Latest / Kvetch & Release / AM800 CKLW Roundtable with Dan MacDonald, Steve Wilder, Chris MacLeod, & Jon Liedtke
Transcript
- Hey, good morning and welcome back. It's Dan McDonald. Thank you so much for tuning in. You're listening to the Dan McDonald Show on AMIT hundred SEKW. Joining us in studio today we have our round team want to give a big Monday morning. Welcome to our roundtable. Partner at Diamond and Diamond Law Firm, Stephen Wilder, Steve, good morning. Great to have you on. As always, share of the d w B I A. Chris McCloud. Looked like a pretty decent turnout on the weekend for the game and the block party by Loose Goose. Yeah you good. Yeah, another great event downtown. So yeah, good to hear it. I'm loving the block parties. I think people are loving the block parties too. Kind of reminds me of back in the day a little bit. I'm not gonna lie loving it. Last but not least host of Arrows City Politics and a host also here on AMATE hundred SEKW, mister John let Key John Good morning, Good morning Dan, So John. I can't help but I thought of you. You were actually the first one of the first people to text me to saying we're gonna talk about this on the roundtable. This morning on Monday morning, if you've been living under a rock, if you didn't hear about it. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, which is part of the Greater Pittsburgh area. So just a really quick quick rundown. I mean, Trump is fine after a bullet pierce the top part of his right ear. One man was killed, two others were critically wounded. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump said, I'm going to quote I knew immediately that something was wrong, in that I heard a whizzing sound shots and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, And in an interview last night, he did say he has rewritten the speech that he will give this week at the Republican National Convention because he considers this, another quote, a chance to bring the whole country, even the world together. We'll see what happens. The person who the shooter his name was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was twenty years old and from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour south of Butler. He was killed almost immediately by a Secret Service sniper. He was working as a dietary aid nursing home, was a member of a local gun club. At the time of the shooting, he was wearing a T shirt from a gun related YouTube channel called Demolition Ranch. And here's where the balance comes in. He was a registered Republican, but he had previously previously donated a fifteen dollars donation to a left leading organization, so who knows where he stood. Authorities have rated his home. No word yet on a motive for shooting, but here we are today. So the Newspool question, and it kind of relates back to what Donald Trump said, He's hoping this will unite people. Do you think this is going to unite people? And how do you think this attempt at assassination will affect the upcoming US selection? It was a lot there, but Steven, your thoughts on this set just to dive right in. You know, first of all, it's completely unfortunate state of affairs. Quite frankly, you know, I'd love to say that it's complete surprise and shocked all of us, but I think unfortunately, with the way things have been going over the last few years, the rhetoric, the disagreements, the just pure hatred that exists sometimes from the politicians, from their supporters everything else. That Unfortunately, this is almost a natural progression, and it shouldn't be. I mean, that's the answer. It should not have happened. Stuff like this should not occur. You can disagree with each other, you can have a difference of opinions, you can debate. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's good. We seem to have lost the ability to do that. And in the absence of us being able to talk about our disagreements or our difference of opinions, unfortunately people take matters into their own hands and something tragic like this, you know, I mean, yes, he survived, but I'd still call it a tragic event. It absolutely is. Yeah, it's very very sad, very unfortunate, and very scary too. And you know, I don't want to sound cynical either, but I hate even saying this. I'm shocked that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. How horrible is that to say, But the way we're so divided now, I'm shocked it doesn't happen more often. Well, and you know, fortunately it doesn't happen more often, right, you know, and people have talked to hold. It's not the first time there's an assassination attempt on a president. It seems to be fairly natural. I'd seen one comparison. I think it's to Teddy Roosevelt, where he survived an assassination attempt. I think in nineteen twelve when he was trying to come back as president after not being in office. Convention was in the same location it is. There's there's a lot of you know, kind of historical commonality there between the two events. But at the end of the day, it stuff like this shouldn't happen. And I can say, you know, for my time in politics, I saw a change from the start of my term to the end of my second term, and and people were you know, people always disagree, that's the point of politics. We have a different opinion, you know, but just what people would say. I was shocked sometimes some of the things that that people would say to me when they disagreed with with my opinion. The names I was called, everything else. But you know, nothing obviously to that level of violence that we see. But you know, I think it's I don't want to call it an American problem, but we've talked many times about gun violence in America and you know, the issues over there, whatever the cause, whatever the answer, you know, and now you've got this, this political theater that's ratcheted up to a twelve. It's fortunately it hasn't happened, you know, more often, Like Geve said, Dan, but right, just horrible. And it's funny you mentioned that too. I recall you saying this before when we spoke about about what a counselor does. I think you were on the show because you were ending your run, but you did notice a shift from the beginning to the end of the way people change when they do disagree. Oh, absolutely, I mean it just you know people, I can recall it. At the start. I mean, you'd have healthy debates, you'd have residents that would call you that weren't happy about this, you talk about your position, you'd understand their side, you try and find some compromise. And COVID, I think was a huge accelerator to that really ratcheted people up on both sides. And you know, the names I was called, the things that were said. It just there seemed to be a loss and a lack of decorum towards the end where it just didn't matter. I mean, I had people showing up at my house to come and yell at me, and I kind of said, you know, that's crossing a bit of a personal line in my opinion. You can disagree with me, you can yell at me, you can call me whatever you want, but when you come on to my family property, that's where it starts to get a little personal. Very that's the line that gets a little creepy there, Chris, your thoughts on this? Do you think this is going to affect the upcoming US selection? All this incident to swing even swing it one way? Yeah, you know, it's been really interesting to watch, and I think that what scares me or concerns me most is a lot of the immediate reaction that you saw, not knowledgeable immediate reaction that you read across social media. And I think one of the things that's different is everybody has a voice, and as soon as you know it's written down, somehow it can become real. And so, you know, I hope and I pray that what's going to happen next is a de escalation of the situation, because I think that is really where my head when is, you know what this really needs to be calmed down from the highest level. It needs to be you know, toned down. And the blaming and the pointing fingers and the accusations that you read on social media and continue to read on social media around this event, I think, have the potential to be very inflammatory. Oh anytime there's there's nothing but speculation and instant like this, it's nothing but speculation because they're still investigating who the guy was and how it happened and why it happened and everything. But I mean, the speculation is huge, a lot of intelligence speculation. But then you know, from either side, you have the far right saying, oh, this was organized by Joe Biden. You have the far left saying this was organized in stage by Donald Trump himself, and which is both nonsensical, and then everything you can imagine in between, and then, like you said, you put that online, depending who you are, depending what kind of influence you have, that somehow does become real. So I think it is really really scary. It's very volatile right now, and I hope, I hope we all have cool heads about it because it can get so ugly so quickly, and what an unfortunate event to all around. John, your take on this again, one of the first people who texted me on this, Your thoughts when you heard the news. It's awful, It's absolutely tragic. It's not something that we should be seeing in politics. I mean, we're sitting here with a former elected official at the table, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to, you know, deal with the things that you had just mentioned, let alone this to the most extreme. You know, politics is really tough these days. Life is really tough these days. COVID. I think broke all of our collective brains quite frankly, we had a convoy. I'm sure there are people around this table and people who are listening who have lost friends, who have lost family members because of divisions and distance, and you know, losing family is one of the most tough things that there is and I've gone through that myself. I've lost some friends, and you know, I just I hope that we can. I don't know the quote what find our better angels like this is just it's it's it was. I was horrified when I saw this and it first broke. I thought it was a joke. I thought it was like a deep fake or something. I mean to I was a goit hoping for that that please let this be a AI thing. And I mean, like, is it going to affect politics? I think the guy just got reelected quite frankly Trumps, He's going to win. This is a narrative that works really well for him. And I don't mean to just look at it through you know that that that narrow political lens of this is going to be good for him, But I mean it will, It'll work out well. Biden's got a huge hill to climb up right now as it is. Let alone now going up against a victim of a political assassination attempt. We all saw the video. It was it was horrific. And look, I mean we we dealt with this here, not with a political leader, but British Columbia. We had the Sikh leader who was assassinated. Now that was by the government of India by all accounts. But it's politics, right, and this is the problem. What we need to do is find a way to how do you you need to be able to disagree with people without without shooting them. Do you think this will unite people? No? No, No one's gonna get united over this. This is just going to further inflame divisions that already exist, because each side is going to go and say, look as you said. I mean, the Democrats are going to say this is a false flag to make him look better, and the Republicans are going to say, the Democrats shot me because they wanted to have me out of the picture. It's tough. I don't know what's going to fix this. I mean, you're out of politics now, right. I mean, I've never had the broken part of my brain to decide to run for elected office. That's just you, special person, God bless you. I mean, but especially like in this circumstance, like when you know that people could get so angry, so volatile, that it's to the point that you know you might not be able to spend time with your kids anymore, with your loved ones because they decide to take you out of the picture. I don't I don't know what to say. I'm saying a lot, but I really feel like I'm not saying what is there to say? Yeah, I agree, we get take a really really quick break, some some interesting texts coming into We will come back to continue the roundtable right here on The dam McDonald show on Am eight hundred don't go away. Hey, good morning and welcome back. It's Dan McDonald joining us in studio our roundtable guests this morning. Host of Rose City Politics, John Lidkey, Chair of the d w B i A. Chris McLoud and partner at Dominant Diamond law firm Stephen Wilder. And you know, we were just having a little mini roundtable within the roundtable during the commercial break and you you brought up, Stephen that that meme of the guy who's sitting in the park and he says, hey, he'll he'll give some statement like the sky is blue, change my mind. And you were saying, how, you know, back a couple of years ago, Yeah, let's have this debate and let's let's talk about it. And you could do that. And I feel now, once we've made up our mind, we're very firm on it. It's very difficult to get us to change our mind because we have everything to back us up online. And it got me thinking, and I floated this question to the night of the Trump and Biden debate before before we saw how it played out, and I said, you know, are these debates even worth anything anymore? Is anybody who is team Trump gonna watch this debate and say, oh, you know, Biden brought up some good points. I think I'm gonna vote for him instead, and vice versa. Anybody who's team Biden. You know, I don't like Trump, but you know he was pretty good in that debate, and I think you swung my vote and this debate changed my mind. Are debates like that even? Are they worth anything anymore? And I don't know do you think they are? I mean, you do a whole show, John on politics, ROAs City politics, debates like that? Do you think that swayed anybody? Debates are interesting because what people traditionally think a debate's purpose is for is to convince the other side to flip and change. You're not gonna do that. Someone who likes Trump likes Trump. Someone who likes Biden likes Biden. Right. It's the same with Pierre Pouliev or Justin Trudeau. What there are are a lot of people who don't know anything. They they haven't spent time reading the newspaper listening to the radio, which you should do. An Hey, you know this is why they pay us the big bucks. Right. There is a there's you know, a cushy middle ground that it hasn't made up their mind for whatever reason. They're working, they're busy, they got kids, they don't care about politics. And then it's two weeks before the election and they go, ah, gosh, I guess I gotta go. I gotta go vote. Who am I going to vote for? And so they start paying attention. And that's what debates do, yeah, is they introduce people to people who don't know them. So, no, you're never going to convince a Biden voter to go vote for Trump. It's never going to happen vice versa as well. But what you can do is introduce people to a candidate who they might not have known before, who values they might agree with or disagree with, and maybe they look at Trump and go, I'm never really I don't know how you could say this, but like maybe they look at Trump and go, I haven't heard of this good Trump, fellow. That's the stupidest thing. But like maybe you just don't, you know what, Let's make it easier. Maybe someone doesn't know Drew Dilkins and they haven't had a chance to pay attention to local politics, but they see the debate and they go, you know what, I like this guy. He seems to be what I'm looking looking for. He says he's going to try to keep taxes as low as possible. He seems like he's fiscally prude and I like it. Or maybe someone looks to you know, Chris Holt last time in around and goes, this is who I want. I want a guy who's going to invest into transit, who's gonna go and make the city more livable and walkable, and all of those things like debates are just there. They're brochures. Yeah, it's how you get to meet someone. Yeah, I agree U nine twenty seven. We got to take a kind of one just to touch on that. In a few texts here, somebody said, you know, he was a registered Republican. What does that tell you? I wish it was being reported. We did mention that right off the top, and that that's a big point of contention to On social media. I'm seeing people saying he was a registered Republican, which he was, But he also made some donation to a left leaning organization of fifteen dollars donation, So there's there's that that's going on. I think really all in all, my takeaway from all of this is cool heads. Cool heads are needed right now more than ever before, because it's getting so so heated, especially on social media, and that just escalates things even worse. I gotta take a really quick break that we will come back with our round table right here on AM eight hundred. Hey, good morning and welcome back. It's Dan McDonald. Thank you so much for tuning in. You're listening to the Dan McDonald Show on AM eight hundred CKLW. Welcome back to our roundtable this morning. We have John Lydkey, host of Rose City Politics, also a host here on AM eight hundred CKLW. We have Chris McLeod, who's chair of the DWBIA. Lots of great things happening downtown lately, and of course partner with Diamond and Diamond Lawyers, Steve, Steve McLoud. Steve McLoud, Stephen Wilder, Steve, Good morning, Steph McQueen. Stephen Queen, would be pretty cool, that would be very cool, Steve McQueen. Welcome back, Steve Wilder. So, the surge in business for independent liquor stores and weed shops during the LCBO strike is highlighting the competition in the market. Do you think this could lead to more permanent changes in consumer habits. Some independent retailers reporting increase sales new customers due to the LCBO strike. Do you think this is an opportunity for these smaller businesses to establish a stronger foothold in the market. And I also want to preface this by saying I do support the LCBILL workers and what they're standing for. I do, but I also wonder, you know, what is the LCBIL going to look like in the future, and is this an opportunity for some of these smaller businesses to establish a stronger foothold in the market. Your thoughts on this one, Stephen, I hope not. I you know, look, it's nobody wants to see a strike happen. And I get the difference of opinions and sides, and I understand what the workers are. You know, I don't say complaining over but justifiably I think that's what seventy percent of them are part time. We've seen that move in several industries. But I keep coming back, and we had talked about this before, and I think at that time we had estimated that maybe the revenues I don't know, are they about a billion a year? Maybe yeah up there. Yeah, two and a half billion, I think is the accepted number that both, you know, the government and the LCBO are saying it brings in two and a half billion in revenue, and a large chunk of that is from LCBO retail outlets. So you know what I mean. I look at this and say, you know, never in my life have I needed alcohol so badly that I couldn't make it to an LCBO as opposed to needing to go to the grocery store or the convenience store, right, I mean, I just I think it's a great example of a voluntary tax that people pay. This money then goes to the provincial government, which if we're not aware yet, well they cover education, healthcare, they cover a lot of infrastructure. I mean, they are a level of government that is involved in a lot of stuff that quite frankly, we're not happy with right now. Healthcare is hemorrhaging, you know, I mean it just now, to give away this amount of revenue that goes right into the public offers, I don't get it. I just don't get it. I mean, I hear why they're doing it, but I don't get it. Yeah, no, I hear Chris, your thoughts on this. Yeah, so it's funny. I I generally am you know, I lean the other way towards small business and that I think that businesses can do things much more efficient only generally than government can. And you know, I think that if we can put more opportunity in the hands of small business owners, and we can put more you know, revenue opportunity in the hands small business owners, at the end of the day, I think that the end result will be far more beneficial to us than putting more money into the government's hands. I just think that the you know, there's so much waste and so much inefficiency when government does anything. And I would much rather see you know, an open marketplace where you know, independent business owners can manage the bottom line, because our government just does not manage the bottom line very well. I wonder, too, are we in right now? You said something, Stephen, you said, never have you needed you know, I'll call that bad that you couldn't wait to go to the LCBO. Are we so immediate now that like everything is instant, Like I can push a button on my phone and probably have a shirt delivered to my house by five o'clock tonight. You know what I mean, without even leaving, do you think we're in that state where it's just like I want it now? So, yes, it needs to be at seven to eleven or a Circle K or whichever Conmuni store. I mean, I think we're in that that sys. But at the same time, you can go on any of the online apps and you can order alcohol from the LCBO and the beer store currently, So I don't think that's the issue. And I mean I do wonder and Chris, I mean, I take your point, and I mean, obviously I supports ball businesses as well. This is one very small segment where I look at it, and the comparison eye draw is when the cannabis retail outlets opened up and people were kind of well, you know, yes they should be able to sell that. Should we go to an LCBO model? Should we One of the biggest complaints that I've heard from people, and whether they smoke marijuana, use it or not doesn't matter, is the proliferation of these stores. They're everywhere. I mean they I don't know what the numbers are, but I would estimate what they outnumber a LCBO or beer store fly five to one. I would think so, you know, and it's something people look at do we really want that? And so I kind of look at it that way and say, if we're going that way with alcohol sales, do we really want that? But I also wonder do people really care? I mean, I don't know if the average consumer, the average alcohol consumer, looks at it and says, oh, it's really important to me that I can buy it at the grocery store when I'm picking up my groceries. I know some people that don't want to buy it, and if it was at the grocery store, they make a separate trip just so they're not buying alcohol in front of their kids. I mean, that's their feeling, their beliefs. So I mean, I just, you know, I just don't think it's a segment that we need to go into to And I agree, Chris, there's a lot of mismanagement when it comes to government and funds. And that's a whole other entire week of round table. So we could do on that that up next, you know, but at the end of the day, it's two and a half billion, and if we don't have that, where does it come from? And I mean, I certainly don't want to pay more income tax. I don't think anyone else wants to see gas tax go up, or any tax on food anything like that. This is a voluntary tax. You don't drink, you don't pay it. You do drink, you help support things, and it's kind of like lottery that way. But you know what's amazing about the number of cannabis stores is the number of cannabis stores. And these are independent businesses that are making a profit and staying in business and continuing to pay rent. And I think to me that I was driving down why I'm not with my wife coming out of downtown and in a three block stretch there's five stores. It's incredible to me that this many stores can exist and continue to take and continue to make money and be profitable. So and you know, to your point of tax, I I probably could go looking and find the information, but maybe you know, what is the tax revenue from cannabis sales that you know the government is now getting that we didn't have before. I mean, there's a huge revenue stream there now. So that shocked me too. I was honestly expecting when was it twenty eighteen or nineteen when cannabis was first legalized and all these stores popped up. I thought, okay, in one year times, these are these going to be all empty storefronts. And they're not the one that I can think of. It's empty. I'm not kidding. They're the one that in their sign spelled cannabis wrong. So so I'm not really fully shocked that that's what Lincoln, that's the one, and I'm like, they really spelled that wrong. That's not playing into every single stereotype. They never opened. I don't think they did. To be fair, Yeah, there was probably some other underwine fundamental like spelling was one of them. Anyway, shut on your thoughts. Can I make the joke maybe they were smoking a little bit too much Optimi? It's like how many how many bong hits did you have? And you deigned this song? Anyway, we ripped on that ripped them enough? Your thoughts on this. If we're talking cannabis one hundred and forty two million in direct taxes, one point two billion in indirect taxes, six hundred and seventy three million, and induced taxes, I mean it's it's a significant windfall for the province. We've got sixteen hundred stores and what the province is doing is essentially saying we should take this model that exists for cannabis and apply it to the LCBO. Now a little bit different because they're not getting rid of the LCBO. It's not like we have the weed store to go to, although I man, I wish that we had the weed store. Hopeful would that be? They would just like trailer park boys are just screaming for that. Let's be honest. I see what they're doing as one. I disagree, Steven. I don't think you're going to see a hit to our provincial coffers. The reason being is what they're going to be doing is offering a ten percent discount to any store that wants to sell at the kneistars, the gas stations, the big box stores, and what they're seeing or hoping to see is for an increased amount of sales. So go for volume rather than for the price point. So I don't think there's going to be a loss of revenue. Now we can have conversations about do we want to be going and inducing people to go buying more alcohol. There are indirect well, no, they are a direct costs associated with that. Our healthcare system, so lots to, but that's a separate conversation than the one that we're having right now. I see what they're doing with the LCBO as and I don't at all mean to disparage, but trying to sort of take the Joe six pack out of the LCBO, the guy who shows up after work working on the line, and removing them from the LCBO experience and putting them into a convenience store or a grocery store or a Walmart that more fits with maybe their schedules. I don't know. I'm not the one coming up with this plan, but what they've signaled is that they the LCBO to become sort of this craft sidery, brewery antillary winery experience. So you walk in there and it'll be like, oh, have you tried the the new gin from you know, Muskoka. Have you tried the new vodka that comes from cream or have you tried the new wine? Like this it's about a maiden Ontario experience. Could we plug Copper Roast? You tried the new Copper Rose located right downtown Windsor, oh Lett Avenue, open from I believe nine till six pm every day of the week these days. It is as opposed to picking up now like for those who remember, they're not taking spirits out of the LCBO, so that's going to be remaining, as you know, the dedicated point to go get your hard alcohol. But you know, I'm not against a modernization formula. I don't want to see jobs lost. I think the union needs as much support as it can get. God bless them their hard work. They do a great job. But I do think that this government has done a very good job with how they're positioning this. I don't see how the union wins. And I thought that this would wrap up relatively soon because of how many different access points there are. We just found out the government's not planning to open up those thirty LCBO stores across the province, so stock will continue to dwindle. I actually made a phone call yesterday to prepare for this segment, and Allan's LCBO convenience outlet, Gregor is like, I said, hey, you got any booze left? And he went, we have two mickeys of vodka And I was like, what about the whiskey and he said, I have two mickeys and that's it. Called up a wolfhead and said like, hey you guys, you make the stuff. You got to have a bunch left. Can my friends go over and pick up a couple bottles of whiskey? You can buy one bottle of whiskey. You have to get something else, Oh, get to Wow. So look, it's good to be good for the impact is happening now though, I mean it's been seven days. You know what's interesting too about this whole thing. We are such a union town here in Windsor, and I think by nature people always want to support union workers. They do, but like when it goes when it comes to booze and convenience, I mean, I think this speaks for itself right there, like we're gonna find it elsewhere. Like it's not a dry summer for people the way I think it would have been maybe if the LCBO closed down fifteen years ago. No, there weren't as many options. Yeah, And I mean you're also not crossing the picket line right right. If I'm going to a different establishment that's not governed by right streaking, I don't have to have that concern. Now. Will there be people in Windsor that choose not to go purchase from somewhere else? I don't know, hard to say. I think there's probably a bit of sentimentality to that. But I remember when COVID hit and they were like, we're closing the lcbos, which never quite frankly happened, And I went out and I bought myself like a nice case of a bunch of different stuff to like stock up the bar. I didn't do it this time because last time I found that I drank all those bulls too quickly. That was like maybe my pandemic's next ate them all in one night. Yeah, So like I mean, I think people are gonna find access to alcoy. Yeah, the LCBO union is gonna have to make a decision about how far they want to take this, because I don't think that public sentiment is gonna be on their side. And we also know that come August first, you're gonna be able to buy those ready to drink mixes in big box walmarts and grocery stores, and then come September the fourth, you're gonna be able to get them at convenience stores, and then October the twenty ninth, you're gonna be able to get other larger formats at the big box stores, like the government's ready that. That's why I just wondered, you know, even though no one's crossing a picket line by going somewhere else, and great for the small businesses, but it's almost kind of proven the point that, hey, we don't need the LCBO because you can buy it at uh at the at Zayas, you can go to the small like you almost it's almost saying you don't need the LCBO in a in a roundabout, strange way, you're not crossing a picket line, but you're also saying, see, this works just as well. It's just as convenient, if not more convenient for you. That's where I think it's we're at a weird tug of war. You know, you support the workers, but you're gonna get your booze elsewhere. Well, they want to put the booze elsewhere and have it make it more widely available. So it's a it's a strange little or just that you get to go in a roundabout way, you don't have to go to the Roundhouse center. Yeah. And on that note, we're gonna take a quick break and come right back. Don't go away. It's the Roundtable on the Dan McDonald show. Hey, good morning, and welcome back. It's Dan McDonald. Thank you so much for tuning in. You're listening to the Dan McDonald Show on AM eight hundred c klw Uh. Somebody here said big grocery stores are signing up as fast as small sort of stores because they're going to be forced to take back empties. Oh yeah, it will be interesting to see how it rolls out and if people. For me, I'm just conditioned to go to the LCBO if I need something. I always even forget that they sell boot who's at the grocery store when I'm there. As I'm walking out, I'll see the old think, oh yeah, they do sell that here now. But I'm just conditioned. Beer store for beer, LCBO for liquor, and visit the occasional distillery or local winery too. We always in the round people though. This segment I call Plug Dan. You can plug anything you like, can be something you're working on, something you want to give a shout out to, anything at all. Will go back around the table, Stephen, what would like to shout out this morning? Give a shout out to? I mean, we're in kind of the summer season. We have all these events, there's festivals, going on nearly every weekend, if not multiple And you know, these things don't happen without the good folks, the men and women that volunteer that sign up to do this. A lot of times you have generations of families you'll see where you know, grandparents did it, and then the kids and then the grandkids. So just a bit of a shout out to all the volunteers out there, you know, helping make stuff happen, put on enjoyable events. We certainly got a lot of We were talking about it on the side, Chris, where you know, just kind of some stuff that's going on on the weekends and downtown and how there's a lot of excitement under this stuff happens without volunteers, you know, So just a shout out to the people that are that are making it a great summer with lots to do. Yeah. Agree. I was at once I contemplated volunteering for one of my favorite festivals downtown with I said, oh, I want to be a part of this, just immerse myself and I was ready to sign up. But I think it was Vincent George just said, Dan, rewind a minute. If you volunteer, you can't go see as many movies, and I was like, damn it, I've recinnd my offer. I will not be volunteering, but it had is off to them because they're the ones who are the backbone of these great events that are making it happen. You