CANADALAND

Nate Erskine-Smith lost his bid for nomination for the Ontario Liberals in Scarborough Southwest, putting his plans for leadership in question. He’s alleging serious voting irregularities, and that the Ontario Liberal establishment has it in for him.  Meanwhile, the Toronto Star publishes a curious Editor’s Note, retracting a statement from the PMO that Carney did not in fact endorse Erskine-...

Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to turn Canada into a defence powerhouse — and venture capital is racing to cash in. Host Sam Konnert talks to defence experts and industry insiders about the new military-tech gold rush, and asks: can Silicon Valley mentality fix Canada’s stagnant defence sector, or are we scaling up its worst instincts? CORRECTION: at the 26 minute mark, the reporter mistakenly s...

Elaine Dewar was tough. Contrary. The reporter who wrote an article that brought upon her the wrath of billionaires. It was a piece on the Reichmann family resulting in a $102 million dollar libel case that nearly killed Toronto Life Magazine. She argued against the Bering Strait theory on migration of humans to the Americas. She ruffled feathers with her views on the origins of Covid. Questioned...

Everyone is talking about Drake’s new album ICEMAN (except Canadian media.) Why is Canadian media more interested in the provenance of ice blocks than the next chapter in the career of one of Canada’s biggest stars? Drake is one of Canada’s biggest cultural exports. He represents Canada and Toronto on the global stage, and yet at home he isn’t given the same acclaim as other Canadian icons. ...

Inside the scoop that launched the Alberta data breach into the headlines. How independent media broke the story of the Alberta separatists' access to voter information. Plus, Danielle Smith visits Carney and makes progress on the Alberta MOU. Can Smith  leverage separatism to get a pipeline? It’s our biggest sale of the year! Save 80% on a Canadaland subscription and become a supporter for o...

NDP Leader Avi Lewis has a massive task ahead of him. When host Noor Azrieh last spoke with him before the leadership election, he said he had a plan. Well, how’s that working out for him?  Host: Noor Azrieh Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) J...

The Kamloops Indian Residential School made headlines five years ago this month. What followed was tears across the country, marches, statues torn down, and the Prime Minister bending a knee while holding a teddy bear. Then came the counter narrative fuelled by books with titles like Grave Error and Dead Wrong. Today we talk to Dr. Kisha Supernant, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Al...

The new GM for the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the press and it did not go well. With scathing questions and confounded columnists, Toronto reaffirmed its reputation as a tough media market.  What is it about sports that creates unique regional media markets with their own tone and style of coverage?  Dan Robson of The Athletic joins Sam Konnert to talk sh*t about sports reporting.  I...

As journalists, we are pretty online. Terminally online. Our screen time apps? Let’s not go there… Now our social media feeds are likely different from many of yours. So we wanted to ask all of you, who probably lead less online lives, what you love, hate, and how you balance your online from your IRL. And you all had so much interesting stuff to share. Host: Sam Konnert Credits: Tristan Capacchio...

CBC is expanding its regional news coverage and not everyone is happy about it. Some local news outlets say that the CBC is poaching their staff and stories.  Plus, Carney’s government is planning a massive extension of journalism tax credits to include radio and broadcast, propping up legacy platforms owned by the big telcos.  Are subsidies stifling competition and innovation? Host: Sam...

PM Mark Carney has managed to stitch together a majority in the House of Commons and has approval numbers we haven't seen in forever. Host Noor Azrieh thinks this is the kind of political moment that demands opposition. But, how exactly is the Opposition supposed to oppose Carney… when they can’t even get their own house in order? We put this to Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner.  Host:...

Objection.ai is the new AI-powered tool from Aron D’Souza and Peter Thiel. The duo who helped bankrupt Gawker ten years ago. They're also teaming up to bring the world the steroid-embracing Enhanced Games later this month. D’Souza says Objection.ai is about restoring public trust in journalism and making it more transparent. Critics worry about its ideological bent and what it means to subject jou...

