As Pickering rapidly evolves, new questions are emerging around growth, identity, infrastructure, housing, transit, and the kind of future residents actually want to build.

Fahad Rehman sits down with Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe for a wide-ranging conversation about the opportunities, pressures, and big decisions facing one of Ontario’s fastest-changing communities.

They discuss rapid development, traffic, transit planning, Northeast Pickering, property taxes, local politics, regional government, complete communities, and what Pickering could look like 10, 20, and 30 years from now.

Mayor Ashe also reflects on the realities of public office, difficult decisions behind the scenes, and what it takes to lead through a period of major transformation.

Between The Lakes is a podcast about the people, places, and hidden decisions shaping life across the GTA, Southern Ontario, and the communities between the Great Lakes.

If it affects where we live and how we grow, we’re talking about it here.

New episodes weekly. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

Toronto voted 36–4 to build it. A massive park in the heart of the city. A project some compared to New York’s Central Park.

Then developers challenged the plan, the province sided with them, and everything changed.

Chris Jovellanos was inside Toronto’s planning department as Rail Deck Park went from one of the city’s most ambitious public space projects… to a proposed condo development above the rail corridor.

In Episode 1 of Between The Lakes, we break down:
• what Rail Deck Park actually was
• how “air rights” changed everything
• why downtown Toronto desperately needs more green space
• the tension between housing and public space
• and whether there’s still any path to bringing the original vision back

Between The Lakes is a podcast about the people, places, and hidden decisions shaping life across the GTA, Southern Ontario, and the communities between the Great Lakes.

If it affects where we live and how we grow, we’re talking about it here.

New episodes weekly. Available wherever you get your podcasts.