PressProgress Sources
PressProgress Sources
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A podcast that digs deeper into important and often unreported issues, by the award-winning non-profit news organization PressProgress. Join the PressProgress team for conversations with experts and newsmakers across the country, including Luke LeBrun, Prairie correspondent Emily Leedham, Ontario correspondent Mitch Thompson, Alberta correspondent Stephen Magusiak and BC correspondent Rumneek Johal. Produced by Eric Wickham, Publisher Romy Garrido.
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5 days ago
"Not In My Name" with Roberta Lexier
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Oct 10, 2023
Social Media Censorship of Canadian Sikhs
Social media companies are enforcing an Indian Law that censors social media content critical of the Indian government and its ongoing crackdown in the Punjab state.
Canadian Sikhs have found themselves in the crosshairs of this aggressive campaign of censorship, harassment, and intimidation.
The campaign has escalated on Facebook since the assassination of BC Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, which was tied to the far-right nationalist Modi government, with posts being blocked and accounts banned just for talking about it.
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Sep 18, 2023
Big Money and the Manitoba Election
Dark money networks from out of province have set their sights on Manitoba.
Emily Leedham joins Stephen Magusiak to discuss her investigative series into the Canada Growth Council, a registered third party advertiser tied to Alberta and Saskatchewan conservatives, oil lobbyists, and an obscure religious sect known as the Plymouth Brethren.Support the show
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Aug 22, 2023
A Million Man March on Toronto
Far-right groups are planning a convoy to Toronto to “Save the Children,” and it’s already spinning out of control.
PressProgress Editor Luke Lebrun joins Host Stephen Magusiak to talk about the convoy movement’s latest conspiratorial obsession, and what they have planned for the fall if they can get along enough to organize it. Support the show
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Jul 6, 2023
Pride Flags and Chemtrails w/ Kurt Phillips
Researcher Kurt Phillips with Canadian Anti-Hate Network joins Stephen Magusiak for a look at the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ2SA+ protests and hate crimes happening in Alberta and across Canada. From acts of vandalism, mobbing town councils and school board meetings, and chemtrail conspiracy theories, we take a look at what its about and where its coming from.
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Jun 15, 2023
The Sound and the Furey
PressProgress Ontario Reporter Mitchell Thompson joins Stephen Magusiak to talk about the Toronto mayoral race, and one unlikely candidate who stands out in the crowded field of conservative hopefuls.
Though still a long shot, former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey has seen some momentum in the polls with his right wing populist positions and some big endorsements from right wing media figures like Conrad Black and Jordan Peterson.Support the show
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May 23, 2023
Commodification of Education in Alberta
As funding for charter schools in Alberta increases rapidly, public schools are under attack.
Rumneek Johal is joined by Wing Li with Support Our Students to discuss the rapid expansion of Charter schools in Alberta under conservative governments, and how they almost exclusively cater to elites using public funds, at the expense of everyday Albertans.
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May 16, 2023
The Strange Story of Take Back Alberta w/ Jeremy Appel
Stephen Magusiak is joined by journalist Jeremy Appel to discuss what we know so far about the right wing group that appeared on the Alberta political landscape after the Coutts border blockade.
Did Take Back Alberta come out of nowhere? We look at who their supporters are, who leads them, and what they’re trying to accomplish.Support the show
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Apr 27, 2023
Mapping Canada's Right-Wing Networks
The PressProgress team is joined by investigative reporter Sam Harper with Pivot to talk about the common threads and the common funders behind the right-wing networks that stretch across Canada.
We talk conspiracy theories, astroturf campaigns, Alberta dark money in Quebec, secret societies, and where the right-wing think tanks like The Fraser Institute fit into the bigger picture.
This panel discussion was part of the 2023 Progress Summit in Ottawa.
Check out Pivot https://pivot.quebec/
Subscribe to our national labour newsletter Shift Work
Sources is edited by Eric Wickham
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Mar 23, 2023
Why Labour Journalism Matters with Faiz Shakir
Today’s episode of Sources features an interview with Faiz Shakir, Executive Director of the labour news site More Perfect Union and Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign manager. More Perfect Union was founded in 2020 to tell working class stories through video journalism. In just a few years, More Perfect Union has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views. PressProgress talked to Shakir about the importance of labour journalism especially as inequality between the rich and poor grows more each year.
*Follow More Perfect Union:*
https://perfectunion.us/
Twitter.com/MorePerfectUS
*Sign up for PressProgress’ Free Canadian Labour Newsletter:*
PressProgress.ca/ShiftWork
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Mar 9, 2023
Amazon Labour Union President Chris Smalls on "The New School of Labour" and making history
How workers at an Amazon packing facility made history by unionizing, and lessons learned to pave the way forward, with Amazon Labour Union President Chris Smalls in his first trip to Canada.
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Mar 4, 2023
Breaking Down the Emergencies Act Inquiry’s Final Report
We read Justice Roleau’s final report on the Emergencies Act Inquiry in its entirety so you don’t have to.
Tune in to learn about the convoy’s origins on TikTok, the infighting among occupiers, as well as among Ottawa police, as well as some of the strange and surprising details buried in the Emergencies Act Inquiry’s final report..
PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun joins Stephen Magusiak to highlight the important, the overlooked and the utterly bizarre findings within. Support the show
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Feb 9, 2023
Leaving In Body Bags: Canada's High Rate of International Student Deaths
International students are coming to Canada for their education and leaving in body bags. The government doesn’t seem to be tracking the issue.
Discussing the web of exploitation surrounding Indian international students who are dying at high rates across Canada from drug overdoses, suicides, and more with Jindi Singh, National Director Khalsa Aid Canada.
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Jan 26, 2023
The History of Healthcare Privatization
Following Doug Ford’s move to outsource 50% of Ontario surgeries to private, for-profit health facilities, PressProgress Ontario Reporter Mitchell Thompson joins Colleen Fuller for an in depth look at at the creep of for-profit healthcare across Canada. Support the show
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Jan 13, 2023
Where is Canada's Far-Right Going in 2023?
Is Canada going to have a Freedom Convoy 2.0 in 2023?
First, the convoy organizers said a reunion was happening in Ottawa.
But on Christmas morning, organizers had a surprise, announcing they had changed their minds and the convoy would be heading to Winnipeg.
Then on New Year’s Eve, a top convoy organizer announced the whole convoy was cancelled. The next day, another organizer announced the convoy would still be happening, only under a different name.
Sound confusing? You’re probably not alone. Elizabeth Simons, Deputy Director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, joins PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun on Sources to help explain what is going with these convoy organizers and where is Canada’s far-right heading in 2023.Support the show
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Dec 22, 2022
Frat Boys and Freedom Convoys: PressProgress Stories That Made an Impact in 2022
On the final episode of the year, the PressProgress team looks back on memorable headlines of 2022
Rumneek Johal, Luke LeBrun, and Mitchell Thompson join Stephen Magusiak to talk about the freedom convoy, far right astroturf in Vancouver, Stephen Lecce’s fraternity days and more.Support the show
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Dec 8, 2022
Police across Canada are investing in “copaganda” reports that criticize the social safety net
A social technology company is working with police across Canada to create reports that justify the need for a new approach to the “social safety net.”
Helpseeker, a Calgary-based ‘social impact’ firm, has been hired to produce reports for police in Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa, raising questions about the involvement of police in the delivery of social services.
Many of the reports from Helpseeker have placed an inflated price tag on the “social safety net” in various cities, arguing for a reconfiguration of the funds invested into vulnerable communities.
In Edmonton, City Councillor Michael Janz says that Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee has spoken at length about the “money in the system,” and the billions being spent on the delivery of social services.
However, Janz notes that in Edmonton, the growth in the police budget has far exceeded the pace of growth in funding for any other civic department.
“Homelessness is not a crime problem. It's a mental health…
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Nov 24, 2022
Danielle Smith’s Billion Dollar Giveaway to Polluters, with Regan Boychuk
It’s an environmental problem that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to tackle, and successive Alberta governments have lacked the political will to address it.
Hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells exist across the province, many of which are inactive and at risk of abandonment.
For decades the Alberta Energy Regulator has allowed large producers to offload their cleanup obligations onto smaller ones, that then go insolvent or bankrupt.
Alberta’s new Premier has pushed a pilot program called the R-Star that will reward polluters for doing what they’re legally obligated to do anyway by letting them off the hook for billions in royalties owed to the province.
Smith urged the government to adopt R-Star while lobbying for corporate interests last year. It was rejected by Kenney's UCP. Now, Energy Minister Peter Guthrie said he’ll make it a "top priority."
Researcher and industry watchdog Regan Boychuk joins host Stephen Magusiak to talk about what he calls the R-…
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Nov 3, 2022
"Insurrection From Within" Exploring the Failed Police Response to the Freedom Convoy with Stephanie Carvin
Stephanie Carvin, a Carleton University international affairs professor and a former CSIS intelligence analyst, talks about the failure of police to anticipate the ‘Freedom Convoy,’ and how it was allowed to spiral out of control.
Evidence and testimony show signs of intelligence failure, communication breakdowns, erratic leadership, and an “insurrection from within” Ottawa Police.
While warnings from outside sources went ignored, an OPS unit produced a politically biased and “unprofessional” intelligence report that Carvin says reveals cultural issues within the ranks of the Ottawa Police.Support the show
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Oct 11, 2022
The Petroleum Papers: Interview with author Geoff Dembicki
Climate journalist Geoff Dembicki discusses his latest book The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change.
Drawing from internal oil industry documents spanning decades, The Petroleum Papers examines how major players in the Alberta oilsands suppressed their own research about the climate crisis, and created the playbook to spread climate change denialism in Canada and the US.Support the show
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