that there's a bike lane. Yeah, big fucking deal. Anyway, yes. Alan's flying everybody. So. I, you know, I drive too, yes. It's harder to drive.

But, you know, I imagine a day when there are more bike lanes and they're all safe and there's lots of people driving bikes. And if it takes longer in your car, take the fucking TTC. That's what I say. Honestly, words of wisdom. So, Alan. good takes longer in your car take the fucking TTC that's what honestly words of wisdom so Alan I'm not here to first I'm glad you're here you the politician I should have had Brad I should have had Allen's wagon but that would have been Langer Campbell so there's a before we pivoted to the worst podcast and maybe that whole recording was the worst podcast but that's what Alan said when I put him on the mic. I love that. Rush the stage

don't talk about fucking bike lanes proceed to talk about bike lanes. That was great. Well that was on me I needed to know why were you rushing the stage Mr. Zweig. So okay so Alan's gonna love the fact I played that clip I'm sure I'll get a note like thank you for playing that clip and I say that with my sarcastically but let's just address this now like finish this little part. So You're you're not opposed to ripping up the bluer bike lanes, and then it's more than that There's university and there's young but please just remind me why you not you're not opposed to bill 2 1 2 I should have I should have pulled this photo for you, but

I think where the bike lanes are and how we put the bike lanes in and how effective they are is something that we need to monitor, something that we need to look at. I think that's like a practical approach to trying to balance the space within the street for all the different road users. So when you say Bloor, I want to sort of put some context around that. I'm specifically talking about the Bloor West extension, the Royal York area as you push out towards Mississauga. It goes to Aberfoyle, I think. Am I right? Aberfoyle? And I'm not sure. I've ridden them many times, but I'm not exactly sure where Aberfoyle starts on the map. It's between Islington and Royal York. Okay, so the latest extension and I would say like that is not functioning very well.

And I would say that there have been major impacts both to the small businesses along there and to the residents in the area. And that's a real frustration and a pain point. And I don't think people necessarily were well aware that that was going in. I don't think that they've been happy with the results of that. And you have to just look at the fact that the data that we're looking at is there's 35,000 vehicles that are using that corridor every single day. And when you pull out the averages, it's about 17 cyclists. And so that is just like when you take away.

So it was just I just curious, like, where does this 17 cyclists number come from? away. So it was just I just curious like where does this 17 cyclists number come from? This is the average of the study when they when they monitor they do monitor how many people are riding it and that's not to say that there's not peak periods where there's been more there's also days when there's you know single digits so you average it out on the time that they were doing the studies and they never do the studies for uh I don't know what the correct term is longitudinal study where they're looking at this so all year they go out on specific days and there's constraints on how they look at it but there are cameras up there and people have been looking at those numbers as well so I would just say we do know that there is

a significant pressure on the vehicles moving east-west there's not a lot of great options right there and you've taken away 50% of the road space and you have allocated it to what is effectively a handful, let's say double digits, cyclists, and that's that's had a major impact. So when you're trying to balance all of the different needs, is that the best use of that finite space right now, And is there another way to do it? and I would say that you have heard loud and clear from the vast majority of Residents and in that part of the city that it's not working for them And I will say when when our friend Alan I guess I guess he was lighting me up

He was lighting me up as a politician. He doesn't like well you were doing this thing Which my job actually for this hour or so is to get you off it But yeah politicians do tap into like this. I want to call it the talking points memo or whatever, but there is a spiel. You will note, I have no, I have no notes or you've memorized these notes. I'm impressed. Yeah. Well, you know what? It's not memorization if it's just the sort of common sense and you understand it, but I fall into spiels too, but they're about like a Degrassi and the tears are not enough. What I would say, what I would just say is, you know, telling people that they are the problem because they don't ride a bike is not particularly helpful. And I think when you look at the cycling advocacy community, of which

I have definitely engaged with and like, let's remember, like I put in Danforth bike lanes, right? Like, and that was not easy. I did it in a way where I was working with the small business community over a year and a half prior. Folks in different residence associations people knew it was coming and I would say it's not perfect and there are challenges with it but we had something like 4,000, 4,500 cyclists using Danforth on a daily basis before we put in the bike lane. So it was the highest volume corridor of cyclists that did not have a bike lane. So it kind of makes sense to put it in there. This idea of build it and

they will come. There is some truth to that, but it is not, it is not starting at zero. And then all of a sudden, you know, you're, you're having thousands of trips on a bike. So we're in a world where we're trying to balance things. This, um, you know, utopian perspective that like, Oh, like everybody just take transit or ride a bike. Well, we haven't built transit for 30 years. We don't have those options. And I'm not saying that, you know, we can't get to an end state where it is more like New York or Boston or London or Paris, but like, look how long Eglinton and Crosstown has taken. It's going to be a lot.

Well, that's an ongoing joke, except that you were talking about for the Bloor specific. Again, if I'm focusing on Bloor, it's only because that's like in my neighborhood. So that's no, no. And I think that's the most problematic one. Right. But so I have just a couple of things I want to say. So a few things. One is that when we talk about blue, you actually there is actually a piece of geography in this fine city I was born and raised in that has public. We have TTC stations on bluer. Like that is you're going to talk about a part of the city where the TTC is a viable alternative, it's bluer street, right? Like that is the probably the whole freaking city.

So here's the question. So why is TTC ridership down and why are people not taking it? That's a great, no, that's a great question, but that's, it seems like that's where we should be exploring. Like why is TTC ridership ridership down I mean I less reliable and it's less safe and for the same reason I ride a bike you know I'm not generally taking TTC because I know there's gonna be a slowdown I know I'm gonna be kicked up to the surface put on a bus I know that there's gonna be a security incident that happens like equally as often as it doesn't and that's a huge problem the the TTC is the better way like that's a joke.

And it has been for quite a while and it's getting worse. And so it's not just about the optionality that the subway exists or the streetcar exists. It's how reliable, how practical is it? And increasingly it seems less and less. And so I have frankly, like I said, I'm not a daily driver but I feel bad for people who are stuck in their cars because it's never been harder to get around the city.

