Front Burner

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has weighed in on the separatism movement in Alberta. Bessent has said that the province is a “natural partner” to the U.S., and that it has “great resources”.

While Bessent is certainly the most high profile U.S. official to muse about Alberta separatism, he hasn’t been the only MAGA supporter to chime in. Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Republican congressman Andy Ogles have also waded into the debate.

Today we’re asking why MAGA is eyeing Alberta separatism and whether it’s a threat to Canada’s national security.

Joining us: Jason Markusoff, writer and producer for CBC Calgary, and Patrick Lennox, a national security expert who ran for the Liberals in the last federal election in Edmonton. We’ll also hear from Jeffrey Rath, legal counsel and spokesperson for the Alberta Prosperity Project. That’s the main advocacy group pushing for Alberta independence.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump set off a firestorm with comments dismissing the military contributions of fellow NATO members during the war in Afghanistan.

This follows the president’s aggressive bid for Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO-ally Denmark, which brought into question whether NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, could survive without America, its strongest and richest member.

And while some kind of agreement on Greenland now seems to be on the table, and Trump appears to be backing down, today we’re asking what damage has already been done to NATO. How does this latest challenge to its existence compare to conflicts the military alliance has faced before? Aaron Ettinger, a professor of political science at Carleton University, joins us for a conversation about how NATO’s past and present could inform its future.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Massive anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis intensified over the weekend, in the wake of the second fatal shooting of an American citizen involving federal law enforcement agents in the city this month. On Saturday, border patrol agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse.

Today, we’ll be talking about Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, and how the deadly ICE surge in Minnesota is only the latest example of domestic policy that he has championed. In Trump's second administration, Miller is emerging as the main architect and enforcer of Trump's signature policies: from hardline immigration policies and mass deportations, to retaliation against the administration's perceived enemies, to increasingly aggressive foreign policy.

To talk about all that we’re joined by Michael Scherer. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers American politics, and in particular the people behind it. He's the co-writer of a recent profile called "The Wrath of Stephen Miller."

And please note, we spoke to Michael before this latest shooting and its aftermath in Minneapolis.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ says it has a plan for the future of Gaza. Critics say that strategy is full of holes, and that the true intention of the board extends far beyond the war ravaged territory.

Today we look at how a U.S. 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza evolved into a body that some fear could undermine the United Nations and further erode international order.

Jayme Poisson speaks with Hugh Lovatt, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations based in London.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It was an eventful World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, with striking speeches by both the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister. For his part Donald Trump talked for more than an hour on an array of topics, including his desire to acquire Greenland. His speech came a day after Mark Carney made international headlines announcing the end of the old world order as he sees it, and the need for a new path forward for “middle powers.”

In today’s episode Jayme Poisson sits down with veteran journalist Paul Wells to break it down.

Check out another episode of CBC's new podcast Two Blocks from the White House from our colleagues in the Washington bureau. It's American politics with Canadian context. This week, they're talking about Davos and Trump's Greenland threats. Listen to the episode here.