COMMONS

What happens when the oil wells run dry? Environmental damage, government bailouts and a scheme that some are comparing to the subprime mortgage crisis. And all of this is just the beginning.

Featured in this episode: Sharon J. Riley (The Narwhal), Jeff Lewis (Globe and Mail), Alana Bartol (Orphan Well Adoption Agency), Herman, Shirley and Mark Dorin.

To learn more:

Hustle in the oil patch: Inside a looming financial and environmental crisis by Jeff Lewis, Jeffrey Jones, Chen Wang, Renata D’Aliesio in the Globe and Mail.

The story of Alberta’s $100-billion well liability problem. How did we get here? By Sharon J. Riley in The Narwhal

‘Forgotten and ignored’ An Alberta couple fights a leaky oil well by  Alannah Page in National Observer.

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The Alberta oil sands. It’s a cold patch of land (which we once almost nuked into oblivion) that’s become Canada’s economic engine. Governments have fought over it for decades. And now it’s one of the most controversial places on the planet. Will it finally tear our politics apart?

Featured in this episode: Mary Janigan, Chris Turner

To learn more:

Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark by Mary Janigan

The Patch: The People, Pipelines, and Politics of the Oil Sands by Chris Turner

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A family poisoned in their homes. Bombs going off in the night. Shots fired and inside jobs. The story of Wiebo Ludwig is There Will Be Blood come to life. So was he a man of faith facing down the full might of Big Oil? Or a terrorist with blood on his hands?

Featured in this episode: David York (Wiebo’s War), Levi Ludwig

To learn more:

Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig’s War Against Big Oil by Andrew Nikiforuk

Wiebo’s War by David York

“Adventures in Wieboland” by Brian Bergman in Maclean’s.

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If you don’t understand oil, you can’t understand Canada. We take you to a place unlike anywhere else in the world, where the booms and busts all began. And find out why just a short distance away, children grow up afraid of the very air they breathe.

Featured in this episode: Pat McGee and Charlie Fairbank (Fairbank Oil Properties), Vanessa Gray.

To learn more:

“Time stands still in oil industry's birthplace” in the Toronto Star by Murray White.

“Canada’s Toxic Secret: A troubling trend of leaks and spills in the Sarnia area” in Global News

“The Chemical Valley” In VICE by Patrick McGuire

CLARIFICATION: In the episode, we credit the Price of Oil series to the the Toronto Star, National Observer and Global News. The collaborative investigation also involved Concordia University, Ryerson University School of Journalism, the University of Regina, UBC, The Corporate Mapping Project and the Michener Awards Foundation.

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Last season Commons covered corruption in Canada. This time around we're talking about Canada's relationship with the oil industry. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the weird. 

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Canadian companies have committed all kinds of wrongdoing abroad. But this is on a different level. One Vancouver-based company has been accused by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch of using slaves to build a mine with one of the world’s most oppressive governments.

Featured in this episode: Geoffrey York (The Globe and Mail) & Aaron Berhane (Mefti)

To learn more:

“Canadian miner Nevsun Resources has a tangled relationship with one of the world’s most repressive regimes” in The Globe and Mail by Geoffrey York

“We were forced to work at Western-run mine, say migrants who fled Eritrea” in Reuters by Allison Martell and Edmund Blair

“What did Canadian mining executives know about possible human rights violations in Eritrea?” in The Fifth Estate (CBC) by Scott Anderson “The Slaves of Eritrea” in Canadian Business by Matthew McClearn

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Tens of thousands of dollars in suits, luggage, magazines and mustard. An epic booze heist from the legislature. An undercover legislator exposing corruption. And a wood-splitter that’s transfixed a province.

Just another day in the wild world of B.C. politics.

Featured in this episode: Andrew MacLeod (The Tyee)

To learn more:

“Speaker Report Alleges ‘Flagrant’ Misspending by Two Senior Legislative Officials,” in The Tyee by Andrew MacLeod

“Whistleblower alleges legislature expense issues beyond clerk and sergeant-at-arms,” in Global News by Richard Zussman.

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Canada is hockey crazy. But at the heart of the sport is a system of unpaid labour that scars some boys for life. And the teams and leagues are doing whatever it takes to make sure things stay exactly the way they are.

Featured in this episode: Scott Wheeler (The Athletic)

To learn more:

“Hockey’s Puppy Mill” in The Walrus by Nicholas Hune-Brown

“How a Dad with NHL Dreams Bankrolled a Hockey Empire” in The Toronto Star by Robert Cribb

“Why Junior Hockey’s Financial Statement Should be Taken with a Mountain’s Worth of Salt” in The Hockey News by Ken Campbell

“Hockey Parent Confidential: An Oral History of Sex, Bribes and Goalie Moms” in The National Post by Joe O’Connor

“Lawyers Follow the Money as Court Releases CHL Team Financials” in TSN by Rick Westhead

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One of Canada's most notorious white-collar criminals speaks about his crimes.

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It might be small, but it when it comes to graft, Prince Edward Island plays in the big leagues: a secret off-the-books committee, conflicts of interest run amok, public records mysteriously destroyed, a provincial government doing an end-run on the Criminal Code.

An inside look at PEI’s long, strange attempt to become Canada’s online gambling hub.

Featured in this episode: Robyn Doolittle (The Globe and Mail), Stu Neatby (The Guardian), Paul Maines.

To learn more:

“Small island, big bet: How PEI lost its online gambling gamble” in The Globe and Mail by Robyn Doolittle and Jane Taber

“How Prince Edward Island almost made millions from Internet gambling” in The Guardian  by Teresa Wright

“Island businessman denies knowing he was sole director of e-gaming shell company” in The Guardian by Stuart Neatby.

CORRECTION: PEI has two Green Party MLAs, not one, as stated in this episode.

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