For someone who’s spent his career in politics, Conservative MP and leadership candidate Scott Aitchison doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about politicians. He thinks elected leaders today are all about stoking division to bump their popularity with their base, as he tells Anthony in this latest instalment of Full Comment’s discussions with federal Conservative leadership candidates. The result, Aitchison says, is that real people and concerns are being ignored in favour of cheap political wins, making us all a lot angrier. And, as he explains, he’s running for party leader because he’s determined to fix it. (Recorded May 26, 2022)

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Ontario endured strict and lengthy pandemic lockdowns, especially compared to Alberta’s much lighter touch. But conservative voters seem ready to reward Doug Ford’s Ontario PCs with re-election while, out west, angry conservatives in Alberta have driven their premier from office. Hamish Marshall, a former national Conservative campaign manager, joins Anthony this week to discuss how Ontario’s political culture has shifted since COVID and how Ford — unlike Kenney — has captured the conservative mood in his province, all while stealing traditional supporters of the Liberals and NDP. (Recorded May 26, 2022)

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Dr. Sonu Gaind is a supporter of “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) for those suffering profoundly with terminal illnesses. He’s even the physician chair of the MAID team at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital, where he’s chief of psychiatry. But he’s grown alarmed since Canada stopped requiring a reasonably foreseeable death for euthanasia, as he tells Anthony in this week’s episode. People who are poor, lonely or battling mental illnesses, who’s lives might get better with help, are being offered a lethal injection instead. And children could be next. What once threatened to be euthanasia’s slippery slope, says Gaind, has turned out to be a cliff. (Recorded May 12, 2022)

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No one wants to take the blame for Canada's soaring inflation rate. Not the Bank of Canada. And not the government. But the problem was clearly exacerbated by policy-makers in Ottawa who kept pumping gargantuan inflationary stimulus into the economy well after the pandemic recovery had begun, as Ian Lee discusses with Anthony on this week's episode. Canadians will pay a steep price in unintended consequences, says Lee, associate professor at Carleton's Sprott School of Business. Young people especially will have more reasons to feel shafted, he says. And it's all very likely to get worse before it gets better. (Recorded May 12, 2022)

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Voters around the world are saying they’re angry. They’re unhappy that the promise of upward mobility is over and they’re frustrated that government policies animated by elitist values keep making life harder for the middle and working classes, as Joel Kotkin tells Anthony this week. Younger voters around the world are already flocking to more extremist solutions after feeling abandoned by the establishment, explains Kotkin, a noted authority on global, economic, political and social trends, from California’s Chapman University. It’s all creating a powerful political volcano, he says, and the explosion won’t be pleasant. (Recorded April 28, 2022)

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The federal Liberals probably never predicted that their efforts at internet regulation would see Silicon Valley comparing them to regimes in Iran, China and North Korea, but here we are. Website blocking, government-ordered takedowns and regulating YouTubers are just some of the alarming ideas coming out of Ottawa recently. Michael Geist, professor of internet law at the University of Ottawa, joins Anthony this week to talk about the dangers these approaches pose to speech rights and other Canadian freedoms, and why the Liberals seem so intent on putting government controls on the online world. (Recorded April 28, 2022)

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After fleeing the Soviet Union and building a life in Canada, Roman Baber believes deeply in upholding democracy and freedom, as he tells Anthony in this latest instalment of Full Comment’s discussions with federal Conservative leadership candidates. In fact, Baber’s opposition to Ontario’s drastic government lockdown restrictions got him kicked out of Doug Ford’s PC caucus. Baber explains why he believes Canadians’ rights and liberal institutions are steadily being undermined by government control, anti-freedom ideology and censorship. And why he believes he can unite the federal Conservative party to lead the fight for rights — and win. (Recorded April 14, 2022)

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Votes are now being cast to decide the fate of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. A rebellion largely over COVID policies has triggered a review of his leadership and his rivals are openly gunning for him. It’s a reckoning that other provinces aren’t having — but maybe they should. Alberta political strategist Evan Menzies joins Anthony to break down all the drama. Menzies, who has worked with both Kenney’s United Conservative Party and Alberta’s Wildrose Party, also gets into the forces at play that could deliver a democratic eye-opener to Kenney’s adversaries. (Recorded April 14, 2022)

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Movie stars used to seem so cool. But when Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the Academy Awards over a joke, and then later got a standing ovation for his Oscar win, people in the real world were appalled. Somehow today’s cossetted movie millionaires seem much more cringe than classy, as celebrity watcher, talk-show host and media personality Shaun Proulx discusses with Anthony in this week’s episode. Proulx explains how thin-skinned celebrities and Hollywood cancel culture are losing in a competition against a new breed of stars who are being born every day on TikTok and YouTube. (Recorded March 31, 2022)

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Things in Russia have usually gone Vladimir Putin’s way. He has consolidated power, eliminated rivals, stamped out independent media and remains popular despite immense corruption and an economy in shambles. Marcus Kolga — who was recently ordered banned from Russia over his connections to Putin’s democratic opponents — joins Anthony this week to explain how things have suddenly gone seriously awry for the Russian president with his ill-conceived attack on Ukraine. As the war drags on, even Russians themselves could be losing faith in their supposedly great leader, says Kolga, a senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. And Putin’s iron grip on power may already be slipping (Recorded March 31, 2022)

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