Épisodes

  • The rich, populist Republican radical who paved the way for Trump

    The rich, populist Republican radical who paved the way for Trump
    Sep 1 2025
    The U.S. Republican party today isn’t what it used to be. But the evolution toward President Donald Trump’s MAGA-ism began decades ago when William F. Buckley launched a revolution on the American right. As Buckley’s official biographer Sam Tanenhaus tells Brian, the late conservative icon was a lot like Trump: a media-savvy wealthy elite who rebelled against the very establishment he came from. In his new book, Buckley: The Life and Revolution That Changed America, Tanenhaus lays out the improbable, fascinating story of the arch-Catholic New Englander who chummed around with hardcore leftists but transformed the GOP into a political powerhouse. In no small part by engaging Republicans in the culture war that eventually put Trump in the White House. (Recorded July 24, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    54 min
  • They crushed our rights for COVID. We still haven’t won them back

    They crushed our rights for COVID. We still haven’t won them back
    Aug 25 2025
    We all know governments used the pandemic as rationale for stripping away basic Charter rights, even if some think it was justified. John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, remains at the forefront in fighting to get them back. He has a new book out, Corrupted by Fear: How the Charter was betrayed and what Canadians can do about it. And he discusses with Brian why it’s so important to expose the junk science, careless courts and gross media negligence that made it easy for governments to wield dangerous powers so irresponsibly. COVID may be over, Carpay explains, but if we don’t rebuild our culture of freedom, history tells us governments will do it again — and sooner than we think. (Recorded July 11, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 min
  • The man who saved Canada’s Conservatives from political irrelevance

    The man who saved Canada’s Conservatives from political irrelevance
    Aug 18 2025
    Before Pierre Poilievre, before Brian Mulroney, there was one leader who made federal conservatives an electoral force to be reckoned with. Before John Diefenbaker, Canada had begun to resemble a Liberal one-party state. Bob Plamondon, author of the new book Freedom Fighter: John Diefenbaker's Battle for Canadian Liberties and Independence, talks with Brian about how Dief became a political sensation bigger than any other prime minister. How he stood against Soviets, while standing up to America, and championed equality before it was fashionable. And Plamondon explains how the three-time prime minister created the blueprint for the common-man conservatism that animates the party even today, turning the Tories “from a party of losers into a party of winners.” (Recorded June 26, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    51 min
  • Putin is fighting to stave off Russia’s looming collapse

    Putin is fighting to stave off Russia’s looming collapse
    Aug 11 2025
    A lot of people in the West misunderstand the motives of Russian president Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. As Andrew Natsios, editor of the new book Russia Under Putin, tells Brian, we won’t understand the war unless we understand demographics. Russia’s population is cratering; the largest country by land mass is rapidly depopulating and becoming vulnerable, particularly to China. While posing as a defender of traditional values has won Putin fans among some American right-wingers, it’s a sham, used for propaganda purposes, and even Russians don’t believe it, says Natsios. He shares his fascinating insights into Putin’s power, tactics and fears for anyone who wants a genuine understanding of what the authoritarian Russian leader is really up to. (Recorded July 28, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 min
  • Mark Carney falls right into a Hamas trap

    Mark Carney falls right into a Hamas trap
    Aug 4 2025
    For two years, Hamas has used the suffering of Palestinians to manipulate global opinion. As Brian discusses with this week’s guests, it worked: The Hamas-engineered hunger crisis in Gaza has prompted Canada, with France and the U.K., to recognize a Palestinian state based on unenforceable conditions like democratic elections and Hamas relinquishing power — which it says it will never do. Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador, says the declarations have already destroyed ceasefire talks. Eylon Levy, former spokesman for Israel’s government, says these naïve western “student politics” invite everlasting war. And Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar, who has worked with fledgling Mideast democracies, explains how Carney has, ironically, subverted Canada’s democracy, and interests, with his reckless decision. (Recorded August 1, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 min
  • Canada’s justice system is bringing itself into disrepute

    Canada’s justice system is bringing itself into disrepute
    Jul 28 2025
    One-day sentences for aiding and abetting the Islamic State terror group, a few short years for murder, but possibly more if you’re an anti-vaccine trucker: these stories and loads of others from recent Canadian court cases seem to be undermining the public’s faith in our justice system. Brian chats with Postmedia columnists Jamie Sarkonak and Brian Lilley about how things went so wrong and what to do about it. They also discuss the recent acquittal of the five hockey players for sexual assault, and how the judge’s exceptional handling of the case shows that all is not lost if we want to fix the system — if anyone in government is ever willing to try. (Recorded July 25, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 min
  • How Canadian fentanyl smuggling to the U.S. really works and who’s behind it

    How Canadian fentanyl smuggling to the U.S. really works and who’s behind it
    Jul 21 2025
    Between President Donald Trump claiming there’s a flood of fentanyl from Canada to the U.S., and people here insisting there’s almost none, the truth is elusive. A new American report gets to the bottom of what’s really going on, and its author, Jonathan Caulkins, talks to Brian about what he found. Specializing in crime systems, the professor from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College breaks down how global supply chains run by criminal organizations moving from Mexico to China to Australia feed Canadian labs with precursor chemicals. And how much of the final made-in-Canada product actually ends up on America’s streets — including, unexpectedly, in Alaska. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    46 min
  • We have no idea what our federal leaders stand for anymore

    We have no idea what our federal leaders stand for anymore
    Jul 14 2025
    We’ve lost sight of where Prime Minister Mark Carney is pointing his elbows as U.S. President Donald Trump keeps smacking Canada with more economic threats. Brian talks this week about Carney’s erratic political shapeshifting with Conservative adviser Ginny Roth and veteran Liberal adviser Warren Kinsella, and asks: Is our new prime minister emerging as a progressive, a conservative, or someone who will just say anything to placate the public? They also discuss the not-so-certain future of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, now boxing against a shadow opponent while his party members try to decide if he’s the right man to keep leading them. And, if so, what will he stand for if Carney keeps stealing his ideas? (Recorded July 11, 2025) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    55 min