Pullback

Jan 01 2025 178 ep. 59 mins 48

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Pullback is a podcast that explores big ideas and asks: is this a real solution or a distraction? Through discussions with leading experts, we cover ideas that proponents say will address global problems like inequality and climate change.

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End of Year Quiz 2024

Jan 01 2025 43 mins

Kristen and Kyla host their annual end of year quiz featuring friends of the pod Stefan Hostetter, the Director of Programs and Community with the Centre for Social Innovation and co-host of Green Majority Radio, Gordon Katic, host of the award winning Cited podcast series featuring stories about the politics of science and expertise, and Ryan MacRae, an advocate for migrant worker

Computer Love with Dr. Jill Fellows

Nov 18 2024 84 mins

These days, humans are interacting with chatbots powered by artificial intelligence more and more, including for companionship. Can these new tools help a society experiencing a loneliness epidemic, or do they risk deepening isolation? And do they give tech companies even more power? This episode we’re joined by Dr. (Jennifer) Jill Fellows, a faculty member in the philosophy depa

Nature Prescriptions with Dr. Stacy Beller-Stryer

Nov 12 2024 47 mins

Rates of anxiety, depression, and chronic illnesses like heart disease are on the rise, and more doctors are looking beyond the medicine cabinet for solutions. Could our healthcare system be missing a simple remedy that’s been right outside our door? In this episode we talk to Dr. Stacy Beller Stryer, a paediatrician and Associate Medical Director for Park RxAmerica. Dr. Stryer d

Privatizing Universities with Randy Robinson

Nov 05 2024 57 mins

Universities have faced steep and sustained public funding cutbacks and have adapted by changing the way that they operate. What are the consequences of the de facto privatization of universities for students, researchers, and society? In this episode, we talk to Randy Robinson, Ontario Director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and co-author of Back from the Brink, a

Boycotting Loblaws with Emily Johnson and Eric Wickham

Oct 29 2024 73 mins

With Loblaws facing criticism for soaring grocery prices and record-high profits during a cost-of-living crisis, can a boycott drive real change? We talk to Emily Johnson, the lead organizer for the Loblaws boycott, and Eric Wickham, a Toronto-based journalist and host of Big Shiny Takes. Emily is a mental health and addictions worker and single mother of two living in the suburbs

The Financialization of Farming with Katherine Aske

Oct 22 2024 45 mins

You’ve heard of speculative investors pushing up the price of housing, but did you know it’s happening on farms too? With fewer collective protections for farmers, and pressures to sell land and consolidate farms, is the family farm becoming a thing of the past? And is a new form of feudal tenant farming the future? On today’s episode we talk to the Parkland Institute’s Kat

Co-op Housing with Diana Yoon

Oct 15 2024 57 mins

With home ownership out of reach for millions of Canadians and no relief in sight, could co-ops be the key to providing affordable, community-driven housing solutions? On today’s episode we talk to Diana Yoon, the Program Manager of Government Relations and Policy at the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada, which represents 2200 co-ops nationwide. In this conversation, Diana expla

Citizens' Assemblies with Dimitri Courant

Oct 07 2024 75 mins

With climate action stalled by political gridlock, could citizens' assemblies be the bold democratic solution we need to break through barriers and finally make progress? When it comes to climate change, most of us want to see action but feel that we don’t have power and politicians aren’t listening. Deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment have been proposed as solutions

Cash Back with Shady Hafez

Oct 01 2024 54 mins

You’ve heard about land back, but what about cash back? Resource and land wealth linked to dispossession has enriched Canada and corporations, so does reconciliation require financial restitution too? And what do Indigenous economies look like? This week’s guest is Shady Hafez, Policy and Research Manager to the National Association of Friendship Centres. Shady is an Algonquin

Status For All with Eliza MacLauchlan and Ryan MacRae

Sep 24 2024 47 mins

Canada relies on migrant workers to fill labour gaps, but the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is rife with problems, with a recent United Nations report calling the program a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”. Can this controversial program be fixed, or should it be scrapped altogether? Should all migrant workers be granted permanent residency status when the