The Writ

When the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties merged to form the United Conservative Party of Alberta, it was always going to be an open question whether the new entity could remain as united as its name suggested. The rise of the right-wing, populist Wildrose Party was a reaction to the growing anger and fatigue with the PCs, who governed Alberta for an uninterrupted period stretching from 1971 to 2015. But after the PCs were booted from office, the two rival parties became aligned in their opposition to Rachel Notley’s NDP government.Merged and under the leadership of Jason Kenney, the UCP defeated the NDP in 2019. Mission accomplished. But little more than three years later, Kenney is on his way out as leader and the party is already at a crossroads as it tries to find his replacement and avoid defeat in next spring’s election.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.On this week’s episode of The Writ Podcast, I’m joined by Elise von Scheel, CBC politics reporter in Alberta, to break down who is in the running to lead the United Conservative Party and what happened in Wednesday’s leadership debate in Medicine Hat.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this discussion on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

Politics doesn’t take a summer vacation.In the Conservative leadership race, Pierre Poilievre seems to be cruising toward a victory in September but Jean Charest isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. What will the results mean for the future of the party?For the Liberals, the summer hasn’t been going great. From passports to airports and Ukraine, various problems keep dogging the government. Will this just be a summer Justin Trudeau will want to forget or the first signs of serious trouble?This week on The Writ Podcast to discuss all this (and more), I’m joined by journalist Shannon Proudfoot and Supriya Dwivedi, Director of Policy and Engagement at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and Senior Counsel for Enterprise Canada. She’s also the co-host of the Seriously Podcast.(Note: The news that Pierre Poilievre isn’t interested in attending the third Conservative debate came out after we recorded.)The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Supriya and Shannon on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

Don’t adjust your podcast player — The Writ Podcast is coming to you in French! When Philippe J. Fournier joined me for our chat about the Quebec election last week, I thought we’d test out a shorter podcast in French to see if there is any interest. If you don’t speak French, don’t worry, we covered the same territory in English in Friday’s episode.The Writ will be back to its regularly scheduled English-language programming later this week.La campagne électorale au Québec sera officiellement lancée dans moins de deux mois. Les sondages suggèrent que la Coalition Avenir Québec de François Legault est sur la bonne piste pour gagner un deuxième mandat majoritaire. Par contre, il reste encore de grandes questions auxquelles il faudra attendre les résultats du 3 octobre.Philippe J. Fournier de Qc125.com me rejoint sur le podcast pour parler de la course électorale — en français!Veuillez me faire parvenir vos commentaires si vous aimeriez voir plus de podcasts en français pendant la campagne électorale. Merci! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

In less than two months, Quebec’s election campaign will officially be underway. While the polls suggest that François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec is on track for a big majority victory, there are still some big questions that have to be answered when voters cast their ballots on October 3.First among these is whether or not the CAQ can cruise to a win. Does the party have any vulnerabilities that could trip it up between now and election day?Can the Quebec Conservatives finally make a breakthrough after surging in the polls? What’s next for Québec Solidaire, and what will the results say about the future of both the Quebec Liberals and the Parti Québécois?The Writ’s subscription rates will be increasing next week. Subscribe and lock in your lower rate today!To break down the state of the race, this week on The Writ Podcast I’m joined by Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada.com. You can also check out Philippe’s work at Politico and L’actualité.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Philippe on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

With the disqualification of Patrick Brown from the Conservative leadership race being a fast-paced and developing story, I decided to post this week’s episode of The Writ Podcast as soon as it was ready to go rather than wait until Friday morning.And what a story it is. Late on Tuesday night, Patrick Brown was booted from the Conservative leadership contest for his campaign’s alleged breaking of the rules that govern political financing. Brown denies the allegations and puts the blame on Pierre Poilievre’s campaign for engineering his ouster.This story is far from over, as it appears Brown might go to the courts to challenge his disqualification. Meanwhile, the other campaigns need to re-calibrate and figure out where they go from here.There’s a lot to discuss. So, this week I’m joined by Tim Powers of Summa Strategies, Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and Catherine Cullen, senior reporter with CBC News, to break it all down.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Catherine, Tim and Chad on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives made a big play for labour support in the Ontario election.And it appears to have paid off.The PCs were able to win seats away from the New Democrats in places like Windsor, Hamilton and northern Ontario, regions the NDP has traditionally been able to count on from one election to the next. The PCs also received a series of labour endorsements, setting off a narrative of a fracturing of labour support for the New Democrats as the PCs make inroads into a new electorate.What does it all mean for the future of politics in Ontario?Earlier this year, Larry Savage, a professor in the labour studies department at Brock University, came on the podcast to discuss how the labour vote was shaping up ahead of the Ontario election. Now, he’s back to discuss what happened — and what it means for the Ontario PCs and NDP going forward.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Larry on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

Voters in two ridings in New Brunswick are heading to the polls on Monday in a byelection that will kick-off a busy political summer in the province.Miramichi Bay–Neguac and Southwest Miramichi–Bay du Vin were vacated last year when their two MLAs, one a Liberal, the other a Progressive Conservative, quit provincial politics to take a run at federal office. As a result, these two neighbouring ridings will test the political waters in New Brunswick two years into Premier Blaine Higgs’s majority mandate.Not only will the popularity of his PC government be put to the test, but we’ll also get our first signs of the impact of the (temporary) dissolution of the People’s Alliance, a populist party whose two MLAs crossed the floor to join the PC government earlier this year.The Miramichi area just happens to be an area of strength for the People’s Alliance. Will their voters flock to the PCs, are stick with the new iteration of the People’s Alliance?Then, in August the Liberals will be choosing their new leader. Whoever it is will take over a party running roughly even in the polls with the governing PCs. There are also questions over what’s next for the seatless NDP as their leader steps down (again).So, lots to talk about.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To break it all down, I’m joined this week by the CBC’s provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick and author of The Right Fight, Jacques Poitras.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Jacques on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

With the deadline for eligibility now gone, it’s time for the Conservative leadership contestants to start converting members, both old and new, into voting supporters. But with a pool of more than 600,000 members, this race has suddenly gotten much, much bigger than it has ever been before.Though, with Pierre Poilievre’s campaign claiming half of those members, is there much of a race left to run? Do Patrick Brown and Jean Charest still have a path to victory? And what role could Leslyn Lewis still play?To discuss what the numbers mean and what’s next for the leadership contest, I’m joined this week by Tim Powers of Summa Strategies, Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and Stephanie Levitz of the Toronto Star.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Stephanie, Tim and Chad on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

With just a few days to go before voting day in Ontario’s election, friend-of-the-show Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada.com is back to join me in a provincial tour of the battlegrounds and ridings to watch on Thursday night.Will Steven Del Duca’s Liberals or Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats emerge as the official opposition? Can Mike Schreiner’s Greens win that coveted second seat? And is there anything that could get in the way of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives winning the majority government that the polls suggest is well within their grasp?The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Philippe on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

The Conservatives met in Laval, Quebec on Wednesday for the final debate before the June 3rd leadership cut-off. With the debate taking place entirely in French, and three of the candidates doing no more than reading from prepared notes, it was really a contest between Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest and Patrick Brown.Or, to be more accurate, between Poilievre and a tag-team of Charest and Brown.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To discuss what happened in the debate and what it could mean for the leadership contest going forward, I’m joined this week by Stéphanie Chouinard, political science professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.In addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Stéphanie on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe