It's Political with Althia Raj

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POLITICS
EVERY TWO MONTHS

Probing and insightful conversations with Canada's top political insiders, hosted by Althia Raj. A bi-monthly political podcast from the Toronto Star.

3 DAYS AGO

The federal NDP’s leadership races begins

Things might look dire for the NDP, with the loss of official party status and its seven members not always seeing eye to eye. But at least three individuals — Edmonton MP Heather McPherson, former broadcaster Avi Lewis, and union leader Rob Ashton — have stepped up offering to lead New Democrats to greener pastures. In this episode of “It’s Political,” the Althia Raj sits down with Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau reporter Mark Ramzy for an update on what’s happened to the NDP since election night, the state of the leadership race and the candidates’ offerings so far. Then, Althia sits down with Rob Ashton to explore his leadership vision and where he wants to refocus the NDP. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from Heather McPherson’s website, Avi Lewis’ website, Rob Ashton’s X feed, CTV, CBC, CPAC, Mark Ramzy’s interview tape, and the IATSE 891: Apple Box Talks podcast.

51 min
19 SEPT

How Carney’s government is shaping up

Newly minted Liberal Leader Mark Carney ran on an ambitious platform. He promised quick and bold action. But six months into his tenure as prime minister, what have Canadians witnessed? This week on “It’s Political” we’ll get a variety of viewpoints on how Carney is dealing with Trump, the economy, the environment, among other issues. Then, the Toronto Star’s Ottawa bureau will discuss the challenges this government faces in passing its agenda. Who will be Carney’s dance partner? And how does the NDP’s search for a new leader, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s review play into those considerations? Host Althia Raj is joined by politics reporters Ryan Tumilty and Raisa Patel, and the Star’s deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Alex Ballingall. Also featured on this episode: Mark Warner, Principal at MAAW Law; economist Don Drummond, the Stauffer-Dunning fellow at Queen’s University and a fellow-in-residence at C.D. Howe; and Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC, CBC, CTV and BBC.

48 min
SEASON 4 TRAILER

It's Political returns Friday, September 19

Join Althia Raj and the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau as they get ready to cover a busy and unpredictable fall in Canadian politics.

1 min
13 JUN

Our Defence Minister on threats, bigger budgets, and Canada's new relationship with the U.S.

Canada’s Minister of National Defence David McGuinty joins Althia to discuss increases to the country’s defense budget and what the relationship looks like with the U.S. going forward. Their conversation follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement this week that Canada will greatly increase military spending to 2 per cent of GDP just as NATO allies get together later this month to discuss raising the bar to 5 per cent. We also speak to industry experts about just how integrated the Canadian and American militaries are, and what it would mean to become less reliant on the U.S. In this episode: Minister of National Defence David McGuinty; Centre for International Governance Innovation’s visiting executive and former National Defence director general Raquel Garbers, University of Ottawa associate professor and former bureaucrat Peter Jones; Canadian Global Affairs Institute President and CEO David Perry. Hosted by Althia Raj. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC, CBC, Canadian Press Gallery, C-SPAN, CNN, CTV, CBS, BBC and NATO News.

55 min
30 MAY

The banker and the King: Parliament returns

MPs returned to the House of Commons this week with three leaders missing from the chamber: Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh. But that wasn’t the only difference on Parliament Hill. His Majesty, King Charles III, came to Canada to read Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first throne speech — widely seen as a message to U.S. President Donald Trump and to Canadians about this country’s unflinching sovereignty. On today’s episode of “It’s Political,” the Star’s Ottawa bureau breaks down the latest news from the start of Carney’s first term as an elected prime minister. In this episode: Toronto Star deputy Ottawa bureau chief Alex Ballingall, Ottawa bureau reporter Raisa Patel, Ottawa bureau reporter Mark Ramzy. Hosted by Althia Raj. “It’s Political” is produced by Althia Raj and Kevin. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC and CBC.

40 min
9 MAY

Conservatives on their election loss and what happens now

What are Conservative MPs and candidates thinking as the party regroups after their election loss and charts a path forward? On this week’s show, we ask some of them. But first, Toronto Star reporter Raisa Patel gets us caught up on what happened at the Conservatives’ caucus meeting Tuesday. In this episode: Toronto Star politics reporter Raisa Patel; Greg McLean, MP for Calgary Centre; Bernard Généreux, MP for Côte-du-Sud-Rivière-du-Loup-Kataskomiq-Témiscouata;and Garry Keller, former Conservative candidate for Nipissing-Timiskaming, and vice-president at StrategyCorps. Hosted by Althia Raj. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Kevin Sexton and Althia Raj. Matt Hearn is our sound engineer. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CTV, CPAC, CBC and Michelle Ferriri’s Instagram Account.

1h 4m
2 MAY

Our “recovering partisans” dissect the 2025 election results and what comes next

The federal election results are in. The Liberals have won a fourth term with Mark Carney at the helm, besting Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives but falling just shy of a majority government. While the Tories have much to celebrate, Poilievre’s seat loss in Carleton is a major wrinkle that will impact his party for the next few months and possibly years. The NDP also saw its leader Jagmeet Singh lose his seat. Singh said he would resign on election night after leading the party to the worst electoral result in its history. This week, our panel of recovering partisans weighs in on both of those storylines, as well as the challenge Carney faces and how long this 169-seat minority government can survive. In this episode: Karen Vecchio, the outgoing Conservative MP for Elgin—Middlesex—London; David Christopherson, the former NDP MP for Hamilton Centre; and Rodger Cuzner, the former Liberal MP for Cape Breton—Canso, and now an independent Senator. Hosted by Althia Raj. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Althia Raj and Kevin Sexton. Kevin also mixed this episode. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC, CBC and CTV. Note: At the time of the panel recording, latest figures showed the Liberals at 169 seats. After a validation process, Elections Canada has reported that one of those seats has flipped to the Bloc Québecois. There will be a judicial recount for that seat

53 min
29 APR

Post-election huddle

In this episode: Toronto Star Ottawa deputy bureau chief Alex Ballingall and Ottawa bureau reporters Ryan Tumilty, Raisa Patel and Mark Ramzy. Hosted by Althia Raj. Mark Carney will remain prime minister. On Monday, he led the Liberals to a fourth consecutive term. It was a close two-way race that saw the Liberals underperform their own expectations. The NDP lost official party status and their leader, Jagmeet Singh, announced his intention to resign. The Conservatives made gains in Ontario, with one big exception — their leader, Pierre Poilievre, lost his seat in Carleton. Poilievre signalled on Monday that he had no plans to resign. But can he stay on? Toronto Star Ottawa bureau reporters join host Althia Raj to discuss the 2025 federal election campaign, Monday’s surprising result and what the next weeks and months may look like. This episode of “It’s Political” was produced by Althia Raj and Kevin Sexton. This episode was also mixed by Kevin. Our theme music is by Isaac Joel. Some of the audio clips this week were sourced from CPAC and CBC.

35 min

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Althia Raj

Host

Probing and insightful conversations with Canada's top political insiders, hosted by Althia Raj. A bi-monthly political podcast from the Toronto Star.