Short Circuit hosts Shannon Carranco, Kevin Taghabon and Eric Wickham do a deep dive on six leading mayoral candidates and their policy on housing, transit, police, and their relationship to popular issues and previous voting history. 

Candidates include city councillors Josh Matlow, Ana Bailao, former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey, former Toronto Police Services chief Mark Saunders, former MP Olivia Chow and Chloe Brown.

This episode was produced by Eric Wickham of Big Shiny Takes and Tech Won't Save Us (Twitter: @ES_Wickham) with theme music from Alex from Haus of Decline (Twitter: @hausofdecline).

If you like the journalism we are doing at The Hoser and would like to support our continued work, you can do so by subscribing to thehoser.ca/support.

Short Circuit host Shannon Carranco and producer Eric Wickham talk to GTA reporter Jacob Pesaruk about his latest investigative article for The Hoser. Pesaruk's piece focuses on the kidnapping of an unhoused Indigenous man named Jordn Geldert-Hautala by Toronto Police in June. 

You can read the full article here.

This episode was produced by Eric Wickham of Big Shiny Takes and Tech Won't Save Us (Twitter: @ES_Wickham) with theme music from Alex from Haus of Decline (Twitter: @hausofdecline).

If you like the journalism we are doing at The Hoser and would like to support our continued work, you can do so by making a monthly or one-time donation here. 

On our fourth episode of Short Circuit hosts Shannon Carranco and Kevin Taghabon walk listeners through the projects The Hoser has been working on since our last episode before the provincial election in Ontario. We then recap the Conservative victory, the plummeting voter turnout in the province, and how little excitement was part of this election. Finally, we discuss what's coming up in Toronto this fall. Media workers especially: contact us if you want to help work with us on municipal election reporting.

We were fortunate to be joined on mic by podcast producer extraordinaire Eric Wickham who brought some needed levity and earthiness to the conversation.

This episode was produced by Eric Wickham of Big Shiny Takes and Tech Won't Save Us (Twitter: @ES_Wickham) with theme music from Alex from Haus of Decline (Twitter: @hausofdecline).

If you like the journalism we are doing at The Hoser and would like to support our continued work, you can do so by subscribing to our Patreon.

On this third episode of Short Circuit hosts Shannon Carranco and Kevin Taghabon take a look at the state of labour in Ontario in the run up to the June 2nd provincial election. We begin with a visit to the University of Toronto where frontline service workers are fighting against the contracting out of secure, unionized public sector jobs.

We then head to the Worker's Action Centre in Toronto where executive director Deena Ladd walks us through some of their strategies employed at WAC as well as the Justice for Workers campaign. Finally, we speak to Jennifer Scott, president of Gig Workers United, an organization of app-based workers fighting for union recognition and decent work in Ontario.

This episode was produced by Eric Wickham of Big Shiny Takes (Twitter: @ES_Wickham) with theme music from Alex from Haus of Decline (Twitter: @hausofdecline).

 If you like the journalism we are doing at The Hoser and would like to support our continued work, you can do so by subscribing to our Patreon.

In early February The Hoser was invited to a vigil in downtown Toronto to commemorate the lives of over 200 unhoused residents who died in the GTA in 2021. Hosts Shannon Carranco and Kevin Taghabon investigate the policy on the federal, provincial and city levels that have allowed for homelessness to grow since the early 90s.

They speak to Lorraine Lam, an outreach worker at Sanctuary—a safe place for the unhoused community in downtown Toronto since 1992, and Gru, a member of the unhoused community and outspoken advocate for housing rights in the GTA.

This episode was produced by Eric Wickham.

If you like what The Hoser's doing you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon.

Last year food banks in the Greater Toronto Area saw 1.45 million visits, the highest ever recorded.

In Short Circuit's first episode hosts Shannon Carranco and Kevin Taghabon dive into how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more Toronto residents to use food banks than ever before. Job insecurity, rising rents, and predatory landlord practices have contributed to Toronto's ever-widening wealth gap, forcing people to forgo buying food to pay their rent.

Tenants at the West Lodge apartments in Parkdale have been able to occupy a one-bedroom apartment that they've converted into a food and clothing bank. Carranco spoke to three tenants who volunteer and use the food bank about the organizing they've done, the community they've built, and how its core concept is to challenge capitalist ideals.

Jennifer Evans has been volunteering with food banks across the downtown core since 2018. She's helped organize thousands of meals for the unhoused, families and single tenants. In an in-depth interview, Evans describes the need for more financial assistance and a universal basic income so Torontonians can afford to live equitably in Canada's most expensive city.

If you like what The Hoser's doing you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon.

Here's a rundown of The Hoser Presents: Short Circuit. Every month journalists Kevin Taghabon and Shannon Carranco will dive into issues relating to housing, labour, and food insecurity in the Greater Toronto Area. Episodes of Short Circuit will include interviews with those who are directly experiencing the topics we're covering, as well as experts like researchers and academics.

Short Circuit's first episode drops on February 15th. It's about food banks in the GTA, the people who use them, and the increased demand they've seen through the pandemic. We also look at why they were never intended to permanently and sustainably combat food insecurity. We interview GTA food bank organizer Jenifer Evans, and tenants who run a food bank at the West Lodge apartment buildings in Toronto's west end.

If you like what The Hoser's doing you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon.