CANADALAND

Canadaland fan-favourite guests share their predictions, while Jesse and Noor give their two cents. Topics include a Canadian bid to join the E.U., a social media ban in the southern hemisphere, and robot raccoons eating hot peppers.

Plus: Jesse makes an informed prediction about the future of Canadaland.

This episode uses generative AI for the following purposes: Enhance Speech by Adobe on a recording of Jen Gerson

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate Producer and Fact Checking) tom sayers (Audio Editor), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Noor Azrieh

Additional music by Audio Network

Sponsors: 

Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today at douglas.ca/canadaland

To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland. 

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the holidays and we are re-running a classic episode of Off The Record this week.

Here at Canadaland it can often seem like just one shitty story after another. But it’s not just one more shitty story to round out the year. Nope. This is also a tale of hope, dreams, and IUDs. 

Every year Canadaland searches for and hires two fellows. Two new audio journalists who join us here and work with us for months to produce their first long form professional audio documentaries. 

This past year Mia Johnson and Leora Scherzer joined us. They created two wonderful stories on the subjects of human composting and IUDs. Leora and Mia are now living their journalistic dreams as both were hired by media outlets once they finished up at Canadaland.

Today we brought Mia and Leora back into our studio to talk about what they learnt while they were here, what was good about the experience, what could be better. And with an eye to the future we also want to let you all know we’ll soon be searching for our new recruits for 2026!

Host: Sam Konnert

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Tony Wang (Executive Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Guests: Jesse Brown, Noor Azrieh, Mia Johnson, Leora Schertzer

Photo: Tony Wang

Additional music by Audio Network

Further Listening:

• #1084 Waste Management: Sh*t’s Complicated — CANADALAND
• #1022 The Painful Truth About IUDs — CANADALAND

Plus, check out our Mia and Leora’s work since leaving Canadaland!

Leora:

• Hypnosis over anesthesia? Why patients in Quebec are choosing alternative pain management — Montreal Gazette
• Pizza revolution: The rise of Montreal’s new slice scene — Montreal Gazette
• West Island mayors say ‘far-right’ extremist influenced Montreal to stop fluoridating water — Montreal Gazette

Mia:

• Ontario law could spell doom for turtles in Toronto’s wetlands — Frequency News
• TDSB cancels Grade 9 enrolment for special needs school — Frequency News
• Nature’s calling but the city of Toronto isn’t picking up the phone — Frequency News

Sponsors: 

oxio: Head over to https://canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! 

CAMH: CAMH is building better mental health care for everyone to ensure no one is left behind. Visit camh.ca/canadaland to make a donation.

Squarespace: Check out Squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're bringing you something different: an episode of the brand-new CBC series The Devil You Know with Sarah Marshall.

In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. 

In the all new 8-part series, The Devil You Know from CBC, host Sarah Marshall (You’re Wrong About) explores the tangled web of the Satanic Panic, in a journey that will take you everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to rural Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas. This is a show about the people who experienced the Satanic Panic in real-time — the believers, the skeptics, the bystanders, and the wrongfully-convicted. All episodes of The Devil You Know are available now.

Episode 2: Marylyn Remembers

Michelle Remembers is the 1980 “biographical” book that brought the idea of Satanic cults into the mainstream. In it, Michelle Smith documents years of alleged Satanic ritual abuse and the man who helped her remember it, psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder. We talk to those who thought they knew Michelle and Larry best: their families. They tell us what it was like to witness the birth of the Satanic Panic from the most intimate vantage point — and how it shattered their lives.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadaland fan-favourite guests give the gift of Duly Noteds for Jesse and Noor to unwrap and judge mercilessly. Topics include secret Chinese police stations, the life and death of a right-wing party in B.C., and Danielle Smith’s French-language lessons.

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate Producer and Fact Checking) tom sayers (Audio Editor), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Noor Azrieh

Additional music by Audio Network

Sponsors:

oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! 

CAMH: With your generous year-end gift, we can make better mental health care for everyone a reality. To donate, visit camh.ca/canadaland.

BetterHelp:  Visit BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.

Douglas: Douglas is offering our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today at douglas.ca/canadaland

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noor Azrieh and Sam Konnert look back on the moments that defined Canadian politics this year. We revisit viral clips, media meltdowns, Question Period fever dreams, floor crossers, immigration fights, Alberta separatism, national projects (that may or may not exist yet), and the growing sense that everything is moving very fast… but also somehow not at all.

Plus: pop stars, masked singers, elbow-themed merch, biological clocks (obviously).

Host(s): Noor Azrieh & Sam Konnert

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Sponsors: 

Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today at douglas.ca/canadaland

To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland. 

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Can't get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Their stated goal is to manipulate your media and, by extension, you. We’re not flagging a secretive government agency here, not some media oligarch, no one in the usual line-up of Bondesque villains. 

In fact, many of us love what these master manipulators do. They are, drum roll please…

composers! Their work literally underscores much of the podcast world. Their power lies in their ability to bypass the intellect and go straight for the heart. Chill it, warm it, speed it up. 

Today we meet some of the most influential and largely invisible creators in the media landscape. 

Host: Sam Konnert

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Writer and Producer), Tony Wang (Executive Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Publisher)

Guests: Darren Fung, Erica Procunier, Adrian Ellis

Photo: Ashlea Wessel

Featuring music by: Tristan Capacchione, Adrian Ellis, Darren Fung, Erica Procunier, and Audio Network

Further Reading:

• Stinky Rice Studios — Darren Fung
• Erica Procunier
• Adrian Ellis
• The Great Human Odyssey — Handful of Films
• Mount Royal Audio — Tristan Capacchione

Sponsors: 

oxio: Head over to https://canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! 

