Canada has had a marijuana industry for a long time. It just hasn’t always been legal. People in the business have ended up in prison, barred from crossing the border or denied future job prospects. Now that the Liberals are planning to legalize weed, what will happen to those people? Andray talks to Liberal MP for Beaches-East York Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and criminal defence lawyer John Struthers. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Elliott Clarke has been appointed as Canada’s seventh poet laureate.  His wide-ranging conversation with Desmond touches on how working for a trailblazing black MP led him to meeting the Dalai Lama, why politicians should care about poetry and how he thinks Canadians are being ripped off by phone companies.  Plus, he nearly sets the studio on fire with a rendition of his poem “Look Homeward, Exile."Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I think it would be a real shame if we got rid of Harper at the federal level and then we brought in somebody who wants to take our province in a similar direction,” Wab Kinew tells Andray and Desmond.  Kinew is stepping into politics after years in the public eye as a journalist, author, rapper and First Nations community leader. He talks about what he wants to accomplish in politics that he couldn’t do in his previous roles. He also discusses ways to address the systemic racism in Winnipeg and Canada at large.  Wab is seeking the nomination for the provincial NDP for the Fort Rouge riding in Winnipeg. FULL DISCLOSURE: Andray and Wab are both board members of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canada's electronic spy agency broke privacy laws by collecting metadata about Canadians, then sharing it with other countries. The issue was exposed in a watchdog report that was released to the public last week. Andray and Supriya speak to Amanda Connolly, national security reporter for iPolitics, about what exactly the Communications Security Establishment did wrong and whether there's any reason to expect it won't happen again.   Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most workplaces discourage yelling and jeering among co-workers. But the government has their own way of doing things. Desmond and Supriya talk to Calgary - Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel about her experiences being heckled. They also get into how social media is changing the political discourse in ways that Rempel herself still hasn't figured out.  This follows a recent survey by Samara Canada finding that most MPs think heckling is a problem in the House of Commons, but most of them also do it. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the end of Harper's decade-long rule, Conservatives have to figure out what they stand for. The next leadership race is still a long way away, but people are starting to campaign. Jim Burnett knows conservative leadership races from the inside. He returns to the show to talk about where Conservatives go after Harper. Plus, he answers the burning question: Did you actually like the guy?Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former BC Premier Ujjal Dosanjh recently wrote an editorial called “The Silencing of the White Men of the West." In it, he argues that political correctness stifles powerful white men.    Editor-in-chief of The Walrus Jonathan Kay and cultural critic Septembre Anderson give their thoughts on the issue.   Ujjal Dosanjh did not respond to a request to appear on COMMONS.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a child, Andray was taught to look up to Anne C. Cools, the first black person to join Canada’s Senate. Born in Barbados, she spent her early life as a social worker and pioneer in the field of domestic violence before spending over three decades in the upper house.Andray’s views change when he hears Desmond’s interview with the senator. Desmond sets out to talk to her about the recent expense probes, the role of the Senate and her activist past. They get to all that, but the conversation takes a far more contentious tone than planned. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the Paris agreement, Andray and Desmond speak to climate change expert Jason Thistlethwaite in a conversation touching on the “give a shit factor”, the inevitable death of the suburbs and Game of Thrones.Plus, they speak to someone who was at the talks and was not happy with what took place. Erica Violet Lee, an Indigenous activist and part of the Canadian Youth Delegation to Paris, felt tokenized and ignored by politicians and the press. Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"What can we do tomorrow?” Maggie Cywink wants to know. "I don’t have another six months to wait for the government to meet everybody and figure it out.” Mag’s sister Sonya Cywink was found murdered in southern Ontario in 1994. Bernadette Smith’s sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo went missing in Winnipeg. And Lauren Crazybull’s great-aunt Jacqueline Crazybull was killed in a random attack in Calgary.None of these cases have been solved. Following the Liberal government’s announcement of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, these three women join Desmond and guest host Supriya to talk about what they want the government to do, whether an inquiry is even the right move and how they've felt let down by First Nations leaders on this issue.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.