Pod Bless Canada

This episode features Macdonald-Laurier Institute distinguished fellow Jack Mintz in conversation with Aaron Wudrick, domestic policy director on the possibility of changes to Canada's competition law. Proposed changes to Canada's competition law might not make headlines but it will absolutely effect Canadian consumers. Despite what some policy makers seem to think, competition law isn't a 'swiss army knife' capable of solving various social and economic issues for government. Instead competition law needs to stay focused on its purpose, serving Canadian consumers. 

This episode of Pod Bless Canada features Domestic Policy director Aaron Wudrick in conversation with Macdonald-Laurier Institute senior fellow Peter Menzies to discuss Bill C-11 and Bill C-18, both of which are before Canada's parliament. They discuss the legislations' misguided attempts to protect Canadian content and how the bills pose a real threat to Canadian content creators who make their living online. 

Was Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine an aberration, or a predictable phenomenon? Balkan Devlen sits down with author Thibault Muzergues to discuss his recently published book “War in Europe? From Impossible War to Improbable Peace” and how Russia’s attacks are changing European attitudes regarding continental security. They also discuss why some observers failed to identify the war as it loomed on the horizon, where the next wars could erupt, what must be done to prepare for such a future, and why all this matters to Canada.

Inequality makes it easy for many politicians and activists to cast the wealthy as villains who make our society worse. But is this the right way to think about wealth and inequality? MLI Domestic Program Director Aaron Wudrick is joined by Derek Bullen is Founder and CEO of S.i. Systems and the author of the new book "In Defence of Wealth." Bullen and Wudrick discuss the book and how many critics are overlooking crucial considerations: we need business people to build companies and generate wealth to keep our economy going, and that punishing prosperity only makes our society worse.

After months of military build up and threats, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. MLI Senior Fellow Balkan Devlen is joined by Hanna Shelest, the Director of Security Programmes at Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” and Editor-in-Chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica, to discuss the situation on the ground in Ukraine. Devlen and Shelest analyze what the world might expect in the future from Russia and what Canada and our allies can do to support Ukraine's fight against Russia. This podcast was recorded on March 2, 2022.

The Freedom Convoy received quick and heavy condemnation and backlash from Canadian politicians and media when it arrived in Ottawa earlier this year. Though criticism was certainly merited, did the vitriol of the response go too far? In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick was joined by Stuart Parker, the President of the Los Altos Institute, to discuss Parker's article in the Hub titled, "Why the coverage of the trucker protest should worry all Canadians." Wudrick and Parker examine how the coverage of this protest may point to worrying potential consequences for Canadian society. This podcast was recorded on February 8, 2022.

The world needs a reliable and affordable supply of energy not just for economic prosperity, but for national security as well. As both geopolitical tensions and energy prices rise globally, Canada has failed to become a global energy leader. MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick is joined by MLI Senior Policy Analyst Heather Exner-Pirot and MLI Senior Fellow Jeff Kucharski to discuss how Canada can seize a leadership role when it comes to the geopolitics of energy.

The concept of vaccine passports, which would entail providing proof of COVID-19 vaccination to gain access to normally accessible venues and services, has ignited a fierce debate in Canada. What are the benefits and trade offs associated with the policy? Would it successfully encourage vaccine uptake among those hesitant to get their jabs? What unforeseen consequences might spring up from such a policy? To make sense of the utility of and challenges associated with vaccine passports, MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick spoke with Drs. Martha Fulford and Shawn Whatley.

September 4th, 2021 marks a grim anniversary for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor; it is their 1000th day of arbitrary detention at the hands Chinese authorities, as part of the regime's retaliation for the lawful arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. Canada's lack of action in response to Beijing's hostage-taking has signaled to the international community that this belligerent behaviour can occur with impunity. Furthermore, victims and their families are often left in limbo without a coordinated response from Ottawa. MLI Senior Fellow Sarah Teich joined communications officer Ai-Men Lau to discuss the increasing need for a substantive overhaul of Canada's national approach to global hostage-taking. Teich also discusses her joint publication by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Canadian Coalition Against Terror which proposes new legislation titled, “An Act to Address the Taking of Innocent Civilians as Hostages.” She provides policy solutions and recommendations to Canadian decision makers to combat and de

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a test of resilience for Canada's Parliamentary system. One illustrative example would be the case of the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. In order to prevent the release of documents related to these firings, the federal government took the extraordinary step of applying to the Federal Court of Canada in June, potentially allowing the judiciary to interfere in the functioning of Parliament. Though the court fight was quietly dropped a week ago, the question remains: are our Parliamentary norms being eroded? To discuss Canada's system of parliamentary government, how power is exercised by the federal government, and how the way power is exerted has changed over the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jonathan Malloy joins MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick on the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada. (Note: This podcast was recorded on August 11, 2021 prior to when the 2021 federal election was called.)

Foreign regimes, particularly China, Russia, and Iran, are engaged in efforts to threaten and intimidate critics and activists around the world, including in Canada. However, despite this clear threat posed by foreign actors against Canadians, the federal government has failed to meaningfully act to address this coercion. To discuss this issue and what the federal government should be doing to stop foreign intimidation against Canadians, MLI's Marcus Kolga, Anastasia Lin, and Kaveh Shahrooz joined the podcast.

