On Point With Alex Pierson

Some stores across Canada owned by Empire Company Ltd. continue to experience disruptions due to an information technology systems issue. Empire, which owns Sobeys, Lawtons, IGA, Safeway, Farm Boy, Foodland and FreshCo, among other brands, said on Monday that an IT problem is preventing some of its pharmacies from filling prescriptions. Alex was joined by Dr. Sylvian Charlebois, Professor of Food Policy and Distribution and Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, to discuss the impact this will have on Canadians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The winter months are upon us and that means it's going to be harder for those who are without a home to stay warm. The City of Toronto says that we could expect to see expansions on the amounts of beds and hotel rooms available to homeless individuals. We spoke with Lorraine Lam, an outreach worker and organizer with Shelter and Housing Justice Network, who says that the city is great at throwing money at the issue, but not investing in long-term solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal departments are concealing records on contracting, says the Procurement Ombudsman who cited unnamed departments for hiding documents that he knew for a fact existed. So this has to do with numerous complaints of sweetheart contracting in the name of pandemic relief-- $237.3 million purchase order for ventilators from Baylis Medical Co., a firm that had never made ventilators but was operated by ex-Liberal MP Frank Bayliss. A $149 million contract to Spartan Bioscience Inc., a now-bankrupt test kit supplier hired after “a couple of good meetings” in the Prime Minister’s Office; a $150 million contract for SNC-Lavalin Group field hospitals that no health authority requested. Here’s Tom Korski, Managing Editor of Blacklock's Reporter, with the scoop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The housing market might be starting to show signs of cooling, but that doesn't stop the cost of building homes rising. Alex was joined by Christopher Alexander, President of Re/Max, and asked if developers are feeling the pinch and having to pull out of the projects they've already started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ford government has turned back on its promise not to touch the protected Greenbelt lands, announcing that it would open up 7,400 acres for new housing so developers can build 50,000 homes on that land. In exchange, it would add 9,400 acres in different areas to the existing two-million-acre swath of agricultural, wetlands and environmentally sensitive land, the province said on Friday afternoon. Matti Siemiatycki, Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, and Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure Planning and Finance, spoke with Alex about this broken promise and what it means for the Greenbelt going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thursday's Financial update mentioned nothing for the city of Toronto that has a massive $865 Million shortfall. Mayor John Tory argues that they were told we’d be getting help after the pandemic. Now with their sights turning to the provincial update on Nov 14th, is the expectation we are going to see a fight if the province also doesn’t deliver? Pressure campaign? Or a tax hike that will go over like a lead balloon? Ben Spurr is the Toronto Star's City Hall Reporter and joined Alex to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The saga continues in the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act in order to quell the Freedom Convoy from continuing further. On Thursday, Tamara Lich took to the stand and began her testimony saying that she was frustrated by the mandates that were imposed during the pandemic and that Trudeau's comments on the unvaccinated were divisive. So the big question coming out of this entire inquiry is whether or not the Liberal government was justified in enacting these measures or not. Joanna Baron is the Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, and joined Alex to talk about all of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's no secret that Toronto loves its trees, but did you know that there is a very invasive species of tree in the city? Acer platanoides, more popularly known as the the Norway maple, is an invasive species. The Ontario Invasive Plant Council calls these trees “a serious threat to woodlands across Ontario” because of their aggressive spread into forests and ability to suppress native species. The City of Toronto has actively stopped planting these trees, but they're already one of the most popular trees in the city. Françoise Cardou, an urban ecologist at the University of Toronto Scarborough, joined Alex to talk about them and how difficult it would be to just replace them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's becoming all too common for teenagers in Toronto to be exposed to gun violence. On Halloween day, a shooting outside of a Toronto high school, killing an 18 year old, and injuring a 15 year old. The shooting was witnessed by dozens of kids who took out their phones to record it and put it on social media. What is the Toronto Police doing to help curb any of this needless violence? We turn to Jon Reid, President of the Toronto Police Association every Thursday to break down all things policing, and get his take on the case at hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is that time of the week where we do a deep dive on all things Ottawa. Today, we talk about how