The Herle Burly

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. We have a very timely, and as it played itself out these last few weeks, controversial topic to discuss on the pod today. Our guests are journalists Jessica Smith Cross and Charlie Pinkerton, who until recently were employed at Queen’s Park Briefing, which is now owned by one of the 2 former proprietors of TorStar, Paul Rivett.Ms. Smith Cross as an editor. Mr. Pinkerton as a reporter and editor. They had the story of Premier Ford’s Daughter’s fundraising Stag and Doe party – attended by developers eyeing the Greenbelt – all ready to go for QP Briefing. A story of the Premier’s potential conflict of interest. Until the new ownership at the publication intervened and killed it. That story was eventually published, and followed up on, in The Star and other media outlets.Ms. Smith Cross and Mr. Pinkerton both resigned from QP Briefing, and have now launched TheTrillium.ca, covering Queen’s Park.We have a great piece by Jim Coyle about all of this over at AirQuotesMedia.com, called “Conflict: Powerful Men Not Getting Basic Principles.” In it, Jim writes: “some journalism organization should strike a reporting award in the names of Jessica Smith Cross and Charlie Pinkerton. Their integrity and courage marked a shining moment in the news biz in Ontario.”We’re going to dive deeply into all this today. Why is the Stag and Doe story important? What was the level of interference from ownership at QP Briefing? How did it manifest itself? Why did it differ over at The Star? And we’ll also talk about the current state of journalism in general.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Welcome back to our semi-regular feature here on The Herle Burly, called “The Chiefs”. The Chiefs is a panel of 3 former Chiefs of Staffs to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government: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.Tim Murphy – former Chief of Staff to Paul Martin … now CEO and Managing Partner at McMillan LLP.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, federally. Today, he’s a founding partner at GT&co.Today’s discussion is prompted by the upcoming federal budget. We’re going to talk about how exactly a budget gets put together. Where do the ideas come from? What are the roles of the PMO? The PCO? Finance? Cabinet? Caucus? … in the budget process? What should the purpose of a budget be? And what does it represent, writ large? Then we’ll switch gears and get The Chiefs’ impressions of what the government should be thinking about as it prepares this budget.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Alright you loyal and courageous Herle Burly-ites. A timely and important pod with a very special guest, the Honourable Rachel Notley is here!Ms. Notley served as the 17th Premier of Alberta and is currently a member of the legislative assembly for Edmonton-Strathcona, and leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party. A lawyer before entering politics, focussing on labour law and workers’ rights, she was first elected in 2008 and won the leadership of her party in 2014 on the first ballot, with 70% of the vote. Ms. Notley then went on to win a majority government in the 2015 provincial election, ending 44 years of continuous rule by the Progressive Conservatives.Here’s where I’d like to take this today:We’re going to get Ms. Notley’s assessment of the current UCP government under Danielle Smith.What’s right and fair with respect to energy policy?Her take on the health accord and what should happen with health care, writ large.The state of the federation and how to address the Alberta anger and alienation.What’s the path to victory for the Ms. Notley and the NDP in the upcoming election?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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Alright, Herle Burly-ites, it is hard to do better than our guest today: David Dodge is with me, economist and former Governor of the Bank of Canada.Mr. Dodge’s career has been marked by high accomplishment in academia and the public service. I’m going to have to dramatically précis this, or we’ll be here the whole hour: PhD in economics from Princeton. Assistant Professor at Queen’s. Associate Professor, John Hopkins. Senior Fellow, UBC. Visiting Professor, Simon Fraser. As a public servant … senior positions on the anti-inflation board, the central mortgage and housing corporation, G7 Deputy, Deputy Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Health and finally, Central Bank Governor.Today, as you might expect, we’ll cover the big, timely stuff … inflation and our economy … healthcare … and I also want to dive a little more deeply into the state of our public service.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Alright, Herle Burly-ites. A big topic today, that’s got me pretty keyed up. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that already. I want to do a thorough discussion, here on the pod, on where healthcare in Canada should and shouldn’t go. So let’s get right to it with our guests.Dr. Danielle Martin has been with us here once before, helping us get some clarity in the early days of the pandemic. She is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Martin also holds a Masters from the School of Public Policy and Governance at U of T. Her policy, clinical and academic expertise, combined with her commitment to health equity, has made her a highly regarded health system leader here in Canada.And Professor Greg Marchildon, Ontario Research Chair in Health Policy and System Design at the University of Toronto Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Greg has also been a noted public servant, and the Executive Director of the Royal Commission on the future of Health Care in Canada … an author of the Romanow Report. He was appointed to the Order of Canada, last year.So today … a solutions-oriented conversation on the health of our healthcare system. For Profit Delivery … does it help? What’s should its role be? How much money is required here? Why can’t money alone fix the system? What are other jurisdictions doing successfully or unsuccessfully? Not only in the U.S. but hybrid public/private systems in Europe. Is it true they’re equitable and how do they work? What should the provinces be doing with their increase in health funding?