Don’t call it a done deal until it’s done, but America’s ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, tells Brian this week that negotiations between Ottawa and President Donald Trump’s administration are making progress. He explains why he believes things are moving quickly in the right direction to settle the trade war between our two countries. Hoekstra also talks about why he’s looking forward to the next phase of the longstanding bilateral relationship, when he thinks Canada and the U.S. will work harmoniously and productively again, allied in eliminating the fentanyl scourge from both countries and building the two strongest economies in the industrialized world — although he still thinks Canada will be eating America’s dust. (Recorded June 6, 2025)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the King opening Parliament, and a disciplined agenda, the prime minister modelled a poised and assured break from his unserious predecessor while sending a message to the world about Canadian sovereignty. That’s the verdict of Postmedia’s politics columnist John Ivison and parliamentary bureau chief Stuart Thomson, who join Brian to discuss the first week of Mark Carney’s re-elected government. Now, the easy part is over. Despite promises to cut spending, new estimates show bureaucracy out of control. President Trump has revived his “51st state” ultimatum, using missile defence as a cudgel. And provincial premiers are circling with demands in advance of a first ministers’ meeting. The panel runs through all the hard stuff for Carney that’s just getting started. (Recorded May 30, 2025)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jews get arrested in Toronto for standing up to Hamas cheerleaders; Judaic students hide their identity while public school teachers extol Islam; progressives, along with media and politicians, compare Israel to Nazis and cast Palestinians as blameless martyrs. These are among the reasons Brendan O’Neill, author of After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation, tells Brian why he thinks the West has been successfully taken over by people who hate our society, heritage and values. He explains how they’ve weaponized the fight against Islamophobia to return us to an era where antisemitism is systemic. And they’ve made it fashionable again to persecute Jews as the scapegoat for all the world’s ills. (Recorded May 8, 2025)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices