Friday Focus: The Canadian military's shocking plan to train civil servants and will new Epstein revelations affect Trump's hold over the Republican Party?
To find out how to purchase tickets to the Munk Debate on the Two-State Solution (or to access the livestream) go to www.munkdebates.com To access a 50% discount on tickets for those under 25 become a Munk Donor, Supporter, or Curator Rudyard and Janice begin the show with a Canadian news story that is almost too crazy to be believed: the Chief of the Defence Staff giving a directive to train civil servants on how to handle firearms, drive trucks and fly drones in a bid to ramp up military service. Is it a good idea to give firearms training to government workers? What does this say about how unprepared and unserious we are about protecting our borders? And is there a case to be made that now is the right time to introduce mandatory national service in Canada? In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to the Epstein files and a release of documents with new revelations about the close connection between Epstein and President Trump. The documents also surfaced other prominent names including Peter Mendalson and Larry Summers. Why do these powerful and influential people think the rules don't apply to them? Will the revelations about Trump's closeness to Epstein loosen his iron grip over the Republican Party? And finally, should the President's downward trajectory and weakened support influence how we in Canada engage in trade negotiations with the U.S.? To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $50 annually, or $1.00 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.
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Friday Focus: Important lessons from Mamdani's victory and a U.S. government shutdown holds the public hostage
This special episode of Friday Focus was recorded in front of a live audience at the Hot Docs Curious Minds Festival and the full length edition being made available to all paying and non-paying subscribers To find out how to purchase tickets to the Munk Debate on the Two-State Solution (or to access the livestream) go to www.munkdebates.com Rudyard and Janice start today's show unpacking Zohran Mamdani's mayoral victory in New York City. How did this young and inexperienced politician build such a broad coalition? What is the message we should take away from his big win? Janice argues that this race is not the only one that matters; Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey with more moderate candidates offer an important lesson that in order to win you need a big tent with a wide variety of voices. What role did technology play in these elections, and should we be worried about how it is affecting the democratic process? Rudyard and Janice then turn to the US government shutdown which is being weaponized by both parties. Unfortunately neither side will negotiate without concessions and the public is being held hostage. In the remaining moments Rudyard and Janice offer their analysis of Mark Carney's first federal budget as Prime Minister. Both agree that the budget did not live up to expectations; the government needed to make some big cuts and ask Canadians to sacrifice to get our economy back on track. As Janice puts it, the biggest problem we have in this country is we think being nice is the most important value. It's not. To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.
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An uninspiring budget and Carney's government inches closer to a majority
To listen to the full episode consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. After weeks of hype Mark Carney's government presented a disappointing traditional Liberal big spending budget. While there are incremental measures to promote economic growth, they are not in the order of what this country needs, and in a few years we are going to be borrowing money just to pay the interest on our debt. Andrew offers a charitable take: we are in an immediate crisis, and Mark Carney decided to implement an interventionist budget in the short term to ride out the Trump craziness. Regardless, this was a missed opportunity to introduce radical tax and competition reform that is badly needed to jumpstart our economy. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Andrew assess the political fallout from the budget, specifically a Conservative MP crossing the floor to the Liberals and rumours that others are set to follow suit. Could Mark Carney soon have a majority government? And why are MPs not talking to their constituents before crossing party lines?
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Friday Focus: Munk Debate on the Two-State Solution and China's chokehold on the U.S.
To find out how to purchase tickets to the Munk Debate on the Two-State Solution (or to access the livestream) go to www.munkdebates.com Rudyard and Janice preview our upcoming 2025 autumn mainstage Munk Debate on the Two-State Solution taking place on December 3rd in Toronto. What can we expect from the team of Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, who believe Israel's future depends on pursuing two states for two peoples? Can the team of Ayelet Shaked and Micheal Oren make a compelling case that it is in Israel's best interest not to pursue this path? Rudyard explains how and why we landed on this debate and these speakers. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to Chinese-American relations following Trump's trade meeting this week with Xi Jinping. The US backed down on a range of tariff threats and most importantly on high tech exports to China. Why did Trump agree to this? There is a codependency between these two superpowers that will only break when either China is able to manufacture advanced AI chips or the US breaks China's monopoly on critical rare earth minerals. Does Trump have the patience and resolve to stay the course? And how should Canada pursue its own trade relationship with China in order to protect our interests and specifically the struggling auto sector? To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.
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Trump's trade tantrum and will Mark Carney's first federal budget meet the moment?
To listen to the full episode consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. Rudyard and Andrew try to make sense of the Canada-US trade chaos of the past 72 hours. Andrew offers two interpretations: either Trump was looking for a reason to walk away from the table as a negotiating ploy, or he is a genuinely needy child who cannot tolerate criticism. Canada is not the unreasonable party here. Is there a point to negotiating at all if we can't have confidence that the agreement will be respected? Trump is ratcheting up turmoil on a weekly basis to the point where the public is being numbed into submission. What will happen if the U.S. Supreme Court strips Trump of his trade powers? Rudyard and Andrew then turn to the upcoming Canadian federal budget. What are Mark Carney's priorities? As the leader of a minority government will he attempt the bold action required to address our productivity and trade crisis? And if he fails, are we headed for a spring election?
The Munk Debates podcast is an extension of the main stage events - in subject, speaker selection, tone and format. It will introduce the iconic brand - and its engaging debates about significant issues of our time. Audiences will hear strong and passionate arguments from both sides of an issue so they will have enough information to make up their own minds about where they stand.
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