COMMONS

The fractures in the Conservative Party are showing as people jump into the leadership race.   Desmond wants to know why the Liberals flip flopped on an issue of torture. Supriya wants to get in on that sweet tax free status we've been hearing about in the Panama Papers.   University of Victoria economics professor Lindsay Tedds tells us why, despite the projected $30 billion deficit, "the budget...

Jane Lytvynenko, CANADALAND’s news editor, guest co-hosts with Supriya Dwivedi.   As the NDP approaches a leadership review, Jane and Supriya try to figure out who Tom Mulcair even is.   Maclean’s Quebec Bureau Chief Martin Patriquin laughs off the idea that the Quebec government will clean itself up after recent arrests in the provincial corruption scandal.   Jane and Supriya offer free advice on...

Andrew Loku was shot and killed by police last July. But the public doesn’t know who did it.   When the Special Investigations Unit announced that the officer who killed him would not face charges, it led to a protest organised by Black Lives Matter Toronto that has lasted over a week, day and night, through rain and an ice storm. Protestors have gathered from around the country, demanding for the...

Canada’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia has raised a lot of controversy, but they’re not the only ones getting our weapons or weapons parts.   Supriya wants to know who else Canada is selling arms to, what oversight exists to make sure our weapons aren’t being used unethically and what happens if we do see a reason to break an arms contract.   She talks to NDP defence critic Hélène Laverdière, who wa...

A group of Senators says partisan activity has "seriously eroded the credibility and reputation” of their workplace. So they’ve formed a non-partisan working group to try to fix it.   Senator Diane Bellemare talks to Desmond and Supra after quitting the Conservative caucus and joining this new group.   Senate scholar Heather Hughson says this is exactly what’s needed to restore faith in the Chambe...

No new episode today. We'll be back next week. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andray and Desmond host a live panel asking how cities are preparing refugees to fend for themselves in a year’s time and how they can get on their feet in our terrible job market.   Featuring:  Michael Qaqish, an Ottawa city councillor and the city’s refugee liaison; Ula Abu Rashed, a student at the University of Ottawa whose family fled Syria for Germany last fall; Rouba Al-Fattal, a part time p...

Canada has had a marijuana industry for a long time. It just hasn’t always been legal. People in the business have ended up in prison, barred from crossing the border or denied future job prospects.   Now that the Liberals are planning to legalize weed, what will happen to those people?   Andray talks to Liberal MP for Beaches-East York Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and criminal defence lawyer John Stru...

George Elliott Clarke has been appointed as Canada’s seventh poet laureate.    His wide-ranging conversation with Desmond touches on how working for a trailblazing black MP led him to meeting the Dalai Lama, why politicians should care about poetry and how he thinks Canadians are being ripped off by phone companies.    Plus, he nearly sets the studio on fire with a rendition of his poem “Look Home...

“I think it would be a real shame if we got rid of Harper at the federal level and then we brought in somebody who wants to take our province in a similar direction,” Wab Kinew tells Andray and Desmond.    Kinew is stepping into politics after years in the public eye as a journalist, author, rapper and First Nations community leader.   He talks about what he wants to accomplish in politics that he...

Canada's electronic spy agency broke privacy laws by collecting metadata about Canadians, then sharing it with other countries. The issue was exposed in a watchdog report that was released to the public last week.  Andray and Supriya speak to Amanda Connolly, national security reporter for iPolitics, about what exactly the Communications Security Establishment did wrong and whether there's any rea...

Most workplaces discourage yelling and jeering among co-workers. But the government has their own way of doing things.   Desmond and Supriya talk to Calgary - Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel about her experiences being heckled. They also get into how social media is changing the political discourse in ways that Rempel herself still hasn't figured out.    This follows a recent survey by S...

After the end of Harper's decade-long rule, Conservatives have to figure out what they stand for.   The next leadership race is still a long way away, but people are starting to campaign. Jim Burnett knows conservative leadership races from the inside. He returns to the show to talk about where Conservatives go after Harper. Plus, he answers the burning question: Did you actually like the guy? Sup...

Former BC Premier Ujjal Dosanjh recently wrote an editorial called “The Silencing of the White Men of the West." In it, he argues that political correctness stifles powerful white men.    Editor-in-chief of The Walrus Jonathan Kay and cultural critic Septembre Anderson give their thoughts on the issue.   Ujjal Dosanjh did not respond to a request to appear on COMMONS. Support COMMONS: http://commo...

As a child, Andray was taught to look up to Anne C. Cools, the first black person to join Canada’s Senate. Born in Barbados, she spent her early life as a social worker and pioneer in the field of domestic violence before spending over three decades in the upper house. Andray’s views change when he hears Desmond’s interview with the senator. Desmond sets out to talk to her about the recent expense...

Following the Paris agreement, Andray and Desmond speak to climate change expert Jason Thistlethwaite in a conversation touching on the “give a shit factor”, the inevitable death of the suburbs and Game of Thrones. Plus, they speak to someone who was at the talks and was not happy with what took place. Erica Violet Lee, an Indigenous activist and part of the Canadian Youth Delegation to Paris, fel...

"What can we do tomorrow?” Maggie Cywink wants to know. "I don’t have another six months to wait for the government to meet everybody and figure it out.”  Mag’s sister Sonya Cywink was found murdered in southern Ontario in 1994. Bernadette Smith’s sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo went missing in Winnipeg. And Lauren Crazybull’s great-aunt Jacqueline Crazybull was killed in a random attack in Calgary....

It’s easy to get lost in the numbers. So we look into what it takes to get a family of three refugees from Syria to the small mountain town of Jasper, Alberta. And Farah Malik, a refugee from Pakistan, talks about what it was like abandoning her home country. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

The Liberal government has promised to get rid of our current voting system, but they haven’t committed to what those changes will look like. By listener request, Andray and Desmond take a look at what could happen. They speak to a former political candidate from New Zealand about the reforms his country made. They also speak to conservative strategist Jim Burnett, who thinks Canada doesn't have t...

The Beaverton's satire isn't about funny accents or wacky characters. It cuts deep, skewering politicians and other media on issues like the refugee crisis and ISIS. Andray and Desmond speak to The Beaverton's editor-in-chief Luke Gordon Field about using humour as a weapon and what's missing in Canadian political comedy.  Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Following the tragedy in Paris, Desmond talks to Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, and Amira Elghawaby, communications director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, about the backlash Muslims face in Canada when attacks are carried out in the name of Islam. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

University of New Brunswick's JP Lewis explains how the Cabinet is like Wu-Tang Clan and Buzzfeed Canada's Scaachi Koul proposes a Minister of No Bullsh*t. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Conservative Party of Canada has fallen to Opposition status... but what does that mean? Can they actually affect politics or are they just getting ready for their next shot at government? Andray talks about that with Ray Martin, who led Alberta's Official Opposition in the 80s.  He also talks to Mark Warner - who was dumped from a Conservative campaign in 2007 - and Tasha Kheiriddin - a conse...

Andray and Desmond talk to Liberal MP-elect Ahmed Hussen, soon to be Canada's first MP of Somali descent. They discuss the refugee crisis, diversity in Parliament, Bill C-51 and more. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andray Domise, Desmond Cole and Supriya Dwivedi broadcast LIVE to a packed room at the Monarch Tavern in Toronto. Feat. Jesse Brown in Toronto, Jen Gerson at Harper HQ in Calgary, Drew Brown in Edmonton and Morgan Baskin in Squamish. #CL42 Warning: there's some profanity in this one. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. Se...