the Department of Canadian Heritage bought maple leaf flag pins from China even as the Commons voted to condemn the People’s Republic for crimes against humanity, records show. Federal contracts for patriotic paraphernalia were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. For this we speak to Tom Korski, Managing Editor of Blacklock's Reporter about all of this and many other of the big headlines out of Ottawa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, is expected to make an announcement late on Thursday, updating Canadians on the fiscal outlook going ahead. But will she use the word 'recession' at all in her announcement? For that, we ask Moshe Lander, an Economist with Concordia University, and find out if Freeland will say we're going into a recession, or not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Heritage Minister’s parliamentary secretary accused Facebook of threatening Canadians’ safety, after the company said it could pull news off its platform if it’s forced to share revenue with news publishers. We spoke with Dr. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-Commerce Law. Geist says this will have a huge impact on what we consume on the internet and freedom of expression. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the teacher's union ready to strike on Friday, the question is being asked about whether or not teachers should be considered an essential service. But another question that sprouts from that one is what rights do kids have to education? And whose rights come first? Labour or kids? John Schuman, Family, Children’s Rights and Education Lawyer joined us and said it would be difficult to make this issue a charter right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tensions are continuing to rise in the fight between the Ontario government and CUPE workers in what appears to be a never-ending labour dispute that has lasted for decades already. The province is tabling legislation that would impose a contract onto teachers, but also plan on using the notwithstanding clause, which is causing a lot of alarms to be sounded. Dr. Charles Smith is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at St. Thomas More College and University of Saskatchewan, and he joined Alex to discuss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Canadian Dairy Commission says the farm gate price for dairy will increase by another 2.2 per cent starting in February, as the supply managed industry says its costs continue to rise. This could mean that the price of your milk and dairy purchases at the grocery store could go up to match the increased costs. We spoke with Dr. Simon Somogyi, a Professor at the University of Guelph and Arrell Chair in the Business of Food, to talk all about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Barber, who was the initial organizer of the Freedom Convoy, took the stand during his testimony into the usage of the Emergencies Act, and he said that there was no intention of doing anything illegal or parking on main streets. Most people who attended the protest were ordinary people, so why did they jump on the bandwagon? Joining Alex to talk to the psychological aspects of the protest is Dr. Marnie Wedlake, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Studies at Western University and a Registered Psychotherapist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, daycare operators in the province of Ontario had the deadline to opt into a program which would allow parents to only pay $10 a day. Approximately 85% of providers opted into the program, leaving 15% who did not choose to opt in. The question is why though? Amanda Munday is the CEO of The Workaround, A Childcare and Co-Working Space, and she joined Alex to talk about the struggles, and unknowns of the program, and why she didn't opt in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Those who want to study in Canada have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to secure education, and that doesn't include the nominal fees that come with being an international student. One of the big things is the heavy restrictions on the amount of hours an international student is allowed to work when studying in Canada, but now, it's looking like the federal government is looking at lifting those restrictions. Dr. Mikal Skuterud is an Economist at the University of Waterloo and joined Alex to talk all about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to a survey of Canadian employees and employers by Staples Professional, a division of Staples Canada ULC, and Angus Reid Group, The professional workforce is currently split between one-third working from home, one-third on a hybrid model and one-third in the office five days a week. But hybrid work is emerging as the winner. David Boone is the CEO of Staples Canada and joined guest host, Angela Kokott, to discuss the survey and what a future of work could look like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is that time to dig deep into all things Ottawa and that means we get to speak with Tom Korski, Managing Editor of Blacklock's Reporter. Today, Tom talks about how Cabinet and political aides schemed on ways to perpetuate media coverage depicting Freedom Convoy members as “crazies,” the Public Order Emergency Commission was told yesterday. A lawyer for the truckers read out text messages in which Liberal aides contemplated a media campaign to depict protesters as violent, adding: “We need something to back this up." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices