Power & Politics

Quebec Premier François Legault announced his resignation on Wednesday, giving his CAQ party just months to find a new leader — and to reverse the separatist Parti Québécois's wide polling lead — ahead of the province's October election. Former Quebec adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper Dimitri Soudas and former Quebec adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Jonathan Kalles discuss whether the resignation of two party leaders in as many months opens up the race, or locks in the province's path to another sovereignty referendum. Plus, Business Council of Canada president Goldy Hyder outlines the opportunities for Canada in China as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to meet President Xi Jinping.

Coastal First Nations in B.C. say their stance on a pipeline from Alberta to B.C. has not changed following a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday. Power & Politics hears from one of those nations and a former Alberta energy minister.

With B.C. Premier David Eby on a trade mission in India and Prime Minister Mark Carney leaving for China to meet with President Xi Jinping this week, Indian High Commissioner Dinesh K. Patnaik tells Power & Politics that 'trust' is returning to his country's relationship with Canada — but still asks 'where's the evidence' behind Canadian officials' accusations of election interference and links to a B.C. murder. Plus, economist Justin Wolfers explains why he believes the Trump administration's criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is a 'brutal form of bullying and intimidation' that risks the U.S. economy and monetary policy for decades to come.

The United States is reshaping the global order around Canada with military intervention in Venezuela, threats to annex a NATO ally and claims of ‘dominance’ over the entire Western Hemisphere. Zain Velji, Jamie Ellerton and Laura D'Angelo discuss how Canada can possibly approach a power that’s fighting both the world — and itself.

Chrystia Freeland has officially resigned her seat in the House of Commons, leaving the minority Liberal government now two seats shy of a majority. Plus, more details emerge about the fatal ICE shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance says Renee Nicole Good, the woman fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, is 'dead because she tried to ram somebody with her car.' University of Wisconsin associate professor of law and use of force expert John Gross breaks down every stage of the encounter between ICE and Good, saying it's clear from video that 'she never attempted to ram the officer.' Then, Minnesota state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed refutes Vance's claim that Good was part of a radical left-wing network, saying 'the only radical group' is his administration that's 'invading' U.S. cities.

 A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday less than two kilometres from where a police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020. Minneapolis city council member Aurin Chowdhury tells ICE to 'pack your bags and leave,' arguing the Trump administration is using an 'occupation' and false anti-immigrant narrative to distract from economic failures. Then, civil rights lawyer and past president of the Minneapolis NAACP Nekima Levy Armstrong refutes U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that the shooting was self-defence: 'If there were concerns about her trying to drive away, you can shoot a tire — you don't have to shoot a person in the head.'

The White House clarified its ambitions for Greenland on Tuesday, stating that 'acquiring Greenland is a national security priority' for the U.S. and that 'utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option.' Greenland's pro-independence opposition leader Pele Broberg responds by arguing for direct negotiations with the U.S. on Greenland's future. Then, Former Canadian Ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck discusses what a threat from NATO's most powerful member to annex another member's territory could mean for the future of the alliance. 

After arresting the president of Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump is issuing new threats, warnings and predictions of collapse for Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Greenland and Iran — all while his State Department posts online that 'This is OUR Hemisphere.' Canada's former UN ambassador discusses how Trump and other powerful leaders are trying to 'carve up' the world. Plus, former Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos Calderón reacts to Trump's threat of military action against Colombia.

Power and Politics' panel of political insiders — Greg MacEachern, Melanie Richer and Fred DeLorey — on Canadian political stories to watch in 2026.