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Tony and Jodie Visit with PC MPP Stan Cho
98 Plays2 years ago
This week, Tony and Jodie visit with Willowdale MPP Stan Cho. Cho, who was elected in 2018, is currently the Associate Minister of Transportation.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
And another thing. And another thing. And another thing. And another thing. Welcome to another episode of And Another Thing, the podcast that continues to set the bar in the world of podcasts. My name is Jody Jenkins. My name is Tony Clement.
00:00:27
Speaker
And we are absolutely thrilled to be back at it. And we've got a wonderful guest that we're going to.
00:00:35
Speaker
get to shortly. Tony, I was going to save this for later, but I have a special guest before we get to our actual guest. Oh. Well, let me back up here. I was just doing up some taxes and I had to do like an income statement for what we made off the podcast last year. Yes. And I don't know if you were privy to these numbers, but I wanted to let our guests, sorry, I wanted to let another special guest tell us how much and tell our fans how much we made last year.
00:01:05
Speaker
on the podcast. Are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, here we go. Go ahead, sir. $8,737,540,000. That's as much as President Trump owes, I think, too. And you know what? I don't know if you knew this, but do you remember when Donald Trump said this? I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
00:01:32
Speaker
Because that's what God does. I don't remember that line, but that's just classic. I mean, that's something like, you get t-shirts made. I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I wonder how many of those God has actually created. I don't know. I think Donald knows, though.
00:01:57
Speaker
Apparently he's number one.
Sponsor Acknowledgments
00:02:00
Speaker
I feel I just want to play that for 20 minutes. I'd laugh. I'd laugh for the entire time. But anyway, we have an exciting guest today. We're excited to get to him shortly. We got to thank our sponsors, obviously, John Mutton and the team at Municipal Solutions being our presenting sponsor since day one. And we are so appreciative of their support. And Tony, I know that you can expand on what John does.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah, the muttonator. Yes, absolutely. Jodi, the muttonator, Municipal Solutions, they've done it again. You and I were just talking about how they got another MZO municipal zoning order for one of their clients. They are Ontario's leading MZO firm. So if you're in need of a development approval or need a permit that needs to be expedited, or if you have planning services, municipalities, or
00:02:49
Speaker
engineering services or architectural services that need to be done, even minor variances and land severances. You go to the experts, MunicipalSolutions.ca and John and the gang will help you out. We also want to thank our other sponsor, Halton GR, Stephen Sparling and the gang at HaltonGR.com, your West GTA GR government relations firm. They specialize in sourcing land for development. They acquire
00:03:18
Speaker
the ideal land and they're great at obtaining zoning permits and by-law modifications. They keep the project going through the process and they're putting together as well the financing for those projects.
Podcast Airing and Radio Show
00:03:33
Speaker
Their motto is let's get this done and that's what they do at Halton GR.
00:03:39
Speaker
dot com. And then finally, from my end, last but not the least, you can hear this and many other podcasts at Hunter's Bay Radio, 88.7 FM in Muskoka, 830 in the morning, every Saturday morning. Our podcast is repeated and they have other podcasts that go on as well. Go to Hunter's Bay Radio dot com.
00:04:02
Speaker
And you just did like your show there. What is it? The Rock and Shindig? Is that right? Yeah. Last Saturday was The Rock and Shindig and went very well. And after you belittled me a couple of weeks ago about being a George Jones fan, why don't you tell everyone what what song? What's one of the songs you played? I did play a George Jones song. Thank you. Thank you. I did, Jodie. And it was the one that was not the one that was not about alcohol.
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, it was root beer. He said, right. Root beer. He did a song about root beer, probably tongue in cheek, because as you probably know, he had a little bit of an alcohol problem. Yes. But but no, I played the song root beer from George Jones. So there you go. Jodie knew something that I didn't, but I caught up with Jodie on that. Thank you.
00:04:52
Speaker
Thank you very much. Yes. I appreciate the honesty in you admitting that. We should also thank the team at loonypolitics.com for their support.
Promotions
00:05:03
Speaker
Don't forget you can become an annual subscriber simply by using the code podcast and that'll get you 50% off your subscription and you'll have access to great news sources that nobody else gets to see unless you're a subscriber. Find out more at loonypolitics.com. All right.
00:05:21
Speaker
Might as well get to our guests now. Tony, I know that you can introduce him.
Interview with Stan Cho
00:05:26
Speaker
I'd be very happy to, Jody, and I want to welcome to, and another thing, podcast, Stan Cho, the Honorable Stan Cho. He is the member of Provincial Parliament for Willowdale Riding in Ontario. He is also the Associate Minister of Transportation, was first elected in 2018.
