

Full Comment
Postmedia
Full Comment is Canada’s podcast for compelling interviews, controversial opinions and fascinating discussions. Hosted by Brian Lilley. Published by Postmedia, new episodes are released each Monday.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 7, 2022 • 42min
A weaker Biden can be better for Canada
The U.S. midterm elections on November 8 have consequences for Canadians. An end to Democratic control of Congress could push President Joe Biden toward more Canada-friendly policies on oil and alliances, as Christopher Sands discusses with guest host Adrienne Batra. Sands, the director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute in Washington, D.C., explains how recent American ambivalence to energy security and asserting western power has impacted Canada’s foreign policy. And why younger U.S. voters, who now outnumber baby boomers, are starting to demand more realism from Washington. (Recorded October 26, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 31, 2022 • 35min
The Emergencies Act inquiry exposes a broken system
Evidence at the inquiry into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act against this year’s Freedom Convoy in Ottawa has revealed that police and officials were unprepared and adrift. Politicians had left police ‘holding the bag,’ without resources and tools needed to deal with the protest, as Christian Leuprecht discusses in this week’s episode with guest host Adrienne Batra. Leuprecht, professor and author of Public Security in Federal Polities, explains why Canada’s policing system is poorly suited for a new era of mass public protest, and why Canadians will need real leadership to fix it. (Recorded October 26, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 2022 • 52min
How central bankers broke the economy
Make no mistake: out-of-control inflation in the U.S. and Canada is the consequence of a radical experiment by the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve. The unfairness it has created for younger generations and the middle class has been devastating. Meanwhile, the wealthy have thrived, as guest host Sabrina Maddeaux discusses with Christopher Leonard, author of the recent bestseller The Lords of Easy Money. The economic and political consequences are roiling North America even as central bankers refuse to take responsibility. As Leonard explains, undoing the immense damage will be difficult and terribly painful. (Recorded October 12, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 17, 2022 • 46min
How I barely survived a bear eating me alive
It’s the stuff of nightmares, but for Colin Dowler it was terrifyingly real. Riding his bike alone on an isolated B.C. logging road, he ran smack into a nine-foot-long male grizzly bear that brutally mauled and tried to consume him. With the predatory attack this month of a black bear that tried to eat two women in B.C., Dowler tells guest host Sabrina Maddeaux about his own harrowing tale of becoming bear prey. He describes how he fought back to narrowly escape with his life, and explains why, despite the horrific wounds he suffered, he keeps finding himself back in bear country. (Recorded October 14, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 10, 2022 • 33min
Parents are fighting to take back race-obsessed, ‘hypersexualized’ schools
Critical race theory and radical gender ideology are turning schools from educational institutions into indoctrination centres. Asra Nomani has helped lead the battle of U.S. parents who are winning back control of schools from woke administrators and trustees. With new fronts in the school culture wars opening up in Canada, Nomani joins Anthony this week with advice for parents about how to be ‘unapologetic’ in standing up for their honour and values. And how they can get their local school to stop obsessing about sexuality, gender and race, and back to respecting achievement and merit. (Recorded September 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 3, 2022 • 36min
Iran’s ‘revolution in the making’ isn’t just about hijabs
Protests continue to rage across Iran, weeks after erupting in response to the police killing of a young woman arrested her for not wearing her hijab. But this unleashed fury of the Iranian people has been building up for many years, as Alireza Jafarzadeh, a prominent regime critic and deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, discusses with host Anthony Furey. The growing number of regime scandals and atrocities, he says, is catching up with Iran’s hardline theocratic rulers, and their end, after more than 40 years in power, may finally be near. (Recorded September 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 26, 2022 • 51min
Our parole system makes Canadians ‘literal sitting ducks’
Myles Sanderson was in breach of parole, after 59 convictions, when he butchered 10 innocent people in Saskatchewan. A police officer and a Toronto man were murdered by a former gang member with an “extensive” record, flagged as high risk to reoffend. Dangerous people walking the streets is not an “aberration,” defence lawyer Ari Goldkind tells Anthony this week. Activism about systemic racism and anti-policing permeate Canada’s justice system, so high-risk convicts get too many breaks. But, Goldkind says, because they’re released into communities they came from — not where the activists and legislators live — people in power don’t seem to care. (Recorded September 16, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 19, 2022 • 37min
Poilievre turns conservatism into ‘a choice, not an echo’
The remarkable thing about Pierre Poilievre’s victory in the Conservative leadership race isn’t just how overwhelmingly he won, but that he signed up legions of new members, many of them young people, from all regions in the country. They were attracted to exactly what Poilievre’s opponents and mainstream pundits don ‘t like about him: that he’s a Conservative unafraid to stand somewhere more interesting than the middle ground, as veteran Tory strategist Michael Diamond discusses with Anthony this week. While previous leaders watered down policies during elections, Diamond explains why Poilievre will be different, and why sticking to his principles will be his winning formula again. (Recorded September 15, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 12, 2022 • 41min
Reasons to keep calm over COVID
After more than two years of pandemic, life has returned to normal for most of us, despite panic fanatics who want us living in fear forever. But while COVID can still be dangerous, the situation is nothing like 2020 or 2021, as infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch explains in this week’s episode. And whatever this new stage is — pandemic or endemic — the important thing now, he says, is for officials to be far more honest and transparent with the public about not just the risks and realities of COVID and vaccines, but about a health-care system still terribly unprepared for future viral waves. (Recorded September 1, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 5, 2022 • 55min
Oops, we hired a raving bigot to teach anti-racism
The federal Liberals handed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Laith Marouf, an “anti-racism” coach, who publicly called Jews “human feces” deserving a “bullet to the head, while also insulting Blacks, Indigenous people and others. As embarrassed officials scramble an “extensive review” into government anti-racism funding, Jonathan Kay, the Quilette editor who helped bring Marouf’s hateful behaviour to light, joins Anthony this week to discuss how the Liberals, desperate to be woke, seemingly fell in with Marouf. And how “anti-racism” training and bigotry sometimes overlap in ways that can make haters feel at home. (Recorded September 1, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


