TUNE INTO THE TOWN: THE FUTURE OF TORONTO CITY COUNCIL

Libby Znaimer is joined by Lauren O’Neil, Senior News Editor of BlogTO, Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 6 York Centre) and Councillor Brad Bradford (Ward 19 Beaches East York).

Today: There’s plenty to talk about here in Toronto. First, we look at City Council where at least 7 Councillors are not going to be seeking re-election in October including veterans like Mike Layton, Denzil Minnan-Wong and others. So, what will the future of Toronto City Council look like? In other Toronto news, we take a closer look at the ongoing feud between cyclists and pedestrians in the city’s popular High Park. And, now cyclists are expressing anger for feeling harassed by police who are cracking down on speeders in the park. And, finally, we’ve learned what the Ford government’s strong mayoral powers will entail.

UNIFOR ELECTS NEW LEADER

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Dr. Rafael Gomez, an associate professor of employment relations at the University of Toronto.

This week: Now we turn to an historic election at Canada’s largest private sector union – UNIFOR has elected Lana Payne as its first woman national president. It comes as the organization is trying to recover from the Jerry Dias scandal – he resigned before it was revealed that he took a 50K kickback from a Covid test manufacturer for pushing their product.

COULD ONTARIO PRIVATIZE CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES?

Libby Znaimer is now joined by Sharleen Stewart, President of SEIU Healthcare,  which represents over 60,000 health care workers in the province and NDP MPP for Nickel-Belt and health critic, France Gelinas.

Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones is not ruling out the idea of privatizing certain healthcare services as a way to deal with the severe staffing shortages that have left numerous hospitals in the province with no option but to temporarily shut down their ERs this Summer. But what could that privatization look like?