CANADALAND

Inside the scoop that launched the Alberta data breach into the headlines.How independent media broke the story of the Alberta separatists' access to voter information.Plus, Danielle Smith visits Carney and makes progress on the Alberta MOU. Can Smith  leverage separatism to get a pipeline?It’s our biggest sale of the year! Save 80% on a Canadaland subscription and become a supporter for only $2/month. You’ll get all of our podcasts ad-free, free access to our live events, and much, much more. What are you waiti...

NDP Leader Avi Lewis has a massive task ahead of him. When host Noor Azrieh last spoke with him before the leadership election, he said he had a plan. Well, how’s that working out for him? Host: Noor AzriehCredits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)Guests: NDP Leader Avi LewisBackground reading:Are you paying more than your neighbour? It could be...

The Kamloops Indian Residential School made headlines five years ago this month. What followed was tears across the country, marches, statues torn down, and the Prime Minister bending a knee while holding a teddy bear. Then came the counter narrative fuelled by books with titles like Grave Error and Dead Wrong.Today we talk to Dr. Kisha Supernant, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, who has been working in the field at potential grave sites across the country. What has she found? What is the tone of the debate five years on from Kamloops...

The new GM for the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the press and it did not go well. With scathing questions and confounded columnists, Toronto reaffirmed its reputation as a tough media market. What is it about sports that creates unique regional media markets with their own tone and style of coverage? Dan Robson of The Athletic joins Sam Konnert to talk sh*t about sports reporting. It’s our biggest sale of the year! Save 80% on a Canadaland subscription and become a supporter for only $2/month. You’ll get all of our...

As journalists, we are pretty online. Terminally online. Our screen time apps? Let’s not go there…Now our social media feeds are likely different from many of yours. So we wanted to ask all of you, who probably lead less online lives, what you love, hate, and how you balance your online from your IRL. And you all had so much interesting stuff to share.Host: Sam KonnertCredits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Tony Wang (Executive Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Publisher)Photo: Tony...

CBC is expanding its regional news coverage and not everyone is happy about it. Some local news outlets say that the CBC is poaching their staff and stories. Plus, Carney’s government is planning a massive extension of journalism tax credits to include radio and broadcast, propping up legacy platforms owned by the big telcos. Are subsidies stifling competition and innovation?Host: Sam KonnertCredits: James Nicholson (Producer), Kallan Lyons (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)<p...

PM Mark Carney has managed to stitch together a majority in the House of Commons and has approval numbers we haven't seen in forever. Host Noor Azrieh thinks this is the kind of political moment that demands opposition. But, how exactly is the Opposition supposed to oppose Carney… when they can’t even get their own house in order? We put this to Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner. Host: Noor AzriehCredits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Au...

Objection.ai is the new AI-powered tool from Aron D’Souza and Peter Thiel. The duo who helped bankrupt Gawker ten years ago. They're also teaming up to bring the world the steroid-embracing Enhanced Games later this month. D’Souza says Objection.ai is about restoring public trust in journalism and making it more transparent. Critics worry about its ideological bent and what it means to subject journalists, and their sources, to an AI "judge".Aron D’Souza joins Jesse to talk about the tech, what it means to "object" to a reporter’s work, and if there...

Buyers. Sellers. Real estate porn. With so many Canadians locked out of the market, should the coverage shift to reflect the realities of the housing crisis? Sabrina Nanji joins San Grewal to talk about the generational disconnect between homeowners and those who will never own a home. Does Canada have the political will to actually address the housing crisis? Host: San GrewalCredits: James Nicholson (Producer), Kallan Lyons (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor)Guest: Sabrina Nanji...

All month, we’ve been asking you to share Canadaland with as many people as possible. Our goal was to double our audience.Did we pull it off?Let’s put it this way: Our investigations budget will be increasing substantially and our freelance and fellowship rates are going up by a whopping 50%.More money is going to go into the pockets of working journalists outside of Canadaland and across the country.Thank you.Also, we’ve got tons of live events and other exciti...

Doug Ford is facing public scrutiny for his changes to Freedom of Information and his “gravy plane” fiasco. But throughout his career, Ford has leveraged his folksy persona to deflect and distract from his scandals. Behind the shtick is a calculated and effective political communications strategy, but has the “Uncle Doug” routine finally run out of steam?   Off The Record Call-in Details: What social media do you love or hate?Call in and let us know on Thursday April 30,from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM EDT.Head to callinstudio.com/show/canadal...

Is Alberta separatism being boosted by foreign “slop”? Today host Sam digs into a network of faceless YouTube channels pushing 51st state fantasies, grievance-fueled separatist content, and AI-generated political sludge that’s racked up tens of millions of views. But is this covert foreign interference, or just click-farming wrapped in geopolitics?Host: Sam KonnertCredits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)Guests: Chris Ross, Jen GersonBackg...

A random Facebook post. A strip club that burnt down long ago. A mother missing for 30 years.It wasn’t much. But it was enough for reporter Kallan Lyons to start digging into The Fantasia Cold Case.Host: Jesse BrownCredits: Kallan Lyons (Reporter), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editing & Post Production), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)Fact checking by Julian AbrahamAdditional music by Audio Network More information:Wen...

Grocery prices are back in the news… again. How are they ripping us off this time?It turns out the whole system looks a lot like three kids in a trench coat, except each kid is a different layer of the supply chain, and they’re all insisting their margins are razor-thin while your grocery bill gets higher and higher.So are tax rebates or public grocery stores the solution, or just bandages on a much deeper problem?None of this is new, but you know what is new? Surveillance pric...

Mark Carney is a YouTuber now.Over the weekend the Prime Minister released the first episode of his new YouTube series Forward Guidance. It’s a tightly scripted, “intimate” video designed to project calm authority while walking Canadians through an increasingly shaky relationship with the United States. It’s part history lesson, part recycled campaign slogans, and highly reminiscent of FDR’s fire side chats. What’s the goal here? Carney frames Canada’s economic relationship with the U.S. as a growing liability and seems to be preparing Canadians for tough times ahead. But is h...

A few years ago, British Columbia made history by becoming the first province to turn the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into law through the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). It passed unanimously, with just 14 minutes of debate.Seven years later, DRIPA is at the center of one of the most divisive political fights in the country. Host: Noor AzriehCredits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Pr...

Today we're talking about the breakdown of discourse — the culture wars.It's not just in universities, it affects our interactions with everything from the government to schools, workplaces, and more. After over ten years of it, it seems more pointless and degrading than ever.  Ric Bienstock is a director of the new two-part CBC documentary series, Speechless. It explores a variety of student protest movements from Evergreen College in 2017 to today's protests against what's happening in Gaza.Her film poses some key questions. How did we get here? What is brin...

With his new majority, the timer really starts on Carney’s ability to provide meaningful results for Canadians. San Grewal and Kaveh Shahrooz consider if Carney has made headway on key issues like affordability, housing, immigration, and crime. He said he’d move fast, but what’s the hold up? It’s crowd-finding time at Canadaland! Share this episode with three people or send them over to canadaland.com/share and we’ll help them get started with a starter pack of some of our favourite episodes. Host: San GrewalCredits...

With peace talks stalled, Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the ceasefire set to expire next week, the situation in Iran is precarious.Meanwhile, in Canada, the mood in the large Iranian-Canadian diaspora is changing, as the Iranian regime remains in place while the impacts of the war on civilians and infrastructure accumulate. With the geopolitics of the Middle East in flux, could Canada play a larger role in the region going forward? Carney has already signalled renewed economic ties with Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, but should Canada pursue mor...

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals took over Montreal for their convention. But it felt less like a meeting of the minds and more like a lame Coachella. With a Liberal majority already assumed after socially conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crossed the floor last week, host Noor Azrieh was there trying to figure out what it means to be a Liberal right now, and if Mark Carney can manage a fragile mix of MPs with contradictory values.Host: Noor AzriehCredits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor A...