The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings you curious, you courageous, Herle Burly-ites. The guy driving the online initiative, Build Canada, is here... Daniel Debow.

Build Canada bills itself as a community of entrepreneurs, leaders, and motivated citizens who are committed to driving Canada’s growth. The hub of it all is a website that allows Canadian “builders” to take their ideas – bold, courageous, policy ideas, and publish them as specific, actionable memos that people can read and react to. That would include government and public policy people.

I’ve talked about them on the pod before. About 5 months ago when I had on the pod journalist David Skok from The Logic.

But now, the volunteer Chair, co-creator, and “chief cheerleader” (as he calls himself) of the whole thing. Daniel Debow has quite a CV: ridiculously successful entrepreneur, early investor in over 50 tech companies, board director, educator and mentor. 

We’re going to find out more about his backstory, because I want to start the interview there. What he’s learned in business and what lessons are applicable to making Canada better. What he’s trying to achieve with Build Canada. How much, and in what ways, does he think Canada needs to change. And does he see a new government that can help us grow (and I’m quoting from the website now) ... “fast and fearlessly ... to become the most prosperous country in the world”?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! That guest is Mark Podlasly. Mark is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation in British Columbia and he’s the CEO of First Nations Major Projects Coalition.

The F-N-M-P-C is an Indigenous-led organization involved in major energy, infrastructure, and resource developments across Canada. Specifically, Mark drives engagement and advocacy for greater economic participation for member nations. And, he has over 25 years’ experience leading the planning and execution of complex capital projects around the world.

So, “Major Projects” ... “National Projects” ... “Nation Building” ... we hear all these terms coming from the Carney government.  But if it’s truly a National Project, it has to be with Indigenous support and participation. Easy to say. Maybe a little more difficult to make a reality. That’s what Mark and I are talking about today.

How do those negotiations happen? What’s the right amount of equity? What are the other factors that matter, besides equity? Are there past examples we can look to for guidance? And is the governance in place to get it all accomplished?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Well greetings, you politically curious Herle Burly-ites! Fred DeLorey is here, making his 2nd appearance on the show, which means he’s dangerously close to becoming an official “friend of the pod.” 

Fred is a long-time Conservative strategist and campaign director. He was the National Campaign Manager for Erin O’Toole in 2021. Before that he was Director of Field Operations for Ontario Premier Doug Ford. And he’s a former Director of Political Operations for Stephen Harper. As well as Director of Comms and National Spokesperson. Today, he’s Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at NorthStar Public Affairs. So, with that kind of CV, you’d expect we’d talk about the current state and prospects for the Conservative Party, which we will.

But first, I want to take this conversation in another direction.  Fred’s a longtime Party and campaign operative, as you’ve just heard. And we talk a lot on the pod about what makes a party succeed.  I want to dive into: What breaks a Party ... with specific reference to Canada’s NDP.

Given the dismal results of the last election is the NDP facing bankruptcy to the point their existence is threatened? What kind of resources does a party need these days for a fully funded modern campaign? How does the NDP come back from their debt, without having official Party status? Should they even try or just fold and let a new party emerge? And what does this mean for the CPC, who need a strong party on the Left?

Full disclosure here: I’m banking on Fred being able to talk about the reality of the NDP’s predicament in a way that most NDP folks can’t, or won’t, right now.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! Last week on the pod, we had Scott Aitchison on – Conservative Housing Critic. This week we’re sticking with that theme – housing – so central to the last federal election and something I want to keep exploring with you.

So on the pod today I want to look it at from a couple of perspectives. Experience on the ground and policy making. What’s the current state of play in the market?  What’s been the impact of measures to date? Has the situation improved?  How does the condo glut affect things?  And broadly, is the government plan a good one?

We’ve assembled a housing panel to help answer those questions: Ron Butler + Mike Moffatt + Tyler Meredith!

Ron Butler describes himself as a “big, old, overly opinionated mortgage broker, worried about the future of housing for average Canadians.” He’s the founder of Butler Mortgage Inc, with over 30 years in the business.  And hosts of his own weekly pod, “The Angry Mortgage Podcast”, where he swears a f**k of a lot and shares his insights about the industry.

Mike Moffatt is co-host of the “Missing Middle Podcast.”  His twitter bio says he’s a Husband, Father, Brother, Son, Economist and Housing Guy. Among other things, he’s an Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics, and Public Policy Group at Ivey Business School, Western University. He served as Director of Policy and Research at Canada 2020. And he’s done extensive research on Canada's housing supply and the affordability crisis.

Tyler Meredith is the former Head of Fiscal and Economic Policy for Prime Minister Trudeau and Ministers of Finance, Chrystia Freeland and Bill Morneau. Today, he’s a Founding Partner at Meredith/Boessenkool Policy Advisors. And he was a co-host of the limited run podcast “Race to Replace”, right here at Air Quotes Media!

