加美关税重创汉密尔顿钢厂、安省市选风向与首位聋人议员的历史回响

Steve Paikin: Welcome everyone to the OnPy podcast. I'm Steve Pacen

John Michael McGrath: and I'm John Michael McGrath.

Steve Paikin: Today on the pod, Trump's tariffs take a bite out of steel town as Stelco is expected to lay off 350 workers in Hamilton.

John Michael McGrath: Municipal Election Watch coverage returns for another week. This time we're looking at Windsor and Halton Hills.

Steve Paikin: Then a special interview with former MPP Gary Malcowski who 36 years ago yesterday made history. He is the subject of a new documentary. And in your column, my column, I'll look at a radical idea for getting more housing built in Ontario.

John Michael McGrath: And I've got a column on how the biggest legislature in the country can take a lesson or two from the smallest legislature in the country as Queens Park gets ready for its billion dollar facelift. It's Friday, October 2nd, 2026. So, let's get to it.

Steve Paikin: JMM a little on poly sugar to start with as always. to see you

Steve Paikin: now. I I know I don't know the science fiction stuff as well as you do, but that really is ringing a bell in my head. It says, "Never tell me the odds."

John Michael McGrath: Yes.

Steve Paikin: Oh. Oh, I just got it. I just got it. That's the Millennium Falcon on your shirt.

John Michael McGrath: Correct. Yes.

Steve Paikin: So, this is something Han Solo would have said at some point.

John Michael McGrath: Yes. In in Empire Strikes Back when they're being chased through the asteroid belt, C-3PO tells them the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid belt. And Han Solo says, "Never tell me the odds." Uh also canonically we can say uh Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon in a uh in a card game. Gambling.

Steve Paikin: Oh. From Lando Calisian. Yes. If I recall.

John Michael McGrath: Yes. And uh I bring this up because uh the topic of gambling has come up in Ontario politics in the Ontario Liberal Leadership Race. Uh there was a debate uh earlier this week and uh also a town hall that I happened to to moderate this week. Uh and in both cases, uh Dylan Miranda, uh one of the candidates for the Ontario Liberal Leadership has, uh said he would ban online gambling altogether in Ontario. Okay. Uh that uh he has apparently said this uh to other Liberal gatherings uh before now, but this was him sort of broadcasting it. He's going to have a more uh comprehensive platform coming in the near future. And uh of course, other uh liberal candidates have have also uh raised this issue. Uh Lee Faircluff has said she would ban online gambling advertisement, sports gambling ads uh because of course those are uh a pestilence on anybody trying to enjoy sports on TV lately. Um and so yeah, uh with the the topic of gambling in the news, I I thought I would go with a a gambling and also science fiction themed t-shirt.

Steve Paikin: Well, as long as you're talking about the Ontario Liberal Leadership Race, the race has one less candidate today.

John Michael McGrath: Yes, that's right. So, I I mentioned I was uh moderating a town hall uh in North York uh on Wednesday evening and uh at the end of the town hall, Eric Lombardi announced that he would be dropping out of the race. Uh I spoke with him uh after the town hall started to break up and he said uh basically he did not see a way forward and without having to take on debt because uh the the campaign did not have the money on hand to meet the the filing deadline that was coming up. uh as of the uh as of midnight on October 1st, they had to uh have a a trunch of money to provide to the party uh and and his campaign did not have that. So, he dropped out of the race and he has endorsed Lee Fairlo, who I mentioned earlier.

Steve Paikin: Uh I have to say, I can't remember, he's 32 or 3 years old, something like that. And um and I got to say, for a guy who'd never run for anything before, he kind of shook the race up a bit. He had a lot to say about some big issues that particularly people of his generation care about. So even though he's not going to make it to the finish line, I think he can say, you know, job well done, hold his head high, and you made a contribution to the race.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah, absolutely. And I've known Eric for a few years now. He has been a very prominent housing advocate in the city of Toronto. Uh founded More Neighbors Toronto, which has really been one of the more effective uh uh proousing groups uh in the city. Um, and so, you know, it was not a galloping shock uh when he announced that he would be running because, uh, people get the politics bug and and I think Eric did. Uh, he, uh, did not state explicitly that he will be running for a seat in the next general election. Uh, but he he certainly didn't rule it out when I spoke with him yesterday either.

Steve Paikin: Well, I am wearing the shirt today of a guy who was not a lot older than Eric Lombardi when he became the most unexpected premier of Ontario. I think in our lifetime. And I'm going to stand up here and show you. Yes, that is the shot. That is a replica of the portrait that is at Queens Park of the guy they were chanting, Premier Bob. Premier Bob. It was 36 years ago yesterday uh that uh Bob Ray was sworn in as Ontario's 21st premier. He led the NDP to what is still the party's only election victory in um Ontario history. Uh it was October 1st, 1990 that he was sworn in at convocation hall. It was really, you know, you ask yourself uh what were the circumstances that allowed the NDP to win? And in fact, it took a perfect storm for it to happen. The conservatives had been thrown out of office 5 years earlier after 42 straight years in power. People were clearly not ready to put them back into power yet. I think especially because they had a brand new leader named Mike Harris, who people just didn't know all that well at that point. The Liberals had been in power for 5 years under David Peterson. They had the biggest majority government in Ontario history going into the 1990 election for a bunch of reasons. I think some of which were perfectly logical. David Peterson decided to call an early election in 1990. The electorate I think I remember him saying the electorate was in a cranky mood and they were. And they punished Premier Peterson by giving the NDP a majority government with an extremely small percentage of the total vote. I think they got less than 38% of the total votes cast and yet because of the splits they were able to win a majority government on what was it 37.6% or something like that of the total vote. I remember on election night which was the 6th of September. The former NDP leader Steven Lewis gave an interview in which he said this result exceeds my wildest fantasies. And it really did sum things up for the NDP who of course um had spent decades and decades assuming they would never ever get a sniff in the victory circle, but they did that night. Of course, the rest of the story is the worst recession since the Great Depression hit the province of Ontario almost immediately after the Ray government was sworn in. One of the reasons obviously why David Peterson wanted to go early. He did not want to be calling an election in the midst of a recession. Uh and the NDP got hammered. ended up being a a one-term and outgo government. And it all began 36 years ago yesterday. And I'm also wearing this shirt, I should say, because later in the show, we're going to have a special guest, as I teased in the intro, who made history by being part of that government. And I'm just going to let that tease sit there for a while. You got to tune in later to find out why this man made history 36 years ago yesterday, being sworn in as the first. No, I'm not going to tell you. You stick around and find out.

John Michael McGrath: Stay tuned.

Steve Paikin: Yeah, stay tuned. And with that, let's get to issue one. Stelco is planning to lay off 350 workers at a plant in Hamilton. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the company has quote betrayed its workers. And Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horvath says she's furious, too. The American-owned company's CEO says no amount of money could have avoided this shutdown and therefore they did not ask any government for any assistance. Okay, JM, what else do we need to know here? So Stelco has had a pretty I think it's fair to say a troubled history since about 2007 uh in Hamilton. Uh there was a bankruptcy in that decade. Uh the proceedings for that bankruptcy made it their way through the courts over many many years. Uh the company was eventually sold to the uh American uh mining and and refining company Cleveland Cliffs.

John Michael McGrath: Even though it's Telco is short for the Steel Company of Canada.

Steve Paikin: Yes.

John Michael McGrath: It has not been Canadian owned for a while now.

John Michael McGrath: Exactly. Yes. So Cleveland Cliffs is an Americanbased uh company. uh they bought Stelco in 2024. I just wanted to do a brief digression here because uh the first time I heard the name Cliffs uh as the name of a company, uh it was in the context of the McGinty government around 2010 when everybody was very excited about the potential mineral wealth in the Ring of Fire. And Cliffs was one of the big developers in the Ring of Fire. Of course, the Ring of Fire has turned into uh whatever the geological equivalent of a damp squib is. It didn't pan out. But Cliffs stuck around, bought Stelco, and their CEO Lourenço Gonçalves gave this press conference in Hamilton. They played rock and roll music. He gave this very energetic speech about how he wasn't going to take no flack on tariffs and if the US was going to put tariffs on Canada, well, they'd have steelmaking on both sides of the border and so winwin, you know?

Steve Paikin: Thank you. this press conference. Give a friend. Okay.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah. The CEO did get himself into some hot water with those comments because he called the 50% tariffs from the Trump administration quote a necessary step to protect US steel makers, which is not necessarily the thing you want to hear from someone operating a massive manufacturing plant in Hamilton.

Steve Paikin: Yeah.

John Michael McGrath: He also publicly said that his fingerprints are all over the 50%, basically saying he helped influence the president to bring in those tariffs. Again, if you're trying to win friends and influence people in Canada as the owner of a massive plant employing people in Hamilton, not necessarily the best way to do that.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah, the the end goal here, uh, certainly very loudly proclaimed by the Trump administration is to, uh, either, you know, end steel production in Canada, right? Or or to shrink it to such an extent that it is no threat to US producers and that all of the economic activity moves south of the border. And Hamilton, which is, you know, synonymous with steel in Ontario, is the point of the spear on that. Uh, ironically, Cleveland-Cliffs is in the process of building a massive new steelmaking facility in Middletown, Ohio, uh, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand capacity there, and they're going to hire something like a 100-plus workers for that new facility.

Steve Paikin: And interestingly enough, it's not an Americanowned steel plant that they're going to set up there. It's SR steel from overseas.

John Michael McGrath: Right. So, and SR the former owner of the Al Steel,

Steve Paikin: correct? In Sus Marie. Now, what does the government of Ontario have to say about all this?

John Michael McGrath: Right. So, the provincial government was given advanced warning of the announcement of these layoffs. Uh, finance minister Peter Bethalvi told reporters at Queens Park this week that uh, Stelco did not ask the province for any financial assistance to try and keep those jobs in Hamilton. They said that it was purely a matter of the tariffs. Um, but the government also pointed out that Stelco does have another steelmaking operation in Nanticoke, which is doing very well. And Stelco said that they would have uh dozens of jobs available at the Nanticoke plant for workers who are being laid off in Hamilton.

Steve Paikin: Yeah, on Lake Erie. The union for Stelos's workers does uh dispute how many of those positions will realistically be filled by Hamilton workers.

John Michael McGrath: A very tough spot and uh obviously extremely bad timing given that Christmas is not too far away. There's a municipal election coming up. All of this uh could be a factor uh in the days ahead. Anyway, let's keep an eye on that and move to our next segment.

Steve Paikin: You know, the longer I watch elections, the more I realize all elections are only ever about two things. Steady as she goes or time for a change.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah. Tick the bums out. Yes or no?

Steve Paikin: That's it. That's it. Okay. So, beyond this week's debate, uh, was there something that caught your fancy this week?

John Michael McGrath: There was. It's not going to shock you that it was a housing issue. Uh there was a pledge by Dilkins, again the incumbent mayor, uh to use his strong mayor powers to veto any attempt by uh any new council to allow fourplexes as of right throughout the city of Windsor.

Steve Paikin: Premier loves him. No question.

John Michael McGrath: Absolutely. Um but people may remember that the stated justification for the strong mayor powers that the province bestowed first in Ottawa and Toronto and then increasingly throughout uh other municipalities, was to get more housing built. And here we have the mayor of Windsor saying that he will use his strong mayor powers to stop housing from being built, specifically by vetoing any council measure to allow fourplexes. So, an interesting inversion of the stated purpose of that law.

Steve Paikin: I'm sure he's thrilled you're doing that. Yes. Now, we did put out a call to our listeners uh last week for some interesting races around the province and thanks to everyone for your responses, and we've got a couple to highlight today.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah, I'm going to highlight uh one race uh from listener Dylan Magcguire, who writes, "Hello on Pauly team. I love the Merryill races coverage. I think we've got an interesting little race going on in Halton Hills. Incumbent mayor Ann Lawler is not seeking reelection after just one term, so the field is open. The main contenders are Clark Somerville, who's been a local and regional counselor for years, and Brian Rech, who's a former deputy mayor of Halton Hills and was a chief of staff to former PC minister Christine Elliott. Halton Hills is facing huge development pressures."

Steve Paikin: Well, the first reaction I have is that Dylan is now rivaling you for nerdiest guy on this show. Okay, so that's number one. uh you got a take on this?

John Michael McGrath: Well, I guess my citical take here is that the uh race for uh mayor of Halton Hills uh might not end up being that important uh because Halton Region of which Halton Hills is part is one of the regions that the Ford government did not dismantle. They kept the regional government in place. And the regional government is really where the action is when it comes to planning and infrastructure. Halton Regional Council had voted to freeze the urban boundary to 2031, not allow expansion beyond that. The province intervened and forced them to open up thousands of acres of land for development to 2041. So, whoever gets elected mayor of Halton Hills, their hands are going to be tied in a lot of ways by what the region does and what the province does. But it is an interesting race between two people with very different backgrounds and connections to Queen's Park.

Steve Paikin: I was born deaf and I was first exposed to sign language at my preschool. There's a deaf program uh for the schools for the deaf in Montreal.

Gary Malkowski: I was born deaf and I was first exposed to sign language at my preschool. There's a deaf program uh for the schools for the deaf in Montreal.

Steve Paikin: Did you use sign language with your own parents? No, my parents uh spoke English as a second language. My mother was French, my father was Polish. They didn't know sign language. So, communication at home was through lip reading, gesturing, writing things down.

Gary Malkowski: Did you use sign language with your own parents? No, my parents uh spoke English as a second language. My mother was French, my father was Polish. They didn't know sign language. So, communication at home was through lip reading, gesturing, writing things down.

Steve Paikin: Do you feel somehow let down because you were unable to use sign language with your parents? What I remember at the age of seven or eight was feeling isolated. You're sitting at the dinner table, everybody is talking, laughing, and you have no idea what's going on. You ask what's happening and they say, "Tell you later," and later never comes.

Gary Malkowski: Do you feel somehow let down because you were unable to use sign language with your parents? What I remember at the age of seven or eight was feeling isolated. You're sitting at the dinner table, everybody is talking, laughing, and you have no idea what's going on. You ask what's happening and they say, "Tell you later," and later never comes.

Steve Paikin: So what did you do? Because you did not know sign language. So what did you do?

Gary Malkowski: So I would just try to copy the behavior of others. Uh try to figure out how to talk to them. Um did a lot of speech training, oral training, learning how to speak, learning how to lip read. Try to fit into the hearing world. But it was always a struggle.

Steve Paikin: At what point in your life did you learn how to advocate for yourself?

Gary Malkowski: I think when I went off to Galedet University, it's the only university for the deaf in the world. That's where I got exposed to the idea of advocacy and deaf rights. I was there during the Section 504 demonstrations in the United States.

Steve Paikin: five 504. Yeah.

Gary Malkowski: Which is under the rehabilitation act in America. That was my first experience. And how many years was this is in Washington?

Gary Malkowski: I stayed in Washington DC for 10 years in total um as a student for seven six or seven years. U got married. I had my first child there and I was very involved in the deaf community and advocacy work.

Steve Paikin: Okay. Let's find out about Alvin. Alvin, you are the filmmaker and you are deaf as well, right? Tell us a bit of your background.

Alvin: Yes, my family, my parents are deaf, my sister is deaf, uncles and aunts, cousins. We have an entirely de deaf family that communicates in sign language. So I grew up immersed in deaf culture and sign language from day one.

Steve Paikin: How old are you?

Alvin: I am 52.

Steve Paikin: 52. So, you were I mean, you're a teenager when Gary got elected. Do you actually have any firsthand recollection right now of what that meant to the community back then?

Alvin: Oh, absolutely. It was an electric moment for the deaf community. We had never seen someone like us achieve that level of political representation. Seeing Gary sign in the legislature, being sworn in, it sent a message to every deaf person that we have a voice and that we belong in the corridors of power. It was monumental.

