The Breach Show

The Breach just launched a new book, A New Democratic Party: The Comeback of the Left.  At the Toronto launch, Desmond Cole spoke to three contributors, former MP Matthew Green, feminist activist Judy Rebick, and editor Martin Lukacs, who discuss and debate the future of the party. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the...

The labour movement is sounding the alarm on the Liberal government's plans to strip federally-regulated workers of their most important power—the right to strike. Unifor researcher Graham Cox joins Desmond Cole to discuss how the Carney government is using Trump’s attacks on Canada to tilt the playing field further for the corporate elite. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analys...

Canada’s police are becoming deadlier and less accountable, but are still getting more and more money. El Jones and Desmond Cole explore why police violence, surveillance and budgets keep expanding, while basic services and supports are getting starved. We need 500 new regular supporters to join us and help build journalism for transformation. Can you help us reach our target? Support people-power...

Far-right Alberta separatist activists hit a hitch last week, when the courts ruled their referendum petition was unconstitutional because they failed to consult First Nations. As Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pushes on with her own referendum anyway, Indigenous scholar Matt Wildcat speaks to Desmond Cole about why First Nations oppose separation.

Canada has won its bid to host a new NATO-aligned bank that will fuel a weapons-building frenzy. Organizer Rachel Small explains how the bank fits into Mark Carney’s militarization agenda and would further tie Canada’s economy to war profiteering. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartra...

B.C. Premier David Eby is trying to roll back legislation enshrining Indigenous rights—and he isn’t the only one.  Lawyer Pam Palmater joins Desmond Cole to discuss the corporate resource rush and right wing backlash behind the surging attack on Indigenous peoples. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple...

Avi Lewis has won the leadership of Canada's NDP. Desmond Cole was live at the party’s convention, talking about what this left turn means for the NDP's future with Naomi Klein, Matthew Green, Leah Gazan, and more. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple , Spotify, Iheartradio , Youtube Music or y...

Veteran activist and author Judy Rebick has spent nearly half a century trying to transform the NDP into a left wing party tied to social movements. Rebick sits down with managing editor Martin Lukacs to discuss that history, and why she’s now betting on Avi Lewis’s campaign for NDP leader. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscrib...

The NDP got gutted last election—but Winnipeg MP Leah Gazan says its crisis could catalyze a resurgence. She joins Desmond Cole to discuss how reclaiming the NDP’s radical roots can revive the party. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service. __...

In his first year in office, Mark Carney has unleashed a tsunami of pro-corporate policies and legislation justified by Trump’s attacks against Canada. At a panel hosted at the Broadbent Institute’s Progress Summit, Martin Lukacs sat down with organizers Syed Hussan, Atiya Jaffar, Janelle Lapointe, Nathan Prier, and Rachel Small to discuss how movements are reckoning with the Liberal agenda. The B...

As Mark Carney courts new economic partners, he’s cozying up to Narendra Modi’s far-right Indian government. Saima Desai joins Desmond Cole to discuss the costs of Canada’s growing alliance with India. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple , Spotify, Iheartradio , Youtube Music or your favourite service...

Following the deadliest crackdown on protestors in Iran's modern history, hundreds of thousands marched in Toronto last weekend, with protest organizers calling for U.S. military intervention—something the Canadian government has refused to rule out supporting. Iranian-Canadians Donya Ziaee and Samira Mohyeddin break down the history of struggle against authoritarianism in Iran and how what Ir...

This episode deals with the issue of suicide, and as such it might be triggering or upsetting. If you or someone you know needs support, there are people trained to listen and to offer the support you may need. We’ve included some support links in the notes for this episode. As governments cut public services and offer only meagre support for those living with disabilities, assisted death risks be...

With ICE agents in the U.S. waging a campaign of terror, author and activist Harsha Walia puts the anti-migrant state violence in the context of a global rise in xenophobia. She lays out what Canadians can do in the short and long term to pressure their government into a more humane immigration policy. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Cana...

Mark Carney’s speech calling out Trump and the collapse of the so-called “rules-based order” generated a torrent of praise around the world. Martin Lukacs talks with Katia Lo Innes to break down Carney’s seemingly radical rhetoric—and how it hardly matches his conservative pro-corporate policy agenda at home. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements...

Matthew Green is no longer an NDP MP, but he hasn’t stopped trying to transform the party. He talks to Desmond Cole about a campaign to renew the NDP—and what it will take to pry control from consultants, and put it in the hands of the grassroots. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple , Spotify, Iheartr...

2025 started with Justin Trudeau in power and ended with a more mask-off variant of Liberalism. In between there were Trump’s tariff wars, genocide, and some small hard-won victories for the left. El Jones joins Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs to take a look in the rearview mirror and reflect on one year in Canadian politics and social movements. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analy...

Mark Carney’s deal with Alberta’s Danielle Smith is the climate sell-out of the century. Author and analyst Seth Klein joins Desmond Cole to break down everything it contains—from pipelines, to AI data centres, to dirty electricity, to a rollback of almost every Trudeau-era climate policy. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe...

For two years, a Sudanese paramilitary force has been massacring civilians—with Canadian-made weapons. Professor Nisrin Elamin and activist Ismail Adam join Desmond Cole to discuss Canada’s long-term complicity in destabilizing Sudan, and recent efforts to close the loophole that allows for Canadian weapons to be brought into Sudan via the UAE.  Read their article co-authored with Robyn Maynard: h...

Despite promising a “generational” and “transformational” budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney is doubling down on resource extraction, militarism, and corporate handouts—appeasing Donald Trump and Canada’s corporate class, but doing little for working people. Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole break down the Liberal government’s Stephen Harper-esque spending cuts to the public service and their failure...

Doug Ford and Mark Carney are making big moves on housing — but tenant groups and housing experts are raising an alarm. Economist Ricardo Tranjan joins Desmond Cole to discuss how the emerging policy heavily favours corporate landlords. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Google...

The NDP leadership race could turn the party into a vehicle for bold left politics—or cement its decline. Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole analyze the various campaigns and some of the emerging themes, from “purity tests,” proclamations of class war, and candidates who are flouting race rules. 

Mark Carney is out to dismantle Canada Post. What interests does that stand to benefit? And what could a revitalized public postal service look like? Dru Oja Jay, a long-time collaborator of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, joins Martin Lukacs to discuss how the post office could be a “genuinely positive nation building project.” Read the article: https://breachmedia.ca/canada-post-faces-two-...

With the Liberal government passing harsher immigration policies and anti-immigration rhetoric on the rise, what does this mean for migrant workers?  Deena Ladd from the Workers’ Action Centre joins Desmond Cole to discuss how to build solid solidarity between all workers, regardless of status. _________________________________________________________________________ Want to hear more podcasts lik...

After a historic loss in this year’s federal election, the NDP faces a pivotal leadership race—and a crossroads in its identity. Historian Ian McKay joins Martin Lukacs to discuss the party’s challenge in confronting Canadian liberalism and its own centrist slide, and what it could do to seize its transformative potential. _________________________________________________________________________ W...