The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Alright, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! This week, we’re bringing back The Chiefs! Three former Chiefs of Staff to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government.

Ian Brodie – first Chief of Staff to Stephen Harper, and central to the founding of the CPC. Now … Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary.

Tim Murphy – former Chief of Staff to Paul Martin. Now ...  the newly installed EVP and Chief Strategic Affairs Officer at AECON.

Brian Topp – former Chief of Staff to Rachel Notley in Alberta, Deputy Chief to Roy Romanow in Saskatchewan, one of the architects of Jack Layton’s Orange Wave. Now ... he’s a founding partner at GT&co.

Remember, #TheChiefs is a panel where we discuss issues from the perspective of people who think about them NOT as campaigners do — i.e., what might be ideal in a political sense — but rather, what’s possible to deliver in a governing sense.

So today … the Liberal cabinet retreat in Halifax. What was the PMO hoping to get out of it in policy and political terms, and what did they get out of it? Immigration. How did the issue get away from the government and where to from here? Finally, in the wake of the Liberal Staffer revolt in Montreal, what is the role and expectations of “exempt staff”.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

AIR "QUOTES" MEDIA SPECIAL: "THE SMART MONEY’S ON DONALD TRUMP (TO CHEAT)" by Keith Boag

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Alright, you curious, you courageous Herle Burly-ites… the ticket is set: Trump + Vance versus Harris + Walz. And to cover that election, we're bringing our listeners a brilliant journalistic mind and political correspondent legend, Keith Boag!

Keith was with the CBC for more than 30 years, including as Chief Political Correspondent. His career included work for many years in Washington, D.C., and as Ottawa Bureau Chief. Keith covered seven federal elections in Canada, ten party leadership campaigns, as well as several US elections.

Keith will regularly offer his written analysis via "QUOTES" at Air Quotes Media.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Alright, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites. Let’s get this pod underway.

In the realm of CVs that I’ve seen and determined are far more impressive than mine – that’s a helluva lot of CVs, by the way – today’s guest ranks way up there: Dan Gardner!

Don’t know Dan? Let me give you just a smattering of his accomplishments.  He’s a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, consultant, and freelance writer/editor. His latest book is “How Big Things Get Done”. Trained in history and law, Dan worked as a senior policy advisor to a Premier and Minister of Education, before turning to journalism in 1997. He’s been nominated for every major award in Canadian newspaper journalism – and won a bunch of them – and his books have been published in 26 countries and 20 languages. Dan’s also won awards from Amnesty International Canada, the John Howard Society, the Department of Justice, and other organizations. And his work also contributed to significant changes in Canadian public policy. So just a little bit impressive!

Today … I thought it would be interesting if Dan and I took a deep dive on one very broad question: “Elections in the modern era. What matters in them?”

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. 

Please welcome back to the pod Paul Palango for our follow-up conversation about a true crime story, a tragedy, and what Paul describes as a cover-up involving a killer rampaging across the tiny community of Portapique, Nova Scotia, late on April 18, 2020. Mr. Palango is an author of three books on the RCMP and a frequent commentator over the past 27 years on RCMP issues. He's also a former senior editor at The Globe and Mail who now lives in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia. His most recent book is: "22 Murders: Investigating the Massacres, Cover-up and Obstacles to Justice in Nova Scotia."  Join us as we go deep into what the book describes as "a shocking exposé of the deadliest killing spree in Canadian history, and how police tragically failed its victims and survivors."

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

We're gonna get right into it today with two of Canada's top housing experts to explore the market and navigate our way through what many feel is now out of reach, or worse, a sector in crisis.

With us today is John Webster, who previously appeared on the pod and ranks the second most listened to episode after our conversation with Seamus O'Regan. John is an innovator in the housing economy and currently President and CEO of Scotia Mortgage Authority. We're also joined by Ron Butler, founder of Butler Mortgage, smart as a whip, with unparalleled experience servicing clients in the housing market.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

It’s a helluva day here on The Herle Burly. Our 5th anniversary! We started this podcast 5 years ago not really knowing where it would take us.

David Axelrod was generous enough to help us launch this thing in 2017, and I’m just so chuffed to welcome him back. David, as most of you know, is the host of The Axe Files and one of the people who make Hacks on Tap the must listen it is. He’s the founder and Director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. He’s a senior political commentator on CNN, and of course, he was chief strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. So just a bit of success.

