10/3: Canada Covered

A little over a year after cannabis was legalized in Canada, companies are taking financial losses, amid sluggish sales for some products and a lack of retail space.

The Financial Post's Vanmala Subramaniam joins Dave to explain how the cannabis industry went from being unable to meet demand, to have trouble moving their product.

She lays out what this means for the introduction of edibles into the market.

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Don Cherry was fired from Hockey Night in Canada after a rant criticizing "you people" who "come here" but don't wear poppies.

Cherry, who refused to apologize, was no longer a relevant hockey commentator, argues Postmedia sports columnist Scott Stinson.

The long-time NHL fixture refused to change as attitudes around hockey evolved.

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Today we bring you episode 1 of the Dark North: Gangs of Montreal. It's a new true crime podcast being produced by the Montreal Gazette and Postmedia. 

It was pure coincidence but the Hells Angels opened their first Canadian chapter in Quebec just seven weeks before Nicolo Rizzuto took control of the Montreal Mafia. 

Those events in 1977-78 kickstarted a violent decades-long struggle to control the criminal underworld in Montreal.

Subscribe to the Dark North on Apple Podcasts.

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A minority government means Justin Trudeau's agenda could be difficult to implement.

National Post columnist John Ivison explains that unlike Stephen Harper, Trudeau may not be satisfied with the more incremental approach to governing that comes with a minority.

Ivison also explains possible risks for the NDP of propping up the Liberals, the potential for growing public debt and western alienation.

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Conservatives have "lost the plot" argues Sean Speer, who was an advisor to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

In an essay for the National Post Speer argues that conservatives need to look beyond the policies of the past and apply conservative principles to modern problems.

One problem is the transition towards a knowledge economy and the working class people left behind. 

Speer talks to Dave about this and other issues facing conservatives in Canada, in the wake of 2019 election.

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The Dark North is a new podcast about crime in Canada. Each season will focus on a different city. Season 1 examines the struggle for control of Montreal's underworld, hosted by Montreal Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry.

Episode 1 traces how the Hells Angels and the Rizzuto crime family came to Montreal.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-dark-north/id1479595886

Or at the Montreal Gazette

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/gangs-of-montreal-episode-1-how-it-began

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The Quebec government has unveiled a values test for new immigrants, but it is a watered version of what was promised during the 2018 provincial election.

Drawing a sample from a pool of about 100 questions drafted by a private consulting firm hired by the government an immigrant in the qualified worker category could be asked whether women and men have the same rights in Quebec. True or false?

There will be 20 questions in all. A pass is a score of 75 per cent (15 questions correct), but in the event of a fail, the person can take the test again two weeks later.

Dave is joined by Montreal Gazette political reporter Philip Authier.

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In the wake of Justin Trudeau's return to power after the election, conservative eyes are turning to Alberta where Jason Kenney is confidently leading a right of centre of government.

Kenney is benefitting, critics would say fuelling, from increasing talk of separatism and western alienation.

His first budget, released days after the federal vote, has faced criticism on the left for cutting too much, but also on the right for de-indexing income taxes, which adds up, critics argue, to a tax hike.

Dave is joined by National Post Alberta reporter Tyler Dawson.

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After an election night that saw Justin Trudeau returned with a strong minority government, federal Conservatives will be conducting a post-mortem on this campaign. They will have to consider everything from their fiscal policies, to their environmental platform, to the performance of their leader.

And in each area where they stumbled, they’ll have to decide: Was the problem one of strategy, or tactics? In other words, do they need a whole new approach — or do they need to do a better job of selling their vision?

Should they move to the centre or more confidently present their conservative ideas?

Dave is joined by Stuart Thomson.

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A decade-long struggle for control of Montreal's mob continues as mafia leader Andrea Scoppa was gunned down Monday.

Scoppa has been described in court as the leader of a Calabrian clan operating within the Montreal Mafia. He rose up in the Rizzuto organization but his status apparently changed after the death of leader Vito Rizzuto at the end of 2013.

Police sources worry that more violence is coming.

Montreal Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry joins Dave. 

We also debut our new true crime podcast, the Dark North. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts. 

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