The LeDrew Three Minute Interview

Alexander Brown of Without Diminishment joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss Project Ontario, Doug Ford, conservative politics, and whether Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Government is living up to conservative principles.

In this episode, Brown explains why Project Ontario is bringing together conservative groups, communicators, and organizations to push for better from the Ford government. While he credits Doug Ford for standing up for Canada on tariffs and supporting major projects like pipelines, Brown argues that Ontario conservatives still need to answer serious questions about government spending, education, crime, diploma mills, and cultural issues.

LeDrew and Brown also discuss Sir John A. Macdonald, Canadian history, conservative criticism, and why holding your own side accountable can make a government stronger — not weaker.

This is a conversation about Ontario politics, conservative values, government spending, and whether Doug Ford’s government needs to reconnect with its base.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Project Ontario and conservative organizing
• Doug Ford’s record in government
• Ontario government spending
• Pipelines and national unity
• Education reform and diploma mills
• Crime and public safety
• Sir John A. Macdonald and Canadian history
• Conservative principles versus party politics
• Why governments need criticism
• Keeping the conservative base engaged

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Kate Marland, deputy editor at Without Diminishment, joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss morality, leadership, community, and whether society has lost the ability to tell right from wrong.

In this episode, Marland argues that modern culture has become detached from reality, tradition, history, and objective truth. She says that when people are encouraged to define morality only for themselves, it becomes harder for society to defend shared standards of right and wrong.

LeDrew and Marland also discuss political leadership, law and order, the decline of institutions, market-driven thinking, family, community, and why money alone cannot provide meaning or happiness.

This is a conversation about moral clarity, responsibility, and rebuilding a society rooted in something deeper than self-interest.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The decline of moral clarity
• Leadership and moral courage
• Truth, reality and tradition
• The limits of “leave me alone” politics
• Law and order in society
• The role of institutions
• Money, happiness and meaning
• Community over self-optimization
• Conservative politics and values
• Rebuilding shared standards

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Jerry Amernic, author of Sleepwoking, joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss the controversy surrounding residential schools, the Kamloops announcement and calls to criminalize residential school “denialism.”

Amernic argues that Canadians must be allowed to question historical claims and examine the evidence without fear of criminal punishment. He and LeDrew acknowledge that residential schools existed, that children died from illness and that incidents of abuse occurred, while challenging claims about undiscovered mass graves and deliberate killing fields.

They also discuss the federal funding provided to investigate possible burial sites, questions about financial accountability and why many educated Canadians remain uncertain about what is fact, allegation or political messaging.

This is a provocative conversation about history, evidence, free expression and whether Canadians are still permitted to challenge the country’s dominant political narratives.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Calls to criminalize residential school denialism
• The evidence surrounding the Kamloops announcement
• Residential schools and historical context
• Abuse, disease and deaths at the schools
• Federal funding for burial-site investigations
• Financial transparency and accountability
• Why Canadians remain confused about the evidence
• Political messaging versus established facts
• Free speech and historical debate
• Jerry Amernic’s book Sleepwoking

You can buy Sleepwoking here - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1775239942

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Peter Shurman joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss why Canadians increasingly expect government to solve every problem — and why both men believe government should be doing far less.

Shurman argues for a more minimalist approach: government should focus on core responsibilities like defence, immigration, transportation, health and education, while leaving businesses and individuals free to build, invest and create.

LeDrew and Shurman also discuss how Canada was built by entrepreneurs and small businesses, the expansion of government programs, taxpayer-funded media and proposals for municipally- operated grocery stores.

Their message is simple: government should handle the things only government can do — and stay out of everything else.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What government should actually be responsible for
• The case for smaller government
• Immigration and national priorities
• Health, education and provincial responsibility
• How entrepreneurs built Canada
• Government replacing private initiative
• Taxpayer-funded programs and media
• Municipal governments entering retail
• Why bureaucracy keeps expanding
• Letting business do what government cannot

📌 Subscribe to Peter Shurman’s Substack here: https://substack.com/@shurmanator

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In this LeDrew rant, Stephen LeDrew asks how Canada allowed a generation of young people to leave school without mastering basic skills like handwriting, spelling, reading and writing.

LeDrew argues that schools, education experts, unions and governments abandoned fundamentals in favour of digital learning — while many parents had no idea what their children were no longer being taught.

But his bigger target is Canadians themselves. From education and municipal spending to deteriorating infrastructure, questionable priorities and political leadership, LeDrew says too many Canadians have stopped challenging “experts” and have stopped demanding accountability from their elected officials.

His message is simple: Canada’s problems will not fix themselves. Canadians need to pay attention, ask harder questions and start demanding better.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The decline of handwriting and basic literacy
• What schools stopped teaching
• Parents being left in the dark
• Holding education experts accountable
• Canadians’ reluctance to challenge authority
• Potholes versus municipal priorities
• Wasteful spending and political distractions
• Trudeau’s post-national vision of Canada
• Failing the next generation
• Why Canadians need to push back

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John Turley-Ewart, contributing columnist with The Globe and Mail, joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss Nutrien’s decision to invest roughly $1 billion in export infrastructure at Longview, Washington, rather than expanding through the Port of Vancouver.