Steve Paikin: Gotcha. Gary, what inspired you to run for politics in 1990 knowing that no deaf person in Ontario or Canada had ever successfully run for office before?

Gary Malkowski: It was about representation and human rights. For decades, the deaf community had been asking, begging for basic access—interpreting services, closed captioning, education rights—and we were constantly told to wait. I realized that if we weren't at the table where the decisions were being made, we would always be an afterthought. Someone had to break that barrier.

Steve Paikin: But I want to take you back to 36 years ago last month. Your writing York East had never voted NDP before. Did you actually think you had a chance of winning?

Gary Malkowski: No. Honestly, at that time, no. And I actually had no I no no no no no real knowledge about politics either. So the first thing was just trying to build awareness.

Gary Malkowski: And I learned a lot through that process, but I really had no idea at all about the political parties, etc. So you know, we had to knock on doors, we had volunteers who were hearing and deaf working together, handing out flyers, communicating with homeowners through notes and interpreters. It was a grassroots movement.

Steve Paikin: What was election night like for you?

Gary Malkowski: Yeah. Um, what I saw uh I saw I saw so many signs on people's lawns with my name on it and I was like shocked. I thought, "Is this really happening?" And on election night, when the numbers started coming in and it became clear that we were winning, the energy in that room was indescribable. People were crying, hugging, signing frantically. It was history in the making.

Steve Paikin: I think the last time may have been Agnes McFale would have been the last person and I think that was you know CCF or something.

Gary Malkowski: 1930s.

Steve Paikin: 1930s.

Gary Malkowski: That's right. Yes. And so, you know, he was like the first and he was the opposition member at the time. And I thought, "Wow, following in those footsteps." It was an overwhelming sense of responsibility.

Steve Paikin: Gary, one of the first big changes at Queens Park after your victory was a change in a tradition that had lasted since 1867, which was installing flashing lights so that you would know when the division bells were ringing to call members to the chamber.

Gary Malkowski: as opposed to just ringing the bells.

Steve Paikin: That's right.

Steve Paikin: Okay. Uh Alvin, I have a question for you. Do you think Gary accomplished things on behalf of deaf people that uh other hearing MPPs simply could not or would not have done?

Alvin: Absolutely. Without question. A hearing politician, no matter how well-intentioned, doesn't wake up every day thinking about whether an emergency broadcast has closed captioning, or whether a court proceeding has certified ASL interpreters, or whether deaf children have access to bilingual-bicultural education. Gary lived that reality. He introduced legislation, he fought within the caucus, and he made accessibility a non-negotiable standard. He laid the groundwork for what eventually became the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Steve Paikin: Now, as we know, Gary, the NDP government under Premier Bob Ray had only one term and then they were out. replaced by Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution. Looking back on those 5 years, how do you reflect on that experience?

Gary Malkowski: Honestly, I think it was a wonderful experience for me alto together. 5 years that I had,

Gary Malkowski: you know, it was like 24 hours interpreting services for me, which was like the best ever uh in terms of access to have professional interpreters everywhere I went. I could debate, I could negotiate, I could connect with constituents without barriers.

Gary Malkowski: right? I went back to being just the regular guy who was just, you know, desperately trying to communicate with the world without guaranteed interpreting. It was a stark reminder of how far the broader society still had to go.

Gary Malkowski: and my wife when she got the news that I lost my family was thrilled because they finally got their husband and father back from the relentless grind of politics.

Steve Paikin: I want to share with you uh a story that Alvin Kurlin once told me. Alvin Kurling was the first ever black MPP in Ontario history. And he told me that being the first carried an immense, crushing weight, because he felt that if he failed or made a mistake, people would say, "See? Black people can't govern." Did you feel that same pressure as the first deaf person?

Gary Malkowski: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely right. Living it's like living in a fishbowl, right? You have to prove, you know, that you're capable, that you're competent every single second. If a hearing MPP messes up, it's just an individual mistake. If I messed up, people would blame my deafness. So the pressure to be flawless was enormous.

Steve Paikin: No, not cabinet parliamentary assistant. Well, actually before that he actually asked me to take on a cabinet position.

