Full Comment

There’s plenty of awful things to say about Canada’s abusive residential school system. But last summer, the nation was gripped by reports that “mass graves” of children were discovered at some school sites. What you can’t say, apparently, is that those reports were mistaken and that nothing new was really discovered last year, as veteran journalist and author Terry Glavin established with his meticulously reported recent National Post feature reviewing what actually happened. Glavin joins Anthony to talk about the attacks he’s faced for reporting truths people didn’t want to hear. And about how journalistic negligence, political opportunism and white guilt-tripping hijacked what First Nations have really been saying. (Recorded June 23, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada recently ranked in the world for air travel delays. Flights are being cancelled by the thousands, flyers face hours-long lineups and planes sit stranded on the tarmac. Duncan Dee, former chief operating officer of Air Canada, saw this disaster coming months ago and sounded the alarm to anyone who would listen. But, as he tells Anthony in this week’s episode, federal politicians and bureaucrats ignored obvious warning signs pointing to a summer of misery, chaos and billions of dollars in tourist losses. Now, even with airports in full meltdown mode, Dee sees Ottawa refusing to take critical steps to start fixing it. (Recorded July 7, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People are angry. Justin Trudeau has betrayed the middle class in particular, and made us all poorer for it. How Conservatives respond to this populist moment can elevate them to Canada’s party of choice or it could kill them, says Tasha Kheiriddin, author of the new book The Right Path: How Conservatives can unite, inspire and take Canada forward. The good news? Tories don’t need to become Liberal-lite to win over young, urban or immigrant groups looking for an alternative to the Liberal-NDP duo, says Kheiriddin. In fact, after the damage of the last six years, she says, the country has never needed genuine conservatives more. (Recorded June 23, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When infections inevitably start rising soon, expect pressure on provinces to start locking down again. But Danielle Smith tells Anthony there will be no such thing ever again in Alberta if she’s in charge. Smith, the former Wildrose party leader now running for leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party and premier, explains why her first order of business will be breaking the province’s toxic relationship with Ottawa. And why that means no longer following national directions on pandemic policy while outright rejecting federal laws that hurt Alberta’s people and industry — even at the risk of a constitutional crisis. (Recorded June 23, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the many bewildering things about the recent Freedom Convoy is how little agreement exists about the basic facts of what actually happened. Andrew Lawton was embedded inside the convoy and spent many hours interviewing its organizers. He joins Anthony to talk about his new book, The Freedom Convoy: The Inside Story of Three Weeks That Shook the World (Sutherland House press, available everywhere June 24). He discusses how it all really started, the tensions among convoy organizers, and battles against misinformation from politicians and media that all led up to the prime minister invoking the historic Emergencies Act. (Recorded June 9, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a ‘cynical trick’ being played with gun politics in Canada, says Gary Mauser, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on gun control. By exploiting American shootings to layer on yet more regulations for Canadian hunters, farmers and sport shooters, the prime minister is taking advantage of the ignorance of his supporters, Mauser tells Anthony in this week’s episode. And while more Canadians are clueing in to the reality that Ottawa’s latest gun-control proposals aim at the wrong target, they’d be surprised to learn how little the government is doing to address the real problem of firearms smuggled in illegally from the U.S. (Recorded June 9 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For someone who’s spent his career in politics, Conservative MP and leadership candidate Scott Aitchison doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about politicians. He thinks elected leaders today are all about stoking division to bump their popularity with their base, as he tells Anthony in this latest instalment of Full Comment’s discussions with federal Conservative leadership candidates. The result, Aitchison says, is that real people and concerns are being ignored in favour of cheap political wins, making us all a lot angrier. And, as he explains, he’s running for party leader because he’s determined to fix it. (Recorded May 26, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ontario endured strict and lengthy pandemic lockdowns, especially compared to Alberta’s much lighter touch. But conservative voters seem ready to reward Doug Ford’s Ontario PCs with re-election while, out west, angry conservatives in Alberta have driven their premier from office. Hamish Marshall, a former national Conservative campaign manager, joins Anthony this week to discuss how Ontario’s political culture has shifted since COVID and how Ford — unlike Kenney — has captured the conservative mood in his province, all while stealing traditional supporters of the Liberals and NDP. (Recorded May 26, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Sonu Gaind is a supporter of “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) for those suffering profoundly with terminal illnesses. He’s even the physician chair of the MAID team at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital, where he’s chief of psychiatry. But he’s grown alarmed since Canada stopped requiring a reasonably foreseeable death for euthanasia, as he tells Anthony in this week’s episode. People who are poor, lonely or battling mental illnesses, who’s lives might get better with help, are being offered a lethal injection instead. And children could be next. What once threatened to be euthanasia’s slippery slope, says Gaind, has turned out to be a cliff. (Recorded May 12, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one wants to take the blame for Canada's soaring inflation rate. Not the Bank of Canada. And not the government. But the problem was clearly exacerbated by policy-makers in Ottawa who kept pumping gargantuan inflationary stimulus into the economy well after the pandemic recovery had begun, as Ian Lee discusses with Anthony on this week's episode. Canadians will pay a steep price in unintended consequences, says Lee, associate professor at Carleton's Sprott School of Business. Young people especially will have more reasons to feel shafted, he says. And it's all very likely to get worse before it gets better. (Recorded May 12, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voters around the world are saying they’re angry. They’re unhappy that the promise of upward mobility is over and they’re frustrated that government policies animated by elitist values keep making life harder for the middle and working classes, as Joel Kotkin tells Anthony this week. Younger voters around the world are already flocking to more extremist solutions after feeling abandoned by the establishment, explains Kotkin, a noted authority on global, economic, political and social trends, from California’s Chapman University. It’s all creating a powerful political volcano, he says, and the explosion won’t be pleasant. (Recorded April 28, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal Liberals probably never predicted that their efforts at internet regulation would see Silicon Valley comparing them to regimes in Iran, China and North Korea, but here we are. Website blocking, government-ordered takedowns and regulating YouTubers are just some of the alarming ideas coming out of Ottawa recently. Michael Geist, professor of internet law at the University of Ottawa, joins Anthony this week to talk about the dangers these approaches pose to speech rights and other Canadian freedoms, and why the Liberals seem so intent on putting government controls on the online world. (Recorded April 28, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After fleeing the Soviet Union and building a life in Canada, Roman Baber believes deeply in upholding democracy and freedom, as he tells Anthony in this latest instalment of Full Comment’s discussions with federal Conservative leadership candidates. In fact, Baber’s opposition to Ontario’s drastic government lockdown restrictions got him kicked out of Doug Ford’s PC caucus. Baber explains why he believes Canadians’ rights and liberal institutions are steadily being undermined by government control, anti-freedom ideology and censorship. And why he believes he can unite the federal Conservative party to lead the fight for rights — and win. (Recorded April 14, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Votes are now being cast to decide the fate of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. A rebellion largely over COVID policies has triggered a review of his leadership and his rivals are openly gunning for him. It’s a reckoning that other provinces aren’t having — but maybe they should. Alberta political strategist Evan Menzies joins Anthony to break down all the drama. Menzies, who has worked with both Kenney’s United Conservative Party and Alberta’s Wildrose Party, also gets into the forces at play that could deliver a democratic eye-opener to Kenney’s adversaries. (Recorded April 14, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Movie stars used to seem so cool. But when Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the Academy Awards over a joke, and then later got a standing ovation for his Oscar win, people in the real world were appalled. Somehow today’s cossetted movie millionaires seem much more cringe than classy, as celebrity watcher, talk-show host and media personality Shaun Proulx discusses with Anthony in this week’s episode. Proulx explains how thin-skinned celebrities and Hollywood cancel culture are losing in a competition against a new breed of stars who are being born every day on TikTok and YouTube. (Recorded March 31, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things in Russia have usually gone Vladimir Putin’s way. He has consolidated power, eliminated rivals, stamped out independent media and remains popular despite immense corruption and an economy in shambles. Marcus Kolga — who was recently ordered banned from Russia over his connections to Putin’s democratic opponents — joins Anthony this week to explain how things have suddenly gone seriously awry for the Russian president with his ill-conceived attack on Ukraine. As the war drags on, even Russians themselves could be losing faith in their supposedly great leader, says Kolga, a senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. And Putin’s iron grip on power may already be slipping (Recorded March 31, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Liberal-NDP "supply and confidence" agreement will have longstanding ramifications for Canada beyond just the policies these two parties plan to enact. Yes, we may get free dental care -- but it could also come with the effective end of what's known as responsible government, as Howard Anglin explains to the Anthony Furey in this week's episode. Anglin, a lawyer who worked in the offices of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, breaks down how Canadians may no longer get the effective scrutiny and opposition that is supposed to be a hallmark of our system of governance. It could also mean the normalization of coalition governments in the years forward. (Recorded March 24, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few things have changed since Leslyn Lewis ran for federal Conservative leader in 2020 with an unexpectedly strong campaign. While government spending, debt and hostility to the West and Canada’s resources have only gotten worse she says, the Liberal government’s questionable use of the Emergencies Act, the undermining of democratic institutions, and the threat to freedoms have since become key issues for her. Lewis joins Anthony this week to explain why she thinks her socially conservative positions will appeal to a broader base of Canadians than many people expect and why she believes she stands an even better chance at winning the leadership this time around. (Recorded March 17, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 20 years of housing bubble-blowing, the thought of ever owning a home now seems virtually impossible for legions of younger Canadians. But there are reasons to take heart, as Garry Marr tells Anthony in this week’s episode. Marr, a journalist who has covered Canadian real estate for decades, details how government policies have continued to inflate housing prices in Canada’s biggest cities, frustrating the ownership dreams of younger generations while older generations gut their retirement savings to help out their kids. It can’t go on like this. Marr explains how markets and mentalities are finally starting to shift in ways that could make home ownership for young families realistic again. (Recorded March 4, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canadian journalist Neil Hauer is on the ground in Ukraine living through a Russian invasion. He was in Kyiv as cruise missiles rained down and heard the gunfire as special forces advanced on the city. He joins Anthony from Lviv, Ukraine to describe what it’s really like on the ground in a country in the midst of an invasion, how Ukrainians have been trying to fight back, and some of the unexpected problems that have hampered Moscow’s plans so far. Hauer, who specializes in reporting on Eastern Europe, also discusses the harrowing nuclear threat and the dangerous possibilities of what could happen if Vladimir Putin starts to feel cornered. (Recorded March 3, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada’s former chief of the defence staff Tom Lawson joins Anthony this week to discuss why NATO countries are watching Russia’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine with caution, and why a confrontation between western troops and Russian forces is a serious escalation that neither side should want. Lawson, who was also formerly deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, also talks about why this is an important moment for Canada to take stock of its own military capabilities as we contemplate what could be “the end of a remarkable period of peace.” (Recorded February 24, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Emergencies Act invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has never been used before — and for good reason. The law that replaced the War Measures Act is so powerful, it was essentially designed to be unusable, as constitutional lawyer Ryan Alford discusses with Anthony in this week’s episode. Alford, author of the book Permanent State of Emergency, details the alarming breadth of the act’s powers, its incompatibility with the constitution, its use to target certain political viewpoints, and why its use could foreshadow an even graver expansion of state authority. (Recorded February 17, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As other federal Conservatives distance themselves from the Freedom Convoy they once backed, Pierre Poilievre joins Anthony to declare his continued support for the movement. The first declared candidate for the federal Conservative leadership race explains why he thinks government overreach during the pandemic, and too much government meddling everywhere else, has made life harder, less affordable and less promising for Canadians. And he discusses how, if he becomes prime minister, he intends to fix it with more freedom. (Recorded February 10, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First they were portrayed as a small, ignorable fringe. Then they were portrayed as dangerous hooligans with “unacceptable” views. But once the trucker convoy rolled into Ottawa it defied expectations about the size and scope of Canadians fed up with government pandemic overreach. Rupa Subramanya, a columnist for the National Post, lives in downtown Ottawa and has been walking the city’s streets and talking with protestors. She joins Anthony this week to discuss what’s really happening on the ground in the nation’s capital, why it doesn’t fit the predictable narratives, and why so many Canadians see in the protests a version of their own ordinary frustrations. (Recorded February 3, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olympic medallist and world champion figure skater Elvis Stojko joins Anthony this week to talk about what the last two years have been like for elite athletes as they’ve been restricted from their normal training routines, missed out on competitions, and had to struggle with the possible impacts on their performance from either getting COVID or getting vaccinated. All of this has happened, meanwhile, on top of the problems and uncertainty surrounding the 2022 Games in Beijing and calls for boycotts over China’s crimes against humanity. Stojko discusses the serious toll it’s all taking on athletes, how he tries to help them through it, and why it won’t be an easy recovery. (Recorded January 20, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 crisis has presented a minefield of bioethical questions, which Canadian policy-makers have largely stomped all over. It’s not just the damage of lockdowns, the treatment of children, demonizing the unvaxxed, and the privacy invasions. It’s also the callous disregard for anything happening beyond Canada’s borders. Bioethicist Dr. Kerry Bowman joins Anthony this week to discuss the problems created by neglecting bioethical considerations during the pandemic. And why he’s worried that doing so may have changed the very fabric of Canadian society for the worse. (Recorded January 20, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He served jail time in Mississippi for defying racial segregation laws. He was there at the founding the NDP. And he once believed that private property was a crime. But Michael Audain has come a long way since then, becoming one of the most successful players in B.C.’s torrid housing sector. And he’s made a massive fortune — his foundation recently gave $100 million to the Vancouver Art Gallery — from a market he used to denounce. The founder of Polygon Homes joins Anthony to discuss his eventful life, his (mostly) changed beliefs, and his new memoir One Man In His Time. (Recorded January 6, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re the safest we’ve ever been from COVID: The vast majority of us are vaccinated and the highest-risk people have boosters. The virus has mutated into its mildest version ever. Yet, in Canada, governments are once again closing schools, locking down businesses and deploying the same fearful, knee-jerk responses they’ve always used. Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, a frontline infectious diseases specialist at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ont., joins Anthony this week to explain why it’s time to declare an end to these needless lockdowns — and to start moving towards a post-pandemic mindset, where COVID stops being the primary focus of everything we do. (Recorded January 6, 2022.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

McGill University scientist Patanjali Kambhampati is on the cutting edge of laser research, but government funders refuse to support him — simply because he doesn’t believe in “diversity, equity and inclusion.” As a minority who has experienced racism himself, Kambhampati joins Anthony to discuss why he believes science is a true meritocracy, and why critical scientific advancements rely on people demonstrating their abilities, not their race, religion or gender identity. Kambhampati also explains why so many scientists who agree with him are afraid to speak out — and what’s at stake if science doesn’t take a stand against social-justice engineering. (Recorded December 9, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada’s reaction to the new COVID-19 variant suggests we haven’t yet learned from our past mistakes, Dr. Neil Rau tells Anthony in this episode of Full Comment. The flight bans to stop Omicron will prove pointless, explains Rau, an infectious-diseases expert and medical microbiologist in Toronto. Meanwhile, officials’ outdated attitudes about case counts, PCR tests, vaccinations and restrictions threaten a “tsunami of quarantine.” Eventually, Canadians will have to get a more realistic perspective on a virus that will simply keep mutating, Rau says — and it’ll be better for us all if we get there sooner, rather than later. (Recorded December 9, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Desperate to get out of the pandemic, Canadians have rushed to give up their privacy. We offer our sensitive digital health information to go out in public. Contact tracing, COVID-19 apps and QR codes trace our movements. Meanwhile, we’re building an information network that can give governments vast surveillance powers that remain long after the pandemic, says privacy expert Ann Cavoukian. The former Ontario privacy commissioner, and author of Privacy by Design, joins Anthony this week to explain why she’s alarmed by this zero-sum arrangement that trades privacy for health security. And she explains how we can keep public health without creating a permanent digital surveillance state — but only if we demand it. (Recorded November 25, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s something funny about the attempts by woke warriors to cancel “problematic” comedians like Louis C.K. and Dave Chapelle — because it never works. Legendary comedy-club impresario Mark Breslin joins Anthony this week to tell stories about the comic wars he’s been through since he opened his first Yuk Yuk’s in 1976. And he explains why the scolds who try to take the laughs out stand-up shows always end up bombing, and why today’s woke, wet blankets are just as likely to end up laughed off the stage. (Recorded November 25, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

North American elites wish we were all a bit more European. From work-life balance to climate progressivism, Europeans seem to embody the paragon of sophistication that liberals dream of. In real life, however, Europe is a mess. Outside its fashionable capitals lie sprawling impoverished suburbs. Unemployment haunts millions of unassimilated immigrants. Europe’s business innovation is lagging, its workers are less productive, and its energy costs are punitive. David Harsanyi, author of a new book, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent, joins Anthony to explain why we should stop trying to emulate Europe, and instead celebrate the freedom, work ethic and assimilationist ideas that have worked so well on this side of the Atlantic. (Recorded November 10, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal for the Washington Post in 1972. Since then, Woodward has written books about presidents Nixon, Clinton, Obama, Trump, and both president Bushes. His latest book, Peril, is about the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, and the tumultuous transition from Trump to President