Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Briefing Note Podcast

In todays episode of The Briefing Note, I chat with federal NDP candidate Trisha Estabrooks, the former CBC journalist and chair of the Edmonton Public School Board about her bid to be the next MP for Edmonton Centre.

In this election episode of The Briefing Note I'm chatting with Rachel Loewen Walker who is running for the NDP in the riding of Saskatoon West. Rachel and I talk about running in a contested nomination (spoiler - she's been running for over a year) and what she's hearing from voters. The second half of the podcast focuses on the invisibility of women and focus on women in the overall Canadian election campaign and kind of wraps up with me asking the very significant question of if each political leader was a food, which food would they be.

To read the written version of this podcast, head on over to MadamePremier.ca and check out the The Briefing Note Blog.

The Briefing Note's first crossover podcast! My podcast co-host Jeromy Faraks, from our pod Off The Rails, and I started recording late last year and today he's launching his campaign to become the next mayor of Calgary this coming fall. Learn about why he's running, my attempt to get him to answer a yes or no question on photo radar and more in this episode.

Bonnie Crombie joined The Briefing Note live from a very bumpy campaign bus as she spends the last two days of the campaign trying to sway voters away from Doug Ford and Marit Stiles to make her the next premier of Ontario. You can hear her pitch to voters who might still be on the fence about who to support and more now in the newest episode of The Briefing Note with Madame Premier's Sarah Elder. 

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond.

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond.

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond.

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond.

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note with Sarah Elder from Madame Premier on politics, culture in Canada and beyond. 

Thanks for listening! I'd be so appreciative if you could leave a rating and review here or wherever you get your podcasts. And join the community and conversation on Madame Premier's Instagram.

The Briefing Note is the new name of what used to be known as Ellected. 

What to expect? Lots more shorter podcasts on politics and culture and the intersection of politics on culture and vice versa. But don't worry, the longer conversations that you know and love aren't going anywhere. They are going to be interspersed with the shorter podcasts.

You can now find The Briefing Note in the same places as before under its new name and on Instagram, Facebook and X as @TheBriefingNotePodcast.

We've heard so much about Tim and Gwen Walz but do the stories match the reality? Incredibly, they are even more amazing than what we hear. Amanda Hinkle was taught by both Tim Walz and Gwen Walz at Mankato West High School in Minnesota and shares what it was like being in the classroom with each of them in the newest episode of Ellected.

In a very special episode, Ellected's host Sarah Elder sits down with Her Excellency Mary Simon, Canada's Governor General, on the 95th anniversary of Persons Day in Canada.

On October 18, 1929, Canada's highest court of appeal recognized women as 'persons' and granted them the right to be appointed to the Senate. The Governor General and Sarah discuss the day, the awards presented today in honour of Persons Day, what the day means to the Governor General, a discussion about where and what Canadian women must still accomplish as well as a frank conversation about the online abuse Her Excellency has received and how both she and Sarah deal with it. The episode ends with some advice from the Governor General for any woman considering public service.

To learn more about Governor General Mary Simon, please click here.

Her 19 year old sister Karina was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th and Sasha and her family are desperate for her safe return along with every other hostage taken that day.

This episode isn’t about the explicit politics of Hamas and Israel. It’s about Karina texting her sister the morning of October 7th asking her sister to look after her parents because she knew she might die.

Hear from Sasha on what individual Canadians can do to ask our government to help get Karina released safely so she can be with her family once again after almost 10 months in captivity.

In episode 77 Sarah chats with Jenna Sudds, Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and MP for Kanata—Carleton. Hear Minister Sudds on dental care nationally, how it’s not rolling out in Alberta, her take on not winning the by-election in Toronto-St.Pauls, the dilemmas all parents face of teenagers on social media and misinformation from a mom herself who also sits at the cabinet table and more.

More about Jenna Sudds:

The Honourable Jenna Sudds was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Kanata—Carleton in 2021. She has previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth.

Minister Sudds has worked as an economist, a municipal councillor, and a community advocate.

