10/3: Canada Covered

The ongoing dispute over the Coastal Gaslink pipeline and its route through First Nations land has posed a major problem for the Trudeau government. Blockades of rail lines in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the project have created anger directed at a prime minister whose message has focused on communication as a solution Today national post columnist John Ivison joins me...

Blockades in support of Wet’suwet’en opposition to the coastal gas link pipeline have ground rail traffic to a halt in parts of Canada. But at the centre of it all is a camp of about 50 people in the remote B.C. wilderness. Dave is joined by APTN senior reporter Kathleen Martens about the conflict over the pipeline and why there’s not a simple answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

Protests in support of an Indigenous blockade in northern B.C. have snarled rail traffic across the country. The action against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline has sparked anger among pipeline supporters, and has created political chaos for the prime minister, who cancelled a planned trip to try to deal with the issue. The National Post's Tyler Dawson joins me to talk about the reasons behind the blo...

John Baird isn’t running for the Conservative leadership, and it’s good news for both Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole. But is it good news for the party? National Post political reporters Stuart Thomson and Brian Platt walk you through the latest news in the Conservative leadership race in our new weekly series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A deadline is looming for the federal cabinet to make a decision on whether to approve a major oilsands project in northern Alberta. The proposed Teck frontier mine has divided opinions, with many suggesting it will hamper attempts by the Justin Trudeau government to meet its own emissions targets, while proponents say it’s in the national interest and necessary to spur economic growth. Dave talks...

Teacher strikes will hit Ontario classrooms this week amid worsening tensions between the government and the province's unions. Up to a million kids will he out of class.  We look at where the two sides are at odds, whether there could be a resolution, and who is winning the support of the public. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Boulachanis, a murderer who recently transitioned to a woman is demanding a Montreal judge grant her request to move to a women's penitentiary. Correctional Service Canada opposes the move and says Boulachanis poses a serious risk of escaping and is a threat to public safety if she gets out. Guest host Monique Beaudin is joined by Montreal Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry. Learn more about...

What was once expected to be a political battle royale involving the superstars of Canada's conservative movement, has turned into a mano-a-mano matchup between two Harper-era ministers. Peter MacKay and Erin O'Toole have emerged as the early front-runners in the race to replace Andrew Scheer, who is stepping down as leader after a disappointing showing in last fall's election. Dave and John Iviso...

An outbreak of coronavirus in China has ramped up fears that we're facing a crisis similar to the SARS outbreak. Cases of this virus have numbered in the thousands this year, but so far there have been just three in Canada. Today, Dave talks with National Post health reporter Sharon Kirkey about how the outbreak started, why this virus has people worried and how Canadian officials have responded....

Gangs in B.C.'s Lower Mainland are turning to rap music to taunt their rivals online over bloody acts of violence.   Today Vancouver Sun journalist Kim Bolan speaks to with guest host Dharm Makwana about her investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent Abacus Data survey found near the top of a list of negative associations with the Conservative party is "racist." Author Jamil Jivani explains why his party needs to tackle its "racism problem." In a column for the National Post Jivani argued that Conservative leadership candidates should be reflecting on how and why the party has a racism stigma, but they haven’t been.  Learn more about...

Six-year-old Ljubica Topic was snatched in May 1971 as she played outside her Windsor home. Police discovered her lifeless remains — face and body covered in blood — early the next morning. It is a case that left a cloud over the southern Ontario city for decades. Nearly 50 years later, police say they have solved the case. Dave is joined by by Windsor Star reporter Trevor Wilhelm. Learn more abou...

After 36 years a convicted child killer is out on bail, awaiting a new trial.  Tallio, then 17, pleaded guilty in 1983 to the second-degree murder of a child, but has maintained his innocence ever since. The University of B.C.’s Innocence Project began working on Tallio’s case more than 10 years ago, and his lawyers, now supported by the Legal Services Society, filed a notice of appeal in 2016. Hi...

After former Canadian reservist Patrick Matthews was revealed to be an alleged recruiter for American neo-Nazi group The Base he disappeared. The mystery of what happened to Matthews was solved Thursday when U.S. officials announced that he had been arrested along with two other purported members of The Base, accused of building a homemade machine gun and stockpiling ammunition. Dave is joined by...

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...