The Orchardcast

From now until the election day, the Orchard will be releasing weekly election update podcasts with a different guest each episode. The entirety of each election update episode will be free for anyone to listen to or watch.

Joining me this week is David Moscrop, author of Too Dumb for Democracy? Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. He’s also a prolific columnist, whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Washington Post, Canada’s National Observer and Jacobin.

(Apologies for the poor sound on my end for the first bit. I don’t know what happened there.)

Related Links

* Mark Carney promises $129 billion in new spending as Liberals unveil full election platform, Toronto Star

* NDP pledges mental-health coverage, non-Tesla EV rebates in costed platform, CP

* Post-debate press scrum scrapped at last minute over lack of ‘proper environment’, Globe and Mail

* Debates commission unaware Rebel News registered as advocacy group, official says, CBC

* Poilievre says he'd pass a law that overrides a Charter right. That would be a first for a PM, CBC

* Deputy Conservative leader invested in Brookfield while attacking Mark Carney for running the investment giant, Investigative Journalism Foundation

* Bloc Québécois takes campaign to Ottawa to defend use of notwithstanding clause, CP

* Singh promises to protect tenants with national rent control, CP

* Did Mark Carney Just Lap The NDP On Affordable Housing? Not So Fast. David Moscrop

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

From now until the election day, the Orchard will be releasing weekly election update podcasts with a different guest each episode. The entirety of each election update episode will be free for anyone to listen to or watch.

Joining me this week is York University humanities professor Shama Rangwala, who co-hosts the Replay podcast with journalist Desmond Cole.

Related Links

* Canada’s Tory leader vows to deport foreigners for antisemitic crimes, AFP

* Poilievre proposes American three-strikes plan for repeat offenders, reviving a failed Harper proposal, Globe and Mail

* Poilievre promises to raise up to $1B by cracking down on offshore tax havens, CBC

* By Attacking Science, Poilievre Takes a Page from Trump’s Playbook, The Tyee

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

Thank you Judy Haiven, Gail Silvius, Glenn Toddun, and many others for tuning into my live video with Jordan Cornish and Arshy Mann! Join me for my next live video in the app.

If you enjoyed this video, then why not share it?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

From now until the election day, the Orchard will be releasing weekly election update podcasts with a different guest each episode. The entirety of each election update episode will be free for anyone to listen to or watch.

Joining me this week is MacEwan University communications professor and freelance journalist Dani Paradis.

Related Links

* Carney pledges $150M boost to 'underfunded' CBC, CBC

* Conservatives drop Quebec candidate for accusing Polytechnique survivor of exploiting shooting, CBC

* Conservative Candidate Used a Secret Signal Group Chat With Freedom Convoy Leaders, Right-Wing Media and Far-Right Influencers, PressProgress

* Canada slaps 25% counter-tariffs on U.S.-made cars, but not parts, National Post

* NDP proposes reviving war-era Victory Bonds to raise money for trade fight with U.S., CBC

* First Nations leaders in B.C. call for Conservatives to drop candidate Aaron Gunn, CBC

* Liberals drop Edmonton candidate who praised Hamas, Hezbollah in video, National Post

* CPC Candidate Don Patel's Online Activity Raises Foreign Interference Concerns, Baaz

* Conservative candidate booted after CTV News uncovers audio of joke about Justin Trudeau and the death penalty, CTV

* CTV Cancelled a Fact-Checking Segment in Response to Political Pressure From Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, PressProgress

* Amid bleak polling numbers, Edmonton could be an essential NDP stronghold: expert, CBC

* Liberal candidate Paul Chiang ends re-election bid after ‘bounty’ comments about former rival, Toronto Star

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

From now until the election day, the Orchard will be releasing weekly election update podcasts with a different guest each episode. Unlike other Orchardcast episodes, the entirety of each election update episode will be free for anyone to listen to or watch.

Joining me this week is fellow Substacker Jake Landau.

Related Links

* Carney promises $2B auto industry fund as Trump hits sector with tariffs, CBC

* Carney's green funds at Brookfield used Bermuda tax haven to attract investors, Radio-Canada

* NDP proposes boost to untaxed income threshold, removal of GST on 'essentials', CP

* Poilievre tries to outflank Carney with boosted plan to axe GST on new homes, National Post

* Poilievre pledges $14B annual income tax cut, saving average worker $900 a year, CBC

* New Democrats promise to get more homes built by using Crown land, CP

* Vote Palestine

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

Ontario premier Doug Ford has become a political juggernaut, in large part by cultivating an image of himself as a strong, steady leader in times of political crisis. But does the image match reality?

Eric Wickham, Ontario reporter for PressProgress joins me to answer this question, talk a bit about the upcoming federal election and reminisce about Ford Fests past.

Related Links

* ‘Let’s just put things on pause': Alberta premier under fire for Breitbart interview, CTV

* Despite Trade War Talk, A Canadian TV Network is Broadcasting Ads for American Apples, PressProgress

* Ontario rips up Starlink deal, plans to tax electricity in response to Trump trade war, CBC

* Doug Ford ‘disappointed’ Tories failed to meet his electoral expectations, sources say, Toronto Star

* After three cities in Ontario declare food insecurity an emergency, experts hope for more action from Doug Ford, PressProgress

* ‘Hogwash’: Premier Doug Ford dismisses Toronto’s $48M bike lane removal estimate, Global

* Ontario won't hit 1.5 million homes goal, housing starts shrink in fall economic statement, CBC

* Doug Ford reverses Greenbelt decision, The Narwhal

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

The NDP, Canada’s traditional party of the left, is sitting stagnant in the polls with an impending federal election campaign.

Avi Lewis, who was acclaimed as the party nominee in Vancouver Centre, joins the Orchardcast to discuss his view that the NDP is the party Canadians need at this moment of intersecting crises.

Related Links

* Singh says pipelines would not be first priority for NDP energy policy, CP

* Avi Lewis for Vancouver Centre

* The Leap Manifesto

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

As the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza hangs by a thread, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the humanitarian nightmare in the besieged coastal enclave, which will only get worse if the war resumes.

Joseph Hazboun, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association’s regional director for Jerusalem, joins the Orchardcast to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza before and after Oct. 7, 2023, what has improved since the ceasefire went into effect on Jan. 19, and what hasn’t.

Related Links

* Donate to CNEWA Canada

* Trump to Meet Jordan’s King as Gaza Truce Hangs in the Balance, New York Times

* Did Israel violate the Gaza ceasefire? What to know about Hamas’s pause, Al Jazeera

* At least 118 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza since ceasefire: Official, Anadolu Agency

* Ministers call to destroy Hamas after hostages return looking like ‘Holocaust survivors’, Times of Israel

* Israel tells army to prepare plans for Palestinians ‘who wish to leave’ Gaza, The Guardian

* Gaza Strip in maps: How 15 months of war have drastically changed life in the territory, BBC

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.readtheorchard.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.readtheorchard.org

U.S. president Donald Trump might not be imposing his promised 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico quite yet, having pushed its implementation date to March, but the threat remains very real.

Sarah Rieger, whose work has appeared in Wealthsimple Magazine, CBC News and the Huffington Post, joins the Orchardcast to discuss the looming trade war.

Related Links

* …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.readtheorchard.org

In 1971 in the slums of West Jerusalem, a group of young Moroccan Jews established the Israeli Black Panthers to fight for equality Israel’s marginalized community of Middle Eastern, or Mizrachi, Jews.

While initially focused strictly on domestic issues, the group eventually came to find parallels between the mistreatment of Mizrachim and the Palestinia…