Wednesday 7am Guest - John Meloche

0:00This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? Sunscreen? Snacks? A stapler? The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money. Shop, pay, manager account, and earn rewards all in one place. And with purchase protection on eligible items, biometric security, and pasquies, you're protected at every step. Download the new PayPal app to get started. See PayPal.com slash protection terms. Brussels clean up nicely at sweet green. Maple glazed, roasted, and edges perfectly caramelized. Sweet greens fall harvest is back on the menu. And the season's most overlooked little green vegetable is dressed to be devoured. You know what to do? Order on the sweet green app. This is the Toronto Today podcast. I'm your host, Greg Brady. I'm all for a lot of sentiment and tradition in schools. I like the idea of dances. I was very angry when a few Durham high schools,

1:00Brooklyn being one, cancelled their proms, and they've canceled them after the school years started. So the students, especially at Brooklyn organized their own. I think they have to do the same again this year. I'm all for some of the traditions that that may seem a little antiquated. I'm a sentimental person, but here's what I know. Every person and student and parent and mom and dad has a high powered camera in their pocket. So school photos and school pictures kind of survive and are almost entirely untraditioned and not practicality. And I would make the case strongly that times of change were still doing school photos a little bit like we did in like 1986. A municipal candidate in Pickering for council there for war two and Pickering had the most brilliant idea regarding school photos. And maybe just maybe it could be a win-win for everybody. He is John Malashe and he joins me now on Toronto today. It's lovely to have you on, John. Thanks for the time. Good morning, Greg. Thank you for having me. Well, you got a great idea here and I don't know that you can take this.

2:03You know, really, we need every prime minister in premier to I don't know that they've got bigger fish to fry a suppose than the school photo. But I loved reading your idea. Will you lay it out for our audience? What made you think of this? And why people like me are going, no, this could really work? Well, the reality is I have two kids myself who I'm seeing through grade school right now. So everything that I do is amplified by two. My neighbors behind me have five kids. So I feel their pain as well right now families are being squeezed from every direction. And what frustrates me more is this creeping sense of opportunism around everyday things that are that used to be really simple. And school pictures are perfect example for that. We live in a high tech world. A photographer no longer has to develop photos. They don't have to print them. They don't have to package them. People nowadays mostly want them digitally and DDSB serves more than 80,000 students across the region. And that's a huge scale. So why are we using that scale and today with today's technology to give families a simple, more affordable digital option?

3:10And that would mean, as you said, like right now for people who don't know or just getting into this, this goes every year from JK really all the way through grade 12. They send kind of an envelope home a sealed envelope and they're like pick a package and you check a box and you put a credit card down. They even let you pay online, but they can't we can't get the photos online, but you end up paying online through all these school cash apps and whatnot. So everything except the photos themselves, John, is kind of modernized. Well, I'm also not asking the photography industry to invent digital photography. It's actually been available for many years now. I'm just asking about the price and the accessibility of the basic digital product because right now to get into the seat of a digital photo, you have to buy prints and my package. It's at least $41 per kid. So that's is that what's it going to cost you as a parent for you to your two kids this year for school photos? Probably more than 41 for kid because my wife also wants to print, but with digital printing options at Walmart and different places,

4:16the most economical way to get your pictures done is to get the digital print. And I think we would frown now schools will probably frown if Emily's mom comes in with her with her camera sets up a tripod but side the actual photographer and takes a shot of her kid or the class on her own. Like that would really be going rogue. That's frowned upon because I will make the obvious point that doesn't bring in any money for the photographer. I tend to agree. In fact, I tried to do that last year, but we tried to do it at home. It was an ugly incident. I think it led all the newscasts. Yes. Everybody remembers that. No, that's not true. That didn't mean so. So, like, how would you sort of bridge the gap between the school and the photographer? A lot of these are contracted things, right? I would think with a photo company and the school, and we don't want people to be out of business, but there's got to be more equitable and reasonable way to do it in the digital age than how we're doing photos now. Well, this has already existed at other schools.