Nutrien is a major Canadian potash producer, but Turley-Ewart explains that railway bottlenecks, labour disruptions and concerns about reliability made Washington State the more practical choice for its exports. The company can now move more of its product to international markets while reducing its dependence on a single Canadian port.

LeDrew and Turley-Ewart also discuss warnings Nutrien reportedly gave Carney Ministers, the government’s lack of urgency, and what this decision says about Canada’s ability to attract investment, build infrastructure and move its own resources to market.

It is a smart decision for Nutrien — but a troubling story for Canada.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Nutrien’s billion-dollar U.S. investment
• Why Longview beat the Port of Vancouver
• Railway and shipping bottlenecks
• Labour disruptions at Canadian ports
• Ottawa’s response to Nutrien’s warning
• The cost of unreliable infrastructure
• Potash exports and Canadian trade
• Losing investment and jobs to the U.S.
• The risks of relying on American ports
• What Carney must fix

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Brian Lilley, columnist with the Toronto Sun, joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss Mark Carney’s secretive approach to government, including international agreements,the China Agreement, the Gordie Howe deal, and why Canadians are still giving the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt.

In this episode, Lilley argues that all politicians prefer secrecy, but that Carney has taken it further by keeping major agreements and government decisions away from public scrutiny. LeDrew and Lilley also discuss Carney’s confidence, arrogance, judgment, and whether his popularity with Canadians is beginning to fade.

They also look at Pierre Poilievre’s struggles, Conservative infighting, Donald Trump’s role in Canadian politics, and why Carney continues to benefit from the “elbows up” effect.

This is a sharp conversation about secrecy, transparency, political judgment, and whether Canadians will eventually turn on Mark Carney’s government.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Carney’s secretive approach to government
• China agreements and unanswered questions
• The Gordie Howe bridge deal controversy
• Transparency versus political control
• Carney’s confidence, arrogance and judgment
• Why Canadians still trust Carney
• The long political honeymoon
• Poilievre and Conservative infighting
• Trump as Carney’s political shield
• When voters may turn on the government

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In this LeDrew rant, Stephen LeDrew takes aim at what he calls the latest “Carney Caper” — a Canadian Armed Forces directive that forbids the use of the word “God,” including during services led by military chaplains.

LeDrew argues that this is another example of government creep and a broader unwillingness to defend Canada’s own history, traditions and institutions. He contrasts the treatment of Christian language with the accommodation of other religious and cultural practices, asking why Canadian leaders seem so afraid that someone might be offended.

He also revisits proposed federal workplace language rules, the decline of once-traditional institutions and similar controversies overseas involving national flags and cultural identity.

This is a rant about free expression, religion, national confidence and whether Canada has become too frightened to stand up for its own traditions.

Topics covered in this episode:

• The latest “Carney Capers”
• Government creep in private workplaces
• Religious language in the Armed Forces
• The role of military chaplains
• Accommodation and double standards
• Canada’s declining national confidence
• The fear of causing offence
• Protecting cultural traditions
• National flags and public identity
• What it means to embrace Canada

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Former Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri joins Stephen LeDrew for a spirited debate about Pierre Poilievre, Mark Carney and the future of the Conservative Party.

In this free Three-Minute preview, LeDrew asks whether Poilievre’s blunt political style is dividing Conservatives and making it harder for the party to present itself as a government-in-waiting. Ferreri pushes back, arguing that voters should care more about substance and results than tone.

The conversation continues well beyond three minutes, covering Carney’s record, Conservative messaging, media bias, government accountability and why Canadians still aren’t embracing the Conservatives as the clear alternative.

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Topics covered in this preview:

• Whether Poilievre is too divisive
• Tone versus political substance
• Tension within the Conservative Party
• Why Carney still appeals to voters
• The challenge of winning moderate Canadians
• Why independent political media matters

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Franco Terrazzano, head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, joins Stephen LeDrew to talk about government waste, taxpayer money, and the staggering cost of Canada’s growing debt.

In this episode, Terrazzano points to examples of public money being spent on projects he says taxpayers should never have been forced to fund — from Global Affairs Canada spending on international events, to municipal spending on a raccoon plaque, to costly political PR stunts.

But the biggest issue, Terrazzano argues, is the interest on Canada’s debt. He says federal debt interest charges are now costing taxpayers more than $1 billion every week — money that could otherwise go toward hospitals, services, or tax relief.

This is a blunt conversation about wasteful spending, government debt, taxpayer accountability, and why Canadians should be demanding better from their politicians.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Government waste in Canada
• Global Affairs Canada spending
• Taxpayer-funded projects
• Conrad the raccoon plaque
• Political PR spending
• Canada’s federal debt
• Debt interest charges
• Taxpayer accountability
• Federal sales tax and debt payments
• Why government spending matters

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