Inside Policy Talks

Geoffrey Sigalet: What’s at stake in the fight over the notwithstanding clause

Constitutional law is often seen as the domain of courts and legal scholars, but one provision—the notwithstanding clause—has become a flashpoint in Canada’s ongoing debate over the balance of power between legislatures and the judiciary. Once a political safety valve that sealed the deal for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, section 33 is now at the center of a national conversation about who should have the final say on fundamental rights. To unpack the history and stakes of this deb...

Brenda Shaffer: Global institutions are choosing energy poverty over fossil fuels

Mary Harrington: I needed to make a feminist case against progressivism

We live in a time of mounting cultural confusion. Social roles are in flux. Technology fragments our attention. And the idea of human nature itself is up for debate. Beneath our daily political debates lies a deeper crisis: a broken picture of the basic elements of the world and our place in it. Are we just collections of small parts, infinitely malleable and divisible – ‘meat lego’, as our guest would call it – ready to be arranged and rearranged through technology in the pursuit of individual ...

Louise Perry: It’s time to complicate the West’s account of progressivism

For decades, we’ve been told that freedom means throwing off restraint. But what if the sexual revolution didn’t liberate us, and instead left us lonelier, unhappier, and adrift? Our culture’s promises of autonomy and self-creation have left young people disconnected from family, tradition, and purpose. We’re missing something deeper – about what it means to love, belong, and build a life that lasts. To explore this, journalist Louise Perry joins Inside Policy Talks. Perry is the author of the b...

Geoff Russ and Michael Bonner: Multiculturalism has divided us

Multiculturalism has been a policy and a political ideal for over 50 years in Canada. It’s shaped our immigration system, institutions, and the way Canadians see themselves. Yet its meaning has shifted dramatically since then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau introduced it. It began as a national unity strategy. But for many, it’s become a slogan about diversity for its own sake. That’s left us divided about what it means to be Canadian. The stakes are high. Immigration, national identity, and multi...

Peter Menzies: It’s time to rethink Canada’s cultural policy

Canadian culture is at a crossroads. For over 70 years, Canada's arts and media funding framework has remained largely unchanged, even as the country has become more diverse, more digital, and more disconnected from a unifying cultural vision. Canada now faces a patchwork system riddled with duplication, inefficiency, and uncertainty of purpose – from the CBC to the CRTC, and from municipal arts grants to federal media funds. As geopolitical pressures rise and American cultural dominance intensi...

Patrick T. Brown: The roots of family decline in the West

As birth rates fall and family formation grows increasingly fragile across the developed world, understanding the forces driving these trends has never been more urgent. In this episode of Inside Policy Talks, we explore the complex interplay of policy, culture, and economics shaping family life in Canada and the United States. Patrick T. Brown, Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington and a leading voice on family policy, joins host Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of D...

Alex Dalziel: Canada must mind Russia’s Arctic ambitions

The importance of the Arctic is increasing, both for Canada and for our allies. That means it's critical to better understanding it. While Canadians sense that the Arctic is part of their identity, few are deeply familiar with the region — its environment, its vastness, its diversity, or its challenges. In that context, understanding the Russian Arctic — which is very different from the Canadian Arctic — is particularly important, given Russia's role as a destabilizing geopolitical actor and NAT...

Toby Young: Defending free speech in Canada and the UK

Free speech was once considered a bedrock democratic value. Now it's become one of the most contested issues in our culture-shaping institutions. Over the past decade, debates about what can and can’t be said have intensified across universities, schools, newsrooms, and corporate boardrooms. In many Western democracies, including Canada, speech codes, cancel campaigns, and ideological conformity have become flashpoints in a deeper cultural and political struggle. It's a similar story on the othe...

John Ioannidis: What's shaken public confidence in science?

Science is often seen as the gold standard in policymaking – objective, rigorous, and self-correcting. But what happens when the science itself is uncertain, contradictory, or unreproducible? Over the past two decades, concerns about replication, statistical misuse, and institutional bias have shaken public confidence in science – from medicine to psychology to public health. On the other hand, institutional confidence in science seems unshakeable, defensive, and resistant to change. And with ri...

Helen Joyce: how gender ideology gripped the West

On this episode, we tackle one of the most contested—and consequential—issues in public life: the rise of gender ideology and the erasure of biological sex. Over the past decade, the idea that gender is self-declared and disconnected from biology has reshaped our laws, schools, medical systems, and public discourse. But there’s growing pushback. In the United Kingdom, we’ve seen a remarkable reversal against this institutional capture. The shift has come through court challenges, investigative j...

Leonard Sax: Our culture has broken the bonds across generations

Across the Western world, we’re seeing a crisis in youth mental health, a collapse in family formation, and growing confusion about sex and gender. At the same time, more young people than ever report feeling lonely, directionless, and disconnected. In this episode of Inside Policy Talks, Dr. Leonard Sax—a family physician, psychologist, and best-selling author of The Collapse of Parenting—joins MLI's Peter Copeland. Sax is a leading voice on how sex differences, parenting styles, and educationa...

Oren Cass: Free markets and liberty are not ends unto themselves

Sam Cooper: How organized crime operates in Canada

How mortgage fraud costs Canadians and fuels organized crime

In this episode, Peter Copeland, deputy director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Domestic Policy Program, speaks with Cameron Field, a Toronto Police veteran and financial crimes expert. Field explains that there are three types of mortgage fraud in Canada. First, there's fraud for shelter, whereby some homebuyers committ fraud to obtain a mortgage. Next, there's fraud for profit, in which actors in the mortgage industry act fraudulently in order to complete a sale. Finally, there's fraud c...

Reconciliation at risk? Data shows spike in church arsons after unmarked grave reports in Canada

Ken Coates, director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Indigenous Affairs Program, is joined by journalist and economist Edgardo Sepulveda, an expert data storyteller. Sepulveda's new study for MLI analyzed data for church arsons in Canada and around the world. He found that following reports in 2021 of unmarked graves at residential schools, Canada saw a spike in church arsons compared to other Anglosphere countries, suggesting a correlation to news of the unmarked graves. He says the lack o...

Indigenous students thrive earning degrees in their communities: Ken Coates & Sheila North

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks, where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Ken Coates, director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Indigenous Affairs Program, speaks with Sheila North, a journalist, storyteller, and former Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak. When it comes to post-secondary education, North tells Coates that some of the greatest successes happen when programs are designed to allow students to complete a large part of their st...

How provincial trade barriers rip off Canadians: Peter Copeland & Ryan Manucha

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with Ryan Manucha, a leading expert on interprovincial trade. Manucha offers a compelling vision of how Canada's provinces can recognize each other's professional licenses, business certifications, and regulations to unlock billions in economic potential and strengthen Cana...

Can Europe guarantee its own security? Balkan Devlen and Peter Hefele

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Balkan Devlen, Studio Fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with Peter Hefele, Policy Director at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies. Hefele pulls back the curtain on Europe's high-stakes challenges: Can Germany reboot its economic engine? Will Europe finally build a credible defence capability? And where does Canada fit into this complex geopolitical ...

Can the CBC survive without government subsidies? Peter Copeland and Peter Menzies

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), sits down with Peter Menzies, MLI Senior Fellow, former publisher of the Calgary Herald, and past Vice Chair of the CRTC. Menzies offers a provocative analysis of the CBC's future, challenging its current funding model and exploring radical solutions for Canadian public broadca...

Tackling Canada's housing crunch: Peter Copeland and Ross McKitrick

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks, where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, sits with Ross McKitrick, professor of economics at the University of Guelph. In a recent commentary series for MLI, McKitrick looks at income levels, demography and population change, and housing construction and price data, from the 1970s and ‘90s onwards, to get a sense of what’s c...

How are First Nations' fish farms transforming the West Coast?: Ken Coates and Dallas Smith

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this compelling episode, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Director of Indigenous Affairs, Ken Coates, sits with Dallas Smith, spokesperson for the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) and a member of the Tlowitsis First Nations in Campbell River, B.C., to unpack the nuanced world of salmon aquaculture on British Columbia's coastal regions. Smith provides a fascinating insider's perspe...

More regulations, fewer families—explaining North America's housing crisis: Peter Copeland and Tim Carney

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with Tim Carney, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In their discussion, Carney provides a comprehensive overview of the alarming trends around declining marriage rates, birth rates, and community belonging across North America. He shares insights from his ext...

Does salmon farming have a future in Canada?: Ken Coates and Linda Sams

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Ken Coates sits down with Linda Sams, biologist with over 37 years of business and management experience in the aquaculture sector, and an expert in the Canadian salmon farming industry. In this insightful discussion, Sams shares her extensive background and experience in salmon aquaculture, and provides an inside look at the evolution of salmon f...

Happily ever after? The case for marriage in Canada: Peter Copeland, Andrea Mrozek & Peter Jon Mitchell

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we dive into the ideas and policies shaping Canada's future! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with Cardus' Senior Fellow Andrea Mrozek and Program Director Peter Jon Mitchell. The discussion covers the trends and social effects surrounding marriage and family formation in Canada - Mrozek and Mitchell provide a comprehensive overview of the declining marriage rates a...

British Columbia's salmon farmers caught in the net: Ken Coates and Brian Kingzett

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we discuss the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! In this episode, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Ken Coates sits down with Brian Kingzett, Executive Director of the BC Salmon Farming Association, to discuss the future of salmon farming in British Columbia. Kingzett provides a comprehensive overview of the salmon farming industry - its history, economic impact, and the complex relationships between Indigenous communities and environmental groups. H...

The great tug-of-war over Greenland: Alex Dalziel, Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, Christian Keldsen, Marisol Maddox, and Jessica Shadian

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we discuss the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! In this episode, Senior Fellow Alex Dalziel is joined by a panel of experts to examine Greenland's pivotal position at the intersection of global superpowers vying for influence in the North American Arctic. Guests Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen of the Royal Danish Defence College, Christian Keldsen, Director of the Greenland Business Association, Marisol Maddox, Senior Arctic Analyst at the Polar Institute, an...

Identity politics and the capture of canadian research funding: Peter Copeland and Dave Snow

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks, where we discuss the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! In this episode, Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Program at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, sits down with Dave Snow, MLI senior fellow and associate professor at the University of Guelph, to discuss the growing influence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Canada's major federal research granting agencies. The discussion delves into how DEI policies impact i...

US-Canada defense and security cooperation in the Trump era: Balkan Devlen, Jamie Tronnes, Richard Shimooka, and Alexander Lanoszka

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks, where we discuss the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! In this episode, a panel of MLI experts discuss the defense and security aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship in the aftermath of the Trump presidency. Transatlantic Program Director Balkan Devlen is joined by Jamie Tronnes, Executive Director of MLI's DC office, as well as Senior Fellows Richard Shimooka and Alexander Lanoszka. The discussion examines the current temperature in Washington towards Ca...

Breaking the cycle: Peter Copeland and Marcell Wilson

Welcome to Inside Policy Talks , where we discuss the ideas and policies shaping Canada today! Peter Copeland, Deputy Director of Domestic Policy at MLI is joined by Marcell Wilson, founder and head of the One by One Movement , a groundbreaking organization dedicated to preventing violence and helping people transition out of gang life. Marcell brings a wealth of personal experience and insight into the intersection of crime prevention, policing, corrections, and community rehabilitation. Togeth...