Episodes
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Everybody loves a pentalogy. In March of 2020, host David Moscrop and guest Amanda Watson discussed how we were managing early pandemic life. In the months and years that followed, the two rejoined to talk about anxiety and late-pandemic life. Twice. In early 2024, they covered what the new year might have in store for us. Now, for a record-shattering fifth time on the pod, Watson is back to talk culture wars, elections, affordability, academia, censorship, and to ask: Is anything getting better?
This episode was recorded before the U.S election. Now, in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory and return to the White House, the themes we discuss are, alas, even more relevant – and reason for grim concern.
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks once more again with Amanda Watson, feminist theorist, Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University and author of The Juggling Mother: Coming Undone in the Age of Anxiety.
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Democratic life is increasingly marked by toxic polarisation and partisan hostility. Public institutions are overrun by the few, leaving the many on the sidelines. Many of us are left to assume there’s only one way to self-govern, to let others do it; or else we are so turned off by what we see that we want nothing to do with politics.
But what if things didn’t have to be this way? What if there were some hope that we could do better? What if there were a better way to do democracy? Well, is there?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Diana Smith, an author with a career that has included community organizing, journalism, consulting and more. Her latest book is Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together To Build A Better Future For All.
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The non-profit sector is massive. According to Statistics Canada, in 2022 the non-profit sector accounted for over 8 percent of GDP – contributing more than $216 billion to the economy.
Non-profits operate in many spaces, but are essential parts of the healthcare, housing, and education systems. Non-profits exist to serve communities and fill essential functions not covered, or only partially covered, by the state or private market; they’re also sometimes in competition with other sectors, or at least in tension with them, and with one another.
It’s complicated stuff. And when you add changing technologies, trends, economic conditions, and domestic and geopolitical considerations, making a non-profit work is even trickier. So how do non-profit organizations work – or not?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Brooke Struck, strategy facilitator and the founder and CEO of the firm Converge.
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Is Canada ready to get serious about tackling monopolies and oligopolies?
You’ve heard it before, the old joke that Canada is three telecom companies in a trench coat. Or airlines. Or grocery stores. You’ve probably heard it here before. That’s because Canada has a monopoly and oligopoly problem – and it has for a long time.
The United States has long faced its own challenges with market concentration — and for or once, Canada might not be too far behind.
To understand the state and future of competition in this country, we ask: Is Canada ready to get serious about tackling monopolies and oligopolies?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Denise Hearn, writer, applied researcher, and c0-author of the upcoming book The Big Fix, which is out this October.
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Canada has passed a law preventing federally-regulated businesses from using scab workers. Bill C-58 passed in June and marked a significant milestone in the progress of worker’s rights. That it passed is notable; that it passed unanimously in an era of increasingly toxic polarization is quite remarkable, and speaks to the moment that labour is having in this country.
To understand the government’s thinking on the law and the broader context in which it passed, we talk to the man in charge of the legislation and ask: What does an anti-scab worker bill tell us about the state of labour in Canada?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Labour and Seniors.
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Universities are medieval, risk averse institutions. Some like to think of them as bastions of radicalism, but they’re actually quite conservative by nature – and in desperate need of modernization, a process of technological development that would serve students, faculty, and administrators alike.
If there was ever any doubt about the need for post secondary institutions to up their tech game, the pandemic swept it away. So, are universities ready to modernize?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Scott Murray, senior manager, transformation architecture, at EY.
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This week, we have good news and bad news. The bad news, you know already. Climate change is catching up to us. We’re feeling its effects and they stand to get worse. We’re not doing enough, and what we are doing, we’re not doing as quickly as we ought to. Moreover, the hidden costs of climate change are also adding up.
The good news? We are making progress in the fight against climate change and we still have time to address the worst of what’s coming – to mitigate, adapt, and secure a better future for billions upon billions of people.
But first, we need to understand the full scope and depth of the primary and secondary effects of climate change. To that end, this week we ask: What are the hidden costs of climate change?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with R. Jisung Park, an environmental and labor economist at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World.
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Artificial intelligence means different things to different people. As an amorphous set of technologies deployed in countless applications, AI is tricky to understand, regulate, and integrate into our social and economic lives.
This is especially true when conversations about it, even among experts, may be premised on misunderstandings – or multiple understandings – of the thing itself.
And yet, AI, broadly understood, is already shaping how we do business, how and whether we employ people, how we communicate, and plenty more. In short, it’s kind of a big deal and we need to sort out how we want it to fit into our society and our lives.
So, what is AI and is Canada ready for it?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Murad Hemmadi, a journalist with the Logic and the co-author of Superintelligence: Is Canada Ready for AI?
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A few weeks back, we spoke with Tiffany Balducci about the Alberta NDP leadership race. This week, we’re keeping on theme, but instead of looking ahead, we’re looking back.
You may have forgotten Jason Kenney. After his dismal leadership review, the Harper-era Cabinet minister resigned as premier of Alberta and left politics. But Kenney’s legacy continues to shape the country. A new book assesses his career, its effects, and the state of the right in Canada.
So, what is Kenneyism and why should we care?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Jeremy Appel, an Alberta-based journalist and author of Kenneyism: Jason Kenney’s Pursuit of Power.
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There’s no sharper way to assess the state of life in the early 21st century than through a lens of “enshitification,” a term this week's guest coined.
It’s described as the slow and steady worsening of each and every bit of our daily existence, and as Cory Doctorow has argued, particularly as it pertains to the work of technology companies that have captured our attention, our dollars, or both.
But some people have it worse than others. For instance, the incarcerated, on whom – as this week’s guest explores in his new novel – companies test and roll out strategies and technologies and a surveillance apparatus that is later used to exploit populations at large.
So, just how is life becoming “enshitified?” and how can we make things better?
On this 100th(!) episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Cory Doctorow, best-selling science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book, The Bezzle, is out now.
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The Alberta New Democratic Party leadership race is underway. In June, the party membership will select a new leader to replace Rachel Notley and square off against United Conservative Party premier Danielle Smith.
Let’s meet the candidates and get a sense of what they’re about as we ask: Who wants to lead the Alberta NDP?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Tiffany Balducci, a union organizer, negotiator, and job evaluation specialist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Alberta.
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Trans rights are under attack throughout Canada. Policy changes in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have already constrained rights and other provinces, most notably Ontario, may be set to follow. At the same time, the Conservative Party is set to go all-in on the culture war ahead of the next federal election, and to throw trans people under the bus in the process.
The struggle for trans rights intersects with similar movements to establish, expand, or preserve social, cultural, economic, and political equality. But trans folks are up against powerful, well-funded opponents and constrained by limited resources, leaving us to ask: What is the future of trans rights?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Fae Johnstone, Executive Director of Queer Momentum.
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In January, former New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent died at the age of 87. Outpourings of grief, respect, and gratitude followed throughout the country, culminating in a state funeral in Ottawa.
Broadbent’s legacy is the product of decades of tireless work as an elected representative and as an ambassador for the left at home and abroad. His commitment to justice and equality is paralleled by few in Canada, and this episode is dedicated to understanding and celebrating his service to this country and to left movements worldwide.
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Luke Savage, columnist, co-host of the podcast Michael and Us, and co-author, with Ed Broadbent and others, of Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality.
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Everybody loves a quadrilogy. In March of 2020, host David Moscrop and guest Amanda Watson discussed how we were managing our lives during the early days of the pandemic. Twice more the two discussed the pandemic, anxiety, and managing life during what felt like the end times. Now, Watson is back for a fourth time, at the dawn of 2024, to ask “What does 2024 have in store for us?” [this was originally “What fresh hell is this?” in the spirit of humour, but I presume you prefer to not have that and so have adjusted. Though it made me laugh!
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks once more with Amanda Watson, feminist theorist, senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University and author of The Juggling Mother: Coming Undone in the Age of Anxiety. She joins the show this week from the south of France.
