Internet trolls, doxing, conspiracy theories, harassment, criminal investigations, all the usual things that spring to mind when you think of small town council meetings. Welcome to Pickering, Ontario, best known for its nuclear power plant.
Is the alt-right driving Pickering to political meltdown? Or is the town council trying to silence a duly elected official over political disagreements? Either way things have gotten so out of hand that city council has locked the doors to the public. Council meetings have moved online. Now political foes don’t have to sit in the same room.
From Pickering to the wave of recent news stories south of the border where politicians from left to right are being shouted down at town hall meetings by angry constituents, are we witnessing the death of civil discussion in the civic sphere?
Host: Jesse Brown
Credits: André Proulx (Reporter), Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)
Fact checking by Julian Abraham
Additional music by Audio Network
Further Reading:
Sponsors:
Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today. Visit https://douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer
Squarespace : Check out https://squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
BetterHelp: Visit https://BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.
If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
