Political Eh-conomy Radio

By Michal Rozworski

What's Political Eh-conomy Radio about?

A lefty take on politics and economics in Canada and beyond. Catch journalist Michal Rozworski interview leading left economists, journalists and other figures on topics of the day.

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Political Eh-conomy Radio episodes:

07.26.2018
Labour’s fate and revival in the US and Canada
This week, two labour historians talk about their new books on Canadian and US workers’ movements in the 20th century, books which offer important and practical lessons for unions today. First up, I speak with Barry Eidlin, Assistant Professor of...
06.14.2018
How Doug Ford won and how to challenge him
Last Thursday was a dark day in Ontario as the Conservative Party led by businessman-bully-bullshitter Doug Ford won a majority in the provincial election. Two guests assess the factors behind the Ford’s win and the chances for building an effective...
03.23.2018
West Virginia teachers strike to win
This episode is dedicated to the recent, inspiring and victorious teachers’ strike in West Virginia. West Virginia teachers went out on strike in late February over low pay and continued attacks on the health insurance plan they share with all...
02.20.2018
The problems with progressive free trade and a divided labour movement
First, I speak with Angella MacEwen about the on-going NAFTA re-negotiations and whether Trudeau's much-vaunted "progressive free trade" holds water. Angella has been a guest on the show before and is an economist at the Canadian Labour Congress. Speaking of...
07.20.2017
What do we do when we Fight for $15
On this episode, three guests provide some perspective on the politics and the economics of the Fight for $15. First, I speak with Jonathan Rosenblum, campaign director at the first Fight for $15 at SeaTac Airport, just outside Seattle, Washington. Workers there...
06.26.2017
Jeremy Corbyn is Prime Minister
Looking to the UK, it definitely feels like a series of those weeks where decades happen. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour narrowly lost but really won the election, its vote share up by the most since 1945. Corbyn himself looks more like...
04.28.2017
Neoliberalism restructures work and pensions
On today’s show, two sociologists talk about aspects of neoliberal restructuring. First, Nicole Aschoff, sociologist, author of The New Prophets of Capital and until very recently managing editor of Jacobin magazine speaks with me about the auto industry, Trump and...
04.05.2017
Budgeting for the oil bust in Saskatchewan and Alberta
The resource price bust is already a few years old but it’s still hitting parts of Canada hard. Two guests talk about the impact of the downturn on fiscal policy in the Canadian prairies and what this augers for the bigger...
03.08.2017
Women on strike in the US and Poland
For International Women’s Day, two interviews on women’s protests and strikes, in the USA and in Poland. My first guest is Barbara Smith. Barbara is an icon of the US women’s movement, particularly it’s Black radical wing. She helped establish...
02.16.2017
Ours to own, not theirs to profit
It seems the public sector is under attack from all directions these days. Despite historically low public financing costs, despite proven efficiency and innovation, the public sector gets a bad rap in the public eye—something all manner of politicians from...
01.18.2017
Learning from the rise of the right in the global South
Two days before Trump’s inauguration, two guests look at the turn to the right across parts of the global South: historian Vijay Prashad on Modi's economic agenda in India and left activist Sabrina Fernandez on Temer’s permanent austerity in Brazil.
12.22.2016
#RealChange wearing thin: A look back at Trudeau’s first year
A year into Justin Trudeau's government of #RealChange, it's mostly the rhetoric not the policies that have changed. Derrick O'Keefe, Clayton Thomas Mueller and Luke Savage help take stock.
12.05.2016
No shortcuts: Jane McAlevey on organizing that can transform unions and society
Today’s epsiode was recorded live at an event with union organizer and author Jane McAlevey in Toronto last week to launch her new book, No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. I was honoured to share the stage with...
11.10.2016
Don’t mourn, organize! Sarah Jaffe on organizing before and after Trump
You could almost hear the whole world hold its breath as the night of November 8th dragged on and Donald Trump’s march towards the presidency became clearer. While it may be trite, Joe Hill’s famous dictum “Don’t mourn; organize!” rings...
10.19.2016
Focus on Latin America: Colombia’s rejected peace and the Pink Tide in trouble
Focus on Latin America. First up: Aaron Tauss, assistant professor of International Political Economy at the Universidad National in Medellin, Colombia. I spoke with Aaron to better understand the devastating and unexpected "No" vote in Colombia's referendum on a peace...
08.17.2016
When the left takes the city
A focus on the experience of the left at the municipal level. First, Yusef Quadura describes the experience of Barcelona en Comu, which took control of Barcelona in 2015. An activist with the party, Yusef gives a sense of the plans, accomplishments...
07.07.2016
The improbable rise of Jeremy Corbyn
I speak with the writer Richard Seymour, author of the recently-released Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics on on the roots of Corbyn's sudden rise to power, the failure of the Blairite coup plotters and the prospects of a...
06.07.2016
Canada’s spring of occupations
Three guests talk about two big occupations of public space in Canada over the past few months. First, journalist Desmond Cole recounts the Black Lives Matter occupation of the police plaza in Toronto. Next, two activists and organizers behind Occupy INAC...
02.29.2016
Defending Bernie-nomics and debunking the housing market
