Newly minted Liberal Leader Mark Carney ran on an ambitious platform. He promised quick and bold action. But six months into his tenure as prime minister, what have Canadians witnessed? This week on “It’s Political” we’ll get a variety of viewpoints on how Carney is dealing with Trump, the economy, the environment, among other issues.

Then, the Toronto Star’s Ottawa bureau will discuss the challenges this government faces in passing its agenda. Who will be Carney’s dance partner? And how does the NDP’s search for a new leader, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s review play into those considerations? Host Althia Raj is joined by politics reporters Ryan Tumilty and Raisa Patel, and the Star’s deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Alex Ballingall.

Also featured on this episode: Mark Warner, Principal at MAAW Law; economist Don Drummond, the Stauffer-Dunning fellow at Queen’s University and a fellow-in-residence at C.D. Howe; and Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law.

This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel.

Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC, CBC, CTV and BBC.

Join Althia Raj and the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau as they get ready to cover a busy and unpredictable fall in Canadian politics.

Canada’s Minister of National Defence David McGuinty joins Althia to discuss increases to the country’s defense budget and what the relationship looks like with the U.S. going forward. Their conversation follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement this week that Canada will greatly increase military spending to 2 per cent of GDP just as NATO allies get together later this month to discuss raising the bar to 5 per cent.

We also speak to industry experts about just how integrated the Canadian and American militaries are, and what it would mean to become less reliant on the U.S.

In this episode: Minister of National Defence David McGuinty; Centre for International Governance Innovation’s visiting executive and former National Defence director general Raquel Garbers, University of Ottawa associate professor and former bureaucrat Peter Jones; Canadian Global Affairs Institute President and CEO David Perry. Hosted by Althia Raj.

This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel.

Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC, CBC, Canadian Press Gallery, C-SPAN, CNN, CTV, CBS, BBC and NATO News.