It's been a week since the federal Liberals released the 2025 budget. In that time we've heard a lot of coverage, some useful, some not. In the first North State panel, we discuss the potential impacts in this budget, its massive investments in the military, abandonment of the environment and the complete lack of health considerations. Of course, the news media doesn't get away unscathed either. Karyn Pugliese (APTN News national affairs correspondent), Arshy Mann (co-founder and host at The Hatchet) and Ian Barclay (editor at Avant-Garde Press) join the show to dissect the budget and the news coverage surrounding it.

The Hatchet

Avant-Garde Press

Karyn's newsletter

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/panel-sifting-through-the-sludge-of-budget-2025-the-north-state-podcast

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It's happened to all of us. We want to read an article, but the web page stops us in our tracks. We need a paid subscription, or to sign up for a newsletter, or contribute some meagre amount of money. It's one thing for an institution like CTV News, The Globe and Mail or the Toronto Star to expect a subscription, but for the last couple decades, news has had the expectation of being free. This has put journalists in an extremely precarious position, especially when they try to go out on their own. I spoke to Arshy Mann of independent podcast The Hatchet and Nicole Froio of The Flytrap, a worker-owned feminist publication, to talk about how journalists need money to live.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/the-pay-wall-of-it-all-the-north-state-podcastst

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Five people are running to save the NDP from itself. Who are they? What are they promising? What's the point? Who cares anymore? Well despite the tremendous disappointment the NDP has been for the past decade (at least), they nevertheless take up a lot of space on the left-wing of Canadian politics. This week I delve into an analysis of the NDP's history as the "safer" option, their latest shifts to the right and what the actual point of a political party should be. Oh and then I talk about the current candidates and what we can expect under a new NDP leader, even in the best case scenario.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/monologue-fine-lets-talk-about-the-ndp-leadership-race-the-north-state-podcast

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Last week, CBC released their 2025-2030 plan, their hopes and aims for the next five years. Soon after, president and CEO Marie-Phillippe Bouchard appeared on the CBC podcast Front Burner for an interview with host Jayme Poisson. With Canada's public broadcaster being targeted by the right and an expectation to cut nearly $200 million from their budget under direction of the Carney government, how does the current climate play into the plan and Bouchard's public comments? Luke LeBrun, investigative journalist and editor at PressProgress, joins Scott to dive deep into this document, the CBC and an ultimately disappointing interview.

Read the CBC's 2025-2030 strategy here.

PressProgress

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/diving-into-cbcs-five-year-plan-ft-luke-lebrun-the-north-state-podcast

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Carney's latest trip to Europe highlighted Canada's commitment to militarism, including leaving the door open to Canadian boots on the ground in Ukraine. Billions of dollars for the military, extended missions in Latvia, commitments to buying arms for Ukraine, how is this all covered? Ian Barclay, editor-in-chief of Avant-Garde Press, journalist and Canadian Armed Forces veteran joins Scott to discuss rising militarism, news media's role in it and a more realistic picture of NATO and the Ukraine-Russia war that coverage doesn't include.

Avant-Garde Press

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/news-media-and-carney-p-for-war-ft-ian-barclay-the-north-state-podcast

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One of the stories lately that regularly gets media attention (and deserved mockery) is Ontario premier Doug Ford's insistence that his government will initiate the process to build a tunnel underneath Highway 401. This tunnel, which is supposed to stretch from Mississauga to Scarborough, will apparently have three lanes ontop of each other. This will solve congestion, we're told. No, this isn't a joke. He's dead serious. Glyn Bowerman, journalist and host of the Spacing Radio podcast, joins Scott to discuss the political utility of Ford's fantastical tunnel, how the news media has hit the criticisms on the money, but how they omit Ford's posturing in the greater scheme of his tenure as premier of Ontario. Finally, they discuss a troubling bulletin from a deputy editor at La Presse.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/

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It's been a lot for Scott lately. So rather than huddle into a ball, let's talk about what journalists have to face every day, and how it affects their reporting.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/

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The sheer scale of mass suffering and killings inflicted on Gaza by Israel is indescribable. In Canada, our news industry has been shaped by an orientalist approach, viewing Palestinians and those in the Middle-east as pitiable and inhuman. Using Edward Said's theory, journalist and researcher Sarah Samuel reflected how Canadian news has continued this racist and imperialist view in the context of Israel's genocide. Samuel joins The North State to explain the roots, approach and results of researching her article "Canadian Mainstream Media’s Orientalist Stance Towards Palestinians" in the Al Jazeera Journalism Review. She and Scott also discuss the mental health crisis going on behind the scenes in Canadian newsrooms.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/canadian-news-medias-orientalism-ft-sarah-samuel-the-north-state-podcast

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It's the Canadian Breakdown Corporation this week on The North State. In a scathing email, former host of Canada Tonight Travis Dhanraj told CBC employees that he was "forced to resign," and condemned the atmosphere at the public broadcaster. Figures, since we were going to talk about an abysmal first-person article written by a convoy antivax Alberta separatist published at CBC News. Then, news compartmentalizes extremist CAF Facebook group away from supercharged military funding, what are they missing? Finally, Prime Minister Carney's been having high-level trade talks with President Trump. The only thing we know is that he caves at pretty much every turn. How are Canadians being served by this opaque conduction of trade talks? Independent Alberta journalist at The Orchard Jeremy Appel joins Scott to breakdown these stories.

CORRECTION: Literally as we were recording, Trump sent out letters to delay tariffs again.

Check out Jeremy's work at The Orchard.

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/breakdown-back-at-it-again-at-cbc-ft-jeremy-appel

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Prime Minister Mark Carney has made AI investment a massive pillar of his government's economic plan. He appointed a Minister of AI and Digital Innovation and he tied in a new department focusing on AI research in a massive military spending announcement. You'd think with such a push, news media would delve into what this materially translates to for the average Canadian. That hasn't been the case. Most coverage has been sparse, and in the military announcement, it was omitted in a lot of stories. Meanwhile the coverage we do get leans towards the tech industry's priorities. This week on The North State, Paris Marx writer, critic and host of the tech critical podcasts Tech Won’t Save Us and System Crash joins Scott to talk about the Liberal government's AI investments and the news media's inability to properly cover this new push.

Check out Paris' podcasts: Tech Won't Save Us and System Crash

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/the-emperors-new-ai-economy-ft-paris-marx-the-north-state-podcast

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Indigenous consent is all well and good, you see, but why should we let that get in the way of resource extraction? Bills in BC, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia all aim at speeding up projects like mining for uranium and critical resources, pipelines or those in forestry, with Indigenous condemnation all the way. Meanwhile, Carney's Liberal Party is tabling similar legislation at the federal level, proposing to give cabinet almost complete control over deciding which projects can be rammed through. This week on The North State, Karyn Pugliese, instructor at Carleton University and National Affairs reporter for APTN joins Scott to shit talk the news. What do these bills mean, what will the response be, and how legacy news media has failed to paint the full picture.

CORRECTION: Scott mentions an article by The Economist, this article was later withdrawn because editorial was "not satisfied with the sourcing."

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/this-isnt-canadas-land-ft-karyn-pugliese-the-north-state-podcast

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I gave a small, intimate presentation to a reading group in western Massachusetts after coordinating with one of their organizers. Graciously, they allowed me to record, so now you get to hear it here. This talk is more of a general overview about perception of news, which resources are best to cultivate a critical news eye, a critical examination of two events covered by the news, an overview of how settler-colonialism seeps into news and a brief alternate history of progressive journalism.This episode's photo is the one I presented at the end of my talk, just edited with "The North State" on it.

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https://readthecatch.ca/

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After Australians confirmed a massive majority for their Labor government, Canadian journalists and pundits agreed: anyone who compared the two is a genius. Now that the dust has settled, it's important to not move past lessons we can learn from each other. Half-victory lap, half-cogent analysis, this week on The North State is a closing of the discussion begun on The Down Under State to compare each country's respective elections and what each of us can learn about the current political moment. Mitch Alexander, co-host of the Australian Radical Online Leftist Pipeline podcast, PhD candidate and vocalist of metal band Eye Of The Enemy, rejoins Scott to talk Dutton and Poilievre's loss, Labor and Liberals' gain and a surprising carbon tax connection.

Clarification: I mentioned the Bloc Quebecois being a factor in the 90s Liberal landslide but did not make it clear that the Reform Party, which was the right-wing Western split of the Progressive Conservative federal party, contributed greatly to the change in the electoral landscape, moreso than the Bloc.

