Will Chat GPT put journalists out of their job? Probably not.

Conservatives don’t like Canada’s public healthcare system. They think it makes us like Cuba and North Korea.

Marc joins Jesse for a conversation about his plans to emigrate to Vancouver and the differences between Canada and the U.S. when it comes to fascism, comedy, and Jews. 

Is PM Trudeau a stealth warmonger? Co-host David Pugliese explains why it is so difficult to wrap one’s head around military spending. And Jordan Peterson’s latest drama over a banal request from the College of Psychologists of Ontario’s request for social media training after complaints over inappropriate tweets.

Kanye West, Dave Chappelle and Kyrie Irving have breathed new life into the antisemitic trope that Jews control the media. Is Jew-hatred from Black cultural icons more dangerous than the usual bigotry? And why is it so difficult for Jewish and Black communities to hear each other when it comes to racism? Emilie Nicolas joins Jesse to lay out a framework for better conversations.

The Shorties! Or Cutties! Or Shortcuttys! A special awards show highlighting variably consequential media weirdness from the year past. Dani Paradis co-hosts.

Land claims can take generations to settle. Sometimes communities lose patience, sometimes development forces them to take a stand or risk losing their land forever. Barricades have become a familiar scene in Canada. The land issue is rarely settled when barricades come down. Instead the community is left with court cases, post traumatic stress, and unresolved human rights issues. Some of those people are children..

WIND Mobile, now known as Freedom, was a small company that tried to break through Canada’s telecom oligopoly. It did not have an easy ride.

On December 14th, we brought The Backbench to you LIVE and in-person from the Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto. It was an evening of “serious” political discourse and endless laughs. Our host Mattea Roach and our expert panelists, Emilie Nicolas, David Moscrop, and Murad Hemmadi unpacked the seriously eventful year that was 2022 – from faulty infrastructure, to the Pope’s visit, to our 2023 political wish list, and more.