Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario NDP, sits down with Nikki and Tom to discuss the scandal-plagued Doug Ford government and her drive to raise people's expectation and break out of the cycle of cynical politics and bad outcomes Ontario has settled into.

Marit tells us about the work she’s been doing as official opposition to Premier Doug Ford, digging up scandal after scandal. But she also talks about the need to propose solutions and raise people’s expectations about what government can get done for them.

Recently, her NDP put out proposals for a forestry sector strategy, summer jobs for young workers, housing and healthcare staffing. In our interview Marit also talks about the need to reform the food distribution sector, which consistently delivers prices that rise faster than general inflation.

Marit also reflects on Ontario regionalism and the very different levels of public services and infrastructure in different parts of Ontario — or even different neighbourhoods of the same city. Doug Ford’s destructive focus on Toronto may be amusing to some in have-not regions, but the politics of resentment isn’t helping their access to healthcare, schools, job opportunities or even safe highways. Is "One Ontario" waiting to be built?

Nikki takes a look at a by-election win in PEI by the provincial Greens that could be signalling a coming political realignment in that province. Or it might just a by-election blip, though the scan polling evidence available suggests it is more than that.

Tom digs into the signals sent by Prime Minister Carney appointing his principal secretary, Tom Pitfield, to the Senate and replacing him with Scott Gilmore. While Pitfield comes from a legacy Liberal family, Gilmore was an active Conservative until a few years ago.

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