Show Notes
Normally on World on Edge, we look at other countries in the thick of significant upheaval. But today, we turn the camera lens on ourselves. Martha Hall Findlay joins Janice Stein to discuss Alberta’s referendum results, what they mean, what comes next, what Danielle Smith will do with the separatists in her party, the referendum’s nine other questions, and rising anti-immigration sentiment.
Then Janice and Steve discuss the protests and riots in France and across Europe, the grievances and economic pressures driving them, France’s long history of protest, the looting, and Trump’s claim that “the migrants have taken over France.”
More from The Paikin Podcast
Joseph P. Kennedy III joins Steve to discuss the upcoming midterm elections, the Republicans’ spending advantage, recent polls, the possibility of flipping Texas, the 51st-state talk, whether Trump’s treatment of Canada is an issue for voters, Trump’s personal enrichment and “grifting,” and the possibility of inappropriate or even illegal efforts to overturn the election results.
The Everything Political panel, with former MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Tony Clement, discusses Alberta’s referendum, Danielle Smith’s high-wire act, and the role Canada’s premiers played in the lead-up to the referendum. Then they open up the mailbag and take questions on term limits and the gerontocracy, open borders, media bias, Tony’s boomer remarks, the risk Carney is running by trying to sell our airports, the most exciting election Steve has covered, and the most underrated politician in Canada.
Gary Marcus joins Steve to discuss calls to slow down AI development, Anthropic’s IPO and mounting debt, Trump’s self-policing approach, the Hugging Face incident, rogue AI agents, anthropomorphizing AI, and whether LLMs, at their core, are incapable of ever truly aligning with human values.
Andrew Cohen joins Janice Stein on World on Edge to discuss Canada’s foreign policy, whether Canada is now “awake,” the peacekeeping era, Carney the statesman, whether his “middle powers” coalition is more than just speeches, Canada’s defence spending, and whether “soft power” still matters in the world today.
Bob Rae and former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella join Steve for a live taping of the podcast in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. They discuss the great "rupture" in Canada-U.S. relations, the day the world turned upside down, the "arsonist" in the White House, why Abella thinks we have been tolerating intolerance for too long, Trump's tariffs and threats of annexation, how Rae thinks Trump could try to divert fresh water from Canada, the ideological nature of the U.S. Supreme Court, rights being systematically rolled back in America, and Rae's new book, Reclaiming Canadian Sovereignty in a Ruptured World.