And I also recognize, you know, my wife goes to two, three different construction sites every day. Like she's not riding a bike and she's not taking transit to get there. And that is just the frankly unfortunate circumstances that a lot of people in this city, the way it's been built out, that is the life that they're living. And to suggest we're in this city, the way it's been built out, that is the life that

they're living. And to suggest we're in this Pollyanna universe today where, oh, just take the transit that doesn't exist or just ride the bike 30 kilometres like you can. You know, Toronto Mike rode 13,000 kilometres. But I never expect people to do what I do. No, I know. That's not you. But there are folks in the advocacy community that,

you know, go out there aggressively beating the chess and just sort of say it's as simple as one plus one equals two. Right. There's context to all this stuff. It depends where you're starting, where your destination is. There's a wide variety of things. So let me just say a few things here. One is I'm trying to find a photo with the bike lane. Okay. Cause I don't want to do, obviously I'm not going to do an hour on two one two because I get bored of my own voice on this topic, except a couple of quick little things. One is that, so I, this is not even, my interest in keeping this bike lane is not for me personally, because I was riding Bloor

Street, the whole Bloor Street, I was riding, you know, I rode it in the 90s and I was riding it before the bike lanes and I'll ride it after the bike lanes. Like I personally, for me, I have no problem riding my bike with the cars without a bike lane to be quite honest. I like the bike lanes. I used it. I used the Eglinton and the Royal York one yesterday and it was slick, but it's not for me. It's like actually it's for my kids. Like I like the idea of my kids having a separated safe bike lane when they're trying to get from A to Z and I'm teaching my kids to use the bike first when they can to go from A to Z. So all I'll say to you as a cyclist

here and then I'm gonna move on, but I know this city's bike lanes like the back of my hand. And I know I have a wonderful option right where I live, which is called the Waterfront Trail. Like that's the best. Like I use it every day, the Waterfront Trail. You know the Waterfront Trail is the best. No cars allowed, like this is so slick.

Then I mentioned I went to Mount Dennis yesterday and I took a Royal York to Eglinton. That's actually really nice that Eglinton bike lane that I took to Weston Road from rural York was pretty awesome. Like it's a separated bike lane. I felt safe. It was great. Even on a cold snowy day, it was wonderful.

But here's the only thing I'm going to ask you about Brad. So put on your cycling helmet just for a moment for this one question. So, okay, because you know the geography of this city as well as anybody. But so I like the Eglinton option. Okay. And I like the Lakeshore option. But I also know there's like 10 K between Lake Waterfront Trail and Eglinton is like 10 kilometers. So what I liked about the Bloor bike lane is was kind of in the middle, like it was kind of like five K north of the waterfront trail and like 5k south of Eglinton.

And that for everybody who's not going to go 10k to get on a bike lane to go east, west, like to me that's you're asking too much of citizens of this, the city. At least we had something between like this 10 kilometer. So what we lack now when they rip up this bike lane on Bloor, if you live where I live, if you don't live on the waterfront trail like me, you don't have an east-west option unless you go up to Eglinton or you go down to Lakeshore. There is nothing that's too far a distance in the city to be without an east-west bike lane.

Yeah. I'm just asking you as a, like not even as a politician, I'm just asking you as a cyclist. You understand that there is no other, like you can't tell me there's oh there's a less vehicularly used word I've invented now, but there is no other option East West Yeah, like It's not gonna be perfect and I don't know and I don't know I can't tell you today Oh, here's the option you go two blocks north and you put it in there two blocks out then my understanding is it's not contiguous and it's not yeah

there's nothing yeah so like we're gonna have to figure that out I think it's pretty clear that this section of Bloor has had major impacts and you're trying to balance those major impacts and whether people like that or not and if the the objective is we have to have a bike lane on all the major arterials, east, west, north, south, then that's one perspective and that's one view. Well, no one's saying that though, right? Like, I mean, I don't think anyone's saying that.

Like, we're not saying get a bike lane on Islington because we have one in rural York. Some people are saying that. You might not be saying that, but some people do say that. And that is a view that people have here in Toronto. But I just think that you have to try and balance it. And there is an environmental impact. There is an economic impact.

There is a safety impact. And I would even say there's a productivity impact. And I'm not gonna name the business specifically, but it's an organization here that is involved in the community in Toronto. They had to go out and purchase two additional trucks, two additional trucks to make their deliveries as a result of the congestion, not just because of the Blurwest bike lanes, but certainly they referenced the Blurwest bike lanes to deliver the same amount of product.

And so there is a cost of congestion. There is a cost of traffic and everybody, you know, again, on Twitter says, Oh, like if you're stuck in traffic, you are traffic. Like I get it. I get the quips, I get the Ted talks, but there is an impact associated with that. And so, you know, elected officials are trying to manage those trade offs. I feel so political to me if I take off my bike helmet, because we both know, all three of us know that when

you rip up these blur bike lanes, it's not going to solve the traffic problem in Toronto. This isn't going to fix things. We had that shitty traffic problem before the bike lanes. So what I would say is putting in bike lanes doesn't make it better. It doesn't make it better. No, but it makes it safer for cyclists. And it does you say you can't just build it and they will come. But in some regard, there is a oh, there's a safe way for me to get to the high park from where I live near in the Kingsway or whatever. Like there is there is a there is a option now if you chose to bike when these frigid

temperatures get a little here. Here's actually like here's the crazy thing. I'm glad you mentioned high park. What's actually, like here's the crazy thing. I'm glad you mentioned Hyde Park. What's the street with the speeding, the speed camera there, one's always. Parkside. Parkside, yeah. So council in the same meeting that you're referencing,

we made the decision to put a bike lane on Parkside Drive at the same time that we have closed off Hyde Park to vehicles and you have a direct private cycling corridor through the park, which is, I ride there, I'm one of those problematic cyclists. I ride in there and it's a lovely place to ride. Did you ever get a ticket for not stopping at that stop sign? No, because I stop at every stop sign.

I'm sure. Get a camera on this guy. Yeah, right. So, but point being, when that goes in, people are going to lose their minds. They don't know it's going in because they're not, you know, people don't pay attention. There's only like 20 people that that watch city council meetings,

but we will have put in it. But enough about Matt Elliott. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Big fan. They were taking again, vehicle lanes away on a key connection down to Lake Shore, down to the Gardner, and putting in bike lanes right beside an area where we have dedicated, you know, four bikes. And so that's the type of decision making, I think, that the vast majority of Torontonians,

and put me in this camp, the vast majority of Torontonians want safe cycling infrastructure. They want it to be done in a thoughtful manner, but they accept that in a major metropolitan city, three million people, there's gonna be bike lanes. We have to do that, and we have to do that in a thoughtful manner, but they accept that in a major metropolitan city, three million people, there's gonna be bike lanes. We have to do that and we have to do that in a thoughtful way. 100%.

And then I think on the tailings of that bell curve, you got the folks that, as I said, want bike lanes everywhere, every north, south, east, west, major arterial. And then you have the other people that are like no bike lanes anywhere ever, which is an equally nuts position. But when you do things like what we're going to do

on Parkside Drive, which I also voted against, that is where we lose the confidence and the trust of the public that we do have their best interests in mind and not the interest of the select few, which might be, you know, the cycling lobby. And and I think that makes it difficult, more difficult to do the next bike lane. Do you think? Do you think because I bike through high park all the time, all the time. Like, do you think part of it is that the average cyclist can't tackle that Colburn Lodge Hill? Like, do you think it, does that have anything to do with it?

You know what the, the advent of e-bikes, they're just flattening the geography. Everybody's going to be able to get up every hill. That's the Diane Sachs' secret. Hey, Diane Sachs rides, she's a year round rider as well. She's got the vest on, she's got all the kit. Good on her. It's actually, it's impressive to see whatever, however you feel about Diane Sachs. She's super smart and she's a true believer. Well, you're talking to a big fan over here. Oh, good. Personally, like I was producing her podcast way before she entered politics.

I didn't. Okay. Well, I got to out. Is this the sax in the city? Uh, well, the actual thing, I do produce that one, but there's a whole little backlog there, but it's called green economy heroes. So, uh, basically Diane talks to a green economy hero, because I'm somebody who's generating revenue from a business that is good for a mother earth. It's a great show. We've been doing for many, many years. Yeah. Well, she's, uh, she's her and I have different views on some different things, but she's no doubt brilliant and a talented individual. And she cares a great deal about her community. And this is not political BS.

She actually she she cares a lot. So I appreciate that. Big Sax head over here. OK, so I want it's speaking of friends of mine whose podcast I produce I wanted to read I Wanted to bring up Dana Levinson. Actually, do you know Dana Levinson? So she was a longtime CTV Toronto personality like for almost 20 years I think and I'm gonna bring that up, but I promise Nick W I would read his question here So in my head, I hear Alan's why yelling at me, which is this, this, this, that's my swag complex.

I'm now coining that phrase, but Nick W just says, um, I should, cause I, you know, I go on blue sky and I'm like, uh, I'm got Brad Bradford coming over any questions or comments. So I got a bunch of stuff and I'm not going to read all of it. Cause some of it uses nasty words about you, Brad. I don't like that. Yeah. I have much, much respect for you, but Nick W writes in, I sure hope you put it to Brad regarding his lack of support for bike lanes. That's in top. Again, Nick W's words I'm reading verbatim. Okay. That's entirely motivated by his dislike of Olivia Chow. In December 2021, he spoke in support of bike lanes within

context of a rapidly changing city where people are shifting and needing alternative ways to get around. This is a quote from you I think, the way we are moving around is changing too and we need to build the infrastructure to support that and to focus on safety and we need to get it delivered at speed. End of quote. If it's good for his ward what Danforth has become a much more vibrant safer active neighborhood should be good for all. So would you just address Nick's stuff? He's Ward, what Danforth has become a much more vibrant, safer, active neighborhood, should be good for all. So would you just address Nick Stubb? He's suggesting,

again I don't know how he got in your head and your heart, but you're gonna speak for yourself now. He's suggesting that some of this lack of support for bike lanes is motivated by your dislike of Olivia Chow. What say you, Brad Bradford? Well, not at all and you know, I think if you're a big Olivia Chow person, you're probably pretty disappointed in her progress or lack thereof on cycling infrastructure. There's been very little accomplished, frankly.

So challenge that a bit, Nick. But I appreciate the question. Look, I have done it in my community because I know my community and I listen to my community and I work with my community to do it. And know again I'm not taking a victory lap on Danforth because there are challenges with it but we continue to work on that we can you know mean and Danforth not to get into the details but there was because there's such high pedestrian volume they're crossing towards the subway and you got the Gerard streetcar you know we we realized we needed to put in a dedicated right right hand turn bay so that vehicles can queue and people can clear the intersection. This is all the sort of details that actually matter, understanding the turning configurations,

understanding the loading zones for businesses. In fact, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, which is difficult to sort of work into the pod. But we got a funeral home at Maine and Danforth, and they have very specific loading requirements. We had to deal with that. So yeah, I made it work in my community. And I think to Nick's point where he's sort of saying, well, if it's good for you, is it good for every community? I would actually say no. I would say Toronto is a very-

You're saying it's not a one size fits all. It's not. Like, you know, Scarborough isborough is very different in fact even parts of East York in my ward have more of a configuration and a you know a layout and a geography more akin with parts of Scarborough than it does with you know 18 foot lots down the beaches so that's the beauty of Toronto is the diversity of the neighborhoods and there is not a one size fits all and I wouldn't sit as the councillor in Beaches East York and sort of proclaim to tell you how to do it you know in in North York and Etobicoke but I would listen to the people who are there and the overwhelming feedback is what we have right now is not working and I

think elected officials should have the humility to acknowledge when we haven't gotten it right and go back and try and fix it. And I guess I to leave this for real now is that before you take the you know the expensive and dramatic point move of ripping them out sounds so like ripping it out like oh my goodness you're just gonna rip we did all that work to put them in now we're gonna rip them out I just feel there was more time spent on proper studies and collecting you know good data that would justify such a decision and it does feel to me as some guy sitting in his basement and so the topical like Doug Ford is throwing red meat to his base with this decision and you know

what I'm not gonna say it's not political not at all like clearly like very political and I have also said is it provincial overreach that's why I made that joke earlier there's nothing I hit the joke well you did chuckle at it but Brad Brad and Brad Bradford, of course, Ed Keenan comes over every quarter. I don't know if you ever listened to the Ed Keenan's episodes, but we kind of joke. Is there anything more municipal than bike lanes? Like if you were going to write down the list of things you want your city to cover, then what you want your, you want your province to focus on like education and healthcare, et cetera. And then you want the feds to worry about immigration

and security and all this stuff. Uh, bike lanes is like one of the top items I put right there. Pick up my garbage, bike lanes. This is all very municipal to me. Like why can the, I mean, why is the province overreaching? I know he wanted to be mayor, Doug Ford, but he, he lost that election. Well, Hey, there's a lot of people that wanted to be mayor, Mike, but not everybody gets, but enough about Chris guy. Okay. Chris guy did you did be Chris guy. I just want to put that in the record right now. Okay. But you mentioned Ridley funeral.

