CANADALAND

TIFF’s whiff and the legacy of Trudeau’s media policies.  Carney is reversing course on the Liberal’s approach to media, but can the Canadian media ecosystem exorcise the ghost of Trudeau?  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking) Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Director of Audio)...

Last year Canadaland launched a new initiative called the Canadalabs Audio Journalism Fellowship programme, where we hired two young reporters to come and produce a story with us and learn from our team. This week, we caught up with past Canadaland fellows to see how they’ve fared. Was their time at Canadaland worth it? And we are talking about that because we have a fresh batch of fellows that wi...

Is Evan Solomon a chatbot? Deciphering the Minister of AI’s jargon-filled tech-speak. Canada is going all in on AI, but what is the plan, exactly? Plus, new Trudeau tea and a controversial National Post headline.  Clarification: A previous version of this episode implied that Cohere was both Canadian and American-owned. It is the data centre that is American owned. We regret the error. H...

Apparently, the reason you’re broke isn’t just because of your questionable shopping addiction, it’s because Canada has a full-blown productivity crisis… To host Noor Azrieh, that seems dramatic. She says she’s actually quite productive at work. But economists Brian Lewis and Philip Cross say this isn’t about how hard you grind, it’s about how the entire economy turns work into wealth…or, in Canad...

Mark Carney is nation building. To do that, he needs to rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces. Between decades of neglect and the forces’ own goals by way of bad headlines that’s no mean feat. Rebuilding the military, from new recruits to new fighter planes, will take more than promising government money. There’s a pitch that needs to be made to the Canadian public and partnerships to be forged with t...

The sentencing of Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber gets political. Poilievre and other Conservative MPs are outraged about the Crown’s requested sentences for Convoy Leaders.  Looking back, was the convoy a violent uprising or an act of political protest?  Plus, sunny skies for solar and the battle over Toronto’s hot dog throne.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nich...

It’s not a secret that music makes us feel things, but how does it do it? How do composers create music that makes us happy, sad, confused, emotional, hopeful, scared, and perhaps even make us laugh from time to time? This week on Off The Record, producer Tristan Capacchione chats with his old colleagues and associates about the secrets of music and gives you a bit of insight into how we choose an...

Canada can’t cut a deal, but Carney’s political honeymoon continues.  Should Carney take some blame for the ongoing trade war?  Plus, why real estate developers in BC apparently need foreign money and a misleading image on the New York Times front page causes controversy.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking),...

The Canadian Armed Forces has an extremism problem, and that story has fallen out of the news cycle way too quickly. Just recently, four men have been arrested in an alleged violent extremist plot to reclaim land near Quebec City. Plus, the CAF is investigating a private Facebook group where active members shared content deemed “abhorrent” by military leadership. Host Noor Azrieh talks to Andy Kni...

Canada is now the number one provider of medical assistance in dying in the world per capita. The latest stats, from 2023, show that MAID accounted for almost 5% of all deaths in Canada, or around 15,000 people in that year. And it’s only been legal since 2016. MAID was introduced for patients who were experiencing intolerable suffering, irreversible decline and whose death was foreseeable. Within...

An update on Canada’s approach to Palestine and an in-depth discussion of the Hockey Canada Trial and why the coverage isn’t reckoning with the deeper issues within our national sport. Arshy Mann co-hosts.  Host:  Noor Azrieh Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking) Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (...

When working on one of our episodes of the Politics edition about tariffs, senior producer, Aviva Lessard wondered why there are no Canadian car companies. This question felt like too much of a digression for the episode about tariffs, but in doing some research on it, Sam learned that we actually used to have Canadian car companies going all the way back to Confederation in 1867. So buckle up for...

More statements about Israel/Palestine from Carney’s government, but does Canada have the courage to take action? Arshy Mann joins Noor Azrieh to assess Canada’s rhetoric on Gaza.  Plus, Netanyahu sits down with Canada’s Nelk Boys. Would Noor or Arshy interview him, if they had the opportunity?    Host: Noor Azrieh Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate prod...

Over 200 candidates, a riding bigger than Switzerland and an immense amount of pressure on the leader of the opposition. To find out who (and what) Pierre is up against, host Sam Konnert travels to the riding to meet the candidates taking him on. Host: Sam Konnert Credits: Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Direct...

For over 40 years Burtynsky’s camera has captured mountain ranges scarred and scooped from mining operations, roiling tar sand tailing ponds, and fractal river systems alight with red industrial sludge. His work is a catalogue of the awesome destructive power at the root of our industrial culture. And yet, Burtynsky’s images are beautiful. That contradiction of beautiful destruction has fuelled th...

Jordan Peterson sold his Toronto home, but what’s the next move for Canada’s biggest media export?  Tracing the arc of Peterson’s ambitions from media-hungry U of T prof to global media personality. J.J. McCullough joins to explain why Peterson is leaving Canada and trying to take over the world.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer)...

Some of you had simple questions about our office space, and what Victoria's non-profit campus & community radio station does for Canadaland. And some of you wanted to know what happened with former shows and hosts at the company. Plus did Jesse Brown FORCE Noor to work while sick?  Today on Off The Record, an “Ask Me Anything” with the Canadaland staff.  Host: Sam Konnert Credits: T...

Why are we reporting on American news when we have more than enough to cover here in Canada? Canadian media has been breathlessly covering Trump, Epstein, Stephen Colbert, and The Wall Street Journal, but all this reporting doesn’t add much to the conversation.  Is it time to decouple Canadian news from the US news cycle? Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier...

Canada is obsessed with dairy. It’s quite literally part of our culture…we’re talking soccer medals with the little blue milk logo on them. But someone else is also utterly obsessed with Canadian dairy. Donald Trump. What does Trump want…and why? And if Carney caved on the NATO budget, and on the Digital Services tax - Is he going to cave on Trumps demands on dairy too?  Host: Sam Konnert Cre...

It’s now common to get AI generated answers from Google when searching the web. The whole concept of searching Google to find actual websites is almost over.  Google does not want you to click on a link and go to a website. Instead, they're giving users as the first thing you see, an AI overview that analyzes hundreds, thousands, (possibly) millions of websites to give you an answer right the...

A closer look at Travis Dhanraj’s public breakup with the CBC.  In a fiery open letter, former host of Canada Tonight, Travis Dhanraj, excoriated the CBC for its “performative diversity, tokenism, a system designed to elevate certain voices and diminish others.” He also called out “a small circle of senior Ottawa-based journalists.” He says he’s ready to “pull the curtain back” on CBC’s toxic...

Carney’s sprawling ethics screen covers over 100 companies and reveals the details of what went into his blind trust. Did he lie to Canadians about his conflicts of interest? Jen Gerson joins to make sense of the documents.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate Producer) Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), max collins (Direct...

A 230km all-season road and deep water port could be one of Carney’s first major “nation-building projects.” Is everyone on board? The Grays Bay Port and Road would connect the Northwest Territories to Nunavut to the hotly contested Northwest Passage. It would provide shipping routes, better access and Arctic security, but some hunters are worried about the environmental impact. Will this get buil...

Today we unmask the mastermind behind one of the most unlikely mysteries in hip hop history. Digging through old FBI files to reveal the name of the arch villain who orchestrated a transnational scam that duped some of rap's biggest players. And here's a spoiler, the culprit was a teenager in Ottawa who juggled his international hip hop swindle with his high school math homework. Further Reading:...

Too often, climate issues like wildfires, droughts, and extreme weather are reported in a way that ignores the root cause of these issues. How can climate and environmental coverage engage and inform an audience, while holding the powerful accountable? Geoff Dembicki of DeSmog co-hosts. Host: San Grewal Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Lucie Laumonier (Associate producer and Fact Checking) Tri...