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

Let’s get right to it, because our topic today is elemental. We are going to dig deep – DEEP! – into the economy. More specifically, what I really want to do here is put Bank of Canada policy, and its antecedents, under the microscope.

What led them to last week’s rate increase? What’s going to be required to get us to 2% inflation? Is that even worth doing and what will be the ramifications? How hard a landing are we in for here, and how do mortgage and debt holders cope? And this emotional undercurrent to sum it all up, Herle Burly-ites: Why oh why does an economy with almost no unemployment … feel so goddamn lousy to so many people?

Here to help me sound smart on all of that are Dr. Lindsay Tedds and Randall Bartlett.

Dr. Tedds is currently Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary. Her primary research is in tax policy, public economics and public policy design and implementation. She publishes far and wide and, in her own words, it’s important that her work be accessible to broader audiences in order to spark conversations about public policy beyond the academic community. So, it’s not at all shocking that her blog is called “DEAD FOR TAX REASONS”.

Randall Bartlett is Senior Director of Canadian Economics with Desjardins Group. Based in Toronto, he covers the Canadian and provincial economies & housing markets outside of Quebec, as well as government budgets & fiscal policy. Before Desjardins, Mr. Bartlett was the Director of Economic Research on OMERS’ Total Portfolio Management Team. And he’s a frequent publisher of what’s on his economic mind on both Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as various other 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 Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Uber Canada.

The amazing Jennifer Welsh is making her second appearance here on the pod! Jennifer hails from Regina as I do, but that’s where the similarities end. She’s a Rhodes Scholar, earning her Master and Doctorate in International Relations at Oxford. She co-founded the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. She was a Special Adviser to Ban Ki-moon – the UN Secretary General – on the Responsibility to Protect. And she’s currently the Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security at McGill University.

Given that kind of expertise, this is conversation I’d like to have today:

• The world has been in great flux in the last decade. 
• A China that suddenly seems threatening. 
• Russia’s invasion and its backing from China and tacitly India. 
• Democracy is under attack.  America is unsteady, at best. 
• What does it all mean for Canada and how should we be comporting ourselves internationally?

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

We’re recording this one 2 days post the UCP majority victory in Alberta. And while that result may have been a shock to some, it was not a shock to me, based on what I was observing as the campaigns wound into their last couple of weeks.

We’re gonna break it all down today, doing a retrospective anatomy of the campaign. Who voted for who and why? What ended up mattering most to the electorate? What didn’t matter. And then we’ll speculate just a bit on the possible futures for Smith, the UCP, Notley and the NDP.

Helping me do that, 2 pair of highly analytical, Alberta boots on the ground:

Jason Markusoff, making his debut on The Herle Burly! Jason has been writing about Alberta for nearly 2 decades with Maclean’s, the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. He’s currently at the CBC as a producer and writer … and appears regularly on Power and Politics’ Power Panel, and various other CBC current affairs shows.

And then, it’s our most excellent friend of the show, 4-time Herle Burly guest (she’s almost a squatter here, godammit!) … Janet Brown. Janet is the Principal of Janet Brown Opinion Research, based in Calgary. She’s been examining and tracking public opinion in Alberta for over 25 years. There’s simply no voice I trust more on what going on in the province.

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

We’re bringing together 2 people —  “The Interns” — who mean a helluva lot to me in both a professional and personal sense. As mentors, colleagues, advisors and friends.

Elly Alboim and Bill Fox are here!

Both Elly and Bill are now 2-time Herle Burly guests. An honorific I’m assuming will go right to the top of their CVs. But listen up to their bona fides: Elly was a journalist for the CBC for almost a quarter century, before becoming Parliamentary Bureau Chief for TV news and National Political Editor. He was a senior advisor to Paul Martin as well as Kathleen Wynne. Today he’s an Associate Professor of Journalism at Carleton and a Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies. And he wrote a fantastic piece on today’s topic, called “Eliminating the CBC”, which you can check out at Air Quotes Media. Bill began as working journalist and became Ottawa and Washington bureau chief for The Toronto Star. He then turned his eye toward politics as Director of Communications for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Today, he’s got about 18 academic degrees from small shops like Harvard and Carleton, and he’s a leading analyst of media and communication. His latest book is “Trump, Trudeau, Tweets, Truth: A Conversation” which is a fantastic read.

We’re going dive into a topic that’s become quite the political battleground over the last little while: The role and importance of CBC news … How the news division is performing … the case for dismantling … other legitimate journalistic alternatives … but first, media coverage of China election interference.

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

Alright … Michelle Rempel Garner is our guest this week, making her second appearance here on The Herle Burly! You all know the Conservative Member for Calgary Nose Hill: she’s a vocal force, both within her own party, and in The House. Ms. Rempel Garner is a former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government.

She’s been an effective shadow minister for a number of portfolios and when I say she’s a vocal force, part of the reason for that is her nuanced, long-form Substack writing on a variety of complex social and public policy issues. As Michelle says … “No talking points. No speech writers.”

