Uncommons with Nate Erskine-Smith

On this episode, Nate is joined by MP for Victoria and NDP environment critic Laurel Collins. The discussion covers a range of issues including Nate and Laurel's shared desire for a youth climate corps, Canada’s climate progress more broadly, and Laurel’s work to address domestic abuse. At the end of the episode, Laurel highlights a virtual event taking place on Monday Monday, March 18th where young activists & MPs from across party lines will discuss the creation of a national Youth Climate Corps.Click here to RSVP.Lastly, starting with this episode, you will be able to watch full episodes of the Uncommons podcast on YouTube. Click here to watch. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by Housing, Infrastructure, & Communities Minister Sean Fraser to talk about the single most important issue in this country at the moment: housing affordability. The lack of housing affordability is a generational challenge. Young people are worse off than their parents. It is as simple as that. And it's also an economic productivity challenge. Young people are leaving in significant numbers because they can't afford to stay and that has knock-on negative consequences for labour productivity, and talent retention. Sean is relatively new in the role, and it certainly seems as if he's been firing on all cylinders ever since taking it on. While we've seen steadily growing federal action on social housing and homelessness since 2015. We've seen more serious action in recent months to address restrictive zoning, waive GST on rental construction, and to get all kinds of housing built. So how does the Housing Minister stack up his plan against the competition? What more can and should we be doing to get housing built? And how can we best communicate our plan of action when the scale of the challenge is so great, and it takes time for new policies to be realized on the ground? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow for a discussion on federal-municipal cooperation, navigating the city's difficult financial situation, and what she hopes to accomplish with her first budget as mayor. You can listen to the #UncommonsPod wherever you get your podcast, or at Uncommons.ca where you can also find Nate’s recent substack posts including one on federal-municipal cooperation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Yasir Naqvi, an experienced politician and former attorney general, joins Nate Erskine-Smith in a wide-ranging conversation, discussing their shared experiences in the Ontario Liberal Leadership Race, the importance of trust in politics, coalition building for election success, the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and personal reflections on challenging moments during campaigns.

On our first episode back, Nate is joined by the founder of Bellingcat Eliot Higgins. Bellingcat is an investigative journalism website that specializes in fact-checking and open-source intelligence. Elliott himself began blogging about the Syrian civil war over 10 years ago. His work individually and as part of Bellingcat has ultimately created an incredible citizen-led community of journalists and fact-checkers. If nothing else, Elliott is intent on restoring our collective concern for the truth. And it's hard to think of something more important than that, especially as we all now increasingly live our lives in a world of such fast-moving information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by David Crombie for a discussion on the Greenbelt, the protection of the Greenbelt, and the Ford government corruption surrounding the Greenbelt.David Crombie is the former mayor of Toronto from 72 to 78. He's a former cabinet minister, and Clark and Mulroney governments, and most importantly for this conversation. He was the chair of the Greenbelt Council, and resigned at the end of 2020 because he saw the direction that the Ford government was heading.This episode marks a new season where we will be shifting focus to Ontario politics as Nate continues to run for the Ontario Liberal leadership.To learn more about his campaign, and sign up to vote, visit MeetNate.ca.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by former Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. Before running for public office, he was a partner at the Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis, where he specialized in employment and immigration law and shareholder rights. He became a Metro councillor in 1994, and in 1997 he was elected to the new City of Toronto council where he served two terms prior to becoming mayor.Following his time as Mayor, Miller briefly returned to law before serving as president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada from 2013 to 2017, after which he began working as the director of international diplomacy at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.As you may know, there’s an unexpected Mayoral race here in Toronto, so the conversation does cover some of that ground. As well as issues affecting municipalities all across Canada - housing, transit, how we should see the relationship managed between municipalities and provincial and federal governments, and how we should think about ambitious city building. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by Kimberly Murray for a discussion on her ongoing work to address trauma, realize justice, and advance reconciliation. Kimberly is the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. Prior to this new role, Ms. Murray was the Province of Ontario’s first ever Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Indigenous Justice. From 2010 to 2015, she was the Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Prior to that, she was a staff lawyer and then executive director of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto. She is a member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation. She is currently the Executive Lead for the newly created Survivors’ Secretariat at the Six Nations of the Grand River, working to recover the missing children and unmarked burials at the Mohawk Institute.Content Warning: This episode includes detailed discussions of personal accounts of residential school survivors.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

Nate is joined on this episode by Dr. Isaac Bogoch for a discussion on Neglected Tropical Diseases, global health equity, pandemic prevention and preparedness and his advocacy during the pandemic.He’s a professor of medicine at U of T, an infectious diseases specialist with a focus on tropical diseases and HIV, and he became very public facing in his work and regular commentary through the COVID pandemic. Click here for more info on NTDs & click here to learn more about Nate's pandemic prevention & preparedness bill This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca

On this episode, Nate is joined by Jennifer Keesmaat for a discussion around housing, transit, and the roles that each level of government can and should play. Jennifer is the former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, she’s worked around the world in urban design, and she’s currently a partner at and co-founder of Markee Developments, doing the work of building affordable housing. It is past time for all levels of government to deliver on housing and transit. If we don’t, we will see productivity and generational fairness challenges only further exacerbated.Now, we have a mayoral election ahead of us, and an opportunity for greater ambition here in Toronto. At the provincial and federal levels, we have upcoming budgets, and an opportunity to revisit and reinvest in our National Housing Strategy, for example.But as I think about Liberal and progressive politics more broadly, we have to send a strong message that we are ready to build and especially to build housing and transit. There is no reason for us to cede that ground to anyone else.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca