The 905er talks wine in Niagara

905 Round-Up: Is Doug Ford Good for Democracy? – The 905er Podcast

There is a disturbing trend emerging in Ontario politics from the Doug Ford government. As Doug Ford pursues his vision of paving over the greenbelt to help out his developer friends, resistance is popping up in unexpected places. Most recently the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has made public their concerns regarding Bill 23. Namely that they project a cost of approximately $1 Billion a year to municipalities due to loss of development fees. As well as the untold projected costs of environmental damages due to the consequences of potentially building on flood plains or watersheds in the Greenbelt. What is Doug Ford's response? It turns out that AMO has been excluded from committee meetings. This isn't a unique trend. The Ford government is moving ahead with plans to curtail the democratic authority of municipalities by allowing votes to pass with only 30% of councillors support. With the recent use of the Notwithstanding Clause as a negotiation tactic, its clear to us that this government hates the idea of democracy. The idea that consultation and compromise is important to ensure the democratic process is vibrant and we all have a say in how our government is run. Instead this government continues to show that it is their way or the highway, consequences be damned. This episode of The 905er is brought to you by our sponsor: South River Brewing. Listen to this episode to see how you can save money on your next order by visiting the link below: South River Brewing It takes money and time to create two podcasts a week. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills. Why not buy us a coffee? Or you can support us by becoming a patron for a month, for six months, or forever. See https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Patreon listeners also get to hear our episodes without commercial interruptions. Thanks to our existing patrons! You can join them at https://www.patreon.com/the905er. Supporting the 905er with a monthly donation enables us to do this podcast, to make it better and better, and to make sure it reflects your priorities. Please consider joining our growing team. Nicholas Paul: sound editing. The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!

Covid-19 has upended a lot of norms in our lives. Most impacted has been the tourism and hospitality sectors. Where business was most often conducted face to face and in more intimate and comfortable surroundings, the entire industry has been forced to throw out old business models and invent new ones.

We spoke with Jason Cassis a few weeks ago, about trying a new business venture in the middle of this pandemic. This week we spoke with Andrea Kaiser, Chair of Wineries of Niagara on the Lake. A wine industry marketing association for Niagara wineries. It was a fascinating discussion on what they have been doing to survive the pandemic and and how they are retooling to adapt to a different future than what we are used to.

These talks have given me renewed sense of optimism about our post-COVID-19 world. And how we can create something new and better than what we had before.

Take a listen and subscribe if you haven’t already. And more importantly spread the word about the podcast!