The Herle Burly

For Part 1 today, we’re going to dive into the B.C. election story, and John Horgan’s historic, “Orange Wave” 55-seat majority, with Mike McDonald . Mike is a brilliant guy and good friend of mine. He’s the former campaign manager and Chief of Staff to Premier Christy Clark. Currently, he’s Partner and Chief Strategy Officer for Kirk & Co., one of the leading communications and public engageme...

Alright, curious and passionate Herle Burly-ites, time for today’s 2-part pod. It’s a great one, and I’ll tell you why: For Part 1, we’re welcoming back two guests whose first go ‘round with us happens to be the number 2 most downloaded episode in the long, dubious history of The Herle Burly podcast. Keith Boag and Neil Macdonald are here. Both of these stellar CBC alumni spent years working in th...

Today, we have a 2-part pod. Part 1 is Jennifer Welsh. Jennifer’s CV is longer than my COVID-hair. So I’ll abbreviate it just a bit. She hails from Regina! Just like me. Unlike me, she is a Rhodes scholar, earning her Masters and Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford. She is currently the Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security and serves as the Dir...

Part 1 of today's pod is John Stackhouse ... making an almost unprecedented RETURN to The Herle Burly. Besides being only the guest other than Ken Dryden to be a repeat guest on our show, our original interview with John is one of the top 10 most-listened-to episodes in our podcast history! John spent close to a quarter century at the Globe and Mail. As a foreign correspondent, editor of Repo...

It’s a Herle Burly 2-parter today. First up, we’ve got Mike Schreiner on the pod. Mike is the leader of The Green Party of Ontario and became the first Green Party MPP in Ontario history, taking the riding of Guelph in 2018. We’re going to talk about his own initiatives as Leader and the political prospects for the Green Party. We’ll also talk about the Climate Change movement in Canada. And Doug...

It’s a 2-parter on the pod today. First up is author and professor, Alex Marland. Alex is a professor of Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He’s a co-editor of the UBC Press book series “Communication, Strategy and Politics”. And he’s long been investigating, and writing about, what goes on behind the scenes in our political sphere. Today we’re going to talk about his new bo...

On today's 2-parter we’re thrilled to have author, ethnographer, explorer and filmmaker Wade Davis join us. Wade’s bio is rather long and impressive, so I’m going to try to hit the highlights: He holds degrees in anthropology, biology, and received his Ph. D. in ethnobotany ... all from Harvard University. He is the Leadership Chair in “Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk” at UBC. Wade is explore...

After a long Scott-less Summer ... Reid returns! We're thrilled to have him back to his rightful place along Jenni and me for the #PoliticalPanel, and we're thrilled to have our loyal Herle Burly-ites join us for an exciting fall season of politics. Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube . The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting spons...

For the first time since the onset of the COVID lockdown in mid-March we have a 1-Part Podcast on the The Herle Burly today. And that, is our Political Panel! I’m actually on vacation this week. But that WILL NOT stop me from recording this podcast ... because, like a vacation, doing the Poli-Panel with my friends is pretty much like sipping a glorious rum-based umbrella drink for me. Today on the...

For Part 1, we’ve got Kevin Carmichael here on the pod ( and in the ZOOM box ) to chat with us. Kevin is the National Business Columnist at the Financial Post and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. One of Canada’s leading business journalists, he’s going to take us deep into the COVID economy, and the post-COVID economy. For Part 2 of the Pod ... we’ll bring on th...

For Part 1, we’ve got Chris Arnade , author and photographer of the incredible book, “ Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America .” If you don’t know Chris’ story ... it’s as interesting as what he writes about. And, in fact, it’s intertwined with it. [ About book : "With stark photo essays and unforgettable true stories, Chris Arnade cuts through "expert" pontification on inequa...

Part 1 of the pod today, coming to us from Alabama ... is John Anzalone . John is the Principal Pollster for Joe Biden 2020. He is one of America’s top pollsters and messaging strategists, with over 25 years experience ... polling for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ... as well as helping to elect Senators, Governors, dozens of members of Congress and numerous other...

Part 1 is about an issue that couldn’t be more relevant or timely for millions of families: the reopening of our schools. To discuss what it will take to get teachers and students back to school safely in this pandemic, we have special guest Liz Stuart. Liz is President of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, representing 45,000 educators in elementary and secondary schools. She’s ha...

Part 1 is about a true crime story, a tragedy, and a potential scandal all wrapped up in one, with special guest Paul Palango. Mr. Palango is the author of three books on the RCMP and a frequent commentator over the past 27 years on RCMP issues. He's also a former senior editor at The Globe and Mail who now lives in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia. I’ve been a particular fan of Paul’s reporting th...

Our special guest today is Dr. Kate Bezanson . Dr. Bezanson is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at Brock University. An expert and advisor on social policy and political economy ... she says the government MUST appropriately support childcare services if it wants to see a lasting recovery from the pandemic. We'll do a deep-dive on child...

Our special guest today is David Mulroney. David is probably our foremost expert on Canada-China relations. He served as Canada’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 2009 to 2012. Prior to that he headed Canada’s office in Taiwan and served as our Senior Official for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. In 2016 his book about this country’s relationship with China, Middle Power, Middle...

Phil Fontaine joins the podcast for a raw discussion about the sadness, anger, and hope felt by Indigenous and First Nations peoples in this country. Phil is a former 3-term National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Besides being a leading voice for human rights, and a survivor of residential school abuse himself, he negotiated the Residential School Settlement Agreement – $5.6 billion in i...

For the first part of the show today, we welcome Celina Caesar-Chavannes . Ms. Caesar-Chavannes is the former MP for the riding of Whitby, serving as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister for just over a year, and then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development. In March 2019 she announced that she would not seek re-election in the next election, and 18 days later...

For the first part of the show today, we welcome Minister Pablo Rodríguez to the pod. Currently, Minister Rodríguez serves as Canada's Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. And the only other politician who can hope to compete with the Prime Minister on “Quality of COVID hair". We’re going to talk a little about his back story. His history as a politician ... what animates hi...

For the first part of the show today, we welcome Dr. Jennifer Robson to the pod. Jennifer is an Associate Professor of Political Management at Carleton University where she teaches in Public Policy and Research Methods. Her own research addresses social and tax policy, poverty in Canada, and public administration. We’re going to talk about – what else – the COVID economy, and what it’s going to lo...

First part of the show today, we have Andrea Horwath , leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario’s legislature. She has led her party since 2009 through the 2011, 2014, and 2018 provincial elections. Andrea was gracious to join #TheHerleBurly podcast today for a discussion about her journey into politics, her reflection on those past campaigns, and...

First part of the show today, we have Andrew MacDougall , former Director of Communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Today he lives in London, is a Director at Trafalgar Strategy, and writes about politics and current affairs for Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, CBC News and The Telegraph. We’re gonna spend a little time talking about the situation in the U.K. … with Boris and Brexit and C...

Not only is Cathal Kelly the hugely admired sports columnist from The Globe and Mail, he’s also the recipient of the 2019 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his childhood memoir, “ Boy Wonders ”. Today, we're going to talk with Cathal about sport and business in the time of COVID … How the NBA made the pandemic real for most people … What the hell are the games going to look like when they...

You already know he’s the Ottawa Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail. You already know he’s been the breaker of huge political stories, like the Senate Expense Scandal and SNC Lavalin. You already know that, unlike me, his head of hair is immaculate. So we’re going to talk to Bob about political journalism during this pandemic. How has it changed? Or not changed? What’s the balance between critici...

Our special guest today is Pat Armstrong. Pat is a sociologist and distinguished Research Professor at York University, and a leading expert in eldercare. She, along with an international team, just published the report “ Re-imagining Long-term Residential Care in the COVID-19 Crisis .” We’re going to take a deep dive into that issue. How did we get to this horrible place and what has to change fr...