Here’s where we’re going today:

• We’ll discuss the state of democracy in the U.S. and the electoral implications of the January 6th hearings. 
• How can you campaign against fascism or autocracy when voters can’t define those concepts? Especially in the face of inflation.
• What are the mid-term prospects … post-Dobbs, post-IRA passage, post-tuition debt action. Will women and young people turn out?
• Who wins the DNC presidential primary in 2024? Replica of, or remedy for, Biden.
• Who wins the GOP primary? Trump or the replica? 
• And then just some key observations as a political practitioner. In an era of media fragmentation and partisan divides … is a broad-based win a thing of the past?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Greetings, you intrepid Herle Burly-ites. We have a helluva Herle Burly for you today and we’re going to get right to it, because Provincial Cabinet Ministers are on tight schedules, and you don’t keep them waiting goddamit! The Honourable Monte McNaughton is our guest today. Mr. McNaughton is the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development in Ontario. A son of Newbury Ontario, he’s been sitting as a Progressive Conservative MPP, representing the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex since 2011. And here’s where I’d like to take this conversation today:

• How do we help working people?
• What’s the role of unionization?
• What is this government’s agenda with regard to protection for non-unionized workers?
• And how will they address an issue facing the Ontario and Canadian economy: the labour shortage?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Greetings Herle Burly-ites. This week, we have a returning guest of The Herle Burly– a distinction that makes him an official “Friend of the Pod”. It’s mandatory. Whether he likes it or not, godamm*t. Kevin Carmichael is here. Kevin is Editor In Chief at the Financial Post and you don’t get to that position unless you’re one of Canada’s leading, and award winning business journalists. He’s also a member of the International Governance Innovation’s roster of researchers and commentators. Here’s where I’d like to take the conversation today: 

• What else? Inflation. Where it’s going. What the government might do to provide relief.
• Bank of Canada plans and Tiff Macklem’s statement yesterday about wage growth.
• Then, the labour shortage. Why we have one, how we might resolve it, and the implications for the economy.
• And why is Minister Freeland and Finance so quiet through a tumultuous period like this?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Greetings Herle Burly-ites. Today on the pod we’re going to talk about the state of healthcare and healthcare funding in this country and we have three former Premiers here to help us do it. Moving from East to West, Stephen McNeil, the 28th Premier of Nova Scotia. Kathleen Wynne, the 25th Premier of Ontario. And, Christy Clark, the 35th Premier of British Columbia.

There’s a lot of noise out there on this topic, right now. I’d like to wade through that with the people who know the system intimately… Who know what’s it’s like to administer it… And the opportunities and challenges, therein.

Can greater efficiencies be found without compromising service? How much more money does the system require and what level of government should that come from? What are the impediments leaders face, and we face, to reform of the system? In other words, let’s get past the sturm and drang, and talk about realities with people who’ve governed through these challenges.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Greetings Herle Burly-ites. Whether you’ve been with this podcast for a few years now, or a few weeks, you know we do our best to get past the talking points of politics and campaigning, economics and public policy and give you a perspective on what’s really going on. Not just in the official meetings that take place in Ottawa and so many other boardrooms around the country. But in the meeting AFTER the meeting.

Our guest today is a guy who has been in a helluva lot of those “meetings after the meeting”. Brian Topp is here. Brian is one of this country’s foremost political strategists. He’s a sought-after writer, communications planner and a former union leader. In 2015, he was Chief of Staff to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and prior to that Deputy Chief of Staff to Roy Romanow in Saskatchewan. In 2006 and 2008, Brian presided over the Orange Wave as the Federal New Democratic Party’s national campaign director. And following the death of Jack Layton in 2012, he ran for the party leadership, coming in second to Tom Mulcair. Currently, Brian is a founding partner at GT&Co. Today we’re going to tour the full horizon of Canadian politics with a look at how various parties and coalitions are reacting to the mood of the country and how individual politicians are stepping up or falling short with voters.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

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The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Hey, I want to take a moment to thank y’all for being here week after week. I guess I’m feeling a tad introspective – and it’s likely because we’re nearing our 5-year pod-versary. Yup, 5 years ago David Axelrod was our inaugural guest, fresh off an historic Cubs World Series win. Today, the Cubs are 10 ½ games back of a Wild Card spot. They kinda stink. Democracy also seems to be a wild card in the United States these days, and Axelrod is doing what he can to preserve it, via his own podcast: The Axe Files.

