Lean Out with Tara Henley

In January of 2022, during one of Toronto’s never-ending pandemic lockdowns, I launched Lean Out from the tiny kitchen of my 485-square-foot apartment. I had just left legacy media, somewhat loudly . I had been a current affairs radio producer at Canada’s national public broadcaster, the CBC. And I was worried that journalists were getting some of the biggest stories of our age wrong. I was fed up...

Hello, everyone! I’ve returned from the tranquility of the Gulf Islands on the West Coast of Canada and I’m now busy trying to get my bearings in the crumbling, crazed (but very much alive) metropolis that is Toronto. I’ll soon have some thoughts to share on the insights my weeks offline yielded — more than you might imagine! — along with an announcement. But for today, I want to catch you all up...

In the maelstrom that is modern life, we’ve lost any sense of seasonality. These days, the summer is as non-stop as any other time of the year and the long, sun-drenched days can come and go without any real rest or relaxation. But I remember a time in the not-too-distant past when July and August offered a welcome lull — a time to retreat, to recharge, to reinvent. To dream, even. The summer felt...

One of the themes of the Lean Out podcast is a crisis in confidence in the mainstream media. In a few weeks, my new book on this topic will be released in the United States and Canada. The Trust Spiral: Why the Media Needs Objectivity unpacks where we in the press have gone wrong — and what we need to do to regain the public’s trust. Cardus in Ottawa hosted me for an event on June 9, where I was j...

It has now been five years since the Kamloops band made an announcement of the discovery of the “remains of 215 children” at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, kicking off an intense period of national grief and anger. A month ago, The Globe and Mail editorial board made news around the world , declaring the national press’s lack of scrutiny of the claim a “failure of journalism.” My g...

It’s Canada Day and many of us are reflecting on our nation and where we are at. We know that we are more divided than ever, but how did we get here? My guest on the program today has just written a book on political polarization in the country. He says the roots of our divisions run deep — and the consequences are dire. Eric Merkley is an assistant professor of political science at the University...

On June 10, the Canadian broadcaster David Cayley passed away, surrounded by loved ones, playing bluegrass music. He died in the Toronto home that he had shared with his wife for the past 42 years. It was a home that I had just begun visiting him at in recent months, drinking coffee and talking about books and ideas. David was a brilliant mind, a generous person, a fearless soul. As his friend and...

On October 19, citizens in the province of Alberta will vote on whether they want to proceed with a referendum on separating from the rest of Canada. My guest on the program today has written a new book about the history of these tensions — and why they have now come to a head. Tyler Dawson is an opinion editor at The Globe and Mail . His new book is The Republic of Alberta: An Idea That Won’t Go...

The big news in Canada this week has been The Globe and Mail editorial board’s admission that the industry and the paper bungled the unmarked graves story from 2021 — that this in fact constituted a journalistic failure. In light of this, I am bringing you an episode of my media criticism podcast with The Hub, Full Press, from last week , which took stock of how we in the Canadian media got this s...

You wouldn’t think that a woman declaring that she is into men would a subversive act — but at some point during recent years, this became the case in certain circles. Particularly online feminist circles. My guest on the program today has written a new book on female heterosexuality and she says it’s time we acknowledge that the vast majority of women are, in fact, straight. Phoebe Maltz Bovy is...

Most of us are aware that the digital age we are living through is a time of incredible transformation. But we may not have contemplated what we’d like to see preserved — things like free speech. Some years ago, my guest on today’s program began investigating political censorship. What he found was bigger, more all-encompassing, and in fact more interesting. In his new book, he argues that we have...

Canada’s immigration system was once the envy of the world. And for decades, the country enjoyed a bipartisan pro-immigration consensus. But during the Trudeau years, that consensus fell apart. My guest on the program today delivered the 2025 McGill Max Bell Lectures on this topic. His new book explores where we went wrong. Tony Keller is a columnist at The Globe and Mail . His book is Borderline...

We know that young women are increasingly unhappy — with high rates of depression and anxiety — and my guest on the program today says there’s good reason for that. In her new book, she argues that girlhood has dramatically changed in the Internet era and that young women have been transformed from people into products. Freya India is a British writer and commentator, and a staff writer at Jonatha...

What does it mean to be a man? My guest on the program today has published a book that examines that very question. It is part memoir, part meditation on masculinity, and part detective story — as he unearths the secret life of his charismatic alpha male father and forges a new version of manhood, putting himself and his family back together on the page. Tom Junod is an award-winning American jour...

In recent years, viewpoint diversity has become a loaded term. But my guest on the program today says it is vital that we renew our commitment to dialogue, especially across lines of difference. He has edited a new book that brings together prominent professors and journalists to make the case for free speech, intellectual humility, and societal pluralism — in higher education, politics, and the l...

There can be no doubt that we are living through politically charged times — and this is especially true at North American universities. My guest on the program today has spent the past decade making a documentary about unrest on campus. She says many faculty and students are now afraid to debate the big issues of our time, and she worries that we are losing the ability to speak across differences...

We are at a pivotal moment in Canada, as we reflect on our past and try to forge a more unified future in the face of tensions with the United States. My guest on the program today says now is a good time to reexamine our key institutions. This week, he has published an entertaining new book about the office of Governor General, just as speculation abounds that we may be about to get a new one. Jo...

In the United States right now, a group of feminists is taking stock of the movement — where it is at and where it’s gone wrong. My guest on the program today is one of those feminists. Her new book argues that our problem is we’ve bought into an idea of radical autonomy, which is not possible for human beings. It is, in fact, disconnected from physical reality. Leah Libresco Sargeant is an Americ...

This week on the Lean Out podcast we are shifting our focus from the political to the personal. My guest on the program today has written a remarkable memoir about her time in the food world, her story of addiction and recovery — and what she learned from her years collaborating with the late Anthony Bourdain. Laurie Woolever is an American writer and editor. Her latest book, a New York Times best...

As tensions mount within the United States — and between the United States and Canada — it has never been more important to understand each other. My guest on the program today is the head of a depolarization non-profit and his latest research paints a nuanced and complex portrait of Trump voters and the cultural attitudes and policy positions that energize them. Jason Mangone is the executive dir...

Many of us grew up reading classics from the great Judy Blume, from Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Blume, now in her eighties, is famous for writing about childhood and adolescence with humour and heart. This week, my guest on the program has published a remarkable book documenting her life story. Mark Oppenheimer is an American journalist and author. He’...

In recent years, the world has become an increasingly unstable place. My guest on the program today says that Canadians have adopted a “ precarity mindset .” And now, roughly nine out of ten Canadians believe this uncertainty is here to stay — that it is, in fact, the new normal. Eddie Sheppard is executive vice president at Abacus Data. His analysis for Abacus is From Crisis to Condition: The Psy...

One of the problems with increased polarization is that everything gets politicized, including simple acts of charity. My guest on the program today is an American journalist who’s been tracking this trend in liberal and leftist circles. He’s published an essay making the argument that helping your neighbour is an affirmation of our shared humanity — not a “radical act of resistance.” Ryan Zickgra...

If you follow the news in this country, you know that Canada is currently grappling with a number of crises, from housing to mental health. And yet much of our attention is focused on the United States and on Donald Trump . My guest on the podcast today has just published an essay about this. She argues that, much like in a dysfunctional family, the media’s fixation on Trump is a distraction from...

Canadians who write books, or cover books, or read books will know that something is wrong with our literary industry. But a new book documents just how far off the rails publishing has gone. My guest on the program today is the author of that book, and he says our fundamental problem is an erosion of national identity. Richard Stursberg is a Canadian author and media executive, and the former hea...