

The Herle Burly
Air Quotes Media
The Herle Burly podcast is a commotion of insights, arguments, opinions, and an impossibly loud laugh or two, hosted by David Herle.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 8, 2025 • 49min
Mark Podlasly: Can Canada Build Truly National Projects?
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! That guest is Mark Podlasly. Mark is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation in British Columbia and he’s the CEO of First Nations Major Projects Coalition.The F-N-M-P-C is an Indigenous-led organization involved in major energy, infrastructure, and resource developments across Canada. Specifically, Mark drives engagement and advocacy for greater economic participation for member nations. And, he has over 25 years’ experience leading the planning and execution of complex capital projects around the world.So, “Major Projects” ... “National Projects” ... “Nation Building” ... we hear all these terms coming from the Carney government. But if it’s truly a National Project, it has to be with Indigenous support and participation. Easy to say. Maybe a little more difficult to make a reality. That’s what Mark and I are talking about today.How do those negotiations happen? What’s the right amount of equity? What are the other factors that matter, besides equity? Are there past examples we can look to for guidance? And is the governance in place to get it all accomplished?Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Aug 1, 2025 • 44min
Fred DeLorey: Broke And Broken NDP & A New Two-Party System?
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.Well greetings, you politically curious Herle Burly-ites! Fred DeLorey is here, making his 2nd appearance on the show, which means he’s dangerously close to becoming an official “friend of the pod.” Fred is a long-time Conservative strategist and campaign director. He was the National Campaign Manager for Erin O’Toole in 2021. Before that he was Director of Field Operations for Ontario Premier Doug Ford. And he’s a former Director of Political Operations for Stephen Harper. As well as Director of Comms and National Spokesperson. Today, he’s Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at NorthStar Public Affairs. So, with that kind of CV, you’d expect we’d talk about the current state and prospects for the Conservative Party, which we will.But first, I want to take this conversation in another direction. Fred’s a longtime Party and campaign operative, as you’ve just heard. And we talk a lot on the pod about what makes a party succeed. I want to dive into: What breaks a Party ... with specific reference to Canada’s NDP.Given the dismal results of the last election is the NDP facing bankruptcy to the point their existence is threatened? What kind of resources does a party need these days for a fully funded modern campaign? How does the NDP come back from their debt, without having official Party status? Should they even try or just fold and let a new party emerge? And what does this mean for the CPC, who need a strong party on the Left?Full disclosure here: I’m banking on Fred being able to talk about the reality of the NDP’s predicament in a way that most NDP folks can’t, or won’t, right now.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jul 26, 2025 • 1h 2min
Housing Policy with Butler + Meredith + Moffatt
In this discussion, housing experts Ron Butler, Mike Moffatt, and Tyler Meredith dissect the pressing issues within Canada's housing market. Ron Butler expresses grave concerns over market accessibility for average Canadians, while Mike Moffatt emphasizes the economic and political intricacies affecting housing affordability. They tackle the challenges of overbuilding condos, the impact of immigration, and innovative solutions for low-income families. The trio also critiques government policies, advocating for more effective reforms to address the housing crisis.

