True Patriot Love - Do Canadians Know What Their Governments Actually Do？

00:00:00.000 Knowing what the municipal governments do for you will maybe take you out because we do not have a strong turnout.

00:00:06.640 Oh, it's horrible. It's horrible.

00:00:07.960 When it comes to municipal government.

00:00:14.540 Would you like to win a bet with your friends and family at a bar or a pub or just a family gathering? 0.54

00:00:19.660 Why don't you ask them questions that no Canadian can really answer?

00:00:23.400 What do the three levels of government actually do?

00:00:26.260 Municipal, provincial, federal, because nobody knows, Mike Wixson.

00:00:29.640 You know, we have created a bureaucracy.

00:00:32.000 It started in 1867.

00:00:33.960 The government separated the federal and the provincial government.

00:00:37.840 And then the provinces went on from there.

00:00:40.560 And now we've confused everybody.

00:00:42.440 It is funny that you point this out that, you know,

00:00:45.800 I think that I know what each of the layers of government do in Canada.

00:00:50.680 And then I take a look and I realize, oh, wait a minute.

00:00:53.000 I thought that was provincial.

00:00:54.820 As the provinces dial down what they do.

00:00:57.380 Right.

00:00:57.620 Right, and pass it on to the municipalities.

00:01:00.120 It's even a changing target.

00:01:01.940 Before we get to some of the frenzy municipal elections

00:01:05.880 taking place in this country over the next couple months,

00:01:08.680 just Cole's notes.

00:01:09.900 The federal government, citizenship, criminal law,

00:01:14.000 international trade, national defense, right?

00:01:17.460 Provincial government, schools, education,

00:01:20.300 your health care, your property rights.

00:01:22.700 And then you have municipal governments.

00:01:24.300 They're the one that actually plow the roads,

00:01:26.040 pick up the garbage responsible for your sewage and water and local parks and local policing

00:01:32.120 that's what they're in charge for but time and time again canadians will vote in an election

00:01:37.160 based on what they want to do thinking on a provincial or federal level when the municipality

00:01:43.060 has nothing to do with it and no say in it well you know jim i kind of hate to do this

00:01:48.640 but i have to point fingers at the media first and foremost on that one yes because we don't do a

00:01:54.940 very good job of covering things municipally in fact we've let all of the local newspapers die

00:01:59.580 pretty much across the country no kidding no local television in a couple of decades radio is now

00:02:04.560 dying on the vine and playing music rather than reporting what's going on municipally and so

00:02:08.820 people are a little i think lost in this nebulous cloud of what's actually happening local in

00:02:14.380 politics yes they're getting it from facebook here or that information from neighbor their sign and

00:02:19.560 their neighbor's lawn right right but what we don't cover is that eight eight eight to ten

00:02:25.020 cents that every tax dollar ends up flowing down to the municipalities who cover about 64 percent

00:02:31.700 of our lively uh our lives and livelihoods and uh how we operate as citizens in our own in our

00:02:39.460 own community a simple example in my community north of toronto they instituted these big rolling

00:02:45.240 recycle bins yeah so it's it's got big wheels you're supposed to roll it to the end of the road

00:02:50.160 and the garbage truck has these mechanical arms that dumps it in well i want to tell you ever

00:02:55.400 our local mps and mpps were flooded with notes and they're like sorry we have nothing to do with

00:03:00.540 this that's to do with your your counselor and your mayor right and then and people are confused

00:03:06.260 like who do i talk to i don't like it what i and so and it was almost like a mini education

00:03:11.580 and realizing something as simple as a recycle bin

00:03:15.520 caused such confusion among the average people.

00:03:18.260 A very quick favor before we continue.

