Wag The Doug

After six years of Doug-wagging, Allison and Jonathan have learned a few things.

Like how “Ontario,” as a concept, is even more inscrutable than “Toronto” or “Canada.” And how most disasters are not just foreseeable but have in fact been foreseen.

But perhaps most disconcerting of all: that Doug Ford actually knows what he’s doing — or conversely, that he doesn’t have to know what he’s doing, because he understands this province better than any of us.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Sam Konnert (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief), Max Collins (Production Manager), Nathan Burley (Music)

Live (on tape) from the intersection of Richmond and Spadina, it’s the fifth annual(ish) Douggie Awards, celebrating the most surreal and mendacious moments of the past year in Ford.

What was the Most Blatant Conflict of Interest? Who offered the Best Spin? Like the Emmys, we take things that actually aren’t that funny at all and stuff them into comedy categories for your convenience. And with yet another Ford offspring expressing interest in politics, will we once again see a clean sweep for succession?

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Sam Konnert (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief), Max Collins (Production Manager), Nathan Burley (Music)

Who doesn’t love an ice-cold beer from a bar, a pub, a liquor store… a gas station?

There could soon be up to 8,500 new places to buy low-alcohol drinks in Ontario, thanks to a new plan to speed up an agreement between the province and Beer Store. The cost? At least $225 million of taxpayer money.

Is this accelerated effort to “modernize” the alcohol market simply a play for political points ahead of a possible early election call?

This month, Allison and Jonathan crack a couple of cold ones and pore over the booze clues.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Sam Konnert (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief), Max Collins (Production Manager), Nathan Burley (Music)

Background reading:

When the Speaker decreed that keffiyehs were verboten at Queen’s Park, even Doug Ford agreed that that was a bad call. But that came in the midst of a hotly-contested by-election in the 905 — and now that it’s finished, so is his party’s long nightmare of uncharacteristic open-mindedness.

In the eighth month of Israel’s war in/on Gaza, Allison and Jonathan examine how Ontario’s government is cracking down on expressions of Palestinian solidarity, in more ways than you probably realize.

Hosts: Jonathan Goldsbie, Allison Smith

Credits: Sam Konnert (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor in Chief), Nathan Burley (Music)

Today we’re sharing with you a preview of the first episode of Canadaland’s newest show Pretendians.

What do some of the most prominent and successful Indigenous artists, leaders and thinkers have in common? They aren’t Indigenous.  

From major universities, to the halls of power, to Hollywood, there are people claiming to be Indigenous in the interest of power, money, and status. There are dozens of outrageous cases of Indigenous identity fraud that we know about, and likely thousands that we do not. 

So why do these so-called “Pretendians” do it? How do they pull it off? And what happens when they are exposed?