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Canada’s housing crisis continues with no end in sight. Shelter – a fundamental human need – is unaffordable for millions, and the surge in property value has created two classes, homeowners and non-homeowners. These two classes are often at odds, with competing interests. Those who wish to enter the market often prefer lower housing prices, while those who own stand to benefit from higher prices.
Governments at every level have been slow to respond to the crisis and their actions have been insufficient to curb the problem. These governments often try to have it both ways, cheaper housing without costs to existing homeowners who wish to preserve their equity. At the same time, while many experts preach supply, which is essential in lowering prices, that may not be enough. Is there another way out of the housing conundrum? What if we change how we taxed property? Could a land value tax help solve the housing crisis?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Floyd Marinescu, an activist, entrepreneur, angel investor, and the head of Commonwealth Canada and UBI Works.
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Artificial intelligence is already shaping the way we work, consume, and communicate with one another. It’s also shaping the way we govern ourselves – or, perhaps more accurately, the way we are governed.
While we might imagine ways AI could shape better democratic processes, right now experts are worried about how such technologies can be used to manipulate, divide, suppress, and disinform people. With these concerns in mind, we ask: Is AI a threat to democracy?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Sam Jeffers, executive director of Who Targets Me, and Karim Bardeesy, executive director of The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Around the world, democracies are on the back foot. For years, experts, commentators, politicians, and other practitioners and observers have discussed a global democratic recession. Several countries are of interest as case studies in decline, but the United States stands out. As an established democracy and global hegemon, the retreat of American democracy – always flawed, but increasingly so of late – threatens the world, and particularly its continental neighbours, including Canada.
While Canada cannot be fully independent in a globalized world, particularly as we share a border with the United States, we must consider ways of preserving, indeed expanding, our democracy. But that might be difficult if our largest trading and security partner falls apart. With that concern in mind, we ask: Can Canada protect itself from American democratic decline?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Rob Goodman, assistant professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University and author of the new book Not Here: Why American Democracy is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself.
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Foreign policy might not win elections, but it shapes domestic politics – and the world. Recent months have seen external affairs intersect with internal affairs, hitting the headlines and shaping the country’s agenda. Foreign electoral interference has been top of mind for quite some time. India’s alleged assassination of a Canadian on Canadian soil grabbed even more attention. Then, during an address from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the House of Commons welcomed and celebrated a Second World War veteran who fought for a Nazi SS division in Ukraine.
Unmoored, unmade, underspecified, underfunded. There’s lots of ways to describe this country’s approach to managing relations with the rest of the world. In this episode, we drill down even deeper to ask a discouraging, yet essential, question: Does Canada have a foreign policy?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Graeme Thompson, Senior Analyst, Global Macro‑Geopolitics, Eurasia Group.
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In June, Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto. She faces an all-too-often complacent city with a hefty budget shortfall and a series of longstanding policy challenges, and failures. Affordable housing, transit, public safety, taxes, and parks spring to mind, but there’s plenty more.
Chow’s performance may be evaluated on its own merits or demerits and against her predecessor’s; but her time as mayor will also stand as a test of left-wing governance. Fairly or unfairly, her mayoralty is a part that will be taken by some as typifying the whole.
Can Olivia Chow remake Toronto?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Saman Tabasinejad, Acting Executive Director at Progress Toronto.
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Canada’s housing crisis is persistent and brutal. In August, the average rent was nearly $2,100 a month – and much higher in cities including Vancouver and Toronto. The average cost to buy a home was about $670,000 – and, again, much higher in Vancouver, at $1.2 million, and Toronto at $1.1 million. The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation says the country must build 5.8 million units by 2030 to hit affordable rates; we are on track for about half of that.
Tackling this problem is going to take a multitude of policy efforts across orders of government – efforts that may benefit some people at the expense of others. And yet, what choice do we have? We must ensure everyone has a safe, affordable place to live. So, how do we solve the housing crisis?
On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Carolyn Whitzman, housing policy expert, adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, and author of Clara at the Door with a Revolver.
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