Steve Paikin: Oh.

Gary Malkowski: And I actually declined. I said, "Yeah, I said I was not ready for this."

Gary Malkowski: Yes, I did decline it. Um the parliamentary assistant and he said, "What would what position?" You know, what would you like? And I chose to be parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Citizenship, because that portfolio dealt directly with human rights, disability accessibility, and anti-racism. That's where I knew I could do the most meaningful work.

Steve Paikin: I see. I want to ask both of you. Alvin, you first. Gary was the first deaf MPP ever elected in Ontario history. It was 36 years ago. And he is still the only deaf MPP ever elected. What does that say to you?

Alvin: I think that's something that you are used to in everyday life. Deaf people, we make up a small minority community and you see systemic barriers everywhere. Political parties don't provide automatic funding for interpreters during nomination battles or election campaigns. The structural barriers are still enormous, and until those systemic hurdles are removed, it will remain extraordinarily difficult for another deaf candidate to break through.

Steve Paikin: Gary, are you disappointed that you are still so far the one and only? Um

Gary Malkowski: you know I I I not disappointed necessarily because I think the public awareness came came out of that and in other countries now there are now more than a dozen deaf parliamentarians who have been elected worldwide. The precedent was set. The door was opened. While I wish Ontario had elected more deaf MPPs by now, the advocacy and awareness that started with that 1990 election continues to inspire deaf youth to run for school boards, municipal councils, and advocate across society.

Steve Paikin: Alvin, the movie is called Gary Malcowski, a deaf legacy in Ontario. What do you think ultimately is this man's legacy to this province?

Alvin: Oh, I think that's had quite an impact. I think he has quite the legacy. his story. I think there's so many things behind it. He proved that deaf people have the capacity to lead, to legislate, and to govern. His legacy is embedded in Ontario's accessibility standards, in the recognition of American Sign Language and langue des signes québécoise, and above all, in the shift in public mindset from viewing disability through a charity lens to viewing it through a human rights lens.

Steve Paikin: And where can people in Ontario see this movie?

Alvin: Yes, currently it has not been distributed. I have a few uh submissions to some film festivals around the world. And so we're doing community screenings, festival screenings, and educational showings while working on securing broader broadcast and streaming distribution.

Steve Paikin: So, people can look up the name of the movie on a website and check and see if it's coming to their community and and go see it.

Alvin: Yes. Correct.

Steve Paikin: Good. Okay. I I don't know sign language other than I'm going to applaud both of you being on our program tonight here on TVO.

Gary Malkowski: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Alvin: Thank you so much.

Steve Paikin: Time now for our regular feature, your column, my column, in which JMM and I have a little chitchat here about the columns we wrote for the TVO website this week. JMM, kick us off.

John Michael McGrath: Uh so I wrote about a proposal from the uh Toronto Region Board of Trade uh that uh would work to make it easier to build more housing in Ontario. And in short, their proposal is basically: get rid of zoning as we know it.

Steve Paikin: I'm a liar. Um we have talked about zoning a bunch on this podcast. Uh by which I mean of course I have talked about zoning a lot on this podcast.

John Michael McGrath: I have listened a lot about zoning on this podcast. Yeah.

John Michael McGrath: Um but that's because you know zoning are zoning rules broadly. There are these incredibly specific often finicky rules about setbacks, height angular planes, parking minimums, floor-space ratios. The Board of Trade's argument is that this micromanagement of land use is paralyzing homebuilding and driving housing costs through the roof. Their proposal would replace this patchwork with a broad provincial development code where, if you meet building code safety standards, you have the right to build gentle density—fourplexes, walk-up apartments, mixed-use buildings—anywhere in residential areas without needing rezoning approvals or getting bogged down in endless municipal committee hearings.

