The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! These days, the security and stability of the world order seems, well, neither secure nor stable. With old and new conflicts abound, we have a really special guest today: Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.

We're going to discuss the role of the Canadian military, what new investments to modernize look like in the context of emerging threats, and how they might be used to defend our interests at home and around the world.

The Vice-Admiral has had a meteoric rise in service to our country. He joined the Armed Forces in 1990 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1994. He was given the command of a destroyer in 2009. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 as the director of Afghan National Police Training within the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. And so much more before taking command of the Royal Canadian Navy in 2022.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re going to have fun with two incisive observers of Canadian politics in Ottawa: Paul Wells and Shannon Proudfoot!

Together we're going to examine "not just what is happening in Ottawa" with the new Carney government, "but what it looked and felt like, who made it happen and why."

Paul Wells has, for years, been one of one of Canada’s great political journalists. Formerly at Maclean’s, the National Post and The Gazette, he now publishes his own widely read subscription newsletter, paulwells.substack.com. His book is: “Justin Trudeau on the Ropes: Governing in Troubled Times.”

Shannon Proudfoot is a feature writer in The Globe and Mail's Ottawa Bureau. Before joining The Globe, she was the Ottawa bureau chief for Maclean's and wrote for Sportsnet magazine, Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen. You can often hear her work featured as "Clippings" on the Curse of Politics podcast.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Friday June 20th and tomorrow is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. So, a conversation relevant to that and essential in this political moment. Our guest is National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, of the Assembly of First Nations.

Born and raised in the Pinaymootang First Nation, Manitoba, National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak began her term as National Chief in December 2023, becoming the youngest woman and mother to hold the position.
Amongst a very long list of accomplishments, she was the lead negotiator for the First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle class action lawsuit, resulting in over $40 billion compensation for First Nations children and families.

National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak has lobbied Senate, the House, Cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister’s Office to fulfill mandates from Chiefs. And she continues to advocate to protect collective rights–Treaty, inherent rights, title and jurisdiction, the right to self-determination and all human rights.

So today, in the context of Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious “Build Agenda”. I want to talk about how we get these projects done in a way that First Nations communities feel part of and positive about. What are the environmental and land issues that require pushback? What’s fair compensation? What are the pressures and internal politics she faces? And where does the reconciliation agenda go, post-Trudeau?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Greetings, you curious, you courageous Herle Burly-ites! We’re recording this one on Sunday June 15th mid-afternoon – parallel timing with start of the highly-freighted G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Here to talk with me about what we might expect from the meeting is Jason Kenney, making his 2nd appearance here on the pod.

I mean, who among you Herle Burly-ites doesn’t know Mr. Kenney? The 18th Premier of Alberta. Former Leader of the United Conservative Party and the last leader of the Alberta PC Party. MP for the Reform Party and Canadian Alliance … and a multi-portfolio Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives from 2006 to 2015. Today, he’s a Senior Advisor at Bennett Jones.

So, we’re going to talk about Canada on the world stage. What success looks like for Prime Minister Carney at the G7. His continuing relationship with President Trump and the future of Canada-U.S. trade. Global politics and national defence.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! A pod today that starts with a bit of time travel. We’re going back to the Ontario of 1985, but not for the sake of a melancholy stroll down memory lane. I want to explore how a new (at the time) Liberal government came to power and immediately enacted a series of major reforms and initiatives that still reverberate in the province today. And that’s the lens I want to use to focus this conversation. The lessons in this story of innovation and political will, we can use to meet the challenges of today.

With me, is the principal of the remarkable transformation, and 2 of his principal secretaries: The Honourable David Peterson, 20th Premier of Ontario, Vince Borg and Hershell Ezrin.

40 years ago this month, David Peterson became the first Liberal to lead the province since Harry Nixon, ending a 42-year PC dynasty. He served as Premier from 1985 to 1990. Today, he’s Chairman Emeritus of the law firm of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. and Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Toronto.

Vince Borg was Principal Secretary to Premier Peterson and is a past President of the Ontario Liberal Party. His long career took him from the backrooms of Queen’s Park to the boardrooms of corporate Canada.

Hershell Ezrin also served as Principal Secretary and deputy minister to Premier Peterson. He had a long and distinguished career in public service and is now a Senior Fellow at Global Public Affairs.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, TikTok Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser, and anticipatory, Herle Burly-ites! Our guest is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Premier Smith may be Canada’s premier newsmaker right now.

You engaged Herle Burly-ites know, or think you know, quite a bit about her. She’s clearly a proud Albertan. Leader of the United Conservative Party. She was sworn in as the 19th Premier of the province on October 11, 2022.

Today, we’ll dive a little deeper into her biography and early political motivations. I want to talk about the Premier’s ideological perspective and her thoughts on the role of government. The ideas and issues driving her stewardship of the province. Her approach to the new Carney government. Then, of course, we’ll discuss Alberta and the federation.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, TikTok Canada.

Greetings you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! I’ve been hunkering down this last week here in London, England and that’s spurred me to want to dive a little deeper into the U.K., it’s relationships with Canada and the U.S., and trade. How those relationships have changed – in a Carney and Trump context – and what new dynamics are driving it all.

I’ve got just the chap to do that with. Now 4-time Herle Burly guest, Andrew MacDougall!

Andrew is the former Director of Communications for Prime Minister Harper. Now, he lives in London, where he’s a Partner at Trafalgar Strategy, and writes about politics and current affairs, and appears frequently on TV, in all the best journalistic places. That includes his most recent piece in The Ottawa Citizen, a poignant tribute to his late father, one-time Ottawa city councillor and dedicated family doctor, Greg MacDougall, who passed just a couple of weeks ago on Easter Sunday. Give that lovely piece a read, if you haven’t yet.

Time permitting here after all the U.K. talk, I also want to get Andrew’s take on Carney and Poilievre and the performance of the Conservatives vs. Liberals, in the election just passed.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, TikTok Canada and Historica Canada.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! I’m genuinely excited to have this man on the show for a conversation that’s both of the moment, and critical. Naheed Nenshi, Leader of the Alberta NDP, is here.

(Note: Since recording this episode, we've since been in contact with Premier Smith's Office and are hopeful to schedule that conversation soon).

You know all about Mr. Nenshi and his powerful political brand. Former 3-term Mayor of Calgary. Named best Mayor in the World in 2014! Winner of the Alberta NDP Leadership on the first ballot about a year ago, with over 86% of the vote.

He upped that to almost 90% in a leadership review just last weekend at the party’s annual convention. Today, we’ll talk more about his bio, background, and his decision to join the NDP. And then, the issues du jour ... Western alienation, Alberta separatism, and legitimate grievances about oil and gas. And also, what exactly is his argument to replace Premier Smith?

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.