From 2018 to 2021, Minister Sudds served on the Ottawa City Council. During this time, she chaired the City’s Community and Protective Services Committee and held the role of Deputy Mayor starting in 2020. She also sat on the boards of Hydro Ottawa and Invest Ottawa. As city councillor, she worked to protect green spaces, improve local infrastructure and transit, and support the community’s economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before entering politics, Minister Sudds was the Executive Director of the CIO Strategy Council, a national technology forum, and the President and Executive Director of the Kanata North Business Association. She also worked as a senior economist for the Government of Canada for over 10 years, focusing her expertise on the taxation of multi-national corporations and tax avoidance.

Minister Sudds has been an active member of her community for many years, volunteering with the Kanata Food Cupboard and Ottawa Network for Education. She has received a Special Recognition Award from the Kanata Food Cupboard for her leadership and service to those in need in the community. She received a 40 under 40 Award from the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce in 2015, and was named one of Development Counsellors International’s Top 40 under 40 working in economic development in 2017.

Minister Sudds holds a Bachelor in Economics from Brock University and a Master of Arts in Economics from Carleton University. She is a long-time resident of Ottawa, where she lives with her husband and their three daughters.

This week I’m chatting with Wraychel Gilmore, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and advocate for children and youth about her research in engaging youth in political consultation. We chat about how youth come to be consulted, a real-world example with Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae and the level of global interest in Wraychel’s work.

Learn more about Wraychel Gilmore:

Wraychel Gilmore has twenty-five years of experience in community development and strategic change. Her career spans across executive, non-profit, government, and consulting roles. Wraychel's ability to employ critical thinking and analytic skills, specifically in identifying legislative barriers and solutions in the political and systemic spheres, has been instrumental in enabling her clients and organizations to generate the social impact they aim for. 
 
Throughout her impressive career, Wraychel has worked alongside colleagues across the globe, from Jamaica to Austria, advocating politically and building strengths in community programming. Her notable contributions include piloting programs for both the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities in Ontario. Wraychel has also served in a sworn oversight capacity for the independent Office of the Child and Youth Advocate for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island. 

Wraychel's impact resonates profoundly in the realm of community development. She has overseen services and high-risk management for over 6000 youth in grass-roots programming and founded a private Montessori pre-K through secondary school. Within the public education system, Wraychel pioneered the first paid co-op program outside of the Armed Services in Canada. CBC’s Peter Mansbridge has recognized her innovative youth political engagement strategies, featuring them on his podcast, The Bridge. 

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Wraychel is currently finishing her PhD dissertation with the University of Toronto in Adult Education and Community Development. Her original research on youth political consultations is being featured in 2024 at international conferences in Miami, Sweden, Greece, and in the USA at Cornell University. She holds a Master of Arts in Religion and Culture, and multiple post-secondary certifications in social work, board governance and organizational capacity building, having trained 60+ boards. Her academic pursuits underline her commitment to continuous learning and professional development, making her an invaluable social justice advocate, strategic planner and community builder.

Did you know that approximately half of all infertility is male infertility? I had no idea until this conversation with Ovry co-founder Jackie Rhind of Revelstoke, British Columbia.

Rhind is disrupting the sedate baby-on-the-box pregnancy test market in drug and grocery stores across Canada with the most sustainable pregnancy tests on the market not just for women who want to get a positive result but also for women who want a negative result.

Rhind is frank, passionate and committed to her vision and you will likely be just as enthralled with her as me.

More about Jackie Rhind:

Jackie Rhind is an ambitious entrepreneur looking to redefine reproductive health products in Canada. In 2020, Rhind launched Ovry with hopes of offering Canadians a better alternative to traditional pregnancy tests. Ovry is a brand of pregnancy and ovulation test strips that are just as accurate as leading brands, are tiny, discreet, much more affordable and use 90% less single-use plastic. In addition to winning Small Business BC’s Best Youth Entrepreneur award in 2023, Jackie was also recently featured on CBC’s popular TV show Dragons’ Den. Jackie is passionate about building a business that simplifies the lived experience of women and people with ovaries.

Watch Ovry on Dragons Den.

Edmonton City Councillor Andrew Knack and Ellected’s Sarah Elder chat about the very controversial Bill 20 which among many things introduces political parties into municipal politics, removes electronic voting in favour of paper, gives cabinet the power to remove councillors and overturn bylaws, changes what you need to vote and more. It’s a lot and it’s been done with no consultation and is being introduced by a minister who by his own admission, knows that an overwhelming majority of Albertans don’t want these changes.