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00:03:47.760 you now back to the show 51 percent of canadians believe the prime minister is directly elected

00:03:53.620 jim this is a good indication that we don't necessarily know what is going on at each level

00:03:58.540 exactly well i i used to work with an individual and i said well who are you going to vote for in

00:04:04.900 the federal election and he said i have to vote liberal because my wife is a teacher

00:04:09.320 and i said to the individual but joe the federal government has no say in education in none zero

00:04:16.080 yeah and he looked at me kind of i like okay jim you don't know what you're talking about and so he

00:04:21.500 he honestly believed that the whoever is prime minister would mean more money for schools in the

00:04:27.440 province where he lived but that has nothing to do with it no it's so interesting the um it's funny

00:04:33.220 because we think on a daily basis about what really impacts our lives it is the roads it is

00:04:38.780 our safety it is our trails and parks right that's right all of these things that make life nice in

00:04:44.360 the communities we live in that doesn't very often have anything to do with the federal government

00:04:48.600 the federal government's making major projects and keeping their elbows up or whatever that's

00:04:53.200 all about and and trying to do deals that make a difference on the economy and the safety of a

00:04:59.800 nation at at whole on the whole provinces have a certain amount of policing they have a certain

00:05:06.460 amount of jurisdiction when it comes to the court system like provincial highway infrastructure and

00:05:12.580 paving correct right exactly building a new hospital or walk-in clinic but they're probably

00:05:18.200 not going to do much about the pothole situation in your town no which by the way is a serious

00:05:23.780 concern in many parts of canada yes uh and they're not going to really uh be responsible for the new

00:05:29.820 water treatment facility that you require in your neighborhood uh more policing you you know so it's

00:05:36.540 important that with these elections coming up i can't wait for you to outline what's going on in

00:05:41.200 bc okay but with the elections coming up knowing what the municipal governments do for you will

00:05:47.200 maybe take you up because we do not have a strong turnout oh it's horrible it's when it comes to

00:05:51.940 municipal government so okay i'll just do a quick cole's notes october 26 it's the ontario

00:05:58.360 municipal election okay october 28th it's the manitoba provincial election or a municipal

00:06:04.760 election excuse me right in saskatchewan november 9th is the saskatchewan municipal election now

00:06:10.120 this is where things get confusing for people in british columbia october 17th is their municipal

00:06:16.120 election october 24th seven days later is the snap provincial election so they have way too

00:06:23.560 that's neighborhoods in bc with signs that you want to talk about confusing for counselors for

00:06:29.520 school trustees and for potential mpps and with the the vote count that we're getting at a

00:06:36.080 municipal level this kind of confusion is not great i'll be honest with you and every municipality

00:06:40.840 every province the needs of what is important in manitoba and saskatchewan and bc and ontario are

00:06:47.360 completely different what's important municipally in each of those regions of those respective

00:06:52.200 of provinces. This is a little stat that I found disturbing, if I may share it with you. Please.

00:06:59.000 I wonder if I would fall into this category. And so I say this without putting shame on anybody.

00:07:03.760 A 2023 Leger quiz found that 23% of Canadians would pass the citizenship test, understanding

00:07:12.320 what their job, what the various MPs describe as their own job inconsistency, saying with many of

00:07:19.540 the primary represented they're riding inconsistent is inconsistent in reaching out to the community

00:07:25.400 uh and making them aware what they can be doing for them i i totally agree with that number i i

00:07:32.020 think that's a very accurate number of the amount of canadians would actually get that right it

00:07:36.420 really is it is disturbing because really this is what if if you really want to be a good clean

00:07:43.940 living enjoying life canadian you really do have to be involved in this political process

00:07:48.860 because it is where the new schools are thought of.

00:07:51.820 It is where that center of town that is decrepit and suffering after COVID

00:07:57.740 can be rebuilt into something that's better for the community.

00:08:00.920 That doesn't happen at the federal level.

00:08:02.900 I'll give you another quick example, Mike.

00:08:04.340 I know there's a community in Northern Ontario

00:08:06.060 that they've transitioned as a pilot project to see-through garbage bags.

00:08:10.520 Now, they're more expensive than regular garbage bags,

00:08:12.740 and it's to prevent people from cheating and putting recyclable items

00:08:16.480 or non-garbage items in their garbage.

