For Meet The Candidate all 31 candidates in Waterloo Region were invited to participate, but only 13 accepted the invitation. Some candidates tactfully declined, but most just ignored our requests. So, for this last episode of Meet The Candidate on Tuesday 25 February 2025, Martin de Groot and Bob Jonkman discuss the Ontario provincial election campaign of 2025.
Martin de Groot is the host and producer of Home Range: Promenade which airs on CKMS-FM every Monday at 6:00pm.
Bob Jonkman is one of the hosts of CKMS Community Connections, every Monday at 11:00am and alternate Fridays at 3:00pm.
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1m010s | The beginning: Calling an early election. Why? Not for the reasons provided; a provincial premier has no role in international relations. The short campaign time was probably deliberate. Discussing the media coverage of the parties — even though the NDP is the official opposition, the media tends to go to the Liberals for comment, even though they don’t even have enough members in the legislature to form an official party. One of the reasons for calling an early provincial election (in February!) may be the looming federal election. |
| 6m40s | Politics has become polarized, started in the Mike Harris years (1990s), maybe as early as the Mulroney/Reagan/Thatcher era (late 1970s). Up until that time it was the Liberals that took Republican ideas from the US; now it’s the Conservatives taking those ideas. Bob runs down the different candidates running in Waterloo Region. The smaller parties are largely invisible; because of the short campaign time and the time of year (and even the mood of the country) they haven’t been able to get in gear. Along with so few candidates, Bob fears there will be low voter turnout. There are people who don’t even know there’s an election on. Voter turnout at the last election was around 40%, it will probably be lower this time. Martin points out that these aren’t provincial campaigns, but local campaigns just in our own constituency; each is a decision in itself. |
| 12m20s | Campaign advertising: Bob has seen only mainstream party advertising, none at all for the small parties. Bob and Martin see only online ads, neither watch broadcast TV. There was no election advertising submitted to Radio Waterloo. Martin asks about candidate response to Meet The Candidates. About half the candidates came on the air. There were 24 available timeslots, 13 candidates came out. Bob expresses surprise at some of the candidates that declined. Having candidates on air, unstructured, gives a better idea of what the candidate is like outside their campaign. Martin asks if this turnout was typical, but it was the first time Bob has run Meet The Candidate. All the episodes were recorded, and candidates are free to re-use the material under a CC-BY license. |
| 19m10s | Has there been a lot of negative advertising? Martin says yes. The positive advertising has been limited to the leaders saying “I’m your leader, I will save you”, but that’s still somewhat misleading. Martin has met some canvassers at the door, the Liberals twice (and he met the candidate herself). But it takes more than knocking on doors; things like Civic Tech (https://waterlooregionvotes.org). Martin says an election is a collective decision-making process, he want to be aligned with the plurality of his neighbours. He wants more input into this process, so people should join parties. It’s dangerous to pay attention to the little jingles in mass media and then to base your vote on that. But people can get away with being complacent because we have pretty good governance in Canada. We haven’t adjusted our system since the start of our electoral system, so it’s not reflecting the way people vote. Our system is more adaptive than, say, the US voting system, but in practice we still have the adversarial “debates” in parliament and the provincial legislature, and a terrible First-Past-The-Post voting system. As a result, the current Ontario government was elected to a majority of seats with only about 18% of the votes from eligible voters. |