00:05:44
Speaker
Born in Etobicoke, his family comes from South Korea. He had a degree from U of T and took over the family real estate business. Started out at, I guess, was it a family convenience store, Stan, or was it somebody else's convenience store when you started your employment there? Well, the convenience store is where I grew up and did my homework, but it was the family real estate brokerage when I was a little bit older. We took over.
00:06:09
Speaker
So tell us a little bit about what you're doing in government. You're part of obviously the Doug Ford government. You've got this role as associate minister of transportation. Maybe tell a little bit about that. Start things off.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, Tony, it's a lot going on. I mean, not only are we fixing a big mess in so many other areas when it comes to transportation, we're filling a giant transit and transportation gap left by successive governments who simply just didn't invest into that infrastructure. And that's crazy when you think about how many people are moving
00:06:41
Speaker
to this province, to this country, and for great reason. It is the best country in the world, the best place to live. I really believe that. That's why my family came here, and that's why I'm proud to call this home. And we expect incredible growth, you know, 300,000 a year for the next decade in Ontario alone. I mean, let's think about that kind of a growth. That's the size of the city of Toronto coming here in very short order, and they're not going to all live in Toronto. In fact, we see and expect that growth
00:07:09
Speaker
to be quite spread out throughout the province. And that means if you're not investing in transportation and transit, you are not being a responsible government and preparing for that future. So we have $87 billion that is going towards expanding our road and highway networks, as well as improving those crucial arteries for people to get from point A to point B to keep goods moving. But we're also investing $61 billion into transit expansion. This is
00:07:37
Speaker
the largest transit expansion plan in Canadian history. Now, we're not only building those networks, a spider web of transit, we're also making it make sense with payment options, more convenience. Can you believe, I mean, Presto on our largest transit agency in the country, if you want to load funds online, it takes up to three business days for those funds to be reflected on your Presto card.
00:08:01
Speaker
We've all been down to busy stations when you want to load your Presto card and there's a big lineup at the kiosks. That makes no sense. There should be other options to pay like using your credit card, your debit card, your smart device. Those are the types of improvements we're making. I'm really happy to be part of that. It's because it's something I complained a lot about as well growing up and it's very meaningful to be able to take steps, meaningful steps, actual tangible steps, shovels in the ground.
00:08:28
Speaker
to fix those problems that have existed for a long time.
00:08:40
Speaker
Well, close to Willowdale, it was called Don Mills at the time, but just across the road was Willowdale. It at least started out as a kind of a bedroom community for Toronto suburbs. I guess maybe it is considered more part of the city now, but still you have people who live on lengthy streets in suburbia who still need to get to downtown Toronto.
00:09:07
Speaker
Your portfolio kind of matches not only what you grew up with, but also what people are concerned about now. Your constituency is probably telling you the exact same thing as what you're working on.
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's absolutely right, Tony. I mean, this is a neighborhood I grew up in. You mentioned I was born in Etobicoke, but when I was in grade four, we moved to North York. And that neighborhood I grew up in is the only community I can think of in this entire country anywhere. In fact, we're two subway lines.
00:09:37
Speaker
dead end in that neighborhood. You have the Young Line ending at Finch and then you have the Shepherd Line ending at Yonge Street. We know that the city and people go way beyond Finch Avenue, beyond Steeles. And when you do go beyond Steeles, you have to transfer it to a different transit agency because then you're in York Region. And that's the kind of ridership people don't really care about. No one cares what color bus
00:10:02
Speaker
you're getting on to. They just want to get to work. They just want to get home. They just want to spend time with their families. And I've been hearing that not just from constituents and when I got into politics. It's something that I have belly ache myself taking transit as a kid for many, many years of my life. And that's what is so meaningful about this kind of work in transportation is that you get to, I mean, not many people are blessed with the ability to be able to
00:10:28
Speaker
to complain about something and then do something about it. And so, you know, I take that, you know, very, very seriously and personally, but it's also very satisfying to be able to say, hey, you know, when I'm holding on my rocking chair, I just can't wait until I can tell my grandkids, look, your grandfather did this and it's something I complained about. I think it's awesome.
00:10:49
Speaker
Well, as a former Minister of Transportation myself, I'm sure you would agree with me that things were working perfectly well when I was Ontario Minister of Transportation. You don't have to answer that question, but at the same time, it really
00:11:06
Speaker
I think there's two areas where Doug Ford has to show success in order to be successful in the next election.
Housing and Environmental Debate
00:11:18
Speaker
One is housing, obviously. Certainly you want to talk about that. And the other is alleviating some of these transportation snafus because it really hurts people's standard of living and their quality of life.
00:11:34
Speaker
But so the two are really connected as well. And you must hear from your constituents as well on the housing issue. Is that right? You know, today, especially on the immigration front, we we find ourselves in a whole different situation. I spoke earlier about the sheer numbers of people coming to this province and to this country. But that's only going to exacerbate a housing crisis that has been there for quite some time. I mean, it was the last government who themselves introduced the provincial growth plan in
00:12:04
Speaker
in 2006 that predicted unprecedented growth in this province and then failed to invest into the housing infrastructure, the transportation and transit infrastructure.
00:12:14
Speaker
to prepare for that growth. And so in many ways, we are playing catch up and really that is difficult to do, but it is possible to do. And I believe that with bold action, you can keep that dream of home ownership alive. And that's what this government's doing. I mean, to achieve the growth of those homes, to build one and a half million homes
00:12:37
Speaker
Well, you can't just do the same things over and over again. In fact, when we formed office, we were at a housing deficit every single year of nearly 40,000 homes. And that's adding on top of the population growth coming in. And it's no surprise that you saw affordability get out of reach, especially for young people. And that's been a major challenge. And it wasn't only the housing market to buy, it was the rental market. They were both seeing double digit gains across the board.
00:13:06
Speaker
you know that's built over from the 416 into the 905 and over the green belt into other areas and we all saw that and it was only exacerbated by the pandemic and so that's why we're investing in building homes and when it comes to thinking outside the box that means
00:13:23
Speaker
Well, let's take a good hard look at something like the Green Belt, which by the way, has the most brilliantly political name, but has pockets that are not green at all. I mean, it might as well have been the future potential land parcel or assembly belt, because that's what it was. Much of this land was next to or adjacent to serviced parcels that already had
00:13:49
Speaker
residential development on it and why are we not looking at those pieces of land and saying we can build 50,000 homes on that land and at the same time add 2,000 acres to actually green land and that's exactly what we've done adding 2,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land
00:14:06
Speaker
to the greenbelt while taking out the pieces that weren't green at all and building homes there. But it's not just to build the homes, it's also to make sure that people are connected to the grid, whether that's to hydro, also to transit and transportation networks. That's why we're building highways, that's why we're investing
00:14:22
Speaker
into the largest transit expansion plan in our country's history. Because it's not enough to build homes, you have to build the networks for people to get from home, to work, to school, to play. And that's the bold type of action that we're taking in government. We certainly learned from the mistakes of the past, but we have to look forward to make sure that we're not just repeating those mistakes, but preparing for the inevitable future where the population of the greater Golden Horseshoe alone
00:14:48
Speaker
in less than 30 years is going to be the population of Ontario today. 15 million in that very small geographical area is what we're expecting and that's really staggering when you think about it. It is 26% of the country's population inside of 0.3% of our land mass. This is a government that's committed to that and we're going to make sure that we keep that dream of homeownership alive for Canadians, new and old alike.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and that raises a really good point because obviously there's been some criticism of the Ford government on the Greenbelt initiative. By the way, the criticizers don't have a better plan than you. So, you know, it's pretty rich that they're criticizing. And secondly, you know, I think you've been quite environmentally sensitive by adding to the Greenbelt
00:15:37
Speaker
uh... to make up for those aspects of the greenbelt so-called greenbelt uh... that are being used for development and uh... so uh... from my perspective you know we need new houses we need to accommodate uh... new people coming in and our sons and daughters who are who right you know i have a son who can't afford a home right now but he's doing everything right he's got a job his wife has a job
00:16:04
Speaker
He's renting right now in Toronto, but there has to be more options for people like him. So I don't know what sort of feedback you're getting, but that's my reaction to the people who criticize the Greenbelt plan.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, and Tony, I'm experiencing a very similar thing. I mean, it's one thing to receive an email criticizing what this government's doing. It's another thing to get out to the doors and to speak to the people who you're actually trying to help. And I'm hearing that what you just said throughout my entire neighborhood and across the province, which is simply that, you know,
00:16:40
Speaker
I want to afford a home. I'm a young person. I'm working. My partner's working. And our household is a $300,000 a year household, but we are stuck in the cycle of rent with no hope of home ownership. And I think for maybe your older listeners, people who've been here for, you know, moved to this country or have been here for a long time,
00:17:01
Speaker
I think back to when you were just starting out in the workforce. I mean, the dream of homeownership was a big driving force in your motivation and your goals. And I think that's very fair. I mean, I know where my parents came here. They started, well, my dad had no money at all. In fact, he started selling worms, his fishing bait, then into a minimum wage job in a convenience store. But the reason my parents worked seven days a week, long hours and throughout holidays and weekends,
00:17:27
Speaker
It wasn't for the fun of it. It wasn't glorious work, but like many Canadians, it was to save for a home. And they couldn't do it right away, but the home ownership dream was possible. They went from renting a small apartment to renting a small home.
00:17:45
Speaker
to eventually saving enough to put down a down payment, and then they were on the property ladder. And that's what this is about, is making sure that young people and future generations of Canadians can get on that ladder. And that's a simple problem, really, when you look at the root of the problem to fix, to address, and that is to match the supply to the demand. And for decades, successive governments have failed at simply getting
00:18:13
Speaker
uh... that done and and that is but like we said earlier it's gotta take bold action and at the target is one-and-a-half million homes to be built over the next decade a hundred and fifty thousand homes every single year need to be built in order to address the current deficit it is a big challenge and that means that doing the same things again don't work until you're you're absolutely right i mean the the the loudest critique criticizers of this plan of the ones without a plan
00:18:41
Speaker
themselves and simply address the symptoms that arise from the housing supply demand deficit or imbalance. And we're going to do what's right. We're not going to do what's maybe not always popular for the critics, but it is the right thing to do for future generations of Canadians.
00:18:56
Speaker
So, Stan, let's just talk about kind of your political milieu a little bit here and, you know, just give us a sense of what it's like being in cabinet.
Reflections and Reforms
00:19:07
Speaker
You know, you don't obviously have to go into details on what is actually transpired. I get that. But just give us a sense of of of the kind of cabinet meetings like what, you know,
00:19:22
Speaker
you know, how does Doug Ford, how does he manage a cabinet meeting, for example, and what sort of how does the discussion go? Not not the details, but, you know, how does it how does it flow? Yeah, no, you're a senior cabinet minister who served in many posts many more than me. And so you would know better than I do that. I wouldn't give away cabinet details on a podcast for sure. So I won't. But, you know, it's it's amazing. I pinch myself still from time to time that I'm even
00:19:51
Speaker
able to sit at the cabinet table. Look, I'm the son of immigrants and poor immigrants at that who, you know, really to have the honor of being able to serve period and then to say that, you know, I get to be at that cabinet table. Well, it really is a dream. And I'm really proud of that. And, you know, those conversations, well,
00:20:12
Speaker
You know what? I'll tell you this, Tony. I'm glad I wasn't in cabinet during the height of the pandemic, because I can't even imagine the difficult conversations and decisions that had to be made there. But I'm the luckiest guy in the world, because at the cabinet table, we get to discuss meaningful progress for this province and plan for the future. Because I think it's fair to say that any government, no matter how popular you are, no matter how long you're in power, will eventually be out of power. And we know that. I know that.
00:20:40
Speaker
And that means that while you're here, you've got to do what's right. And that's exactly what these cabinet meetings are like. And what this premier is like is it's not concerned with the loudest critics. It's very much concerned with a responsible growth in preparation for the province, whether that's health care, investing into changing the procurement process. Some of the changes that are happening in government, well, they're not the sexiest things in the world that the news is going to pick up.
00:21:08
Speaker
You know, it's a touch on procurement and for a second, but you know, in this province for decades, you had a system where just as an example, let's say you're in gravenhurst and
00:21:20
Speaker
Gravenhurst EMS shows up and determines you need an IV and then says, you're really hurt, we're going to fly to Toronto General. Well, when Orange Air Ambulance gets there, they have to take out that perfectly good needle and put in a new IV, not because you need it, but because Gravenhurst EMS and Orange Air Ambulance purchase from different suppliers.
00:21:41
Speaker
And when you get to Toronto General, you have to change the needle for a third time for the very same reason. That's three times the cost to the taxpayer, but maybe more importantly, discomfort and risk of infection for the patient. And these are the types of changes you can make in government by changing things like procurement, whether it's housing, whether it's transit.
00:22:01
Speaker
You know, these are the decisions that are being made at that cabinet table to say, let's make government lean. Let's make it efficient. Let's make it make more sense. Let's focus on outcomes for patients, for home purchasers, for transit riders, for drivers, for commuters, for future Canadians. And I'm proud that those are the types of decisions that are exactly being made. It's a lot of work, a lot of details, but it's absolutely worth it. Jody Jenkins, I think we're near the end of our interview. Is there anything you want to add for Stan's benefit?
