In the past several years, Loblaws, Metro and Empire have spent billions on their own stock - And at a time of food price inflation and grocery workers on strike. 
Why are they doing it? And why do some economists say stock buybacks should be abolished? 

 Featured in this episode: 
William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work

 Further reading: 
Profits Without Prosperity, William Lazonick, Harvard Business Review“The American disease': Canadian companies pouring cash into stock buybacks as backlash grows abroad, Geoff Zochodne, Financial PostStriking Metro workers say they face challenges affording the very food they sell, Canadian Press
 Host: Jesse Brown  Credits: Cherise Seucharan (Reporter), Jonathan Goldsbie (News Editor), Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

 Sponsors: Douglas, Canva, Squarespace
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Stock Buybacks: How Grocers Eat Themselves

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News

There’s a Loblaws Boycott underway, but is it actually working? Jesse breaks his silence on the Reddit-fueled consumer action and brainstorms some guerilla grocery tactics. 
A new CBC advisory committee aims to “modernize” the CBC, but Peter Menzies explains why it probably won’t move fast enough to make a difference. 
For a limited time, get 6 months of exclusive supporter benefits for just $2/month. Go to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today. 
Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson(Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief) Guest:  Peter Menzies
Further reading: Loblaw boycott isn’t hurting sales, suppliers say - Toronto StarLoblaw boycott hits the halfway mark: Here are 5 things to know - Financial Post‘We won’t give up until prices come down’: How Ontarians protested grocery stores in 1966 | TVO TodayRex Murphy, on Newfoundland outport fishing | CBC.ca [video]Seven media experts selected to help modernize CBC/Radio-Canada before next election - CBC NewsCRTC delays implementing online streaming act until end of 2025 - The Globe and Mail       Sponsors: CAMH, Douglas, Indochino,  Article,  
Additional Music by Audio Network
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.     You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

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(Short Cuts) Loblaw & Order

The pretendian phenomenon has been known and discussed in indigenous circles for years, but it's become mainstream Canadian news lately thanks to three big name exposés: Buffy sainte Marie, Joseph Boyden, and Michelle Latimer. These people were arguably the most famous indigenous songwriter in Canada, the most famous indigenous novelist in Canada and the most famous indigenous filmmaker in Canada. And all three were revealed to not actually be indigenous or at a minimum, all three misrepresented their ancestries and their community connections.
But they are just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue with pretendians, according to a growing chorus of Indigenous leaders, is that Indigenous identity theft is vast and it poses an existential threat to First Nations. 
In the United States, the number of people who identified themselves as native has grown from 552,000 back in 1960 to 9.7 million in 2020. That is a growth rate almost ten times as high as overall population growth in America. And most of it did not happen because new native people were born. It happened because millions of people shifted their identities. Here in Canada, we have 1.8 million people identifying as Indigenous today, up from just under half a million in 1980. That is almost a 400% increase. And again, most of it is not because indigenous people are having so many kids. Most of it is happening because so many Canadians are deciding that they're Indigenous. So what happens when people with newly claimed and highly contested Indigenous identities outnumber the Indigenous people that precede them? 
Host: Jesse Brown  Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Featured guests: Robert Jago, Angel Ellis
Additional music by Audio Network
For more information:Find Pretendians on your favourite podcast appThe Newfoundlander — CanadalandAFN National Chief speaks at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues — APTN News
 Sponsors: AG1, CAMH, Squarespace
For a limited time, get 6 months of exclusive supporter benefits for just $2/month. Go to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.
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The Pretendian Crisis

Si l’on en croit les médias et les discours des politiques, les immigrants seraient responsables de toutes les difficultés culturelles et économiques que connaissent le Canada et le Québec à l’heure actuelle. Pour décrypter ces discours nauséabonds, Emilie reçoit Mireille Paquet, professeure au département de politique de l’Université Concordia et spécialiste des politiques migratoires. Dans la deuxième partie de l’émission, elles reviennent sur les campements pro palestiniens installés sur les campus canadiens, témoins de tensions entre la haute administration universitaire et la communauté étudiante et professorale.
According to politicians and some media, immigrants would be responsible for all the cultural and economic troubles Canada and the province of Quebec are facing. To break down and analyze these xenophobic discourses, Emilie talks with Mireille Paquet, a Concordia professor of political science, who specializes in migratory policy. In the second part of the show, they look at the pro-Palestinian encampments on university campuses, which bear witness to tensions between university administrators and the student-professor community.
Animation : Emilie Nicolas Générique : Lucie Laumonier (Production), Tristan Capacchione (Production technique), Karyn Pugliese (Rédactrice en chef)  Coanimation : Mireille Paquet
Pour en savoir plus : 
L’immigration donne un coup de frein au vieillissement de la population - La PresseCrise à Québec Solidaire: Réinventer notre démocratie en faillite - La PresseUne semaine de campements à l’Université de Toronto - Radio-Canada
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For a limited time, get 6 months of exclusive supporter benefits for just $2/month. Go to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(Détours) L’immigrant imaginaire

The Drake/Kendrick rap beef has overtaken the internet. A flurry of diss tracks has captured the attention of millions, but now a shooting outside of Drake’s Toronto mansion reveals the violent potential of this rhetorical battle. Jan Wong reports from the Drake’s Mansion and Jesse offers his analysis of the journalistic underpinnings of the modern rap beef.
Plus, there was foreign interference after all, but was it everything the media reported? What Justice Hogue’s initial report tells us (and doesn’t tell us) about the state of Canadian democracy. 

 Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief) Guest: Jan Wong   Further reading: Drake security guard suffers life-threatening injuries in shooting outside rapper's Toronto mansion, as online speculation ignites In the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, no one’s a winner - The Globe and MailDrake vs. Kendrick Lamar: the juiciest moments in their beef | CBC Music War in Gaza, Shibboleths on Campus | The New YorkerGlobe editorial: The three big questions still unanswered on foreign interference#912 Is The Foreign Interference Scandal Overblown? - Canadaland [Podcast] Foreign meddling may not have swayed recent elections. But inquiry report provides good reason to worry - Toronto Star  Sponsors: CAMH, Athletic Greens, Calm
For a limited time, get 6 months of exclusive supporter benefits for just $2/month. Go to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today. 
You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.     You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

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(Short Cuts) Drake is a Journalist

Open Line on VOCM-AM in Newfoundland has been called an institution. A religion. A must-listen show. 
And we at Canadaland had never heard of it - until recently. But it attracts an audience bigger than any show in its time slot, and has consistently for years. 
So in the age of podcasts and social media, in a time of layoffs and media cuts, how has this AM radio talk show managed to thrive? 
Host: Jesse Brown  Credits: Cherise Seucharan (Reporter), Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Jonathan Goldsbie (News Editor), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief) Featured guests: Paddy Daly, Greg Smith, Ryan Cleary, Justin Brake
Additional music by Audio Network
Further reading:How Joey Smallwood convinced Newfoundlanders to join Confederation, CBC NewsNewfoundland radio star Ron Pumphrey had a profound connection with listeners, Joan Sullivan, Globe and MailMount Cashel Orphanage Abuse Scandal, Heritage Newfoundland and LabradorOpen Line with Paddy Daly, VOCMCOMMONS: Work, Episode #6: Emptying an Ocean and Episode #7: Merchants of the Rock, CanadalandThe Newfoundlander, Justin Brake, Canadaland
 Sponsors: Better Help, CAMH, Oxio
If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stock Buybacks: How Grocers Eat Themselves

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