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 competitio...
Jun 20, 2023•16 min•Ep. 80
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.
Apr 19, 2023•26 min•Ep. 98
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 futur...
Jul 07, 2022•43 min•Ep. 97
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 wea...
Mar 10, 2022•32 min•Ep. 92
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...
Mar 03, 2022•28 min•Ep. 91
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...
Feb 28, 2022•32 min•Ep. 90
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.
Feb 16, 2022•24 min•Ep. 88
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 Domest...
Sep 15, 2021•42 min•Ep. 74
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...
Sep 03, 2021•16 min•Ep. 73
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 t...
Aug 23, 2021•23 min•Ep. 72
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 join...
Aug 11, 2021•31 min•Ep. 71
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.
Jul 01, 2021•18 min•Ep. 70
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...
May 28, 2021•40 min•Ep. 69
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 ...
May 26, 2021•33 min•Ep. 68
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 roadblo...
May 19, 2021•11 min•Ep. 67
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 S...
May 11, 2021•26 min•Ep. 66
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...
Apr 14, 2021•38 min•Ep. 65
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 buil...
Apr 07, 2021•27 min•Ep. 64
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 feat...
Mar 12, 2021•14 min•Ep. 63
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 featur...
Mar 12, 2021•13 min•Ep. 62
A year has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada with full force, and the results are in on how severely the impact of the virus has been felt in this country compared to similar advanced economies. But how does Canada compare to the rest of the world? The Macdonald-Laurier Institute launched the COVID Misery Index this week and is based on data analysis conducted by Richard Audas, the lead methodologist on the Misery Index. To discuss this, Audas joined communications officer Ai-Men Lau...
Mar 11, 2021•20 min•Ep. 61
The world has followed closely the attempted assassination via poisoning, recent arrest, and now conviction of Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. With thousands of Russian citizens having taken to the streets to protest the corrupt and authoritarian rule of President Vladimir Putin, many have asked whether countries like Canada will do anything in response to Russia’s brazen attempts to target, kill, or otherwise stifle the voices of Russian pro-democracy figures. To discuss these ...
Feb 18, 2021•19 min•Ep. 60
Spanning from the West coast of the Americas to the East shores of Africa, the Indo-Pacific region contains four of the world’s five largest economies and accounts for over half of global GDP. Of those economies, few are as large and share as many values as Japan. Japan and Canada continue to share many interests in the region, and both leaders recently reiterated their shared vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. To better understand the leadership role that Japan plays in the region, MLI Se...
Feb 12, 2021•22 min•Ep. 59
In an effort to improve Canada’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has launched a dedicated “Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative.” To discuss this important new project, MLI Communications Manager Brett Byers was joined by Senior Fellow and Director of MLI’s Indo-Pacific Program, Jonathan Berkshire Miller. Miller and Byers examine the challenges and opportunities in the region - ranging from security, to trade, to multilateral cooperation, and more - as well...
Jan 29, 2021•25 min•Ep. 58
In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellow and Foreign Policy Program Director Shuvaloy Majumdar is joined by Blair Gibbs, former advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to discuss the future of Brexit.
Jan 19, 2021•35 min•Ep. 57
In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellow Balkan Devlen is joined by fellow MLI Senior Fellow Marcus Kolga and Elisabeth Braw, Visiting Fellow at the American Entreprise Institute, to discuss countering information warfare from hostile foreign states with a resilient society.
Dec 22, 2020•42 min•Ep. 56
This episode of Pod Bless Canada continues our ongoing series that examines Indigenous prosperity at the crossroads. Particularly, MLI is seeking to amplify the voices of Indigenous leaders and entrepreneurs who are on the frontline of economic reconciliation, often by way of securing meaningful partnerships for their communities in the natural resource economy. To that end, MLI Munk Senior Fellow Ken Coates spoke with Karen Ogen-Toews, the CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance. Previously, she ...
Nov 13, 2020•23 min•Ep. 55
In this episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Munk Senior Fellow Ken Coates was joined by and JP Gladu, one of Canada’s foremost Indigenous entrepreneurs. Coates and Gladu cover a wide range of issues, particularly looking at how new, meaningful partnerships with Indigenous people in the natural resource sector serve as the frontline of economic reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples. This is the first entry in a series on this important subject.
Oct 29, 2020•25 min•Ep. 54
In the latest episode of Pod Bless Canada, MLI Senior Fellow Balkan Devlen is joined by Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, the Director of the Centre for International and European Studies. Devlen and Triantaphyllou discuss the tensions between Greece and Turkey which has been exacerbated by the global pandemic . Some are worried there may be a military conflict within the region. Sharing personal anecdotes to illustrate the geopolitics of the two countries, Triantaphyllou also makes the case for why Can...
Sep 22, 2020•43 min•Ep. 53
This episode of Pod Bless Canada features a conversation between MLI’s communication officer Ai-Men Lau and Chemi Lhamo. Lhamo, an outspoken Tibetan activist and former president of the University of Toronto Scarborough student president, found herself in the middle of a political firestorm. But it wasn't the usual dirty politics that can accompany of student government; rather, Lhamo's social media was quickly flooded with threatening comments from Chinese international students and petitions b...
Sep 15, 2020•33 min•Ep. 52
