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The Matt Brown Podcast

The Matt Brown Podcast

By: Matt Brown
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 Back in September 2025, Rogers TV invited me to host a twice monthly show called Newsmakers. The show is about all things local, and maybe some other topics too. After the show airs on Rogers TV, I’m posting abridged versions of the interviews here on The Matt Brown Podcast, sponsored by The Bicycle Café. You are a big part of this show. In fact, we couldn’t do it without you. So, please give a follow. Let us know what you think. Let us know if their topics that you’d like to learn about or maybe you’d like to be on a future show. Email: themattbrownpodcast@gmail.com. For now, this will be the main content for this podcast. We’ll see how it grows from here. I’m excited about this project and I hope you are too. Talk to you soon, London. PS, Buy me a coffee? There are some expenses connected to running a podcast and if you'd like to make a contribution here to support the show, I'd be grateful. Interested? Simply click here:https://buymeacoffee.com/the.matt.brown.podcast Thanks again for listening! MB Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Encore: Political Panel re: the Mayor's Proposed Home Ownership Incentive Plan

    Encore: Political Panel re: the Mayor's Proposed Home Ownership Incentive Plan
    Mar 23 2026
    Tomorrow, The mayor’s “Home Ownership Incentive Plan” that he announced at the London Chamber of Commerce State of the City address this past January is coming back to the council’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, that’s council’s Committee of the Whole for a second kick at the can. The recommendation received a bit of a rough ride and a referral back to staff back in February, so we’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens next. Today’s episode is a portion of the podcast political panel that ran shortly after the chamber of commerce’ state of the city address was held back in January. During the mayor’s address, he announced that he had used his strong mayor powers to direct staff to develop, what he called, an Affordable Home Ownership Incentive Plan. Essentially the plan would incentivize purchases of some newly built homes in London by reimbursing or rebating home buyers' the cost of development charges for homes selling for at or below the average cost of a new home - which, these, days is $630,000. Depending on the build, development charges can run between $20,000 for a small apartment to just over $50,000 for a Single Family Home. These charges pay for the capital costs incurred and associated with the cost of a growing city. Think things like Water, Waste Water, Roads, Parks, Transit, and Emergency Services. Developers incorporate these costs into the price of a new home, so the incentive program being considered by council would reduce the overall cost of a new home purchase, until the one time funding source is exhausted. 60% of this rebate, $5 million dollars, would be paid for by city coffers - using funding from the Federal Government’s housing accelerator budget and the remaining 40%, approximately $3 million dollars, would be covered by the home building industry here in London by way of reducing the selling price. This is one time funding, so once the money is gone, it’s gone. Staff predict that about 260 new home sales could be supported before the funding source has been exhausted. Back in February, councillors had a lot of questions when this came forward, for their review. They sent those questions and the whole program back to staff for additional information. Tomorrow, Tuesday March 24th, the answer to those questions will be presented by staff again, for council’s consideration and possible direction. Will the incentive program, in whatever form, be approved tomorrow? We’ll have to stay tuned. In the meantime, this encore edition of a portion of this show’s first ever political panel can give you a better sense of the overall program and an idea of what the panelists thought of it at the time.
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    20 mins
  • Who should run London's Music Office? Councillor Sam Trosow has an idea.

    Who should run London's Music Office? Councillor Sam Trosow has an idea.
    Mar 20 2026
    You might know that London was designated as a UNESCO city of music back in 2021. The initiative is currently run out of the Tourism London Office. Ward 6 City Councillor Sam Trosow is going to join us to tell us how he thinks the first 5 years of the program have gone and he’s going to tell us what he wants to see next. UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It was formed in 1945 and has 194 members states today. It manages the World Heritage Centre (which designates World Heritage Sites), promotes education for all, supports scientific research and protects cultural diversity. There are currently over 50 "Cities of Music" within this global network, and it’s been about about 5 years since London earned its designation as a UNESCO City of Music. And still today, London is the only Canadian City to have that City of Music Destination. 2026 is a milestone for London. Last week, City Council reviewed a report that detailed what the city and community partners have been able to accomplish since earning the distinction. The report also includes some information on where the City of London’s Music Office thinks the program should go from here. That second part - where they are recommending council go from here - is an important one because the distinction has a kind of “use it or lose” clause. In other words if, among other things, future strategic planning doesn’t have a central focus on investing in Music, Art and Culture. That means that London could claim to be the first Canadian city to earn the distinction and it could also be the first Canadian city to have it revoked. That’s the background, Ward 6 City Councillor Sam Trosow joins the show to tell us all about it.
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    13 mins
  • Mike Donachie tells us what's going on at City Hall.

    Mike Donachie tells us what's going on at City Hall.
    Mar 12 2026
    Homelessness, a towering tower, campaign donations, wider drive ways and a look ahead to the early days of the 2026 campaign. This episode is a milestone episode of sorts - depending how you count it, we’ve just passed 30 episodes for this podcast. As we head into spring, this podcast is making its way towards its first anniversary - we’ll celebrate that at the end of June. I don’t want to count any chickens at this point, but surpassing 30 episodes, with a growing audience is something most start up shows like this experience. That’s all because of you and many excellent guests, too - so thanks to everyone involved for that. One thing I’ve learned is that a good podcast needs great guests and I am so grateful for all of the guests who have joined us for the past 30 plus, episodes - this included community leaders, frontline workers, past members of city council and even 3 members of our current council. Spoiler alert, by the end of March that number of sitting council members joining the show is going to grow to 4. And to the other 11 members, if you’re reading this, please know that you're more than welcome to share this space too. Drop me a line if you have something you want to talk about and we’ll find the time to hear what you have to say too. We’ll stick to the facts and make sure we’re looking at issues of the day from as many different perspectives as possible. Speaking of great guests, local journalist Mike Donachie joined me this week on Newsmakers - That’s a news program I host over on Rogers Television. The episode today is an abridged version of that conversation and if you want to catch the whole thing, you can do so over on Roger Television. Mike is watching City Hall closely and he’s reporting what’s happening there on a regular basis for a start up that he has just launched, It’s called “London City Hall notes” and he publishes it using the Substack platform. As the municipal election, scheduled for late October, approaches - you can expect to hear more from Mike in the weeks and months to come. Today, he’s here to tell us all about what’s going on at City Hall - So let’s go.
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    14 mins
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