Most Albertans don't want to leave Canada. Most Canadians don't want to see them go. The data is clear, the separatist wing is a small percentage of the population, and is likely buoyed by foreign influence campaigns. 

To many Canadians, it seems clear there's no need for a referendum at all—that it only raises a question that millions of people already answer every day; that it's a bad faith attempt to steer the political conversation further right. So, why have it?

Because we live in a democracy. A democracy that, like most in the West, is under threat. And you don't solve a democratic credibility problem by holding fewer votes.

Today, Concordia University political science professor Donal Gill explains why this fall's vote in Alberta, as messy as it might get, is a healthy sign for Canadian democracy.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

New tariffs have hit us. Our government will respond in kind next week. A trade war has begun in earnest. And there's no doubt Canadian businesses will suffer and jobs will be lost. 

And yet. After more than a year and a half of economic turmoil, the numbers tell a story of resiliency. Of an economy that did not, in fact, enter a technical recession. An economy that, in the last quarter, actually posted a very impressive number.

Is this our economic diversification at work? Is it the calm before the storm? What do good numbers in the middle of uncertainty really mean for the months to come? And how will your wallet experience the new phase of the trade war?

Economist and director of the Centre for Future Work Jim Stanford joins Jordan to explain the recent economic reports, and look ahead to what happens now.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Canada's going to become one of three "framework nations" taking the lead on Arctic defence. The government is moving to purchase military equipment outside the United States or even (gasp!) build it here at home. Is all that talk about taking national defence seriously starting to show up in action?

Alistair Edgar, Associate Dean at the School of International Policy and Governance at Wilfred Laurier University, joins us to analyze the Carney government's recent defence decisions.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

You may have noticed that we're talking about building another pipeline. And our acknowledgement that we'll probably blow past our emissions targets. You may have also noticed all the trees burning. Again. And the smoke and the flooding and the ... you get it.

But the country faces economic and non-economic threats as extreme as any in recent memory, and in times of trouble we often look to the oil fields. So has Prime Minister Carney's government sacrificed our climate future for dollars and jobs right now? Or can the Liberals have their cake and electrify it, too?

Environmental journalist Arno Kopecky helps us parse through what has changed and what hasn't since Justin Trudeau's government crafted the Liberals' signature climate policies.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

This week, as another set of US tariffs loom, we're revisiting a previous episode about an industry that is particularly vulnerable to them. We'll be back next week with fresh CanCon in your feed!

More than 120,000 Canadians work in Canada's auto industry...for now. As tariffs imposed by the US President kick into gear, only to change and then change again, plants and shifts are adjusting by the day, and some have already shut down some production lines, at least temporarily. Right now, we're at the mercy of these tariffs, as our production is so entwined with the US and Mexico's that cars cross the border several times before they're finished.

But does it have to be that way? What does Canada need to make our auto industry less dependent on America? Could we even, perhaps, make our own cars here at home? The whole car, from start to finish? Or is that an impossible dream. Jordan talks to Lorraine Sommerfeld, a longtime auto journalist about how to keep Canadian jobs safe from American tariffs, and how to keep our plants running despite the trade war—including the possibility of a totally Canadian-made automobile.

Then, Laura grills Lorraine about how, exactly, a Canadian needing a new car should navigate the current situation. Buy now? Wait a while? Go used? Forget the whole thing? This is your guide to auto tariffs, from the macro down to the micro.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be revisiting a couple of our previous episodes—beginning with a trip through some of Canada's least-known but most worthy places to visit if you've still got some time to explore this summer: 

This summer, given ... everything going on down there, Canadians are more interested in exploring their own backyard than traveling to the United States. And since we've spent four months exploring everything about this country we need to fix, we wanted to look around at everything we don't. No matter where you live, this episode will give you some incredible ideas for your next getaway.

Bestselling author Robin Esrock (The Great Canadian Bucket List) takes us on a tour from coast to coast to coast, starting in the North, then moving from West to East. There are so many beautiful, meaningful, fun and just plain weird places in this country that we thought we'd try to celebrate them all. Later, Esrock shares travel tips for everyone from those with the money for a cross-country train ride to those who need to stick closer to home, and their budget.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Last week, we examined the Canadian Tech from a 10,000-foot perspective. This week, we take you inside the launch of Eh!, a Canadian social media platform that aims to get users out into their cities, towns and neighbourhoods, rather than lost in an algorithm.

It's been around for almost a year now, and boasts tens of thousands of users—which is great, but is also a drop in the ocean compared to Facebook and Instagram. So what makes Eh! different? How can it grow? And what won't its creator sacrifice to get there, even if that means it stays in its small corner of the internet?

This week, Jordan talks to Jessica Glowacki, founder and CEO of Trailmix Technology, which launched Eh! in 2025.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

It's been well over a year since Canadians (and our governments) realized just how dependent we are on American technology—for everything from our day-to-day lives to the infrastructure of Canadian businesses and even our defence capabilities. We knew then that Canada had the talent and the resources, all we needed was the will.

Well, that and hundreds of billions of dollars. And a tech industry that doesn't keep losing talent to the US. And a whole bunch of other things that threaten to overshadow the progress we have made by driving home just how difficult it is for any country in the world to detach its digital needs from the global leader.

Today, Douglas Soltys, editor in chief of BetaKit and host of the BetaKit podcast, takes us inside Canada's tech industry and shows us what we've managed to accomplish and the barriers still standing in our way.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Laura Palmer has been investigating and reporting on crimes on Vancouver Island for years. It's changed the way she sees one of Canada's most gorgeous places, and made her something of a local celebrity. But she's never dug into a case as old as the one she's chasing on her current season of Island Crime.

In this episode, Laura (one of the founders of this podcast) takes us inside what it's like to be something of a public detective, how chasing crimes changes the way you see your own hometown, and who a cold case file belongs to several decades later.

We also revisit the 'Elbows Up' days, and discuss how we're feeling about Canadian sovereignty more than a year later, in this special reunion episode of CanCon.

(Please pay a visit to our sponsor, GoRVing Canada; especially if you're thinking of exploring Vancouver Island, in all its natural beauty, and dark underbelly...)

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Nothing much had ever been expected from soccer in Canada—or at least from men's soccer in Canada, and mainstream soccer fandom. Until recently. After our women's team showed the world we could punch well above our weight in the 2000s, the game started to gather steam. Now, after a successful run by the mean's team at the World Cup, and what has been by all accounts a superb atmosphere at the games played in Toronto and Vancouver, are we finally a 'soccer nation'? And is it worth the hundreds of millions of dollars it cost to do it?

James Sharman, one of Canada's leading soccer analysts and commentators, and a co-host of Footy Prime, joins us to explain how soccer in Canada came this far, both on and off the pitch, and where it might be going next.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].