This week, two effective debunkings of some mainstream economic thinking. First, JW Mason, economics professor at John Jay in NYC, argues that the criticism of Sanders from mainstream liberal economists is about keeping a lid on our expectations for the...
02.10.2016
Where is Quebec going after the strikes, where is Canada’s economy going after the oil crash?
Two Canadian updates this week. The first is from journalist Nora Loreto on Quebec's recent anti-austerity strikes and what to expect in their wake. Second, Armine Yalnizyan, an economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is back with an...
01.21.2016
The return of the modernist left
In the past few years, what has been loosely called the modernist left has seen some revival, pushing the idea of the left as a modernizing force -- progressive in the most literal sense. I speak with two authors of...
12.30.2015
2015: Podcasting year in review
As 2015 comes to a close, here's a podcast and a post that's something in between a best of and a year in review. It's a look back at some of my interviews from 2015, both in terms of significant subjects...
12.02.2015
COP21, climate inaction and corporate power
To mark the beginning of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, I caught up with Oscar Reyes, Barcelona-based climate policy researcher, to get an overview of what to expect from the talks. I also spoke with Shannon Daub of the...
11.17.2015
Climate and the state – refugees in Europe
Two interviews this week on two human-made crises: first, my conversation author and academic Christian Parenti on the climate crisis and the role of the state followed by journalist Jesse Rosenfeld with an update on the refugee crisis in Europe. Christian Parenti is author...
10.28.2015
What’s next for anti-austerity in Portugal and Greece?
Two updates from Southern Europe this week: Catarina Principe brings us up-to-date on the situation in Portugal and Andreas Karitzis recounts the search for a new politics in Greece after (and under the rule of) Syriza. My first guest, Catarina...
10.13.2015
Cutting through Canada’s election fog: inequality, climate change and free trade
This week's podcast is a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives double-header. The CCPA has been an invaluable resource for alternative economic and political analysis for decades and I always enjoy highlighting their work. First up, I speak with Seth Klein, the director...
09.14.2015
Canada’s immigration failures – Quebec’s hot autumn
My two guests this week are Harsha Walia and Roger Rashi, talking on two different topics, but both of very immediate interest. First, Harsha Walia, author of Undoing Border Imperialism and long-time anti-racist and migrant rights activist, discusses the changes...
09.03.2015
Jane McAlevey on organizing to win today
An extended interview with Jane McAlevey this week. Jane is a well-known US labour organizer and author. During the 2000s, she worked for the SEIU, organizing mostly service and care workers. Much of her work was in right-to-work states, places where...
08.19.2015
The challenge of Sanders and Corbyn to the extreme centre
A focus on the Sanders and Corbyn campaigns: where they're coming from, what they mean and what we an expect from them. First, I speak with Bhaskar Sunkara about Bernie Sanders and his qualified support for Bernie's campaign. Bhaskar is...
08.03.2015
A labor journalism resurgence?
As unions and workers suffered defeats over the past few decades, so has labor journalism dwindled from a mainstay of major media outlets across Canada and the US to a relatively niche reporting interest. The past few years, however, have...
07.20.2015
Syriza’s John Milios on continuing the fight against austerity
An important intervention into the debate over the political strategy chosen by the Syriza leadership and the future of this first government of the left in post-crisis Europe. I speak with John Milios, economics professor, long-time activist and prominent figure...
06.29.2015
Carbon politics: papal and more worldly
This week, two interviews on things climate change-related. Last week, Pope Francis released his encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si. The document speaks out strongly against environmental degradation in all forms and even calls for climate justice between the global North...
06.12.2015
Truth, reconciliation and restitution
A focus on the summary report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released last week. The Commission's conclusion was stark: Canada committed cultural genocide on Indigenous peoples. My first guest is Indigenous scholar Vanessa Watts-Powless. Vanessa is Mohawk and...
05.28.2015
Austerity and economy in Quebec
This week, I sat down with Julia Posca and Eve-Lyne Couturier, two researchers from IRIS, Quebec's major left-wing think tank. Our conversation spans everything from the austerity agenda in Quebec to the response from the province’s social movements to the renewed push...
05.14.2015
With NDP win, what’s next for Alberta?
This episode focuses on what else but the recent Alberta provincial election that saw the social democratic NDP sweep into power after 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule. To gain some perspective on this rather remarkable result in Canada's oil and...
05.01.2015
Pension tensions and power privatization
Two guests on two different topics today. First up: Kevin Skerrett, a pension researcher at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. I spoke with him about the role of pensions in financialized capitalism. Don't let the word pensions scare you off,...
04.15.2015
JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash
This episode is a bit more economics-focused than usual but gets at the heart of what's going on in the global economy where interest rates are near, at, or even below zero, but where investment, growth, wages and employment continue to suffer. My...