Happy Canada Day! While this greeting might seem like standard fare on July 1st, there are growing calls by a vocal minority to stop celebrating Canada Day (and indeed, Canada more generally). In this latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick spoke with Professors Ken Coates and Christopher Dummitt to make sense of this push and argue why Canada, despite its faults, is well worth celebrating.

In the latest episode of MLI's Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellow Dr. Shawn Whatley speaks with Dr. Martha Fulford, associate professor of infectious diseases at McMaster University, about how Canadian policy makers have handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fulford describes a mindset that has taken hold and has not evolved since the early days of the pandemic, when the country was understandably locked down in the face of an unknown threat. "There are still some people who seem to feel that this is a deadly virus for anyone who might get it," says Dr. Fulford, when it remains a serious threat mostly to the elderly, which is where our focus should be. "I thought we could have talked about a targeted approach. We didn't do a very good job," says Dr. Fulford. She urges policy makers to base their pandemic plans on past experience with this pandemic and previous ones, with the following priorities: - Protect the most vulnerable, primarily the frail elderly - Focus on where the virus is really being transmit

In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellows Balkan Devlen and Christian Leuprecht discuss Canada's presence in Eastern Europe and Canadian contributions to NATO missions in the region. Devlen and Leuprecht go on to discuss why a Canadian presence in Eastern Europe matters, and what can we learn from missions like the Enhanced Forward Presence going forward. They also discuss how these missions not only contribute to Canada's security, but to our allies' security as well, which has become increasingly imperative in a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.

As blue-collar work is being devastated, Canada’s natural resource sector continues to be a pillar of stability and opportunity in the economy. On the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Domestic Policy Program Director Aaron Wudrick and MLI Munk Senior Fellow Philip Cross discuss Cross' latest paper titled “A national project: How oil sands investment and production benefit Canada's economy.”  Cross and Wudrick examine the sector in terms of production and investment and how, despite roadblocks and pessimism, the oil sands continue to develop.  They go on to discuss how the oil sands provide substantial and wide-ranging benefits to Canada as a whole.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has many valuable and vital elements. It outlines a range of rights and standards to provide measures of social, economic and cultural justice to Indigenous peoples. However, the federal government's proposed legislation to implement UNDRIP is unacceptably vague, noncommittal, and perhaps counterproductive. In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Munk Senior Fellow Ken Coates is joined by MLI Senior Fellow Chris Sankey and MLI Policy Analyst and Outreach Coordinator Melissa Mbarki to discuss the proposed federal legislation. They delve into how the legislation fails to address Indigenous issues in Canada, and fails to live up to the stated principles of UNDRIP. They go on to propose viable solutions for Canada to move forward in Indigenous reconciliation.

Beijing's sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system has further crushed democractic hopes in Hong Kong. The new measures, which by passed Hong Kong's legislature, aims to ensure the majority of the city's lawmakers will be selected by a reliably pro-Beijing committee. The Hong Kong government has also announced more electoral system changes favouring pro-Beijing candidates by amending voting laws and criminalizing calls for voters to leave ballots blank.  Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China, and Alvin Y.H. Cheung, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University, joined MLI communications officer Ai-Men Lau to discuss Beijing's tightening grip on Hong Kong and where the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong stands now. They also discuss the international community response to the Hong Kong and the role of the disapora community in the movement.

Launched in 2020, DisinfoWatch is the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s new COVID-19 and foreign disinformation monitoring and debunking platform. During the COVID pandemic, it has become increasingly evident that western democratic societies are more exposed to malign foreign and domestic actors seeking to confuse and polarize our societies through conspiracy theories, blatant fabrications and propaganda. Now more than ever is it important to expose and raise awareness of mis/disinformation to build long-term and broad resilience against it in society.  In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellow and founder of DisinfoWatch Marcus Kolga joins communications officer Ai-Men Lau to discuss disinformation operations and how DisinfoWatch is combatting it. They also discuss the steps the Canadian government should take in addressing the dis/misinformation.

This podcast is part seven of MLI’s ongoing series, titled "Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads," which features interviews with Indigenous community and business leaders who are on the forefront of economic reconciliation, particularly with respect to Indigenous rights and interests in the natural resource economy. This series goes beyond the headlines and partisan politics to delve deeper into how Indigenous peoples are shaping the economic futures of their own communities. This episode features a conversation between MLI Munk Senior Fellow Ken Coates and Boomer Desjarlais, co-owner of Top Notch Oilfield Contracting and a member of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Alberta.

This podcast is part six of MLI’s ongoing series, titled "Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads," which features interviews with Indigenous community and business leaders who are on the forefront of economic reconciliation, particularly with respect to Indigenous rights and interests in the natural resource economy. This series goes beyond the headlines and partisan politics to delve deeper into how Indigenous peoples are shaping the economic futures of their own communities. This episode features a conversation between MLI Munk Senior Fellow Ken Coates and Esther Peterson, a member of Cowessess First Nation and heavy equipment operator.