Western Context

Canada and India’s relationship tumbles even further, Alberta explores the idea of a provincial pension plan, and Canada helps Romania build more CANDU reactors. Also, the Trudeau cabinet spends $275k on an inflation summit.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“It was really important for me to get that kind of direct fingertip feel of what is happening with the Canadian economy and what Canadians are feeling.” – Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on the importance of the cabinet’s inflation summit in September 2022.

Duration: 46:12
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Hardeep Singh Nijjar
• Support us on Patreon
• Alberta Pension Plan
• Canada signs $3-billion deal to finance nuclear power in Romania
• Cabinet Billed Over $275,000 in Expenses for 2022 Inflation Summit
• Word of the Week: Assassination

The Bank of Canada raises interest rates again, a conference on LNG takes place in Vancouver, and Edmonton’s mayor pleads for bail reform. Also, Toronto’s new mayor Olivia Chow was helped by pro-China groups.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“We don’t live in a bubble here on the West Coast. What happens in Asia happens to us. We must work with Asian countries to help them reduce their GHG emissions while we build our own decarbonized economy. This means providing them with low to zero-carbon alternatives to the energy they currently depend upon.” – Haisla First Nation Chief Crystal Smith on the need to develop Canadian LNG projects.

Duration: 1:03:02
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Bank of Canada raises its key interest rate to 5%
• Support us on Patreon
• Alberta and B.C. in talks to expand Canadian LNG reach globally, Danielle Smith says
• Edmonton mayor pleads for ‘immediate action’ on bail reform after stabbing death at LRT station
• Pro-Beijing groups claim credit for helping Olivia Chow win Toronto mayoralty. She says she was unaware
• Word of the Week: Conference

Google responds to Bill C-18 by blocking some Canadians from accessing news, Alberta’s inflation slows as prices rise, and BC’s potential provincial police force is on the backburner. Also, we now know of at least 1 MP allegedly compromised by China.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“Playing ‘political games’ to get a partisan advantage will undermine people’s trust in their institutions, and will only assist the efforts of countries like Russia and China that attempt to make democracies unstable.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier in the week on commenting on election interference by China.

Duration: 57:02
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Google blocking news content for some Canadians in response to government bill
• Support us on Patreon
• Calgarians grapple with high food prices even as overall inflation rate slows
• Last year B.C. politicians recommended a provincewide police force — but no action is being taken
• Liberals ignored CSIS warning on 2019 candidate accused in Chinese interference probe
• Word of the Week: Backburner

Reports show Chinese government infiltration into Canada, the BC NDP is hiding information on doctor shortages, and the UCP plans to give money to Albertans to tackle inflation. Also, Chrystia Freeland cancels her family’s Disney+ subscription.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“The prime minister is not a potted plant. He can defend his position if he wishes. But there needs to be a meeting…and the federal government has not been willing to do the work to come to the table and sit down, prime ministers and premiers, and talk about one of the central issues facing the country.” – BC Health Minister Adrian Dix on Trudeau’s unwillingness to move on meeting about provincial health transfers.

Duration: 56:51
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Help us out by taking our Fall 2022 Survey!
• Canadian intelligence warned PM Trudeau that China covertly funded 2019 election candidates
• Support us on Patreon
• B.C. government now masking data on doctor shortages at primary care clinics
• UCP planning flood of Danielle Dollars to Albertans, with election to follow
• Chrystia Freeland backs away from ‘out of touch’ comment about Disney+
• Word of the Week: Infiltrate

Danielle Smith becomes the new Premier of Alberta, BC is capping food delivery fees, and ArriveCan cost $54M to create. Also, a YouTube tag and MP swearing distract from Trudeau raising taxes again.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“Canada and Alberta are in the midst of an inflation and affordability crisis that has been primarily caused by the fiscally destructive policies of the NDP coalition with the Liberals in Ottawa. When you flood the money supply with hundreds of billions in new spending and pursue policies that spike the price of energy and transportation, the result is crippling inflation that’s hurting a sizeable majority of Albertans.” – Alberta UCP Leader Danielle Smith and Premier-designate on the problems Alberta faces.

