The Breakdown With Nate Pike

The Breakdown

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Local Alberta Podcast about provincial and local politics and issues. Not journalists. #abpoli #albertapolitics Alberta Politics

Recent Episodes

NOV 11, 2026
Episode 8.61 - Calgary Controversy with Councillor Landon Johnston! (Part 1)
It's a weird intersection of provincial and municipal politics on this 2 part episode of The Breakdown! Landon Johnston was elected to Calgary city council in 2025, but that came on the heels of him getting his first exposure to notoriety with the campaign to recall then Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek in 2024. Since then, whether it's been calling for the lifting of water bottle bans, arguing for limiting municipal low income supports to "citizens" only, he's been no stranger to controversy. But in September of this year, two particularly striking scandals came to a boil. The first was a leak of confidential documents and the second is an apparent conflict of interest stemming from an overlap of Johnston's office and Danielle Smith's recent trips to Nashville. In part one of this two part episode, we take a look at Landon's leaking of confidential preliminary budget documents, the resulting complaint from the city to the provincial government and the provincial governments claims that there was nothing they could do because the UCP deleted the code of conduct! If you can support our legal defence fund in fighting back against the $6 million lawsuit filed by Sam Mraiche, the man responsible for importing Vanch masks and Turkish Tylenol, as well as hosting MLA’s and Ministers in his skybox for government business, please consider donating at www.savethebreakdownab.ca. As always, if you enjoy the content we create at The Breakdown, please consider becoming a monthly supporter on our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. We’ve also added e-transfers to our payment options at [email protected]. For our new merchandise, visit www.thebreakdownabmerch.com and to show off your Canadian pride, visit www.CanadaProudDad.ca with all proceeds from those sales going to harm reduction and to support vulnerable trans youth. If you’re listening to our podcast, please leave us a review and rating. Don’t forget to like and follow us on Substack, Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads! #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
115 MIN
NOV 9, 2026
Episode 8.60 - Gerrymandering Comes to Alberta with Dr Duane Bratt!
In a legislative session that saw extremely limited debate and bad faith obstructionism by the UCP, Danielle Smith's government has voted to push through the gerrymandering maps that go against the recommendations of the judge who chaired the original commission! (Whew, that was a lot) In order to make sense of all of this, we are thrilled to present this conversation with Political Scientist Dr Duane Bratt, who walks us through not only how we got here, but what we can possibly expect to happen next! If you can support our legal defence fund in fighting back against the $6 million lawsuit filed by Sam Mraiche, the man responsible for importing Vanch masks and Turkish Tylenol, as well as hosting MLA’s and Ministers in his skybox for government business, please consider donating at www.savethebreakdownab.ca. As always, if you enjoy the content we create at The Breakdown, please consider becoming a monthly supporter on our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. We’ve also added e-transfers to our payment options at [email protected]. For our new merchandise, visit www.thebreakdownabmerch.com and to show off your Canadian pride, visit www.CanadaProudDad.ca with all proceeds from those sales going to harm reduction and to support vulnerable trans youth. If you’re listening to our podcast, please leave us a review and rating. Don’t forget to like and follow us on Substack, Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads! #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
80 MIN
NOV 2, 2026
Episode 8.59 - Cypress-Medicine Hat Mystery Candidate Dr Paul Parks
For a few weeks now, a secret Medicine Hat candidate has been posting to social media and the official reveal is today! Former AMA President and ER physician Dr Paul Parks is seeking the nomination to be the NDP candidate in Cypress-Medicine Hat, and The Breakdown has his first official interview! In this conversation, we cover a lot of ground, including the future of Alberta's healthcare, law enforcement, First Nations relations and a whole lot more! Including... Food trucks? If you can support our legal defence fund in fighting back against the $6 million lawsuit filed by Sam Mraiche, the man responsible for importing Vanch masks and Turkish Tylenol, as well as hosting MLA’s and Ministers in his skybox for government business, please consider donating at www.savethebreakdownab.ca. As always, if you enjoy the content we create at The Breakdown, please consider becoming a monthly supporter on our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. We’ve also added e-transfers to our payment options at [email protected]. For our new merchandise, visit www.thebreakdownabmerch.com and to show off your Canadian pride, visit www.CanadaProudDad.ca with all proceeds from those sales going to harm reduction and to support vulnerable trans youth. If you’re listening to our podcast, please leave us a review and rating. Don’t forget to like and follow us on Substack, Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads! #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
76 MIN
OCT 26, 2026
Episode 8.58 - "Dark Phoenix" with Jeremy Appel!
We've got a conversation with Jeremy Appel and we cover a LOT of ground! For starters, Jeremy has released a new book on Danielle Smith entitled "Dark Phoenix" that charts her early life all the way to the premiership! But we don't stop there! We get into the ongoing implosion/civil war amongst the separatists in light of their crushing defeat in Alberta's recent referendum as well as another story that flew underneath the media attention for the referendum... A former journalist who recently admitted that they not only manufactured a story, they lied to Albertans and Jeremy for years. But our hot take on that might be a bit different than you would expect! If you can support our legal defence fund in fighting back against the $6 million lawsuit filed by Sam Mraiche, the man responsible for importing Vanch masks and Turkish Tylenol, as well as hosting MLA’s and Ministers in his skybox for government business, please consider donating at www.savethebreakdownab.ca. As always, if you enjoy the content we create at The Breakdown, please consider becoming a monthly supporter on our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. We’ve also added e-transfers to our payment options at [email protected]. For our new merchandise, visit www.thebreakdownabmerch.com and to show off your Canadian pride, visit www.CanadaProudDad.ca with all proceeds from those sales going to harm reduction and to support vulnerable trans youth. If you’re listening to our podcast, please leave us a review and rating. Don’t forget to like and follow us on Substack, Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads! #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
98 MIN