| 27m15s | Talking about Cooperate For Canada, who were on CKMS Community Connection on Monday 24 February. Martin says their idea is reactive, because it relies on dubious polling data. Cooperate For Canada looks to be more of a federal system, they didn’t really have time to react for this provincial election. Martin tends to vote with the plurality anyway, so he had no trouble signing their pledge. Martin wishes there was a better way to have a deliberative process, that there were other kinds of political organizations instead of running candidates and being a political party in the traditional sense. Martin cares about the Arts and Heritage, which doesn’t even make it to the political spectrum. If people who cared about climate, housing, health care, education, &c made an effort to come up with a consensus, then we’d get somewhere. Voting against the Conservatives based on polling data is dropping out of the system, you’re not even trying. Bob want to vote for the candidate who will best represent him; if Cooperate For Canada was successful and candidates drop out, it reduces the choice available to voters and so reduces the effectiveness of democracy. Bob also points out that the polling data is unreliable, he doesn’t speak to pollsters and other people are known to lie. And the polling data includes data from people who don’t vote, and aren’t even eligible to vote. The election on 27 February 2025 is the only poll that counts. |
| 37m05s | Martin points out a difference between him and Bob: Bob wants voting to be private and secret; Martin wants voting to be a collective, consensus making effort. We’ve lost consensus-making with our adversarial electoral system. It’s as though we’ve ritualized civil war with elections, and that’s not healthy for society. Elections are a way to quiet down the revolutionary impulse. It used to be, that the differences between parties was fairly minor. But today there is a broad gap. Treating the Conservatives as one pole and having all others going against them gives them too much credit and credibility. This is not just campaigning but their actions while in government. Martin saw this when Mike Harris Sr. was premier. |
| 39m52s | It is difficult to make a choice, since so many right-wing candidates aren’t coming out to debates, interviews, all-candidate meetings. Yet they’re still leading in the polls. Are people voting for the party leader? The party itself? They certainly can’t be voting for the local candidate, since they haven’t been there. Martin attributes it to the republican idea of “the lying press”, so those candidates just stay away, thinking they’re not going to get a fair shake. That may be true, especially from people who care about the environment, health care, &c. Should there be a rule that candidates have to be available to the voters? You can’t pass that kind of law, but it should be made socially unacceptable. Candidates who don’t want to meet their constituents should not the representative for those constituents. Bob wouldn’t sit down for a beer with a person who’s been hiding during the campaign. Maybe having a beer with a friend is an analogue for elections. |
| 43m47a | What happens now? It’s only two days to the election. Advance polls were short, only three days and at remote locations. Precipitation is expected the night before election day. Martin predicts the voter turnout will be lower than in 2022, and thinks the Conservatives will return with a larger majority than ever. Waterloo Region has one Green MPP, one NDP MPP, and three Conservative MPPs, and Martin thinks it will be the same after the election. Martin expected things would change for Wilmot, what with the land assembly issues, but it looks like that won’t change things. |
| 47m30s | Martin tells Bob that the Green Party candidate in Kitchener — Conestoga has endorsed the NDP candidate. Bob wonders how that will go over with the Green Party head office; it’s unlikely the Green Party approves of this. Martin would like to see not a Green Party, but a Green Movement. With a movement, you could get consensus, get people to become candidates. There may be something like that, in Green WR. Martin and Bob talk about the Grand River Watershed as a natural boundary and focus point for the community. |
| 50m30s | Discussions on the levels of government: Municipal, Regional, Provincial, and Federal. Martin says the relations between those levels of government is a mess, and is the number one issue, more so than electoral reform. But Martin is not an amalgamationist at all. Martin sees the difference between the city cores and the suburbs; Bob adds to that the very different rural areas in Waterloo Region. Bob doesn’t want yet another artificial divide between rural and urban voters. Speaking of geographic boundaries, Martin wonders why we don’t have gerrymandering in Canada. Similar to the Electoral Boundary Commission, Martin would like to see an Electoral Reform Commission based on that model. |
| 55m40s | Goodbyes, acknowledgements, and a suggestion for a regular political show on CKMS. |
Podcast
Download: meet-the-candidate-campaign-analysis-with-martin-de-groot-and-bob-jonkman.mp3, 52 MBytes.
Video
YouTube: Meet The Candidate: Campaign Analysis with Martin de Groot and Bob Jonkman
Recent Episodes
Meet The Candidate: Campaign Analysis with Martin de Groot and Bob Jonkman For Meet The Candidate all 31 candidates in Waterloo Region were invited to participate, but only 13 accepted the invitation. Some candidates tactfully declined, but most just ignored our requests. So, for this last episode of Meet The Candidate on Tuesday 25 February 2025, Martin de Groot and Bob Jonkman discuss the Ontario provincial election … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Campaign Analysis with Martin de Groot and Bob Jonkman Meet The Candidate: James Schulz, Libertarian candidate for Waterloo James Schulz, Libertarian candidate for Waterloo came into the CKMS-FM studio for Meet The Candidate on Monday, 24 February 2025 to talk to the voters. Party: Ontario Libertarian Party Website: https://libertarian.on.ca/candidates/james-schulz Email: stephyandjamess@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572958871961 https://www.facebook.com/james.schulz.79 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/james.schulz.79/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@james.schulz.79 See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-james-schulz-libertarian-candidate-for-waterloo.mp3, 14 MBytes. Subscribe to the podcast! Video YouTube: Meet … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: James Schulz, Libertarian candidate for Waterloo Meet The Candidate: Aislinn Clancy, Green Party candidate for Kitchener Centre Aislinn Clancy, Green Party candidate for Kitchener Centre came into the CKMS-FM studio for Meet The Candidate on Monday 24 February 2025 to talk to the voters. Party: Green Party of Ontario Website: https://www.voteclancy.ca/ https://gpo.ca/candidate/aislinn-clancy/ Email: voteclancy@gpo.ca Aislinn.Clancy@gmail.com Phone: +1-226-505-6571 Twitter(X): https://x.com/AislinnClancyKC https://x.com/aislinn_clancy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AislinnClancyKC/ https://www.facebook.com/voteclancy2023/ https://www.facebook.com/aislinn.clancy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aislinnclancykc/ https://www.instagram.com/aislinnclancy/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aislinnclancy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aislinn-clancy-2b4bb51b8/ Reddit: … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Aislinn Clancy, Green Party candidate for Kitchener Centre Meet The Candidate: Colleen James, Liberal candidate for Kitchener Centre Colleen James, Liberal candidate for Kitchener Centre, came to the CKMS-FM studio on Friday 21 February 2025 to talk to the voters. Party: Ontario Liberal Party Website: https://colleen-james.ca https://colleenjames.ontarioliberal.ca/ Email: hello@colleen-james.ca ColleenJames@ontarioliberal.ca Phone: +1-519-342-6509 +1-519-500-8220 Twitter(X): https://x.com/_colleenjames Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colleenjames4mpp https://www.facebook.com/people/Colleen-James-Political-Candidate-Region-of-Waterloo/100079580328645 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleenjames4mpp/ https://www.instagram.com/councillorcolleen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenjames01/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/colleenjames.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@councillorcolleen See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-colleen-james-liberal-candidate-for-kitchener-centre.mp3, … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Colleen James, Liberal candidate for Kitchener Centre Meet The Candidate: Christopher Nuhn, independent candidate for Kitchener Centre Christopher Nuhn, independent candidate for Kitchener Centre, talks to the voters. Party: Independent Website: https://wearethechange.ca/ https://votemate.org/c/11176?riding=2068 Email: votechrisnuhn@gmail.com chrisnuhn@gmail.com Phone: +1-226-600-6292 +1-519-804-5424 Twitter(X): https://x.com/eastmanblues Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573140781416 https://www.facebook.com/christopher.nuhn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisnuhn6669 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-nuhn-6a5821328/ See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-christopher-nuhn-independent-candidate-for-kitchener-centre.mp3, 22 MBytes. Subscribe to the podcast! Video YouTube: Meet The Candidate: Christopher Nuhn, independent candidate for Kitchener Centre … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Christopher Nuhn, independent candidate for Kitchener Centre Meet The Candidate: Catherine Fife, NDP candidate for Waterloo Catherine Fife, NDP candidate for Waterloo, came into the CKMS-FM studio to talk to voters on Thursday 20 February 2025. Party: New Democratic Party of Ontario Website: https://catherinefife.ontariondp.ca/ Email: catherine.fife@ontariondp.ca Phone: +1-519-746-3025 Twitter(X): https://x.com/CFifeKW Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherinefifeNDP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waterloompp/ https://www.instagram.com/cfifekw/ https://www.instagram.com/catherinefife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CatherineFifeKW https://www.youtube.com/@CFifeKW LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-fife/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/waterloompp.