Month: March 2021

Democracy in the Digital Age is a new Canada 2020 series that will challenge Canadians to rethink their approach to defending our democratic institutions.

Watch our kick-off event, featuring the Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Canadian Heritage, Anja Karadeglija, Parliamentary Reporter at the National Post, Laura Tribe, Executive Director of Open Media, Will Perrin, Trustee at Carnegie Trust UK, and Vivek Krishnamurthy, the Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law and Director of Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.

Canada’s political left is facing a series of choices. What kind of movement should it pursue in the face of contemporary challenges at home and around the world? How can left-wing parties win at the local, provincial, and federal orders of government? Should communists, socialists, and social democrats work together — and, if so, when and how? Also, to what extent does the leading social democratic party in Canada, the NDP, serve as a vehicle for successful left politics?

Answering these questions requires us to start by understanding what it even means to be “left-wing.” It requires us to trace the history of Canada’s left, to look around the world, and to embrace the tensions, even contradictions, of contemporary left politics. It also requires us to ask: What is the future of Canada’s left?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Christo Aivalis, historian, writer, left YouTuber, host of the podcast Left Turn, Canada, and author of The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left.

Rockets, rovers and reaching for the stars are undertakings rife with risk – but nothing worth doing is without it.

On this special episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Col. Chris Hadfield and Dr. Farah Alibay to discuss how they engineered their successes in space, and other lessons relatable to our more earthy daily lives.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here.

In early March, Ontario surpassed 7,000 Covid deaths, over 3700 of which occurred in the province’s long-term care facilities. Around the country, suffering and death in care homes is part of an emergency that has long been ignored — an emergency that pre-existed the pandemic.

Precarious work, low pay, inadequate staffing, neglect, abuse, unreasonable waitlist times, poor communication, and the urge to put profit before people condition much of the long-term care sector. Because of that, the most vulnerable among us suffer and die. Things could be different. So, how can we solve our long-term care crisis?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Vivian Stamatopoulos, associate teaching professor at Ontario Tech University and LTC advocate.

Tune in to a conversation from International Women’s Day 2021 featuring Caroline Cochrane, Premier of the Northwest Territories and Canada’s only current sitting female premier, and Kathleen Wynne, former Premier of Ontario, on female leadership and the future of women in politics.

Canada is ranked *last* according to a non-partisan study assessing the legitimacy of whistleblower laws globally. What?

On this episode of @Risk, host Jodi Butts is joined by Dr. John O’Connor, the winner of the inaugural Peter Bryce Prize honouring individuals whose courage in speaking up about wrongdoing has served the public interest, as well as by David Yazbeck, lawyer and Advisory Board Member to the Centre for Freedom of Expression’s Whistleblower Initiative, to discuss why we need whistleblowers and how the Canadian and provincial governments can better protect them.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here.

We have been at…all of this for about a year now. Maybe it feels longer for you. Maybe it feels shorter. Maybe time has lost all meaning. Whatever the case, on this episode of Open to Debate, we are taking a deep breath and mixing things up as we celebrate our 40th episode and process 12 months of pandemic life.

How do we simultaneously celebrate this podcast and process what the last year has meant? Well, mostly we make jokes for about an hour. And talk about trains. How else would we proceed?

So, without further delay: How are you doing?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Brittlestar — Stewart Reynolds — comedian, video-maker extraordinaire, and, according to his website, The Internet’s Favourite Dad* (*unproven).