Blueprints of Disruption

An interview with Alejandra Ruiz Vargas, National Representative and East York Chapter Leader, for ACORN Canada. Alejandra is a also a front line housing worker, longtime advocate and former political candidate. She shares just how Acorn grows it membership and determines its priorities. Acorn is membership based, and almost entirely funded by those members. We explore the impact of their approach...

Producer and Journalism Student, Santiago Helou Quintero dishes on what went down at Toronto City Hall during a February 2023 protest over John Tory's budget. It opens up a larger discussion on what the role of media should be, and the inherent bias that exists in all publications. Activist journalists are becoming more visible, but that hasn't been without consequence.

Canada has left disabled people behind. Provincial support programs do anything but. The result is Legislated Poverty. Disabled advocates from across Ontario join this panel discussion on the ways in which people are fighting back. Included in the discussion is a critique of Bill C22, a debate on tactics and an exploration of a way forward. Panels include: Rabia Khedr, Disability Without Poverty;...

Why do we put so much emotional stock and resources into 'leaders'? And what is that costing us politically? Host Jessa McLean and Santiago Helou Quintero make the case that the focus and energy we spend on leaders, both our own and that of our opponents, is a detriment to the movement - a distraction from actual problems and policies to fix them. They discuss the trappings of playing to the leade...

Guest Cathy Crowe has spent years as a street nurse, an inherently political job. She works with people who live at the intersection of failed housing policies and a crumbling public healthcare system. After years learning from the unhoused community and advocating not just for their needs, but to an end to homeless itself, Cathy knows how imperative this fight is and where we are falling short. W...

Canadian foreign policy is not what most Canadians think it is. The narrative had for a long time been one of peacekeepers. Our approach now clearly one of open aggression, with the impact of Canada’s weapon sales, resource extraction industry and outright participation in right wing coups being felt across the globe, but are Canadians in large partaware of all of this? Special Guest, Yves Engler...

Kevin Taghabon of the Hoser joins the team at Blueprints for a discussion on Community based journalism, specifically the work of the Hoser, an independent media outlet based out of Toronto. Their "hyper local" approach allows them to produce quality, in depth reports that feature the voices of the marginalized. Voices often left out of main stream media. We get the scoop on some of the Hoser's to...

Canadian Partisan politics strikes again. Looks like the NDP isn't the only Canadian political party making life difficult for eco-socialists. Longtime Green Party of Quebec leader Alex Tyrell joins host Jessa McLean to talk about the energy he's spent trying to push the Green Party Left, both on the Provincial level and federally, the barriers put in his place and why being openly socialist is cr...

With the passing of Bill 23 by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, it is becoming even more clear to voters that developers run the Province. Their sphere of influence goes beyond the carving up of the Greenbelt. This episode uses Ontario examples to show how detrimental the relationship between ultra wealthy developers and politicians is to the wellbeing of our communities. It isn't just campaign donation...

With Canadian politics void of real resistance to Capitalism, the show looks to South America for some revolutionary lessons. Guest Alexander Moldovan shares some of what he learned while studying social movements in Venezuela, much of it by way of telling the stories of workers and communities fighting back while building networks of support. While examining the ways in which movements play a rol...

Ontario's General Strike never did materialize, and in the aftermath there's a lot of analysis to do. John Clarke, Professor at York University and longtime organizer, joins host Jessa McLean to compare the 2022 strike by CUPE workers to the 1995 Days of Action against them Premier Mike Harris. They discuss some of the trappings that exist in these moments, and how they too often lead to a de-esca...

Most of us realize the climate crisis at hand requires urgent, transformative action. If everyone knows, then what is stopping us? Who exactly is getting in the way of Climate Justice in Canada? Besides Big Oil and Gas Executives of course. Torrance Coste of Wilderness Committee helps us wade through the politics around climate action, and the different relationships that complicate the matter. Wi...

After coming under attack from the Ontario NDP for criticizing the Party, host Jessa McLean jumped into the studio to record a response. It is a deeply personal account of her journey through partisan politics in an attempt to explain why the NDP is trying to silence her, and how this is part of a larger pattern to push out socialists and internal advocates. To read the letter from the Ontario NDP...

If there is one area the Left needs to improve, it is around Disability Rights. Some of the policies coming out of the NDP are problematic, some even detrimental to disability justice. We focus on ODSP, MAiD, the Federal Disability Benefit and of course, the response to COVID. NDP Disability Co-Chair, Jay Woodruff provides an inside perspective on what its like trying to advocate for better polici...

With 55,000 CUPE Education workers walking off the job in defiance of legislation which made any job action illegal, there have been renewed calls for a Provincial wide General Strike. Host Jessa McLean and journalist/producer Santiago Helou Quintero discuss the core issues at stake in Ontario. With the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to override Charter Rights, and the push to destroy public se...

What exactly is the impact of low voter turnout? What is behind people's exit from electoral politics in Canada? Political columnist, author and podcaster David Moscrop sits down with host Jessa McLean to look at the root causes of low voter turnout - and what that means for a representative democracy. They look at why democracy shifted away from more direct participation to what we see today - al...

Return and Liberation is an in-depth discussion with members of the Palestinian Youth Movement, a transnational organization dedicated to a Free Palestine. Laura Khoury and Moe Alqasem share what pushes them to keep going in such a combative area of advocacy, and how they do so much with the resources they have. The discussion also examines the current situation in Palestine, including the status...

The recent leadership race for the next Premier of British Columbia has the democratic process of the NDP under scrutiny again. Host Jessa McLean and Producer Santiago Helou Quintero go over just what happened with the BCNDP and the disqualification of Anjali Appadurai. Together they examine the claims against the grassroots campaign that was set to challenge the acclamation of David Eby for the n...

We often speculate about what has happened to the NDP in Canada. With its origins in Socialism and grassroots membership, the Party has seemingly drifted to Centre while alienating its biggest supporters. Author and political scientist Matt Fodor joins host Jessa McLean to discuss the themes that come up in his upcoming book From Layton to Singh: The 20-year Struggle for the NDPs Soul . Matt is ab...

With the passing of the Queen, it is no wonder the discussion around abolishing the monarchy has been reignited here in Canada. Many pundits have declared the endeavor impossible - but is it really? Host Jessa McLean, alongside New Left Media and Blueprints of Disruption producer, Santiago Helou breakdown what's involved with severing our ties with the Crown, what the political challenges are and...

Indigenous Land Defenders across Canada are under attack. All attempts to rightfully reclaim land back and protect the water have been met with resistance and police violence. Yet they persist. There are folks like guests Layla Staats and Skyler Williams, both of Six Nations of the Grand River, willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their communities can survive. Living through trauma, both cur...

So many of us are dismayed with Canadian partisan politics, especially those on the Left looking for real change. Some have fought to change the so-called progressive parties like the NDP and the Green Party from the inside. Special guest Dimitri Lascaris and Host Jessa McLean, who have been in the middle of those fights, discuss their experiences, the gatekeeping involve, and just what they think...

Food Insecurity impacts almost 6 million people in Canada. With the cost of everything, including food rising, we can expect this to get worse. What do we do about it? Are Food Banks the answer? Paul Taylor of Food Share Toronto is on a mission to "put food insecurity in the history books" - he joins host Jessa McLean to discuss just what that means, and why charity alone won't be enough to make s...

Tommy Douglas surely anticipated the likes of Premier Doug Ford when he founded Health Coalitions to defend public healthcare in Canada. These groups have been standing guard over our public healthcare since its inception, but they've never had a fight like this on their hands before. Made up of folks like you and I, our Health Coalitions are very likely the key to taking collective action to stop...

What is Independent journalism and what role does it play in Canadian Politics? How do they complete with mainstream media? What is it like trying to sustain your work so you can have the freedom to say what needs saying? This episode of Blueprints is a discussion with Jeremy Appel, a freelance writer, podcaster and Canadian politico. He takes us through us journey to independence and provides gre...