Category: News

For decades, we’ve heard about the rise of China. A major historical and contemporary power, the country shapes domestic and global politics — as Canada knows quite well. And yet, coverage of China, its affairs, and its international relations is often hyperbolic, skewed, and incomplete. A new book from a veteran reporter on China-Canada relations adds depth, rigour, and new perspectives to that coverage. So, how should we think about China’s place in the world?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Joanna Chiu, senior reporter with the Toronto Star and author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder.

On this episode of the @ Risk podcast, host Jodi Butts is joined by George Smitherman, CEO and President of the Cannabis Council of Canada, former Deputy Premier of Ontario, and first openly gay member of the Ontario Legislature, to discuss cannabis, stigma and his personal experiences on the front lines of social change.

Back in 2017, lots of Canadians were busy celebrating the150th anniversary of confederation. But to many, Canada 150 was rife with problems: Why was Ottawa spending half a billion dollars on a birthday party? Weren’t there better uses for the money, and the spotlight? And doesn’t celebrating confederation mean celebrating the systemic marginalization of the Indigenous peoples of this land? Instead of joining in the festivities, scholars Crystal Fraser and Sara Komarnisky took action.

On this episode of Everyday Reconciliation, host Elin Miller speaks to them about their project: the 150 Acts of Reconciliation.

Managing the pandemic has required a delicate balance of expert guidance and government decision making. While experts provide knowledge essential for deciding what we should do and how we should do it, politicians are ultimately accountable to the public for the policies, laws, and programs they adopt. So, what is the role of experts during a pandemic?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with David Fisman, professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

How to build a more equitable, inclusive and accessible world?

On this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Sara Rotenberg, who self-identifies as a disabled advocate and is a DPhil student in the Nuffield Department of Primacy Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, where she studies as a Rhodes Scholar, to discuss her research, insights and lived experience.

To read the full transcript of this episode click here.

Surveying the state of market competition in Canada, you might be forgiven for thinking the country is a handful of companies in a trench coat. One of the central critiques of capitalism is that it tends towards monopoly — or at least oligopoly. Canada is a telling case study that supports the hypothesis. Market monopoly and oligopoly makes for a raw deal for consumers, leading us to ask: What is to be done about Canada’s competition problem?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Vass Bednar, Executive Director of the Master of Public Policy Program at McMaster University, Public Policy Forum Fellow, and the writer of Regs to Riches.

It’s only paranoia if the world really isn’t going to hell in a handbasket. On this episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Andrew Potter, associate professor at the Max Bell School of Public Policy and former journalist and editor in chief of the Ottawa Citizen, to discuss his new book, On Decline.

Almost six years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presented its 94 Calls to Action, only 13 have been completed.

In this first episode of Everyday Reconciliation, host Elin Miller speaks to TRC commissioner Marie Wilson and former Premier of the Northwest Territories Stephen Kakfwi about what individual Canadians can do to help implement the Calls. Content warning: This conversation mentions sexual abuse and may be upsetting for some listeners.

Canada’s 44th general election is underway. On September 20th, electors will return the members of Parliament who will decide who governs the country. When casting a ballot, however, voters typically think of political parties and their leaders. So, we ask: What are the policy priorities of Canada’s political parties?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with candidates from three of the country’s major political parties: Angella MacEwen of the New Democratic Party, Annamie Paul, leader of the Green Party, and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith of the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party was invited to participate but declined.

The interviews for this episode were recorded at different times and on different dates, beginning with the NDP, followed by the Green Party, and, finally, the Liberal Party. Changes during the writ period after recording will not be reflected in the interviews.