In episode 70 of Ellected Sarah sits down for an in-person chat with Alberta MLA Rhiannon Hoyle for a frank conversation about her entry into politics, making the decision to jump into provincial politics, how women need to be prepared for political life to succeed and much more. Listen until the end for a very moving story about Rhiannon's encounter with a group of school kids as she walked in the legislature for the first time as an MLA.

More about Rhiannon Hoyle:

Rhiannon Hoyle is a dedicated community advocate and entrepreneur, spending the last 20 years working with nonprofits, community leagues, and in leadership roles for the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues enhancing recreational facilities for the neighbourhoods.

Before being elected as the MLA for Edmonton-South, Rhiannon spent her time partnering with local businesses and residents to understand what they need from their representative.

Rhiannon is dedicated to continue listening to her community to serve them as their MLA, and Official Opposition Critic for Advanced Education.

Rhiannon sat as a publicly elected U of A Senator, and focused on making sure schools from kindergarten to post-secondary have better resources to provide the best education possible to our young people.

Rhiannon lives with her family in one of the fastest-growing communities in Edmonton.

It's live episode #5 with each of the candidates running to be the next leader of the Alberta NDP and this week MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse joined Sarah Elder in-store at Madame Premier to talk about her campaign.

Jodi shares why her campaign is focused on water and climate change and contextualizes it in how it relates to Alberta's economy. Hear her thoughts on what the rural strategy should be for the party going into the next election, oil and gas and renewables, attracting investment to Alberta and how she thinks Danielle Smith and the UCP can be beaten in 2027.

More about Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse:
Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Edmonton-Rutherford and a proud member of Michel First Nation – Treaty 6, seeks to lead the Alberta NDP and become the next Premier, emphasizing unity in facing challenges like climate change and economic security.

Her leadership approach is grounded in hard work, collaboration, and community connection, demonstrating a commitment to listen and provide decisive leadership. Jodi’s journey involves learning from elders, earning an undergraduate degree in Native Studies, and pursuing a Master’s Degree with a focus on water security.

To find out more about Jodi's campaign, click here.

The latest and most in-demand podcast yet in Ellected's series of sitting down with all of the candidates in the leadership race to replace Rachel Notley as leader of Alberta's NDP, this conversation with Naheed Nenshi goes in a lot of directions.

From joining the race, his "outsider" status, why he isn't making policy announcements, having a seat in the legislature if he wins and so much, much more.

More about Naheed Nenshi:

Naheed served as Calgary’s mayor for three terms between 2010 and 2021. During his time as mayor, Calgary was named the third best city to live in globally.

Naheed was recognized as “the best mayor in the world” in 2014 by The City Mayors Foundation. He also received the President’s Award from the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Psychological Association for his contribution to community mental health.

Prior to his election, Naheed served as Canada’s first tenured professor of nonprofit management at the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University. He was also a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. Headquartered in Alberta, Naheed ran his own firm: Ascend Group. His clients included the United Nations and he advised on how corporations can help the world’s poorest people.

Naheed is a graduate of the University of Calgary where he served as President of the Students’ Union. He also earned a Master of Public Policy Degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he studied as a Kennedy Fellow.

The third in Ellected's series of live podcasts with the candidates running to replace Rachel Notley as the leader of the Alberta NDP. This episode features MLA Sarah Hoffman in her unabashed quest to win the race to take on Danielle Smith and the UCP in the 2027 provincial election.

Listen to Sarah Hoffman share her very transparent to run on a campaign of being authentically herself to get a mandate to lead the Alberta NDP. Sarah shares her three campaign policy priorities of healthcare, climate and housing and why each is important.

We talk about who will have her phone number (it won't be David Parker of Take Back Alberta), her record of winning elections against incumbents, where she is on the political spectrum and more in this episode.

More about MLA Sarah Hoffman:

Sarah Hoffman grew up in Kinuso, a small rural community, where her dad was the school principal and her mom was a teacher.

Sarah earned bachelor degrees in Mathematics, Religion and Education, and a master’s degree in Education Policy. While studying, Sarah got involved in the NDP. In 2010, Rachel Notley encouraged her to run for the Edmonton Public School Board. Sarah earned 70 per cent of the vote, defeating a well-known incumbent trustee. This was the first of Sarah’s five consecutive election victories.