So … democracy in the USA … writ-large that’s what we’ll be talking about with our guest today, Keith Boag, who’s making his 3 rd appearance on The Herle Burly! In his stellar career at CBC, as Chief Political Correspondent with years working in the U.S., Keith has observed and reported on political discourse down there and stood witness to the erosion of democratic norms. So today we’re going to talk about:

• The January 6th hearings … what’s the import and the impact?
• How should Trump be treated going forward, and extrapolating further … what would another Trump term be like?
• What’s the media’s role in covering stories and managing issues?
• What will Joe Biden be doing 2 ½ years from now? 
• And who are other potential nominees for each party?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail and Google Canada.

Herle Burly-ites, Philippe J. Fournier is here! I’m sure a good lot of you know who Philippe is and have read his work and analysis, but for our listeners who haven’t, Philippe is the creator of 338Canada, the statistical model of electoral projection based on historical trends, opinion polls and demographic data. He deconstructs and analyzes Canadian politics with the eyes of a scientist. Not at all shocking because, by day, Philippe teaches astrophysics at Cégep de Saint-Laurent! So today – and this is despite my own deep, deeeeep knowledge of astrophysics – we are going to geek out about polling and electoral data.

We’ll talk about the federal race… What the different voter coalitions are… What it is that makes the Liberal vote so damn efficient. We’ll talk about Poilievre and the kind of coalition he’s trying to build… Where he needs his votes to come from in order to be PM… And whether his leadership campaign poses a risk to his electoral prospects. And then we’ll talk about Singh and the NDP…  What impact this accord with the Liberals is having on their support… And where the problem is translating feel good vibes for Singh, into votes. Finally, we’ll chat about the outlook for the upcoming Quebec election.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

We’ve got a helluva pod today. We’re going to take a deep dive into B.C. politics with my good friend, and now 2-time Herle Burly guest, Mike McDonald! Mike is a brilliant human being. He’s the former campaign manager and Chief of Staff to Premier Christy Clark. Currently, he’s Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Kirk & Co., one of the leading communications and public engagement firms in Canada, and a senior research associate at Pollara Strategic Insights. And he has a goddamn blog! You can read about what’s on Mike’s political mind, at Rosedeer.blog

Today, we’re going to talk about the NDP in B.C., post Horgan. BC Liberals post the Liberal brand-name. And what the province thinks of Trudeau, Poilievre and Singh.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Alright, you Herle Burly-ites. A pretty cool show we’ve got for you today. We’re doing a bit of pod crossover, and here’s the reason:

Naheed Nenshi became leader of Alberta’s NDP, just 2 weeks ago. Not just by a large margin. Or an extra-large margin. Landslide may not even be a strong enough a word. Mr. Nenshi’s win was first ballot. 86% of the vote. More than 10 times that of the runner up. So we’re going to talk about how that happened.

And there’s few better to do that with than his campaign co-director … a man who also happens to be a co-creator, and 1/3 of “The Strategists” Podcast, Zain Velji. Hence, it’s a Canadian Political Pod crossover today, Herle Burly-ites!

Zain is the man behind Nenshi’s powerful political brand. He’s a vice-president and partner with Northweather, a strategy and marketing firm, focusing on charities, non-profits, causes, and advocacy. He helped lead Nenshi’s successful mayoral campaigns and he played a big part in the Alberta NDP campaigns in 2019 and 2023.

Zain is a regular political commentator with the CBC, his work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, and Globe and Mail and in 2019 was a panelist on CTV’s National federal election coverage. So, lots of bona fides there. Alberta and beyond.

We’re going to talk about it all today:

• Nenshi.
• Alberta Politics provincial and federal.
• And the federal scene more generally.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

*Podcast originally aired: June 2019*

Today on the pod … political commentator, Pulitzer Prize winner, and the man whom the Wall Street Journal called “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America” … George Will.

Mr. Will has been the authority on American conservatism for nearly 50 years. Now he’s out with a new book, called “The Conservative Sensibility”.

We’re going to talk about the book and the state of conservatism today in the United States, as well as The Republican Party, President Trump and issues from income inequality to climate change.

Be sure to purchase a copy of his new book at your nearest Indigo Books: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-conservative-sensibility/9781549148682-item.html?ikwid=george+will&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Herle Burly-ites, our guest today can accurately be described as a political renaissance man. His name is David Pepper. David Pepper is a Yale educated lawyer.  He’s a former politician, serving on city council in Cincinnati, and as a member of Hamilton County, Ohio, Board of Commissioners. He’s the former Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, stepping down after the 2020 elections. And, get this, he’s also an author, hailed as “one of the best political-thriller writers on the scene” for his fiction. Bill Clinton … yes, Bill Clinton … gushed about his latest novel, “The Voter File”. We’ll explore a little about David’s backstory. But, all of that is not really why we wanted to talk to him here today. His latest book is a work of non-fiction called, “Laboratories of Autocracy”. In it, David argues that the greatest threat to American democracy is not the “Big Lie”, or January 6th and the limo-lunging behaviours of Donald Trump. It’s not the antics of federal politicians like Marjorie Taylor Green and Jim Jordan. Rather, his thesis is that it’s the anonymous, often corrupt politicians operating in statehouse after statehouse across the country, who pose the greatest dangers to democracy. Politicians who hack away daily at the core principles and place American democracy at its greatest peril since the Jim Crow era. We’ll talk about all of that and David’s thoughts in the book about how America can fight back.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Herle Burly-ites, Francois-Phillipe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry is with us today. Minister Minister Champagne was first elected as a Member of Parliament for Saint-Maurice—Champlain in 2015. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and Minister of International Trade. He is a businessman, lawyer, and international trade specialist with a special focus on the fields of energy, engineering, and innovation. Minister Champagne holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Montréal and a Master of Laws in American law from Case Western Reserve University. He also studied public and private international law at The Hague Academy in the Netherlands. But today we’re going to talk about growth and jobs on the program. The future of auto manufacturing in this country. Energy transition. The impact of AI. And the importance, and the future, of broadband technology.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

We’ve got a helluva pod for you today, because Elamin Abdelmahmoud is here. Elamin is big in the podcast and pop culture world with his own CBC show, Pop Chat. He’s a culture writer at BuzzFeed News and was founding co-host – with Rosie Barton – of the CBC Politics podcast, Party Lines, as well as panelist on the CBC At Issue Panel. And he has a new book, “Son of Elsewhere”  a reflection on Blackness, faith, language, pop culture, and the challenges and rewards of finding your way in the world. Today we’re going to get deeper insights into his book, country book, and of course, politics.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

On the pod today is the prime architect of Doug Ford’s landslide re-election in Ontario: Kory Teneycke. You all know Mr. Teneycke, a good Saskatchewan boy, former comms director to Prime Minister Harper and campaign manager for Doug Ford in both the 2018 and 2022 elections. Cast your mind back over 2 years ago and recall the fix Mr. Ford seemed to be in. His popularity was rock bottom. So, what changed? We’ll dive deep into the details of the winning strategy with Kory and we’ll also ask him about what surprised him about the other campaigns.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Jean Charest is with us on The Herle Burly! I’m not going to do a bio here. You all know Mr. Charest, his political backstory, and his contributions to our national and regional lives in Canada, which continue to this day. Instead, today is mostly going to be a contemporary conversation. We’re going to talk about what he’s trying to accomplish running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. What his concerns are. Where he sees the future of the Party. What he thinks about our current Prime Minister, as well as his competition in the ongoing leadership race, and what he’d do differently if he were leading the country.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

On the pod today we have Ryan Jespersen with us and the host of his own live, daily streaming show, Real Talk. He’s a phenomenon out in Alberta with a huge and devoted listenership. And the best part is, Ryan built it from the ground up. He figured out the technology, hired staff, secured sponsors and created his own promotions after getting fired from his previous gig at CHED. Which all sounds pretty darned familiar to me.

Today we’re going to talk about… What else? Jason Kenney stepping down. Rachel Notley maybe stepping up. The potential future for the PC party out in Alberta. And the general state of the province and Albertans as they look toward the future. And I’m sure we’ll throw in a couple of other things along the way.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Brigitte Legault is our special guest. And if you don’t know who Ms. Legault is, you’re surely going to after this discussion. She is the fearless, mobilizing force and architect of the CAQ, Coalition Avenir Quebec. As its Director General, she organized the party from an idea to a governing behemoth in just over 10 years.

We’ll talk a little bit about her backstory. Her journey from being a former President of the Young Liberals and party activist. Why she became disaffected with the Liberal Party. What led to the creation of the CAQ. What subsequently has happened to the Liberals and PQ in that province, and the CAQ’s role in that. We’ll talk Bill 96, Quebec language laws, and as much as we can cover about what’s happening on the ground in Quebec politically, today.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

I’m excited to welcome Armine Yalnizyan as our guest today. Armine is a leading voice on Canada’s economy. According to Maclean’s Magazine, who ranked her #22 on their Power List. She’s the Caring Person’s economist and a big picture thinker who looks out for the little guy. Armine coined the term “She-cession”, way back in March 2020, to describe the economic fallout of the pandemic and is currently the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers. Her mission as a policy thinker and innovator, is to bring a worker’s perspective to the public policy development process and to help all of us make sense of what’s happening in the economy. And these are precisely the things we’re going to talk about today:

• Why do working people deserve a bigger slice of the pie?
• How do they get it?
• How will hordes of gig workers ever find security?
• And what’s the role of government in all of that?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

We have a good friend of the pod here, Greg Lyle, founder and President of the Innovative Research Group. If you’re a regular listener, you’ve heard Greg before, as part of our pollster panel back in February. He’s built his career on the intersection of public policy, communications and public opinion. And if you’re following our sister program, Curse of Politics, you know that Greg is in field in Ontario all month long, with a weekly tracking of voter attitudes and preferences. We’re breaking down his numbers on that show, on pretty much a daily basis. But today, here on The Herle Burly, recorded on the day the writ drops, we’re going to set the table for the Ontario election:

• If there’s any kind of a horse race & where the hell is it?
• Can Ford be assailed at all?
• What do people think about each of the leaders (Ford, Horwath, Del Duca, Schreiner).
• Where are voter priorities when it comes to policy?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch conversations from The Herle Burly on YouTube. 

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! An interesting topic on the pod today (one that really doesn’t get enough media coverage)… The Pursuit of Happiness.

Dr. Peter Nicholson is making his second appearance here on The Herle Burly and we’re talking about his specific observations on the 2024 World Happiness Report.

Peter has written a fantastic online piece on this for Air Quotes Media, and I encourage you to read it: https://www.airquotesmedia.com/quotes/2024-world-happiness-report-observations-2may2024

The report explores the nature and implications of a particular concept of “happiness” in a cross-nation context, which has clear implications for public policy thinking. A key finding from the 2024 report, we’ll dive into today: 

• People in the developing world are generally more optimistic about their future than people in the developed world.
• Younger people are happier in the developing world. Older people less happy.
• In the developed world, the opposite is true.

If you don’t know Peter, he’s a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia. He’s a polymath who has served in numerous posts in government, business, science and higher education. His long public service career included positions as Head of Policy in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada and the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist with Finance Canada. Peter is currently the Chair of the Board of the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices.

Join us as we explore why money is a necessary but insufficient component of happiness, and a lot more, with Peter Nicholson, one of the most curious people I know.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Welcome back, for his second appearance on The Herle Burly, Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. First elected in 2015, Mr. Wilkinson has served Canadians as Minister of Fisheries, Oceans. And the last time the minister was on the pod, back in February 2021, it was in his capacity as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Subsequent to the last election, he was appointed Minister of Natural Resources at the end of October. So today we’re going to talk more about climate change, the path to net-zero and to 1.5-2 degrees, and the natural resource sector’s role in those objectives and outcomes.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

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The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Peter Weltman is Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer. That means he heads an office that provides independent fiscal, financial and economic analysis on the state of the Ontario's finances. Just ahead of the provincial budget we'll discuss Ontario's finances and the assumptions that go into those fiscal projections. We'll also discuss a few platform ideas and how sustainable they might be.

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Back again, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr.! This time as Canada's Minister of Labour. You all know Mr. O’Regan. 10 years a co-host of CTV’s Canada AM. Member of Parliament for St. John’s South—Mount Pearl since 2015. Previously serving as Minister of Veterans Affairs, Minister of Indigenous Services, Minister of Natural Resources, and as mentioned, now Minister of Labour since October 2021. That's what we'll talk about today: what's the future of the labour movement in Canada, how do working people get a bigger slice of the economic pie, how will legions of gig workers find security and what role does the federal government play in all this.

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We've assembled a panel to talk housing and housing affordability. Plus all the related social and economic issues involved with the housing industry. As well, some solutions to Canada's housing crisis. Joining us are:

Mukhtar Latif - Mukhtar is developer and affordable housing consultant with 30 years experience in the public and private sectors. His expertise is in developing affordable housing policies, products and programs, including modular housing and regeneration projects. Previously, Mukhtar was Vancouver’s Chief Housing Officer.

Mike Moffatt - Mike is an Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at Ivey and is the Senior Director, Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute. Previously, Mike was the Chief Innovation Fellow for the Government of Canada, advising Deputy Ministers on innovation policy and emerging trends, and represented Canada at G7, OECD and Organization of American States meetings.

Diana Petramala - Diana is a Director in the Economic Advisory Team at Altus Group. Ms. Petramala has spent the bulk of her career conducting economic and real estate research. Previously, she was the senior economist at the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson University where she analyzed the impacts on demographics on housing markets and urban growth.

Adam Vaughan - Adam is a former Liberal Party Member of Parliament and former Toronto City Councillor. He’s our insider on government on this panel and he’s just joined the School of Cities at the University of Toronto as a Canadian Urban Leader. As Parliamentary Secretary for Housing in the Trudeau government, he played a leading role in the creation of Canada’s first national housing strategy.

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This week on the pod, our thoughts turn to the events in Europe and we are honoured to have Sabine Sparwasser here with us. Ms. Sparwasser has been the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador to Canada since 2017. Just prior to that, she was Germany’s Special Representative of the Federal Government for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ms. Sparwasser started her career as a journalist for German television.

Today, we’re going to talk about the war in Ukraine generally. And more specifically with respect to Germany, the huge policy shifts the country’s made recently with respect to nuclear power and military build-up. Then we’ll discuss the strain on the EU in light of Brexit and Ukraine and Germany’s pivotal role within that political and economic union.

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My long-time friend and mentor, Bill Fox is with us. Bill started as a working journalist and now is a leading academic analyst of media and communication. Bill has worked at the highest levels of journalism and government and business. And he's among the best story tellers you'll ever find. His fantastic new book is: "Trump, Trudeau, Tweets, Truth: A Conversation." Today we'll discuss his book, politics, journalism, media, and so much more.

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Get ready politicos because we've assembled a panel of Conservative strategists, operatives, and insiders to discuss the party's fiery leadership race. Joining us are:

• Dennis Matthews - former advertising advisor to PM Stephen Harper and currently a principal at Enterprise Canada and president of Creative Currency
• Melanie Paradis - served as deputy campaign manager (communications) for Erin O’Toole’s successful 2020 Conservative leadership campaign as well as director of communications on Christine Elliott's leadership campaign for the Ontario PC Party in 2018, and currently an executive ghost-writer of speeches for industry executives and politicians
• Laryssa Waler - worked in the Harper government in Ottawa and served as executive director of communications for Premier Doug Ford, and currently a principal of GT&Company

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I’d like to welcome Justin Ling to the pod. He’s an award winning, freelance investigative journalist who specializes in privacy and security issues, foreign policy, politics, law, media and where all those things intersect.

Today we’re going to focus on disinformation and misinformation. Where it starts, where it travels and how it affects people. We see it, hear it, feel it ... in the trucker convoy, Ukraine and just about any issue you can name that involves a tweet, like or share button.

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I’d like to welcome Carolyn Wilkins to the podcast. Carolyn is currently an external member of the Financial Policy Committee of The Bank of England, appointed in June 2021. She is a Senior Research Scholar at Princeton University’s Griswold Centre for Economic Policy, and on the Board of Directors at Intact Financial Corporation. Prior to these appointments, most of you will know Carolyn from her distinguished 20-year career at The Bank of Canada, serving as Senior Deputy Governor, the Bank’s G20 and G7 Deputy, and member of the Financial Stability Board.

Now, I just want to caveat that Carolyn is speaking with us in her personal capacity today, NOT on behalf of The Bank of England.

We’re going dive into a few timely topics:

• Financial Sanctions ... what are they? How powerful a tool are they? And how the hell do they work?
• They don’t call it “crypto” for nothing. So we’ll spend some time demystifying cryptocurrency.

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Okay, let's get straight to it for all you public opinion research fans. To distinguish the signal from the noise and to feed all your data cravings, we’ve assembled an esteemed pollster panel to discuss a specific question—one with many threads to pull on: Who are the alienated Canadians and why are they alienated?

Joining us for this timely discussion is:

• Greg Lyle, President, Innovative Research Group
• Janet Brown, Principal, Janet Brown Opinion Research
• Alex Swann, Principal Partner, The Gandalf Group
• Frank Graves, President, Ekos Research Associates 

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We’re going to get right to it. A deep dive into Ontario Politics and Queen’s Park. The stories and the players. With us to do that, two journalists who know the scene better than most: Steve Paikin and Jessica Smith Cross.

Steve is making his third appearance on the pod. Journalist, author, documentary producer and anchor of TVO’s flagship current affairs program, the Agenda.

Jessica is making her second appearance. And with that, has attained official “friend of The Herle Burly” status. She’s helped launch the excellent TheTrillium.ca and serves as its Editor-in-Chief. Prior to the Trillium, she was Editor-in-Chief of iPolitics and Queen’ Park Briefing.

Join us to discuss Ontario and the start of the next election!

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In the dubious, 3-years and change history of this show, we’ve been lucky enough to have two former Prime Ministers as guests and today, I’m thrilled that we make it three.

