The Hatchet

We are very excited to announce a new, weekly show from us at The Hatchet.
For a while now, Jordan and I have been thinking about ways that we can bring you news in a more fun and casual format. So going forward, every week, we’ll be putting out episodes of our new chat show, which we’re calling The Chopping Block.
And this is the very first episode.Now I’m sure some of our more observant listeners might notice that we’ve used that name for a number of other segments before. But going forward, The Chopping Block will only refer to our weekly chat show, which will come out every Thursday.
Just like the rest of The Hatchet, we’ll be focusing on politics, corporate power and policing. And this new show, will be in addition to our regular slate of interviews, columns and documentary episodes.
In this first episode, Jordan and I talk about Olivia Chow’s decisive win in the Toronto mayoral election and her complicated relationship with the city’s cops. And then we dig into the avalanche of scandals that the Montreal police are facing.

Music: "Bummin on Tremelo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


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So today is the day of the Alberta referendum. And we just wanted to share with you some more of my conversation with Jeremy Appel.
Here we dig into Danielle Smith’s origins as a media personality, and what that can teach us about her as a political figure. And specifically we take a look at some of the columns she wrote early on in her career where she espouses ideas like….how smoking can actually reduce your risk of cancer.
It’s a really interesting lens through which to understand Danielle Smith and I had a lot of fun talking to Jeremy about it.
Featured in this episode: Jeremy Appel
To Learn More:
Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall and Re-emergence of Danielle Smith by Jeremy Appel
"Danielle Smith Claimed Smoking Cigarettes Had Positive Health Benefits" by Stephen Magusiak in Press Progress


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Monday is the big day. The modern Alberta separatist movement has existed in one form or another since the 1980s. And Monday's referendum represents the closest they've ever come to achieving their goal.
And the person who has gotten them this close to the promised land says she isn't even a separatist herself.
It's a very strange position overall. Smith is the leader of a party whose membership is increasingly dominated by people who want Alberta to leave Canada. She has a prime minister who has been increasingly willing to give her what she wants. Even though it was the election of Mark Carney that directly prompted Danielle Smith to lower the thresholds for referendums, leading us to this moment.
But what is clear is that for all of her contradictions, Smith is the most important political figure in Canada right now, aside from the Prime Minister himself.
So what happens to Smith after Monday? And will Alberta separatism continue to grow even if they lose this vote?
Featured in this episode: Jeremy Appel (The Orchard)
To Learn More
Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall and Reemergence of Danielle Smith by Jeremy Appel
"What Danielle Smith and Bari Weiss Have in common" by Jeremy Appel in The Orchard
"Elephant in the room" by Carrie Tait, Grant Robertson & Nathan Vanderklippe in The Globe and Mail
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The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works. 
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
To hear more, visit Hatchetmedia.ca

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Remember 2014?
Pauline Marois, the Parti Québécois Premier of Quebec, had just called an election, trying to turn her minority into a majority. She was running on the so-called Charter of Values and hoping to channel the culture war forces towards a third referendum. She had just recruited Pierre Karl Péladeau, one of the province’s most powerful businessmen, as a star candidate, and it really looked like Quebec sovereignty was about to dominate Canadian politics once again.
And then she lost. She lost big — giving up a majority government to the Quebec Liberals.
Things only got worse for the sovereigntists in the following years. In 2018, François Legault’s party, the Coalition Avenir Québec, came to power, vowing to stop focusing so much on the federalist-separatist debate and instead focus on the economy. By 2022, the PQ was down to just three seats.
Today things look very, very different.
Last week, CAQ, under the leadership of Christine Fréchette, was completely wiped out. And the PQ’s Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, or PSPP, as he’s often referred to in Quebec, will be the province’s next premier
But the death of CAQ and the return of the separatist government are far from the only unlikely stories that have emerged from this election: You have the rise of the Conservative Party of Quebec under former shock jock Éric Duhaime, who captured 19 seats, mostly in the Quebec City region; the survival of the Liberal Party of Quebec, which looked like it might be finished after their leader, Pablo Rodriguez, resigned and replaced by a relative unknown Charles Milliard, and somehow he emerged with 40 seats; and even Quebec Solidaire, the leftist sovereigntist party that mostly competes for seats in the downtowns of Montreal and Quebec City, had a decent night, potentially holding the balance of power in this new minority legislature.
But what's undeniable is that Quebec politics hasn’t looked this unpredictable in years.
Featured on this episode: Nora Loreto
To Learn More:
"A post-CAQ Quebec" by Nora Loreto on Substack
"Under PSPPressure" by Paul Wells on Substack
"After being wiped off political map, what's next for the CAQ?" by Antoni Nerestant in CBC News
Support us at Hatchetmedia.ca 
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works. 
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
To hear more, visit Hatchetmedia.ca

There’s something that I’ve noticed lately when it comes to how we talk about whatever is happening in Canada these days.
Every announcement from the government, every hot take from the newspaper columnists and the talking heads on the nightly news comes with a caveat: WE ARE IN A TRADE WAR.
And that means that any investment in Canada right now is viewed as a great investment. Just don’t look too hard at the fine print.
And for the most part, Canadians have been willing to go along on this ride.
That is until last month, when Prime Minister Mark Carney hung up a “For Sale” sign on Canada’s four largest airports to a room filled with the world’s richest investors.
This time, there has actually been some pushback. And I think that’s because it’s less clear who this is supposed to benefit.
It’s hard not to think that Mark Carney’s Liberal’s have secured bottomless latitude to extract value out of Canada wherever they see fit — as long as it’s in the name of capital “I” investment. And if you’ve got a problem with that, well, you’re probably not on Team Canada. Or maybe you just don’t understand it.
That’s certainly been the party line when it comes to the airport deal — even when we know that in other countries where they’ve tried the exact same thing the results have been crystal clear: prices go up and services get worse.
So when Peter Nowak, Canada’s preeminent competition watcher, called me up last week I knew exactly what was on his mind.
If our governing monopoly says it’s open season for big business in Canada, where exactly does that leave the rest of us?
Peter and I dig into all of that and do a little cross-country check-in on the state of Canadian competition.
NOTE: A version of this conversation also appeared in Do Not Pass Go
Featured in the episode: Peter Nowak
To learn more: 
“Watchdog Moves to Block Veggie Merger as Feds Drive Up Price of Competing Imports” by Peter Nowak in Do No Pass Go
“Canada, EU Deepen Ties But Diverge on Consumer Protection” by Peter Nowak in Do Not Pass Go
“The Anti-Competitive Barriers Holding Canadian Films Back” by Peter Nowak in Do Not Pass Go 
“Do Not Pass Go Hits One Year Thanks to Your Support! Here’s What’s Next” by Peter Nowak in Do Not Pass Go
“Actually, privatizing Canada’s airports is a bad thing” by Arshy Mann in The Hatchet 
Support us at Hatchetmedia.ca 
The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works. 
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque
To hear more, visit Hatchetmedia.ca 


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.ca/subscribe