We’re going to dive a little deeper into that today. Her observations on a changing media landscape, the role of the CBC, and how to connect with people in non-traditional ways.

We’ll get her thoughts on the current government from the perspective of an opposition MP.

We’ll also get into the current state of the Conservative Party of Canada, and how she feels about leadership in general … both Poilievre’s and Trudeau’s.

And finally, we’ll get her observations on the Alberta Election!

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

Today on the pod is a topic I’ve wanted to explore and a guest we’ve been trying to get for a while: Shimon Fogel, Chief Executive Officer of CIJA, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Prior to his long career in Jewish Advocacy, Mr. Fogel studied Government and International Relations at Clark University going on to pursue graduate and doctoral studies at McGill. The Hill Times named him as one of the 100 most influential figures within Canada’s political sector. And Embassy Magazine ranked him among the 50 most important people influencing foreign policy in Canada.

I’ve known Shimon for over 25 years now. Today, we’ll be talking about Israel and its political climate. As well as the rise of antisemitism, anti-Israel sentiment and hate crimes.

Welcome to The Herle Burly mishpucha! (You didn’t know I had Yiddush fluency, did ya?)

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 Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, the Nuclear Innovation Institute, and Uber Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re going to get right to it, because we have here with us the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Canada’s Minister of Transport!

Minister Alghabra has represented the riding of Mississauga Centre since the 2015 election. Born in Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family, and a mechanical engineer by trade, he moved to Toronto when he was 19 years old and completed his Bachelor of Engineering at what is now Toronto Metropolitan University. He is also a Master of Business Administration from York University. Minister Alghabra is a long-time community activist, working on initiatives that empower new Canadians. He’s served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Minister of International Trade Diversification, before becoming Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

Today, we’re going to find out more about Mr. Alghabra’s background and what led him to a life in politics. We’ll take a deeper dive into the strengthened Passenger Rights Charter, announced just last week. Plus, we’ll talk about the intersection of climate issues and transportation. Then … we’ll talk some pure politics. About the Liberal party and its leadership. About Parliament today. And about the next election.

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

Our regular listeners will know that Frances Donald is Senior Managing Director and Global Chief Economist and Strategist at Manulife Financial. In 2019, when she was appointed to the role, she became the youngest Chief Economist in Canada — 1 of only 2 women to hold the title.

Not at all surprising then that the economy is what we’ll be talking about today. The stuff you might expect … the budget, inflation, interest rates, our industrial strategy with the VW deal as a backdrop to that. But then, I also want to get Frances’ take on the immigration/wages relationship I’ve been exploring here on the pod. We’ll follow up on my conversation a couple of weeks ago with Neil Hetherington and talk about full time workers at food banks. And then we’ll take on Friendshoring … what are the tradeoffs and geopolitical implications here and what might it cost us?

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 Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and the Nuclear Innovation Institute.

We have The Honourable Sean Fraser with us today, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

A proud son of Pictou County, Minister Fraser first entered public life in 2015 when he was elected MP for Central Nova. Before politics, he had a successful legal career practising commercial litigation and international dispute resolution. And prior to his current cabinet post he served as Parliamentary Secretary in a number of portfolios … to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity … to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change … as well as to the Deputy Prime Minister. And here’s an interesting tidbit we’re surely going to put to the test today, Minister Fraser was chosen as “Best Orator” during Macleans’ 12th Annual Parliamentarians of the Year Awards.

So, here’s where we’re going with this:

• We’ll find out a little more about Minister Fraser’s life and what shaped him for a career in politics.
• The meaty stuff about his key Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship portfolio. Where’s he and the government going with it, and why?
• What are some of the knock down issues he’s dealing with around housing, wage impacts and temporary workers.
• And finally, we’ll talk pure politics. About the Liberal Party. About Parliament today. The next election … and anywhere else his oration skills take us!

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

I’m gonna get right to our guest this week, because we’re taping this thing at 8am sharp, which based on who this man is and the good work he does, only tells me he’s got people to serve.

Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank is on the pod today. Neil has served as their CEO since January 2018. His non-profit experience includes 16 years as CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Toronto – where he was the youngest CEO of a Habitat affiliate in the world – and then New York City. As well as 2 years as CEO of Dixon Hall, which serves thousands in Toronto through social programs, shelters, seniors’ programs, youth initiatives and community revitalization efforts. Neil holds degrees and certificates from University of Western Ontario’s Ivey Business School, Harvard Business School, and the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School.

So, in light in of the current context, which is The Daily Bread Food Bank is now seeing 4 times more client visits(!) than before than pandemic, we’re going to do a Food Bank 101 here:

• What kind of organizations are they? 
• Where does the funding come from?
• Who used Food Banks pre-pandemic, when the numbers were lower, and who’s using them now?
• And what other concomitant services and programs are required to address the challenges that come from inadequate income support, mental health, and housing?

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.