00:22:32
Speaker
I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. There we go. That's what you're up against, Stan. Was that a real clip? Because that really was a great impression, if it wasn't. No, it was a real clip, apparently. Jodi's found a whole cache of clips on our Zencaster platform here that we record our show on. So he's having a little bit of fun.
00:22:58
Speaker
But Stan, thanks for being on our program. We really appreciate it. I know you went the extra mile. You're very busy with Lunar New Year celebrations going on throughout Ontario. So to spend a little bit of time with us, we do in fact appreciate that.
00:23:13
Speaker
It was an honor to be here. Tony, you know, I, uh, I learned a lot from you. Look up to you very much. And Jody, thanks for the time on this. I can tell you that I was on and another things podcast. This is a big day for me. Hi mom. She's listening. There we go. Okay. Perfect. Excellent discussion with Stan. You can tell he certainly enjoys his job. He does. And you know, he's, he's an eager beaver, right? This is his first portfolio and he's, he's very excited about it. If I'm being honest, I think he sounds like he likes it a little too much.
00:23:40
Speaker
He was very, he was very excited about it. Yeah, he was. Yeah. But, you know, it's, it's, listen, he's talking about the issues everybody else is talking about. So that's, that's got to count for something. I meant to ask too, like who would he consider himself cooler than David Pacini?
00:23:59
Speaker
Oh, well we'll ask Pacini. Pacini might be coming on the program. So we'll ask him whether he thinks he's cooler than Stan Cho. David, who's cooler? You or Stan Cho? Exactly. We want to know right now.
00:24:16
Speaker
It's, uh, yeah, no, that was good. That was a good time. And he's very busy with lunar new year. As I said, he's going on. I mean, I saw him at two events already and, uh, he's, uh, he's out and about, so, uh, it's good of him to spend a little bit of time with us too.
Listener Engagement and Closing
00:24:32
Speaker
I should say too, that we haven't said hello to Mike stiff in a long time. He's a proud listener of the program. I haven't talked to him in a while, but, uh,
00:24:42
Speaker
Usually I run into at lunch, sometimes we do coffee, but me mentioning him will remind me that I should reach out to him. That's nice. But I know he listens to the podcast. It puts him to sleep. So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Are we going to mention the other feedback you got or not? Which feedback? About Jeff Beck. Oh, no, no, no. I'm not giving that individual any attention. Okay, good. They get nothing. Okay, fair enough. I get trolled online.
00:25:12
Speaker
That's it. You're cut off. You're cut off. That's it. The other thing I was going to say too is you were supposed to ask Humble Howard about golfing. Yes. In my event. Yes, I did do that. And what happened? He is very interested. Humble Howard, as you know, is a great broadcaster, part of the Humble and Fred network. And he's been podcasting for 12 years now.
00:25:36
Speaker
He also goes into a lot of golf tournaments Jody and so yeah, he has to check on I think next month He's gonna check on and one of the tournaments. He was invited to whether it It means that he can't do your tournament or whether he's free. So he'll he'll let us know Well, I hope you told him like of all the tournaments. This is the tournament
00:25:58
Speaker
I tried, I gave him the whole email with all of the stuff happening, the long drive, the concert, everything. It's amazing. And in Tony, for those that don't know, Tony's building like this super team for our event. And you've already got, are you allowed to mention one of your members or no?
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah, I know. I think, yeah, the president of the Treasury Board, Prabh Sarkaria, is part of my foursome. Boom. There you go. It's just going to grow. Yeah, that's it. It's going to grow in stature. So hopefully Humble and Fred can round out my foursome, but if not, I'll come up with some other amazing names.
00:26:36
Speaker
All right, once again, thanks to John and the team at Municipal Solutions for their continued support. You can find them online at municipalsolutions.ca. Also, lunepolitics.com. Use the code podcast to get 50% off an annual subscription, and you won't be disappointed because you'll have access to content that you cannot get anywhere else. That's at lunepolitics.com.
00:27:01
Speaker
And finally, HaltonGR.com, Steve Sparling and the gang are there for you. Let's get this done as their motto, HaltonGR.com. And what about your radio station? Oh yes, and Hunters Bay Radio, 88.7 FM, huntersbayradio.com. You can hear this broadcast again Saturday mornings at 8.30 AM. And I think I should wrap up by saying this. I am officially running.
00:27:28
Speaker
for president of the United States. All righty. We'll do this again in seven days. You betcha.