What's Political Eh-conomy Radio about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Political Eh-conomy Radio episodes:

Labour’s fate and revival in the US and Canada

How Doug Ford won and how to challenge him

West Virginia teachers strike to win

The problems with progressive free trade and a divided labour movement

What do we do when we Fight for $15

Jeremy Corbyn is Prime Minister

Neoliberalism restructures work and pensions

Budgeting for the oil bust in Saskatchewan and Alberta

Women on strike in the US and Poland

Ours to own, not theirs to profit

Learning from the rise of the right in the global South

#RealChange wearing thin: A look back at Trudeau’s first year

No shortcuts: Jane McAlevey on organizing that can transform unions and society

Don’t mourn, organize! Sarah Jaffe on organizing before and after Trump

Focus on Latin America: Colombia’s rejected peace and the Pink Tide in trouble

When the left takes the city

The improbable rise of Jeremy Corbyn

Canada’s spring of occupations

Defending Bernie-nomics and debunking the housing market

Where is Quebec going after the strikes, where is Canada’s economy going after the oil crash?

The return of the modernist left

2015: Podcasting year in review

COP21, climate inaction and corporate power

Climate and the state – refugees in Europe

What’s next for anti-austerity in Portugal and Greece?

Cutting through Canada’s election fog: inequality, climate change and free trade

Canada’s immigration failures – Quebec’s hot autumn

Jane McAlevey on organizing to win today

The challenge of Sanders and Corbyn to the extreme centre

A labor journalism resurgence?

Syriza’s John Milios on continuing the fight against austerity

Carbon politics: papal and more worldly

Truth, reconciliation and restitution

Austerity and economy in Quebec

With NDP win, what’s next for Alberta?

Pension tensions and power privatization

JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash