The Writ Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week on The Numbers, we break down the implications of Jagmeet Singh's decision to end the supply and confidence agreement between the NDP and the Liberals. What does it mean for the upcoming byelections — and when will the general election be? We also discuss what new polls say about the impact of BCU's withdrawal from the upcoming B.C. election campaign.

In the mailbag, we answer a listener question on how a Trump election win may or may not change Canada's political landscape. Then, Philippe tests me against a machine in the Quiz.

To join the Discord page for The Numbers, get early access to episodes every Thursday, an extended mailbag segment and bonus episodes every second week, you can become a member of our Patreon site here.

A regular episode of The Writ Podcast will be back in this feed next week!

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox or at TheWrit.ca, you can also watch this episode on YouTube.

You can also find The Numbers and our French-language podcast Les chiffres wherever you get your podcasts!

Apple Podcasts: The Numbers / Les chiffres

Spotify: The Numbers / Les chiffres

With just a few weeks to go before the writ drop, the next election in British Columbia was thrown on its head Wednesday when Kevin Falcon announced he was withdrawing B.C. United from the race — and endorsing John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives. What does this mean for the NDP and Premier David Eby’s chances of re-election, as well as for the future of the once formidable, now former, B.C. Liberals?

The news broke just after Richard Zussman of Global News and I had recorded an episode about the state of B.C. politics on Wednesday morning. Once it emerged that everything had changed, we had to get together again to re-record. And with B.C. political news breaking so fast, I couldn’t wait until the usual Friday to put this episode up in your feeds.

THE NUMBERS: On this week’s episode of The Numbers podcast, which will be available for Patreon members on Thursday here, Philippe and I will break down the implications of this move on B.C. politics. We’ll also have lots of new poll numbers to discuss, as usual!

In addition to listening to this episode of The Writ Podcast in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this episode on YouTube.

On this week's episode of The Numbers, we discuss what happened in the Toronto–St. Paul's byelection and what it means for the future of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. We also chat about Naheed Nenshi's landslide win in the Alberta NDP leadership race and provincial premiers' approval ratings.

For the mailbag, we discuss whether Toronto–St. Paul’s was a one-off or not (and we have many more byelection-related questions in the members-only extended mailbag). Then, Philippe harkens back to the 2006 election for the Quiz.

To join the Discord page for The Numbers, get early access to episodes every Thursday, an extended mailbag segment and bonus episodes every second week, you can become a member of our Patreon site here.

A regular episode of The Writ Podcast will be back in this feed next week!

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox or at TheWrit.ca, you can also watch this episode on YouTube.

You can also find The Numbers and our French-language podcast Les chiffres wherever you get your podcasts!

Apple Podcasts: The Numbers / Les chiffres

Spotify: The Numbers / Les chiffres

LES CHIFFRES: Est-ce la fin de l’ère Trudeau ? Éric et Philippe discutent de l'élection partielle dans Toronto–St. Paul's lundi dernier, qui fut une cuisante défaite du PLC dans ce qui était considéré comme un château fort libéral depuis trois décennies. Avec de tels résultats, Justin Trudeau peut-il rester en poste ? A-t-il encore la légitimité pour gouverner ? Que nous disent ces chiffres sur l'avance conservatrice au pays ? Et à quoi devrions-nous nous attendre de l'élection partielle à venir dans Lasalle–Émard–Verdun ? Vous pouvez regarder ce balado sur YouTube.

The 2021 federal election is one the Greens would like to forget, as the party failed to run a full slate of candidates and captured only two seats and 2.3% of the vote. It was a disastrous showing that followed months of internal turmoil.

Now the Greens are trying to find a replacement for former leader Annamie Paul — and haven’t seemed to put their internal divisions behind them. The low-key leadership race features a lot of new faces, one familiar face in former leader Elizabeth May and a concept borrowed from Green parties overseas: co-leaders.

To discuss how the contest is shaping up, on this week’s episode of The Writ Podcast I’m joined by the CBC’s David Thurton, who has been following this race closely.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.

Pierre Poilievre won the Conservative leadership race with more support on the first ballot than any previous leadership candidate for the Conservative Party or its predecessors. It was a big win.