5:19There was East Gale Collegiate, which had a program where some of their students offered a $5 photo shoot for some of the graduates to get their photos done. They still offered the ability for edge photo to be able to do the photos if they wanted to, but it was actually quite a popular program. And it was only five bucks a digital image and quite successful. Every school has at least four or five, maybe even 20 different photographer parents that exist. I'm not asking that we have volunteers come in, but if we just focused a little bit of energy on how can we make this more cost effective in today's digital age, there's no question that we'd be able to find some sort of pilot program that could lift off. This does feel right. I think to some parents, nobody wants to be called a cheapskate, but it does feel like a bit of an added, almost a hidden tax on parents. Nobody wants to be left out, and you know, and I know, there's more than enough fees and the ask for money for this and that. And some of its wonderful stuff who doesn't want to be able to afford to pay for their kid to go on a field trip or play a sport or get that musical instrument, you know, firmed up.

6:26But like I do think there's a better way to do this. And it's a drain on some parents as you say who have three or four or five kids, especially. School pictures, they shouldn't preserve memories, not create a financial burden for families. And technology has completely changed photography. And I think it's fair to ask if the business model needs to change with it. John Malashe's our guest. He's running in war to Pickering. Just use the megaphone for a minute. Tell us why you put your name for it. You've been politically active for quite a long time in Pickering and how are things going at the doors? What are you hearing? What are the big issues among voters? For me, it's almost completely about the cost of living and taxes to me. I think we're in a tax emergency. If you recall, taxes were originally brought in as a temporary measure. But today they seem almost punitive. At the doors for me, it seems to be a very common thread that people believe in Durham. Their taxes are going up astronomically.

7:26Investments are being made into the wrong places. And sometimes things feel opportunistic. So for me, it's been quite a win at the doors. I'm getting a lot of support because I'm focused on the money. And I think that most people, that's their biggest concern right now. I think one of the big struggles as well, municipal politicians I would urge. I don't see sometimes enough action or activity. Not just working with the other levels of government. And what I mean working, I mean, you don't just show up at a photo op. You don't just show up to make sure you get your picture taken here and everywhere. You meet regularly with those other levels of government, MPPs and MPs. And you kind of work them a little bit to go, we need this. And right now, this is everybody's problem. And I just find things get put into boxes. And well, this is federal jurisdiction, provincial jurisdiction, municipal jurisdiction. I just think you should be in on all the issues at any level of government. What would you say to that? I wholeheartedly agree. Actually, when I first got involved in politics as a volunteer, it started federally.

8:27Then I moved to provincial. And recognizing that municipal is really where the rubber meets the road. And I've been building relationships all along that way. I think it's important to be able to work with all the parties as well. Because in municipal politics, there really are no sides. The only side that you have is your side of the road. Yeah, that certainly resonates with me. I think the photo thing's a great idea. I know you got a few weeks left to continue banging on doors and getting the word out, John. But thanks for this this morning. Thank you, Greg. Have a great morning. There's John Malasch running for Ward two in Pickering. I think there's a way to it. It's very antiquated. I got teachers texting me and nodding stop going, yes. Someone writes, what would happen? Why won't parents take pictures in front of the schools themselves? I don't think they'd be allowed. I think they'd get shunned and shamed. Someone writes great class project for a class to take on the photos themselves. Absolutely. There's so many kids interested in photography. You imagine the pride you put on a resume?

9:28Well, I took our school photo, our class photo. That's a big thing. I'm not trying to put professional photographers out of business. There's always going to be a wedding for you. Thanks for listening to the Toronto Today podcast. We drop the highlights of the Daily Show every weekday morning. Don't forget, you can hear the entire show on the radio at home on your smart speaker ask Alexa or say, hey, Google, play 640 Toronto or Toronto today. You can hear us on between 530 and 9 weekdays on 640 Toronto. Have a great day.