With Andrew MacDougall, former Director of Communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper

This week, we’re joined by Andrew MacDougall, a fellow Harper PMO alum and one of the sharpest communications minds in the business. His latest paper for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute makes a bold case: that the attention economy, powered by Big Tech platforms, is actively undermining Western democracy—and that we’re letting it happen.

In this episode:

• 📱 What is the attention economy—and why it’s designed to addict, distract, and divide

• 🧠 Why today’s tech platforms are built to exploit your brain’s dopamine pathways

• 💥 Free speech vs. free reach: why more speech doesn’t mean better speech

• 🗞 How the collapse of traditional media business models is breaking political accountability

• 🗳 Why politicians like Trump and Farage thrive—and leaders like Harper and Starmer struggle—in today’s media environment

Also in this episode:

• 🧃 “The vegetable is the news, the dessert is content—and nobody’s eating their vegetables”

• 🧨 Why platforms like YouTube and TikTok aren’t neutral—they actively reward the worst takes

• 🤳 Why even good communicators struggle to compete with rage bait and algorithmic triggers

• 📊 What happens when every push notification must compete with Kim Kardashian, a war in Ukraine, and your local school board

And don’t miss:

• 🧾 Andrew’s proposal for an engagement-based tax to discourage addictive platform design

• 📉 How banning smartphones for kids—and showing users their “attention cost”—could help

• 🔌 What would happen if we unplugged the internet for just a month (hint: less Trump, more sanity)

Plus:

• 😬 Percy tries to warn us about AI-generated ‘80s nostalgia reels

• 📵 Joseph tries not to check his phone for a full 45 minutes (he fails)

• 💡 A very serious policy discussion… followed by a confession that we’re all still putting the clips on TikTok

It’s back-to-school, back-to-politics, and back to your feeds with Season Two of Craft Politics — now with a brand new format and a new co-host.

We’re thrilled to welcome Holly Mumby-Croft, former UK Member of Parliament, to the pod. She’ll join Percy and I each week for our Tuesday Issue Scan episode, adding deep political insight and a healthy counter-weight to Percy...

In this episode:

• 🇬🇧 Labour’s economic mess: Starmer sidelines Reeves, reshuffles advisors, and still can’t land the message

• 📉 Reform UK leads the polls—now ahead of Labour and the Conservatives combined

• 🏴 National flag protests, economic confusion, and the risk of a populist summer boil-over

• 🇨🇦 Canada’s Trump problem continues: no deal, no clarity, and no end in sight

• 📊 Carney’s super honeymoon: how long can he ride high on sky-high approval ratings?

• 🇫🇷 Why France’s looming debt crisis could become everyone’s problem

• 💸 What happens when both the left and the right promise unsustainable spending?

• 🚨 A special new segment: “Lipstick on a Gerbil” — where we rate the worst political comms moments of the week. This week we look at Angela Rayner’s stamp duty dodge and Stephen Kinnock’s weasel-worded defence

And of course:

• 🍺 Joseph and Percy drink one of BC’s finest Pilsners

• 🍷 Holly sips Ribena

Our cheeky half before we break for August

It’s our final episode before a short summer break—and we’re closing it out with a cheeky half pint and a big-picture scan of the trade and political chaos unfolding across Canada, the US, and the UK.

In this episode:

• 🇨🇦 Carney concedes “tariff-free” deal with Trump is unlikely

   • What the PM’s first public walk-back says about expectations management

   • Does accepting some tariffs help or hurt Canada’s leverage?

   • And what is a “win” supposed to look like?

• 🇺🇸 US inflation hits 2.7% as tariffs bite

   • Will Trump’s economic strategy come back to haunt him before the holidays?

   • Why tariffs are a slow burn—but a real one

   • And how Trump’s goldfish memory makes planning impossible

• 📉 White House calls for interest rate cuts while raising consumer prices?

   • We discuss the economic contradiction—and why it’s eroding confidence

Also in this episode:

• 📊 The super honeymoon continues: Carney approval hits 58%, Liberals lead by 13

• 🧠 What the Conservatives need to ask themselves about the Poilievre playbook

• 🔄 Can Carney hold his coalition together if Trump fades as the ballot question?

• 🚫 NDP leadership race kicks off—with a $100,000 entry fee. Is that populist?

Across the pond:

• 🇬🇧 Labour faces a new challenge—from the left

   • A hard-left breakaway party is forming. Could it fracture Labour’s already unstable coalition?

   • Why UK politics remains a mess—despite a massive Labour majority

   • And why the Conservative Party still doesn’t know what it stands for

We close with:

• 🍺 Tasting notes from our final craft beer of the season

• 🤦 Percy gets mistaken for a 30-year-old’s father

• 🔥 And a conversation about political anger, violent rhetoric, and the lines we should never cross

🔊 Listen now to wrap your week—and the political season—with insight, irreverence, and a few sips of lemon meringue beer.

With Hunter Knifton

We revisit the 2025 Canadian federal election—not with hot takes, but with hard data.

Our guest is Hunter Knifton, the analyst behind the Charting Canada Substack, who’s challenging two of the most commonly accepted narratives about the election.