In 2015, Sarah defeated a Conservative cabinet minister, and won Edmonton-Glenora for the Alberta NDP for the first time. Premier Rachel Notley named her Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

Sarah was re-elected in 2019 and 2023, and served as Deputy Leader of the Alberta NDP throughout that time.

To learn more about Sarah Hoffman and her campaign, click here.

In the second live episode of Ellected in this special series of conversations with the Alberta NDP leadership candidates, host Sarah Elder-Chamanara sits down with MLA Kathleen Ganley. 

*Please note that due to a very unfortunate internet issue when recording, the recording cuts off abruptly.*

Hear Kathleen discuss the entry of Nenshi into the race, her focus on the economy and how that the economy is what will win the Alberta NDP the next election in 2027, what the membership tent would like under her leadership, caucus management and much, much more.

More about Kathleen Ganley:

Kathleen Ganley is the MLA for Calgary-Mountain View. She served as Alberta's Minister of Justice and Solicitor General from 2015 to 2019, where she focused on progressive reforms. Before her political career, she worked in law, specializing in labour, employment and human rights.

Kathleen holds a doctor of law (JD) from the University of Calgary and degrees in Philosophy and Psychology. Kathleen lives in Calgary with her daughter.

To learn more about Kathleen's campaign, click here.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In the first ever episode of Ellected recorded in-front of a live  audience,  host Sarah Elder-Chamanara sits down with NDP MLA and leadership candidate Rakhi Pancholi for the first in a series of podcasts with all of the candidates running to be the next leader of the Alberta NDP.

Hear from Rakhi about why she's running, her thoughts on "lending" votes to the Alberta NDP in the 2023 provincial election campaign, the return of hope and optimism in Alberta politics, her plans for all day kindergarten, the upcoming launch of her climate policies and so much more. 

This episode was recorded in-front of a live audience at Madame Premier in Calgary on Sunday, March 3, 2024.

More about Rakhi Pancholi:
Rakhi Pancholi is a two-term MLA, lawyer and mom who’s committed to building a future full of opportunity for Alberta.

She began her legal career at a prestigious Bay Street firm, leading to almost a decade of experience in senior advisory roles for the Government of Alberta in the ministries of Education and Justice. Before running for office she also worked in private practice as a senior lawyer at a major Alberta law firm, where she specialized in labour and employment law.

Her passion for building a brighter future and better world led her to the University of Alberta, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Toronto.

Rakhi lives in South Edmonton with her husband, Owen, her two school-aged children, and her rescue dog Duke.

To learn more about Rakhi's campaign, visit https://www.voterakhi.ca/

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:
Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In Ep. 63 of Ellected join host and founder of Madame Premier Sarah Elder-Chamanara in discussion with Calgary City Councillor, former Olympian and mom Jasmine Mian in a discussion on the city's remote work policy for council members in response to a staff recommendation to change council’s code of conduct and procedure bylaws to limit councillors’ ability to tune in to meetings virtually because of how some members of council abused the policy. Mian introduced an amendment to make sure councillors are able to continue to work remotely as protected grounds of the Alberta Human Rights Act.

Also up for discussion in this episode with Mian and Elder-Chamanara are how we need more women, parents and diversity in politics and how we can better prepare women for the job of elected office knowing that the environment is highly toxic.

"I am the first woman to have a baby while in office here and that's for a reason: because the job hasn't largely been accessible, and so I think it's thinking about how do we make it so that city hall actually looks like the people we represent," Calgary City Councillor Jasmine Mian

More about Jasmine Mian:
Jasmine Mian was elected Councillor for Ward 3 in the Calgary General Election on Oct. 18, 2021. She is the youngest woman ever elected to Calgary City Council.

A second-generation Canadian, Councillor Mian holds Masters degrees in Public Policy and Psychology and has worked in both the private and public sectors. She represented Canada in the sport of wrestling at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

Councillor Mian is passionate about pedestrian and road safety due to being struck by a driver when she was only four years old. She completed her Master's thesis on pedestrian safety and continues to advocate for safer streets.  

