10/3: Canada Covered

The race to replace Andrew Scheer as the next Conservative leader officially kicked off Monday, and the contenders will have to come up with $300,000 to get their name on the final ballot. Entry requirements and other rules for the race were announced over the weekend and as expected, the party is raising the threshold from 2017 to try to keep the field smaller than the 13 candidates who were on t...

A day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a plane that crashed and killed 176 people, including 63 Canadians, was likely shot down by a missile, Iran is denying that theory. Dave is joined from Ottawa by National Post reporter Ryan Tumilty who explains why investigating the crash will be especially challenging, given the lack of any diplomatic relationship between Canada and Iran. Learn more...

An airplane crash in Iran that killed 176 people including 63 Canadians was likely brought down by a "surface to air" missile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says. Dave is joined by Edmonton Journal reporter Dylan Short who has been covering the story. Edmonton was hit particularly hard by the crash with 27 of the dead coming from the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

How easy is it to get basic information from your local government? According to an investigation by the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, not as easy as you might think. The papers asked for what should be readily available information from more than 700 municipalities, and the results were somewhat lacking. Andrea Hill joins Dave to talk about the project, what kind of informati...

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney believes the future of conservatism lies in parties like Canada’s Tories moving away from promoting laissez-faire capitalism and instead embracing the growing “reform conservatism” movement in the U.S., which sees a role for government in addressing the challenges of people who have failed to get ahead even as the economy grows. Dave is joined by National Post politics...

A former high-profile Vice Media music editor who recruited young musicians, models and a former Vice intern to smuggle huge loads of cocaine — hidden in their luggage — on flights to Australia was sentenced to nine years in prison, Tuesday. Dave is joined by National Post crime writer Adrian Humphreys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders were caught on video apparently making fun of U.S. President Donal Trump.  Trudeau explained he had been talking to Princess Anne, French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands about Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the next G7 summit in June would be held at Camp David, the pre...

More than 200 former inmates have filed civil claims in court alleging they were sexually abused by retired B.C. jail guard Roderic David MacDougall over his 21-year career when they were teenagers or young men incarcerated for relatively minor crimes. The plaintiffs claim the attacks left them angry and confused, often compounding pre-existing drug and crime problems, and spiralling them into eve...

Alberta's United Conservative Party party government is facing growing discontent from public sector worker over the potential loss of thousands of jobs. That is on top of blowback over a bill to fire Alberta's election commissioner who was investigating the UCP. But premier Jason Kenney appears to be riding high after a party convention on the weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

A man dumped a bucket of what police believe was liquefied waste — whether animal or human they aren’t yet sure — on a woman just after she left a U of T building on the south edge of campus, Monday. It was the third feces attack on a Toronto campus in four days, all pulled off, police believe, by the same man. Dave is joined by National Post reporter Richard Warnica. Learn more about your ad choi...

An undercover officer known only as "UCO Joe" infiltrated a circle of Canadian drug smugglers in 2013. Eventually, the clues led "Joe" all the way to Mexico and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, who in July 2019 would be sentenced to life by a Brooklyn judge for running a $14 billion empire, in the process becoming one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins. The RCMP noticed, too, that Canadians who...

In October 2016, a University of Toronto psychology professor named Jordan Peterson gave an impassioned speech to student protesters in front of Sidney Smith Hall. The events surrounding Peterson at the time would spark a larger discussion about free speech on university campuses across Canada that continues to this day. It’s now a widely held belief that campus free speech is under threat from st...

A little over a year after cannabis was legalized in Canada, companies are taking financial losses, amid sluggish sales for some products and a lack of retail space. The Financial Post's Vanmala Subramaniam joins Dave to explain how the cannabis industry went from being unable to meet demand, to have trouble moving their product. She lays out what this means for the introduction of edibles into th...

Don Cherry was fired from Hockey Night in Canada after a rant criticizing "you people" who "come here" but don't wear poppies. Cherry, who refused to apologize, was no longer a relevant hockey commentator, argues Postmedia sports columnist Scott Stinson. The long-time NHL fixture refused to change as attitudes around hockey evolved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we bring you episode 1 of the Dark North: Gangs of Montreal. It's a new true crime podcast being produced by the Montreal Gazette and Postmedia.  It was pure coincidence but the Hells Angels opened their first Canadian chapter in Quebec just seven weeks before Nicolo Rizzuto took control of the Montreal Mafia.  Those events in 1977-78 kickstarted a violent decades-long struggle to control th...

A minority government means Justin Trudeau's agenda could be difficult to implement. National Post columnist John Ivison explains that unlike Stephen Harper, Trudeau may not be satisfied with the more incremental approach to governing that comes with a minority. Ivison also explains possible risks for the NDP of propping up the Liberals, the potential for growing public debt and western alienation...

Conservatives have "lost the plot" argues Sean Speer, who was an advisor to former prime minister Stephen Harper. In an essay for the National Post Speer argues that conservatives need to look beyond the policies of the past and apply conservative principles to modern problems. One problem is the transition towards a knowledge economy and the working class people left behind.  Speer talks to Dave...

The Dark North is a new podcast about crime in Canada. Each season will focus on a different city. Season 1 examines the struggle for control of Montreal's underworld, hosted by Montreal Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry. Episode 1 traces how the Hells Angels and the Rizzuto crime family came to Montreal. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-dark-north/id1479...

The Quebec government has unveiled a values test for new immigrants, but it is a watered version of what was promised during the 2018 provincial election. Drawing a sample from a pool of about 100 questions drafted by a private consulting firm hired by the government an immigrant in the qualified worker category could be asked whether women and men have the same rights in Quebec. True or false? Th...

In the wake of Justin Trudeau's return to power after the election, conservative eyes are turning to Alberta where Jason Kenney is confidently leading a right of centre of government. Kenney is benefitting, critics would say fuelling, from increasing talk of separatism and western alienation. His first budget, released days after the federal vote, has faced criticism on the left for cutting too mu...

After an election night that saw Justin Trudeau returned with a strong minority government, federal Conservatives will be conducting a post-mortem on this campaign. They will have to consider everything from their fiscal policies, to their environmental platform, to the performance of their leader. And in each area where they stumbled, they’ll have to decide: Was the problem one of strategy, or ta...

A decade-long struggle for control of Montreal's mob continues as mafia leader Andrea Scoppa was gunned down Monday. Scoppa has been described in court as the leader of a Calabrian clan operating within the Montreal Mafia. He rose up in the Rizzuto organization but his status apparently changed after the death of leader Vito Rizzuto at the end of 2013. Police sources worry that more violence is co...

Justin Trudeau's Liberals may have won the most seats Monday night but that doesn't mean anybody won the election. Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives failed to capitalize on Liberal scandals. Jagmeet Singh and the NDP failed to fully capitalize on a well-fought campaign by a charismatic leader. And the Trudeau Liberals were reduced to a minority government. Dave is joined by National Post reporte...

Heading into Monday’s election, the Liberals and Conservatives are closer in the polls than any time perhaps since the 1972 election when Pierre Trudeau’s reduced to a minority government. Andrew Coyne joins Emily Jackson to break down what happens if no party wins a majority. Coyne also points out that both major parties are fear mongering about the other in final gambit to win a majority. Learn...

Justin Trudeau has offered very little opposition to Quebec's Bill 21 that would prevent people wearing visible religious attire from holding positions of authority in the civil service, such as a teacher. The Toronto Sun's Brian Lilley argues Trudeau would never give a similar pass to other provinces like Ontario and Alberta, currently governed by conservative premiers. Learn more about your ad c...