The Strategists

The Strategists are live in Edmonton on Saturday, May 9, and this is your reminder to get tickets before they’re gone.Stephen Carter, Zain Velji, and Shannon Phillips will be at St. Andrews United Church for a two-act podcasting extravaganza.Act One: The Strategists Live, with no special guests because apparently we like Calgary better.Act Two: the accountability episode for Stephen Carter and Better Edmonton.Doors open at 7:00Get your tickets at strategistslive.com, strategistslive.ca, or thestrategistslive.com.And if you need to book a flight, why not use thestrategistslive.ca to book through our non-consensual partner, Flair Airlines.It’s not like you have playoff hockey to watch.

In a moment when trust in democracy feels fragile, what happens when the basic machinery of politics becomes the story?This week on Balance of Power, Annalise Klingbeil, Leah Ward, and Shannon Phillips dig into the Elections Alberta investigation, the alleged misuse of the list of electors, and why a story about voter data is not just procedural, but deeply personal.First: the list. Who is supposed to have access to voter information, what is it meant to be used for, and why does alleged misuse by separatist organizers raise such serious questions about privacy, safety, and democratic trust?Then: sport as politics. The federal government is making a major investment in sport, but the conversation quickly turns to something bigger: community, belonging, national identity, and why a playoff crowd might tell us more about unity than another press conference.Plus, for Patreon subscribers: the Alberta NDP’s difficult moment. New polling shows the UCP still riding high and Naheed Nenshi struggling to break through. Is this a leadership problem, a message problem, a Calgary problem, or just the brutal work of opposition in a fractured media environment?Privacy, trust, sports, sovereignty, polling, and what it takes to rebuild political attention when everyone is looking somewhere else.Welcome to Balance of Power.Have a comment or idea? Email us at suggestionbox@balanceofpowerpod.caJoin the Strategists Podcast Network Patreon for ad-free episodes and access to our exclusive Discord:https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspodMentioned in this episode:Alberta Referendumbhttps://albertareferendumb2026.ca/

Be it resolved that the Minister of Podcasts, Stephen Carter, together with the Chair of Oral Questions, Zain Velji, do hereby call this sitting of The Ministry of Podcasts to order, despite the late hour, the early votes, and the growing evidence that Corey Hogan now lives primarily in committee rooms.Be it further resolved that The Strategists Podcast shall be granted the honour of first money in on the Canada Strong Fund,Be it further further resolved that the House shall receive first-year reflections from the duly elected Member of Parliament for Calgary Confederation, Corey Hogan, on matters including but not limited to:What it feels like to realize you are now one of 343 people helping make laws for the country,The personal cost of the job: missed dinners, Ottawa apartments, FaceTime goodnights, and friendships managed mostly by text,And what happens when you stop watching politics from the outside and realize you are now inside the machine, responsible for steering it.Therefore be it finally resolved that this episode shall be entered into the record as both parliamentary testimony and a caution that governing the country is much harder than yelling about it from the outside.

Stephen Carter, Shannon Phillips, and Producer Haxim talk about what happens when a weekend joke turns into a national political story. After Producer Haxim launches his satirical Alberta referendum site and “becomes a podcaster,” the crew breaks down why the government’s referendum campaign feels more like a persuasion machine than public education. They also dig into Carter’s Alberta Liberal Party referendum plan, and whether the rules were quietly changed to shut it down. Shannon Phillips discusses her article for Forward Weekly on how the Alberta NDP lost its advantage and how it might win it back. Is Alberta’s referendum fight really about the questions on the ballot? Can a political party raise money around an idea instead of a candidate? And how many headlines before Haxim starts asking for his own comms team?Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps everybody in line.Get your tickets for the May 9th live show at https://strategistslive.ca/Mentioned in this episode:Producer Haxim's Referendumb Sitehttps://albertareferendumb2026.caShannon's Forward Weekly Articlehttps://archive.forwardweekly.ca/?issue=05Join our Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord.https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspodYou can also watch our episodes on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@strategistspod

If the problems keep getting worse, are we even solving the right one?This week on Balance of Power, Annalise Klingbeil and Leah Ward take on a set of decisions that feel increasingly out of step with how people actually live. From time changes to family planning to public consultation, they walk through what happens when policy targets miss the mark.First: daylight saving time. Alberta is moving toward making it permanent—but what does that actually mean for winter mornings, daily routines, and how people function? Is this about convenience, or are we ignoring what the research says?Then: fertility in Alberta. A new report lays out the cost, access, and emotional toll of treatment, raising bigger questions about population growth, affordability, and what actually drives people’s decisions to have kids.And finally: the Alberta Next survey. After a long fight to release the data, what do the responses actually show? And what’s the point of consultation if the outcome is already decided?Policy, incentives, and what happens when we keep solving the wrong problem.Welcome to Balance of Power.Have a comment or idea? Email us at suggestionbox@balanceofpowerpod.caJoin the Strategists Podcast Network Patreon for ad-free episodes and access to our exclusive Discord:https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspod

Stephen Carter and Zain Velji try to figure out who is actually going to do something as Alberta’s political fights pile up. From referendum questions to separatism to electoral boundaries, they break down what’s happening, why it matters, and why the same small group of people seems to be carrying all of it. Is this a coordination problem or an activation problem? What role should the NDP actually play in the boundaries fight? And are we spending as much time fighting each other as the actual fight?Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps everybody in line.You can email The Strategists at suggestionSbox@balanceofpowerpod.caJoin our Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord.https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspodYou can also watch our episodes on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@strategistspod

Shannon Phillips is joined by producer Haxim to finally answer a critical question: what the hell is going on in the Strategists Discord? From “bread fridge” memes to full-on policy fights, they unpack how the community actually works and why it’s worth checking out.Then Shannon and Zain turn to Alberta’s electoral boundary shakeup and the unprecedented move to hand map-drawing power to politicians themselves. What’s actually happening with this new process, and what game is being played underneath it? Does this change the outcome before a vote is even cast? And how long before Discord daddy Zain logs off for cigarettes and never comes back?Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps everybody in line.Join our Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord.https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspodYou can also watch our episodes on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@strategistspod

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips dive into Carter’s plan to use the Alberta Liberal Party as a campaign vehicle to fight the province’s referendum questions. What problem is this actually solving, and why does the rulebook point here? When does “following the rules” start to look like breaking them? And how many non-consensual partnerships is this actually going to take?Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps everybody in line.Get your tickets for the May 9th live show at https://strategistslive.ca/Join our Patreon for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord.https://www.patreon.com/c/strategistspodYou can also watch our episodes on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@strategistspod