On Point With Alex Pierson

We spoke with Matti Siemiatycki, Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure Planning and Finance at the University of Toronto, about Premier Ford’s Ontario Line transit project’s budget ballooning towards 20-billion dollars. Matti said private-public partnerships have not performed well when it comes to civil projects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We spoke with Francesca Grosso, Principal of Health Policy firm Grosso McCarthy, who says the province should be utilizing both for-profit and not-for-profit care centres to address our health backlog… but also by changing a rule that would allow for-profit centres to perform insured services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some Freedom Convoy protesters and supporters saw their bank accounts seized or frozen entirely as was discussed in the privy council. This is the same privy council that froze bank accounts without meeting the legal threshold – but they did it anyway because, well, it worked. Here to talk about it all is none other than Tom Korski, Managing Editor of Blacklock's Reporter, where he helps us do the deep dive into all things Ottawa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With anti-Semitism on the rise in the mainstream, and with celebrities, politicians, and everyday people getting called out for being part of that culture, StatsCan shows that Jews are the most targeted religious minority. Sheba Birhanu is the Associate Director of Partnerships at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. She's also a Canadian-Ethiopian Jewish Activist who focuses on combatting antisemitism and hate. She wrote an opinion article in The Globe and Mail, and joined Alex to talk about the article and the effects that this hate is having on the Jewish community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FIFA has sent threats to World Cup teams after captains were seen wearing 'One Love' armbands as a way to protest the host nation (Qatar) and their human rights track record. The threats came in the way of players being yellow carded and penalized for wearing them. Dr. Mac Ross is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Supervisor of the Sport and Human Rights Lab at Western University, and joined Alex to discuss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a new report by StatsCan, 2021 saw the highest rate of gang related homicides in 16 years. We spoke with Dave Perry, 640 Toronto’s Security Analyst, Former Toronto Police Officer with the homicide squad. Dave said there’s a two-pronged approach to tackling violence - and government has to step up and make it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin O’Donovan, President of the Toronto Lawyers Association, joined us after Metrolinx announced they’ll go ahead with cutting down five 200-year-old-plus trees for an archeological assessment in preparation for a new station for the Ontario Line. This would be a multibillion-dollar transit project led by the provincial government. Erin says Metrolinx hasn’t been willing to consider alternate locations for the project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It took two weeks after he was initially asked if he knew of any interference from China in the 2019 federal election, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has finally spoken out when asked again on Sunday, and said that he hasn't been briefed on any collusion that happened during the election or with anything involving politicians. Michael Chong is the Conservative MP for Wellington-Halton Hills and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Official Opposition, and joined Alex to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Sunday, Joel Harden, the Ottawa-Centre member of Ontario’s provincial parliament, apologized for comments he made in a video roughly one year ago in which he said the “single greatest origin of violence in the Middle East is unquestionably the state of Israel.” Andrea Freedman is President and CEO or the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, and joined Alex to talk about the comments and the backlash that came from it. She also said that politicians should be held to account for their actions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Toronto mayors including David Crombie, David Miller and Barbara Hall have penned a letter to Mayor John Tory asking him to reject a bill that gives him power to pass bylaws with minority support. Also known as strong mayor legislation, Bill 39 was introduced by Municipal Affairs Minister, Steve Clark, on Wednesday, allowing the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to pass bylaws aligning with provincial priorities, “if more than one-third of council members vote in favour.” We spoke with Ben Spurr, the Toronto Star's City Hall Reporter, about this and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We spoke with Jane Meadus, a lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, about long-term care advocates preparing a constitutional challenge to an Ontario law that allows some discharged elderly hospital patients to be forced into a nursing home they did not choose. Jane says this comes down to a broken system - the government doesn’t have preventative measures, like home care, to keep elderly out of hospital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next March Canadian's will be able to use mental illness as the sole reason to request medical assistance in dying. Alex spoke to Dr. Viren Naik, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Ottawa and Medical Director of the Champlain Regional MAiD Network at The Ottawa Hospital and Greater Ottawa Region. Dr. Naik dives into what this means for Canadians and Canadian doctors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Layoffs at Twitter and Facebook might just be the tip of the iceberg as other tech companies have started rolling out layoffs during this recessionary period. Are they just course correcting or is there more at stake? What's the future of the tech industry in Canada look like? We asked Abdullah Snobar, executive director of the DMZ tech hub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did the federal government need to use the Emergencies Act and freeze the bank accounts of the convoy protesters? It's all coming out during this inquiry. Alex talks with Aaron Wudrick, Director of the Domestic Policy Program for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to clear up what happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese-Canadians, in an internal Privy Council Office poll, say cabinet must “stand up” to China’s Communist Party, even if it brings worsening relations. “Canada was not currently doing enough to speak out against human rights issues,” citizens of Chinese ethnicity told federal pollsters. Tom Korski, Managing Editor of Blacklock's Reporter, joined us with the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prominent businessman in Toronto’s Chinese community is the subject of two separate investigations involving foreign interference, sources tell Global News. According to RCMP sources, national security investigators are also probing Wei for possible links to several properties in Toronto and Vancouver allegedly used as so-called Chinese government “police stations,” which are believed to secretly host agents from China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS.) We asked  Sam Cooper, Investigative Journalist for Global News what we know about the police stations and these investigations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After several incidents of violence in schools, including a stabbing in a school Monday. Another school lockdown Tuesday over reports of guns the mayor has called a meeting with TDSB and police. A solution would be bringing back the school resource program put in 2008, but cancelled by city council 2017, because activists forced the issue. We asked John Reid, President of the Toronto Police Association what can be done to keep our kids safe in schools? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strong mayor powers change everything. Maybe we're okay with John Tory having these powers but will we still accept this reality when the next mayor is elected whoever it my be. We talk with Ben Spurr, Reporter with Toronto Star’s City Hall Bureau about the ramifications of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food banks, charitable clothing stores, and more, are seeing more and more Canadians using their services daily. All of this is because of the extremely high cost of living we're seeing right now. What can we do to lessen the load, and what can you do to help ease the system? Let's ask Greg Thomson, Director of Research for Charity Intelligence Canada, and get his thoughts on what you can do to help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, a missile crossed into Polish territory and ended up killing two civilians. This caused an emergency meeting to be called between NATO members as to whether or not they should impose Article 5. What would that mean for the war on Ukraine if it was invoked? We asked Marcus Kolga, Director of Disinfo Watch, Senior Fellow Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad, and Expert in Russian and Pan Pacific Issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices