Scott Thompson Show

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Ted Michaels: The heat wave continues to plague Ted Michaels’ tenure on the show. To that end, he, as an avid runner himself, gets some tips on how to stick to your exercise routine and stay safe in this humidity. John Stanton, owner of the Running Room, joins Ted for more on that. Tonight is the official kickoff event for Fringe 2022 in Hamilton, at the new outdoor stage at 190 King William Street. 7:30pm at the new Fringe Club Outdoor Stage. Show producer Will Erskine hops on the mic to speak with Ted about what to expect. Larry Di Ianni comes on the show to talk about a new directive from Queen’s Park: Premier Doug Ford wants to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more power, as U.S. mayors have. How much is the price of gas affecting inflation? Economists are predicting Canada's inflation rate may have peaked in June as soaring gas prices pushed the cost of living up 8.1 per cent compared with a year ago, its hottest pace in nearly 40 years. McMaster University’s Henry J

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Ted Michaels: Ted Michaels returns to the hot seat, and that is not just a figure of speech! It is a scorcher in the Hammer and in London with a new heat wave ripping through, especially down in the London corridor. Ted speaks with Global News’ top meteorologist Anthony Farnell about where this heat wave is heading. Along the way, Ted brings a Hamilton resident on to talk about the heat in older homes with lacking air conditioning. The United States introduced a three-digit suicide crisis hotline, and now with Canada’s robust Talk Suicide Canada hotline, many feel that the time for Canada to institute a three-digit hotline. Sheryl Boswell of Youth Mental Health Canada joins Ted for more on that. Inflation is still in the headlines with fingers pointed in many directions from price gouging to COVID stimulus cheques. Ted speaks with Ian Lee to get to the fundamentals of what is driving your budget down. It is all coming up on the Hamilton Today Podcast. Guests: Holly Rowan Ash

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Ted Michaels: Scott Thompson remains on vacation and so old cohort Ted Michaels has taken up the mantle in his stead. Wild Waterworks in Hamilton has been embroiled in some controversy after the introduction of its weighing policy. Employees currently weigh the guests before getting on a slide, which can aggravate and embarrass those struggling with eating disorders. Ted delves into that with Ward 5 councilor candidate Kevin Geenen. Hamilton is getting an idea of what Hamilton's long-awaited light-rail transit corridor will look like upon completion. Staff presented a design update to the LRT subcommittee, showing off the vision of the 14-kilometre 17-stop line running through the city. This also ties back to the 2-way Main Street plans. Ted speaks with John Paul Danko, Ward 8 Councilor about that. Did you see that the Prime Minister got a new haircut? The response has been negative to say the least, but Ted asks “Why do you care?” PR expert Elissa Freeman joins Ted for more o

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Ted Michaels: The Burlington Food Truck Festival returns this weekend at Spencer Smith Park, brought in by Canadian Food Truck Festivals. This weekend, Matthew Ravida will take a walk in Dundas Driving Park — for 24 hours continuously to raise awareness about the emotional toll and trauma caused by fatal overdoses. Ticats star linebacker Simoni Lawrence has landed on the 6-game injured list after suffering a groin injury in Thursday's practice.  Hamilton residents over the age of 18 can now get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot. Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS) said anyone who got a third dose at least five months ago is eligible for another one. Tonight from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Hamilton’s Sex Workers Action Program (SWAP) will host a vigil for the victim of the severe attack that took place on Barton St. East last month. Health Canada has approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5 and under. How concerned have you been about the youngest portion of the population being v

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Radley: Tiger Woods ripped the upstart LIV Golf series and its CEO, Greg Norman, during his pre-tournament press conference at the British Open on Tuesday in Scotland. Norman was not invited to celebrations for the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews this week, a decision the 15-time major winner said he agreed with. Census data shows that Canadian incomes trended higher in 2020 everywhere except in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, as millions benefited from pandemic supports. The agency reports that median after-tax household income was $73,000 in 2020, up 9.8 per cent compared to its last national survey five years earlier, partly driven by the losses of lower-paying jobs. The Bank of Canada increased its key interest rate by one percentage point Wednesday in the largest hike the country has seen in 24 years. Brace yourselves: Hamilton is suffering from a mysterious shortage of icing and cakes! Fallon Hewitt of the Hamilton Spectator joins us fresh from gettin

