Niigaan and the Lone Ranger

Former Tory cabinet minister and MLA Rochelle Squires goes in-depth on how the PC election campaign betrayed Tory candidates.

They tried, but Dan and Niigaan couldn't get Manitoba PC Leader Heather Stefanson to appear on the podcast. In a special Stefanson-less episode, we talk about the Tory campaign anyway.

In the second of our three pods with Manitoba party leaders, Niigaan and Dan do the deep dive with NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who is vying to become the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province.

Dan and Niigaan are joined by Liberal, PC and NDP operatives to discuss the campaign to date. They were (mostly) well behaved.

Niigaan and Dan return from summer hiatus by putting Grit leader Dougald Lamont on the hot seat. The fellas talk to Dougald about his party's chances in the 2023 election and whether the Liberals could hold the balance of power in a minority legislature. And a tribute to Bob Barker.

What, me worry? In the final podcast episode of this season, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tells Niigaan and Dan he isn’t concerned about his deal with the minority Liberal government, and thinks you shouldn’t be losing any sleep, either.

An in-depth chat with Green Party leader Elizabeth May. Plus, Niigaan and Dan celebrate Indigenous People's Day with party favors — and what is up with Paul Bernardo's prison transfer.

Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser discusses Liberal plans to reform and expand Canada's immigration program. Plus, Niigaan and Dan consider the threat posed by exotic butterflies and celebrate the Mermen of the North.

Niigaan and Dan talk with Shared Health CEO Lanette Siragusa about how she will heal an ailing health-care system. Plus, Manitoba's odd decision to politically appoint a high-profile residential school denier, and the equally odd emergence of Liberal Party trolls.

Niigaan and Dan plan the 2023 Manitoba Powwow Road Trip. Spoiler alert: there are silly t-shirts. Plus, a conversation with local urban planner and professor Jino Distasio about the True North proposal to reimagine Portage Place mall.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen plays 20 questions with Dan Lett, and ends up talking at length about bail reform, Manitoba Public Insurance and chance encounters at the Smitty's in Steinbach.

Niigaan and Dan are joined by Brent Bellamy of Number 10 Architectural Group and Jaya Beange of Storefront MB to talk about real options for the future of Portage and Main.

Are the NDP headed for a landslide? Are the Tories headed to political oblivion? Niigaan and Dan talk with an all-star panel of political pundits to handicap the 2023 election on a riding-by-riding basis.

Manitoba Families Minister Rochelle Squires talks about her government's efforts - both good and bad - to support the victims of family violence. We also discuss the upcoming provincial election and how the Progressive Conservative government will be appealing to voters.

Brian Bowman is alive and well and enjoying life out of politics. Dan Lett and guest host Jen Zoratti talk to the former Winnipeg mayor about an inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters and whether he still believes Portage and Main will, one day, be reopened to pedestrians.

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti discusses the Joyce and David Milgaard Act, which would create Canada's first independent commission to review wrongful convictions. Milgaard's lawyer David Asper offers his take on Lametti's efforts.

Niigaan and guest co-host Julia-Simone Rutgers discuss Manitoba’s standing in the latest Campaign 2000 national child poverty report. Feature interview discussing mining in Manitoba’s North with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee. The story of how a musician was born by poet and emcee Elliot Walsh a.k.a. Nestor Wynrush.

Niigaan and Dan sit down with former federal health minister and current director of the School of Medicine for Queen's University Dr. Jane Philpott to talk about the new provincial health care deal as well as her career in politics and its controversial end. Cree opera singer Rhonda Head tells an amazing story of how Cree music changed the Grammys. And a feature discussion on Winnie The Pooh ente...

Feature interview with NDP Leader Wab Kinew. Plus, stepping up the campaign to get Will Arnett on the podcast and more on the raging raisin debate.

Wondering about the state of health care? Niigaan assures us it ain’t good. Plus, an interview with outgoing CentreVenture CEO Angela Mathieson and a chance meeting with Fidel Castro.

Niigaan Sinclair’s full interview with RoseAnne Archibald, the first female national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Discussed are her accomplishments during the first half of her term as national chief, her priorities for the second half, and the attention she is paying to Winnipeg and the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit peoples.

Niigaan and the Lone Ranger sit down to discuss the anniversary of the Patels — a family from India who froze to death trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border near Emerson a year ago — and the drop in housing prices in the Canadian market. Also, a feature interview with the first female national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, alongside a great story from our frien...

What does a Walrus have in common with a Manitoba winter, safer-consumption sites for those addicted to drugs and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre? Not much really, but a special year-end/start of 2023 episode of the Niigaan and the Lone Ranger Podcast managed to cover all of those topics and several others. Free Press columnist Jen Zoratti and Free Press investigative journalist Katri...

Fans of streaming video may have noticed there has been a proliferation of Indigenous-led television and movies this year. On various platforms right now, there is a wealth of Indigenous programming, among them: Reservation Dogs , the bittersweet story of native youth growing up on an Oklahoma reservation; Dark Winds , the big-budget detective drama (executive producer Robert Redford) that takes p...

What is black and white and very, very classy all over? How about the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s new exhibit to mark the 15oth anniversary of the <i>Winnipeg Free Press</i>? In this week’s episode, we talk to Riva Symko, the WAG’s head of collections and exhibitions and curator of <i>Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle</i>, which has just recently opened to the public. In a fe...