As it becomes harder to ignore Israel’s genocide, the political and media class is changing their tune. But El Jones and Desmond Cole discuss how Mark Carney and the establishment media’s complicity continues unabated.
Aug 14, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has introduced legislation that would let police run programs in public schools—even over the objections of local school boards. On this week’s Breach Show, we’re airing a conversation hosted by Desmond Cole with organizers in Ontario and across Canada about their fights to get cops out of schools—and the alternatives to policing they’re working to put in place.
Jul 24, 2025•59 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Canada’s establishment media hasn’t covered the genocide in Gaza—they’ve covered it up. A new book published by The Breach, When Genocide Wasn’t News, lays bare the media’s complicity. At the Toronto launch, Desmond Cole spoke to two of the book’s editors, lawyer Dania Majid and Breach managing editor Martin Lukacs. Buy the book: https://breachmedia.ca/when-genocide-wasnt-news/
Jul 17, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 31
What can water and the natural world teach us about power, resistance, and survival? Leanne Betasamosake Simpson joins Desmond Cole to discuss her new book “Theory of Water” and explores how Indigenous knowledge can guide us through the political and ecological crises we face today.
Jul 10, 2025•38 min•Season 3Ep. 30
As anti-trans laws pass in the U.S. and around the world, Canada is often cast as a safe haven for queer and trans people. But the reality is more complicated, says activist Celeste Trianon, in conversation with Katia Lo Innes on this week’s Breach Show podcast. Trianon unpacks how well-funded right-wing groups and some Canadian politicians are fueling a creeping backlash, how strict immigration policies under Carney are making it harder for trans refugees to find protection here, and what it wi...
Jul 03, 2025•29 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo to clinch New York City’s mayoral primary. Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs break down why Mamdani’s campaign won, and what Canadian progressives can learn from it.
Jun 27, 2025•33 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Since last week, Israeli missiles have flattened homes and killed hundreds of civilians in Iran, and there are fears the United States could soon join the attacks. On this week’s Breach Show Podcast, Donya Ziaee and Desmond Cole discuss why the bombs won’t bring liberation for the Iranian people—and why Canada must stop backing Israeli aggression in the name of the ‘right to self-defence.’
Jun 19, 2025•39 min•Season 3Ep. 27
From coast to coast, Indigenous peoples in Canada are seeing governments bulldoze their rights and sovereignty to speed up resource extraction projects—all in the name of fighting Trump’s trade war. Lawyer Pam Palmater joins Desmond Cole on the Breach Show podcast to discuss the current resource push, Canada’s legal obligations to Indigenous peoples under domestic and international law, and the new wave of resistance brewing across the country.
Jun 05, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Lawyer Christine Van Geyn and activist Dalia Awwad join Desmond Cole to discuss the implications of new bubble zone bylaws for the right to protest and the future of policing in Canada.
May 30, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 25
The New Democratic Party needs a bold, democratic renewal—but insiders appear to want a short, rigged race to lock in the status quo. Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs discuss the consultant class’s grip on the party, and what a different kind of NDP might look like.
May 15, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Mark Carney has defeated Pierre Poilievre, but Conservatives did a lot better than expected. Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole reflect on the gains and setbacks for the various parties, and explore how progressive forces can rally amidst a rightward-moving political consensus.
May 01, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 23
For three decades, Pierre Poilievre’s analysis and vision has been shaped by one thinker: Milton Friedman, the godfather of neoliberalism. Political scholar Ryan Kelpin sits down with Martin Lukacs to discuss the radical economist’s influence on Poilievre.
Apr 25, 2025•48 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Nearing the end of the 2025 federal election, the party leaders locked horns in back to back debates. Desmond Cole, El Jones, and Martin Lukacs debrief who came out well—and if it will have an impact on the polls.
Apr 18, 2025•40 min•Season 3Ep. 22
With the federal election just a couple of weeks away, what will become of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples? Lawyer and professor Pam Palmater of the Eel River Bar First Nation joins Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs on The Breach Show to discuss campaign promises and the future of reconciliation.
Apr 11, 2025•39 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Almost two weeks into the Canadian federal election, Mark Carney’s Liberals have consolidated their lead—but a Conservative victory shouldn’t be ruled out just yet. Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs discuss Carneymania and the quiet strength of the Conservatives, and get up to speed with campaign promises on housing, energy, and taxes.
Apr 03, 2025•42 min•Season 3Ep. 19
A recent Housing Justice Convergence in Montreal brought together organizers, policy experts, funders, and housing advocacy groups from across Canada. For this episode, we’re rebroadcasting the keynote panel, facilitated by The Breach’s Dru Oja Jay. Featuring housing activists Chiara Padovani and John Clarke, and economist Ricardo Tranjan, the panel explores what it takes to build a winning housing justice movement—and why removing profit from housing is a necessary red line....
Mar 21, 2025•48 min•Season 3Ep. 18
A recent court ruling found the RCMP breached land defender Molly Wickham’s Charter rights—but still upheld her criminal conviction for blocking the CGL pipeline. Wickham sits down with Desmond Cole to discuss Canada’s colonial courts, police violence, and what she’s learned from a decade of land defense.
Mar 14, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Mark Carney is selling himself as a pragmatic outsider who can rescue the Liberals—and maybe even beat the Conservatives. But behind the polished image and steady-hand rhetoric is the same old agenda: cuts, pipelines, and corporate giveaways. Journalist David Moscrop joins host Donya Ziaee to break down how Carney is rebranding failed ideas as fresh solutions—and who stands to benefit. Read Moscrop’s article on Mark Carney here: https://breachmedia.ca/mark-carney-says-hes-a-pragmatic-outsider-bu...
Feb 20, 2025•37 min•Season 3Ep. 16
With Ontario facing a snap election, we take a deep dive into more than six years of austerity and free market fundamentalism under Doug Ford. Desmond Cole is joined by Bryan Evans, co-editor of Against the People: How Ford Nation is Dismantling Ontario , to break down the Ford playbook and unpack the damage done.
Feb 06, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 15
As Trump’s tariff threats loom, trade expert Stuart Trew talks to host Donya Ziaee about what Canadian workers should be prepared for, how the corporate elite are exploiting the crisis, and how the Left can seize on the moment to push for more progressive change.
Jan 30, 2025•39 min•Season 3Ep. 14
El Jones speaks to Martin Lukacs about her recent trip to the occupied West Bank, where her delegation visited with scholars, journalists, artists, and communities engaged in non-violent resistance to Israeli apartheid. Writing by Budour Hassan here .
Jan 23, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs reflect on Justin Trudeau’s almost decade in power, from the initial psychic relief of Conservative Stephen Harper’s ousting to the grim accumulation of symbolic Liberal postures and assists to Canada’s corporate elite. Plus, what Justin deserves real credit for.
Jan 10, 2025•55 min•Season 3Ep. 12
In the wake of Chrystia Freeland’s explosive departure from the Liberal cabinet, Martin Lukacs and El Jones discuss the establishment media’s infatuation with Ottawa’s palace intrigue and what the future for a hobbled Trudeau government might look like. Plus, we answer listener questions just in time for the holidays.
Dec 19, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish recently generated headlines when she stepped down from her local police services board, calling the city’s escalating police budget “out of control.” Desmond Cole visits her office to discuss her resignation and the alternatives to policing.
Dec 12, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 10
It was a big week for the military-industrial complex in Canada, with the west’s war-making establishment convening in Halifax for the annual International Security Forum (then hopping over to Montreal for a NATO summit). El Jones fills Martin Lukacs in on her attempts to report on the Security Forum, where the hand towels were plush, the security uptight, and the drumbeat for increased Canadian military spending strong.
Nov 28, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Independent journalist Duncan Kinney of Progress Report was charged with mischief for allegedly spraypainting two monuments dedicated to Nazis and their collaborators—a charge he says the Edmonton Police have used to surveil and silence him. Kinney sits down with Desmond Cole to discuss his case. To donate to Kinney's legal fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/duncan-kinney-legal-defense-fund
Nov 24, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, sits down with Desmond Cole to discuss Canada’s ‘crystal clear’ complicity in the Israeli destruction of Gaza and the ‘hope that remains in this darkness.’
Nov 14, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 6
As Americans hit the polls next Tuesday, El Jones and Martin Lukacs hash out the U.S. election campaign, the folly of pandering to the right, neoliberal identity politics, the implications for Palestine, the threat of Trump, and their respective halloween costumes.
Oct 31, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 6
With a potential Pierre Poilievre Conservative government on the horizon, Martin Lukacs, Anjali Appadurai, Syed Hussan, Judy Rebick, and Laura Walton discuss how to organize in the face of a surging right.
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 5
El Jones and Martin Lukacs discuss the worst and weirdest examples of the crackdown on the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada over the past year—and how to understand why it has been so severe and widespread. Plus: why the elite are worried about Canadians identifying as “settlers.”
Oct 12, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 4