Steve Paikin: Gotcha. And people can read all about it at tvo.org. Meanwhile, last weekend I was for the first time ever in my life in Prince Edward Island. I took a visit to Charlotte Town to do something there which I will talk about in the weeks ahead. But while I was there, I got a kind of a behind thescenes semi-exclusive tour of a place they call Province House. Province House in Charlotte Town is like Queens Park in Toronto. It is the seat of their provincial government and it has been closed for the last 11 years because it has needed a facelift. Lots of water damage, lots of other damage in the place. The building was kind of falling apart. And so I thought this was of particular interest to Ontario viewers and listeners because we are potentially about to do the same thing here. Now I think it's been postponed for a year or two at the moment. But the fact is we have a 100-year-old Ontario legislature, more than a hundred years old. Um the wiring's old, everything is old. It needs a facelift. It needs a billion dollars worth of work, we're told. And at some point all the MPPPs are going to move out for a decade and they are going to do at Queens Park what they have already done in Prince Edward Island and what they are currently doing on Parliament Hill where they're giving a facelift to the center block, west block, etc., etc. So Sheldon, if we could, let's take a look. There's Province House. Now, if you look really carefully, there are a bunch of bricks there that are sort of more green in color than the rest of them. And those are all new bricks. They have somehow managed to maintain the old edifice and yet add new bricks to it to give it a whole new life and hopefully keep it around for another century. This is, let's remember, this is a really historically important place in Canada because it's in that building that Sir John McDonald in 1864 gathered all of who would turn out to be the fathers of Confederation and hammered out a deal to create Canada. It happened in that building. Okay, let's keep taking a look at some more of the shots we have here. the masonry. Some of the masons who built this building 180 years ago had a real sense of humor. Somebody carved his own face into the brick there. And there are examples of this kind of thing throughout the building. I thought I'd just show one there. They also dug out the basement of the building. And so the building is, I guess, five feet deeper than it used to be, uh, you know, when they first built it. And you can see the tour guide here, her name Shantel McDonald. And she they've left a room in the basement at the original level because if you can imagine the original housekeepers of Province House raised a family of seven in the basement of Province House and that's the room they slept in. That's the room they lived in. That was their home for all of that time. Anyway, so they left the original level there. There is the lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island, Wasim Salamun, who is taking a look at some of the original sandstone brick, which has all been You want to talk about tender loving care? They have had to sort of dismantle all of those bricks, number them, wash them, treat them, and then build the wall all back together again. uh you know now that it's in better condition and presumably can uh wait bear on the rest of this building for another hundred years and he's taking a look at that. It's just such painstaking work. There more than a thousand people more than a thousand workers have been on this project for more than a decade and uh I think the total tab on it was $137 million for this building. Now, that's the speaker of the legislature. And I put this one up because, you know, those of us who live in bigger provinces are sort of accustomed to seeing uh legislative assemblies that are,

John Michael McGrath: what do I say, big,

Steve Paikin: especially in Ontario

John Michael McGrath: where we have 124 MPs and they're all, you know, on the floor of the legislature at any one time.

Steve Paikin: That's the entire floor of the Prince Edward Island legislature. That's Brad Trivers who's the uh speaker of the legislature. They have 27 MPPPS for the whole province. So when you get elected the government, you know, you maybe got 16 or 20 MPs and you maybe have a cabinet with 8 9 10 11 members in it. That's it. So, you know, it's PEI. Everything's smaller.

John Michael McGrath: It's about the size of Toronto City Council,

Steve Paikin: I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And as a result, uh, that is the stage upon which I think later this month, later in October after 11 years away, they are all going to move back in. They are going to reconvene. There was Sheldon, can you bring that shot up one more time? I want to reference one more thing here, which is to say there is a desk that the clerk of the legislature, you see it there in the foreground. There's a desk where they will be sitting. And that desk is a gift to Prince Edward Island, paid for by all the other provinces because again, people understand the historic significance in other provinces to this original seat of confederation. And uh you know, we just I guess want to say number one, congrats PEI. You're going to get your legislature back. and Ontario, pay attention because they did a really good job there and we're going to need to do the same thing in a year or two here. So, you might pick up a tip or two from the smallest province in Confederation. So, the biggest province in Confederation, take note.

