The Paul Wells Show – Details, episodes & analysis

Today, we're sharing another except from Paul Wells' audiobook, Justin Trudeau on the Ropes, read by the author himself. 

Much of Trudeau's reign as Prime Minister has been shaped by major external events, including the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. This section of the book looks back on how Trudeau adapted to a Trump presidency.

Justin Trudeau on the Ropes is published by Sutherland House. The audiobook was recorded at the National Arts Centre. You can download the entire thing wherever you get audiobooks.

In this excerpt from his audiobook, Justin Trudeau on the Ropes, Paul Wells looks back to the beginning of Trudeau's political career.

Justin Trudeau on the Ropes is published by Sutherland House. This audiobook was recorded in studio at the National Arts Centre. You can find the full thing wherever you get audiobooks.

COVID-19 exposed some serious weaknesses in Canada’s public institutions. So what have our governments learned? There has been no official attempt to answer that question thoroughly across the country. So two think tanks decided to take it on. They invited experts including politicians, senior public servants, Indigenous leaders and others, to get together and talk about what happened during the pandemic. The Institute for Research on Public Policy and the Institute on Governance released a new report about what they learned.

The IRPP’s President and CEO Jennifer Ditchburn and Charles Breton, who runs the IRPP’s Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, join Paul to talk about it.

A new book takes us into the messy succession drama inside one of Canada’s biggest companies, Rogers Communications. It features family members fighting in public, two competing boards, and even actor Brian Cox from HBO's Succession.

Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki’s book Rogers v Rogers takes us behind the scenes of a company trying to find its footing after the death of their founder, all while navigating a high-stakes business deal.

In the two years since the Russian invasion, there's largely been a consensus in Canada about supporting Ukraine. Debates in Parliament and the media focus almost entirely on how to best help Ukraine, and not whether we should be helping in the first place. William Thorsell thinks that's a shame. He also thinks it’s time for the West to withdraw from the war and concede defeat.

William Thorsell is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. He’s currently a distinguished fellow at the Munk School.

How do Canada’s Prime Ministers measure up when it comes to foreign policy? Political scientist Patrice Dutil polled some colleagues to come up with a ranking. They placed Trudeau right near the bottom, alongside his predecessor Stephen Harper. Dutil joins Paul to break down the rankings and make the case that foreign policy needs to be taken more seriously in Canada. 

Patrice Dutil is the editor of Statesmen, Strategists and Diplomats: Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Making of Foreign Policy.

Housing policy has become one of the main debates among federal political parties. It wasn’t always this way, even as house prices were getting out of control. So why exactly did the housing crisis become such a prominent issue on the national stage? And can the federal government solve it?

Mike Moffatt keeps a close watch on housing policy, and has advised the Trudeau Government on the issue. He is the founding director of the PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute, and an assistant professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School. He shares his thoughts on the debate over housing playing out in Parliament.

Police have been facing heavy scrutiny lately over how they handle protests, from the convoy in Ottawa to pro-Palestine demonstrations. OPP Acting Superintendent Marcel Beaudin shares the police perspective on this issue. Until recently, Beaudin ran the OPP’s Provincial Liaison team that deals with demonstrations and protests. He has also been a leader in the service’s Indigenous Policing Bureau. 

This episode was recorded at the Munk School.

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Paul's former sparring partner Andrew Coyne joins us to discuss the state of politics, the media and the “difficult and dangerous” times we're living in. 

These days, Andrew Coyne is a columnist for the Globe and Mail.

This episode was recorded at the Munk School.

Subscribe to Paul's Substack for a premium version of this show: paulwells.substack.com

It’s been four months since Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, leading to the war in Gaza. Is there an end in sight?    Foreign policy analyst Janice Stein joins Paul to weigh in on the crisis in the Middle East, the other crises that the world is facing, and the importance of embracing uncertainty in conflict.   Janice Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Negotiation at the University of Toronto and the Founding Director of the Munk School.   This interview was recorded at the Munk School.