June 3, 2024 By: Nick Wangersky. Politics is an interesting racket out there, and I never thought in all my years of covering stuff on the film industry would I randomly be talking to someone who was running for mayor. But he did have some experience in film work and has chatted with film types. Who? Brian Crombie, a man of many talents, and a resume of assorted jobs that he could solve all of the city’s problems, maybe even all of Toronto’s problems. Currently, Brian wants to be Mississauga’s next mayor, and with what he has planned, you’ll probably wish you were living there just to vote for him after reading this. That by-election is coming up fast.

Brian is already known for hosting a radio interview show every night at 6 PM on 960AM and has many interesting guests including a young film director who was in the horror genre and had been producing and directing a bunch of horror films, a man who wrote many articles on sexual exploitation and assault in schools, and many more. One particular April Fool’s day, Brian made a joke on his social media saying that he was going to run for mayor and gave a lot of ideas he thought would change Mississauga, especially in the entertainment. But it seemed too serious for a joke, and the next thing he knew, his fans called in with their ideas and their support saying that he actually should run. So Brian with his many years of understanding political powers, changed his mind on the joke and decided he actually would run for mayor.

So, get ready for a multitude of speeches packed into a single interview, because this was the most informative discussion I ever had with anybody. Prepare your ballot for the best!

HNMAG: You’re transitioning into running for mayor. What made you decide to get into politics?

Brian Crombie: Well, I’ve been in politics for a long period of time, always just behind the scenes rather than as the person out front. I actually started getting into politics back when I was a teenager. In the 2000s, Mayor Hazel McCallion asked me to share the Mississauga city summit which I did for 7 years. I was the co-founder, co-chair for it, and I really got involved in civic issues and really enjoyed it. I was CFO of a major pharmaceutical company at the time, but that involvement got me into Mississauga politics and I became of the Mississauga arts council and ultimately for 2 years had been present. That really got me back into the arts, I started out my career working for the Disney company in Los Angeles and was involved in the business side of film, entertainment, and amusement parks etc. It’s always been something I’ve been very passionate about. Building those great cities that have heart to them, because I think that you need a job, you want a good house, but you also want a great community to live in, and its gotta have great retail, restaurants, and parks. It should have some entertainment to show culture, and I think that’s something we haven’t focused on to the extent we need to and should.

HNMAG: And as someone who has hosted an interview hour, have you spoken to politicians before?

Brian Crombie: Yeah, I typically do one or two political interviews every week. Early in the week I do politicians or economists or people like that, then later on I’ll do arts/entertainment people. Different people that add spice to life, I interviewed people that put on the Mosaic festival, one of the most influential festivals in town. I have interviewed people who were launching the Mississauga Arts Council Official Martys Awards. I’ve done a fair amount of artistic stuff as well as a lot of authors of books. I get into the politics, I get into the economics, and I get into a bunch of other things that are really important in life.

HNMAG: If you are elected Mayor, how will you balance out both this and the radio show?

Brian Crombie: I think what we need to do is listen to the residents more, I think we’ve got in Mississauga and maybe far further a failed democratic municipal system. The last election, we had only 20% of the people show up. That means 8 out of 10 people, 4 out of 5 people didn’t even bother to go vote. They said they didn’t think the city politics was relevant, their voice wasn’t being listened to, it didn’t count. I think that is wrong and needs to be changed. With my radio, I do a long form interview, talking to people for 47 minutes. I really get to know people and what they’re all about, and in a great amount of detail. I want to continue doing that whether on my radio or in my day job, I think it’s critical listening to people, because everyone has a story and those stories all put together really is the agenda for what a politician should be doing to put into action what everyone wants to happen. I think that’s number 1, number 2 is I’m a firm believer in democratic systems. I think a municipal referendum would be spectacular and get people out to think about the issue. One of the issues that Mississauga’s been focused on is the last two years has been the potential separation from the regional appeal.

Read more here: https://hnmag.ca/interview/the-media-mayor-interview-with-brian-crombie/