Buyers. Sellers. Real estate porn. With so many Canadians locked out of the market, should the coverage shift to reflect the realities of the housing crisis?  Sabrina Nanji joins San Grewal to talk about the generational disconnect between homeowners and those who will never own a home. Does Canada have the political will to actually address the housing crisis?  Host: San Grewal Credits:...

All month, we’ve been asking you to share Canadaland with as many people as possible. Our goal was to double our audience. Did we pull it off? Let’s put it this way: Our investigations budget will be increasing substantially and our freelance and fellowship rates are going up by a whopping 50%. More money is going to go into the pockets of working journalists outside of Canadaland and across the c...

Doug Ford is facing public scrutiny for his changes to Freedom of Information and his “gravy plane” fiasco. But throughout his career, Ford has leveraged his folksy persona to deflect and distract from his scandals. Behind the shtick is a calculated and effective political communications strategy, but has the “Uncle Doug” routine finally run out of steam?    Off The Record Call-in D...

Is Alberta separatism being boosted by foreign “slop”? Today host Sam digs into a network of faceless YouTube channels pushing 51st state fantasies, grievance-fueled separatist content, and AI-generated political sludge that’s racked up tens of millions of views.  But is this covert foreign interference, or just click-farming wrapped in geopolitics? Host: Sam Konnert Credits: Aviva Lessard (S...

A random Facebook post. A strip club that burnt down long ago. A mother missing for 30 years. It wasn’t much. But it was enough for reporter Kallan Lyons to start digging into The Fantasia Cold Case. Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Kallan Lyons (Reporter), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editing & Post Production), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publ...

Grocery prices are back in the news… again. How are they ripping us off this time? It turns out the whole system looks a lot like three kids in a trench coat, except each kid is a different layer of the supply chain, and they’re all insisting their margins are razor-thin while your grocery bill gets higher and higher. So are tax rebates or public grocery stores the solution, or just bandages on a...

Mark Carney is a YouTuber now. Over the weekend the Prime Minister released the first episode of his new YouTube series Forward Guidance. It’s a tightly scripted, “intimate” video designed to project calm authority while walking Canadians through an increasingly shaky relationship with the United States. It’s part history lesson, part recycled campaign slogans, and highly reminiscent of FDR’s fire...

A few years ago, British Columbia made history by becoming the first province to turn the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into law through the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).  It passed unanimously, with just 14 minutes of debate. Seven years later, DRIPA is at the center of one of the most divisive political fights in the c...

Today we're talking about the breakdown of discourse — the culture wars. It's not just in universities, it affects our interactions with everything from the government to schools, workplaces, and more. After over ten years of it, it seems more pointless and degrading than ever.   Ric Bienstock is a director of the new two-part CBC documentary series, Speechless . It explores a variety of...

With his new majority, the timer really starts on Carney’s ability to provide meaningful results for Canadians.  San Grewal and Kaveh Shahrooz consider if Carney has made headway on key issues like affordability, housing, immigration, and crime. He said he’d move fast, but what’s the hold up?  It’s crowd-finding time at Canadaland! Share this episode with three people or send them over t...

With peace talks stalled, Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the ceasefire set to expire next week, the situation in Iran is precarious. Meanwhile, in Canada, the mood in the large Iranian-Canadian diaspora is changing, as the Iranian regime remains in place while the impacts of the war on civilians and infrastructure accumulate.  With the geopolitics of the Middle East in flux, co...

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals took over Montreal for their convention. But it felt less like a meeting of the minds and more like a lame Coachella.  With a Liberal majority already assumed after socially conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crossed the floor last week, host Noor Azrieh was there trying to figure out what it means to be a Liberal right now, and if Mark Carney can manage...

Did Jesse break the law? Why did an anti-Canadaland subreddit explode in popularity? And why did today's episode infuriate so many people before it was even published?  Finally, who is Spoonkymonkey, and what does he have to do with it all? Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)...