Brief Remarks

The No Second Chances world tour has taken us to Denmark, Taiwan, Chile, New Zealand, the US, Costa Rica, and Namibia. But before we land back at Canadian Arrivals, let’s take a step back and see what patterns have emerged. In this week’s episode, host Kate Graham talks to Dr. Rosie Campbell, Dr. Sarah Liu, and Dr. Jennifer Piscopo about political culture, systemic bias, and what else lies at the core of women in leadership getting no second chances.

On this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by former Canadian Ambassador to the United States of America, David McNaughton, to discuss the fractured state of that nation and how we might escape a similar fate in Canada.

This week on No Second Chances we’ve landed in Namibia, at last visiting the final continent of our world tour. And - for the first time this season - we’re letting a man join the conversation. Join host Kate Graham as she talks to the University of Namibia’s Paulus Mwetulundila, as well as the incredible Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhilaa on Namibia’s fight for independence, a 32-year-old constitution, and what zebras have to do with gender equity.

On this episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Ontario Liberal Party candidate for Spadina-Fort York, Chi Nguyen, to discuss the risks on the ballot in the upcoming Ontario provincial election.

White sand beaches, lush rain forests, and… gender quotas in the legislature since 1991? Welcome to Costa Rica. This week on No Second Chances, host Kate Graham talks civic culture, gender parity, and female leadership styles with Dr. Jennifer Piscopo, expert in gender and politics in Latin America, and the one and only Laura Chinchilla, former President of Costa Rica.

As Prince William and Kate Middleton wrap up their Jubilee tour of the Caribbean, Barbados and Jamaica are moving towards becoming republics, casting doubt on the future of the Commonwealth. Ahead of the royal visit to Jamaica, more than 100 prominent Jamaicans signed an open letter to the prince and duchess, calling for “an apology for British crimes against humanity” alongside reparations.The case for reparations in the Caribbean and beyond is bound up with the past and present of racial capitalism – a form of racialized economic, social, and political extraction, exploitation, and domination. To understand how this system works, how it might be undone, and what is owed from centuries of its existence, we ask: What is racial capitalism and the case for reparations?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Erica Ifill, race and equity expert, co-host of the Bad and Bitchy podcast, and founder of Not In My Colour – an anti-racism and equity consultancy.

On this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by comedian, best-selling author and television star, Mark Critch, to discuss political comedy and comedic politics.

When Canadians talk politics, it’s only a matter of time before the conversation turns to our neighbours to the south. This week on No Second Chances, host Kate Graham explores the challenges - and global effects - of politics and gender in the United States with three brilliant academics: Dr. Kelly Dittmar, political scientist and Director of Research at the Center of American Women and Politics; Dr. Nadia Brown, a professor of government and Chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University; and Dr. Malliga Och, a political scientist and gender and politics expert from Idaho State University.

As Canada and the world watched a convoy roll across the country to Ottawa, occupy the capital, and terrorize the city, those who have long warned about the risks of the far-right and white supremacists reminded us that this has been a long time coming. Canada has long ignored and neglected growing extremist movements while condemning, suppressing, and over policing morally just protest and state resistance. It’s cheap and easy to try to apply a one-size-fits-all analysis to all who push back against the state. That impulse should be resisted. We ought to distinguish between forms of protests and between morally just and unjust causes. That work starts by understanding how different movements are treated differently in the current climate, including by asking: Who gets to protest? On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Mskwaasin Agnew, an Indigenous activist and knowledge keeper.

On this episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Swedish economist, former politician and Executive Director of the Global Risks Foundation, Jens Orback, to discuss the world’s top global catastrophic risks.

This week on No Second Chances, we’re taking a look at a country led by one of the most well-known, and respected, female leaders out there. Welcome to New Zealand. Host Kate Graham explores lush landscapes and progressive politics with American-born New Zealand politician Julie Anne Genter, and High Commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King, in the hopes of understanding how the country has managed to elect not one, not two, but three female prime ministers.

To see modern democracy in action, look no further than Chile. This week on No Second Chances, we’ve landed in South America. Host Kate Graham talks to Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Western University, Dr. Verónica Schild, as well as former President, and current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet about Chilean politics, the country’s progressive new government, and its roots in a strong feminist movement.

To try to make sense of the occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core on this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by University of Toronto assistant professor, Dr. Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, whose work examines the intersections of race, crime and criminal justice, with a particular focus in the area of policing.

There is no reconciliation without economic reconciliation. So why do we tend to shy away from talking about it? Perhaps too few of us understand what economic reconciliation means, beyond mere resource development. On this episode of Everyday Reconciliation, host Elin Miller speaks with Chief Leanne Joe, Transformative Storyteller for Economic Reconciliation with Simon Fraser University and one of sixteen hereditary chiefs of the Squamish First Nation about why economic reconciliation is hard to define, and why every Canadian should care about it.

On this episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame journalist, entrepreneur, and diplomat, Senator Pamela Wallin, to discuss why the media is you and why that’s maybe not a good thing.

This week on No Second Chances, we touch down in Taiwan. Host Kate Graham talks to the Director-General of New Taipei, Chingyu Yao; entrepreneur and investor, Elisa Chu; Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada's Christina Nakamura; and journalist turned politician Weiwei Chiang on Taiwan’s history, complexity, and how the nation’s first female president actually did get a second chance.

On July 26, 2021, the first ever Indigenous governor general of Canada was sworn into office. Twenty-nine people preceded her in the role. In other words: about time. On this episode of Everyday Reconciliation, host Elin Miller speaks with Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Mary May Simon about her path to Rideau Hall, her plans as governor general, and her lifelong goal of building better understanding between Indigenous people and other Canadians.

Globally, democracy is in recession. In the United States, it is in crisis. In Canada, it is, at best, plodding, complacent, and exclusionary. The social, political, and economic order that so many have taken for granted for so long now faces upheaval. Some believe that shift is long overdue, but alternatives driven by authoritarian populism and other toxic varieties of self-government threaten to usher in something far worse. Regardless, the status quo is untenable. Those who wish to preserve liberal democracy face a challenge: they must find a way to adapt the system in the face of growing counter-pressures and changing technologies, attitudes, and priorities. So, what does the future hold for liberal democracy?  On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Manuel Hinds, former minister of finance in El Salvador, former division chief at the World Bank, and author of In Defense of Liberal Democracy: What We Need To Do To Heal A Divided America.

On this episode of @ Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Toronto Star columnist and sportswriter, Bruce Arthur, to discuss why it’s hard to have nice things like sports.

The No Second Chances world tour starts in Denmark, the land of smoorebrod, Borgen, and two female Prime Ministers. On this episode, host Kate Graham talks to political scientist Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, and former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt about the systems and structures that have helped make Danish politics more accessible, representative, and inclusive.