The Paul Wells Show

The tables are turned this week! Guest host Vassy Kapelos interviews Paul Wells about his new book on the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau on the Ropes. In the book, Paul chronicles how Trudeau came to power, how he's held on for eight years, and how his approach to governing has changed over that time. Vassy Kapelos is the Chief Political Correspondent at CTV News and the host of CTV Question Period, Power Play and the Vassy Kapelos Show.

Is the commission into foreign election interference asking the wrong question about China? That’s what journalist Jonathan Manthorpe thinks. He argues the real issue is that for decades Canada has failed to confront China’s efforts to control Canadians of Chinese heritage and influence Canadian institutions. He wrote a book about it, Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. It was originally published in 2019, but it’s now been updated to take into account everything that’s happened since, right up to the Foreign Interference Commission

Jason Kenney is back on the show. The former Alberta Premier and Conservative MP offers a mea culpa for his time as Defence Minister, takes issue with a former guest’s views on the war in Ukraine, and tells the story of a young Pierre Poilievre.

Canada’s healthcare system is facing some serious problems, and failing many Canadians, but former health minister Dr. Jane Philpott thinks it can be fixed. In her new book, Health for All, she shares her vision for a radical reset to how we think about and organize healthcare. Dr. Philpott spoke to Paul at the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

What does the Trudeau government have to show after eight years in power? Reporter Justin Ling makes the case that the government is deeply dysfunctional on a wide range of issues, and that the Prime Minister is in denial about it. Ling brought those claims to an interview with Justin Trudeau himself. He shares the highlights of that interview with us. You can read Justin Ling’s profile of Justin Trudeau in The Walrus.

A few years ago, the government drastically increased their immigration targets, leading to record levels of immigration into Canada. But recently, they’ve decided to temper those numbers, among concerns that such high immigration is exacerbating housing shortages. Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, talks about why the government made that decision.

COVID-19 exposed some serious weaknesses in Canada’s public institutions. So what have our governments learned? There has been no official attempt to answer that question thoroughly across the country. So two think tanks decided to take it on. They invited experts including politicians, senior public servants, Indigenous leaders and others, to get together and talk about what happened during the pandemic. The Institute for Research on Public Policy and the Institute on Governance released a new report about what they learned. The IRPP’s President and CEO Jennifer Ditchburn and Charles Breton, who runs the IRPP’s Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, join Paul to talk about it.

A new book takes us into the messy succession drama inside one of Canada’s biggest companies, Rogers Communications. It features family members fighting in public, two competing boards, and even actor Brian Cox from HBO's Succession. Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki’s book Rogers v Rogers takes us behind the scenes of a company trying to find its footing after the death of their founder, all while navigating a high-stakes business deal.

In the two years since the Russian invasion, there's largely been a consensus in Canada about supporting Ukraine. Debates in Parliament and the media focus almost entirely on how to best help Ukraine, and not whether we should be helping in the first place. William Thorsell thinks that's a shame. He also thinks it’s time for the West to withdraw from the war and concede defeat. William Thorsell is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. He’s currently a distinguished fellow at the Munk School.

How do Canada’s Prime Ministers measure up when it comes to foreign policy? Political scientist Patrice Dutil polled some colleagues to come up with a ranking. They placed Trudeau right near the bottom, alongside his predecessor Stephen Harper. Dutil joins Paul to break down the rankings and make the case that foreign policy needs to be taken more seriously in Canada. Patrice Dutil is the editor of Statesmen, Strategists and Diplomats: Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Making of Foreign Policy.

Housing policy has become one of the main debates among federal political parties. It wasn’t always this way, even as house prices were getting out of control. So why exactly did the housing crisis become such a prominent issue on the national stage? And can the federal government solve it? Mike Moffatt keeps a close watch on housing policy, and has advised the Trudeau Government on the issue. He is the founding director of the PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute, and an assistant professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School. He shares his thoughts on the debate over housing playing out in Parliament.

Police have been facing heavy scrutiny lately over how they handle protests, from the convoy in Ottawa to pro-Palestine demonstrations. OPP Acting Superintendent Marcel Beaudin shares the police perspective on this issue. Until recently, Beaudin ran the OPP’s Provincial Liaison team that deals with demonstration and protests. He has also been a leader in the service’s Indigenous Policing Bureau. This episode was recorded at the Munk School. Subscribe to Paul's Substack for a premium version of this show: paulwells.substack.com

Paul's former sparring partner Andrew Coyne joins us to discuss the state of politics, the media and the “difficult and dangerous” times we're living in. These days, Andrew Coyne is a columnist for the Globe and Mail. This episode was recorded at the Munk School. Subscribe to Paul's Substack for a premium version of this show: paulwells.substack.com

It’s been four months since Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel, leading to the war in Gaza. Is there an end in sight? Foreign policy analyst Janice Stein joins Paul to weigh in on the crisis in the Middle East, the other crises that the world is facing, and the importance of embracing uncertainty in conflict. Janice Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Negotiation at the University of Toronto and the Founding Director of the Munk School. This interview was recorded at the Munk School.

Join us for a night of jazz, political wonkery and a novel-length poem about werewolf whalers for some reason. Featuring: - Shuvaloy Majumdar, the new MP for Calgary-Heritage - Jason Guriel, reading from his book The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles - Larisa Galadza, Canada’s former ambassador to Ukraine - Jazz singer Caity Gyorgy, accompanied by Mark Limacher on piano

CBC/Radio-Canada announced today that they’re cutting 600 existing jobs and leaving another 200 vacant positions unfilled. Shortly before these cuts were announced, their president and CEO Catherine Tait joined Paul to lay out her case for a public broadcaster, and her vision for its future.

As the former president of Estonia, Toomas Henrik Ilves has a unique perspective on Russian aggression. Though he grew up in the United States, he moved back to Estonia and got into politics, helping to lead a technological revolution that has given them a unique advantage for a country of only 1.3 million inhabitants. He talks to Paul about building up his country’s tech sector, pushing to get Estonia into NATO, and what it’s like watching from a small, Baltic country as Russia grows more aggressive.

When John Tory resigned as mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow decided to take another shot at the job. Despite much of the establishment lining up against her, she won. She talks to Paul about that campaign, and about trying to implement her vision for the city on a shorter-than-usual term, while dealing with a $1.5 billion deficit from COVID. This episode was recorded live at the University of Toronto’s Munk School.

The Quebec government recently announced it will double university tuition for out-of-province students, raise international student fees, and change how the money from those fees is distributed. The new measures will disproportionately affect the province’s three English universities. Graham Carr, president of Concordia University in Montreal, tells Paul that these changes will cause a major blow to Concordia’s finances. He also talks about how we got here, and why this has become such a hot button issue in Quebec.

The National Gallery of Canada had a rough year, as they reckoned with shifting attitudes towards culture and representation. Their new CEO, Jean-François Bélisle, joins Paul to talk about how he plans to move forward, and what a national art gallery should look like in the year 2023. This episode was recorded live at the National Arts Centre. FURTHER READING: Turmoil Engulfs Canadian Art Museums Seeking to Shed Colonial Past - The New York Times Subscribe to Paul's Substack for a premium version of this show: paulwells.substack.com