00:08:18.200 ah so uh the people oiled again yeah the people we spoke to said it's causing major stress because

00:08:24.160 if the garbage truck goes by and sees a couple items on they won't pick it up they won't pick

00:08:29.780 and so and so this is that this is municipal elections at its finest determining something

00:08:35.580 simple as garbage pickup i want to be i want to be a good uh civilian okay i want to be a good

00:08:40.540 citizen but if the garbage truck passes me because i accidentally put a can of heinz in there and not

00:08:46.380 realized it i will never ever stop saying the f word over and over again at the end of my driveway

00:08:51.400 but that's a perfect example where because there's no voter turnout because people don't care enough

00:08:56.880 about municipal politics then a pilot project like this starts and people go what what's going on

00:09:02.240 right and then they start reaching out to people like sorry i have nothing to do with this this is

00:09:07.720 what we're talking about mike and when you say to yourself things don't ever change uh you know i

00:09:12.040 they don't change because you don't vote if you don't vote the incumbent just stays in their job

00:09:17.600 and they they get the exception of actually even having to run uh because nobody's uh up against

00:09:24.040 them if there happens to be somebody coming in and uh now you've got an electoral race

00:09:29.560 suddenly there are actual issues being discussed somebody's not just sitting on an agenda they've

00:09:35.660 had for four years already things will change but you have to vote to get that change we're

00:09:40.280 seeing that play out with the toronto mayoral election oh goodness yeah in mississauga yeah

00:09:45.160 uh north of toronto in a bedroom community called aurora where there's actually a a key race for

00:09:52.200 mayor and but i mean there's a lot of other mayors who are uncontested no one ran against them a lot

00:09:57.720 of these bedroom communities in the southern ontario area they're just being acclaimed now

00:10:02.200 you have to be careful because the provincial governments can make a lot of noise correct the

00:10:06.280 The federal government has incredible PR arms.

00:10:09.320 The local mayor, and by the way, there's 216 Ontario mayors,

00:10:14.280 and they all have pretty strong powers, I will tell you that.

00:10:18.140 That does not get the same amount of news and sex appeal

00:10:22.340 only because of the sheer number out there.

00:10:25.100 What did I see?

00:10:26.100 It's 414, I think, mayoral elections,

00:10:31.020 mayoral picks that need to be made in Ontario in this election.

00:10:35.620 that's just one province right think about bc manitoba saskatchewan they all have important 0.95

00:10:41.520 issues they have to deal with so here's what uh what's the word i'm looking for here's what sucks

00:10:46.340 you have to actually do your homework yes you actually have to attend council meetings on

00:10:52.880 occasion you can't just exist in a neighborhood and have no interaction with what's going on

00:10:58.120 politically by the way the politicians at a municipal level are you and i absolutely the

00:11:03.720 the local broadcaster that wanted to make his way into politics uh we've seen it time and time again

00:11:08.680 actually in broadcasters but it is just your average person that does their their job and

00:11:14.320 they've but they've made a decision to get into politics because they want to make a change or

00:11:18.800 they want a different kind of job but that's for you to determine you need to understand what these

00:11:23.920 people's motivations are and you need to actually engage in it and part of the issue is now you as

00:11:30.900 the citizen in your respective community in bc in saskatchewan in manitoba in ontario have to do a

00:11:37.520 little bit of homework yourself and that requires maybe going on the website of the person running

00:11:42.300 or looking at their social media or facebook page and what do they have to say what are they standing

00:11:47.720 for what are they proposing there's a guy in my neighborhood running uh caputo oh yeah uh and uh

00:11:54.080 he was uh doing the rounds in the neighborhood and uh i noticed that on the street next to me

00:12:00.620 his uh competitor was doing the same thing and i got to speak to both of them oh interesting

00:12:05.340 i sat out on my front porch and waited for them to make their way around and i sat and i thought

00:12:10.660 you know what i even said to them this is not something i have to be honest with you this is