Her other priorities include addressing the climate emergency, downtown revitalization/economy, and improving transportation in Ward 3. She' s remained active in her community through volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:
Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In Ellected Ep. 62 join Sarah in conversation with Orit Sulitzeanu, the exectuvite director of The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, about the sexual violence committed on October 7th in Israel.

Hear about what happened on October 7th from a leader committed to combating sexual violence on a daily basis in Israel who now educates the world on what took place that day.

To learn more about The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, please click here.

More about Orit Sulitzeanu:
Orit has served as executive director of the ARCCI since 2013. She has more than twenty years of experience in the fields of communications, public relations and managing public campaigns mainly concerning the status of women and the struggle to end violence against women. For over a decade she served as the Spokeswoman and director of the public relations department of Hebrew University, and before that she served as the Spokeswoman for the Israel Women's Network. Orit has a rich record of activities for the advancement of women in a variety of issues: the advancement of women in politics, the struggle against trafficking women, advancing the rights of Agunot and delayed divorce, the struggle to end violence against women, and the advancement of women in academia. Orit has a BA with honors from Hebrew University in East Asian Studies. She has two masters' degrees which she finished with honors in Non-Profit Administration and Communications from Hebrew University. Orit's thesis examined the influence of non-profits on the struggle against the trafficking of women in Israel. She is on the executive board of the non-profit "Kol HaIsha". She volunteered in a women's shelter in Jerusalem as part of the project "Noam", at the hotline for foreign workers, and at the Jerusalem rape crisis center in the education department and the hotline.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:
Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

Allie Blades of Mash Strategies and Political Capital  panelist joins host Sarah Elder-Chamanara to recap the federal Conservative Party convention in  Quebec City with breakout discussions on the pop-up appearances by two Liberal government ministers and some of the policies passed by those in attendance.

Read the report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Alberta Post- Secondary Education here.

More about the Council of Alberta University Students:

Represents over 114,000 undergraduate students from the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, Mount Royal University, MacEwan University, and Athabasca University to the public, government and other post-secondary education stakeholders. Based in Edmonton, CAUS is a non-partisan and active advocacy group driven by their members looking to ensure a fully accessible and high quality system of education in Alberta.

The board is comprised of representatives from of our member Student association/Student unions. Each institution provides two delegates to our board; most often this is the Vice-President External and the President.

More about Chris Beasley:

Chris Beasley (He/They) is the Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) as well as the Vice President External of the University of Alberta Students Union. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and was the former President of the University of Alberta's Arts Undergraduate Society, OASIS. He has previously worked as the Communications Coordinator for CAUS, as a Page in the Legislature, and as a Legislature Tour Guide. His passions include Get Out The Vote initiatives, the student voice, and caring about communities.

More about Rachele Preston:

Rachele Preston (she/her) is the Vice President External for the University of Lethbridge Students' Union. She is currently completing a combined degree in General Science and Mathematics Education. She has been involved in student leadership in various ways for most of her undergraduate studies, including being the Vice President Internal for the University of Lethbridge's Education Undergraduate Society, as well as previously serving as the Faculty of Education Student Representative on the ULSU General Assembly. She is passionate about teaching, creating safe and accessible education, icebreaker questions, as well as Robert's Rules of Order.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

Housing, housing, housing. It’s a hot topic across Canada as we struggle with affordability, inflation and access to housing. This week Calgary City Council will chose between action on housing or the status quo and in episode 59 of Ellected, Calgary city councillor Kourtney Penner joins the podcast to talk about the decision she and her colleagues face in accepting or rejecting an 80 point plan to address the housing crisis. It’s one of the 80 recommended points in the report to update a type of zoning in certain areas to allow for more types of housing and instead of being widely applauded as innovative, some of council are rejecting the change in favour of small tweaks that won’t result in broad change. Councillor Penner walks you through what’s coming this week as well as the why and the what happens next.

More about Kourtney Penner:

Kourtney Penner was elected councillor for Ward 11 in the Calgary General Election on Oct. 18, 2021.

Kourtney Penner has roots and chose to live in Ward 11 with her family. As a community-minded leader she believes it is important to support community-building initiatives. With a strong value in relationship building, she knows projects succeed when we choose a mindset of working together, approaching challenges to find balanced, positive outcomes, and by using data to support decision making.

As a mom with school aged children and parents and grandparents in the city, Kourtney knows neighbourhoods need to balance the needs of residents across the stages of their lives. As a leader in the technology sector, she knows a thriving economy is vital to the city and creating a sustainable future is important to our global position.

As part of Kourtney’s practice with all the organizations she has served – she has brought this mindset to the table and continually asks these questions:

How can we positively affect (or least harm) the most amount of people?

What opportunities exist for different groups to come together to create the most desirable outcome which may involve compromise?

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In episode 58 of Ellected Sarah speaks with Independent Senator Kim Pate on the trip she made along with three other Canadian representatives as part of a civil society delegation that visited north eastern Syria in the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to meet with Canadian men, women and children in detention camps and prisons for suspected members of ISIS.

Senator Pate and Sarah discuss the senator's trip as well as the complicated human and political aspects around the administration of justice, due process, citizenship, the ongoing threats of radicalization in the camps and prisons but also here at home.

More about Senator Kim Pate:

Kim Pate was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10, 2016. First and foremost, the mother of Michael and Madison, she is also a nationally renowned advocate who has spent nearly 40 years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized — particularly imprisoned youth, men and women.

Senator Pate graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1984 with honours in the Clinical Law Programme and has completed post graduate work in the area of forensic mental health. She was the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) from January 1992 until her appointment to the Senate in November 2016. CAEFS is a federation of local societies who provide services and work in coalition with Aboriginal women, women with mental health issues and other disabling conditions, young women, visible minority and immigrant women, poor women and those isolated and otherwise deprived of potential sources of support. Prior to her work with CAEFS, she worked with youth and men in a number of capacities with the local John Howard Society in Calgary, as well as the national office. She has developed and taught Prison Law, Human Rights and Social Justice and Defending Battered Women on Trial courses at the Faculties of Law at the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University and the University of Saskatchewan. She also occupied the Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2014 and 2015.

Kim Pate is widely credited as the driving force behind the Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, headed by Justice Louise Arbour. During the Inquiry, she supported women as they aired their experiences and was a critical resource and witness in the Inquiry itself. She also persuaded the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate the Self-Defence Review and appoint the Honourable Madam Justice Lynn Ratushny to review the convictions and sentences of women jailed for using lethal force to defend themselves and/or their children against abusive men. She then worked tirelessly in pursuit of the implementation of the many positive recommendations from both. Senator Pate has been instrumental in building coalitions across the country with other equality-seeking women’s, anti-racism, anti-poverty and human rights groups and organizations; and, in this capacity, has worked with feminist legal scholars, lawyers, other professionals and front-line advocates and activists — from Indigenous communities to transition house and rape crisis centre workers.

Senator Pate strongly believes that the contributions of women who have experienced marginalization, discrimination and oppression should be recognized and respected and she seeks to credit and empower women. She maintains contact with women in prison through her numerous visits to Canada’s federal prisons and strongly encourages other advocates, scholars, service providers, judges and parliamentarians to ground their efforts in a similar way.

In episode 57 of Ellected, learn about Campaign University, a new initiative for anyone discontent with the current state of politics and interested in running or getting involved.  Created and run by three political veterans, former Vancouver city councillor George Affleck and veteran campaigners Mike Wilson and Emile Scheffel, they are disrupting the status quo of politics by telling you exactly how things work.

More about George Affleck:

George Affleck won his first election by doing his own marketing and was able to secure his seat despite a poor performance by his  party. In his 20 years in public office, media, and marketing, he learned what it takes to handle pressure. He's focused on helping you win, having walked through the challenges of being a candidate and public servant firsthand, and come out on the other side with a passion to help others do the same.

George was elected into public office in 2011 and served two terms as a city councillor in Vancouver and is the president and CEO of Curve Communications.

More about Mike Wilson:

Mike is the CEO of In Language Advertising, a full service campaign and public policy advertising agency. He is an expert at building and driving large-scale campaigns and narratives that move public opinion. Mike is also the Principal at Dampier Consulting - A strategic communications consultancy. Mike brings high level strategic thinking to his work.

