Left East to West
Weekly check-in on top political stories across Canada, interviews for people building this country
Episodes
34 episodes
Data centres: unknown benefit? Unknown costs?
Carla Beck, leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, talks about big data centres planned for just outside Regina and Moose Jaw and the Moe government's refusal to explain how the electricity will be provided, the cost to ratepayers or how many jobs wil...
Candidate on the doorstep
Shannon Devine joins us to talk about her doorstep experience as the NDP's candidate in the April 2025 general election and the August 2026 by-election in Beaches-East York. Shannon talks about the different strategic conditions, the improvemen...
Canadian labour amid Trump's attack and Carney's investor agenda
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, joins Left East to West to talk about the trade war that President Trump has declared on Canadians and about Prime Minister Carney's investor agenda. Bea tells us workers are worried about ...
"When we lose jobs, Trump wins": union strategies protecting Canada's economic strength
USW District 3 Director Scott Lunny joins to talk about how Trump's economic attack is affecting workers represented by his union, particularly those in the forestry sector. Scott gives us an update on key USW initiatives focused on boosting jo...
Housing bubble and bust: can lower prices be the chance to fix housing affordability?
Jeremy Withers, senior researcher with the University of Toronto's New Housing Alternatives, sits down with Nikki to find out more about the causes of the 2020-2022 housing market bubble, its big pop in 2022 and the price collapse still going o...
Extreme inequality: how we can reverse it and protect Canadian society
Jared Walker, Canadians For Tax Fairness Executive Director, joins Nikki and Tom to talk about C4TF's recent report detailing growing extreme inequality in Canada, province by province. Jared believes a wealth tax on fortunes of $100 million an...
Marit Stiles: raising expectations to break the cycle of cynicism
Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario NDP, sits down with Nikki and Tom to discuss the scandal-plagued Doug Ford government and her drive to raise people's expectation and break out of the cycle of cynical politics and bad outcomes Ontario has se...
Bolsonaro vs Lula: a Brazilian president who’s a friend to Canada — or servant of Trump?
Sabrina Fernandes, author and well-known Brazilian political commentator, talks about this fall's pivotal elections, which pits incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — Lula — of the social democratic Workers Party against Trump-backed c...
Carney faces challenges. Can Poilievre or Lewis benefit?
Nikki and Tom celebrate six months of Left East to West with a retrospective on federal politics, federal-provincial relations and shifts in provincial politics across the country.The overriding federal story is continued Liberal strengt...
Carla Beck’s plan to defeat Scott Moe
Carla Beck, leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, sits down with Nikki and Tom to talk about her strategy to defeat Scott Moe and her economic plan to spur Saskatchewan growth.Carla launched her Grid and Growth plan more that two years before ...
Carneyomics and the cost of Donald Trump’s war
Economist Jim Stanford discusses the cost of Trump’s Iran War to Canadians and Mark Carney’s economic agenda. Jim estimates the direct economic cost of high fuel prices will reach $50 billion and go higher if it prompts the Bank of Canada...
Canada: a future Nordic social democracy?
Stefan Löfven, former prime minister of Sweden and now president of the Party of European Socialists, talks with Tom about the Nordic model, the key role played in it by the labour movement, and its ability to deliver strong economic and social...
Federal Climate Concessions and Cities on the Front Line
Shauna Sylvester, Founder and Lead Convenor of Urban Climate Leadership, sits down with Nikki and Tom to talk about Canada's city halls, convening nascent economic sectors, and long-term change that creates jobs, increases energy efficiency and...
Can Carney’s right turn be Lewis NDP’s opening?
Jennifer Howard, former Manitoba Minister of Labour and Finance, and 2025 NDP campaign director, joins Left East to West to talk about Mark Carney's direction for Canada, the Liberals undoing pharmacare, the NDP's unsolved strategic chal...
Canada's water, Trump and intensifying demands
Coree Tull, chair of the the BC Watershed Security Coalition, explores the challenges facing Canadian watersheds in our Feature Interview. Canada's watersheds face intensifying demands from industry, including new data centres, while Don...
Regional strength in a national vision
Josh Bizjak, Douglas Caldwell Layton Foundation executive director, talks with Left East to West about his organization’s movement-building work, the varying themes and challenges in different regions of the country -- and tryin...
Social democrats who built Canada
Dave McGrane, University of Saskatchewan political studies professor and “Social Democrats of the North” podcast host, tells the history of Canada’s social democratic impulses, and the movements and people that have advanced them.Through...
Good jobs with union benefits: an antidote to the far-right?
Siobhan Vipond, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress, joins Left East to West ahead of the labour federation's policy convention, which opens on May 11 in Winnipeg.Siobhan talks about the shifti...
Trump, war and the prices you pay
Jen Pedersen, foreign policy expert and advisor, took her passion for international politics through a PhD, publishing analyses on regional conflicts included Yemen and Liberia, becoming a Broadbent Institute Fellow, and into advising the Feder...
Fixing Nova Scotia affordability and supporting its culture
Claudia Chender, Nova Scotia NDP leader, joins to talk about the PCs government's budget-backdown, rising electricity and housing costs and Premier Tim Houston's mistake of attacking support to the culture of small town and rural Nova Scotia.
Avi Lewis wins Federal NDP leadership, with our Comms Pro Panel
From the Winnipeg convention centre, Nikki and Tom dig into details about the Federal NDP convention and Avi Lewis' win to become party leader.Then, Nikki and Tom are joined by our NDP comm pro panel to talk about the challenges that la...
Special pre-convention interview with Heather McPherson, candidate for leader of Canada's NDP
Heather McPherson, candidate for leader of Canada's NDP and Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Strathcona, takes a break from her campaign to join Left East to West from Edmonton, Alberta:- how the NDP can escape polarization and the str...
Special pre-convention interview with Rob Ashton, candidate for leader of Canada's NDP
Rob Ashton, candidate for the leader of Canada's NDP and President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada takes a break from his campaign to join Left East to West from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan:- how the NDP can...
Representing workers with social democrats in power
Sussanne Skidmore, President of the BC Federation of Labour, shares her thoughts about growth and austerity, labour law reform including sectoral bargaining, and trying to bring that magic alignment to the social democratic labour movement both...