- Hitting the snowy campaign trail
Friday, January 31st 2025
Guest: Toronto Star Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie
After months of speculation, Premier Doug Ford finally called an election, sending voters to the polls more than a year ahead of schedule. Robert Benzie discusses Ford’s stated rationale for the campaign, and also unpacks the reasons behind the months of groundwork that prepared for this early election. Tax rebate cheques are hitting mailboxes, beer is on sale in corner stores, and the results of the Greenbelt police investigation are still likely months away.
On Ford’s side, the polls and electoral conditions seem favourable now. On the other side, on key issues of housing, health care and transit, it’s hard for him to make the argument he’s “gotten it done.” Here’s what the Toronto Star team has seen during the first week of the campaign.
PLUS: The potential rewards and substantial risks of making Trump a central figure in the campaign.
This episode was produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Paolo Marques and Ed Keenan.
- Here's why Doug Ford might call a snap election
Thursday, January 23rd 2025
Guest: Robert Benzie
It’s likely Doug Ford will call a snap election nearly a year and a half before the province is due. Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie explains why now is an ideal time for Ford to call this election: what’s at stake, what issues are most pressing, what his opposition thinks, and what is the historical precedence in Ontario for snap elections.
- The President strikes back
Tuesday, January 21st 2025
Guests: Richard Warnica and Alex Ballingall
On Monday, we saw the result of an unprecedented political comeback as Donald Trump was officially sworn in as President of the United States – again. His second run comes four years after being voted out of office, and being impeached for attempting to overturn that result.
Senior Opinion writer Richard Warnica and Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Alex Ballingall attend the inauguration and chat about what they saw: the major difference between the 2017 event and this one; what it signals that Trump expressed his return to power as similar to a prophet’s work; the pardons & proclamations he made on day one; and why Elon’s ‘Nazi salute’ should be of no surprise.
PLUS: What’s the single most important thing progressives in both the USA & Canada can do right now?
- Reflecting on Toronto, for better or worse
Friday, January 17th 2025
Guest: Toronto Star Editor-in-chief Nicole MacIntyre talks about the genesis of the “Toronto the Better” series which looks for ways to improve life in the city in ways big and small
This is the time of year for winter blahs, and it arrives amid what seems to be a years-long Toronto blues, in which Star Editor-in-chief Nicole MacIntyre admits she’s felt in danger of “falling out of love” with the city. But it’s also the time of year for resolutions, and so the Star has launched the “Toronto the Better” series which looks for ways to improve life in the city in ways big and small, from institutional fixes to self-help hacks. MacIntyre talks about the genesis of the idea, including the role her own recreational softball team played in inspiring parts of it, and talks about the things that can make us happy—things we can do ourselves and things the city can do for us—and breaks apart what being happy even means. Host Edward Keenan and MacIntyre discuss how the personal and the institutional combine and conflict to add up to a life worth living in the city. And we hear about the year-long plan to explore those topics in the Star. PLUS: Revisiting the first time Keenan and MacIntryre met in a conversation on the waterfront, a conversation directly relevant to this new initiative.
- Trudeau, the Liberals and next steps: A roundtable with Star politics reporters
Friday, January 10th 2025
It’s been a historic week in Ottawa. On Friday, Jan. 10, members of the Star’s Ottawa bureau sat for a discussion about how we got to the point where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided he must step down as leader of the federal Liberal party and PM, and exactly where the Liberals must go from here.
Join the Star's Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief, Alex Ballingall, Ottawa Bureau Reporter, Ryan Tumilty, and moderator Robert Benzie, Queen's Park Bureau Chief.