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Mitch’s Blog: Philisophica

Only Equals Negotiate by Eye of the Enemy

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/what-canadians-can-learn-from-australias-election-ft-mitch-alexander-the-north-state-podcast

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Rebel Media and other right-wing figures dominated the discourse around the two leadership debates this election. After disproportionately representing their perspective in the French-language scrum, their behaviour completely disrupted and stopped the scrum after the English-language debate. It's not a one-off occurrence, this is only going to get worse. This week on The North State, Scott walks through the effect of the Online News Act on Canadian's news habits, how the broader right-wing shift has deteriorated the average Canadian's news diet, what implications this has for our politics and how there is no plan to fix this from any party. Fun stuff!

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/our-decaying-news-ecosystem-is-a-political-problem-the-north-state-podcast

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Federal elections are the equivalent of sports championships for politics/journalism nerds the world over. But this election felt different. Journalism covering the federal parties has been... not great. The decaying state of media, mounting attacks from the right-wing and a complete lack of imagination have all coalesced into a complete garbage fire. Average Canadians are not being served by our legacy media, leaving independent outlets to pick up some of the slack. But independent outlets can't carry the burden of decaying material conditions, reactionary social movements and indifferent rhetorical support. Nora Loreto, freelance journalist, author and host of the Sandy and Nora and the Daily News podcast joins Scott to review the quality of news media reporting on the electoral campaign.

Check out Nora Loreto's work

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Canada In Decline Book Two: Corporate Control

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/grading-journalisms-election-performance-ft-nora-loreto-the-north-state-podcast

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Election fever has taken over Canada, so it's understandable that politically engaged Canadians would be focused on the country’s federal election. The shadow of the US, housing, tariffs– all are playing huge roles in who Canada chooses as the party that will lead the country. But we aren't alone. Australia’s going through all the same problems with a federal election just five days after Canada’s. So what problems do Canadians and Australians share? How can we learn from each other? What makes our situations different? Mitch Alexander, co-host of the Australian Radical Online Leftist Pipeline Podcast, PhD candidate and vocalist of metal band Eye Of The Enemy, joins Scott to discuss the situation both countries find themselves in. From the difference between our voting systems to the similar approaches electoral parties are taking towards capital gains taxes, it turns out going down under can be a good thing for perspective.

Check out ROLP on YouTube:

Mitch’s Blog: Philisophica

Only Equals Negotiate by Eye of the Enemy

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Sources and further reading:

https://readthecatch.ca/the-down-under-state-ft-mitch-alexander-the-north-state-podcast/

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It's election season, basically Christmas for politics nerds who have no life. So instead of wallowing in the news about the campaign trail, the candidates and the polling, we're going to breakdown some election coverage. Eric Wickham, Ontario reporter for PressProgress joins to discuss CTV News having to right-wing flak, incredible reporting about a mass punishment at "Wong-tanamo Bay," and a general discussion about the state of the 2025 federal election.

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Check out his reporting for PressProgress.

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Sources and further reading at:

https://readthecatch.ca/breakdown-mostly-election-special-2025-ft-eric-wickham-the-north-state-podcast

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Facing worrying rhetoric by US President Donald Trump, news has turned its attention to Canada's military, with a notable trend of pointing towards the positives of conscription. Two of these articles, published from both sides of the political spectrum, suggest mandatory service as a partial solution. But even the best version of this argument plays into jingoist nationalism. Not only does it not address the situation at hand, it directs the popular will to strengthen sovereignty into misplaced nationalist militarism. Ian Barclay, editor-in-chief of Avant-Garde Press, journalist and veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, joins Scott to discuss the historical context of conscription in Canada, the faults in these arguments and how they miss the mark.

Avant-Garde Press

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Sources and further reading at:

https://readthecatch.ca/when-ya-get-drafted-ft-ian-barclay-the-north-state-podcast/

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Since late last year, Donald Trump began a very public habit of musing on making Canada the 51st state. Throughout posts on his social media feeds, press conferences about the US' trade relations and even an appearance at the World Economic Forum, Trump has threatened high-tariffs against Canada and expressed a desire to integrate it into the USA. While news coverage has been breathless, it omits the reality of Canada's foreign policy and how it's aligned with the US throughout some of its darkest chapters. Tyler Shipley, professor of political economy an author of Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, joins Scott to discuss the historical and political context of Trump's rhetoric and how the Canadian political system is ill-equipped to combat these plans.

Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination by Tyler Shipley

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Sources and further reading available at:

https://readthecatch.ca/51st-state-blues-the-north-state-podcast

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