00:12:14.900 not something i would pursue but you came to my door i need to ask you about this this this and

00:12:19.800 this you know what they did jim they took notes what did you say about that uh that bridge work

00:12:26.360 over there did you not feel listened to oh my goodness did you not feel like your time mattered

00:12:31.660 so the the next uh yeah uh candidate came around i'm going to remember the name the next candidate

00:12:39.180 came around i gave the same list we had another meaningful discussion that person said what did

00:12:45.240 caputo say and i said well their thoughts are this you know what they said i wouldn't disagree

00:12:50.640 with them on many of those thoughts okay that's an honest answer right like i i appreciate that

00:12:56.180 answer so now i've got a a decent playing field of understanding about what can and can't be done

00:13:01.880 now no matter who i vote for in that scenario both of them took the time to speak to me they'll do

00:13:06.620 the same i went next door to my neighbor knocked on his door and said if you want to speak to the

00:13:10.620 candidates they're here he did reluctantly for about three seconds and off they went hey before

00:13:19.120 we go any further please hit the subscribe button right now if you want the raw debates the full

00:13:24.720 uncut conversations you won't see here head straight to tplmedia.ca subscribe and lock in

00:13:30.120 your membership trust me you don't want to miss what happens behind the paywall all right back

00:13:34.900 to the show here's something else a lot of people don't realize if you're building a house

00:13:40.120 building an addition putting a a nanny suite on for an aging relative that's all through

00:13:47.380 you have to get approval through your municipality you need a building permit through your

00:13:52.160 municipality the province and the federal government do not determine and i know whether

00:13:57.680 you're like i want to build a new garage on my property i want to do this that all has to be

00:14:03.160 approved by your municipality and you need a building permit to make it legal so they determine

00:14:09.220 whether or not you could add 200 square feet or 500 square feet they determine your setback from

00:14:14.500 the road they that's all through them and so if you don't agree with the rules and you want to

00:14:19.200 change it you have to vote in your municipal election uh six percent of people blamed uh

00:14:23.700 municipalities for housing issues okay uh 99 of people share of votes uh 99 the share of votes

00:14:33.000 caucuses cast with their leader that's interesting so when you when you have a leader in place

00:14:39.900 the caucus 99 show up uh another stat that i thought was kind of interesting um toronto ward

00:14:48.460 cut in 2018 you pointed this out to me i thought that was a good forward thing i pretty incredible

00:14:53.480 because it did it did remove some of that clutter of information it probably reduced the cost i

00:14:59.200 don't know otherwise i haven't heard any complaints 47 counselors down to 25 that was a mayoral

00:15:05.160 decision uh that that came from the province forced it upon the city of i'm so sorry that

00:15:12.520 was a provincial decision my apologies that was a provincial however but it had an impact at the

00:15:18.660 mayoral level because the number of counselors that had to go in and compete for that position

00:15:23.680 if they desired to reduced and it gave us a focus on these people now i'm glad you brought that up

00:15:28.140 Because surrounding Toronto are three big, huge municipalities

00:15:32.460 made up of a group of different communities.

00:15:36.160 Durham region in the east, York region in the north,

00:15:39.280 Peel region in the west.

00:15:40.500 Right.

00:15:40.980 They are each approximately a million to a million and a half in population.

00:15:45.560 They're not insignificant.

00:15:46.720 And there is big talk whether or not the mayors

00:15:50.000 would agree to an amalgamation.

00:15:52.660 Because once upon a time,

00:15:55.100 the city of Toronto was a number of boroughs.

00:15:57.680 That's right.

00:15:58.140 with Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, et cetera,

00:16:00.580 and they all became one to cut costs

00:16:02.880 and cut redundancy and red tape.

00:16:05.760 It's hard to imagine eventually that won't happen.

00:16:08.640 And whether or not you have a strong mayor

00:16:10.920 willing to stand up to Premier Ford and fight that,

00:16:13.800 or they would be bullied by Ford

00:16:15.860 and the Ontario government and have no choice,

00:16:18.060 that could come down to who you vote

00:16:19.540 for in the municipal election.