I'm so real quick. I'm going to give you a measuring tape from really film and Heather, you get a measuring tape from Ridley funeral. And I will say that he's a Brad too. So Brad Jones at Ridley funeral home is going to be here at four o'clock. No five o'clock. So I got like a book. He's got a pickup here and it might be you. It's

wags at the door. Okay. So it's a book ended by Brad's here and I want him to go by rad Brad as well here. So we're going to leave bike lanes. So Nick, I don't know if that's going to satisfy you. I suspect it's not, but you know, I think it matters and how you do the bike lanes and where you do the bike lanes matters and as a cyclist Did you can probably appreciate some bike lanes are a lot shittier than others some are better better Constructed and better done and better laid out and more thoughtfully executed and and others are not so, you know It's it's not one-size-fits-all and I don't think that's right So take a note Heather that I use it quite a bit the Royal York bike language is really important for North South because we

Don't have one on Kipling or Islington. We really need that Royal York bike lane which is really important for North-South because we don't have one on Kipling or Islington we really need that Royal York one. It is just paint. Okay, maybe a separated safer bike lane I'm not sure paint is the safest like it's so this is this is funny I last night we had an event and we might get into that a better City Toronto My list this came up and I actually I referenced the Royal York bike lane as a bike lane that I have used. That seems to work actually quite well coming off the Martin Goodman trail. I have never, yes, it's not separated, but I've never felt unsafe using the Royal York bike lane works pretty well. Uh, agreed. No, I was on it yesterday. I took it out all the way up to Eglinton. So, uh, I just, and no one's saying rip out the Royal York. No, I know actually so my my 10 year old we bike like I said I literally booked my eight year old and I bike to school this morning like we bike to get to soccer practices in school all

The time and he got the headline about ripping up bike lanes and he said to me Dad, are they gonna rip up our Birmingham bike lanes? Okay, so Birmingham is a very small street That's just a little bit north of Lakeshore And it's got a bike lane on it and we use it because that's where swimming is and that's where the LCI is and the bubble and everything school and everything we use it a lot this Birmingham and I had to have this chat with him that no they're not coming for the Birmingham bike lanes but you know what I don't want to have to eat those words one day but okay Dana Levinson this is gonna change the

channel here for a minute because Dana Levinson is a friend I produce her show she's been very very vocal lately about anti anti-Semitism that she believes is being tolerated in this city. Like, she's been extremely critical of Mayor Chao and this she talks about feeling unsafe in her own Toronto community, her and her children. And I'm just curious, I wanted to bring this up with you because I did hear you you write about this, but is this city doing enough to protect its Jewish citizens in this rampant anti-Semitism that seems to be so fervent right now? No, of course we're not. And again, back to the data, it shows that we have seen a dramatic increase in hate crimes, incidents of hate and

anti-semitism across the Toronto. It's festered like an infection in a way that you know I never thought we would see in this city you know since October 7th. What has I think been allowed to take place is it's really upsetting for a lot of people. And you don't have to be Jewish to be upset about that. You know, what starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews. And, uh, as we're coming off of, uh, you know, Holocaust remembrance day on Monday, and you think about the liberation of Auschwitz 80 years ago, um, it didn't start with death camps, right?

It started with a permissibility conversations, uh, and, and liberation of Auschwitz 80 years ago. Um, it didn't start with death camps, right? It started with a permissibility conversations, uh, misinformation, antisemitic views that were just sort of looked at and shrugged off. And I'm not trying to be dramatic about it, but let's, let's look at what's happened here over the past 15, 16 months. You've had school shot at three times because Jewish girls go there. You've had Jewish businesses fire bombed, lit on fire because Jewish people own them. You have neighborhoods that are protested specifically because Jewish people live there.

And that's not right. That's like, that's not right in the Canadian context. It's not right in Toronto. It's not right anywhere. And so I say what starts with the Jews doesn't end with the Jews because it's a it's a message and a wake up call for all of us that this type of hate when when you are a bystander instead of an upstander, it spreads. we have to be absolutely unwavering in our condemnation and we have to take steps to do more. And that's why I've moved motions on, on bubble zone legislation around places of worship, which, you know, as, as Dana's probably seen mayor Chow worked very hard to kill that on the floor of council, which was upsetting, I think, to a lot of Torontonians. And that's why I say we can do more because while there are limited tools, I think we have to take steps to protect people and communities that are under attack. And today that's the Jewish community.

But, you know, we're also today sitting here on the anniversary of the mosque shooting in Quebec. You think about the Islamophobia that's taking place in London, that terrorist attack mowing down a family. Like, you have to be unequivocal in your condemnation. taking place in London, that terrorist attack, mowing down a family. You have to be unequivocal in your condemnation, even if that for some people is politically inconvenient. It is having the moral clarity and courage to move beyond the performative politics, bullshit, talking about it, but what steps can you actually do to deliver on it?

And that's what I've been trying to do at council. It's been disappointing. Less folks have been willing to come with me, but you know, we got to try. We have to try. Toronto needs to be a safe place for everyone. Yeah. And like people don't feel that right now. No. So I think we are coming up short and you know, I will continue to push the mayor and my colleagues and frankly folks at the province of the federal government as well. I am acutely aware that as a city councillor in Beaches East York, you know, geopolitics is not my strength, foreign affairs is not my business and I'm not going to solve a thousand years of conflict in the Middle East. But when it happens on the streets of Toronto in this city where I am duly elected to represent people, I have to call it out and that's what I've been doing. All right, kudos to you for doing that and Dana will be

glad to hear that as well. Yeah, well, happy to do it. Mike from Kdub writes in a question for Mr. Bradford. See, that's respect, Mr. Bradford. Okay, you're getting lots of respect. And Kdub, does that mean Kitchen mean kitchen in Waterloo? I think so. Like it's the hand, a handle on, uh, on blue sky is Mike from K-dub question for Mr. Bradford cities worldwide are finding that making downtown more pedestrian friendly is a cheap, effective way to improve livability. Montreal is an example where my daughter lives right now. Uh, he sent me a link to a CBC article that was just a couple of days ago. Why won't Toronto embrace these types of initiatives and instead continue with a, what is this word, a Karras King mentality? I don't know if I took that wrong. C-A-R-I-S. I don't know if that was a typo on his part or if I just don't understand the reference.

But bottom line is I looked at the article from CBC and took a little so the the mayor of Plante, her name is, is going to turn a stretch of St. Catherine into a dynamic and welcoming locale. A city news release said the work would include widened sidewalks, ball, bollards and greenery. And it's all intended to make it more pleasant for pedestrians and encourage people to take public transit to the area instead of driving. What are your thoughts on what Montreal is up to here and what Mike from Kdub is suggesting would be good for Toronto? Jeez I wish I had read the article. No sorry I'll send it to you. Yeah I'm not super familiar with that instance and I haven't spent a ton of time in Montreal

regrettably because I hear it's a great city but yeah generally speaking like if you can create environments, main streets where people wanna linger, where they wanna spend time, where you have wide, generous sidewalk space, where you have seating, where you have cafes, piazzas, all that stuff, it checks all the boxes, right? And that's the stuff that you see

in urban planner presentations and slide decks and TED talks. And it's nice. How you execute it and how you deliver it matters. And so I think we should be open to considering these types of ideas. You just gotta find the right place where it's gonna be effective. Where you can create that destination

