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Politics

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Updated 2019-11-26
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Updated 2025-10-29

3d ago

The ‘disruptive’ professor who refuses to be censored

Frances Widdowson was fired from her tenured professorship at a Calgary university after criticizing Black Lives Matter. She has been arrested on other campuses when she tried to engage students in debates about residential schools. Now she’s suing one university for $3 million, alleging it defamed her by accusing her of spreading hate and disinformation. She tells Brian she won’t be stopped because she believes she’s doing what academics are supposed to do: research, question and argue to get at the truth. And she explains why she believes so many professors and universities have betrayed that responsibility by pursuing ideological activism — or worse, by meekly surrendering what they really believe and submitting to woke repression. (Recorded October 7, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 5

Don’t wait up for history’s costliest hypothetical pipeline

It’s another announcement from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. And it’s about the same West Coast pipeline they’ve announced before. This time it’s been designated a project of “national interest.” Still undetermined is whether it’s of interest to investors and shippers. Joining Brian are Chris Varcoe, Postmedia’s western business columnist, and Lorne Gunter, political columnist. They discuss the likelihood of this pipeline ever happening, the battles yet to fight, the eye-watering costs, and the dismaying timeline before it gets done. They discuss Smith’s feats in pushing the Liberals to overturn the last prime minister’s anti-oil dogmas. But given Carney’s costly carbon-capture conditions and other roadblocks, simply declaring “national interest” won’t be enough to make Alberta’s oilpatch great again. (Recorded October 2, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 28

What was B.C.’s David Eby thinking by calling the maddest Canadian election ever?

If you’ve got a majority government with two years left and an unpopular record to defend, calling a snap election might not seem like a great idea. But it did to B.C. Premier David Eby. Brian is joined by B.C. politics columnists Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun) and Les Leyne (Victoria Times-Colonist) to try to find method in Eby’s seeming madness. They consider his scheme to pounce on his rivals’ disarray, with the Conservatives at war over a divisive leader. But they seem to be quickly reconstituting themselves under a new, more popular captain, even as some star NDP candidates step aside. It’s all unfolding amid municipal elections already underway, creating confusion for voters, and leaving British Columbians baffled as to why it’s happening at all. (Recorded September 25, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5d ago

Quebec’s political shake-up: Are the separatists back for good?

Quebec’s 2026 provincial election has reshaped the political landscape, with the CAQ suffering major losses and separatists returning to power. Montreal Gazette political correspondent Phil Authier joins host Dave Breakenridge to explore voter frustration, the possibility of another independence referendum, and whether a minority government can survive beyond its first few months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 7

The death they called an accident: How one niece uncovered the truth

When an elderly woman was found dead in a Quebec seniors’ home, authorities initially ruled her death an accident. But her niece refused to accept that explanation. Montreal Gazette crime reporter joins host Dave Breakenridge to reveal what authorities missed, how the truth was uncovered, and what ultimately happened to the woman’s killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 24

Inside the mainstream media meltdown

Trust in legacy journalism is plummeting, and after years working inside the CBC, Tara Henley has a good idea why. The author of the new book, The Trust Spiral: Why the Media Needs Objectivity, discusses with Brian how broad-mindedness in newsrooms was ruined by the emergence of an urban and elite class of group-thinking journalists combined with a revenue crisis that discouraged the risk of nonconformist perspectives. Making things worse, Henley argues, is that government subsidies have corrupted market signals that could force badly needed discipline on media owners. But the answer isn’t internet outlets that are even more one-sided, she explains: media need to relearn the tools they once used to keep themselves more honest. (Recorded July 10, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 21

It’s showy, it’s insubstantial, but Carney’s EU scheme is slick politics

There’s no such thing as “associate membership” in the European Union and nobody knows what it means, but Prime Minister Mark Carney’s proposal for it has proven to be a dazzling distraction as he flounders in a trade war with the U.S. Brian talks this week with Anand Menon, an EU studies specialist based in England, and Carlo Dade, international policy director at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. Menon details the formidable challenges and hazards of Canada trying to displace North American trade with Europe, and why it probably won’t happen, although he says there is room for improved co-operation. And while Carney’s idea is dubious and of questionable benefit, Dade explains why he thinks we might not have much choice but to try it. (Recorded September 17, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 31

Diversity is not our strength

Things that divide us cannot possibly unite us. That much would seem obvious, but as Étienne-Alexandre Beauregard tells Brian, society has for decades now prioritized hyper-individualism and promoted multiculturalism over communitarianism. And that has been eroding western civilization. Beauregard discusses his new book, Anti-Civilization: The Collapse of Society and the Case for the Common Good. He explains how the desocialization of younger generations and the fetishization of immigration, among other things, are leading to a backlash from people who crave a more collective meaning and identity. And surprisingly, it’s generation Z that seems most determined to rescue us from our decline. (Recorded August 19, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 27

A veteran cop explains what’s really happening inside Canadian policing

As unit commander in the largest homicide squad in the country, Hank Idsinga has seen more than most people would ever want to. He discusses with Brian what it’s really like in blue, the many things that are done right, and the many things done wrong, including the recent exposé of corruption by some Toronto officers. The author of the new book The High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop, Idsinga reveals the vitriolic antisemitism he saw on the force, and discusses the “abysmal” handling of anti-Israel demonstrators in Toronto. He also busts myths about purported low crime rates and politically popular gun bans, and explains how real policing is nothing like those shows on TV. (Recorded July 23, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 10

Canada’s ‘suicidal empathy’ hits its terminal stage

Civilizations die from suicide, not murder, as a famous historian once said. And Canada’s in the process of administering MAID on itself, says author and professor Gad Saad. He discusses his new bestselling book, Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, with Brian. And he explains the fatal flaw of excessive empathy — and how Canada is rapidly succumbing to it. Radical values imposed by our institutions, embodied in the extreme by the last prime minister, frame our history as shameful. They have led us to embrace immigrants who reject us. And they have made us tolerate the intolerant. It’s why Saad says he’s moving out of Canada, although he explains how our government isn’t making it easy for him to leave. (Originally recorded for a Toronto Sun video, June 26, 2026) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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