Ahead of MPs returning to the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joins The House for a sit-down interview in studio to discuss the federal government’s major projects list, his views on climate change and his worries about his family’s security in a time of growing political violence.

Then, Catherine Cullen talks to Dan Myerson, CEO of the Foran copper mine in Saskatchewan that made the top tier of Carney’s projects list, and Martin Imbleau, the CEO of Alto, the high-speed rail project connecting Toronto to Quebec City that still has work to do before moving up to the A-list.

Plus, Tonda MacCharles of the Toronto Star and Stuart Thomson of the National Post evaluate whether Carney can walk the political tightrope and keep provinces and territories happy. 

Finally, former federal environment minister Catherine McKenna discusses her new memoir, Run Like A Girl, and explains how she coped with sexist attacks and the increasingly toxic nature of political life in Canada.

This episode features the voices of:

• Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
• Dan Myerson, CEO of Foran Mining
• Martin Imbleau, CEO of Alto
• Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau chief for the Toronto Star
• Stuart Thomson, parliamentary bureau chief for the National Post
• Catherine McKenna, former federal environment minister and author of Run Like A Girl

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced billions of dollars in funding and a new Buy Canadian policy to help Canadians fight back against the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Does that mean we’re in it for the long haul with this trade war? Industry Minister Mélanie Joly joins The House to answer that question and more about whether Canada is straying away from international free trade.

Then, as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre demands the federal government axe the temporary foreign worker program, Catherine Cullen speaks to industry leaders and an immigration lawyer about the impact this proposal could have.

Plus, the Public Health Agency of Canada is shaving roughly 10 per cent of its employees as it continues to shrink in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globe and Mail health columnist André Picard explains what those cuts will mean for Canada’s ability to counter vaccine misinformation as skepticism rises in Canada and the United States.

Finally, some of Canada’s NATO allies have been preparing their citizens for war or natural disasters for decades. Alex Wilner, director of Carleton University’s Infrastructure Protection and International Security program and Eva Cohen of Civil Protection Youth Canada join the show to discuss whether Canada too should ask ordinary citizens to be ready to help in the event of everything from weather-related emergencies to terror attacks.

This episode features the voices of:

• Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry
• Kelly Higginson, CEO of Restaurants Canada
• Gabriel Miller, CEO of Universities Canada
• Mark Holthe, immigration lawyer
• André Picard, health columnist for the Globe and Mail
• Alex Wilner, director of Carleton University’s Infrastructure Protection and National Security program
• Eva Cohen, Founder of Civil Protection Youth Canada

NATO’s secretary general has warned Russia could launch an attack on the alliance within the next five years. Talk to NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, and they’ll tell you preparation involves a lot more than just boosting military spending. As Canada seeks to strengthen ties with both countries, what can we learn from our newest NATO allies about preparing for the worst?

Supported by the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship, CBC's Emma Godmere travelled to the two Nordic countries to visit bomb shelters, the Russian border and military training grounds north of the Arctic Circle to see and hear how Finns and Swedes are steeling themselves for whatever the future may bring.

This episode features the voices of: 

• Elina Valtonen, Finland’s minister of foreign affairs
• Viktoria Hjort Malmer, defence policy director at Sweden’s Ministry of Defence
• Janne Kuusela, director general, defence policy department at Finland’s Ministry of Defence
• Antti Virta, deputy commander, Southeast Finland Border Guard District
• Samuel Siljanen, head of operations, Southeast Finland Border Guard District
• Lt.-Col. Mikael Dalin, Swedish Army
• Lt.-Col. Jukka Vuorisalmi, Finnish Army
• Nina Järvenkylä, Helsinki City Rescue Department
• Harri Mikkola, programme director for Finnish foreign policy, northern European security and NATO at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs
• Niklas Granholm, deputy director of studies, Swedish Defence Research Agency
• Sara Myrdal, director of international affairs, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
• and residents of Lappeenranta, Rovaniemi, and Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden

Pierre Poilievre is returning to the House of Commons after winning an Alberta byelection this week — and he’s already laid out his priorities for the fall, including tackling crime, increasing affordability and making Canada self-reliant. But despite these goals, the Conservative Party of Canada has lost the last four federal elections — and some party insiders worry it may be difficult to ever win again. Political reporter Kate McKenna covers the Conservative Party for CBC News, and in this special episode of The House, she hears from party insiders who offer their frank analysis of how to move forward if they want to return to government.

