The Breach Show

Following the deadliest crackdown on protestors in Iran's modern history, hundreds of thousands marched in Toronto last weekend, with protest organizers calling for U.S. military intervention—something the Canadian government has refused to rule out supporting. Iranian-Canadians Donya Ziaee and Samira Mohyeddin break down the history of struggle against authoritarianism in Iran and how what Iranians need is international solidarity—not a right-wing monarchist revival on the heels of violent western intervention.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._______________________________________________________________Want more reporting like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

This episode deals with the issue of suicide, and as such it might be triggering or upsetting. If you or someone you know needs support, there are people trained to listen and to offer the support you may need. We’ve included some support links in the notes for this episode.As governments cut public services and offer only meagre support for those living with disabilities, assisted death risks becoming a policy substitute for care and dignity.Scholar Megan Linton argues that Canada’s expansion of medically-assisted dying reflects a deeper neoliberal logic—one that narrows how we imagine disability, chronic illness, and the possibilities of a more just future.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._______________________________________________________________Talk Suicide Canada is a service that’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. You can call 1-833-456-4566. You can also send a text message to 45645 between the hours of 4 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time.If you’re a young person, you can also call the Kids Help Phone 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year, at 1-800-668-6868, or you can send a text to 686868.Other resources:Circle of Care: KUU-US First Nations and Aboriginal Crisis Line Support Available 24 Hrs. Adults 1-800-588-8717, youth 250-723-2040Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention — Support services directory_______________________________________________________________Want to see more videos like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

With ICE agents in the U.S. waging a campaign of terror, author and activist Harsha Walia puts the anti-migrant state violence in the context of a global rise in xenophobia.She lays out what Canadians can do in the short and long term to pressure their government into a more humane immigration policy. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._______________________________________________________________Want to see more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Mark Carney’s speech calling out Trump and the collapse of the so-called “rules-based order” generated a torrent of praise around the world.Martin Lukacs talks with Katia Lo Innes to break down Carney’s seemingly radical rhetoric—and how it hardly matches his conservative pro-corporate policy agenda at home.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service.______________________________________________________________Want to see more videos like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall.______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Matthew Green is no longer an NDP MP, but he hasn’t stopped trying to transform the party. He talks to Desmond Cole about a campaign to renew the NDP—and what it will take to pry control from consultants, and put it in the hands of the grassroots.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._______________________________________________________________Want more podcasts like this?Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

2025 started with Justin Trudeau in power and ended with a more mask-off variant of Liberalism. In between there were Trump’s tariff wars, genocide, and some small hard-won victories for the left.El Jones joins Desmond Cole and Martin Lukacs to take a look in the rearview mirror and reflect on one year in Canadian politics and social movements. The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._______________________________________________________________Want more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._______________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Mark Carney’s deal with Alberta’s Danielle Smith is the climate sell-out of the century.Author and analyst Seth Klein joins Desmond Cole to break down everything it contains—from pipelines, to AI data centres, to dirty electricity, to a rollback of almost every Trudeau-era climate policy.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service._________________________________________________________________________Want more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

For two years, a Sudanese paramilitary force has been massacring civilians—with Canadian-made weapons.Professor Nisrin Elamin and activist Ismail Adam join Desmond Cole to discuss Canada’s long-term complicity in destabilizing Sudan, and recent efforts to close the loophole that allows for Canadian weapons to be brought into Sudan via the UAE. Read their article co-authored with Robyn Maynard: https://breachmedia.ca/in-the-genocide-in-sudan-canada-has-a-hand-in-the-violence/

Despite promising a “generational” and “transformational” budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney is doubling down on resource extraction, militarism, and corporate handouts—appeasing Donald Trump and Canada’s corporate class, but doing little for working people.Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole break down the Liberal government’s Stephen Harper-esque spending cuts to the public service and their failure to address the crises of affordability and climate breakdown.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Youtube Music or your favourite service.

Doug Ford and Mark Carney are making big moves on housing — but tenant groups and housing experts are raising an alarm.Economist Ricardo Tranjan joins Desmond Cole to discuss how the emerging policy heavily favours corporate landlords.The Breach Show is our podcast featuring sharp analysis on politics and social movements in Canada. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Google or your favourite service.

The NDP leadership race could turn the party into a vehicle for bold left politics—or cement its decline.Martin Lukacs and Desmond Cole analyze the various campaigns and some of the emerging themes, from “purity tests,” proclamations of class war, and candidates who are flouting race rules. 

Mark Carney is out to dismantle Canada Post. What interests does that stand to benefit? And what could a revitalized public postal service look like? Dru Oja Jay, a long-time collaborator of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, joins Martin Lukacs to discuss how the post office could be a “genuinely positive nation building project.” Read the article: https://breachmedia.ca/canada-post-faces-two-futures-a-revitalized-public-service-or-a-billionaire-cash-machine/ _________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

With the Liberal government passing harsher immigration policies and anti-immigration rhetoric on the rise, what does this mean for migrant workers? Deena Ladd from the Workers’ Action Centre joins Desmond Cole to discuss how to build solid solidarity between all workers, regardless of status._________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

After a historic loss in this year’s federal election, the NDP faces a pivotal leadership race—and a crossroads in its identity.Historian Ian McKay joins Martin Lukacs to discuss the party’s challenge in confronting Canadian liberalism and its own centrist slide, and what it could do to seize its transformative potential._________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Mark Carney is embarking on the largest military spending hike in Canada since World War 2. Policy analyst and peace activist Steve Staples joins Desmond Cole to explain why the biggest winner is the weapons lobby—at the expense of Canadians‘ social programs and standard of life. _________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

As it becomes harder to ignore Israel’s genocide, the political and media class is changing their tune. But El Jones and Desmond Cole discuss how Mark Carney and the establishment media’s complicity continues unabated. _________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has introduced legislation that would let police run programs in public schools—even over the objections of local school boards.On this week’s Breach Show, we’re airing a conversation hosted by Desmond Cole with organizers in Ontario and across Canada about their fights to get cops out of schools—and the alternatives to policing they’re working to put in place._________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

Canada’s establishment media hasn’t covered the genocide in Gaza—they’ve covered it up.A new book published by The Breach, When Genocide Wasn’t News, lays bare the media’s complicity.At the Toronto launch, Desmond Cole spoke to two of the book’s editors, lawyer Dania Majid and Breach managing editor Martin Lukacs. Buy the book: https://breachmedia.ca/when-genocide-wasnt-news/_________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

What can water and the natural world teach us about power, resistance, and survival? Leanne Betasamosake Simpson joins Desmond Cole to discuss her new book “Theory of Water” and explores how Indigenous knowledge can guide us through the political and ecological crises we face today._________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia

As anti-trans laws pass in the U.S. and around the world, Canada is often cast as a safe haven for queer and trans people. But the reality is more complicated, says activist Celeste Trianon, in conversation with Katia Lo Innes on this week’s Breach Show podcast.Trianon unpacks how well-funded right-wing groups and some Canadian politicians are fueling a creeping backlash, how strict immigration policies under Carney are making it harder for trans refugees to find protection here, and what it will take to protect trans lives._________________________________________________________________________Want to hear more podcasts like this? Become a sustaining member at ⁠https://breachmedia.ca/support-us/ ⁠An hour of your wages each month will fuel independent and progressive journalism, free of corporate agendas – and never behind a paywall._________________________________________________________________________Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/TheBreachMedia ⁠Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thebreachcommunity⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/breachmedia.ca⁠ Tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thebreachmedia