In this episode:

• 🗳 The myth of the “NDP-to-Conservative switcher”: why it’s not supported by the numbers

• 📉 Why the collapse of the PPC—not a working-class revolt—may explain Conservative gains in key ridings

• 👥 Who actually switched votes—and where? A closer look at new voters, older swing voters, and Carney Conservatives

• 🔄 Why the left didn’t just coalesce around the Liberals—and why the right’s coalition might be more stable than it looks

Plus:

• 🧭 Hunter breaks down his five-part typology of Carney’s voter base—from downtown professionals to rural commuters

• 🧱 What the suburban and rural wins say about the Liberals’ long-term potential

• 🔍 Are the Conservatives targeting the wrong voters with their union strategy?

And don’t miss:

• 🔮 Could Carney’s voter coalition outlast the crisis that built it?

• 🧠 What Pierre Poilievre’s team might need to rethink before the next election

• 📊 A sneak peek at Hunter’s next analysis: are we entering a permanent two-party system—or was 2025 a one-off?

🔊 Listen now if you want a clearer picture of what actually happened in the last election—and why most of us probably got it wrong.

With Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal

It’s been six months since Mark Carney smashed through the wall of Canadian politics and declared, “This is a crisis.”

He’s been elected. He’s governing. And he’s moving fast.

But how far can a technocrat push before political gravity kicks in?

To take stock of Carney’s first chapter as Prime Minister, we’re joined by Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal—two Liberal insiders with deep experience in government, campaigns, and caucus dynamics. They give us an unvarnished read on the Carney style, the risks ahead, and what might break first.

In this episode:

• 🧭 How Carney governs—and why it’s a sharp break from Trudeau

• ⏱ The pace of change: real momentum or just top-down theatrics?

• 🧠 Why he’s (so far) been a political novice in name only

• 🤝 Caucus management, cabinet churn, and how long his honeymoon can actually last

Plus:

• 🇺🇸 Can Carney hold the coalition together once Trump fatigue sets in?

• 💸 From scrapping the carbon tax to cutting the digital services tax—how is Carney going to pay for this?

• 🧯 Is he raising expectations faster than government can meet them?

And don’t miss:

• 📉 Why Liberals aren’t missing Pierre Poilievre—or Justin Trudeau

• ⚔️ Can Carney avoid a BC-style fracture over major projects and pipelines?

• 💬 Why Bridget and Sarina disagree on who the Liberals really want to lead the Conservatives

Also in this episode:

• 📊 What Carney needs to deliver by fall to prove this isn’t just business as usual

• 🔮 Is he in it for the long haul—or just the crisis?

With Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor, Sky News

This week, we’re joined by Sam Coates, co-host of Politics at Sam and Anne and one of the UK’s sharpest political analysts, to make sense of a government struggling to hold the line—on foreign policy, economic discipline, and party unity.

In this episode:

• ⚖️ How Starmer’s deference to legal advice is reshaping UK foreign policy—and what it reveals about his break from Blairism

• 🇺🇸 What it means when the UK is the only country warned in advance of a US strike

• 📉 And why the transatlantic relationship may be less stable than it seems

Then we go domestic:

• 💷 Labour’s looming rebellion on welfare reform:

   • Over 100 Labour MPs openly defying the PM

   • A government with a 165-seat majority on the verge of losing a key vote

   • And no clear plan for what comes next

• 🧨 Starmer’s political gamble: alienating his base to keep markets calm—and failing to please either

• 🗳 Could this trigger a leadership challenge?

And don’t miss:

• 📈 Reform UK’s surge: is Prime Minister Farage still far-fetched—or suddenly plausible?

• 🗺 The open question: what is the relationship between Reform and the Conservatives heading into 2028?

Also on the radar:

• ⚖️ Assisted dying and abortion: the social policies no one campaigned on—but that may define this Parliament

With Shuvaloy Majumdar, MP for Calgary Heritage

This week, Israel launched one of the most significant military operations of our time—decimating Iranian nuclear infrastructure, IRGC command, and ballistic capabilities. The West? Mostly quiet.

We go deep with Shuvaloy Majumdar, MP, former advisor at Foreign Affairs, and one of the sharpest, clearest voices on Middle East geopolitics today.

In this episode:

• 🔥 What Operation Rising Lion tells us about the new era of warfare

• 🧠 Why Iran isn’t just a regional threat—but a global one

• 🇮🇱 Why we should be thanking Israel

• 🛰 How Israel’s campaign could reshape the Middle East—and what it means for Iranian dissidents

• 🛑 And why “de-escalation” may be the most dangerous word in Western diplomacy right now

Plus:

• 🌍 Canada, the UK, and France: how the West is failing to lead

• 🎯 Why China and Russia are (for now) staying quiet

• 💡 The power vacuum inside Iran—and the once-in-a-generation opportunity it presents

And don’t miss:

• 🇨🇦 Our domestic lens:

   • How Iran’s reach extends into Canada’s real estate and political networks

   • Why we should prepare for increased domestic extremism

   • And why the response from Canada’s government has been morally bankrupt

Also in this episode:

• 📉 UK economy contracts 0.3%—we talk tax, talent, and the politics of non-doms

• 🚨 G7 trade wins: UK car tariffs down, UK-Canada security pact brewing, and a possible Carney–Trump deal in 30 days

• 🎖 Canada’s $9B defence announcement: long overdue, or spending set to burn?

• 🇺🇸 Trump’s departure from the G7 and ominous remarks on Iran: “It’s much bigger than a ceasefire…”

🔊 Listen now for the clearest, most sobering breakdown of the Israel–Iran conflict—and why it’s a hinge moment for the future of the West.

This week, we crack open a UK import—Hawkstone Lager from Jeremy Clarkson’s farm—and break down Canada’s biggest defence spending announcement in decades.

PM Mark Carney has committed to meeting NATO’s 2% target this year, nearly a decade ahead of Trudeau’s original pledge. That’s over $9 billion in new spending—including raises for CAF members, $2B in military aid to Ukraine, and major procurement commitments. But can it all be spent wisely?

In this episode:

• 🇨🇦 Why this announcement matters—and why it hits close to home for Joseph

• 💸 The risks of rushing defence procurement (and why it’s rarely done well)

• 🇬🇧 What the UK’s new Strategic Defence Review signals for joint defence priorities

• 🤝 Why now might be the right time for a Canada–UK security compact

Plus:

• 🧨 Labour’s massive U-turn on winter fuel benefits: smart politics or panic move?

• 🎯 Is there still room in politics for a sensible, fiscally responsible conservative party?

• 🇺🇸 Trump sends the Marines to California—why it may be a turning point. Or not.

• 📉 Canada’s jobless rate rises—are we seeing the limits of the Carney honeymoon?

And don’t miss:

• 🍺 Beer of the week: Hawkstone Lager

   • Andrew tastes a biscuit-forward Italian Pilsner with a crisp finish

   • Joseph declares it “a Helles lager met an Italian Pilsner and the two had a baby”

With Chris Spoke, developer and host of the Hogtown podcast

Every party says they want to fix the housing crisis. But on the ground, very little changes. Why?

This week on Craft Politics, we go deep with Chris Spoke—Toronto-based developer, housing policy advocate, and host of the Hogtown podcast. Chris isn’t just talking about the housing crisis. He’s trying to build through it.

In this episode:

• 🏘 Why zoning—not greed or foreign buyers—is the real problem

• 📉 Why the incentives in municipal politics make it nearly impossible to build

• 🗳 Why “local democracy” might be the biggest obstacle to affordability

• 📊 What a well-designed federal housing policy should look like—and why Trudeau’s version was better (in theory) than Poilievre’s

• 🧠 How to bring communities onside (hint: it’s not by yelling “YIMBY”)

Plus:

• 🌇 Why Canada’s post-WWII housing model doesn’t apply in 2025

• 🏗 The case for radical deregulation—and how Japan and New Zealand did it

• 📉 The wild stat about how few people it actually takes to block development

• 💥 The rise of “BANANAs” (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything)

And don’t miss:

• 🚫 Chris’s worst NIMBY moment

• 🧠 Rapid fire round: worst myth, best policy idea, and his favourite urbanist thinker

• 🧱 Why landlords aren’t to blame for high rents (but policy might be)

We wrap with:

• 🍺 This week’s tasting notes: Percy drinks a Christmas tree in a can, and Joseph finds his go-to BBQ lager.

🔊 Listen now if you want to understand why the system isn’t working—and what a serious housing fix actually looks like.

With Karen Stintz, former Toronto city councillor and 2025 federal candidate

What happens when Conservatives run a strong urban campaign, knock on thousands of doors, and still fall short by 1.4%?

This week on Craft Politics, we sit down with Karen Stintz, a political veteran who nearly flipped Eglinton–Lawrence, one of the toughest ridings in the country for Conservatives to crack. She brings the hard-earned lessons from the 2025 campaign trail—and they’re ones the entire movement needs to hear.

In this episode:

• 🗳 What Karen’s close race reveals about urban voters’ shifting priorities

• 📉 Why the collapse of the NDP didn’t lead to a Conservative win

• 🏙 The myth that urban voters “just don’t get” conservatism—and how to break it

• 📺 The power of legacy media in big cities (and why it still shapes the ballot question)

• 🤝 Why it’s time for Conservatives to stop fighting and start making friends and allies

Plus:

• 🚨 We debate the missed opportunity for compassionate conservatism on homelessness and addiction

• 🇨🇦 Karen delivers a stinging critique: “How did we let patriotism slip away from us?”

• 🧱 Should the rebuilding of urban conservatism start at the municipal level?

And don’t miss:

• 🎤 A surprise drop-in from Andrew Percy, live from being eaten alive by Ottawa’s mosquitoes after attending the King’s Speech

• 🦝 Joseph’s failed political dreams of running a raccoon-free campaign for Mayor of Toronto

• 📰 An issue scan covering:

   • Charles III’s parliamentary visit

   • Carney’s single mandate letter

   • Reform UK’s lurch leftward to challenge Labour

   • And why CEO turnover is a sleeper political story

🔊 Listen now if you want to understand why urban ridings are still so hard to win—and what it’s going to take to change that.