We have the Right Honourable Joe Clark with us, Canada’s 16th, and youngest, Prime Minister when he defeated Pierre Trudeau in 1979. You all know Mr. Clark, son of High River Alberta, and his almost 25-year career in Parliament - I’m not going to read a bio, because we’ll cover much of it over the coming show. We’re also going to get Mr. Clark’s thoughts on some of his accomplishments in public life and some of the contemporary issues we’re dealing with in political parties and protests.

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I’m so excited to welcome this week’s guest: The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

Minister Lametti was first elected as MP for LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in 2015 and served as a Parliamentary Secretary until 2019. Prior to entering politics, he was a Professor of Law at McGill University and served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law at McGill for 3 years, as well as a member of the University’s Senate. He holds degrees from U of T and McGill, as well as a Master of Laws from Yale Law School and a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from Oxford University.

We’re going to talk broadly today about Mr. Lametti’s agenda for the Department of Justice. How does he see the role of the department in a world as divided as this? What’s his view of the convoy protests – both what it represents and how best to deal with it? We’re going to talk about the Indigenous agenda within his portfolio. And we’re going to talk about Bill 21.

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On the pod we have a guest we’ve been wanting to talk to for a good long while now: Peter Routledge.

Mr. Routledge is the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for the Government of Canada (OSFI), appointed to that position in June of last year. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation. He’s also been a Senior Advisor at the Department of Finance, working on a wide range of policy issues including financial stability, housing finance and competition in financial services.

Today, we’re going to talk about his mandate and what OSFI does? And we’re going to talk specifically about housing, cryptocurrency, and climate.

As a bonus, you can read Peter's op-ed in #QUOTES from Air Quotes Media here: https://www.airquotesmedia.com/quotes/financial-system-resilience-1feb2022

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Today on The Herle Burly we have another proud son of Saskatchewan and current resident of Saskatoon, Tim Gitzel. Tim has been the CEO of Cameco—the world’s largest, publicly traded uranium company—for over a decade now. In 2015, Cameco accounted for 18% of the planet’s production of uranium.

A lawyer by training, Tim currently sits on the boards of the World Nuclear Association, Washington’s Nuclear Energy Institute and the Business Council of Canada. He was named one of the 100 Alumni of Influence from the University of Saskatchewan and he’s a recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal.

We’re going to talk about the history of nuclear in Canada and the role it can play in the fight against climate change. What are the newest technologies? What are the risks? And how are these risks and the issues surrounding waste being addressed?

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Alright, today on the pod, we have a two-fer! I’m pretty chuffed that former MPs and Cabinet Ministers Lisa Raitt and Anne McLellan are here.

Ms. Raitt is currently Vice-Chair of Global Investment Banking for CIBC and you’ll remember her well as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party as well as serving as Minister of Natural Resources, Labour and Transport for Prime Minister Harper.

Ms. McLellan is Canadian and International Strategic Planning Advisor at Bennett Jones LLP. She served in Parliament as Deputy Prime Minister under Paul Martin, as well as Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and earlier, Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Justice and Minister of Health.

Today they’re both here in their capacities as Co-Chairs of The Coalition for a Better Future, which supports nothing less than a complete rethink and re-imagination of what we can achieve as a country. A raising of our sights – to embrace a transformative vision for inclusive, sustainable economic growth and opportunity. Particularly relevant now amidst slow to stagnating economic growth as we try to recover from COVID.

So, we’re going to talk about all of that today. What policy gaps are they trying to fill here? Specifically, what are they proposing? And what are implications to a progressive policy agenda in this country?

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Alright, today on the show, a fantastic guest and a timely conversation with Dr. Jean Clinton. Dr. Clinton was a close adviser to Kathleen Wynne’s government on reforms to publicly funded education in Ontario. She’s a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster and a specialist in child psychiatry. Her area of expertise is in the development of young minds, with a special interest in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play in that.

So, given that we’re recording this episode just a few days before in-person classes resume in Ontario, we’re going to talk about these last 2 years of restrictions, school closures and online learning and what it’s all done to kids.

What signs should parents look for that children are struggling? How do they make it better? What does a return to physical school look, and feel, like? And what makes for a better public education system, post-pandemic?

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Today on the show, a man who’s played significant roles in my personal and political life as my friend, colleague, conscience, mentor, and teacher … Elly Alboim.

If you don’t know Elly, here are the professional facts. He was a journalist for the CBC for 23 years becoming Parliamentary Bureau Chief for Television News and National Political Editor for the network.  He has advised government, and industry, on some of the most important issues of our time: the environment, finance, health and human resources, justice and many more. He was a senior advisor to Paul Martin during his time as Finance Minister and Prime Minister as well as serving on election steering committees for Mr. Martin and Premier Kathleen Wynne. Today, he’s a Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies where he leads Strategic Communications. As if all of that isn’t enough, Elly is also a tenured Associate Professor of Journalism at Carleton University, specializing in television news and political reporting.

Elly was described as wise when he was still too young to be wise, but he always has been. I seek his counsel on most things. He’s somebody you ought to know and once you listen to this episode you'll soon see why. I’m so pleased to welcome Elly to The Herle Burly.

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*Originally aired: May 25, 2021

The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney is our special guest for this *repeat episode* of the podcast. 18th Prime Minister of Canada. Architect of the largest electoral victory in Canadian history. The first Conservative Prime Minister in over 100 years to win successive majority governments. One of the greatest political nights of my life was sitting around a chair listening to Brian Mulroney talk about his life in politics. It’s an extraordinary life. He’s an extraordinary raconteur. And we’re just going to replicate that today as we have a chat about politics and life.

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Today we're joined by the Honourable Anita Anand, Canada's Minister of National Defence. You'll know her best as the Minister of Public Services and Procurement who acquired for Canada our vast supplies of vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other supplies of personal protective equipment after our national stockpiles had been allowed to run low. As Minister of National Defence she recently issued a formal apology to victims of military sexual misconduct. Prior to entering federal politics in the 2019 federal election, she was a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law specializing in corporate governance and the regulation of capital markets.

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This week we're discussing Bill 21: Quebec's secularism law that cost a Muslim school teacher her job. With us today to try to understand it is André Pratte. Mr. Pratte was a journalist for over 35 years and was editor-in-chief of the Montreal newspaper La Presse where he chronicled Quebec's constitutional and language wars. From 2016 - 2019 he was an independent Senator until he resigned from the Chamber.  Now he's with the consulting firm Navigator and one of Quebec's most astute analysts.

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Greetings, Herle Burly-ites! And a happy, pre-rum and coke weekend to you loyal pod listeners. We’ve assembled our #PolicyPanel again to give us their thoughts on what has easily been the most contentious piece from the recent budget: the capital gains tax debate.

Tyler Meredith, Ken Boessenkool, and Dr. Jennifer Robson are here to talk about those goddamned – or those absolutely spot on (depending on your point of view) – Capital Gains tax measures.

Tyler is the former Head of Fiscal and Economic Policy for Prime Minister Trudeau and Ministers of Finance, Chrystia Freeland and Bill Morneau. Today, he’s a Founding Partner at Meredith/Boessenkool Policy Advisors.

Ken is the other, more conservative half of that founding partnership. He’s one of Canada’s leading policy strategists, having worked for Prime Minister Harper, Premier Klein, and Christy Clark among others. And he’s a research fellow at the CD Howe Institute.

Jennifer has been in senior roles in policy development and research with the Federal Government. She’s now Program Director and Associate Professor of Political Management at Carleton University. Her research centres on the intersection of household finances and the design and implementation of social policy.

So who better to dive into this topic and tax policy more generally? The answer is nobody. Nobody, godammit!

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I think today’s pod is going to be an inspiring listen, for all of you. That’s because our guest today is Mohamad Fakih. 

Mohamad came to Canada from Lebanon in 1999, and he’s the founder and guiding light of Paramount Fine Foods. That whole story started when he bought one near-bankrupt shawarma shop in 2006. Today that’s grown to 85 locations.  And as successful as he’s been in business, Mohamad is just as devoted, just as passionate about his charitable work, philanthropy and community service through The Fakih Foundation.

Today we’re going to talk about what Mohamad describes as “kinder capitalism”, philanthropy and faith, as well as the growth of hate crimes in Canada.

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Our guest this week needs no introduction, but an introduction he'll get. He's an author, a journalist, a documentary producer, and the anchor of TVO's flagship public affairs program "The Agenda." Please join us for the one and only Steve Paikin.

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Back on the pod for his second appearance is Chris Arnade, author and photographer of the incredible book, “Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America.” Today we're going to focus on how the liberal agenda in the United States is not connecting with the "back row" as Chris calls them. Why don't those back row Americans want what the liberal elite want them to want?

[About book: "With stark photo essays and unforgettable true stories, Chris Arnade cuts through "expert" pontification on inequality, addiction, and poverty to allow those who have been left behind to define themselves on their own terms."]

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