This episode features the voices of:

• Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada 
• Jason Kenney, former Alberta premier and former Conservative cabinet minister
• Sean Speer, editor-at-large for The Hub and former adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper
• Ben Woodfinden, former director of communications for Pierre Poilievre
• Rob Batherson, former president of the Conservative Party of Canada
• Dimitri Soudas, former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper 
• Daniel Allain, former New Brunswick Progressive Conservative MLA
• Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute
• Rob Russo, Canada correspondent for The Economist
• Shannon Proudfoot, feature writer for the Globe and Mail

What did the Trump-Putin summit achieve — and what comes next for Ukraine? CBC senior defence reporter Murray Brewster helms this security-focused episode of The House, featuring a debrief with former U.S. diplomat Michael Carpenter on what came out of the sit-down between the U.S. and Russian presidents late Friday in Alaska. 

Then, two Canadian experts — a former NATO assistant secretary general and a former naval commander — dive deep into whether Canada can realistically reduce its dependence on U.S. military equipment and support.

Also: as global leaders watch closely for what could happen next in Ukraine, Chief of the Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan discusses what possible role Canada could have in any ceasefire — and whether armed forces have the bench strength for a prolonged engagement.

Finally, Canadian researcher and author Alicia Wanless joins The House to explain why she believes the world’s democracies should look to the past — the far past — as governments continue to fight against disinformation.

This episode features the voices of:

• Michael Carpenter, former U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, now senior fellow for transatlantic affairs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies
• Wendy Gilmour, former NATO assistant secretary general for defence investment 
• Mark Norman, retired vice-admiral of the Royal Canadian Navy
• General Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff
• Alicia Wanless, author and director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 

Canada has just five years to meet its 2030 climate target: a 40 per cent reduction in emissions below 2005 levels. CBC’s David Thurton covers climate change and the environment for the Parliamentary Bureau, and this week guest hosts a special edition of The House to take stock of why climate experts fear the 2030 goal will not be met. In an age of weakening interest in climate change as other crises take centre stage — is there even the political will to get it done?

This episode features the voices of:

• Mikyla Tacilauskas, Salvation Army outreach and housing services manager
• Simon Donner, co-chair of the Net-Zero Advisory Body
• Nichole Dusyk, senior policy advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development
• Dave Sawyer, principal economist at the Canadian Climate Institute
• Serge Dupont, head of Bennett Jones’ Public Policy Group
• Eulalie Reesink-Babillon, with the climate action group Last Generation
• Benjamin Welchner, with the climate action group Last Generation
• Shannon Joseph, chair of Energy for a Secure Future
• Oliver Anderson, vice-president of communications and growth for water charity AquaAction

A new nuclear reactor. A natural gas pipeline extension. Thousands of offshore wind turbines. Atlantic provinces have ambitious ideas to generate and transmit more energy across Canada, all under one banner. As Prime Minister Mark Carney renews his call for nation-building projects to strengthen the Canadian economy, will this network of ideas, the Eastern Energy Partnership, make the cut? And how realistic – and expensive – are these plans? 

CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick Jacques Poitras speaks to New Brunswick's premier and the federal minister in charge of the Atlantic, Sean Fraser, as well as First Nations leaders, experts and stakeholders about what it could mean for power in eastern Canada for generations to come.

