The Munk Debates Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Munk Debates Podcast

Munk Foundation / iHeartRadio

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Frequency: 1 episode/4d. Total Eps: 592

The Munk Debate podcasts is home to two of the most popular Canadian current affairs podcasts: Friday Focus with Janice Gross Stein and Munk Dialogues with Andrew Coyne

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https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/
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Score global : 58%

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Friday Focus: The hidden cost of a deal with Iran — and the Pope sounds the alarm on AI

Friday, May 29, 2026 • Duration 22:10

We may be on the cusp of a deal between Iran and the U.S., as both sides appear to be losing interest in keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed. But is this merely a ceasefire extension, with Iran’s nuclear program deferred to future negotiations?

If Iran ultimately gives up its enriched uranium, it will be seen as a win for Trump — but at a steep cost: Iran will have demonstrated that control over the Strait of Hormuz can effectively deter the world’s superpower. Rudyard argues that maintaining great-power status requires sacrifice to restore deterrence, something the current U.S. administration seems unwilling to do. Can America remain a great power without paying that price?

In the second half of the show, Rudyard and Janice discuss the Pope’s encyclical letter released this week — with one of Anthropic’s co-founders in attendance — in which he warned about AI’s threat to humanity. The Pope emphasized the dignity of work and cautioned that using AI to eliminate human labor is deeply misguided and anti-human. Are governments around the world prepared for the disruption that’s coming?

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Munk Debate on Foreign Wars: opening statements

Monday, May 25, 2026 • Duration 29:23

On this special podcast episode, we are sharing the opening statements from the Munk Debate on Foreign Wars, which took place this past Wednesday May 20th in front of a packed crowd at Toronto's Meridian Hall.

Against the backdrop of America's war with Iran — and after nearly three decades of disastrous Middle East interventions — the debate asked whether the U.S. should continue intervening abroad, and what that means for the future of global order.

The resolution was: Be it resolved, don't go hunting monsters.

Arguing against the motion was Mike Pompeo, 70th U.S. Secretary of State, former Director of the CIA, and four-term U.S. Congressman. He was joined by Victoria Nuland, whose 35-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service includes roles as Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Arguing in favour of the motion were two former Munk Debaters and the world's leading proponents of U.S. foreign policy restraint: John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.

Find out how to watch the full debate at www.munkdebates.com

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Friday Focus: Munk Debate on Foreign Wars, a shaky ceasefire with Iran, and Carney braces for tough trade talks

Friday, April 24, 2026 • Duration 26:21

Rudyard and Janice open the show with news of the Spring 2026 Munk mainstage debate: Be it resolved, don't go hunting monsters. A timely debate on competing interventionist and restraint-based approaches to foreign policy now contending for dominance in the halls of power. Rudyard and Janice move on to the Iran war and the shaky ceasefire that Trump has extended despite Iran's attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. With the Strait now closed, this has become an economic war and an endurance test: which country can withstand the pain longer? This is the single largest energy shock the modern world has ever seen that will bring about significant inflation. How will inflation further radicalize populist movements and destabilize governments around the globe? In the back half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to upcoming trade talks between Canada and the US. PM Carney is warning Canadians that there is a bumpy road ahead and concessions will need to be made that will likely yield a scaled down agreement with a narrower scope. Rudyard suggests that despite Trump's animosity towards our country, Canadians would be wise to accept that our economic interest lies in a better trade relationship with the U.S. over diversification overseas. Carney should consider delaying any concessions until the midterms and restart negotiations in November with a politically weakened president.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Friday Focus: Two nuclear powers face off and Carney meets with Trump

Friday, May 9, 2025 • Duration 15:15

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

Rudyard and Janice open today's show with the fast developing and worrying situation between India and Pakistan. What started in the long disputed territory of Kashmir has expanded into strikes along the border shared by these two nuclear powers. As Janice argues, when the global policeman (the U.S.) retires from the job local leaders take advantage of the vacuum in leadership. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to this week's meeting between Mark Carney and Donald Trump. Both had mixed feelings about the meeting: while it was friendly and relaxed in nature, and we are in a better place than we were when Trudeau was negotiating with Trump, there were no concrete outcomes from this meeting that benefit Canadians. Ultimately, many of our most important sectors are facing a massive slowdown because the Trump administration is not interested in the core products like cars and steel that were once central to the Canada-US relationship.

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See for more information.

Friday Focus: Mark Carney gets a Boomer boost and Trump wants a nuclear deal

Friday, May 2, 2025 • Duration 20:49

Rudyard and Janice open today's show with their key takeaway from the Canadian election: Mark Carney's functional minority was delivered to him by the Boomers who want to protect their assets and wealth accumulation, often at the expense of the younger generation who are faced with poor job prospects and an inflated housing market. Governments need to address these conflicting demographic interests and provide a pathway to financial security for our young people. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran. The new agreement being discussed is very similar to Obama's JCPOA, a deal that Trump backed out of in his first term in office. Why does Trump want to pursue a deal with Iran at the expense of the security of their close ally Israel? How are the Saudis influencing Trump's foreign policy in the Middle East? And will Israel be forced to go against Trump and strike Iran's nuclear facilities on their own?

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See for more information.

Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: key takeaways from Canada's election results

Wednesday, April 30, 2025 • Duration 36:41

Andrew Coyne is a Globe and Mail Columnist and one of Canada's most trusted commentators. On this Munk Dialogue Andrew and host Rudyard Griffiths unpack Canada's election results and where the parties and provinces go from here: now that they have sidelined the People's Party, can the Conservatives appeal to the centre? Will there be a surge in separatist sentiment in Alberta and Saskatchewan? And after the resounding defeat of the NDP, will Canada become a two-party system? Rudyard and Andrew also try to make sense of why young people skewed Conservative while Boomers supported the Liberals. How should we understand this demographic reversal of traditional voting habits?

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Friday Focus: Trump's generous offer to Russia and Canadian leaders fail to address domestic concerns

Friday, April 25, 2025 • Duration 16:30

Rudyard and Janice open the show with the Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal put forward by the Trump administration that would recognize Crimea as a Russian territory, deny NATO membership to Ukraine, and give Moscow control of 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region. This is a huge capitulation to Russia that doesn't provide any security guarantees to Ukraine. So why is Putin dragging his feet in accepting these generous terms?

In the second part of the show Rudyard and Janice reflect on the Canadian election campaign which will come to a close on Monday as voters head to the polls. Because so much focus has been paid to the Canada-US relationship, so many other important issues relating to the economy, productivity, immigration and housing have been ignored. Have we overreacted to the Trump threat while failing to address the very real challenges at home?

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See for more information.

Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: The Conservative Party's failure to provide a roadmap for change

Tuesday, April 22, 2025 • Duration 37:10

Andrew Coyne is a Globe and Mail Columnist and one of Canada's most trusted commentators. He joins host Rudyard Griffiths to discuss how the Conservative Party's anti-Trudeau messaging undermined their ability to provide Canadians with an appealing platform in an election that doesn't include the former PM. Mark Carney, meanwhile, is acting like a grownup in charge when a crisis hits, even though his big spending promises suggest he's not the blue liberal many centre-right Canadians had hoped. Rudyard and Andrew also talk about Trump's threats to fire US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and why the independent authority of central banks is so integral to the functioning of democracies.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Friday Focus: Pierre Poilievre's prime ministerial debate performance and Donald Trump's unconstrained chaos

Friday, April 18, 2025 • Duration 19:17

Rudyard and Janice open the show with last night's Canadian English language leaders' debate. Rudyard thinks that Pierre Poilievre looked prime ministerial for the first time in this campaign, while Mark Carney showed a calmness and dexterity for someone with limited political experience. Bottom line: it was a good night for both leaders but it won't move the needle much. Furthermore, it's past time to rethink how the leaders' debate commission conducts election debates which fail to test leaders to the benefit of undecided voters. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice talk about Trump's very combative and controversial week: defying the courts and America's commitment to due process for illegal immigrants, a fight with Harvard University which could have broad implications on universities across the US, and his public condemnation of Jerome Powell, the chair of the US federal reserve, because he doesn't like the bank's restrictive rates and the inflationary threat they represent. Trump's willingness to engage in public battles and ignore basic laws signal an unconstrained chaos with no end in sight.

To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: how the Liberals are benefitting from the Canada-US trade war

Tuesday, April 15, 2025 • Duration 35:41

Andrew Coyne is a Globe and Mail Columnist and one of Canada's most trusted commentators. He joins us for a far reaching conversation about how the Liberal Party went from having no hope in this election to being the frontrunner, and how the widespread anti-elite sentiment in Canada has been affected by erratic policies south of the border. Andrew and Rudyard then turn their attention to the man pushing these disastrous policies: Donald Trump. Are we witnessing a decline in mental health and increase in erratic behaviour due to his advanced age?

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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