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Allegations of a mole inside the RCMP have shaken Canada’s intelligence community, and experts are calling it potentially the biggest national security breach in our nation's history.

Cameron Ortis was director general of the National Intelligence Coordination Centre. He faces seven counts dating as far back as 2015, including breach of trust, communicating “special operational information,” and obtaining information in order to pass it to a “foreign entity.”

Host Tamara Khandaker connects with Global’s Mercedes Stephenson, who broke the news of Ortis’s arrest. They unpack who Cameron Ortis is, what he’s been accused of doing, and what these allegations could mean for Canada’s relationship with its intelligence allies.

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It’s only Day 6 of the federal election campaign and we’ve already seen candidates across the political spectrum forced to step down because media or political opponents have dug up something controversial that they said or did online in the past. That’s been leading to some uncomfortable questions . . . for them, and their party leaders.

Co-host Amanda Connolly, from Global’s Parliamentary bureau, is back with the second installment of our federal election series. She’s talking to Mary Anne Carter, a senior consultant with Earnscliffe Strategy Group, about what the parties may or may not know about their candidates heading into an election, and Global’s chief political correspondent David Akin about campaigning in the age of social media.

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It’s one of the most talked about films currently on the festival circuit. Having made its North American Premiere at TIFF, Todd Phillips' Joker is already surrounded by Oscar buzz. At the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, the dark and disturbing origin story received an eight-minute-long standing ovation and took home the Golden Lion award.

But the frightening, violent themes and ‘lonely man’ archetype are leading some critics to question whether the Arthur Fleck character, masterfully portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous villain, could be perceived as a rallying cry or indictment of toxic incel culture.

Host Tamara Khandaker chats with freelance writer Sarah Hagi about her review of the film. They discuss the plethora of actors who have tackled the Joker role, whether or not the character requires an origin story, and both the praise and backlash the film has received.

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It’s only Day 2 of the 43rd general election, but we’re already in full swing. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer kicked off the campaign Wednesday by hammering Liberal leader Justin Trudeau on the SNC-Lavalin affair, while also being forced to talk about his own position on abortion.

Recent polls place Scheer’s Conservatives as running neck-and-neck with Trudeau’s Liberals, but earlier this month, Google released a list of some of the most searched questions in Canada. And number seven on the list . . . Who is Andrew Scheer?

Host Tamara Khandaker talks to Tim Powers, vice-chairman of Summa Strategies and the managing director of Abacus Data. He discusses what the Conservative strategy could be going forward, and how it might play out in different parts of the country.

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It’s finally official, today kicked off the countdown to Canada's 43rd general election. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement on Wednesday in Ottawa shortly after a meeting with Governor General Julie Payette at Rideau Hall.

Host Tamara Khandaker hands off the first of our weekly election specials to co-host Amanda Connolly from Global’s Parliamentary bureau. Today Amanada’s talking to bureau chief Mercedes Stephenson, who was on the scene at Rideau Hall, and David Akin, Global’s chief political correspondent. They talk about what voters should expect in terms of tone and the level of attacks this campaign, as well as what the political calculation could be for calling the election now.

 

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U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suspended Parliament for five weeks, with the Brexit deadline just around the corner. And this all comes after he suffered a series of blows in the House of Commons — including being shut down for the second time over calls for an early election, the loss of his majority, and a new law in place that compels him to ask for a delay to Brexit, which he says he’ll ignore. On top of all that, even Johnson’s own brother, Jo Johnson, has quit as both a cabinet minister and as a Conservative MP citing “unresolvable tension.”

Host Tamara Khandaker is joined from London by Global’s Europe correspondent Redmond Shannon. They walk through Johnson’s tumultuous week, and catch you up on all the twists and turns this story has taken.

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The NDP is really struggling right now. It was just two years ago that the party elected Jagmeet Singh, a charismatic, fresh-faced guy who was getting profiled in GQ, as their leader. He was expected to take the party, which had just come off of a disappointing defeat in the 2015 election after the orange wave in 2011, to new heights. That . . . hasn’t happened. At least not yet.

Host Tamara Khandaker has a meaty lineup today to help unpack what’s happened to the NDP, and what Singh’s strategy could be for Quebec. She’s joined by Peggy Nash, a former NDP MP and current professor at Ryerson University, Tom Parkin, a columnist and commentator with a social democratic perspective, and Robin MacLachlan, a former NDP staffer who is now the vice president of Summa Strategies.

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Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale has experienced a cultural renaissance over the past few years. Originally published in 1985, the distinctive iconography of the book can be seen popping up everywhere from protest marches, to halloween costumes, to your TV screen.

Her highly anticipated sequel The Testaments was scheduled for release on September 10. But for a few hundred lucky fans, a “technical error” from Amazon meant that the novel shipped early and has since made the rounds on social media.

Lucky for us, because host Tamara Khandaker is joined again by Constance Grady, a culture writer for Vox, who’s published her review of the book. They talk about what the slip-up at Amazon means for booksellers, the cultural significance of The Handmaid’s Tale, and where the The Testaments takes us next.

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Today we’re getting back to basics on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. On Wednesday, the Federal Court of Appeal allowed six of twelve challenges of the project to proceed. The challenges moving forward will examine the federal government's most recent consultations with Indigenous communities between August 2018 and June 2019.

It’s a story that keeps popping back up, but it’s easy to get lost in everything that's happened, especially in the last two or three years. From consultations, to approvals, to the overturning of those approvals . . . there’s a lot to unpack and the stakes are really high. 

Host Tamara Khandaker chats with Global BC’s legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey. He takes us back to the beginning on what you need to know.

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With our federal election just around the corner, the photo ops, cross-country tours, campaign ads, and interviews are all going to be ramped up to 100. Our prime minister is a known political brand, both at home and internationally — and it’ll be interesting to see if that brand is strong enough to be able to overcome the scandals that have plagued him for the past year. 

Host Tamra Khandaker talks to Alex Marland, professor of political science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His areas of research include political marketing and communication in Canada. They discuss how politicians carefully craft their brands, and what goes into maintaining that image.

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