Earlier this year at Lean Out, we covered Canada’s federal election. It was a contest not just between candidates and parties but between dominant narratives about the challenges facing this country. Was our biggest problem the decline in material conditions, or was it Donald Trump? Our guest on today’s podcast was there, on the campaign trail. He’s just written a book about why this election was one of the most consequential in recent memory.

Justin Ling is a Canadian journalist and author. His Substack newsletter is Bug-eyed and Shameless, and his new book is The 51st State Votes: Canada Versus Donald Trump.

This episode was taped earlier this month.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

In 2021, Canada was rocked by a discovery at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops: what appeared to be the remains of more than 200 Indigenous children. The story went viral globally and was reported by The New York Times and others as a mass grave. But to date, no remains have been exhumed. Our guest on the program today is a First Nation chief and a podcaster who has made a new, hour-long video breaking down the controversy. He says it’s time for the media to grapple with its reporting errors — and the fallout for the country.

Aaron Pete is Chief of the Chawathil First Nation, and host of the Nuanced podcast, formerly called Bigger Than Me. He’s also a guest host of this show.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

September is here and Lean Out is back with a new season of conversations with writers and thinkers from around the world. We could not think of a more important topic to kick off our fall season than the state of Canadian democracy. Our guest on the program today has written a new book that serves as a wake-up call — he says that while we observe the rituals of the democratic process, we have lost its spirit and its substance.

Andrew Coyne is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and a weekly panelist on CBC’s The National. His debut book is The Crisis of Canadian Democracy.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com