His first week, though, did not go so smoothly after one Quebec MP, Alain Rayes, quit caucus, citing Poilievre’s tone and style of politics as the reason. That the party had to subsequently apologize for text messages sent to party members in Rayes’s riding asking them to call his office to voice their displeasure made Rayes’s point for him.

Meanwhile, at a Liberal caucus retreat in New Brunswick, Justin Trudeau announced new measures meant to provide relief from inflation — an issue Poilievre has been hammering the government over for months. Jagmeet Singh of the NDP was quick to claim credit.

So it’s been a bit of a week.

To discuss it all, I’m joined this week by the CBC’s Aaron Wherry, Shannon Proudfoot, reporter with The Globe and Mail and Supriya Dwivedi, Director of Policy and Engagement at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and Senior Counsel for Enterprise Canada. Supriya is also the co-host of the Seriously Podcast.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.

The Conservative leadership race will be finally coming to a close on Saturday when the winner will be announced in Ottawa.

The safe bet is that Pierre Poilievre will win — perhaps even on the first ballot. But what will the results mean not only for the consensus front runner, but for Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison?

Does it matter if Poilievre wins on the first ballot? What’s next for Charest should he lose? What will the results mean for Lewis and the social conservative wing of the party? And did Baber and Aitchison succeed in what they set out to do by launching their long-shot candidacies?

To answer these questions and lots more, I’m joined this week by Tim Powers of Summa Strategies, Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and Stephanie Levitz of the Toronto Star.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.

On Sunday, François Legault officially kicked off his re-election campaign in Quebec. Voters will be going to the polls on October 3 in an election that is Legault’s to lose.

But despite his party’s big lead in the polls, there’s still a lot at stake in this election campaign. The Coalition Avenir Québec needs to avoid any mistakes that could get in the way of a victory while the old governing parties, the Liberals and Parti Québécois, need to avoid catastrophe.

Québec Solidaire and the Conservatives, meanwhile, are looking to make a lasting impression.

Joining me this week, and for every week for the rest of the campaign, is Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada.com. Starting next week, Philippe will join me for subscriber-only bonus episodes, but he’s here this week to break down the first days of this campaign.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty important ones for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government.

The Conservative Party is about to name a new leader in (probably) Pierre Poilievre, who could turn out to be the most formidable political opponent Trudeau has faced since Stephen Harper.

Parliament is about to return to work in the House of Commons as the Liberals continue their balancing act of keeping their minority government afloat with the support of Jagmeet Singh and the New Democrats.

And, if the Coalition Avenir Québec is re-elected in early October, Trudeau’s on-again/off-again relationship with Premier François Legault looks set to endure.

To give us his take on what challenges — and opportunities — the Trudeau Liberals face this fall, I’m joined this week by Dan Arnold, chief strategy officer at Pollara and former director of research and advertising in the Prime Minister's Office. He's also polled for the Trudeau Liberals in each of the last three election campaigns.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.

This week on The Writ Podcast, I’m handing the hosting job over to you and answering your questions!

Earlier this week, I reached out to founding members of The Writ and other subscribers who have been supporting me since Day 1 to solicit questions about politics — federal, provincial and municipal.

I received some great ones and I’ve tried to answer them all. When I couldn’t, I’ve asked some special guests to join me.

Here’s a sampling of some of the questions tackled in this episode:

- What’s the future for Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party?
- What does the data say about where the Green Party is headed?
- Is British Columbia swinging to the left?
- Could Danielle Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Act pass constitutional muster?
- How could the Saskatchewan NDP ever return to government?
- If I could cover any election in Canada’s history, which would it be?

There’s lots more in the podcast, and thanks to special guests Aaron Wherry, David Coletto, Sally Housser and Martin Olszynski for lending their expertise!

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also listen to this podcast on YouTube.

To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here.

This year is turning out to be one of great change in British Columbia politics.

In power since 2017, Premier John Horgan announced at the end of June that he would be stepping down. His replacement will be named in December.

On the opposition benches, the B.C. Liberals not only named Kevin Falcon their new leader in February, they might also find a new name, too.

It means when the next election in the province occurs in 2024 (or earlier), the political landscape in B.C. will be very different from what it was in 2020, when Horgan called an early election in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Richard Zussman covers the provincial legislature in Victoria for Global BC and joins me this week on The Writ Podcast to break down all the latest in west coast politics.

As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.