John Michael McGrath: Uh I have actually been to PEI uh before. So maybe one of the only times that I I was professionally in PEI uh before you um uh back in 2014 they held the uh gosh what is it called the council of federation like all the premers getting together

Steve Paikin: council of federation

John Michael McGrath: um and they held it in PI in Charlotte Town that year because it was the 150th anniversary of the Charlotte Town conference

John Michael McGrath: and they redid uh they retook the the the famous photo of the the fathers of confederation out front of Province House and all the current premers.

Steve Paikin: Yeah, they did it with all the premier and um

John Michael McGrath: uh it it was, you know, it was a fun little to do. Um I have not gotten back to Charlotte Town since. Uh but it's a very lovely uh uh part of the the country.

Steve Paikin: Absolutely beautiful city. And they've built a a they have renovated they're in the process of renovating the Confederation Center for the Arts which is downtown. And uh I went to see Come From Away as one does when you are in Atlantic Canada um which is playing incidentally in in theaters all across the country in light of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and it was just a spectacular production. If you have you know I waited 66 years before going to Prince Edward Island and it was worth the wait. It was just great if you get a chance you know I guess I shouldn't be promoting tourism in outside of Ontario but really it's a great place to go visit and I

John Michael McGrath: think we're allowed to promote Canadian tourism.

Steve Paikin: I guess so. I guess so. Yeah. and it really just a you know a lovely few days there. So uh well done Confederation Center and congrats again on Province House coming back online as it were. Now we got some letters. If you've got a burning question or insightful comment, we always love hearing from you. Uh at on politics tvO.org JMM take us through this week's letter if you would.

John Michael McGrath: Right. Uh we have an email from listener Paul LoC from Missaga who writes, "Hello, love the podcast and have been watching on YouTube. With the recent byelection in Mississauga where Carolyn Parrish won, and with another municipal election on the horizon, how do ordinary voters cut through all the noise, the campaign slogans, and the overwhelming number of candidates on the ballot to figure out who actually has a serious plan for issues like housing and property taxes?"

Steve Paikin: Okay, Paul, first of all, uh, thanks for that letter. And we should say, even though I think Hamilton is the best mayor's race in the province right now, Mississauga is going to be fascinating as well. You've got the current mayor,

John Michael McGrath: the current mayor,

Steve Paikin: Carolyn Parish is in, and Bonnie Crombie, the former mayor, former Liberal leader, is back in as well. So, that's going to be a a uh uh oh, what did the Boston Red Sox starting pitcher say? A clash of titans. To Paul's question: watch the local debates. Don't just rely on shiny campaign mailers. Watch how candidates handle unscripted questions when they're challenged on where the money will actually come from for their promises.

John Michael McGrath: Yeah, I think as well, Paul, you know, it's never been easier to find out more about candidates running for office than it is now.

Steve Paikin: and in most cities, they will have like a central directory of the the candidates and their websites.

John Michael McGrath: Exactly. or call Missaga City Hall or go on the website of the Missaga News and you know you can find out who's running in your ward. Look at what community associations are saying. And don't be afraid to email the campaign directly and ask: what is your specific stance on fourplexes, or transit funding? If they can't give you a coherent answer, that tells you everything you need to know.

Steve Paikin: absolutely

Steve Paikin: well why don't you give the email address and let's get out of All right. Uh once again, if you'd like to ask about any content on the show or tell us what you'd like us to cover, email us at onpolitics@tvo.org.

John Michael McGrath: And that is the OnP podcast for this Friday, October 2nd, 2026.

Steve Paikin: You can follow our show wherever you get your podcasts so that you get notified each time a new episode is available. And if you're watching on YouTube, leave a like, subscribe, and share it with someone who loves Ontario politics.

John Michael McGrath: Any feedback you have, we're always happy to hear it, good, bad, or indifferent. Write us an email at onpolitics@tvo.org.

Steve Paikin: This week's episode was produced by Matthew Omera. Editing by Colin Kish.

John Michael McGrath: Production support from Jonathan Hallowell and TVO's digital media services team. Lorie F is the executive producer of digital media.

Steve Paikin: Always love giving a shout out to the crew for making our set look so nice for the video part of the podcast to happen. I'm Steve Paikin.

John Michael McGrath: Byebye.