Jul 18, 2025 • 55min
Scott Aitchison: Housing in Crisis
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’ll get right to it, because we’ve a Member of Parliament today on the pod, and an issue that’s not only central in the public consciousness, but urgent in terms of policy making, playing an outsized role in our last election: Scott Aitchison, Conservative critic for Housing. Scott is from Huntsville, Ontario, and opened up on the pod about leaving home at 15 and his journey into public life at the age of 21.And then, a deep conversation on what matters to so many Canadians. The housing crisis. A place to call home. Affordability. Policy to help them get there. But we’ll also broaden the aperture and talk party politics, the election just past and get Scott’s take on the early moves of the Carney government.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jul 11, 2025 • 1h 18min
Carney Government Progress Report with The Chiefs: Brodie, Murphy and Topp
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! Today on the show ... the most popular, highest-rated panel conversation, of all the panel conversations. Making their world-record 8th appearance on The Herle Burly, I give you The Chiefs! 3 former Chiefs of Staff to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government. Here to discuss the issues NOT as campaigners do — i.e. what might be ideal in a political sense — but rather, what’s possible to deliver in a governing sense.The Chiefs are:Tim Murphy – former Chief of Staff to Paul Martin. Now the EVP and Chief Strategic Affairs Officer at AECON.Ian Brodie – first Chief of Staff to Stephen Harper, and central to the founding of the CPC. Now Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary and Senior Advisor at New West Public Affairs.And, Brian Topp – former Chief of Staff to Rachel Notley in Alberta, Deputy Chief to Roy Romanow in Saskatchewan, and one of the architects of Jack Layton’s Orange Wave. Today, he’s a founding partner at GT&co.For a brand-new federal government, hell-bent on breaking down barriers and red tape at record speed, this is a timely conversation. I want to talk about what’s changed in Prime Minister Carney’s government. How is it operating differently? How is it structured differently? And take an early progress report on how it’s managing a very ambitious agenda.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jul 3, 2025 • 56min
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee: Defending Canada At Home And Abroad
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! These days, the security and stability of the world order seems, well, neither secure nor stable. With old and new conflicts abound, we have a really special guest today: Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.We're going to discuss the role of the Canadian military, what new investments to modernize look like in the context of emerging threats, and how they might be used to defend our interests at home and around the world.The Vice-Admiral has had a meteoric rise in service to our country. He joined the Armed Forces in 1990 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1994. He was given the command of a destroyer in 2009. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 as the director of Afghan National Police Training within the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. And so much more before taking command of the Royal Canadian Navy in 2022.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jun 27, 2025 • 1h 6min
Paul Wells and Shannon Proudfoot: Reaction to Carney in Ottawa
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re going to have fun with two incisive observers of Canadian politics in Ottawa: Paul Wells and Shannon Proudfoot!Together we're going to examine "not just what is happening in Ottawa" with the new Carney government, "but what it looked and felt like, who made it happen and why."Paul Wells has, for years, been one of one of Canada’s great political journalists. Formerly at Maclean’s, the National Post and The Gazette, he now publishes his own widely read subscription newsletter, paulwells.substack.com. His book is: “Justin Trudeau on the Ropes: Governing in Troubled Times.”Shannon Proudfoot is a feature writer in The Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau. Before joining The Globe, she was the Ottawa bureau chief for Maclean's and wrote for Sportsnet magazine, Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen. You can often hear her work featured as "Clippings" on the Curse of Politics podcast.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jun 21, 2025 • 57min
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Friday June 20th and tomorrow is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. So, a conversation relevant to that and essential in this political moment. Our guest is National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, of the Assembly of First Nations.Born and raised in the Pinaymootang First Nation, Manitoba, National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak began her term as National Chief in December 2023, becoming the youngest woman and mother to hold the position.Amongst a very long list of accomplishments, she was the lead negotiator for the First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle class action lawsuit, resulting in over $40 billion compensation for First Nations children and families.National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak has lobbied Senate, the House, Cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister’s Office to fulfill mandates from Chiefs. And she continues to advocate to protect collective rights–Treaty, inherent rights, title and jurisdiction, the right to self-determination and all human rights.So today, in the context of Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious “Build Agenda”. I want to talk about how we get these projects done in a way that First Nations communities feel part of and positive about. What are the environmental and land issues that require pushback? What’s fair compensation? What are the pressures and internal politics she faces? And where does the reconciliation agenda go, post-Trudeau?Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

Jun 16, 2025 • 56min
Jason Kenney: Canada, the G7, and the World Stage
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.Greetings, you curious, you courageous Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Sunday June 15th mid-afternoon – parallel timing with start of the highly-freighted G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Here to talk with me about what we might expect from the meeting is Jason Kenney, making his 2nd appearance here on the pod. I mean, who among you Herle Burly-ites doesn’t know Mr. Kenney? The 18th Premier of Alberta. Former Leader of the United Conservative Party and the last leader of the Alberta PC Party. MP for the Reform Party and Canadian Alliance … and a multi-portfolio Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives from 2006 to 2015. Today, he’s a Senior Advisor at Bennett Jones.So, we’re going to talk about Canada on the world stage. What success looks like for Prime Minister Carney at the G7. His continuing relationship with President Trump and the future of Canada-U.S. trade. Global politics and national defence.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

Jun 8, 2025 • 1h 17min
1985 Liberals: Looking back 40 years with Premier Peterson, Ezrin and Borg
The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! A pod today that starts with a bit of time travel. We’re going back to the Ontario of 1985, but not for the sake of a melancholy stroll down memory lane. I want to explore how a new (at the time) Liberal government came to power and immediately enacted a series of major reforms and initiatives that still reverberate in the province today. And that’s the lens I want to use to focus this conversation. The lessons in this story of innovation and political will, we can use to meet the challenges of today.With me, is the principal of the remarkable transformation, and 2 of his principal secretaries: The Honourable David Peterson, 20th Premier of Ontario, Vince Borg and Hershell Ezrin.40 years ago this month, David Peterson became the first Liberal to lead the province since Harry Nixon, ending a 42-year PC dynasty. He served as Premier from 1985 to 1990. Today, he’s Chairman Emeritus of the law firm of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. and Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Toronto. Vince Borg was Principal Secretary to Premier Peterson and is a past President of the Ontario Liberal Party. His long career took him from the backrooms of Queen’s Park to the boardrooms of corporate Canada.Hershell Ezrin also served as Principal Secretary and deputy minister to Premier Peterson. He had a long and distinguished career in public service and is now a Senior Fellow at Global Public Affairs.Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.