where there is some pent up demand for that, where it works practically, where I guess in this instance he's referencing or Mayor Plante is referencing where you have transit access to get there. Because again, all this stuff only works if the options are available today or in the near term. It's not super helpful if we're talking about a universe where transit is not going to be built. Well, it's shitty to hear you laugh about, because you're right, we grew up and it was TTC,

the better way. This was the slogan. We were inundated with it, but it sucks that here we are chatting laughing at that notion. Like what happened? Well, what happened? I mean, where do you start? But I might point out that we're losing a hundred and forty million dollars a year to Fair Evasion and that's like ten percent of the budget. So you know, you've got this this this bucket of water with a hole in the bottom and rather than trying to plug the hole, we just keep trying to put more hole in the bottom. And rather than trying to plug the hole, we just keep trying to put more water in the bucket. And that sort of seems to be a theme kind of across the

administration and all the different things at City Hall right now. We didn't talk about that. But I think reliability is number one. And safety is right there with it. And right now, the TTC is not reliable. And it's not safe. You could talk about all door boarding on streetcars which seemed like a good idea

at the time but obviously has led to a lot of problematic behavior and it's not hyperbole like you take the Dundas streetcar it's not a zero percent chance that you're gonna see some sort of open-air drug deal and that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. There might be people who say, you know, like, grow up, harden up, whatever. But that doesn't make a comfortable transit experience for a lot of people. And I don't think they should be shouted down for saying that.

The fact that the TTC has largely become like a de facto shelter system in the winter time, not nice for anyone. And that is emblematic or systematic of all the other issues. The fact that we have a homelessness crisis and people are taking refuge in the TTC. That's not good for anyone. You know it doesn't make a great transit experience and more importantly that is certainly not a compassionate or humane response to people who have nowhere else to go.

Well there's a shelter proposed for this very neighborhood, like 3rd and Lake Shore, 66th or something, I can't remember the address. But there's a shelter proposed, I talked to Amber Morley about this very, very recently, and there's like, we're having now community, whatever it's called, when you gather and ask questions and learn about what's going on at this shelter. But I asked Amber about this and she talked about the fact that we simply, we need shelters in this city for our own host. We need shelters. Like what are your thoughts on these shelters that are being proposed

throughout the city? I think there's probably a better way to do it. Um, what is that better way? I think you have to have these difficult conversations. And right now politicians hide behind what we call delegated authority to staff. So we just sort of say, oh, hands off. We have nothing to do with it. We there's nothing we can do about it.

I don't think that's a productive way of building relationships, which is effectively what you have to do. Look, I built supportive housing, which is different, but supportive housing in East York on a parking lot, which might be similar to what's gonna take place here. Yeah, well the shelter is proposed, yeah, for now it's a parking lot. I literally got death threats on my phone. So that's the level of animosity that you're dealing with.

It is a very live and real issue for people. And I think there's a couple factors. One, there's stigma that comes with that. Two, there's a track record at the city, which would show we haven't really done a particularly good job at dealing with some of the impacts that are real that come with some of this stuff. And three, the communication is not transparent.

You have to have those difficult conversations. You have to give people an opportunity to express their concerns. But that's not like I literally this guy, Mr Mr. Davis who there's literally like I it's coming up like there's a everyone is invited to come to this location. Yeah but that's happening now. Right. Because people went ballistic. Right. So and it's happening because from the city of Toronto they they come down and say hey F.Y.I. this parking lot is now going to become a shelter.

Right. And that's not really like a, that's not a discussion, that's not a consultation, that's your, that's information sharing. That's information sharing, right? You're being told. Right. And there is a way to land these things and you can do it successfully, but you have to have the right supports in place.

You know, I worked with Wood Green, who is a fantastic operator of supportive housing in the East End. And we looked, we got down in the weeds, we looked at the staffing models, like what supports are gonna be there? What services are you gonna be providing? What is the staffing ratio? You know, how often are they gonna be there?

Where are they gonna park? Like all of these sort of things. And it's kind of related to the bike lane discussion. I know Alan's gonna lose it if I go back to that, but- I don't know if you got this deep into this episode just you have to just, you have to work through the details because the details actually matter. And I, I, I'm not surprised when residents don't have a lot of confidence in the city of Toronto's ability to execute on basic things because we don't always do a great job.

And so you can't be afraid of doing the hard work and rolling up your sleeves. But I also don't think like just telling people how it's going to be, that's not a great place to start. And understandably, people get upset about that. Not withstanding the fact that there's a homelessness crisis and I think everyone's gonna agree, we need to have housing for people to go into. Well, this is it, right? You just nailed it, right?

Like we have encampments, right? There'll be, you know, besides schools and parks. They've doubled. Right. So we have that. You just talked about how people are using the TTC as a shelter. Yeah. Right. Like, so there's a need for no one disputes the need. Right. Right. No one disputes the need. How do you do it? How you do it matters. And I just, I don't think that when we just sort of commandeer and take over property and say, is gonna be like this and you don't say well okay what is needed here in the community there's homelessness all over Toronto it's not just a downtown issue and we're pretty far west out here in this part of Etobicoke but same thing

with East York like I've got another shelter actually going in a damn forth and woodbine doing it know, I'm shoulder to shoulder with the operators, we're gonna bring that forward. But there's literally people sleeping in the bus shelter around the corner. They're sleeping in the vestibules. It's like, if you don't think we have a homelessness problem, like go step out onto the street.

It's everywhere. So it's never that people don't understand it is needed. It is how you're doing it. And so I convened community meetings with who the operator is going to be and with city staff. It was difficult, but I didn't shout people down. I didn't come from a place of moral self-righteousness, like a lot of activists do.

It's a conversation and people will say things that might make folks uncomfortable. Oh, we don't want these people here There's a lot of nimbias and tied to shelters in the totally not disputing that but I just I've never won an argument by telling someone how stupid they are and And I think that you are I think you actually have to hear people out and understand where the concerns are coming from if you're going to make an honest Attempt to try and address them and if you do and if people believe that you are honestly trying to work with them, then you can make progress. If it's, if it's all sort of moral superiority,

