We’re boosting defence spending—where does this leave climate commitments, global Indigenous sovereignty?
Release Date: 07/04/2025
Off the Hill: Analyzing the NDP leadership race
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The NDP will pick their new leader at the end of March. rabble’s Off the Hill political panel took a look at the race and broke down the major issues, endorsements, and events of the campaign so far. This week on rabble radio, we feature a segment from our most recent Off the Hill political panel. This month, our theme was ‘Analyzing the NDP leadership race.’ Our panel featured Libby Davies, Judy Rebick, James Adair and Karl Nerenberg. About our guests Libby Davies is a former NDP deputy leader and former co-host of Off the Hill. Davies has expressed her support for Avi Lewis in...
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Best of rabble radio 2025
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It has been a very eventful year in Canada, to put it simply. As rabble editor Nick Seebruch and publisher Sarah Sahagian noted on last week’s show, Canadian politics went through one of its most dramatic periods in recent memory—including a federal election that reshaped the national conversation. And politics were only part of the picture. Environmental challenges, major labour actions, and Canada’s shifting role on the international stage all kept the news cycle moving. Throughout it all, rabble’s reporters and freelance writers worked to make sense of these developments on our site...
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Reviewing 2025: A mercurial year in Canadian politics
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This week on rabble radio, rabble publisher Sarah Sahagian and rabble editor Nick Seebruch discuss the major news in Canadian politics of 2025; including the resignation of Justin Trudeau, to now-Prime Minister Mark Carney—and his first months as leader, his budget and pipeline plans; the NDP leadership race; and more. This marks our final interview of the year! Next week on the show, we’ll feature a collection of our favourite interviews of 2025 in the yearly fashion of the “best of rabble radio” episode. Tune in next week to see if your favourite interview made the...
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Examining the federal government’s 2.7 billion in cuts to foreign aid
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In its newly tabled budget, the federal government announced that over the course of four years there would be a $2.7 billion reduction in international assistance. in her November 13th piece on rabble.ca, this announcement has drawn the ire of NGOs who warn it could cause long-term, irreversible harm leaving vulnerable communities without essential medical care, food, and protection at a time when global needs have dramatically risen. This week on rabble radio, we tune in to her conversation with the director of policy and advocacy with Cooperation Canada, Paul Farran. Cooperation...
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Support for the NDP is declining. What can be done?
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The New Democratic Party of Canada is currently looking for its new leader after the resignation of Jagmeet Singh and a colossal decline in support in the most recent federal election. It seems the NDP’s reduced support stems from competition with the Liberals, strategic voting, demographic shifts, and difficulties uniting diverse voter groups across Canada. The new leader of the NDP must unite the party’s diverse voter groups, rebuild national support and clearly differentiate the NDP’s vision from its rivals. But how can this be done? rabble publisher Sarah Sahagian and...
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Family law in Canada: What it gets right and where it fails
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Content warning: This interview centers around domestic violence. Please listen with care and sensitivity. Family and child protection lawyer Bobbi Olsen joins rabble publisher Sarah Sahagian to talk about the legal systems in Canada which handle issues of domestic and family violence. The two explore what is working and what needs to be improved. About our guest Bobbi Olsen is a dual-call (Ontario and Alberta) high conflict family and child protection lawyer who has practiced in Toronto for many years, and now practices with MD Law Group in Calgary, Alberta. In addition to her LL.B.,...
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Considering sectoral bargaining in Canada
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This week on rabble radio, we’re looking at how unions and employers bargain in Canada and whether it’s time for a new approach. Right now, most unions negotiate with one employer at a time, which can make it tough to raise standards across an industry. Some experts are calling for sectoral bargaining which may help create fairer pay and conditions for everyone. Today on the show, we’re joined by Dr. Adam King, assistant professor in Labour Studies at the University of Manitoba, to talk about what a move toward sectoral bargaining could mean for workers and the future...
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Carney’s 'generational' budget falls short of expectations
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This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney shared Budget 2025: a budget that Carney says is “to build Canada strong.” The budget emphasized the importance of investing over spending—but what does that really mean? Here to break it down is economist Jim Stanford. About our guest Jim Stanford is economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, a progressive labour economics institute based in Vancouver. He has a PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research in New York, and also holds economics degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Calgary. He is...
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Reviewing Muslim representation in Canadian media
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It’s Islamic History Month in Canada; and this week on the show, we’re joined by Sadaf Ahsan and Sarah Sahagian to discuss Muslim representation in Canadian pop culture. In this conversation, the two explore common trends and stereotypes surrounding Muslim characters in the media, discuss the figures who are offering more nuanced and multifaceted representations, and share some of their favourite books, musicians, television shows and films that showcase Muslim talent. About our guest Sadaf Ahsan is the senior editor at 3 Magazine, co-host of Frequency Podcasts’ The Reheat, columnist at...
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What are the priorities in these early days of the NDP leadership race?
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The New Democratic Party of Canada will select its next leader at the Winnipeg Convention in March next year. As of now, there are five officially approved candidates seeking the leadership of Canada’s NDP. They are: Rob Ashton, Tanille Johnston, Avi Lewis, Heather McPherson and Tony McQuail. This week on rabble radio, rabble editor Nick Seebruch and publisher Sarah Sahagian sit down to discuss the federal NDP leadership race. The two weigh in on the “insiders” and “outsiders” of the race, the concept of political “purity tests” and the importance of English-French...
info_outlineLabour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga sits down with Leo DeVries from Science for the People to discuss Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to boost defence spending to five per cent of Canada’s GDP over the next decade.
What will this mean for workers? For the economy?
And more broadly, what does it signal about Canada’s priorities—especially when it comes to fighting the climate crisis and honouring Indigenous rights? Can massive military investment coexist with those commitments, or are they fundamentally at odds?
About our guest
Leo DeVries is a math graduate student and an organizer with Science for the People: Ottawa.
Science for the People is an organization of scientists, workers, educators, and activists dedicated to building a bottom-up social movement with radical perspectives on science and society.
Through research, writing, protest, and grassroots organizing, Science for the People seeks to demystify scientific knowledge and embolden “the people” to take science and technology into their own hands. The organization's numerous publications play a formative role in the field of science and technology studies, challenging mainstream understandings of science as “neutral” and instead showing it to be inherently political.
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