CAMH: CAMH is building better mental health care for everyone to ensure no one is left behind. Visit https://camh.ca/canadaland to make a donation.

Squarespace: Check out https://squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The choice between the F-35 and Saab’s Gripen E is a litmus test for Canada’s commitment to decoupling from America. 

As Carney reinvests in the military, is the Canadian media properly equipped to cover it? 

Plus, an $18 million CRA chatbox that is usually wrong. 

Host: San Grewal

Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking) tom sayers (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Rahim Mohamed

Further reading: 

• Buying the F-35 Could Be Canada’s Biggest Strategic Mistake - The Walrus
• Danish intelligence report warns of US military threat under Trump - The Associated Press
• F-35 beat Gripen fighter jet ’by a mile’ in 2021 Defence Department competition | Radio-Canada.ca 
• The Leaked Report Pushing Mark Carney Toward the F-35 Fighter Jet - The Walrus
• DND investigates leak used to discredit Saab’s Gripen fighter jet - Ottawa Citizen
• The CRA spent $18M on 'Charlie,' a new tax information chatbot that is wrong most of the time - The National Post
• 'I was immediately cast … as a genocide supporter' — Jesse Brown on the cost of speaking against Jew-hate - The National Post

Sponsors:

Douglas:  Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today.  Visit douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer

Squarespace: Check out Squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

MUBI: To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland.

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Floor crossers, falling polling numbers, and grumblings in the Conservative orbit. Pierre Poilievre sure looks shaky right now, but will it really make a difference in his upcoming leadership review? Rahim Mohamed of the National Post joins San Grewal to explain why Poilievre isn’t done just yet. 

Host: San Grewal

Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking) tom sayers (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Rahim Mohamed

Additional music by Audio Network

Further reading: 

• Pierre Poilievre speaks with CBC's Rosemary Barton after 2nd MP defection - CBC [YouTube]
• Future of the CPC: A (declining) majority of Conservative voters would keep Poilievre as leader in January - Angus Reid Poll
• The Numbers Behind Poilievre’s Leadership Dilemma | The Walrus 
• Potential disaster looms over Pierre Poilievre’s leadership - The Globe and Mail
• Lorne Gunter: Poilievre Conservatives favour stunts over substance | Edmonton Journal 
• One B.C. caucus split caused by alleged anti-Semitic staffer, Brodie says | Chilliwack Progress 
• Carney's office slammed by access-to-info orders - Dean Beedy’s Newsletter
• Ottawa planning to make access to information even more restrictive: Internal document - IJF

Sponsors: 

oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! 

MUBI: To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland.

Article: Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com/canadaland and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

United States Attorney General Pam Bondi is flexing the US’s military seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker as the Trump administration deploys warships — and even nuclear submarines — off Venezuela’s coast. The White House says it’s about drugs, but it also signals a broader shift laid out in the new US National Security Strategy. So far, the Canadian government has been pretty quiet about what our closest ally is doing in Venezuela, and about this ominous security strategy.

So what is a middle power supposed to do when its closest ally goes rogue? Host Noor Azrieh asks Ben Rowswell, former Canadian ambassador to Venezuela and now a consultant with Catalyze4.

Plus: How MP Michael Ma stole Conservative Christmas.

CLARIFICATION: In reference to the LIMA group, Ben Rowswell’s position is that Venezuelan political actors were setting their own agenda, and the role of the Group was to align neighbouring democracies in support of those efforts, not to dictate or manage them.

Host: Noor Azrieh

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), tom sayers (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Guests: Ben Rowswell

Background reading:

• Opinion: The ghost of the Monroe Doctrine haunts the U.S.’s buildup in Venezuela – and Canada must oppose it – The Globe and Mail
• National Security Strategy – The White House 
• The U.S. has put military pressure on Venezuela for months. What's the endgame? – CBC News
• Canada 'continues to monitor' U.S. boat strikes in Caribbean as questions swirl and allies squirm – CBC News
• It's like 'the Monroe Doctrine on steroids': Canadian politicos react to Trump's new 'very chilling' national security strategy – The Hill Times
• The Trump Doctrine, and what it means for Canada – The Globe and Mail
• Opinion | Canada once spoke out against unlawful American military action. Why it's time to do so again now – Toronto Star
• Is Canada complicit in Trump’s illegal war in Venezuela? – Canadian Dimension

Sponsors: 

Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free!

To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland. 

Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more

To claim, visit article.com/canadaland and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

Can't get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The mystery of who drugged the cast and crew of the blockbuster Titanic is Hollywood lore. In 1996 James Cameron shot part of Titanic in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, when someone dumped PCP into the clam chowder the team was sharing on the last night of shooting. Over 50 people ended up in hospital. 

There was a police investigation but the case was never solved. Over the decades theories as to who and why have sprouted. These range from disgruntled caterers to vengeful bikers to insurance scams.

Canadaland decided to take up the case and look for the answer: who spiked the Titanic chowder?

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Julian Abraham (Reporter), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Caleb Thompson (Mixing & Mastering) max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Additional Writing and Production from Rick Courtney.

Fact checking by max collins

Additional music by Audio Network

More information:

Further Reading:

“Grips are doing wheelies in wheelchairs” - Variety

James Cameron Recalls the Night the Titanic Crew Were Spiked with PCP - CBC

James Cameron on CBC’s The Q - Video

Sponsors: 

MUBI: To stream great cinema at home, you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/canadaland.

BetterHelp: Visit https://BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today. Visit douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer

Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.