The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge

The former senior Conservative cabinet minister takes aim at some of her former colleagues, both Liberal AND Conservative for wasting time on non-issues and ignoring the important ones, especially one issue in particular. It's a kind of Lisa Raitt "unplugged" episode and she doesn't hold back. Plus, a look at six good news stories we've missed.

The United States Secretary of State is on a week-long dash through seven mid-east countries desperately trying to prevent a wider war than the one already underway between Israel and Hamas. Janice Stein walks us through the challenges he faces, plus her latest assessment of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the importance of this week's upcoming election in Taiwan. 

Potential consequences of the Prime Minister's vacation and the impact on public perception, conservative party's stance on Canada's involvement in the United Nations, absence of a foreign affairs critic, influence of the upcoming US election on the Canadian political scene, consequences of fiscal decisions on healthcare in Canada.

The question to you was "Name the one change you would make to Canada's political system". And you had answers, lots of them and today we scan the mail and award one of the suggestions with a special prize. It's a new format for the Thursday edition of the Bridge. But the Random Ranter remains in place!

After more than a dozen year end interviews by some of Canada's political leaders, who benefited most?  The leaders? The media? The public?  That and more about the relationship between the media and the leaders with a former bureau chief at the Canadian Press and the CBC in Ottawa, Rob Russo. WE cover a lot of ground, so enjoy.

In this episode, the host and guest discuss the possibility of a wider war in the Middle East, focusing on Iran, Hezbollah, and President Biden's special envoy. They also delve into the escalating conflict in Ukraine and the challenges it presents. In addition, they highlight the lack of communication from Xi Jinping and the overlooked civil war in Sudan. The episode concludes with reflections on the global situation and introduces a new segment called 'What are we missing?'

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on December 5th. Some of my favourite stories are about the history of Canada's Arctic and almost all of them have been written by Ken McGoogan. He's our guest today with his exciting new book Searching for Franklin. If you think you know the Franklin story you'll want to hear this, if you don't know it. this just might get you hooked.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on December 22nd. It's that time of year when the Good Talk panel convenes to talk about the year-end position on the political landscape in Canada. Bruce and Chantal with their thoughts about the leaders and the parties, with some questions unlike any we have asked before.  Good fun and good analysis all rolled into one.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on December 12th. James Moore and Gerald Butts are back with us for the Moore Butts Conversation #12. We talk a lot about polls but what happens behind the scenes when the polls are released? What do the public and the press not see when the numbers cause chaos in one party or another? These conversations are one of the reasons The Bridge continues to be ranked #1 by Apple in their lists of which Canadian political podcasts Canadians listen to.

Today an encore presentation of an episode that originally aired on October 17th. What happens behind the closed doors when a government faces a crisis -- who says what, and what are the do's and don'ts of crisis management? Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and former Trudeau principal secretary Gerald Butts take us inside with their latest "conversation".