Duration: 52:14
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Rachel Notley will have her hands full with Danielle Smith
• Support us on Patreon
• British Columbia permanently capping fees charged by food delivery companies
• ArriveCan’s $54-million price tag ‘outrageous,’ tech leaders say
• Poilievre gives Trudeau something he wasn’t expecting, a fight
• Word of the Week: Misogyny

An NDP MLA crashed the UCP’s vaccine website, a holiday for only some shows division between the public and private sectors, and Trudeau’s inflation relief only furthers the problem. Also, Pierre Poilievre gets heckled by the media during a speech.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“First, they hurled obscenities and then started shouting at me. Was it some left-wing protester? Maybe it was a Liberal MP or staffer? No, it was a member of the media. He wasn’t interested in hearing what I had to say, and he certainly wasn’t interested in reporting it in an unbiased way.” – an email from new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to Conservative supporters.

Duration: 47:56
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• NDP blamed UCP for vaccine portal crash after NDP MLA hacked the system
• Support us on Patreon
• Holiday for some, not for others, causing hardship, confusion in B.C.
• Trudeau announces $4.5 billion inflation relief package for low earners
• Pierre Poilievre’s callous courting of Canada’s ‘deplorables’
• Word of the Week: Heckler

Government plans have stalled Lytton’s rebuild, the Trudeau Liberals refuse to lift the gas tax, and the Chinese state maybe interfered in the 2021 election. Also, the RCMP commissioner tried to compromise the 2020 Nova Scotia shooting investigation.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“To rebuild to all these standards, it just didn’t fit with our community. We keep hearing that Lytton is going to be rebuilt as a model community. We don’t want to hear that anymore. We just want to go home.” – Lytton resident Denise O’Connor on the lack of progress 1 year after the Lytton wildfire.

Duration: 1:01:10
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Long road home: Frustration in Lytton one year after devastating fire
• Support us on Patreon
• Gas tax break ‘would be irresponsible’ now, federal minister says, as Liberals focus on other priorities
• China may have tried to discourage Canadians from voting Conservative
• RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki tried to ‘jeopardize’ mass murder investigation to advance Trudeau’s gun control efforts
• Word of the Week: Frustration

Inflation hits a 30 year high as Trudeau plans to bring in 400k immigrants per year, Edmonton’s police force owns a plane, and the Coastal Gaslink project is under attack. Also, Trudeau invokes the Emergencies Act to freeze protestors’ bank accounts.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

“If we’re not ready to significantly increase our ambition when it comes to immigration, we are going to be in a position where our economy will suffer, and it could put into jeopardy so many of the public services and social supports that make me very proud to be Canadian.” – Liberal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, on justifying his government’s plan to bring in 1.3M immigrants over the next 3 years.

Duration: 1:03:08
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Canada’s inflation rate rises to 5.1% — highest since 1991
• Support us on Patreon
• Edmonton police insist airplane is not secret — it’s just not publicized
• Violent overnight attack at Coastal GasLink site leaves workers shaken, millions in damage
• Trudeau vows to freeze anti-mandate protesters’ bank accounts
• Word of the Week: Attack

The PCs win in the Nova Scotia election, Erin O’Toole’s Conservative platform is thoughtful and moderate, and Horgan and Kenney decide to take vacations. Also Canada’s inflation rate continues to inflate.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

Duration: 44:36
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

• Progressive Conservatives surge to surprise majority win in Nova Scotia election
• Support us on Patreon
• Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives target suburban voters in election platform of thoughtful populism
• Premier John Horgan drawing heat for taking vacation while B.C. burns
• Canadian inflation jumps to 3.7%, creating trouble for Trudeau
• Word of the Week: Unnecessary

Federal politicians say Quebec can amend the constitution, tools to identify old growth are ignored by the BC government, and Alberta’s municipal races heat up. Also, inflation is on the rise once again, while the media and government both ignore it.

Download Now
Direct Download – 64 Kbit MP3 (Full Show Notes)

Duration: 58:58
Hosts: Shane and Patrick

“The PM is fine [with] Que[bec] unilaterally amend[ing] the constitution to declare Quebec a nation and French its official language. So hypothetically speaking – AB and SK can do something like that too? Or would the answer be no….’asymmetrical federalism’ and all?” – Former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall on the looming constitutional crisis.

• Quebec can modify part of the Canadian Constitution unilaterally, Trudeau says
• Support us on Patreon
• ‘We don’t have time’: scientists urge B.C. to immediately defer logging in key old-growth forests amid arrests
• Former councillor, MP Amarjeet Sohi announces Edmonton mayoral campaign
• From takeout to gas prices, how to protect yourself from rising inflation
• Word of the Week: Nation