theBreaker.news Podcast Bob Mackin

For the week of May 26, 2024:

Premier David Eby’s NDP no longer has an insurmountable lead. John Rustad’s Conservatives are poised to become the free enterprise vehicle for voters in October’s election — but are they destined for opposition? Will Kevin Falcon’s B.C. United be in a battle for third-party status with the B.C. Greens? And what about the top three issues on voters’ minds, with 21 weeks to go before voting day?

All of that is discussed in the return of Research Co pollster Mario Canseco. Listen to the full interview on this edition of thePodcast with Bob Mackin.

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

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For the week of May 19, 2024:

Should athletes who were born male be allowed to compete in women’s sports against women? What is more important in sport: inclusivity or safety and a level playing field?

In 2023, World Athletics, the track and field governing body, chose the latter. It banned “male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty.”

On April 30, John Rustad, the leader of the Conservative Party of B.C.,  tabled the Fairness in Women’s and Girls’ Sports Bill in the B.C. Legislature. 

While private member’s bills rarely get passed in B.C.’s whipped Legislature, the governing party rarely stands in the way of a bill’s introduction. That is exactly what Premier David Eby’s NDP majority did, alleging that it was transphobic. 

Guests Linda Blade and Hannah Driedger say Eby is wrong. They join host Bob Mackin to talk about what was in the bill. Blade is a high performance coach and author who advocates for women and girls in sport. Driedger is the communications and research director for the Conservative caucus and she helped draft the bill. 

Listen to the full interview. 

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

For the week of May 5, 2024:

The B.C. NDP government finally revealed that taxpayers could be paying $581 million to host seven FIFA World Cup 26 matches at B.C. Place Stadium. 

The cost has more than doubled due to inflation and FIFA’s requirements to renovate B.C. Place Stadium. 

Tourism and Sport Minister Lana Popham estimated a $1 billion tourism revenue windfall over the five years following the tournament. But one of the world’s top sports economists says that’s wishful thinking. 

Victor Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast. 

Matheson has researched World Cups, Olympics and Super Bowls and found they never live up to the hype from politicians and the boosters reliant on taxpayer subsidies. 

“The biggest single thing that a tourist is going to spend money on in Vancouver in the World Cup is World Cup tickets,” Matheson said. “Of course none of that is going to be re-spent in Vancouver, because all that money goes into the pockets of FIFA who takes it back to Switzerland and divvies it up back there.”

Listen to the full interview on this edition.

Plus, this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. 

CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.