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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Well, greetings, you Herle Burly-ites. You, intrepideers. You, merry band of insight seekers. If you recall last week’s pod, we took up political residence in British Columbia. This week, we’re heading in the opposite direction.As far east as you can go in this country, with a very notable guest: The Honourable Andrew Furey, 14th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. First sworn in in August 2020, and then the winner of a majority government in March 2021, Dr. Furey is an orthopaedic, trauma surgeon and educator with Memorial University’s School of Medicine. His education includes a Diploma in Organizational Leadership from Oxford. In 2010, he helped create the Newfoundland and Labrador-born charity, “Team Broken Earth” which has provided relief and participated in medical missions in Haiti, as well as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Nicaragua. And, in 2017, he was named the Canadian Red Cross’ Humanitarian of the Year for Newfoundland and Labrador. So … just another one of those run of the mill CVs that fly across your desk every day, Herle Burly-ites.Today on the pod, we’ll dive a little deeper in Premier Furey’s background, and also chat about:Energy, wind, hydro, our climate future, and Newfoundland’s prospects for being a green hydrogen producer.Premier Furey is at the table in these Health care negotiations. He’s talked about the need for reform. What does he mean by that, exactly? And what’s his take on Premier Ford’s approach?Given that Newfoundland has the highest percentage of vaccinations among the provinces, what are his cultural observations about COVID? Both what we’ve come through and where we go from here.And finally, as the only remaining Liberal Provincial Premier, along with Yukon Territory, we’ll get his take on the future of large L Liberals across Canada, federally and provincially.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail. Alright, you fearless Herle Burly-ites. We have a wonderful show that leans to the left, today. And before anyone says, “David, you’re a dreaded socialist” … I mean we’re spending the hour talking about the left coast of Canada. The super … natural … province of B.C. Beautiful British Columbia politics that is! With me are 2 of the best political thinkers, and doers, when it comes to that province: Geoff Meggs and Mike McDonald. Geoff is making his first appearance here on The Herle Burly. Until recently, he served as Chief of Staff to former Premier John Horgan. Prior to that, he was a long-time Vancouver City Councillor, and Strategic Communications specialist.Mike is making his 3rd appearance on the pod. He’s been a campaign manager and Chief of Staff to Premier Christy Clark. Currently, he’s Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Kirk&Co., a senior research associate at Pollara, and you can read about what’s on Mike’s political mind at Rosedeer.blogToday, we’ll be discussing the new Eby government. What is it about and how is it performing? Will it hold the Horgan coalition or reshape a new one? What are the issues that might give it trouble and what will its relations with Trudeau be like? Then … B.C. United. What’s the impact from the name change … now and down the road? Is their leader, Kevin Falcon, catching on? What are his strengths and weaknesses? Climate change, housing, reconciliation … we’ll touch on all of it in the next hour!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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.We’re debuting what’s going to be semi-regular feature here on The Herle Burly, called “The Chiefs”. The Chiefs is a panel of 3 former Chiefs of Staffs to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government. And by semi regular, I mean this, whenever there are important enough issues to dive into, and maybe more to the point, whenever we can get these 3 very smart, very busy people: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.Tim Murphy – former Chief of Staff to Paul Martin … now CEO and Managing Partner at McMillan LLP.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, federally. Today, he’s a founding partner at GT&co.Here’s what “The Chiefs” is going to be about: It’s a discussion of the major issues of the day from the unique and shared perspective of people who think about them NOT as campaigners do … i.e., what might be IDEAL in a political sense … BUT in the realm of what’s actually POSSIBLE to DELIVER in a governing sense.Today, for our first ever Chiefs discussion, 2 topics: The Government’s reliance on the consultant class, and more specifically, McKinsey. And in the wake of Bill Morneau’s book, Prime Ministers and their relationships, or non-relationships, with their Cabinet Ministers.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.Seasons greetings Herle Burly-ites! And dammit if we haven’t reached our final, live podcast of 2022. Today’s show is going to be a helluva lot of fun. We’re going to look back on, and break down, some of the more notable political ads of the year.Back with me for this, are those smooth-pated practitioners of political advertising … those high-gloss heads of campaign creative … 2 brothers from different political mothers: Dennis Matthews and David Rosenberg. One raised in a Conservative milieu, able to wear the most luminescent, skin-tight biking gear and look damn fine doing it. The other, from the Liberal dysfunctional family, owner of 2 pair of jeans over 5 years old, both sporting holes in the crotch which, until this very moment, he managed to keep a secret.Dennis, our regular listeners will know, is a Partner at Enterprise Canada and the President of its ad agency and content studio, Creative Currency. Strategist and architect of Conservative Party Advertising for Stephen Harper, Tim Houston and Doug Ford, among many others.David is a Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Bensimon Byrne Advertising. Writer of Liberal ads provincially and federally since 2004, including Paul Martin, Kathleen Wynne and Justin Trudeau’s 2015 majority winning effort. David is also a member of our Air Quotes Media team.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.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.We’re recording this one late, so I’m cheers-ing all of you right now, with my customary, late-afternoon-on-a-Friday, Lemon Hart Rum and Coke.Alright … last week on the pod was our journo panel. This week, our wonko panel. All the essential policy discussion we can fit into 60 minutes! The most important issues Canada faced in 2022 and is facing right now into 2023. And with me are three of the best:Sean Speer last joined us on the pod about 17 months ago. He’s Assistant Professor of Public Policy at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Before that, he was senior economic adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He’s also a founder and Editor-at-Large at the very excellent, TheHub.caDr. Jennifer Robson was on with us way back in June 2020, when we were all pandemic babies. She’s a Program Director and Associate Professor of Political Management at Carleton University where she teaches in Public Policy and Research Methods.And brand new to The Herle Burly … Tyler Meredith! Tyler is the former Head of Fiscal and Economic Policy for Prime Minister Trudeau and Ministers of Finance, Chrystia Freeland and Bill Morneau … who has, as of about 3 months ago… transitioned back to civilian life.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.