The Missing Middle Podcast

From breath mints and car break-ins to bouncers at the Rogers store, urban life is starting to feel a lot more “on alert.” In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux examine the rise of crime and disorder in our cities, as well as the disturbing data behind transit violence. However, this isn’t just about safety; it’s about the future of our neighbourhoods. If people don’t feel safe on the streetcar or the sidewalk, can we ever truly build the dense, walkable, “missing middle” communities Canada so desperately needs?
This surge in disorder acts as a "hidden tax" on urban living, forcing residents to choose between the convenience of the city and the perceived security of the suburbs. By analyzing these shifts, we uncover how a lack of safety might be the biggest hurdle yet to solving our housing goals.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: Crime, Disorder, and the Future of Cities
00:50 Car Break-ins and Security Measures
04:23 Personal Experiences on the Streetcar
05:02 By the Numbers: Rising Assaults on Canadian Transit
07:07 Why Density Requires Public Trust
09:00 Why Spouting Stats Doesn't Change Minds
13:58 The Political Disconnect on Urban Safety
16:49 Finding Solutions: Justice Reform and Mental Health
18:10 Why "visible progress" matters more than spreadsheets

Research links:

Transit violence rising across Canada — in some cities by nearly 300%

Chris Arnande tweet

The Slow-Motion Exodus: How GTA Outmigration Became Ontario’s Defining Trend

The Politics of Safety: Why Bail Reform Is Striking a Chord with Canadians

Sabrina Maddeaux: Canada’s suburban crime surge is exposing years of national security neglect

It's Time to Talk About America's Disorder Problem

Related reading/listening:
OFF THE RAILS: Data exposes crime, mental illness at TTC’s track level
More than 70 per cent of Ontarians feel less safe on transit than a year ago, survey suggests
Homelessness, Social Disorder and Public Transit in Calgary, Canada: Examining perspectives from law enforcement through the lens of critical social theory

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

From avocado toast jokes to accusations of entitlement, every generation seems to get its turn in the stereotype spotlight. In this episode of The Missing Middle, economist Mike Moffatt and journalist Cara Stern dig into where these labels come from — and, more importantly, whether generations really do experience the economy differently.

They explore how major historical shocks — from the Great Depression and World War II to 9/11, the Great Recession, and the pandemic — shape our values, anxieties, and opportunities. The conversation moves beyond clichés to examine how birth year, cohort size, housing markets, job markets, technology, and public policy combine to create very different economic realities for Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:37 Avocado toast & generational stereotypes
03:25 Horriscopes for statistical nerds?
04:46 The history of grouping people into generations
06:41 Mike’s genX and Cara’s millennial experiences 
13:24 Understanding generational differences
15:55 Generation size, power & public Policy
19:40 Inherited wealth & pulling the ladder up
22:30 The ethos of DemograFix

Research/links:
https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/201/articles/27MannheimGenerations.pdf

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Ontario’s Greenbelt is often treated as untouchable — but is it actually making the housing crisis worse?In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux tackle the question viewers keep asking: can Ontario build enough family-friendly homes without touching the Greenbelt — and what happens if it doesn’t? They unpack how the Greenbelt was sold as a social contract, why governments never delivered the missing middle housing they promised, and how policies meant to stop sprawl may have actually pushed families farther away.
The conversation breaks down four realistic paths forward: doing nothing, finally legalizing family-sized infill housing, cutting immigration to ease demand, or partially opening the Greenbelt — and why every option is politically fraught. Along the way, they explain leapfrog sprawl, why condos aren’t working for families, and how decades of policy avoidance have left young Canadians priced out and disillusioned.
If you care about housing affordability, family-friendly neighborhoods, or the future of Ontario’s cities, this episode lays out the uncomfortable trade-offs politicians keep avoiding.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction
00:47 – The Most Common Audience Question
01:50 – Is the Greenbelt Politically Untouchable Now?
05:23 – The Greenbelt’s Broken Social Contract
10:05 – What Families Actually Need in a Home
11:35 – How the Greenbelt Makes Sprawl Worse
14:00 – Has Anyone Studied Greenbelt Sprawl?
15:00 – Four Options for Housing vs the Greenbelt
15:53 - Option 1: Do Nothing
18:31 – Option 2: Fix Housing Without Expansion
23:48 – Option 3: Cutting Immigration
27:15 – Option 4: Opening the Greenbelt
29:55 – What’s Most Likely to Happen Next?

Research/links:
Mike’s tweet
https://x.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1991593178085142851?s=20

London’s Garden Belt:
https://x.com/JenMTreadwell/status/2001256081188905271?s=20

The Welfare Effects of Greenbelt Policy: Evidence from England
https://academic.oup.com/ej/article/134/657/363/7276598

Green Belts: Past; present; future?
https://www.routledge.com/Green-Belts-Past-present-future/Sturzaker-Mell/p/book/9781138339392

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

In this special Ask Me Anything episode of The Missing Middle, the full team answers your biggest viewer questions on housing, transit, immigration, and affordability — and we share a major announcement about the future of the podcast. We also introduce our newest team member and talk candidly about why this work hits close to home for so many Canadians.

The conversation dives into walkable neighbourhoods and small businesses, why governments struggle to act on housing affordability, the taboo around discussing immigration and housing together, transit as a pressure valve for urban sprawl, and why seniors are stuck in family-sized homes. Plus, we explain what’s changing on the show, including two new weekly episodes, DemograFix and Classonomics, and what it means for listeners going forward.

Chapters
00:00 Ask Me Anything 2025 and look ahead
00:45 Meet our editor/technical producer Sean Foreman
03:01 Introducing the new podcast DemograFix
03:52 Introducing Classonomics
04:16 You don’t need to do anything, we promise 🙂
05:01 Meredith’s take on the future of Missing Middle podcasts
07:29 Question from Matthieu Gagnon about walkability
09:56 Rahim Ismail’s Question about the government being out of touch
12:34 Examining the intentionality of the government's lack of response
15:36 Chosing one stakeholder over another
16:46  Vanessa MacDonald’s question about talking about immigration policy
20:49 Daniel D'Angela’s question about good transit
22:57 Seniors downsizing and banning all foreign ownership

Research/links:

Can Tax Reform Help Young People Afford Homes?
https://youtu.be/rW9QZ91lF9k?si=lep3WbEYfmZATaUQ

2025 Provincial HOMES Report Card
https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/2025-provincial-homes-report-card

The Positive Utility of the Commute: Modeling Ideal Commute Time and Relative Desired Commute Amount
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263313349_The_Positive_Utility_of_the_Commute_Modeling_Ideal_Commute_Time_and_Relative_Desired_Commute_Amount

Measuring the Local Economic Impacts of Replacing On-Street Parking With Bike Lanes
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2019.1638816

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Is Canada’s life sciences and health tech sector heading toward a code red? In this episode, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt unpack how outdated and fragmented privacy laws are slowing innovation, and why aligning too closely with European regulations could make things even worse. They explore the “Brussels effect,” where the EU’s regulatory power shapes rules far beyond Europe, and how Canada may already be feeling its impact.

The conversation dives into why modern health innovation depends on large-scale data, how Canada’s patchwork of federal and provincial rules creates costly barriers, and what lessons we could learn from countries like Japan and Singapore instead.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:44 The Brussels Effect explained
03:17 Outdated health-data and privacy rules
04:13 Accessing lifescience data
06:00 Safety vs innovation
07:40 Europe lacks tech innovation
08:55 We’re already adopting EU rules
09:28 Asia leads the way in healthtech data regulation

Research:
Health Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be This Hard
https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/health-innovation-doesnt-have-to?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The Draghi report on EU competitiveness
https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/draghi-report_en

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.