I think you lose people and they're going to be offside. Yeah. No arguments here. But so it sounds like you, you agree there's a need for shelters for our house. And you're just suggesting that we have proper consultations and then we, we do this properly. But I feel like maybe we've learned from mistakes in the past where because this is proposed for 2028 I think is when they planned to open this thing and they're having consultations now like I don't think I think that is the right way to go with this particular my neighborhood that's

interesting that's like quite far away yeah I think it's 2028 but something's very far like you know so then on the other hand Nick W and and some of the friends of the mayor might say geez like you could take action a little bit faster That that sounds pretty far But then you you want it done properly with we've thought about supporting because you can't you know These people will need access to the health care and there's different resources that need to be accessible to the people who will be hopefully temporarily living in these these shelters so you need to let me give you an example let me give you an example so again the the supportive

housing Cedarvale Trenton it was on a parking lot some folks got chastised because they said the parking lot is Some folks got chastised because they said the parking lot is the heart of the community. It's right next to Stan Wadlow Park, so it's actually the park. I think that's what the gentleman meant to say. But these guys don't have media training. So you go out there, you clip, you say the wrong thing,

and then you're memed. In any case, there were very real practical considerations. Parking is oversubscribed in that area in terms of permit parking. The city staff are saying, oh, this is going to be just staff 24 seven. Okay. Well, let's follow that through. It's going to be staff 24 seven. Transit doesn't run 24 seven. How are the people going to get there? You have no parking proposed, but there's going to be this compliment of staff that are there all the time. Where are they

going to park? Permit parking is already oversubscribed on the street. It seems like a small thing, but for the residents and the neighbors who are gonna be living together there, they're already struggling with parking. You're taking away the parking lot, parking's already subscribed, and then you're saying it's gonna be staff 24 seven, but there's not transit running there 24 seven to get there.

So it was a recognition of the concern. It wasn't a huge lift to be able to sort that out, but staff always take a path of least resistance when they're doing these things. And they're trying to do the bare minimum because they're stretched a million different ways doing a million different things. And so you need the local counselor to engage with the community to problem solve some of these things. You know, I actually went out to another supportive housing site in Scarborough, you know, not something I tweeted about or anything, but went and talked to not the executive director who ran it, but talk to the frontline staff who are working in it.

And unannounced when it had those conversations, what are the challenges with the building? Well, you know, there's problems with the elevator, there's problems with the size of the kitchen, there's problems with the fact that we only have one office to deliver the services when there's a lot more space required for both the staff and the clients to one office to deliver the services when there's a lot more space required for both the staff and the clients to be able to receive the services. So then in my building, took those lessons learned, and we adapted the floor plate to accommodate that type of feedback. So I just like it's not about whether or not we're going to build shelters or supportive housing, we have to you can see it everywhere. How you do it really

matters. And if you don't allow those conversations and if you're too focused on shutting people down from from the moral high ground, we just create friction and animosity. OK, no good points here. OK, so I don't

even remember what we agreed on, except I'm taking a little more time. Like, you don't. You know what? You can take it up with Troy Birch. OK, well, Troy Bird, she's hosting us on June 26th. Everybody come out to Great Lakes Brewery in South Etobicoke June 26th, 6 to 9 p.m. TMLX 18 and just a couple more shout outs to partners that help keep this thing going. Much love to recycle my electronics dot C a Brad. if you have like a drawer full

of old cables i know you borrowed my cable today but you probably have some old cables or old laptops or electronics don't throw that in the trash because those chemicals end up in our landfill go to recycle my electronics dot ca and find out a place near you you can drop it off to be properly recycled so take a note heather recycle my electronics dot ca well because i'm using i'm using Mike's phone cable this morning because mine conked out last night and so my phone didn't charge. So there you go. Okay, well, cable off. Yeah, if it's broken, if it's if it's

fun to keep it working, is that one? No, this is my goodness gracious. God, the Senate over recycle my electronics. I see it right away. Okay. And a quick much love to Nick Aini's, who's the CEO of Fusion Corp developments and he's gonna come by in the next coming weeks and we're gonna learn more about Nick Aynes he was at a tmlx event at the GLB brew pub at Jervis and Queens Key it was good to see him there but he condo development he's got a great podcast

called building Toronto's skyline and And thank you, Nick, for stepping up and helping to keep this thing going. You talked about one size not fitting all, Mr. Bradford. And Irene, this I'll read this quick. And then I want to talk about ABC Toronto. And you mentioned Progress Toronto. And I want to talk about a better city Toronto. That's what ABC stands for. I learned that yesterday. But Irene wrote in and said, can you ask Brad Bradford about Olivia Chow's understanding of equitable services across the city? I live in a part of Etobicoke with ditches, culverts instead of storm sewers and we lost mechanical leaf extraction in the name of service equity. But shouldn't our systems of stormwater be equitable too?

Our ditches were quite shallow. There's a lot of detail here for, I guess that's for Amber Morley if she's in this part of Etobicoke. But anyway, but basically she's talking about, like your 95 year old neighbor had to clean out the litter and couldn't get out. This is terrible. She like fell and she can't get up. But what is this we're talking about? She lost this mechanical leaf extraction because of service equity. Yeah, well this is, I would say, put this under a byproduct of amalgamation and you know we've been a big beautiful city for 20 years but it wasn't all the same when we went into this and rightly I think residents of Etobicoke and parts of North York and others would would feel like they are paying more now and

they're getting less. Like that's actually true. No one ever picked up my leaves I just want to throw it out there. Yeah and neither you know in my part at Danforth we didn't have that but I just this was a service that was provided true you're paying more you're getting less you're not getting that anymore and is it do we do we need to have the same services across the board I mean like I guess that is sort of what it was promised when there was amalgamation and I wasn't around at the time I grew up in Hamilton. Yeah. But, uh, my understanding is people weren't super stoked about that. Uh, and look, this is, I would say that's a core municipal service.

You said like bike lanes for you. It's bike lanes. Yeah. But for other people, it might be like fixing potholes and, uh, repairing the roads and maybe picking up the leaves. So I think it's unfortunate that these are the types of things that end up on the The the chopping board and yet that's a service that as we can talk about here. I guess The drainage in Etobicoke was was done with with culverts and ditches Which you might find in a more suburban context because you know It was more suburban and so that's when you have leaves in that that right creates problems for stormwater I would also say it creates problems when it's over the great the sewer grates on the road as well

Which is why you really do need to break your leaves up But either either way like it's Etobicoke is not the same as my part of Danforth And that's not the same as like Scarborough Rouge Park. One size does not fit all. No, and we should be able to sophisticated enough with an 18 and a half billion dollar budget bigger than five provinces in the country. We should be able to figure out how to deliver the basic core services for people. And I think it's a shame that that's no longer available here in Etobicoke.

I've noticed in my cycling travels that whenever I find these streets that have this, is it called a culvert? Maybe today I learned if that's what they're called, but these ditches, they have no sidewalks, right? Like there's no time. I noticed there's always sidewalks in the poor neighborhoods. What's up with this? Have you noticed a correlation between the value of the home and the lack of sidewalk like the rich the rich neighborhoods don't have sidewalks it's like they don't want us normies walking in their hoods you know what I wouldn't read into it like that I would think it's probably more Mike speaking for Mike over here everybody

yeah I think it's probably more product of the frontage so if you're dealing with 50 60 foot lots and some of these let's say affluent or suburban neighborhoods people historically have been less inclined to walk and you could dealing with 50, 60 foot lots in some of these, let's say, affluent or suburban neighborhoods. People historically have been less inclined to walk. And you could say that's a problem. We could talk about that. They take the limousine. Right, sure.

Yeah. The cyber truck. What was that thing that Carney had? That wasn't his, actually. That was a pretty good prank, though, that Rolls Royce limo at the. Oh, I missed that one. Oh, OK.

OK, I'm kind of getting tired. Maybe it wasn't on Blue Sky. I think it was a Twitter thing. Anyways, like I think it's probably more a fraud, a product of the frontages and the lengths and the fact that I'm in a blue sky. No, I'm not like I'm actually people aren't there. No, I'm not really a social like I just be getting lit up by Nick W if I was on Twitter or whatever all the time. So

well, that does let me we'll close with that. I want to a couple of quick hits. I want to talk about this ABC Toronto because I only read about it yesterday. But you were well, basically you you participated in a panel discussion during the ABC Toronto's launch event. Was that yesterday? Mm hmm. That was last night. Okay. Tell us what ABC Toronto is because earlier you mentioned progress Toronto and you gave progress Toronto some credit for Olivia Chell's win if I was listening correctly. So what is a better city Toronto and how does that compare to Progress Toronto? Speak to this, what the heck is this? I think you should probably have the executive director, Ariel O'Kimmel jump on the pot at some point to chat more about it. But basically, in 2017, 2018, there

was the formation of Progress Toronto, effectively a sort of NDP pseudo-political party at City Hall that was advocating for a certain set of policies and candidates that reflect that. And what they did was they gathered data and they collected email addresses and they trained volunteers. And they sent them out and deployed trained volunteers and you know, they

sent them out and deployed them on campaigns and they were very effective at not winning races in 2018 and less so in 2022, but certainly by the time seven years on, you got to 2023 in the mayoral by-election, they were a force. And I think the idea of ABC Toronto, if I understand it correctly, is there's a lot of folks across the city that are concerned about the direction that City Hall is headed right now. The lack of prioritization, the lack of focus on affordability, safety, congestion,

the issues that frankly come up at a lot of dinner tables that are not necessarily reflected in the agenda of the leadership at City Hall. So you're seeing these people come together as I understand it, what's called a common sense coalition. It's not a left or right thing. It's focused on the key issues, focus on the basics and try and make sure that Toronto is still a city that people want to live in. And I think the name a better city Toronto speaks to that aspiration. They're not giving up on Toronto, they just want it to be better. And it will serve as a, as a counterweight or a counterbalance to the sort of NDP progress

Toronto organization that has existed and been unchecked frankly for seven years. So if I'm going to like do like an analogy towards like our provincial parties, we're going to the polls very soon provincially. I guess you, you, you're aware of all this, but odor. Yeah, you're a voter you're a voter So if we were to kind of draw a line between like progress Toronto progress or progress, what do you say? Geez, no, no. No, I think I would say progress. I can't even say pause like Heather pasta or pasta It depends often pasta though. I think passage is sound so see I say pasta Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo said, "'Why do you say pasta?'

It's pasta. It sounds fancy when you say pasta. I'm a pasta guy. I'm a fancy guy, you know that, right? Yeah, it's very fancy, Dan. I wore my fancy hoodie today. But progress, progress, whatever. Progress Toronto would be a line maybe more,

like you called it NDP-esque. Well, Olivia Chau was a member of the NDP party, so there's a bit of an alliance there. But a better city Toronto, would that be more like progressive conservative ask? I, you know, I, I would be really hesitant to put them up the municipal political lens on a PC or liberal or whatever. I think it's just actually the issue set and you want people having discussions and focusing on the issues that matter to a lot of Torontonians but seem to not be on the top of the agenda at City Hall. And that

is like, you know, the affordability issue is massive. It's I don't want to get into all of the talking points on that. But like, seriously, Toronto has never been more expensive and it's everything from your grocery bill to uh, to your rent, to your mortgage, to, to everything in between. So it is expensive to live here. And as a result, uh, tens of thousands of people are li, are leaving. And those are the people, frankly, that have the

jobs are contributing to the tax base, growing the economy, taking risks, they're entrepreneurs, they're trying to build things, they're trying to create jobs, they're leaving. They're going GTHA, they're going out to Alberta, they're going south of the border. So the big risk in my view to Toronto and our future success and prosperity is that those economic drivers, those families, those entrepreneurs, they leave and we are left with a concentration of people who are coming here for the services that we provide. But it's a net

draw. And you know, you've seen this story happen in so many US cities where there's a hollowing out of the middle class and the core and you're left with like a concentration of global wealth and a concentration of poverty and nothing in between. And that's the workforce that we have to be hyper mindful of if we want to continue to have success and grow as a city. Well, I'm glad you mentioned the affordable housing crisis, because I mean, grocery bills, I, my wife does a lot of the grocery shopping, but I also will do a grocery shopping trip. And I, I am still shocked at the difference

between five years ago and now, like with just things like loaves of bread and milk and just, just these basics. And I'm always like, oh my God, like it's costing me at least twice as much for the same food than five years ago, like 2019 or 2020. But so I don't feel that's a Toronto thing though. I really do feel that's not a Toronto thing, but the housing maybe speak specifically to how do we fix this affordable housing problem? Cause I have kids, I don't know how the hell

they're going to own property in Toronto unless they get an extremely well-paying job. Yeah, no it's you know there are some people that do a great job of being born into a great family and that's nice for them but for the right John Tory again or Doug Ford or Justin Trudeau. I'm just saying like that's not my circumstance and I don't think that's the circumstance for a lot of people out there so you do worry about affordability and and I don't think that's the circumstance for a lot of people out there. So you do worry about affordability. And while we don't control, you know, your grocery bill or how much it costs to put gas in the tank, or how much your new electric bike costs, we do control your tax bill. And that's the biggest bill that most people pay every year.

And it's gone up 25% in the past three years. And I think if you ask the vast majority of Torontonians, perhaps yourself included, Mike, like, are your services 25% in the past three years. And I think if you ask the vast majority of Torontonians, perhaps yourself included, Mike, like are your services 25% better? The answer is no. Like, and that is because we don't have a culture of performance and accountability and value for money at City Hall. I wanna talk about housing,

cause that was the question. Yeah. Look, it's actually not that complicated. And I would say that government has been a huge part of the problem. Municipal government in particular, and as a guy that worked in the chief planner's office as an urban planner at City Hall, I saw this firsthand. 30% of the cost of a unit of housing in the city of Toronto now is taxes and fees and development charges and that's not sustainable. The DC regime

has just been this cash cow that we have always gone to and now we've thrown everything at it It's the kitchen sink your development charges actually pay for studies about development charges And that is so far from what it started as basic core infrastructure sewers pipe sidewalks Even if they were only on one side of the road That's what DC's were about in the beginning And so the good news is government has been a big part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution. And that is by removing these taxes, these fees, that is by expediting the timelines, because time is money when it comes to development,

getting it done faster, and we can reduce the pressure on on housing costs by doing that. We can also liberalize and open up where we're gonna have development. We can improve as of right zoning permission so that you can build more housing in more neighborhoods. These are the type of practical things that are available to us right now. But instead, we are pursuing what I would call is an ideological agenda where we want the city of Toronto to quote, get back in the housing business.