just want to be a volunteer viewer. That's right, Well, that's what I want to do. Yeah, that's absolutely putting that out there at the universe. No great shout out. That is so so important, Chris speaking of someone, you know, some great events going on lately. Downtown has been booming lately in a good way on the up and up. It feels like anyway, definitely looks like it would like to plug in today, you know. That was that was a great segue, great lead in, and I think I'd like to talk a little bit of today about our Good Greens program that we're running through the farmers Market and something that you know, we talk a lot about the events that we're doing downtown, and this is something that we've been at now we've just completed our first full year. And the way the program works is that when there's fresh produce left over at the end of market day is that we went out and got funding to be able to purchase that produce from those vendors at a discounted rate, and then we repackage it and we distributed to organizations in need throughout the downtown. So we've distributed you know, over two thousand pounds of fresh produce, fresh break goods to families in need to organizations like the Downtown Mission and then they take those and they prepare meals with them. And I think it's something we don't talk about a lot, but we just got funding from hydro one to carry that program on for another year and super excited to be able to you know, take produce that otherwise produce and bake goods that otherwise you know, would you know, potentially go in the garbage. To be able to repurpose that and feed those that are in needs. Phenomenal. It's a great program. And that's from specifically from the Downtown Farmers Farmers Market, so the DWBI has been running the program for a year. We just did a really cool video that's going to be released shortly on the program and shows the impacts of it on families and need in our area. Wow, it's a great program. Oh, that's phenomen that's great news, and yeah, we don't talk about that enough. I think that's phenomenal. I think something that is so frustrating is when you see all the produce or other items that get chucked in the garbage for not being sold. When you're like, this could really put a dent in some of the food insecurity issues that we're seeing. So that's I think that's so great that such an awesome addition to downtown, the farmers Market every weekend is helping the problem too. That's such great news. I love that. Thanks for me on the show as always, Chris, Last, but not least, John, What would like to plug in this morning? Well, you should tune into Rose City politics if you want to get to know what's happening in our community. We dive deep into all of the stories that happen around on us and you know, quite sometimes people might say it's boring. I don't want to listen to local municipal politics, but I mean, Stephen, as boring as it can get, sometimes it's all incredibly consequential, and I mean to politicals, it's not boring at always. It's not. What's not sexy about sewer search artist Missipal government delivers about seventy percent of services that the average individual uses every day. Yeah, it's municipal government that's responsible for that. So John, it's you're right, it's an important segment. And we kind of talked about debates, right and the last mayoral debate. Yeah, you know, it's something people still talk about. So well, I am more. I'm way more into it, And I don't know why everyone else isn't way more concerned about municipal politics than even well than the American politics. It affects us, but even like federal or provincial, I know that affects us too, but municipal is like what's happening in my front yard, in my alley, like specifically on my street that I'm driving on like that. It's I think municipal politics affect us the absolute most, the most immediate, that the most accessible politicians, and literally they are who you call when there's a pothole on your front lawn or there's a neighbor who is smoking too much weed and you know, stinking out your yard, Like this is the stuff that affects you right away. So I don't know why we're not more engaged in that. It's not boring at all. It's like, that's life. If you got a pothole in your front yard, you get another problem. Well, I'll be sure to contact counselor Mark McKenzie about that pothole in my front yard. If he's listening. No, I'm getting pothole. That's too much pot. Yes, welcome to windsor Holy Moly, but no, I'm always shocked by the lovo or turnout with the municipal election and the fact that people say it's boring, like this is not boring. This is literally we complain. I would say we complain more than ever on social media about our city and we rag in our city. Well, if you want to do something about it, engage in municipal politics and get people riled up and get people to come out and talk to those who can make change and then make change happen. That's how you do it. Otherwise, yelling on social media. It might feel really good to scratch that itch, but you're just screaming into the void. It's not accomplishing anything. Or you can start a podcast, or you can sit a podcast. Yes, yes, because then you're screaming, but there's a little bit of purpose to at least that's what I tell myself, Yes, totally, but no. Important to engage with with with your local politicians. It's very, very important to stay up on it. That's it. Hey, gentlemen, thank you so much for a great Monday round table. It's a good start to the week. More conversation is on the way. Keep it here. It's the Dan McDonald show on AM eight hundred. You're playing a little pickup ball in the park. One sudden