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’ll get right to it, because we’ve a Member of Parliament today on the pod, and an issue that’s not only central in the public consciousness, but urgent in terms of policy making, playing an outsized role in our last election: Scott Aitchison, Conservative critic for Housing. 

Scott is from Huntsville, Ontario, and opened up on the pod about leaving home at 15 and his journey into public life at the age of 21.

And then, a deep conversation on what matters to so many Canadians. The housing crisis. A place to call home. Affordability. Policy to help them get there. But we’ll also broaden the aperture and talk party politics, the election just past and get Scott’s take on the early moves of the Carney government.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! Today on the show ... the most popular, highest-rated panel conversation, of all the panel conversations. Making their world-record 8th appearance on The Herle Burly, I give you The Chiefs!

3 former Chiefs of Staff to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government.  Here to discuss the issues NOT as campaigners do —  i.e. what might be ideal in a political sense — but rather, what’s possible to deliver in a governing sense.

The Chiefs are:

Tim Murphy – former Chief of Staff to Paul Martin. Now the EVP and Chief Strategic Affairs Officer at AECON.

Ian Brodie – first Chief of Staff to Stephen Harper, and central to the founding of the CPC. Now Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary and Senior Advisor at New West Public Affairs.

And, Brian Topp – former Chief of Staff to Rachel Notley in Alberta, Deputy Chief to Roy Romanow in Saskatchewan, and one of the architects of Jack Layton’s Orange Wave. Today, he’s a founding partner at GT&co.

For a brand-new federal government, hell-bent on breaking down barriers and red tape at record speed, this is a timely conversation. I want to talk about what’s changed in Prime Minister Carney’s government. How is it operating differently? How is it structured differently? And take an early progress report on how it’s managing a very ambitious agenda.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! These days, the security and stability of the world order seems, well, neither secure nor stable. With old and new conflicts abound, we have a really special guest today: Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.

We're going to discuss the role of the Canadian military, what new investments to modernize look like in the context of emerging threats, and how they might be used to defend our interests at home and around the world.

The Vice-Admiral has had a meteoric rise in service to our country. He joined the Armed Forces in 1990 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1994. He was given the command of a destroyer in 2009. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 as the director of Afghan National Police Training within the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. And so much more before taking command of the Royal Canadian Navy in 2022.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re going to have fun with two incisive observers of Canadian politics in Ottawa: Paul Wells and Shannon Proudfoot!

Together we're going to examine "not just what is happening in Ottawa" with the new Carney government, "but what it looked and felt like, who made it happen and why."

Paul Wells has, for years, been one of one of Canada’s great political journalists. Formerly at Maclean’s, the National Post and The Gazette, he now publishes his own widely read subscription newsletter, paulwells.substack.com. His book is: “Justin Trudeau on the Ropes: Governing in Troubled Times.”

Shannon Proudfoot is a feature writer in The Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau. Before joining The Globe, she was the Ottawa bureau chief for Maclean's and wrote for Sportsnet magazine, Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen. You can often hear her work featured as "Clippings" on the Curse of Politics podcast.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Friday June 20th and tomorrow is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. So, a conversation relevant to that and essential in this political moment. Our guest is National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, of the Assembly of First Nations.

Born and raised in the Pinaymootang First Nation, Manitoba, National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak began her term as National Chief in December 2023, becoming the youngest woman and mother to hold the position.
Amongst a very long list of accomplishments, she was the lead negotiator for the First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle class action lawsuit, resulting in over $40 billion compensation for First Nations children and families.

National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak has lobbied Senate, the House, Cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister’s Office to fulfill mandates from Chiefs. And she continues to advocate to protect collective rights–Treaty, inherent rights, title and jurisdiction, the right to self-determination and all human rights.

So today, in the context of Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious “Build Agenda”. I want to talk about how we get these projects done in a way that First Nations communities feel part of and positive about.  What are the environmental and land issues that require pushback? What’s fair compensation? What are the pressures and internal politics she faces? And where does the reconciliation agenda go, post-Trudeau?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curious, you courageous Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Sunday June 15th mid-afternoon – parallel timing with start of the highly-freighted G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Here to talk with me about what we might expect from the meeting is Jason Kenney, making his 2nd appearance here on the pod.

I mean, who among you Herle Burly-ites doesn’t know Mr. Kenney? The 18th Premier of Alberta. Former Leader of the United Conservative Party and the last leader of the Alberta PC Party. MP for the Reform Party and Canadian Alliance … and a multi-portfolio Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives from 2006 to 2015. Today, he’s a Senior Advisor at Bennett Jones.

So, we’re going to talk about Canada on the world stage. What success looks like for Prime Minister Carney at the G7. His continuing relationship with President Trump and the future of Canada-U.S. trade. Global politics and national defence.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.