The North State

After Australians confirmed a massive majority for their Labor government, Canadian journalists and pundits agreed: anyone who compared the two is a genius. Now that the dust has settled, it's important to not move past lessons we can learn from each other. Half-victory lap, half-cogent analysis, this week on The North State is a closing of the discussion begun on The Down Under State to compare each country's respective elections and what each of us can learn about the current political moment. Mitch Alexander, co-host of the Australian Radical Online Leftist Pipeline podcast, PhD candidate and vocalist of metal band Eye Of The Enemy, rejoins Scott to talk Dutton and Poilievre's loss, Labor and Liberals' gain and a surprising carbon tax connection.Clarification: I mentioned the Bloc Quebecois being a factor in the 90s Liberal landslide but did not make it clear that the Reform Party, which was the right-wing Western split of the Progressive Conservative federal party, contributed greatly to the change in the electoral landscape, moreso than the Bloc.Check out ROLP on YouTubeMitch’s Blog: PhilisophicaOnly Equals Negotiate by Eye of the EnemyFollow Scott on BlueskyIntro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading:https://readthecatch.ca/what-canadians-can-learn-from-australias-election-ft-mitch-alexander-the-north-state-podcast

Rebel Media and other right-wing figures dominated the discourse around the two leadership debates this election. After disproportionately representing their perspective in the French-language scrum, their behaviour completely disrupted and stopped the scrum after the English-language debate. It's not a one-off occurrence, this is only going to get worse. This week on The North State, Scott walks through the effect of the Online News Act on Canadian's news habits, how the broader right-wing shift has deteriorated the average Canadian's news diet, what implications this has for our politics and how there is no plan to fix this from any party. Fun stuff!Follow Scott on BlueskyIntro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading:https://readthecatch.ca/our-decaying-news-ecosystem-is-a-political-problem-the-north-state-podcast

Federal elections are the equivalent of sports championships for politics/journalism nerds the world over. But this election felt different. Journalism covering the federal parties has been... not great. The decaying state of media, mounting attacks from the right-wing and a complete lack of imagination have all coalesced into a complete garbage fire. Average Canadians are not being served by our legacy media, leaving independent outlets to pick up some of the slack. But independent outlets can't carry the burden of decaying material conditions, reactionary social movements and indifferent rhetorical support. Nora Loreto, freelance journalist, author and host of the Sandy and Nora and the Daily News podcast joins Scott to review the quality of news media reporting on the electoral campaign.Check out Nora Loreto's workFollow Nora on BlueskyCanada In Decline Book Two: Corporate ControlFollow Scott on BlueskyIntro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading:https://readthecatch.ca/grading-journalisms-election-performance-ft-nora-loreto-the-north-state-podcast

Election fever has taken over Canada, so it's understandable that politically engaged Canadians would be focused on the country’s federal election. The shadow of the US, housing, tariffs– all are playing huge roles in who Canada chooses as the party that will lead the country. But we aren't alone. Australia’s going through all the same problems with a federal election just five days after Canada’s. So what problems do Canadians and Australians share? How can we learn from each other? What makes our situations different? Mitch Alexander, co-host of the Australian Radical Online Leftist Pipeline Podcast, PhD candidate and vocalist of metal band Eye Of The Enemy, joins Scott to discuss the situation both countries find themselves in. From the difference between our voting systems to the similar approaches electoral parties are taking towards capital gains taxes, it turns out going down under can be a good thing for perspective.Check out ROLP on YouTube:Mitch’s Blog: PhilisophicaOnly Equals Negotiate by Eye of the EnemyFollow Scott on BlueskyIntro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading:https://readthecatch.ca/the-down-under-state-ft-mitch-alexander-the-north-state-podcast/

It's election season, basically Christmas for politics nerds who have no life. So instead of wallowing in the news about the campaign trail, the candidates and the polling, we're going to breakdown some election coverage. Eric Wickham, Ontario reporter for PressProgress joins to discuss CTV News having to right-wing flak, incredible reporting about a mass punishment at "Wong-tanamo Bay," and a general discussion about the state of the 2025 federal election.Follow Eric on Bluesky and TikTok.Check out his reporting for PressProgress.Follow Scott on BlueskyIntro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading at:https://readthecatch.ca/breakdown-mostly-election-special-2025-ft-eric-wickham-the-north-state-podcast

Facing worrying rhetoric by US President Donald Trump, news has turned its attention to Canada's military, with a notable trend of pointing towards the positives of conscription. Two of these articles, published from both sides of the political spectrum, suggest mandatory service as a partial solution. But even the best version of this argument plays into jingoist nationalism. Not only does it not address the situation at hand, it directs the popular will to strengthen sovereignty into misplaced nationalist militarism. Ian Barclay, editor-in-chief of Avant-Garde Press, journalist and veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, joins Scott to discuss the historical context of conscription in Canada, the faults in these arguments and how they miss the mark.Avant-Garde PressFollow Ian on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ianagp.bsky.socialFollow Scott on Socials:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/youcaughtscott.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/youcaughtscott/ Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading at:https://readthecatch.ca/when-ya-get-drafted-ft-ian-barclay-the-north-state-podcast/

Since late last year, Donald Trump began a very public habit of musing on making Canada the 51st state. Throughout posts on his social media feeds, press conferences about the US' trade relations and even an appearance at the World Economic Forum, Trump has threatened high-tariffs against Canada and expressed a desire to integrate it into the USA. While news coverage has been breathless, it omits the reality of Canada's foreign policy and how it's aligned with the US throughout some of its darkest chapters. Tyler Shipley, professor of political economy an author of Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, joins Scott to discuss the historical and political context of Trump's rhetoric and how the Canadian political system is ill-equipped to combat these plans.Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination by Tyler ShipleyFollow Scott on Socials:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/youcaughtscott.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/youcaughtscott/ Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading available at:https://readthecatch.ca/51st-state-blues-the-north-state-podcast

On this edition of The North State, independent award-winning journalist Rachel Gilmore joins Scott to have a Breakdown. Justin Trudeau resigns as Liberal Party leader, and consequently Prime Minister of Canada. How has the media covered these tumultuous weeks? Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg announced that everything can always get worse at Meta– what does this mean for Canadians? Finally, it’s time we had a proper retrospective of Canadian news media’s state in 2024. We talk about legacy layoffs and what happens when beloved indie outlets stop actually shit-talking the news.Check out Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore.Follow Rachel on Bluesky.Follow Scott on Socials:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/youcaughtscott.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/youcaughtscott/ Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiSources and further reading available at:https://readthecatch.ca/breakdown-justin-tru-done-metapocalypse-and-state-of-canadian-news-the-north-state-podcast/

Recently, Australia passed a law requiring social media to ban people under sixteen from their services. In order to implement this law, the two avenues of age verification broadly encompass either facial recognition software or government ID verification. Both have disastrous privacy implications at the best of times. So why does Canada have a similar bill in the House of Commons, currently under way to become law? What has the news media missed? Most importantly, who does it affect the most? Scott talks with Kate Sinclaire, a law student and activist with SWAC, and Jelena Vermillion, sex worker and activist with SWAP Hamilton about the formulation and impacts of Bill S-210, as well as the news industry's poor coverage of sex work in general.This is the last episode of The North State for 2024. We're taking a break until the new year. Happy holidays!Sources and Further Reading at:https://readthecatch.ca/digital-id-verification-is-coming-are-we-ready-the-north-state-podcast/Follow Scott on Socials:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/youcaughtscott.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/youcaughtscott/ Intro Music: Vigilante - Cross DogArtwork by Zo at Studio BonjourhiMusic:"Devonshire Waltz Andante" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Concentration" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/