The Paul Wells Show

Paul Wells interviews Ben Rowswell, whose 25-year diplomatic career saw him work in a bunch of the world's toughest conflict zones. He was in Somalia as a student while a UN peacekeeping effort was falling apart. He served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Venezuela. As Canada ponders a more assertive international stance, Rowswell's career is a reminder that the world doesn't always wait until you're ready for it. 

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Michael Wernick, the longtime senior civil servant who served as Clerk of the Privy Council under Justin Trudeau, shares his thoughts on Canada in the era of Donald Trump. "It's very different dealing with an administration that absolutely disrespects your sovereignty," he tells Paul Wells. "The people that are sort of advocating fortress North America, 'Let's hug them even more closely,' I think are deluded."

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Canada's retired Chief of the Defence Staff has a new memoir out, describing a military career that lasted 40 years, from Army Cadets to wars in Afghanistan and Ukraine. He's got choice words for the office of his former boss, Justin Trudeau. He vividly describes a life in war zones and trouble spots. And he laments the long decline of Canada's military. 

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Here's how the Paul Wells Road Show: Calgary went. On Sept. 28, Paul Wells was at the sold-out Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary to celebrate Alberta's unique place in Canada and ponder its uncertain future. Guests include Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas, economist Trevor Tombe, city builder Kate Thompson and musical guests Jesse Morrison and The Dust Collectors. 

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Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author Anne Applebaum joins Paul Wells to discuss her Atlantic magazine cover story, "Empire of Grift." She argues that Donald Trump's foreign policy now has two engines: ideologues who see the Western Hemisphere as America's to run, and grifters using U.S. power to enrich themselves and Trump's circle.

She describes her recent trip to Venezuela, discusses the standoff over Greenland, and discusses MAGA's strange fascination with breaking up Canada.

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Paul Wells interviews Jill Lepore, Harvard historian, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner about The Rise and the Fall of the Artificial State, her latest bestseller.

"Few grand transformations have been more precipitate or more heedless,” Lepore writes, "than the rise of what could soon be “government without consent, even government without humans.”

But she's not here peddling despair. She believes a democracy of and for real people can make a comeback, if people only have faith in institutions and in themselves.

The Paul Wells Show is sponsored by Cameco and The Transition Accelerator. For more of Paul's writing, go to paulwells.substack.com

Toronto-born James Appathurai is one of the top civilians in the administration of NATO, the Western military alliance. As Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber, he helps the alliance respond to a terrifying range of emerging threats, from new weapons to attacks that can hardly even be detected. In a rare interview from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Appathurai tells Paul Wells about all these threats, and about Canada's fast-changing role in NATO.

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Pulitzer-winning historian Anne Applebaum is releasing a paperback edition of her book Autocracy Inc., on the autocrats who are eroding democratic freedoms around the world. Her timing is impeccable: she says Donald Trump is moving the United States closer to autocracy. In this week's episode she discusses all the ways Trump is undermining democratic norms, and explains why his attempts to stop the Ukraine war are coming up short.

Author and Globe and Mail writer John Ibbitson joins Paul to discuss his book, The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada. Ibbitson talks about how the decade-long showdown between these two Prime Ministers set the stage for the world we live in today, and why he believes Diefenbaker has been unfairly maligned in the historical record.

This interview was recorded live at the National Arts Centre. It first aired October 18th, 2023

The year since Wayne Eyre retired as Chief of Defence Staff has seen unprecedented change in Canada's national-security environment. Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced plans to boost Canada's defence-related spending from less than 2% of GDP to 5%. The United States has become an unsteady ally. What do those big changes mean for the future of Canada's military? An in-depth conversation.