The Herle Burly Air Quotes Media

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

You highly engaged politicos probably know that The Herle Burly’s first cousin, once removed, is Hotel Pacifico – your 5-star podcast destination for all things in B.C. politics – and part of the Air Quotes Media universe.

Today, we’re bringing the 2 pods together – a little like a 60-minute shotgun wedding – because our guest is Geoff Meggs, who, along with Kate Hammer and Mike McDonald, is one of the 3 fantastic people you can listen to weekly at Hotel Pacifico. Geoff is a decades-long political player in B.C. – both as an elected official and senior backroom strategist. He was Chief of Staff to Premier Horgan from 2017 until Horgan’s retirement in 2022. He served 3 terms as a member of Vancouver’s City Council. He was comms director to Premier Glen Clark. Chief of Staff to Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell. And he’s a helluva thinker and writer who contributes regular opinion pieces to our online magazine, “Quotes”.

So, who better to talk about what are pretty massive political shifts, in B.C.?
Drug policy changes.Working people and their relationship with both the NDP and CPC.Horgan’s NDP vs Eby’s NDP vs Singh’s NDP.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.

I’ll just say it: We’d be hard pressed to find a more relevant or newsworthy topic than what we’re going to talk about today. Israel. Hamas. And the war in Gaza. The rise of antisemitism. The protests on college campuses all over North America.

With me to do that is Israeli Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed.

Ambassador Moed has been in the post since August of last year. Immediately prior, he was the Deputy Head of African Affairs for Israel’s Foreign Ministry. And he spent 10 years working in Cyber Security for the Israeli government. So, the bulk of this pod will be spent exploring some of the more, frankly, uncomfortable questions on peoples’ minds.

Why did the war in Gaza have to be fought in this manner? How does it end? How does it help the hostages? (Who’ve been held captive 209 days as of this recording.) What comes next? And what of the response here in Canada and North America. Both from government and in culture.

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.

One of my favourite things about this gig, is the panel conversations we put together here on the pod. I think they’re unique conversations, with a level of experience and depth of thinking all-too rare these days in media.

This series is one of my favourites… The Chiefs are back! Making their 5th appearance here on The Herle Burly, 3 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 CEO and Managing
Partner at McMillan LLP.

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

We struck this panel to discuss the 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, from the POV of what’s possible to deliver in a governing sense. And so today, 7 days after the federal budget and its suite of measures, we’ll do a situation assessment of the government and all the parties. So, all the governing grist you could ever want, packed into the next hour.

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.

Joining me on the pod, are all the policy chops you could ever want. Our own Herle Burly Budget Lock-up! THE policy panel is here making their 4th appearance on the show: Dr. Jennifer Robson, Sean Speer and Tyler Meredith.

I’ll just remind you of their bona fides…

Jennifer has held 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 primary areas of research are at the intersection of household finances and the design and implementation of social policy.

Sean is a former senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Harper. Today, he’s Senior Fellow at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He’s also a Founder and Editor-at-Large at the very excellent, TheHub dot ca.

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.

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.

You know what makes me happy, you curious, you courageous, Herle Burly-ites? Ist “R” is Rum. 2nd “R” is Riders. The 3rd “R” is newer, but just as meaningful to me. It’s having a Returning Guest here on The Herle Burly.

Armine Yalnizyan is here on the pod for a second time! Armine is a leading voice on Canada’s economy. According to Maclean’s Magazine, she’s the Caring Person’s economist. A big picture thinker who looks out for the little guy. The coiner of the term “She-cession”, way back in March 2020, to describe the economic fallout of the pandemic. Armine is currently the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers. Her mission is to bring a workers’ perspective to the public policy development process — and to help all of us make sense of what’s happening in the economy.

Today, we’ll continue our conversation on Canada’s Care Economy. Last week, she published a piece in The Star on Private Equity Firms expanding their interests in Long Term Care. We’ll dive into that. As well as the need for $10/day childcare. Economic insecurity and food security in Canada.

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.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’ve got a Finance Minister in the house. The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance for Ontario, is our guest today.

He earned his Masters of Business Administration from McGill University, and Masters of Political Science from U of T. Prior to politics, he had a long and successful career in business and finance, holding senior roles at CST Consultants, Manulife Financial and TD Securities.

Minister Bethlenfalvy was first elected to the legislature in 2018. In Premier Ford’s first cabinet, he was appointed President of the Treasury Board, and succeeded Rod Phillips in the finance portfolio on the last day of 2020.

And, you may have heard, he’s been in the news lately, releasing the province’s 2024 budget just 8 days ago, “Building a better Ontario”. That’s what we’re talking about today. Broadly, how does Minister Bethlenfalvy and the Ford government plan to deliver on that promise? We’ll talk investments in housing and infrastructure. Economic growth. Clean energy and public services. And more.

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.