And I just, for practical people out there, they know that government has never done something faster or for less money than the private sector. And so I think mayor Chow is heading up, you know, taking us in a direction where if we do deliver any quote, affordable housing, it will be the most expensive affordable housing in the country's history. And that's where I see the future about collaboration and partnership with people who have the expertise in the capital to build the housing. I see affordability addressed by more supply, more options. And when I think about your kids or my kids, you know, hopefully they're not in a position where, you know, they, they don't have a great job or they're not making a lot of money and they're trying to go through programs to get access to affordable housing.

But the, that's always been the case. And it's a question of how many hundreds of thousands of dollars of government subsidy, whether it comes from the feds, the province of the city that we can apply in a per door basis. That's affordable housing. It's social housing. The challenge we have is there is not housing

that people can afford. And those 50,000 people that I was referencing that left the city of Toronto last year, they don't qualify for any programs. They don't get any subsidy, but they can't afford to live here. And that's why it's supply-oriented solutions that are going to correct and rebalance that. It's not like government trying to be the answer all things to all people and building the housing. That's actually insane. That's not going to be an effective use of hundreds of millions of dollars to yield a couple thousand units. We need to be partnering. We need to reduce the regulation. We need to liberalize

our zoning permissions and get more people building faster. Okay. So Chow came in in 2023. Do I have these? Oh, 2023, right? Because she lost a year because John Tory, and that was a by-election. And that's why you were able to run for mayor and keep this gig you got right now. Okay, so we're only, now my math tells me 2026, we're back to the polls in Toronto. Brad, are you gonna run again for city councilor?

Ooh, city councilor, I like what you did there. again for city councilor? Ooh, city councilor. I like what you did there. Uh, yeah, you know what? I don't know what I'm going to do in 2026 to be honest with you. Um, it's, it's obvious. I don't agree with the administration, right? Like I don't think that Toronto is headed in the right direction. I think that Mayor Chow has done some good things.

I think she's worked well with the province on some files. I think that, you know, the fact that she has a hiring plan for the police right now and she's funding the police, I think that's a positive, even if her base doesn't like that, I think that's the right thing to do. And I think there have been some things on the housing file

that we were able to work together on and things from the housing action plan that I had written when I was the chair, we're seeing those come to fruition, that's positive. But there's a lot of concerns around affordability. There's a lot of concerns around safety, a lack of prioritization on key issues. So you're running for mayor? No, no, no. Look, honestly, and I'll just say this, there's a lot of time between now and then. Am I concerned about the direction of the city? Absolutely. Do I care about Toronto as a place where I'm raising my family and I've bet big on this city? Yeah. This is not hyperbole.

Like I care a lot. That's why I do this job. But tough. Is that a song? Yeah. Pre 86. No more. Pre 86. Oh, it's around 86. Okay. Anyways, yeah, so we'll come back on the pod. We can talk more about that, but no, I think that we, I think we should do a better job at City Hall. I think local government matters more than anything else. It's the way that people experience, experience the things that characterize the city. Okay, but now you're politicking again. Like, no, I'm not.

Okay, so you really don't know what you're going to do next year? No. You don't know if you're going to run for city council? How many months is it? I feel like that's close. That's close for politicians like you to you haven't decided a if you're gonna run again for city councilor, but B if you're gonna run again for mayor,

and I'm gonna throw a C out there. Like are you considering running? I don't know provincially or federally as an MPP or an MP. My passion is the city. I made it that my profession urban planning. It's all my all my life work. My passion is the city. I made it my profession, urban planning. It's all my life work. It's the city. It's Toronto.

I came to work here. That's what I wanted to do. I don't know how many months October 2026 is. My math's not so fast on that. But it is, honestly, it's a long time. I will not vote for Olivia Chow. I will not vote for Olivia Chow in 2026. But am I the

best alternative? Is there somebody else? Like, I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what the political dynamic is going to be with the federal government, with the province, with the U.S. A lot of things can change. So. And we might be at war by then. Well, a lot of things. I hope to God that's not the case. But a lot of things can change. And so I'm going to keep pushing on the things that I think are important. I'm going to try and reflect the feedback that I hear from people all across the city every day. And I'm not going to stop swinging a city all between now and then.

When you have made a decision about 2026, will you drop by and make it here? I don't want you to make it with David Common on Metro Morning or I don't know, John Moore on 1010 or my friend, Greg Brady at 640. You got to do that for Heather. You got to do it here. There's nowhere I'd rather be than in the basement with you Mike. That's because you get Great Lakes beer when you come visit me. Okay Brad, I don't mean to be playing you off here except I stole a lot of time. I said an hour, I took a lot longer and I felt like I could do that because you were late. So I felt I had leverage there, but always enjoy these conversations. It's great to be with you. Big fan of the pod and hope to see everybody out there. And I hope to see you at TMLX 18 on June 26, 2025. Heather stuck

it in your calendar. I already did it. And you're going to come too Heather? I might. We'll see. She's keeping her options open. She's so good. Like, hopefully she still works with me then. That's up to her. Well, you might be banking on the next mayor of Toronto. This is, you're in a good place. Time will tell. Okay. But don't, hopefully, no, I won't even do the joke I was going to do. I'm going to, I'm going to, sometimes I make the right call on the line of scrimmage. Sometimes I don't. And that brings us to the end of our 1620th show. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. I'm on Blue Sky, Brad's favourite social media channel. I'm at torontomike.com over there. Much love to all who made this possible. Great Lakes Brewery.

Expect a visit from the great Brad Bradford and Heather Purden, Troy. Palma Pasta, it's good to see you at Palma's Kitchen. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto Skyline, and Ridley Funeral Home. Hopefully you don't have to go there anytime soon, but they're lovely people. See you all tomorrow. An OG member, the guitarist for Spin Doctors is going to be here, Eric Schenckman. And yes, he did co-write Two Princes. So I'm going to ask him to bring his accountant paper. I want to know how much money that makes you when you co-write a big hit like Two Princes.

See you all then. So So So So Thank you.