Joe Biden. Woodward is the speaker this year at the Audi Innovation Series in Canada (that talk will be released Nov. 17 by Audi via Twitter and Facebook). But first, Woodward sat down with Anthony to discuss the serious troubles facing the Biden presidency, Trump’s plans to run again in 2024, the Steele Dossier fiasco, and what it means for the state of American journalism today. (Recorded Nov. 10, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canada might never fully solve the pandemic problem until we understand why some people are so resistant to getting the vaccine. That means actually sitting down and talking to people who aren’t typical anti-vaxxers but are suddenly opting to lose their jobs rather than roll up their sleeves for a COVID shot. Anita Davis is one of those people. After 30 years as a nurse, she was just terminated from a health-care system already starved for staff because she isn’t comfortable getting the COVID vaccines right now. She joins Anthony to explain why she felt so strongly about her decision and what we can learn from someone who would sacrifice a decades-long career over vaccine choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The concept of the “citizen” is found rarely throughout human history, and those lucky enough to have it must guard it jealously. It is one of the most cherished ideals of our liberal, democratic societies. But the forces of globalization and progressivism, and the elites who benefit from them, are working to erode it. Victor Davis Hanson is a prominent American intellectual, a scholar of ancient Greece and military history, and a prolific commentator on contemporary U.S. politics. He joins Anthony to discuss his new book, The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America. (Recorded October 21, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beijing’s threats to invade Taiwan are getting serious. Military tensions are ramping up. And a war — perhaps even a Third World War — is not out of the question. It could even be inevitable. Scott Simon, co-chair of Taiwan studies at the University of Ottawa, joins Anthony to explain why he thinks Xi Jinping’s China today looks a lot like Hitler’s Germany in 1938, bullying the world to appease its territorial demands before it moves towards even more aggressive expansion. And, he says, unless Canada and the West start demonstrating more strength, we will be falling right into China’s trap. (Recorded October 21, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He became famous for refusing to back down to animal-rights protestors picketing his meat-focused Toronto restaurant, defiantly butchering and eating a leg of deer in front of them in 2018. But the climate for Michael Hunter's Antler restaurant, and for wild-game enthusiasts, remains hostile. He joins Anthony this week to discuss the devastation to restaurants caused by government pandemic policies, the suddenly soaring cost of food, and why he thinks that, despite the growing movement to get us all eating plant-based synthetic products, people are loving wild food — including game meat — more than ever. (Recorded October 13, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After their latest election loss, Canada’s Conservatives are discovering that they simply don’t have what Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney once relied on to win federal elections. And Erin O’Toole’s shape-shifting, from a hard-right leadership candidate to a Liberal-lite campaigner, clearly didn’t prove to be the path to victory. Tasha Kheiriddin, national politics columnist for Postmedia, joins Anthony to discuss how the Tories are missing opportunities to connect with many voters naturally inclined to support a conservative vision for Canada. And the dangers that lie ahead for the party if it doesn’t learn the right lessons, fast. (Recorded October 6, 2021) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Housing prices keep soaring. Inflation is hot again. Even the upper middle class is struggling to keep up. Today, life in Canada is becoming harder than living elsewhere. Meanwhile, governments keep making matters worse by pumping out money, raising taxes and creating energy crises, while pushing elaborate economic transitions. Martin Pelletier, portfolio manager at Wellington-Altus Private Counsel, joins Anthony to discuss what we all need to know about the biggest risks to Canadians’ financial security, how we can prepare for them, and how we might even prevent some of them. (Recorded September 30, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The People’s Party of Canada didn’t elect any MPs in Canada’s recent federal vote, but its platform opposing vaccine passports and promoting free markets and reduced immigration got nearly a million votes, roughly tripling the PPC’s support over its 2019 debut at the polls. Bernier was excluded from the leaders’ TV debates and his party was hammered with negative coverage during the campaign for its anti-mask stance and for attracting certain unsavoury characters (one since-removed party official threw gravel at Justin Trudeau) — yet it still managed to double the vote share of the Greens. Bernier joins Anthony to explain why he thinks his party is much more than a protest against repressive pandemic policies. And why, thanks to the softening of the federal Conservatives and the advantages his party has earned after reaching five-per-cent support, he’s confident the PPC will be even stronger next time around. (Recorded September 24, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Bergen was the first journalist to produce a TV interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997, where the terrorist leader first declared war on America. In his reporting from Afghanistan since the ’90s, Bergen witnessed how the Taliban-controlled country became a safe haven for bin Laden’s al-Qaida and for