This episode features the voices of:

• John Herron, New Brunswick Minister of Natural Resources
• Joanna Bernard, New Brunswick Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations
• Chief Terry Richardson, Pabineau First Nation
• Brad Coady, vice-president of business development for NB Power
• Lori Clark, President and CEO of NB Power
• David Coon, leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick
• Heidi Leslie, CEO of Crux Energy Consulting
• Scott Urquhart, CEO of Aegir Insights
• Larry Hughes, energy expert at Dalhousie University
• Susan Holt, premier of New Brunswick
• Sean Fraser, minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

If you want to stay up to date this summer on everything going on in the world, The House is recommending As It Happens. Meet people at the centre of the day’s most hard-hitting, hilarious, and heartbreaking stories – powerful leaders, proud eccentrics, and ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And plenty of puns too.

In this episode:

One day after the UK makes a similar statement, Ottawa announces plans to recognize Palestinian statehood in September. We'll reach Canada's former Ambassador to the United Nations. 

The head of the Stephen Lewis Foundation tells us what a new million-dollar donation will mean for organizations whose capacity to help was suddenly slashed when the Trump Administration cut billions in USAID funding.

A Maui resident tells us he and his neighbours were lucky to avoid any major damage after living through a tsunami warning last night. But that doesn't mean they should be any less prepared next time.

A St. John's fire chief tells us about the fires that destroyed two historic fishing stages last night and how it felt to watch them burn, helpless to stop the flames.

Canada's 18-year-old swimming sensation Summer McIntosh is chasing five individual golds this week at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Her mother, a former Olympic swimmer herself, tells us what it's like to watch her daughter lean all the way in.

A man in Argentina was shocked, outraged and then really, really embarrassed after a Google Street View camera captured him in his yard – fully naked with his bottom on full display.

As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that imagines he'll be happy when the whole incident is in the rearview.

You can find As It Happens wherever you get your podcasts: https://app.magellan.ai/listen_links/cqSNA1

Over the past 10 years, the Senate has witnessed extraordinary change — namely a radical overhaul to do away with formal partisanship. The driver behind that? Former prime minister Justin Trudeau. But now that he’s gone, will those changes stick?

In a special documentary edition of The House, guest host J.P. Tasker carves out some frank and revealing conversations with Senators Andrew Cardozo, Marc Gold, Leo Housakos, Paul Prosper, Paula Simons and Pamela Wallin about their place of work. 

Professor and author Jonathan Malloy also weighs in on representation in the Senate and whether reform is realistic, while Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon explains the new government’s strategy when it comes to dealing with the chamber of sober second thought.

This episode features the voices of:

• Marc Gold, former senator & government representative in the Senate
• Senator Andrew Cardozo
• Senator Leo Housakos
• Senator Paul Prosper
• Senator Paula Simons
• Senator Pamela Wallin
• Jonathan Malloy, political science professor at Carleton University
• Steven MacKinnon, government House leader

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with First Nations leaders this week to get their support for his nation-building plans — but some right-holders left with more questions than answers or outright blasted the meeting. Host Catherine Cullen checks in with Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand and Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Terry Teegee on the sidelines of the summit in Gatineau, Que.

Then, ahead of next week’s premiers’ meeting in Huntsville, Ont., Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe explains why he believes a deal with Trump on tariffs is likely, but he doesn’t think “elbows up” is the right way to get there.

Plus, as federal data shows inequality is widening and the federal government is going big on military spending and national projects, two economists offer their views on the most pressing priorities for Canadians and whether Ottawa’s spending matches their needs.

Finally, two Hill watchers weigh in on the uphill path Carney faces on trade and energy projects, as well as the Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's shift in tone.

This episode features the voices of:

• Rebecca Chartrand, Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs
• Terry Teegee, Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
• Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan
• Don Drummond, economist and fellow-in-residence at C.D. Howe Institute
• Armine Yalnizyan, economist and Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers
• Christopher Nardi, parliamentary reporter for the National Post
• Stephanie Levitz, senior reporter for the Globe and Mail Ottawa bureau