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@waterloompp Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Fife See all episodes. Podcast … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Catherine Fife, NDP candidate for Waterloo Meet The Candidate: Jessica Riley, Green Party candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler Jessica Riley, Green Party candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler, came into the CKMS-FM studio to talk to voters on Thursday 20 February 2025. She was accompanied by Shefaza Esmail, Green Party candidate for Waterloo. Party: Green Party of Ontario Website: https://www.riley4ksh.ca/ Email: jessica.s.riley@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KSHgreens LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicasriley/ See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-jessica-riley-green-party-candidate-for-kitchener-south-hespeler.mp3, 23 … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Jessica Riley, Green Party candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler Meet The Candidate: Brooklin Wallis, NDP candidate for Kitchener Centre Brooklin Wallis, NDP candidate for Kitchener Centre, came into the CKMS-FM studio to talk to voters on Wednesday 19 February 2025. She was accompanied by her campaign manager, Alex Loop. Party: New Democratic Party of Ontario Website: http://votebrooklin.ca https://brooklinwallis.ca/ https://brooklinwallis.ontariondp.ca/ Email: brooklin.wallis@ontariondp.ca Phone: +1-416-591-8637 Twitter(X): https://x.com/BrooklinWR Facebook: https://facebook.com/brooklinwr Instagram: https://instagram.com/brooklinwr YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrooklinWallis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooklinwr/ Reddit: … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Brooklin Wallis, NDP candidate for Kitchener Centre Meet The Candidate: Marjorie Knight, NDP candidate in Cambridge Marjorie Knight, NDP candidate for Cambridge, came into the CKMS-FM studio to talk to voters on Wednesday 19 February 2025. Party: New Democratic Party of Ontario Website: https://marjorieknight.ontariondp.ca/ https://cambridge.ontariopc.ca/ Email: marjorie.knight@ontariondp.ca Phone: +1-226-473-1001 Twitter(X): https://x.com/knightmjaknight Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarjorieKnightCambridge Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knightmja2021/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marjorie-knight-579864304/ See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-marjorie-knight-ndp-candidate-for-cambridge.mp3, 22 MBytes. Subscribe to the podcast! Video YouTube: … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Marjorie Knight, NDP candidate in Cambridge Meet The Candidate: Jeff Donkersgoed, candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler Jeff Donkersgoed, NDP candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler, came into the CKMS-FM studio on Tuesday 18 February 2025 to talk to the voters. Party: New Democratic Party of Ontario Website: https://jeffdonkersgoed.ontariondp.ca/ Email: jeff.donkersgoed@ontariondp.ca Phone: +1-416-591-8637 Twitter(X): https://x.com/jjdonkersgoed Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572122113473 https://www.facebook.com/jeff.donkersgoed.5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donkersgoedjeff/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-donkersgoed-9bb5731b6/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@donkersgoedjeff See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-jeff-donkersgoed-ndp-candidate-for-kitchener-south-hespeler.mp3, 22 MBytes. … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Jeff Donkersgoed, candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler Meet The Candidate: Jodi Szimanski, NDP candidate for Kitchener — Conestoga Jodi Szimanski, NDP candidate for Kitchener — Conestoga, came into the CKMS-FM studio on Tuesday 18 February 2025 to speak to the voters. Party: New Democratic Party of Ontario Website: https://jodiszimanski.ontariondp.ca/ Email: jodi.szimanski@ontariondp.ca Phone: +1-226-476-2063 Twitter(X): https://x.com/JodiSz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodiszimanskindpcandidate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodiszimanski LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodiszimanski/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jodisz.