Wag The Doug

After six years of Doug-wagging, Allison and Jonathan have learned a few things.

Like how “Ontario,” as a concept, is even more inscrutable than “Toronto” or “Canada.” And how most disasters are not just foreseeable but have in fact been foreseen.

But perhaps most disconcerting of all: that Doug Ford actually knows what he’s doing — or conversely, that he doesn’t have to know what he’s doing, because he understands this provi...

Live (on tape) from the intersection of Richmond and Spadina, it’s the fifth annual(ish) Douggie Awards, celebrating the most surreal and mendacious moments of the past year in Ford.

What was the Most Blatant Conflict of Interest? Who offered the Best Spin? Like the Emmys, we take things that actually aren’t that funny at all and stuff them into comedy categories for your convenience. And with yet another Ford offspring expressing i...

Who doesn’t love an ice-cold beer from a bar, a pub, a liquor store… a gas station?

There could soon be up to 8,500 new places to buy low-alcohol drinks in Ontario, thanks to a new plan to speed up an agreement between the province and Beer Store. The cost? At least $225 million of taxpayer money.

Is this accelerated effort to “modernize” the alcohol market simply a play for political points ahead of a possible early election...

When the Speaker decreed that keffiyehs were verboten at Queen’s Park, even Doug Ford agreed that that was a bad call. But that came in the midst of a hotly-contested by-election in the 905 — and now that it’s finished, so is his party’s long nightmare of uncharacteristic open-mindedness.

In the eighth month of Israel’s war in/on Gaza, Allison and Jonathan examine how Ontario’s government is cracking down on expressions of Pales...

Today we’re sharing with you a preview of the first episode of Canadaland’s newest show Pretendians.

What do some of the most prominent and successful Indigenous artists, leaders and thinkers have in common? They aren’t Indigenous.  

From major universities, to the halls of power, to Hollywood, there are people claiming to be Indigenous in the interest of power, money, and status. There are dozens of outrageous case...

The next provincial election is two years away, but to turn on your TVs, you’d think we were in the midst of one. Flush with cash, Doug Ford’s party is taking out ads attempting to cast the premier as cuddly and contrite. Meanwhile, the Ontario NDP is going all in on the weird side of TikTok, churning out videos so assertively surreal as to approach the level of art.

This month, Allison and Jonathan don their leotards and consid...

Judicial independence is a foundational principle of Canadian democracy. Doug Ford sees it as an obstacle to be overcome. Because if he can’t appoint “like-minded” judges to mercilessly punish criminals, then is it really justice? Why should judges have discretion to… judge?

This month, Allison and Jonathan look at the itty-bitty constitutional crisis that Doug Ford has sparked, through his doubling, tripling, quadrupling, and e...

At this time of year, we’d normally pine for spring. But nowadays, that means wildfire season. And it’s only a matter of time before British Columbia’s new normal becomes Ontario’s as well — yet we’re not nearly as well-prepared.

Doug Ford’s not too big on acknowledging a connection with climate change. But even more surprising is that his government has barely spoken about wildfires at all, let alone adequately invested in figh...

Doug Ford plans to uproot the Ontario Science Centre from the iconic Don Mills home it’s occupied since 1969. But what is the Science Centre other than its iconic Don Mills home?

On a blustery afternoon, Allison and Jonathan traipse up the DVP to learn whether the dreams of their 90s childhoods are still alive in North York. They say you can’t go home again, but they will sell Science Centre tickets to childless adults.

Hosts...

We surmised that Doug Ford would punish Toronto for picking Olivia Chow as its mayor. But if anything, he seems more sympathetic to the city and its issues than before. So what gives?

This month, Allison and Jonathan look at the premier’s peculiar relationships with the leaders of Toronto, Brampton, and Mississauga — and how random grudges can animate policies that ultimately affect millions of people.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbi...

Until just a few years ago, staking a mining claim in Ontario demanded banging physical posts in the ground. Now, you can simply head online and click a square on a map.

But while that may be an abstract exercise for office-dwellers in Toronto, the stakes are quite real (if no longer literal) for many First Nations in Northern Ontario — including those that sought, and failed to obtain, a face-to-face meeting with Doug Ford this...

Some say Queen’s Park is haunted. Others say it’s merely possessed by the Progressive Conservatives. Either way, there’s some spooky stuff going down.

This month, Allison and Jonathan guide you through Doug Ford’s ministry of terrors, as they probe into the perils that are — or ought to be — keeping the premier up at night, from the Therme deal to the Greenbelt investigation.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Ka...

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With his polls diving, housing minister resigning, and ill-begotten Greenbelt scheme unravelling, what’s a Doug Ford to do? Why, talk about anything else, of course!

In the face of yet another report laying bare the haphazard chumminess with which power is exerted in the PCs’ Ontario, the premier would like to assure you that everything is fine. And also that he knows where you live.

This month, Allison and Jonathan look at t...

Ontario’s Auditor General has confirmed what we suspected: that Doug Ford’s government effectively redrew the map of the province, opening up thousands of acres of land for development, based largely on solicitations made at a party. It just wasn’t the party we thought.

Either way, it could make for an entertaining movie.

Allison and Jonathan look at the ways the Greenbelt story could be told on screen and who’d be best suite...

How did a Doug Ford policy move from 2019 lead to 10,000s of international students schlepping their backpacks to strip malls across the GTA? Allison and Jonathan investigate how Ontario colleges have cashed in on an international student free for all — and whether the party could be coming to an end.

Further reading, watching and listening:

• Sold a Lie, Fifth Estate (https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2132310595766) 
• Cash Cow...

Toronto is in the midst of its most exciting election in a decade, tickling us with the possibility of hope. But does it still make sense to get invested in the outcome, when Doug Ford could easily run roughshod over Council, squashing the new mayor like the Monty Python foot?

With Allison away this month, Toronto Star columnist and City Hall Watcher Matt Elliott joins Jonathan to look at the candidates, explain why this matters...

Ten years after becoming famous as the mean older brother of Toronto’s crack-smoking mayor, Doug Ford spends his days peddling fast-food promotions and posing for pictures with cops. Which is pretty much the future we might’ve guessed for him — just not the part about his being premier of Ontario all the while.

This month, Allison and Jonathan peer into Ford’s parallel fixations on law enforcement and cookies. To him, there isn’...

Doug Ford claims he’s all about building, but he sure has a thing for enthusiastically bulldozing the utopian public projects of yesteryear.First it was Ontario Place. Now it’s the Science Centre. At what point does he train his sights on TVO?Allison and Jonathan reflect on the legacy of Ontario’s public broadcaster and why its survival now rests on the shoulders of Steve Paikin.

Hosts: Allison Smith, Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: K...