Recently, Mike has been involved in working to get good people in to politics and restoring needed public policy victories for clients throughout North America. Mike worked on Christy Clark’s leadership campaign in 2011 and then moved in to the BC government where he managed polling and advertising leading up to the 2013 election. During the 2013 election Mike helped manage the multicultural advertising for the campaign. From 2013-2107, in addition to his corporate work, Mike managed polling and advertising within the BC Government bringing systems, financial controls and campaign measurement in to the bureaucracy.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In this episode of Ellected, your Host Sarah Elder-Chamanara speaks with Kate McKenzie, the co-director of the film The Secret Marathon, the true story of women training and running a marathon in Afghanistan.

The majority of the women's world take running for granted. Why? Because we run when we want, in whatever dress we want and where we want for the most part. Women in Afghanistan? Running is something that wasn't allowed for a very long time  and the short window in which it was allowed has closed yet again. Hear Sarah and Kate speak about how The Secret Marathon came to be from an idea in Calgary to filming during one of the few public marathons that women were allowed to take part in Afghanistan before the return of the Taliban last year.

You can watch The Secret Marathon here.

Find out more about The Secret 3K here.

More about Kate McKenzie:

Kate McKenzie is Director & Founder of Worldviews Productions, a digital media production company specializing in stories of hope and innovation through a constructive journalism approach. Her most recent project is the feature length documentary film The Secret Marathon which premiered at Cinéfest Sudbury to a sold our crowd, followed by the Edmonton International Film Festival, also to a sold out crowd, where it won the Audience Choice Award for best documentary. The film has also inspired The Secret 3K, an annual run/walk in more than 27 locations across Canada and around the world to promote gender equality and safe and inclusive spaces. Kate is also the Manager of ATB X a business accelerator  where Kate helps businesses achieve growth. As a published author, exhibiting fine artist and professional public speaker, Kate is passionate about sharing meaningful stories across a variety of mediums. Her TEDx talk about the Power of Positive News has had over 11,000 views. Kate has a Masters in Digital Media from Ryerson University and a Bachelors in Education with a specialization in experiential learning from the University of Lethbridge. 

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

In this episode of Ellected, Sarah chats with Julia Anderson, the CEO of Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health (CanWaCH), a membership organization of more than 100 Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOS), academic institutions, health professional associations and individuals partnering to improve health outcomes for women and children in more than 1,000 communities worldwide.

Julia and Sarah discuss the work of CanWaCH, how the organization came to be under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the current government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, why the work of international investment in the areas of women's and children's health is critically important and what Julia sees as the top ongoing global threat to the health of women and children globally.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

More about Julia Anderson:

Julia Anderson is the CEO of Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health (CanWaCH), a membership organization of more than 100 Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOS), academic institutions, health professional associations and individuals partnering to improve health outcomes for women and children in more than 1,000 communities worldwide.

Welcome to a the second special Alberta provincial election edition of Ellected with your host Sarah Elder-Chamanara and special guest to the podcast Sarah Biggs.

In this halfway point recap of the Alberta election campaign, Sarah and Sarah go over the debate, polling, the ongoing issue that is Artur Pawlowski, they do a check-in on where the NDP and UCP are going into the last week (hurrah!), advance voting and more.

More about Sarah Elder-Chamanara:

Sarah Elder-Chamanara is the founder, creative director, designer and owner of Madame Premier, a feminist, political and activist clothing company and community based in Calgary, Alberta. With the underlying principle of seeing more women and diversity in politics, elected and in backrooms, at every level, Sarah and Madame Premier create opportunities for conversations about how politics works, why it needs to change, who it needs to change for and how the time for that is now.

More about Sarah Biggs:

Since 2004, Sarah Biggs has been working on a multitude of campaigns. Party Leaderships, federal, provincial and municipal campaigns. From Parliament Hill to Alberta, Sarah has gained a wealth of knowledge 

Sarah was campaign manager for 2022 UCP leadership candidate Leela Aheer, and recently worked as a key organizer on Jyoti Gondek’s successful 2021 mayoral bid.

Having extensive experience in lobbying, policy, community engagement, oil and gas industry, Sarah is able to provide services in french and english. Having an accounting background, she also has experience in merger and acquisition, capital projects and campaign finances.

Educated at Universite de l’Outaouais and the University of Lethbridge, Sarah brings a fresh and bold approach to campaigns. Viability, sustainability and understanding the electorate/clientele is key to her approach. Sarah is a regular contributor to the podcast The Breakdown, and has appeared on Radio Canada and CBC News Network.