258 episodes

COMMONS is a documentary podcast that proves Canada is anything but boring. Each season, host Arshy Mann guides you through the country’s dark underbelly, bringing you stories about crime, corruption and all manner of misdeeds.
This season will unmask the ever-present war on workers. And the many, many ways that workers have banded together to fight back against it.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

COMMONS Canadaland Politics

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.3 • 69 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

COMMONS is a documentary podcast that proves Canada is anything but boring. Each season, host Arshy Mann guides you through the country’s dark underbelly, bringing you stories about crime, corruption and all manner of misdeeds.
This season will unmask the ever-present war on workers. And the many, many ways that workers have banded together to fight back against it.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    WORK 2 - State of Emergency Rooms

    WORK 2 - State of Emergency Rooms

    Across Canada, emergency rooms have been shutting down, leaving desperate people in the lurch. And at the heart of this health care crisis, is a labour crisis.
    Nurses are leaving their jobs in droves, leaving hospitals understaffed and sometimes unable to carry out their most basic obligations.
    In this episode, we'll tell you how nursing went from a profession hailed as heroic to one in an utter state of crisis, all through the eyes of a woman who lived through it all.
    Featured in this episode: Nadira Ross
    To learn more:
    “How Canadian hospitals became dependent on expensive, out-of-town nurses” by Tu Thanh Ha, Kelly Grant and Stephanie Chambers in The Globe and Mail
    “How nursing staffing agencies are costing Ontario hospitals untold millions” by Mike Crawley in CBC News 
    Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
     
    Additional music from Audio Network
    Sponsors: Douglas, AG1
    If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 
    You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 28 min
    WORK 3 - Bitter Harvest

    WORK 3 - Bitter Harvest

    The creation of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, as it would come to be called, was the first step in a struggle that continues to this day.

    Because even now, farmworkers have far fewer rights than almost any other class of worker. And even today, the men and women who grow our food are subject to horrific working conditions and racial discrimination.

    But to understand why the situation remains so bad, we need to go back in time to a moment when there was progress and hope. A moment when it looked like things might truly change for the better.

    This is the first episode in a two-part series on farm labour.

    Featured in this episode: Raj Chouhan

    To learn more:

    A Time To Rise by Anand Patwardhan & Jim Munro

    Union Zindabad!: South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia by Donna Sacuta, Bailey Garden & Anushay Malik

    “Charan Gill: An ‘Epic’ Life of Advocacy” by David P. Ball in The Tyee

    “1983: The Year BC Citizens and Workers Fought Back” by Rod Mickleburgh in The Tyee

    Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

    Additional music from Audio Network

    WORK 1 - The War on Workers

    WORK 1 - The War on Workers

    Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. 
    The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed. 
    One thing seems clear: workers are getting screwed. 
    This season of COMMONS will dig into the fascinating history and ever-changing present of what it means to be a worker in Canada.  
    Featured in this episode: Jim Stanford
    Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
    Additional music from Audio Network
    Sponsors: Rotman, Douglas, AG1 
    If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 
    You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 32 min
    WORK 1 - The War on Workers

    WORK 1 - The War on Workers

    Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade.

    The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed.

    One thing seems clear: workers are getting screwed.

    This season of COMMONS will dig into the fascinating history and ever-changing present of what it means to be a worker in Canada.

    Featured in this episode: Jim Stanford

    Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

    Additional music from Audio Network

    Introducing our new season… Work

    Introducing our new season… Work

    Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. 
    The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed. 
    One thing seems clear: workers are getting screwed. 
    This season of COMMONS will dig into the fascinating history and ever-changing present of what it means to be a worker in Canada.  
    COMMONS: Work launches on March 20th.
    Canadaland Supporters can listen to all episodes one week early! Become a supporter at canadaland.com/join  


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 2 min
    Introducing our new season… Work

    Introducing our new season… Work

    Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade.

    The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed.

    One thing seems clear: workers are getting screwed.

    This season of COMMONS will dig into the fascinating history and ever-changing present of what it means to be a worker in Canada.

    COMMONS: Work launches on March 20th.

    Canadaland Supporters can listen to all episodes one week early! Become a supporter at canadaland.com/join

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5
69 Ratings

69 Ratings

St.Giroux ,

Excellent journalism, lackluster production

This season on corruption features the excellent investigative reporting I’ve come to expect from Canadaland and its affiliated shows, however, elements of the production make Commons an aggravating listening experience. Audio packages and soundbites fluctuate from inaudibly quiet (see: Barack Obama in the first minutes of episode 3; many of the bed music interludes), to in-the-red loud at other moments. In one single segment, around 20:00mins in ep. 3, host Arshy Mann’s voice goes from too-quiet to too-loud with no interlude. It’s a fantastic show, but the listening experience both in headphones and external speakers, is poor.

edge8880 ,

Wannabe Woke

Trying way to hard to be “woke” and only catering to the racial narrative

hangel11 ,

Laziest journalism ever

Decent narration but you do an episode on fighting in hockey and you choose to rehash the Derek Boogard story?? I believe this case has been well covered, no? A writer for the NY Times wrote a mediocre book about it that was a bestseller. This is a polarizing and exhaustive topic, and one that deserves to be treated with care.
Instead we get the one story everybody has heard already. I think the topic, and your audience deserves better. Way to phone it in.
Why don’t go out on a limb and cover the Theranos story next episode?

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