COMMONS

Some say that they’re a shadowy group that are the true power behind our elected officials, wielding enormous influence that they use to either benefit their friends or crush their enemies. Others claim that they’re a bulwark against oligopolies, ensuring that rural Canada doesn’t turn into an empty, corporatized hellscape. But what’s not up for debate is that Big Milk is a big deal. Featured in t...

Canadians are being squeezed at every end. When it comes to cell phone bills, grocery bills, housing, entertainment, we’re all paying more than ever before. But a small number of companies that dominate their industries are reaping in enormous profits. This season of COMMONS we’ll be digging into all of the monopolies, oligopolies and cartels that dominate our lives. And for our first stop, we hea...

From broadband to banking to blueberries (yes, even blueberries), life in Canada is ruled by monopolies. In the latest season of COMMONS, host Arshy Mann and producers Jordan Cornish and Noor Azrieh will bring you the stories of how these monopolists bullied their way to the top, strangled their rivals, and cornered their markets with help from the government. Our new season launches on November 9...

Meet David Wallace, political fixer. After decades in the game he says he’s getting out, telling all, and dumping his files in public. The result is the viral "Klondike Papers" theory of conspiracies, conservatives, and cults. But are the allegations true? And why is he really implicating himself, and so many others? A wild, true story. Series launches October 31st. Subscribe now ( link ). Hosted...

Afghanistan has endured more than four decades of almost ceaseless war. But since the Taliban takeover, Afghans have been abandoned by the global community and are now facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. What was all of this for? And is Afghanistan destined for yet another cycle of violence?   Featured in this episode: Rangina Hamidi, Mohsin Amin, Stephen M. Saideman   To learn more: “Ame...

Stuart Langridge was a model soldier. But when he returned from a tour in Afghanistan, his family noticed that something was off.  He was suffering from PTSD. But instead of providing him the treatment he needed, Stuart was punished and humiliated by the Canadian Forces.  Like too many Afghan veterans, Stuart ended up taking his own life. And when his parents began to ask questions about what had...

The Afghan Detainee scandal became the defining story of Canada's war in Kandahar. It exposed Canada's complicity and direct involvement in war crimes. And it helped fuel the insurgency that eventually brought down the Afghan government. Despite repeated denials by senior government and military officials, there's evidence that many Canadians knew they were sending Afghans to be tortured. So why d...

During the Afghan War, it was clear who the enemy was. The Taliban were a group of religious zealots who harboured terrorists, killed with fervour and enslaved women. But then why did so many Afghans join with the Taliban during the years that Canada was fighting in Kandahar?  And if the Taliban were our enemies, who exactly were our friends and allies? In many cases, they were torturers, rap...

Operation Medusa has become the most celebrated battle in recent Canadian history. It was hailed as a stroke of military genius that may have vanquished the Taliban once and for all.  But the soldiers and commanders on the ground have a different story to tell. A rushed battle. Flawed intelligence. And generals putting political considerations ahead of Canadian lives.  And even though Ca...

Bill Wilson and Chris Kopp were two of the first Canadian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan. One night in April 2002, they were at a training exercise at Tarnak Farms, Osama Bin Laden's old hideout outside of Kandahar. All of a sudden, they see a blast, and chaos surrounds them. What happens next would change their lives — and the Canadian military — forever.   Featured in thi...

In the days after 9/11, Canada joined in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Right away, it became painfully obvious that we didn't understand the country, its people, or its history. That would have profound consequences.  Within months, Canadian special forces were participating in secret operations at the behest of some of the most sinister men in the country. Our actions in the ea...

The War in Afghanistan was Canada's longest war. More than 40,000 Canadian troops served. And countless Canadian civilians went to work in the country. But after twenty years, billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, Afghanistan is worse off than before. When the Taliban marched into Kabul last August, the world watched as Afghans clung to planes in an attempt to escape. We bri...

Narcolords in league with the government. Hundreds of millions of dollars that vanish into thin air. Arrogant decision-making that leads to the deaths of Canadians and Afghans alike. This season of COMMONS will bring you the war stories that Canada wants you to forget. First episode drops March 30, 2022. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

In 2007, the small Guatemalan village of Lote Ocho, Spanish for Lot 8, was burned to the ground by military, police and security for a Canadian-owned mine. Eleven women claim they were raped during the evictions. A few years later, a prominent community activist is murdered in broad daylight by the head of security for the mining company.  These are just some of the many crimes that Canadian...

  Papua New Guinea is a part of the world that few Canadians ever think about. But for the people of Porgera, their lives have been shaped by the decisions of Canadian companies. It's hard to wrap your head around the atrocities that people in Porgera have suffered over the last thirty year. Environmental devastation. Murder as a matter of course. Hundreds of women and girls who have been rap...

Support us at www.commonspodcast.com   Attawapiskat has become famous across Canada and around the world. Not for the natural beauty that surrounds it, or for the Cree culture of the people who live there. Instead, it's become a byword for the toxic legacy of Canadian colonialism. But while Attawapiskat faced crisis after crisis, the community was sitting on a literal diamond mine run by the...

Support us at www.commonspodcast.com     A monster has been haunting the North. Giant Mine may be a big reason why Yellowknife exists. But for seven decades, it's been a unique source of suffering for the people in the region. Three stories from this uniquely haunted place: the damage it did when it opened, the bloodiest labour dispute in Canadian history, and the toxic legacy that may r...

Support us at www.commonspodcast.com Twenty-six men were working underground when an explosion tore through the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia. Their friends and colleagues went into the wreckage to try to save them. The story of Westray is one of managerial malice and the heroism of everyday people. But why is it that governments let this happen over and over again, at the expense of so many lives?...

Support us at commonspodcast.com A tiny Canadian mining company discovers the largest gold deposit in human history. But when the company's chief geologist falls out of a helicopter over the Indonesian jungle, it was all revealed to be a mirage. Bre-X was a national obsession that made many overnight millionaires. It also happened to be the biggest fraud in the history of mining.  But questio...

Support us here: http://commonspodcast.com/ For a century, Canada was one of the world's leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly. They went to extraordinary lengths — secret organ smuggling, corporate-supervised polic...

When gold was discovered in the Yukon, 100,000 people desperately tried to make it to a small patch of land in one of the most remote environments on the continent. Few made it all the way.  The Klondike Gold Rush was many things: a media conspiracy, a ponzi scheme, a land grab. But above all, it was a humanitarian disaster that stretched over much of the Pacific Northwest.   Featured in...

Stories about the dirty business of Canadian mining. First episode drops October 13, 2021. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The destruction of Borneo's rainforests has been called the greatest environmental crime of our time. But journalists and NGOs have long alleged that one man, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has benefitted from that destruction to the tune of billions of dollars. If that's true, it's one of the worst acts of corruption in the modern era. And for over a decade, those same campaigners have argued that Taib's emp...

Eddy Haymour has been called a lot of things in his life. Immigrant success story. Kidnapper. Terrorist. Folk Hero. But the long saga of Eddy Haymour is at its heart a story of obsession. About a man who became consumed by his dreams for a piece of land. And about a government equally determined to stop him at any cost. Featured in this episode: Omar Mouallem, Greg Crompton   To learn more: E...

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation is the biggest landlord in Canada, and the second biggest in all of North America.  But government after government has allowed social housing in Toronto to fall apart. It's not just the buildings that they've let rot. It's also our moral obligation to the most vulnerable in our society.   Featured in this episode: Joe Fiorito, John Sewell, Susan...