global terrorism. Now, 20 years after 9/11, the Biden administration has surrendered Afghanistan to Taliban rule once again. And Bergen, author of the new book The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden, joins Anthony to explain the danger the world now faces as terrorists return to their former base in Afghanistan — to train, organize and kindle a new wave of global violent jihadism. (Recorded Sept. 16, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With his journey to a majority government hitting the rocks, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is ditching his sunny ways and doing all he can to spook swing voters away from the Conservatives and frighten NDP voters into saving his Liberals from a split vote. He’s warning that Tory Leader Erin O’Toole will ban abortion, empower anti-vaxxers, and open the floodgates to more assault weapons, climate change and privatized health care. John Ivison, National Post Ottawa bureau chief and columnist for Postmedia, joins Anthony to discuss what he has witnessed on the leaders’ campaign tours, and why the Liberals’ scare tactics are more desperate, possibly dangerous, and seemingly less effective than they were last time. (Recorded September 9, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The majority of Canadians have been clamouring for vaccine passports as a way to make them feel safer about COVID-19. But while feeling safe isn’t the same as actually being safe, politicians are rushing ahead with these polarizing policies anyway. Christine Van Geyn, litigation director at The Canadian Constitution Foundation, talks to Anthony about why passport policies probably won’t work, but they will likely cause serious harm both to individuals and to our society. (Recorded September 2, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, Mark Norman was in line to be Canada’s next chief of defence staff — until he was accused of and criminally charged with leaking government secrets. It was an accusation that was widely seen as a political witch-hunt by the Liberal government, and the House of Commons eventually offered an all-party apology for it when the charges were dropped. Had that not happened, the retired vice-admiral and former vice-chief of the defence staff would have very likely been in charge of the Canadian Forces today. In this exclusive one-on-one interview, Norman joins Anthony to discuss the shocking Afghanistan evacuation, the threats facing Canada now, military sexual misconduct scandals, and the serious identity crisis he sees in the Canadian Forces now. (Recorded on August 4 and 20, 2021) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole takes a break from the campaign trail for an exclusive one-on-one conversation with Anthony to discuss Ottawa abandoning Canada’s allies to the Taliban, and how Conservatives, if elected, will offer a more serious foreign policy, particularly when it comes to China. O’Toole also explains why he believes the Liberals under Justin Trudeau are fumbling the economic recovery from COVID; why monetary policy is something a prime minister actually should think about; and why he thinks a Conservative government can help heal the alienation and anger that has created dangerous divisions in Canada over the last few years. (Recorded August 19, 2021) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Description: Separatism is rising in the West. Federal leaders wield fear to win power. Division and dirty politics are only getting worse. And all indications are that this election could intensify distress and disunity. Preston Manning, founder of the populist Reform and Canadian Alliance parties, joins Anthony to discuss the threat to Canada if politicians continue to perpetuate the problems that are fracturing the nation. And he explains how populism, done right, could actually be a force for good in Canadian politics. (Recorded August 3, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood’s box-office formula is infected with COVID. The pandemic got audiences more used to streaming at home, instead of heading out for a pricey night at the theatre. And it doesn’t look like they’ll be racing back to the cineplex soon just for more played-out superhero sequels, pretentious dramas or preachy woke films. Mark Daniell. Entertainment editor at Postmedia, joins Anthony to talk about the way show business has had to rewrite its recipe over the last 18 months. And how Hollywood will need to work a lot harder if it wants to get regular people going out to the movies again. (Recorded August 3, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Negativity seems to be the only thing we hear from media and public officials about the virus: An endless narrative of more fear, more warnings and more waves. Throughout the pandemic, Canada has acted entirely out of proportion to the problem. And now we’re being warned that, with the Delta variant, the worst may still be to come, while rare “breakthrough” infections are played up for scary headlines. Infectious disease specialist Martha Fulford joins Anthony to discuss why it’s time to accept that the vaccines have defanged the virus, to stop being terrified, and to move on with our lives. (Recorded July 21, 2021.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s obvious: the Trudeau Liberals are prepping to call an election, apparently confident they can cruise to another victory. But Jenni Byrne knows polls and pundits have been wrong before — very wrong. Byrne was a key manager in national campaigns for Stephen Harper during his years leading the Conservatives to power from 2006 to 2015. She joins Anthony to explain why Erin O’Toole’s Conservative campaign may turn out better than the conventional wisdom believes, and why no one should assume anymore that Justin Trudeau simply can’t be stopped. (Recorded July 21, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices