Uncommons with Nate Erskine-Smith

Public health measures remain critical, but mass vaccination is how we end this crisis. On this episode, Nate is joined by Minister Anita Anand to discuss Canada's vaccine procurement efforts, where we are today, and what we can expect going forward.  Anand and her team have worked around the clock for over a year now, towards procuring PPE, rapid tests, and most recently vaccines . After fru...

Experts are warning that Canada's housing market is overheated and unsustainable. On this episode, Nate is joined by John Pasalis and Mike Moffatt to discuss what's driven the surge in prices and what the federal government should do in response. John Pasalis is a specialist in real estate data analysis and president of Realosophy Realty , a Toronto real estate brokerage. Mike Moffatt is...

Baroness Beeban Kidron joins Nate to discuss children's rights in our digital world, and why we need new rules to protect them. Kidron has been a member of the British House of Lords since 2012. Previously an award-winning filmmaker, her last documentary film InRealLife ultimately led her to become an advocate for children's rights online, which she continues both as a parliamentarian an...

Our federal government has committed to end chronic homelessness, and Nate is joined by Adam Vaughan and Anne Babcock to discuss how we can best deliver on that commitment.  Adam is the Liberal MP for Spadina-Fort York, and a former Toronto city councillor. His political career at both levels has been motivated by a passionate concern for housing policy, and he’s the parliamentary secretary with c...

Dr. Paul Farmer joins Nate to talk about global health equity, both with reference to past health crises, and today's. In his recent book, Fevers Feuds & Diamonds , Dr. Farmer writes about his first-hand experience responding to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, and what we can learn from it.  Dr. Farmer is professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harva...

Kevin Page joins Nate to discuss fiscal responsibility, stimulus and recovery spending, and fiscal anchors or what the Fall Economic Statement described as “fiscal guardrails.” Kevin is currently president and CEO of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, but no doubt better known as Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer , from 2008 to 2013. For his work i...

Armine Yalnizyan joins Nate to discuss the need for a stronger federal role in creating a cross-Canada quality early learning and child care system.     Armine is a labour economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Work. She recently served as senior economic policy advisor to the deputy minister of employment and social development Canada, has worked with the Canadian Centre of Policy Alterna...

In the last parliament, our government passed C-83 to address solitary confinement with new and supposedly improved “structured intervention units”, but a recent report found that 10% of inmates in these units continue to actually be in what we know to be solitary confinement and worse, for long enough to meet the UN’s definition of torture.  That report was authored by two professors and criminol...

Dr. Tara Moriarty is an infectious disease research scientist, director of the Moriarty research lab, and professor at the University of Toronto . She joins Nate on this episode to answer common questions about vaccine safety. Dr. Moriarty also hosts  a regular Zoom Q&A that anyone can join to answer any questions related to vaccines and vaccine safety.  You can sign up for those sessions here...

Arun Advani is professor of economics and a commissioner of the UK’s Wealth Tax Commission , and he joins Nate on this episode to discuss the Commission’s call for a one-off wealth tax , and what he thinks of the wealth tax motion Nate has proposed in Parliament. The Commission found that a one-off wealth tax could generate significant revenue, but also that it “would be economically efficient. Si...

Jann Arden is a Canadian music icon and a fierce defender of animal rights.  Jann joins Nate to discuss the cruelty involved in the live export of horses for slaughter and her work to end that cruelty through the HORSESHIT campaign and with the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition . Find out more and support the campaign at horseshit.ca   This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this wit...

This February marks the 25th anniversary of Black History Month, since then Liberal MP Jean Augustine led a motion to have it recognized.  Writing in the Toronto Star recently, Minister Ahmed Hussen reflected on What Black History Month means in 2021. He joins Nate to discuss why he’s looking at that history through the lens of deeply troubling events, what action the government has taken  to date...

The charities that serve those in need also need our help right now . Revenue has declined, demand for services has only increased, and a critical component of our social safety net is coming undone when we need it most. On this episode, Nate is joined by Maya Roy , Jocelyn Formsma , and Owen Charters to discuss how the federal government can and should step in to support charities. Maya Roy is th...

Sarah Perret is a tax economist and deputy head of unit at the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. Her role involves assessing countries' tax systems and advising them on tax reform. She is also the author of a number of studies on taxation, inequality and inclusive growth, including The Role and Design of Net Wealth Taxes in the OECD , and she recently provided advice to th...

Former Supreme Court Justice Michel Bastarache joins Nate to discuss the devastating effects of sexual harassment on women in the RCMP, and his scathing report " Broken Dreams Broken Lives ." The report and claims process formed part of the historic Merlo-Davidson settlement , in the wake of two class action suits alleging that female members of the RCMP had been victims of workplace dis...

With renewed optimism that the United States will now be a stronger partner than ever before in meeting the challenge of climate change, Saikat Chakrabarti joins Nate to discuss what comes next for the Green New Deal and more progressive politics in America. Saikat is former campaign manager and chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, co-founder of Justice Democrats , and currentl...

Dr. Samir Sinha joins Nate to talk about how we've failed to protect our seniors, and the changes we need to make going forward, including targeted vaccine roll-out to seniors at risk, national standards for long-term care, and action to help seniors stay in their homes. Dr. Sinha is a geriatrician, co-chair and policy director of the National Institute on Ageing , and the director of geriatr...

Dr. David Naylor is a physician, medical researcher, and former president of U of T.  He's also uniquely placed to discuss pandemic response, as the co-chair of the federal COVID-19 Immunity Task Force , and as past chair of the National Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health in 2003.  On this episode, Dr. Naylor and Nate discuss vaccine roll-out, pandemic response, and lessons learned....

Dr. Joeri Rogelj is an expert in climate science. He is currently Director of Research at Imperial College London , he's been a long-time lead author of the UN Emissions Gap annual reports, and he's also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including its 1.5 degree report and its upcoming 6th assessment report.  Dr. Rogelj joins Nate to discuss the need for gr...

In this episode, Nate is joined by professor Miles Corak to discuss how to strengthen our social safety net and, more specifically, what an EI system for the 21st century should look like. Miles is currently an economics professor at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York , and senior scholar at the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality . In 2017, he wa...

Brett House is vice-president and deputy chief economist at ScotiaBank . Among a long list of past roles, he's served as principal advisor in the office of the UN Secretary-General and as an economist at the International Monetary Fund . In this episode Nate and Brett discuss Canada's fiscal response to the pandemic , whether the significant size of new deficit spending is affordable and...

Now chair of the World Refugee Council, Lloyd Axworthy held a number of cabinet roles over the course of a 27 year parliamentary career. As Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, he led efforts towards a global landmines ban  (which earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize), and he's one of 56 notable signatories on an open letter calling on Canada and countries around the world...

Eric Duncan represents the rural Ontario riding of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, he was first elected to the House in October 2019, he’s only in his early 30s but has already somehow served over a decade in municipal office, and he’s also our country’s first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament. On this episode, Eric and Nate discuss Conservative support for the Liberal government'...

Justin Ling is a journalist, author , and one of the most prolific users of Canada's access to information system. He has also been critical of how broken the system now is . In this episode, Justin explains why access to information matters for accountability and transparency, what makes the system so broken, and how the government has failed to fulfill its promises of reform. This is a publ...

Chelsea Rochman is a marine ecologist whose research focuses on plastic pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems. She is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a scientific advisor to the Ocean Conservancy. In this episode Nate and Chelsea discuss Canada's zero waste strategy , the federal government's recent pro...