Over the holidays, we’re looking back at some of the best episodes of 2022 and this was one of our biggest hits. After a stellar, decades-long career at Canada’s public broadcaster, Wendy Mesley made a big mistake: she used the “N-word” with colleagues, off the air, while talking about covering the racism issue. She paid dearly for it: her reputation was ruined, she was portrayed as a bigot and her nearly 40-year CBC career was flushed away. Mesley, now free to speak her mind as co-host of “The Women of Ill Repute” podcast, joins host Anthony Furey to talk about what happened, how she thinks the CBC, grappling with its own institutional racism charges, exploited her mistake, and about the bleak world that unforgiving Twitter-driven pile-ons are creating. (Recorded July 7, 2022)

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An extended video version of this interview will be available starting Tuesday, December 20, 2022 online at National Post (nationalpost.com).

Special guest host Rex Murphy sits down with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to discuss her recent elevation to the premier’s office, why she’s determined to stand up to those, from environmental groups to the federal government, that she believes have been unfairly targeting Alberta — and how she's already begun to fight back. (Recorded December 17, 2022)

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Multiple veterans looking for help say they were instead offered medical aid in dying by Veterans Affairs Canada. It’s clear that it’s not just one rogue agent — it’s department policy, as Mark Meincke discusses this week with guest host Brian Lilley. Meincke, himself a veteran recovering from PTSD, is host of Operation Tango Romeo, a trauma recovery podcast for veterans and first responders, where he’s spoken to several vets who were offered death by their own government. Meincke explains the scandalous obstacles that veterans face in getting basic supports for treatable injuries and what needs to be done to fix a system that would rather terminate wounded soldiers than help them. (Recorded December 8, 2022)

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Lt. Gen. (ret) Michel Maisonneuve is heavily decorated, after serving 35 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. Then he gave a speech, while accepting the Vimy Award for his “outstanding contribution” to defending Canada and democratic values, where he criticized cancel culture, statue topplers, our weakened military, and damaging climate policies, while saluting personal responsibility and urging Canada to become a serious country again. Since then, he has been attacked and forced to resign from various groups. Maisonneuve joins guest host Brian Lilley to discuss his speech, the fallout, why he believes Canada is no longer meeting its potential, and how we can achieve greatness again. (Recorded November 30, 2022)

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Agents of Beijing are reportedly meddling in our elections. Chinese spies have been caught infiltrating our institutions. China runs police stations on Canadian soil. When Chinese President Xi Jinping insulted Canada's prime minister recently, calling Justin Trudeau "very naive," he wasn't kidding, as Charles Burton, a long-time China scholar who served at Canada's embassy in Beijing, discusses with guest host Jackson Doughart. Xi will keep exhibiting his dominance over a Canadian government that has allowed itself to get played again and again by Beijing, explains Burton. But the Liberals might finally be ready to abandon their credulous China policy, if only because they have no choice. (Recorded November 24, 2022)

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Kanye West’s bigoted comments about Jews cost him his branding deal with Adidas. Kyrie Irving was suspended from the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets for promoting antisemitic conspiracies. No one should be surprised that Black celebrities are susceptible to spouting stupid, racist stuff, says Wilfred Reilly, author of the race-myth-busting book Taboo: 10 Facts You Can't Talk About. Reilly, a political science professor at Kentucky State University, joins guest host Jamil Jivani this week to discuss the bigotry that still thrives in parts of the Black community, why we avoid talking about it, and the effort to cover it up with inane claims that Black people can’t be racist. (Recorded November 9, 2022)

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The U.S. midterm elections didn’t deliver Republicans the “red wave” they expected. As easy as it is to blame Donald Trump, the reality of today’s American politics is more complicated, as Jai Chabria, a senior adviser to the successful Trump-backed Ohio Senate campaign of J. D. Vance, discusses with guest host Jamil Jivani this week. Although he’s not a Trump supporter himself, Chabria explains what he thinks some Republicans misunderstand about American voters, why Trump’s brand of politics can still win, and why he thinks Trump remains the prohibitive favourite for becoming the GOP’s presidential nominee for 2024. (Recorded November 9, 2022)

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The U.S. midterm elections on November 8 have consequences for Canadians. An end to Democratic control of Congress could push President Joe Biden toward more Canada-friendly policies on oil and alliances, as Christopher Sands discusses with guest host Adrienne Batra. Sands, the director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute in Washington, D.C., explains how recent American ambivalence to energy security and asserting western power has impacted Canada’s foreign policy. And why younger U.S. voters, who now outnumber baby boomers, are starting to demand more realism from Washington. (Recorded October 26, 2022)

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Evidence at the inquiry into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act against this year’s Freedom Convoy in Ottawa has revealed that police and officials were unprepared and adrift. Politicians had left police ‘holding the bag,’ without resources and tools needed to deal with the protest, as Christian Leuprecht discusses in this week’s episode with guest host Adrienne Batra. Leuprecht, professor and author of Public Security in Federal Polities, explains why Canada’s policing system is poorly suited for a new era of mass public protest, and why Canadians will need real leadership to fix it. (Recorded October 26, 2022)

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Make no mistake: out-of-control inflation in the U.S. and Canada is the consequence of a radical experiment by the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve. The unfairness it has created for younger generations and the middle class has been devastating. Meanwhile, the wealthy have thrived, as guest host Sabrina Maddeaux discusses with Christopher Leonard, author of the recent bestseller The Lords of Easy Money. The economic and political consequences are roiling North America even as central bankers refuse to take responsibility. As Leonard explains, undoing the immense damage will be difficult and terribly painful. (Recorded October 12, 2022)

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