‘Blind Date’ episode with Oshawa’s Dan Carter and Brampton’s Patrick Brown airs Tuesday

After their blind date last September went public the gossip channels have not uttered a peep about the bromance between Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.

But this Tuesday you can see for yourself what happened that day on the streets of the Motor City when TVO airs Episode 5 – Homelessness – of the fifth and final season of Political Blind Date.

Homelessness might be a suitable topic of conversations for most date nights, but the subject is applicable to both cities and fits in with the premise of the show, which pits politicians, usually of different ideologies, to talk about important issues of the day.

Previous ‘dates’ have paired up former Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver and Huron-Kinloss Mayor Mitch Twolan to discuss clean drinking water; Quebec MP Pierre Paul-Hus and Toronto Liberal MP Rob Oliphant on asylum seekers; and Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on transit.

This year’s slate covers topics such as sustained racism, veterans, the ‘real’ history of Canada, the future of unionism (starring now dis-honoured former Unifor boss Jerry Dias) and the opioid crisis.

The Homelessness episode was filmed September 8, with Carter and Brown, a former Ontario Conservative Party Leader, discussing solutions to the growing homelessness crisis in their cities and across Canada. Carter took Brown to examine solutions such as a hub that provides integrated health care and social services to homeless people, as well as a micro-home prototype built from storage containers. In Brampton, Brown demonstrated the power of large, diverse cities to harness faith communities to help combat homelessness and poverty.

The episode featured appearances from Derek Giberson, an Oshawa Councillor who is also President of the Back Door Mission in Oshawa, Tracy Greig, Executive Director, Durham Non-Profit Housing Corporation, Sri Guru Nanak of the Sikh Centre, Brampton, Harkirat Singh, Councillor, City of Brampton, Mandeep Singh, Khalsa Aid and Annie Bynoe, Executive Director, The Knight’s Table

The shows try to balance light-hearted fun and heated exchanges to help humanize political discourse, while also providing an outlet for viewers who want to see past partisan divisions and build something together.

The episode airs Tuesday, April 5 at 9 pm on TVO.