The Swing

Pendulum Group

Pendulum's, The Swing, delivers Canadian political analysis for a global audience. Whether it's current affairs, global developments, or political shifts, you'll find expert perspectives, balanced dialogue, and the context you need to stay informed. Tune in for a smarter take on today's biggest issues. Pendulum Group and special guests keep you up to date on current topics and issues.

  1. Weaponizing Hate: Gendered Disinformation Attacks on Social Infrastructure

    May 14

    Weaponizing Hate: Gendered Disinformation Attacks on Social Infrastructure

    Gendered disinformation is both a sophisticated weapon and a blunt-force tool of hybrid warfare that is being used to silence women. It is a threat to collective security -- and democracies are paying the price. In this episode of The Swing, host Heather Bakken is joined by three leading experts to unpack one of the most urgent and underexamined threats to democratic participation. Dr. Janos Botschner is a behavioural scientist and public safety leader. Dr. Mateusz Łabuz is a cybersecurity researcher specializing in AI-driven disinformation and cognitive warfare. And Professor Jennifer Irish is a Principal at Pendulum Group's Geopolitical Strategic Advisory and Lead of the Information Integrity Practice. The panel examines how AI is supercharging gendered attacks by making them more scalable, more believable, and more damaging. The chilling effect and harm it causes is a fundamental threat to all citizens, communities and society. Synthetic pornography and coordinated harassment campaigns have real-world consequences: PTSD and mental health impacts that harm well being and productivity, the chilling effect on who chooses to enter politics, public leadership, or journalism, and the permission structures that allow misogyny to proliferate across platforms and cross from the digital world into physical threat. These experts tackle hard questions: how state and non-state actors are actively exploiting gendered disinformation as a geopolitical tool, where legal frameworks and platform accountability are failing, and what a whole-of-society response actually looks like. This is not just a conversation about online abuse. It's a conversation about who gets to participate in democracy and who is being systematically pushed out. The call to action is stronger platform accountability, updated criminal codes, digital literacy education, and coordinated institutional support. Broader Bios: Prof. Jennifer Irish is a principal at Pendulum's Geopolitical team and the Information Integrity practice lead. She is an accomplished former Canadian diplomat and senior international and national security executive, currently serving as an Associate at University of Ottawa’s Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership, where she directs its security and intelligence programming. Her work advances the understanding, analysis and mitigation of disinformation, misinformation and foreign influence operations. Dr. Mateusz Łabuz is the head of "International Cybersecurity" project at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), You can learn more about NCII and 'deep fakes' through his report: Non Consensual Sexualizing Deepfakes - Threats and Recommendations for Legal & Societal Action. Dr. Janos Botschner is Principal of HumInsight and a Senior Associate with the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA). He has presented aspects of this work globally, and continues to be active in this area. Janos and CSKA recently led a major initiative focusing on gendered disinformation in collaboration with Sapper Labs Group, Actua and others. Learn more here: Tackling Online Gendered Disinformation: New Canadian Research and Resources Special thanks to our audio engineer, Paul MacInnis.

    39 min
  2. Powering Canada: Can Energy Ambition Overcome Regulatory Reality?

    Apr 25

    Powering Canada: Can Energy Ambition Overcome Regulatory Reality?

    Prime Minister Mark Carney's office announced it will hold the first Canada Investment Summit in September. In this episode of The Swing, Pendulum examines whether Canada can turn its vast energy wealth into a competitive advantage in an increasingly power-hungry world. Host Heather Bakken is joined by industry leaders Lorena Patterson, President and CEO of Water Power Canada; Leah Lawrence, Corporate Director and President of Clean Energy Capitalists; and Cam McAlpine, Principal at Pendulum. Canada is simultaneously one of the most resource-rich and one of the most regulatory-constrained countries in the developed world. Slow permitting, fragmented federal-provincial governance, and complex consultation processes are creating uncertainty that deters investment, even as global demand for energy surges. This conversation takes electrification beyond the grid to a broader human and economic story where more of life is being powered, monitored, stored, and optimized through electricity that includes everything from phones, watches, rings, and cloud-based memory to organizations, industrial equipment, and critical infrastructure that are increasingly monitored in real time. Unlocking Canada’s energy potential requires more than policy tweaks. In the race for AI data centers and industrial reshoring, it demands political will, coordinated governance, and a shift in how Canadians understand energy as a foundation of economic sovereignty and national strategy that can unleash future prosperity and security. Check out Lorena's opinion piece in the Financial Post for more insights on large-scale hydroelectricity: Canada’s hydro power problem is all the barriers blocking it | Financial Post Special thanks to our audio engineer, Paul MacInnis, aka "the guy",

    23 min

About

Pendulum's, The Swing, delivers Canadian political analysis for a global audience. Whether it's current affairs, global developments, or political shifts, you'll find expert perspectives, balanced dialogue, and the context you need to stay informed. Tune in for a smarter take on today's biggest issues. Pendulum Group and special guests keep you up to date on current topics and issues.