On Background iPolitics

We go On Background with Dan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer at Pollara Strategic Insights and former Director of Research, Advertising, & Correspondence to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to unpack Canadians’ endless obsession with the spectacle of American politics. With the 2024 U.S.election cycle promising to be no different, Dan and Fred discuss Canadians’ views on Donald Trump and consider how the outcomes have the potential to affect the next Canadian federal election.



This episode is brought to you by the Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications (FETCO).

We go On Background with Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and most importantly for this episode, the Member of Parliament for Central Nova. After almost a decade removed from opposing campaigns to represent their home riding, Fred and Minister Fraser reminisce on their political journeys and how their paths have been shaped by their humble beginnings in rural Nova Scotia. Not to be forgotten, they also discuss Fraser's first year as the Minister responsible for housing policy, a major focus of the recent Federal Budget.   

We go On Background with Greg MacEachern, Principal and Founder of KAN Strategies. Greg and Fred, both proud St. Francis Xavier University alumni, reminisce on the late Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, sharing stories of his impact on their lives and others to his transformative policies that shaped the Canada we know today. From his time at StFX to his tenure as Prime Minister, Mulroney left an indelible mark on Canadian politics, leaving behind a legacy that continues to reverberate today across partisan lines.

We go on On Background with Tyler Meredith, former Economic Advisor to PM Trudeau and the Deputy PM and Minister of Finance, now a Founding Partner at Meredith Boessenkool Policy Advisors, and Laura Kurkimaki, former Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition, and now a Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies. How are budgets made? There are surely stakeholder consultations and input from experts in policy and economics, but eventually they will need to align with a political agenda. Fred, Tyler, and Laura dive deep into the dynamics of making and selling a budget, unpacking the internal politics and process within government, and how lobbyists can navigate these waters to make their case for funding.

We go On Background with Daniel Lauzon, former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of Communications to the Liberal Party of Canada, and now Senior Director for Public Affairs and Policy (International) at CAE. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the geopolitical climate around the world has continued to rapidly evolve with Canada facing an imperative moment to define our position in the world. How do governments balance the politics of establishing our international position as well as prolonged military spending at times when Canadians aren’t pushing them to do more, facing economic anxiety about their finances at home?

We go On Background with Kady O'Malley, journalist at iPolitics, and parliamentary procedure expert to dissect opposition obstruction tactics and how they are being used to derail the Liberal government's legislative agenda. Fred and Kady explore tactics being used by the Conservative opposition and muse on what a potentially doomed future for the Liberal-NDP agreement could mean.