He won last month’s election for the Liberals promising he had a plan to protect Canada’s economy from the predations of the American president. But since returning to Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney has sent alarming signals to business and scaring off badly needed capital investment, as economist and professor Ian Lee tells Brian this week. The Liberal government’s decision to avoid tabling a budget makes it seem like there actually is no plan, Lee says. Meanwhile, comments from Carney’s cabinet that they’re wavering on a new oil export pipeline suggest that the country will be just as unwelcoming to resource development as the last one. Now, it’s looking like the man elected to reverse Canada’s long-running decline might just instead make it worse. (Recorded May 16, 2025)

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Torn at for nine years by the divisive Trudeau Liberals, Canadian unity is seriously frayed, with Alberta now preparing for a possible secession referendum. In this episode, Brian talks with Reform Party founder Preston Manning, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, and longtime Liberal pollster Dan Arnold to get a sense of how dire the situation has become. Manning explains that the separatist sentiment isn’t just in Alberta but spread across much of the West and even parts of the North. And all three warn that the threat needs to be taken seriously. They also consider the opportunity Prime Minister Mark Carney has with a fresh mandate to begin repairing the fractures if he’s genuinely willing to. But if he isn't, the nation is in serious danger. (Recorded May 9, 2025)

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The big election surprise was that Conservatives can do so well and still lose. Leader Pierre Poilievre created a new Tory coalition, sweeping up working-class NDPers and anti-establishment People’s Party voters, as Brian discusses with Tasha Kheiriddin and Stuart Thomson from Postmedia’s Political Hack newsletter. But Poilievre now needs even more to beat the Liberals — which means building bridges with moderate conservatives he’s shunned. That likely includes people in the laptop class, like those in Carleton who voted him out of his long-held seat, and provincial Tories (even the antagonistic Doug Ford). The panel also considers who’ll lead the NDP now; why President Donald Trump’s warming to Mark Carney; and whether Carney will ever get warm with the West. (Recorded May 2, 2025)

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If there’s anyone other than U.S. President Donald Trump who can take credit for helping the Liberals try to hang onto power, it’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. After years protecting the Liberal government from falling in the House, Singh spent last week’s debates inexplicably assisting Liberal Leader Mark Carney, as Brian discusses with Tasha Kheiriddin and Stuart Thomson from the Political Hack newsletter. They consider whether Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s performance moved the needle enough to overtake this new Liberal-NDP alliance in the federal election, and the difference voter turnout will make. They also get into other interesting developments, from Poilievre’s advocacy for the notwithstanding clause to Carney’s curious defence of tax avoidance and the disgraced gun buyback. (Recorded April 18, 2025)

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In a rare, casual interview Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre talks to Brian about what it’s been like campaigning for an election with his wife and kids, what he thinks about people saying he’s too “angry,” and what he does to stay in shape during the race. He also discusses what he makes of provincial conservatives in Ontario publicly criticizing his campaign, and fear tactics being used against him to scare seniors about their benefits. Of course, Poilievre also gets into his plan for handling President Donald Trump, the problem of younger Canadians losing hope in the future of their country, and his plans to improve housing and the cost of living. (Recorded April 12, 2025)

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The latest questions about his support from China and his corporate tax dodging have had Mark Carney stumbling and snapping at reporters, even suspending his campaign to seek refuge in the image-friendly prime minister’s office. But the bigger question is whether he can avoid fumbling his front-runner status in the last two weeks of the campaign, as Brian discusses in our weekly election panel with Tasha Kheiriddin and Stuart Thomson from Postmedia’s Political Hack newsletter. They also consider whether Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s campaign will finally get the boost it needs with the coming leaders’ debates after weeks of struggling against U.S. President Donald Trump’s intrusions and irksome infighting conservative infighting. (Recorded April 11, 2025)

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Things are happening in the election campaigns behind the headlines that may reveal a different version of what’s showing up in the polls. Stuart Thomson and Tasha Kheiriddin, the team behind Political Hack, Postmedia’s politics insider newsletter, join Brian to talk about some of the challenges inside Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s campaign, which Stuart travelled with this week. Brian and Stuart discuss the fragility of a Liberal polling lead that relies on President Donald Trump’s seemingly softening tariff attack, while Stuart talks vulnerabilities in Carney’s campaigning abilities. And Tasha and Brian consider the supporters who might not be counted in surveys, and could be Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s secret weapon. (Recorded April 4, 2025)

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In any other election the kind of poll numbers Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are putting up would be cause for celebration. And their campaign so far has been perfectly executed, as Stuart Thomson and Tasha Kheiriddin from Postmedia’s Political Hack newsletter discuss with Brian this week. Meanwhile Liberal Leader Mark Carney has stumbled and underwhelmed. But the dynamics of this race in the first week played entirely to the Liberals’ sole advantage and they’re dominating the polls. So far Conservatives have mostly stuck to their main pre-Donald Trump message of affordability and change. On our Election 2025 panel this week, Tasha, Stuart and Brian hash out whether Conservatives should pivot or stay focused, while waiting (and hoping) for a shift in voters’ thinking. (Recorded March 28, 2025)

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It’s finally dead… or is it? New Liberal Leader Mark Carney reduced the carbon-tax rate to zero before calling an election, but as Franco Terrazzano tells Brian, there are still questions about what Canadians will pay. Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, is author of the new book Axing the Tax. He discusses how the federal Liberal government snuck in the carbon tax and managed to convince everyone (even Conservatives!) that it was popular, effective and affordable — until a new Tory leader, Pierre Poilievre, exposed the lie. Now Carney wants a tougher business carbon tax claiming it’s necessary not for the environment, but for trade. And again, Terrazzano says, Liberals are hiding the truth about what it will really cost us all. (Recorded March 20, 2025)

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