On Background

We go On Background with Dan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer at Pollara Strategic Insights and former Director of Research, Advertising, & Correspondence to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to unpack Canadians’ endless obsession with the spectacle of American politics. With the 2024 U.S.election cycle promising to be no different, Dan and Fred discuss Canadians’ views on Donal

We go On Background with Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and most importantly for this episode, the Member of Parliament for Central Nova. After almost a decade removed from opposing campaigns to represent their home riding, Fred and Minister Fraser reminisce on their political journeys and how their paths have been shaped by their humble beginning

We go On Background with Greg MacEachern, Principal and Founder of KAN Strategies. Greg and Fred, both proud St. Francis Xavier University alumni, reminisce on the late Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, sharing stories of his impact on their lives and others to his transformative policies that shaped the Canada we know today. From his time at StFX to his tenure as Prime Minister, Mulr

We go on On Background with Tyler Meredith, former Economic Advisor to PM Trudeau and the Deputy PM and Minister of Finance, now a Founding Partner at Meredith Boessenkool Policy Advisors, and Laura Kurkimaki, former Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition, and now a Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies. How are budgets made? There are surely stakeholder consult

We go On Background with Daniel Lauzon, former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of Communications to the Liberal Party of Canada, and now Senior Director for Public Affairs and Policy (International) at CAE. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the geopolitical climate around the world has continued to rapidly evolve with Canada facing a

We go On Background with Kady O'Malley, journalist at iPolitics, and parliamentary procedure expert to dissect opposition obstruction tactics and how they are being used to derail the Liberal government's legislative agenda. Fred and Kady explore tactics being used by the Conservative opposition and muse on what a potentially doomed future for the Liberal-NDP agreement coul

We go On Background with Dan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer at Pollara Strategic Insights and former Director of Research, Advertising, & Correspondence to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Bringing decades of experience as Trudeau’s top pollster and a key Liberal strategist, Dan and Fred unpack the topic of Trudeau’s infamous broken promise of electoral reform. They discuss t

We go On Background with Stevie O'Brien, Counsel at McMillan LLP, Senior Advisor at McMillan Vantage, and former Chief of Staff to multiple Ministers in the Liberal government. Maintaining caucus discipline is an ongoing battle for any government or leaders’ office, and the combination of social media and the modern political climate have made it more challenging than ever be

We go On Background with Dimitri Soudas, former Director of Communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to demystify Quebec's current political landscape . The latest polls have Pierre Poilievre leading Justin Trudeau in every province, with one exception. Fred and Dimitri discuss what it will take for Conservatives to win the hearts of Québécois voters, and how volatil

In an ode to the countless hard working political staffers, we go On Background with former Liberal, Conservative and NDP staffers to discuss the highs and lows of working on Parliament Hill: Steve Outhouse is a former federal Conservative Staffer, and Founder of Intercede Communication and Just Campaigns. Melissa Cotton is a former Liberal staffer for the federal and Ontario gover