Épisodes

  • Mark Carney shoots blanks, again

    Mark Carney shoots blanks, again
    Nov 10 2025
    He promised a historic budget. He warned of big sacrifices. He said he had a vision. But what Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered was not much more than a big-spending, big-government Trudeau-style plan, with a bit less hostility to business and some long-overdue military funding, as Tasha Kheiriddin and Stuart Thomson, curators of Postmedia’s Political Hack politics newsletter, discuss with Brian. They look at some of the odder budget choices and at the rough reception the plan has gotten from some corners. They also consider Carney’s lack of progress on other promises. And they discuss the floor-crossing frenzy that (so far) seems to have fizzled out with a single defector from the Conservatives — and why it played out the way it did. (Recorded November 7, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 min
  • Cautionary tales from a refugee of NDP and Green party ecopolitics

    Cautionary tales from a refugee of NDP and Green party ecopolitics
    Nov 3 2025
    From Elizabeth May’s permanent iron grip on the Green party; to Jagmeet Singh’s self-destructive Liberal alliance; and the sabotaging of NDP campaigns by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein’s “leap manifesto”: Mark Leiren-Young, a committed environmentalist, saw all of it from a front-row seat. He had worked to help elect the politicians he thought were committed to fighting for his cause. But, as he tells Brian — and describes in his new book Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Ecopolitics — he discovered they turned out to be more committed to fighting with each other, while being lousy at politics. For people truly interested in his kind of change, Leiren-Young explains why these parties might be better to disappear entirely. (Recorded October 31, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 min
  • The epic trolling behind Trump’s ad-trashing trade tantrum

    The epic trolling behind Trump’s ad-trashing trade tantrum
    Oct 27 2025
    Did Republican icon Ronald Reagan detest tariffs or love them? For President Donald Trump and his fiercely loyal army of acolytes, the answer is whatever the president says. As Brian discusses with Postmedia political columnists Lorne Gunter and Chris Selley, there’s no reason to be surprised that Trump blew up trade talks over an ad being run by Ontario that quotes Reagan denouncing tariffs, saying it was “fake” (it wasn’t). The lies, absurdism and overbearing demands of a president who insists his word is law have become a familiar pattern. But Canadian politicians like Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney who think they can appeal to America’s logic are acting just as irrationally. (Recorded October 24, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 min
  • Why Carney is blowing trade talks with Trump

    Why Carney is blowing trade talks with Trump
    Oct 20 2025
    The elbows are down, the prime minister is backslapping President Donald Trump, but America’s tariffs just keep coming, and hurting Canada more. The ugly truth is that Ottawa’s been foundering in trade talks with the White House, as former diplomat to the U.S., Louise Blaise, and former trade minister Ed Fast discuss with Brian this week from the Banff Forum in Quebec City. They explain how Mark Carney’s government missed important opportunities, failed to maximize its leverage, and unnecessarily antagonized Trump with anti-American rhetoric, needless irritants and, most recently, a gratuitous Palestinian declaration. As we near negotiations for the crucial Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, they explain how Ottawa can alter course to improve things — before they get far worse. (Recorded October 17, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 min
  • How Qatar supports terrorists and still enjoys vast western influence

    How Qatar supports terrorists and still enjoys vast western influence
    Oct 13 2025
    It’s a major backer of Hamas. It’s an ally of the United States. It has alienated Arab neighbours and spreads toxic propaganda through Al Jazeera but maintains relations with Israel. Since Oct. 7, 2023, the enigmatic Qatar has been a linchpin in negotiations over the war in Gaza. Brian talks to two guests about how this tiny, gas-rich emirate has taken an outsized role in the Middle East. Alon Ben-Meir, retired New York University professor and author, explains how Qatar became central to a Hamas-Israel peace deal. And Haras Rafiq, who tracks Islamism and terrorism, discusses how Qatar nonetheless continues to promote radical Islamism in the region and in the West, especially in Canada. (Recorded October 10, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 1 min
  • The many deceptions of the Liberals’ gun ‘buyback’

    The many deceptions of the Liberals’ gun ‘buyback’
    Oct 6 2025
    The public safety minister admitted his government’s sweeping plan to confiscate thousands of previously legal gun models with a “buyback” is badly flawed. But as Ian Runkle, a lawyer specializing in firearms law, tells Brian, it’s far more troubling than that. Ottawa plans to recreate a form of the hated gun registry that it abandoned long ago. And gun owners won’t necessarily be compensated for turning in their weapons, but will risk violent police raids if they don’t. Tens of thousands of resisters, including no small number of Indigenous Canadians, could face arrest and jail time. And, says Runkle, it all seems for the sake of placating one small Quebec anti-gun group and punishing non-Liberal voters. (Recorded October 3, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 min
  • It’s now thinkable that Carney and co. don’t want Israel to win

    It’s now thinkable that Carney and co. don’t want Israel to win
    Sep 29 2025
    No military in history has been as careful as Israel to minimize civilian casualties in war. And no country has been criticized for it like Israel has — including by Canada. That’s the assessment of guests Richard Kemp and John Spencer, former military men and two of the highest authorities on urban warfare. They explain to Brian the groundbreaking lengths the IDF goes to in Gaza to mitigate harm, and wholeheartedly reject claims against Israel by Prime Minister Mark Carney and his confederates in the U.K., France and Australia who last week recognized a Palestinian state. The antagonism of Canada and co. suggests they don’t really want Israel to succeed, helping Hamas to prolong the war. The West, they say, has “blood on its hands.” (Recorded September 26, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 8 min
  • Carney’s high-flying promises come crashing back to earth

    Carney’s high-flying promises come crashing back to earth
    Sep 22 2025
    When he was elected, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a trade deal with President Donald Trump, a blaze of new major infrastructure projects and a return to affordable middle-class home ownership. Today, Canadian and American trade negotiating teams are barely speaking, the only prioritized projects recently announced were already in the works, and the housing plan looks like a monumental boondoggle with hazy deliverables, as Brian discusses this week with Stuart Thomson and Tasha Kheiriddin, the team behind Postmedia’s Political Hack insider newsletter. As Stuart and Tasha describe, Carney enjoyed a good first week in the House with civility from returning Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. But that can’t last as so many of the high expectations Carney has set collide with governing reality. (Recorded September 18, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h