NOW and NEXT

Welcome to POLITICALLY SPEAKING on Now and Next. Former Bank of Canada Governor and self proclaimed political outsider, Mark Carney won't nearly 86% of the vote in his bid to be leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He set a new tone for the party while setting his sights on CPC Leader Pierre Polievre in anticipation of a soon-to-be-called federal election and he set the stage for the coming trad...

Our Canadian Sovereignty is front, centre and focussed as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our Maple Leaf national flag. So we explore it against the backdrop of the Trump tariffs, Pierre Poilievre's commitment to beefing up our defence in the Far North, and the seriousness of the Annexation rhetoric. Scott Clancy is a retired Major General, having served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He fi...

In this episode of Now and Next, we take a moment from the chaos of the news cycle to remember our friend, colleague and competitor Christie Blatchford. Christie passed away five years ago on Feb. 12, 2020.  This episode of the pod features an Edward R. Murrow award winning radio documentary called Embedded in Kandahar. It was based on Christie's Governor General award winning book "Fifteen Days"...

We are dropping our DAILY edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario Politics Podcast into the NOW and NEXT feed through the course of the proviincial campaign. We've lined up the Traveling Wilburys SUPER GROUP of political commentators in Ontario to dissect, discuss, analyze and scrutinize this provincial campaign.   In this DAILY edition of On the Ledge - your Ontario Politics Podcast:  • We expect...

We’ve reassembled our NEXT NORMAL Roundtable! The NEXT NORMAL, with David Hardy Lisa Taylor, CCDP and Ujwal Arkalgud , is the first podcast series produced under the Story Studio Network banner. It launched in 2021. It explored the foundational shifts in culture, in politics, education, healthcare, and economics - all forced upon us by the COVID 19 pandemic. The immediate effects of the pandemic m...

In this episode of 'Now and Next with Dave Trafford' for Wednesday, January 15, 2025,  Our C.A.S.T (Comms and Strategy Team), featuring Anne Marie Aikins, Bob Reid, Lindsay Broadhead and Brad Ross, dives into a range of pressing issues. The discussion covers he political turbulence and leadership challenges in Ottawa and Washington, budget concerns at Toronto City Hall, and effective crisis commun...

Our Now and Next C.A.S.T. (Comms and Strategy Team) weighs in in the chaos ignited on Parliament Hill by the sudden resignation of Finance Minster and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland. Nobody saw it coming. But the Prime Minister should have expected it - considering he FIRED Freeland from Finance mere days before she was expected to table the Fall Economic Statement. The strangest thing in a weird pol...

It's a NOW and NEXT first! Our Comms and Strategy Team (C.A.S.T.) presented this edition of the podcast LIVE at the Public Affairs Association of Canada conference in Toronto. It was held in November at the waterfront campus of George Brown College. We riffed on the emergence of podcasting a powerful weapon in the comms and stategy arsenal for brands and organizations in a day and age when "earned...

This week on NOW and NEXT: Phil Verster has QUIT as CEO of Metrolinx - catching the Ford government by surprise and leaving a litany of of billion dollar transit project in disarray. Not one project has been completed during Verster's leadership. They're running over time and over budget with no clear sign as to when they'll be delivered. And we've got the best brains to talk us through the fallou...

This week on NOW and NEXT: Cliff Young, President of Polling and Societal Trends at Ipsos in the US joins the podcast and breaks down how and why the Democrats got it wrong, the GOP got it right and addresses pollsters' under estimation of Trump's support. LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW! Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about. Go to dav...

This week on NOW and NEXT Our C.A.S.T. (Comms and Strategy Team) is here! We go deep on the grassroots ground game that's grooming the political landscape at Toronto City Hall. Was Anthony Furey a victim of a voter suppression campaign or did he just lose the Don Valley West byelection to a well oiled Orange Machine? Donald Trump's photo op with RFK eating a Big Mac says all you need to know about...

This week on NOW and NEXT: First, a passion project.  I'm producing a benefit concert for St. Clare Inn - transitional housing for homeless women in Toronto who have mental heath challenges. The performance dates are Dec. 20 and 21. Three shows. It's music I wrote for a youth choir over a fifteen year period. Buy tickets or make a donation. http://www.stclareinn.com/events/  Help us make room at t...

This week on NOW and NEXT: First, a passion project.  I'm producing a benefit concert for St. Clare Inn - transitional housing for homeless women in Toronto who have mental heath challenges. The performance dates are Dec. 20 and 21. Three shows. It's music I wrote for a youth choir over a fifteen year period. Buy tickets or make a donation. http://www.stclareinn.com/events/  Help us make room at t...

The NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T. (our Comms and Strategy Team), weighs in on the historic election win by Donald Trump. The Democrats were too busy trying to "connect" the WRONG dots for voters while Trump played to the concerns that resonated with more than 70 million American voters. Get ready for the MAGA CARTA , (Project 2025). The election result not only gives Trump a strong mandate, it gives the M...

This week on NOW and NEXT: Catherine Tait makes a scorched Earth retreat from her third and final appearance before the parliamentary Heritage Committee in Ottawa. The outgoing CBC President and CEO accused the committee, (mostly the Conservatives at the table), of attempting to "villify" her and the CBC. Our NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T., (Comms And Strategy Team), says Tait not only failer herself with...

This week on NOW and NEXT: Great to have Barb DiGuilio and Kym Geddes return to the N&N podcast! Barb and Kym riff on the state of NEW media post secondary education programs. Are there any jobs for grads coming out of the broadcast and journalism streams? You might be surprised. Taylor Swift descends on Toronto in a few weeks. She's not just a force of nature in the entertainment and music in...

This week on NOW and NEXT: We make the final turn in the Race for the White House and VP Kamala Harris does a 60 Minutes sit down on CBS but causes more of a buzz by appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper. At least, it excited her base. At best, it added to the base on the margins. And in a race that will come down to a hand full of votes in a hand full of counties in a hand full...

This week on NOW and NEXT: By accident or design I stumbled across an old mp3 file. It's a recording of the final episode of Toronto at Noon - a radio show I hosted and co-produced on 1010 AM CFRB in Toronto at - you guessed it - Noon! That show aired fifteen years ago this week, (as we post this edition of NOW and NEXT). And it reminded me of just how energetic and connected the show, (and the st...

Today on NOW and NEXT: We are joined by (Ret) RCAF Major-General and former NORAD Director of Operations  Scott Clancy and Phil Gurski, President and CEO Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting and former Strategic Analyst at C-SIS. As we record this episode, it is the deadliest day of bombardment in Lebannon in nearly thirty years as Israel and Hezbollah trade missile fire. The heavy fire exchange co...

This week on NOW and NEXT It has been a Summer of Discontent for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federanl Liberals. Now that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has ripped up their "Supply and Confidence" deal, are the Liberals facing a Fall of Despair? Our INSIGHTS team is a gathered around the table to sift through the political entrails and the four major federal parties jockey for position anticipa...

Today on NOW and NEXT: It was billed as the most consequential Presidential Debate in more than a generation. Although, it's arguable, the Biden vs. Trump tilt in June might have taken top spot when you consider President Biden's free fall from grace as the presumptive Democratic nominee.  Okay, let's call it a toss up. Either way, the September 10th debate on ABC was a critical campaign point as...

This week on Now and Next: Lindsay Broadhead, Bob Reid, Anne Marie Aikins and Brad Ross are around the table. These wizards of words are comms pros who've spent a good deal of their careers in and around Toronto City Hall. So who better to assess Olivia Chow's first year in the Mayor's Chair in Toronto? The consensus is: "Mayor Chow gets along well with others and is very collaborative in her appr...

This week on Now and Next: It's been a month to the day since Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. Today, with 101 days until election day, there's been a seismic change in the poltical landscape. We're joined by David Shultz, professor of political science and US constitutional law at Hamline University, and John Wright, EVP at Maru Public Opinion. Where does this campa...

This week on Now and Next: (We recorded the show a couple of hours BEFORE President Joe Biden was forced to pause his campaign after testing positive for COVID-19) Our Comms Crew, Bob Reid, Anne Marie Aikins, Brad Ross and Lindsay Broadhead join the show to disect the latest in the US Presidential election. They offer up first reactions to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.  Has it tilte...

In this BONUS episode of Now and Next: I was inspired to post this BONUS edition after listening to the latest episode of The Line , a podcast hosted and produced by Jen Gerson and Matt Gurney. They discuss reporting by the Globe and Mail suggesting staffers in the PMO don't think Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland is managing the Liberal government's messaging all that well. Should the PM fire Freeland?...