Uncommons with Nate Erskine-Smith

Happy Passover and Easter to those celebrating.
I hope everyone is able to enjoy some of this beautiful long weekend, and I hope some of you will also enjoy this Uncommons episode with the always thoughtful Karina Gould.
We met in Karina’s stomping grounds of Burlington at Peach Coffee Co., and we cover a lot of ground, from AI and online safety, to Ford’s OSAP cuts, to school food. But the broader conversation is really about the future of progressive politics.
Karina is a friend, she was an excellent minister (competence is underrated in politics!), and I still think she’d make a great premier, even though she’s opted out of the leadership race.
A reminder that it’s advance polls for the three by-elections from today through Monday.
And another reminder that we’re marching in this Sunday’s Beaches Lions Easter Parade, and you can join us at 1:30 pm at the RC Harris water treatment plant (the most important Easter tasks are rhyming clues for the kids’ Easter hunt and ironing my yellow/purple suits for the parade).
I’ve been asked to be the grand marshal this year, which is pretty fun considering it’s my last year marching as an MP, I volunteered in the parade with the Lions before I was elected, and I watched this same parade as a kid.
My belief is that government is there to be a force for good in people's lives. And when I think about what the job of the government is, it's to protect people, to keep them safe. That could be our borders, but that might also be economically, make sure we don't have people that are going hungry. All of these things that we actually have the power to do and that we could do, but we have to be intentional about doing it. - Karina Gould

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At the Attention Conference in Montreal, I spoke with four leading voices on digital governance about what Canada needs to do on tech accountability. Canada keeps introducing bills that die on the order paper. Meanwhile, the UK, EU, and Australia have moved forward with meaningful reforms. What will it take to get us there?
Featuring conversations with:
* Damian Collins (former UK Minister of Tech) on the UK’s Online Safety Act
* Vass Bednar (SHIELD) on digital sovereignty and why Canada needs to structurally separate the ad tech stack
* Imran Ahmed (Center for Countering Digital Hate) on the journey from Cambridge Analytica to protecting kids online
* Aengus Bridgman (Media Ecosystem Observatory) on how influencers now dominate political information
Chapters:
0:00 Damian Collins: UK’s Online Safety Act & Platform Accountability
15:27 Vass Bednar: Digital Sovereignty & Restructuring Tech
31:30 Imran Ahmed: Protecting Kids Online
45:20 Aengus Bridgman: News Bans, Deepfakes & Information Integrity


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Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report. We’ve seen significant albeit imperfect progress since and there’s much more for us to do together.
On this episode of Uncommons, I’m joined by Ava Hill and Willie Littlechild, two incredible Indigenous leaders. We talk about the state of reconciliation and what real partnership could and should look like, with a specific focus on their work to advance Indigenous participation in sport.
Ava Hill is a former Six Nations Chief, and Willie Littlechild is a former TRC commissioner, former MP, and residential school survivor.


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Like many Canadians, Nate grew up on Raffi’s music. On this episode, Raffi joins Nate to discuss his musical journey, his ongoing advocacy for the peace and the planet, and why we need to centre children in our decision-making through his philosophy of child honouring. You can learn more about that philosophy via the “Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring”, but the idea is to emphasize the importance of respect, joy, and purpose in children’s lives and its potential to transform society.
They also touch on Raffi’s advocacy against fascism, the power of music in activism, the urgent need for climate mobilization, protecting children from digital harm and his belief in having courage to speak out and be engaged in democracy.
Raffi is a global troubadour, children’s entertainer, author and founder of the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring. Called by the Washington Post as “the most popular children’s singers in the English-speaking world”.



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Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian, best-selling author, and co-founder of the School for Moral Ambition. His recent book and school both encourage us to spend our time and talent by making a difference on the greatest challenges and injustices of our time, rather than solely personal comfort and financial gain.
Rutger joins me in this episode to explore how his ideas on moral ambition connect to social change, the big challenges we need your talent to solve, and what he hopes to accomplish with his new school.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.uncommons.ca