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jodiszi See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-jodi-szimanski-ndp-candidate-for-kitchener-conestoga.mp3, 22 MBytes. … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Jodi Szimanski, NDP candidate for Kitchener — Conestoga Meet The Candidate: Shefaza Esmail, Green Party candidate for Waterloo Shefaza Esmail, the Green Party candidate for Waterloo, came into the CKMS-FM studio on Friday 14 February 2025 to speak to the voters. She was joined by Jessica Riley, Green Party candidate for Kitchener South — Hespeler. Party: Green Party of Ontario Website: https://www.shefaza.ca/ https://gpo.ca/candidate/shefaza-esmail/ Email: shefazaesmail@gpo.ca Twitter(X): https://x.com/shefazae Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shefaza.esmail Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shefazaforwaterloo/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shefaza-esmail-56b64031/ … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Shefaza Esmail, Green Party candidate for Waterloo Meet The Candidate: Clayton Moore, Liberal Party candidate for Waterloo Clayton Moore, the Liberal Party candidate for Waterloo, came into the CKMS-FM studio on Wednesday 12 February 2025 to speak to the voters. Party: Ontario Liberal Party Website: https://voteclayton.ca/ Email: info@voteclayton.ca Phone: +1-519-513-1062 Twitter(X): https://x.com/_ClaytonM Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Clayton-Moore/61571460842068/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voteforclayton/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@itsClaytonMoore Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/clayton-moore.bsky.social See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-clayton-moore-liberal-party-candidate-for-waterloo.mp3, 22 MBytes. Subscribe to the podcast! … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Clayton Moore, Liberal Party candidate for Waterloo Meet The Candidate: Rob Deutschmann, Liberal Party candidate for Cambridge Rob Deutschmann, the Liberal Party candidate for Cambridge, came into the CKMS-FM studio on Tuesday 11 February 2025 to speak to the voters. Party: Ontario Liberal Party Website: https://www.robformpp.ca/ Email: info@robformpp.ca Phone: +1-548-889-5719 Twitter(X): https://x.com/Rob_for_MPP https://x.com/robdeutschmann Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.deutschmann.75 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rob_deutschmann/ https://www.instagram.com/robdeutschmann/ LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/robdeutschmann Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wrtownhalls.bsky.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@robdeutschmann See all episodes. Podcast Download: meet-the-candidate-rob-deutschmann-liberal-party-candidate-for-cambridge.mp3, 24 MBytes. … Continue reading Meet The Candidate: Rob Deutschmann, Liberal Party candidate for Cambridge Meet The Candidate – 2025 Provincial Election Meet The Candidate brings the candidates from Waterloo Region into the studio to present their party platform, the local issues they’ll tackle, the reasons they’re running, and maybe a personal glimpse into their life outside of politics. This is not an interview show, this is just the candidate, speaking directly to you, the voter. The … Continue reading Meet The Candidate – 2025 Provincial Election 
The views expressed in this program are not necessarily those of the Radio Waterloo Board of Directors, volunteers, sponsors, or advertisers.
All candidates in Waterloo Region were invited by e-mail, the party’s online contact form, or on social media. Some have declined to participate, others have not responded.
The conversation, the podcast, and the show notes are Copyright © 2025 by the participants, and released under a 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to use this material, as long as you provide credit and a link back to this page.
The theme music used in Meet The Candidate is Falling Sky by Jason Shaw of AudionautiX.com and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Winterloo
Father To Son
Interzone
Through The Static
Atardecer Ranchero
Mazaj Show
From The Void
Unlimited Fortune
CKMS Community Connections
The Wax Jungle
Pressure Drop
Let’s Chit Chat with Narine Dat
Civic Hub Waterloo Region
Subscribe to the Welcome To The Civic Hub podcast
See all the Welcome To The Civic Hub posts
The Video King the Radio Star award is given to the show who best utilizes the OTF video system to support their program. The winner is Sean Bush of 
The SoundFM Soldier award is given to two members who have put in a lot of work behind the scenes to keep CKMS Community Radio alive. The term “SoundFM” was once used as the name of the station as community members put in countless hours of volunteer work to keep the station alive. The winners are Chris Sherren and Bob Jonkman, both on the Tech Committee.
The Best Cultural/Culturally Diverse show is awarded to a show the best show that either features many different cultures or represents a culture that is under represented in the area. The winner is Bassam Awwad of the 
The Best LP Show (LP is “Long Playing”) is awarded to the years best show that has been running for 3+ years. The winner is 
The Community Radio Award is given to a show that exemplifies what Community Radio is all about – COMMUNITY! The winner is Narine Dat Sookram of 
Subscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
