COMMONS

Andray and Desmond host a live panel asking how cities are preparing refugees to fend for themselves in a year’s time and how they can get on their feet in our terrible job market.

Featuring: 

Michael Qaqish, an Ottawa city councillor and the city’s refugee liaison; Ula Abu Rashed, a student at the University of Ottawa whose family fled Syria for Germany last fall; Rouba Al-Fattal, a part time professor of Middle East and Arab politics at the University of Ottawa. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Ottawa, leading the #Canadians4Refugees campaign.

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Canada has had a marijuana industry for a long time. It just hasn’t always been legal. People in the business have ended up in prison, barred from crossing the border or denied future job prospects.

Now that the Liberals are planning to legalize weed, what will happen to those people?

Andray talks to Liberal MP for Beaches-East York Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and criminal defence lawyer John Struthers. 

Canada has had a marijuana industry for a long time. It just hasn’t always been legal. People in the business have ended up in prison, barred from crossing the border or denied future job prospects.

Now that the Liberals are planning to legalize weed, what will happen to those people?

Andray talks to Liberal MP for Beaches-East York Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and criminal defence lawyer John Struthers. 

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George Elliott Clarke has been appointed as Canada’s seventh poet laureate. 

His wide-ranging conversation with Desmond touches on how working for a trailblazing black MP led him to meeting the Dalai Lama, why politicians should care about poetry and how he thinks Canadians are being ripped off by phone companies. 

Plus, he nearly sets the studio on fire with a rendition of his poem “Look Homeward, Exile."

George Elliott Clarke has been appointed as Canada’s seventh poet laureate. 

His wide-ranging conversation with Desmond touches on how working for a trailblazing black MP led him to meeting the Dalai Lama, why politicians should care about poetry and how he thinks Canadians are being ripped off by phone companies. 

Plus, he nearly sets the studio on fire with a rendition of his poem “Look Homeward, Exile."

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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“I think it would be a real shame if we got rid of Harper at the federal level and then we brought in somebody who wants to take our province in a similar direction,” Wab Kinew tells Andray and Desmond. 

Kinew is stepping into politics after years in the public eye as a journalist, author, rapper and First Nations community leader.

He talks about what he wants to accomplish in politics that he couldn’t do in his previous roles. He also discusses ways to address the systemic racism in Winnipeg and Canada at large. 

Wab is seeking the nomination for the provincial NDP for the Fort Rouge riding in Winnipeg.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Andray and Wab are both board members of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

“I think it would be a real shame if we got rid of Harper at the federal level and then we brought in somebody who wants to take our province in a similar direction,” Wab Kinew tells Andray and Desmond. 

Kinew is stepping into politics after years in the public eye as a journalist, author, rapper and First Nations community leader.

He talks about what he wants to accomplish in politics that he couldn’t do in his previous roles. He also discusses ways to address the systemic racism in Winnipeg and Canada at large. 

Wab is seeking the nomination for the provincial NDP for the Fort Rouge riding in Winnipeg.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Andray and Wab are both board members of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Canada's electronic spy agency broke privacy laws by collecting metadata about Canadians, then sharing it with other countries. The issue was exposed in a watchdog report that was released to the public last week. 

Andray and Supriya speak to Amanda Connolly, national security reporter for iPolitics, about what exactly the Communications Security Establishment did wrong and whether there's any reason to expect it won't happen again. 

Canada's electronic spy agency broke privacy laws by collecting metadata about Canadians, then sharing it with other countries. The issue was exposed in a watchdog report that was released to the public last week. 

Andray and Supriya speak to Amanda Connolly, national security reporter for iPolitics, about what exactly the Communications Security Establishment did wrong and whether there's any reason to expect it won't happen again. 

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Most workplaces discourage yelling and jeering among co-workers. But the government has their own way of doing things.

Desmond and Supriya talk to Calgary - Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel about her experiences being heckled. They also get into how social media is changing the political discourse in ways that Rempel herself still hasn't figured out. 

This follows a recent survey by Samara Canada finding that most MPs think heckling is a problem in the House of Commons, but most of them also do it. 

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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