00:16:21.300 And it's interesting that you say that

00:16:22.580 because Peel split off Mississauga

00:16:24.860 on the basis of making it an easier municipality to manage.

00:16:29.600 Exactly.

00:16:30.240 And that's what I'm talking about.

00:16:31.620 So the Mississauga election with Carolyn Parrish

00:16:35.880 and Bonnie Crombie is a prime example.

00:16:37.680 You have two strong political veterans going head-to-head, 0.70

00:16:41.340 but there's other people involved as well.

00:16:42.980 And that's going to be one of those bellwether

00:16:44.500 municipal elections in the province across the country

00:16:47.480 that people have an eye on.

00:16:48.820 Being a mayor of a large community in Canada

00:16:51.980 is a pretty significant position.

00:16:54.180 And they have a lot of say because all of a sudden, if I'm the mayor of Saskatoon or Calgary or Victoria, every time there's a provincial federal election, all the prospective leaders, they're with me because they want the support of my community that I'm the mayor of.

00:17:12.500 Yeah.

00:17:13.040 And they want to work with me.

00:17:14.500 I have the greatest, as a mayor, I have the greatest representation on your behalf.

00:17:18.100 Yes.

00:17:19.040 And by the way, mayors make a lot of money in some of these cities.

00:17:21.640 the mayor of markham makes a serious amount of coin and so if you think about it okay these guys

00:17:28.360 are going to make a couple hundred to three hundred thousand dollars a year and they are your

00:17:32.740 employee you elected them yes you should check in on these guys once in a while to see how they're

00:17:37.880 doing on their job because the next time that job comes up you may wish to spend that money on

00:17:42.500 somebody else and with technology now they have an email address now they may not get it directly

00:17:47.580 but someone in their staff is like hey hi i'm joe smith i live here i have a question

00:17:53.480 and email the question and more often than not you will get a response or maybe point out something

00:17:59.020 they didn't know and they'll look into it why do i feel that i might not get a quick response from

00:18:02.780 mayor uh scarpetti now that i've mentioned markham here but it is interesting that and it's not a

00:18:08.140 shameful thing we've made bureaucracy layer over layer it's hard to understand where we come and

00:18:13.440 go on certain issues that really need attention in our world and mike you brought up the idea about

00:18:18.560 shrinking media in this country the lack of the local paper where i live in new market i've been

00:18:24.600 there 22 years when i first moved there we had a weekly paper and it answered a lot of questions

00:18:29.840 that's gone and a lot of people walk around confused because they don't have that there's

00:18:36.000 no local radio around there whatever radio or media is part of something bigger so there's so

00:18:42.080 many communities in canada that aren't covered and when they see something bigger on their news feed

00:18:47.080 it's usually a joint announcement with the mayor and a premier and a prime minister and so that

00:18:52.940 hints the confusion who does what and who is actually in charge of where i live so that's why

00:18:58.520 i feel like an episode like this is important we're trying to do our best mike to to just help

00:19:03.880 the people who are listening and watching this understand there are three levels of government

00:19:08.580 this canada and voting for your mayor or counselor is different than your mp or mpp because they all

00:19:14.520 have different roles yeah and they represent you in different ways and uh it's it's a proximity

00:19:19.580 thing yeah your local counselor's right next to you he's got the ear of the mayor you probably

00:19:24.120 see him at like the farmer's market or something the mayor is likely on regional counselor yes

00:19:28.580 and then the province downloads everything to those guys yeah and then they have to deal with

00:19:34.060 But for the people of BC who have a municipal election on October 17th

00:19:38.880 and then seven days later vote for a next premier, good luck to you.

00:19:42.220 Yeah, you're going to want to create a chart and put it on your fridge at home

00:19:44.580 to figure what election is what.

True Patriot Love - October 01, 2026

Do Canadians Know What Their Governments Actually Do？

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