The 905er talks wine in Niagara

Brenda Agnew and the Pride Flag Debate – The 905er Podcast

Download episode One of the biggest stories we have covered since this podcast began was last year's decision by Halton Catholic School Board over a motion brought that, if passed, would have seen the Pride flag fly over Halton's Catholic Schools during Pride month, along with a variety of other measures to demonstrate and support acceptance of LGBTQIA+ students in HCDSB schools. The motion, brought by Trustee Brenda Agnew following an initial question raised by a student, was not so much defeated as disassembled by a thousand amendments. But the message was clear – a majority of HCDSB trustees were opposed—some virulently so—to raising the Pride flag over Halton's Catholic Schools, and, at least for some, any suggestion of support for or endorsement of LGBTQIA+ students. It was a decision that received national and even international attention, and went against a trend seen at other Catholic School Boards in Ontario, where numerous votes saw support for raising the Pride flag. But Trustee Agnew is bringing a new motion to HCDSB this evening (January 18th 2022), and with it an opportunity for trustees to take a different approach. Trustee Agnew joined us late last week to discuss why she's bringing another motion, and what she expects from her fellow trustees this time, and why she believes HCDSB's decision over the Pride flag is so important. 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! Don’t forget to check out 905er.ca, even if you get the podcast delivered to you automatically. We post additional news and stories there when we can, and welcome submissions and ideas for additional content.

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!