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Radley: A dealer in rock memorabilia and two other men are charged with scheming to sell the allegedly ill-gotten, handwritten lyrics to ‘Hotel California’ and other hits by the Eagles. Canada’s labour minister says addressing a serious shortage of skilled trades workers is one of the federal government’s “top priorities.” Yesterday, Seamus O’Regan toured a job site in downtown Hamilton, where the Labourers International Union of North America (LIUNA) is building almost 600 rental units within two towers across King Street from Gore Park. Ottawa Redblacks’ quarterback Jeremiah Masoli released a statement on Twitter criticizing the Saskatchewan Roughriders and defensive tackle Garrett Marino following the aftermath of his illegal hit this past weekend at Mosaic Stadium. The Toronto Blue Jays have fired manager Charlie Montoyo. We were prepared for the Bank of Canada to hike the interest rate again but not by this much! The BoC has increased its benchmark interest rate by

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Radley: Are you a fan of wine? It is the preferred drink of many a Canadian, and wine connoisseurs may have to cut back on their favourite Niagara-grown-grape-drink; Niagara region vineyards are seeing some of the worst winter damage in 17 years: early estimates say around 50 per cent of grape vines are damaged. Despite warmer weather bringing benefits to vineyards, the unpredictability of winter has become problematic. Debbie Inglis, Brock University’s director of Cool Climate Oenology joins Scott for more on that. The City of Hamilton hit a new milestone for 2022: surpassing $1 billion worth of construction costs by June. 2022 now marks the earliest the City has reached the billion-dollar mark in construction value. This milestone represents 3761 building projects in the residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial sectors. Hamilton’s director of Economic Development, Norm Schleehan, speaks to this development. Is Canada in a recession? Polling says that many

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Radley: CNN is looking at leaning away from political opinion to straight news coverage. Is that marketable in 2022, after years of 24-hour news networks building up personalities and clout among political factions? "Late last month, Ford announced his picks for his new cabinet and parliamentary secretaries as he embarks on his second term as premier. Ford announced the largest roster of overpaid politicians in the province’s history. No less than 73 of 83 Progressive Conservative MPPs received special titles and pay raises. Four years ago, Ford appointed a cabinet of 20. Last month, his cabinet size grew to 30.” Did you notice that Rogers had an outage on Friday? Yeah, it was kind of a big deal. Now the Public Interest Advocacy Centre – a national not-for-profit corporation and a federally registered charity which has represented consumer interests in regulated services like telecommunications since 1976 – is calling for an inquiry from the Canadian Radio-television and

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Radley: Scott Radley is stepping in for Mr. Thompson today. Now, do you know what gets Radley’s goat? Mismanagement of government funds. The federal government spent more than $1.6 billion on overtime pay from 2019 to 2021 while it met less than half its performance objectives and while it hired more than 15,000 new employees each year, according to records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The CTF’s own Franco Terrazzano joins Scott for that. One of Hamilton’s major thoroughfares is set to undergo several changes this summer after city councillors approved ‘short-term’ changes on Main Street, including moving from five to four lanes. Ward 1Coucnilor Maureen Wilson steps on to explain the reasoning. Ontario's expert pandemic advisers say that Ontario is likely in another wave of COVID-19 driven by the highly infectious BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the virus. Scott speaks about the implications of that with Hamilton’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Elizabe

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: Scott kicks today off with a recap of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s address in Brampton, and how she, in Scott’s view, just completely misses the point of where people are hurting. Macroeconomist Dr. Eric Kam also joins in on the fun later in the show with his usual sharp economic perspective, with a stark reminder of where Canadians are financially. Scott also touches upon the travel industry’s issues amidst lost luggage, the several hour delays and cancelled flights in Canada’s airports. Should the federal government just scrap the ArriveCan app at this point? Scott discusses with Barry Choi, travel expert. CBS news correspondent Allison Keys also joins Scott to update us on the Highland Park shooting on July 4th as a suspect has been detained. The 30 NATO allies signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, sending the membership bids of the two nations to the alliance capitals for legislative approvals -- and possible

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: We are seeing a rise in ER cases hospitalized with COVID, so Scott wonders if it is now time for Canada to release a 4th dose to the public, where now only those older than 60 in Ontario are eligible. Thomas Tenkate joins Scott for more on that. There was a lot of hyping up of dangers surrounding the planned Canada Day protests from the “Freedom Convoy” crowd. Rachel Gilmore was one of the Global journalists out in the streets of Ottawa over the long weekend, speaking to protesters and she speaks with Scott about her findings. A excerpt from Tasha Kheiriddin’s new book argues that Justin Trudeau’s legacy will be “stoking the woke,” and compares his time in office with U.S. President Obama’s – with interesting results. Tasha gives Scott a sneak peak. Ian Lee, Sprott School of Business at McMaster, joins Scott to discuss the private sector plan to get Canadian natural gas from the east coast to Europe… all without a dime from the feds amidst an energy crisis in E

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: Happy (almost) Canada Day, eh! Does the Canadian flag have an image problem? We have been hearing of heightened hesitancy to be associated with the flag since the rise of the self-proclaimed Freedom Convoy protesters made liberal use of the flag as decorations for their vehicles. Canada Day itself feels different to many Canadians as the truths of colonial history have come further into the light of public awareness. Elissa Freeman joins Scott to break it all down. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is recommending vaccine booster shots this fall in advance of a possible future wave of COVID-19 in Canada. Dr. Timothy Sly joins Scott for all things infectious diseases. The gas tax is getting a cut in Ontario as prices climb and Germany is looking to get their hands on Canada’s natural gas. Scott brings Dan McTeague in to give his fired up view. It is all coming up on the Hamilton Today Podcast. Guests: Tim Potocic of Sonic Unyon Records | S

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: Go Dogs, go! The City of Hamilton, Mayor Fred Eisenberger and the Downtown BIA invite residents to attend a ceremony at Gore Park on Thursday, June 30, 2022, to welcome the Hamilton Bulldogs back from Wednesday night’s Memorial Cup final! Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger shares the details with Scott off the top. Despite years of Tory orthodoxy that they could only win government with a centrist, polls show a Canada that seems to be warming to a Conservative Party led by hardliner Pierre Poilievre. To dive into this burgeoning conservatism in Canada, Scott speaks with Michael Taube, former speechwriter for Stephen Harper. Bank of Nova Scotia, Telus Corp., and Canadian Tire Corp. paused or ended sponsorship deals with Hockey Canada in response to the governing body’s handling of sexual assault allegations involving a group of teenage players and a lone woman in 2018. Marvin Ryder, of the Degroote School of Business, joins Scott to break this down. It is all comin

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: Have you been keeping up with the January 6th investigation? Scott has and what has come out today has rocked his world. The Jan 6 panel held a surprise hearing today which heard testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The greatest hits include Donald Trump attempting to seize control of the motorcade, soiling the interior with ketchup from a thrown meal, and an order to remove metal detectors at his address. Scott speaks to Brian J. Karem of CNN about this and everything else revealed at the hearing. Locally, COVID-Elvis has made a return to pop-up food drives, which last year produced over 10k pounds of non-perishable foods. Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison today for aiding Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, Scott speaks to Elissa Freeman on that. Canadian officials will likely face a “challenging” NATO leaders’ summit amid new data suggesting a defence spending dip, and growing pu

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: The Hammer was on fire this weekend from the Arkells Rally at Tim Horton’s Field downtown! It was a big one and CHML’s own Diana Weeks saw the whole show, technical producer Will Webber also had a view of the proceedings and Scott brings both on to share their experiences. Protests have erupted in the U.S. and in Canada, following last week’s overturn of the historic Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States. Is Canada safe from the blow back? How far can America roll back its social progress? Scott asks these questions and more to Tina Fetner, department of Sociology professor at McMaster University. A new poll from Lord Michael Ashcroft, ad prominent British pollster, shows steady civic peace in Canada that is at odds with familiar worries of expanding ideological divides in the country. Professor Steve Joordens, psychology professor at U of T, has been advocating for finding common ground in every-day life as we emerge into the post-pandemic worl

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: As you heard in our poll question for today, the new Elvis movie has hit theaters. Being a Baz Luhrman production, it looks to be equal parts glamorous and gritty… but what does it do for audiences in 2022 and for The King’s legacy? Beautiful Scars, the documentary on the life of Hamilton’s Tom Wilson – based on his memoir of the same name – opens at the Playhouse Cinema this evening. Tom Wilson himself will be in attendance, but first her is here with us. Almost half of Canadians are doing worse than they were last year, financially, according to new polling from the Angus Reid Institute. Ukraine and Moldova have both been granted EU candidate status, President of the European Council Charles Michel has announced. Roe v. Wade has been officially overturned in the United States by the nation’s supreme court. Members of Parliament in Canada are heading home to their ridings after the House of Commons agreed to rise for the summer on Thursday afternoon. Ontario P

The Hamilton Today Podcast with Scott Thompson: Keeping Six is a community-based organization in Hamilton that came on the scene with a focuses on defending the rights, dignity and humanity of those battling things like addiction and homelessness. One of their branches, The Keeping Six Art Collective, ensures that are opportunities and spaces for those who have lived these experiences to explore artistic expression for their personal benefit and as a way to share stories with the wider community of Hamilton. The new Chicago album drops on July 15th! Toronto’s Neil Donell of Chicago (the band) joins us to talk about it, as well as being on tour with Brian Wilson. Inflation is worrying families and those who were planning for retirement. How can we cope in Canada? The Bulldogs face the Shawinigan Cataractes tonight as the Memorial Cup continues in day four of round-robin action at TD Station in Saint John, NB. The Spoons will play the Burlington Performing Arts Center, to help in the fight against mental healt