The Briefing Note Podcast

Minister of Treasury Board Anita Anand and Ellected’s host Sarah Elder sat down for a chat during the Calgary Stampede that took a right turn from the overtly political to just chat. So much of what gets politicians in politics and why they care about what they do is informed by who they are, where they come from, what their lives have been shaped by and this is a refreshing departure from the bul...

Her 19 year old sister Karina was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th and Sasha and her family are desperate for her safe return along with every other hostage taken that day. This episode isn’t about the explicit politics of Hamas and Israel. It’s about Karina texting her sister the morning of October 7th asking her sister to look after her parents because she knew she might die. Hear from Sash...

In episode 77 Sarah chats with Jenna Sudds, Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and MP for Kanata—Carleton. Hear Minister Sudds on dental care nationally, how it’s not rolling out in Alberta, her take on not winning the by-election in Toronto-St. Pauls, the dilemmas all parents face of teenagers on social media and misinformation from a mom herself who also sits at the c...

This week I’m chatting with Wraychel Gilmore , a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and advocate for children and youth about her research in engaging youth in political consultation. We chat about how youth come to be consulted, a real-world example with Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae and the level of global interest in Wraychel’s work. Learn more about Wraychel Gilmore...

Did you know that approximately half of all infertility is male infertility? I had no idea until this conversation with Ovry co-founder Jackie Rhind of Revelstoke, British Columbia. Rhind is disrupting the sedate baby-on-the-box pregnancy test market in drug and grocery stores across Canada with the most sustainable pregnancy tests on the market not just for women who want to get a positive result...

This episode of Ellected features Alex Mitchell, CEO of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce. Sarah and Alex discuss Abbotsford’s economic position as the agricultural capital of Canada and an emerging ag-tech leader. Alex also shares the recent formation and priorities of the Fraser Valley Business Coalition, the culmination of the Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and Langley chambers joining forces...

Have you tried to share a news story on Facebook or Instagram and got the message that your ability to do that is blocked in Canada? There's a reason for that and this episode of Ellected, Sarah sits down with the person responsible, Canada's Minister of Heritage Pascale St-Onge to discuss the status of the Bill C-18, the Online News Act, and negotiations with Meta over compensation to C...

In exactly one month Rachel Notley will hand over the reins to Alberta's New Democratic Party to the next leader vying to defeat Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party in 2027 so it was the last opportunity to get her on the record in a sit down chat to get her thoughts on the way out to a life outside of the heated Alberta political arena. Hear Sarah get answers to questions submit...

Edmonton City Councillor Andrew Knack and Ellected’s Sarah Elder chat about the very controversial Bill 20 which among many things introduces political parties into municipal politics, removes electronic voting in favour of paper, gives cabinet the power to remove councillors and overturn bylaws, changes what you need to vote and more. It’s a lot and it’s been done with no consultation and is bein...

In episode 70 of Ellected Sarah sits down for an in-person chat with Alberta MLA Rhiannon Hoyle for a frank conversation about her entry into politics, making the decision to jump into provincial politics, how women need to be prepared for political life to succeed and much more. Listen until the end for a very moving story about Rhiannon's encounter with a group of school kids as she walked...

Episode 69 is the last episode in the series of conversations with all of the candidates running to be the next leader of the Alberta NDP and this conversation with Gil McGowan is full of surprises. McGowan is wearing multiple hats during the podcast and campaign as the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour and workers are front and centre during the podcast but it's how he positions...

It's live episode #5 with each of the candidates running to be the next leader of the Alberta NDP and this week MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse joined Sarah Elder in-store at Madame Premier to talk about her campaign. Jodi shares why her campaign is focused on water and climate change and contextualizes it in how it relates to Alberta's economy. Hear her thoughts on what the rural strategy s...

The latest and most in-demand podcast yet in Ellected's series of sitting down with all of the candidates in the leadership race to replace Rachel Notley as leader of Alberta's NDP, this conversation with Naheed Nenshi goes in a lot of directions. From joining the race, his "outsider" status, why he isn't making policy announcements, having a seat in the legislature if he...

The third in Ellected's series of live podcasts with the candidates running to replace Rachel Notley as the leader of the Alberta NDP. This episode features MLA Sarah Hoffman in her unabashed quest to win the race to take on Danielle Smith and the UCP in the 2027 provincial election. Listen to Sarah Hoffman share her very transparent to run on a campaign of being authentically herself to get...

In the second live episode of Ellected in this special series of conversations with the Alberta NDP leadership candidates, host Sarah Elder-Chamanara sits down with MLA Kathleen Ganley.  *Please note that due to a very unfortunate internet issue when recording, the recording cuts off abruptly.* Hear Kathleen discuss the entry of Nenshi into the race, her focus on the economy and how that the econo...

In the first ever episode of Ellected recorded in-front of a live  audience,  host Sarah Elder-Chamanara sits down with NDP MLA and leadership candidate Rakhi Pancholi for the first in a series of podcasts with all of the candidates running to be the next leader of the Alberta NDP. Hear from Rakhi about why she's running, her thoughts on "lending" votes to the Alberta NDP in the 202...

In Ep. 63 of Ellected join host and founder of Madame Premier Sarah Elder-Chamanara in discussion with Calgary City Councillor, former Olympian and mom Jasmine Mian in a discussion on the city's remote work policy for council members in response to a staff recommendation to change council’s code of conduct and procedure bylaws to limit councillors’ ability to tune in to meetings virtually bec...

In Ellected Ep. 62 join Sarah in conversation with Orit Sulitzeanu, the exectuvite director of The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, about the sexual violence committed on October 7th in Israel. Hear about what happened on October 7th from a leader committed to combating sexual violence on a daily basis in Israel who now educates the world on what took place that day. To learn more abo...

Allie Blades of Mash Strategies and Political Capital  panelist joins host Sarah Elder-Chamanara to recap the federal Conservative Party convention in  Quebec City with breakout discussions on the pop-up appearances by two Liberal government ministers and some of the policies passed by those in attendance.

Read the report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Alberta Post- Secondary Education here. More about the Council of Alberta University Students: Represents over 114,000 undergraduate students from the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, Mount Royal University, MacEwan University, and Athabasca University to the public, government and other post-secondary education stakeholder...

Housing, housing, housing. It’s a hot topic across Canada as we struggle with affordability, inflation and access to housing. This week Calgary City Council will chose between action on housing or the status quo and in episode 59 of Ellected, Calgary city councillor Kourtney Penner joins the podcast to talk about the decision she and her colleagues face in accepting or rejecting an 80 point plan t...

In episode 58 of Ellected Sarah speaks with Independent Senator Kim Pate on the trip she made along with three other Canadian representatives as part of a civil society delegation that visited north eastern Syria in the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to meet with Canadian men, women and children in detention camps and prisons for suspected members of ISIS. Senator Pa...

In episode 57 of Ellected, learn about Campaign University , a new initiative for anyone discontent with the current state of politics and interested in running or getting involved.  Created and run by three political veterans, former Vancouver city councillor George Affleck and veteran campaigners Mike Wilson and Emile Scheffel, they are disrupting the status quo of politics by telling you exactl...