PolitiCoast

Canada and the USA go to war over steel, maple syrup and toilet paper. Meanwhile details emerge about BC's fall electoral referendum and we check in on the state of the Ontario election with TVO's John Michael McGrath.

The Government of Canada announced it will drop $4.5 billion to buy the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline, will provide a loan to restart construction immediately and will fund the project to completion if it has to before selling it off. It's a big deal so we brought you an emergency podcast.

Rachel Notley uses the Western Premiers Meeting to try again to make the case for the Transmountain Pipeline while BC files suit against her Bill 12. Kinder Morgan also won two more lawsuits while they face another. Then, we turn our attention to the first year of Andrew Scheer's leadership over the Conservative Party of Canada.

The BC NDP are in hot water for deleted emails by senior staff and cabinet ministers. And the federal government looks to indemnify the Kinder Morgan pipeline from BC judicial actions.

Jillian P Stead, of the new podcast Majority of BC, joins us to look back at the year since the fateful 2017 BC election.

The rich are in revolt and some are calling for UBC to censor economist Tom Davidoff. So we brought Tom back to walk us through the school tax and how he's coping. Plus we look at David Eby's decision to cancel a town hall and Mike Harcourt's decision to interject himself into the debate.

The Government has filed its reference question with the BC Court of Appeal and dropped its new cannabis legislation. One question that we're still waiting for is the electoral reform referendum, and it's sounding like we'll have to wait until the fall for it.

The Supreme Court of Canada has returned its ruling in the Comeau beer case, so we invited Micah back on the show to help us break it down. That leads us into the constitutional questions that surround the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline. Finally we get into the latest pipeline politics.

The Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline debate finally exploded. Kinder Morgan announced a pause on all non-essential construction and will cancel the project by May 31st if it doesn't extract guarantees from the federal and provincial governments. Naturally, everyone responded calmly and rationally - just kidding! Then, we take a diversion from pipelines to talk with criminal defence attorney Ky...

Rob Shaw and Richard Zussman are authors of the new bestseller A Matter of Confidence, which tells the stories behind the headlines from the end of the Gordon Campbell era through to the inauguration of John Horgan.

Carole James announces updates to the speculation tax that will see fewer people charged less tax but it will raise the same amount of money. Then we dive into Nanaimo politics with Jesse Woodward to find out why a city councillor was charged with assault and a city manager was charged with uttering threats. Finally, Michael Spratt joins us to break down the federal Liberal's new justice reform bi...

The BC NDP announced a wave of new LNG subsidies to try to do what the Clark Liberals couldn't: Make LNG work in BC. Then BC has a connection to the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data breach. Plus quick takes on polls and new gun laws (and more).

John Horgan's NDP effectively killed Vancouver's chance to be a part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Was it an epic save or an own goal? Then we follow up last week's conversation with a look at the results of the Ontario PC leadership contest. It was a mess and Doug Ford won. And check out Ian's new podcast: Cambie Report, coming soon to cover Vancouver municipal politics

John Michael McGrath of TVO's The Agenda on Politics joins us to break down what the heck has been going on in Ontario politics for the past couple weeks as we careen toward the Ontario PC Leadership race this weekend. Then BC Today's Shannon Waters talks about what it's like covering the BC Legislature and she sticks around to run through our gamut of quick takes.

We heard you liked our last episode on the BC budget so we followed it up with even more budget takes! We start with more followup reactions to the BC Budget before diving into the federal government's Equality + Growth 2018 Budget.

Special Announcement by PolitiCoast

The BC NDP have released their first full budget, so we're dedicated the entire show to it! First, Ian & Scott break down the major highlights and reactions from the opposition. Then they speak with UBC economist Tom Davidoff about the 30 point housing plan and finally with tax economist Lindsay Tedds about the MSP Task Force and the announced phase out of MSP premiums.

A BC politics heavy podcast this week: The BC Liberals have a new leader but how much is he just like the old leaders? Alberta stops importing BC wines after BC puts a moratorium on diluted bitumen shipments, prompting Scott to have an aneurysm. We check in on how these two stories will play in the Kelowna West byelection. In quick takes we look at a slew of BC Government announcements, Trudeau's...

Ian flies solo for this week's short edition. First he talks with Ranil Prasad about the Vancouver Youth Parliament, then some follow up on more political fallout from allegations harassment across Canada. Finally, some quick takes and a look at the #bestofbcpoli

Pod Keep Our Land's Erin Rennie joins us to talk about the spate of political resignations this week following different sexual misconduct allegations. Leaders of the Progressive Conservative parties in Ontario and Nova Scotia stepped down, as did Liberal federal cabinet minister Kent Hehr. But first, we check in on the state of the BC Liberal leadership race as the last debate was held earlier th...

UBC economics prof Kevin Milligan takes our questions on the minimum wage debates. Plus a potpourri of topics from spending in the Vancouver byelection to the latest survey of British Columbians thoughts on Site C and proportional representation to the ongoing War of Plates between Alberta and Saskatchewan. And we close off with our picks from the best of #bcpoli this week.

Mayor Gregor Robertson announces he will not be seeking reelection this year, so this means more municipal coverage in 2018. Meanwhile, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer is probably hoping Senator Lynn Beyak would take an early retirement from the Senate as she continues to cause problems for him, even after being ejected from caucus for posting racist emails on her website. In our quick tak...

Star Wars is known for its giant space battles and galactic storylines. In this holiday special, Ian & Scott are joined by Joe Fulgham to break down the politics and the military strategy & tactics of the Star Wars Universe. From the Galactic Republic and Clone Wars of the prequels to the Empire and Rebellion of the original trilogy to the New Republic, First Order and Resistance of The Fo...

PolitiCoast celebrates the end of 2017 with a look back at the year that was and some predictions for 2018. Along with some comments on the recent CMHC/Statistics Canada housing data, Conservatives facing nomination battles and Trudeau's hot water over his last Christmas trip. Special intro music: Deck the Halls by The HoHoHos! CC-BY-NC-ND http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_HoHoHos/En_attendant...

A mega episode for a megaproject! First we talk about the approval of the Site C dam with Dan Woynillowicz, the policy director for Clean Energy Canada. Then we're joined by PolitiCoast legal commentator Micah to talk about the Comeau "free the beer" case at the Supreme Court of Canada. Plus our usual roundup of quick takes.