Canada
What Trudeau's podcast appearances say about the Liberals' next ballot box question
Trudeau recently appeared on four podcasts as he travels the country talking up the Liberals' latest budget, which he's pitching as a plan to inject more economic fairness into society for those under 40 — a cohort that has kept Trudeau in power since 2015 but is increasingly turning to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Inside the Band Office
APTN Investigates examines the challenges facing grassroots communities fighting for accountability and transparency from their leadership. Solid accountability reporting by some solid reporters.
Conservative Party holds 11-point lead
Are we moving from ordered to epistemic populism? The Conservative Party enjoys a healthy lead of 11 points over the second-place Liberals but this is significantly lower than the 19-point lead we found in our fall update.
LaSalle–Émard–Verdun | Le conseiller municipal Craig Sauvé sera le candidat du NPD
Dans une vidéo qui sera présentée aux militants, le chef du NPD, Jagmeet Singh, affirme que le politicien âgé de 43 ans qui est conseiller dans l’arrondissement du Sud-Ouest depuis 2013 représente « une occasion d’or » pour leur parti. This is the riding of former Liberal justice minister David Lametti. The NDP have a decent chance here, my model says, but likely still finish second to the Liberals by about 4K votes or 10 points.
Conservatives set up for a re-match in Sudbury
Here's the electoral math on Sudbury: A candidate from a conservative party has never won the city of Sudbury since the Second World War. But if an election were held today, Conservative Ian Symington - who ran in 2021 and finished third -- is a good bet to defeat LPC incumbent Viviane Lapointe — who would likely finish third behind the NDP. The CPC, in my model has this riding by 5 points or 2,700 votes. As it has been in every federal election I’ve ever covered, the NDP will gunning hard for this. But the momentum across northern Ontario right now is towards Poilievre’s Conservatives. - DA
The Provinces
Campaign on to reinstate Lacombe-Ponoka MLA booted from UCP caucus for transphobic comments
Johnson infamously referred to transgender kids as, “more than a teaspoon of dog poop in the cookie batch,” during the 2023 provincial election campaign, and espoused a conspiracy theory about litter boxes in schools. She was then booted from the party by Premier Smith.
Premier Moe responds to Trudeau’s ‘good luck with that’ comment
On Saturday, Premier Moe responded to the prime minister’s comments on the Roy Green Show, saying to Trudeau, “The CRA, I don’t think they are able to come after the province of Saskatchewan.”
Ontario faces crew shortages, aircraft issues in fight against wildfires
As Ontario's forest fire season gets underway, Global News can reveal that one in five crews are unstaffed across the north. The program also faces issues with its aircraft.
Drumheller hoping to break record for ‘largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs’
Hundreds of residents and dino-fans will don their best dinosaur costumes and participate in the Jurassic Jamboree, which aims to break the Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Dinosaurs.’
Elsewhere
How Susie Wiles Became the Most Admired and Feared Political Operative Nobody Has Ever Heard Of
Wiles is not just one of Trump’s senior advisers. She’s his most important adviser. She’s his de facto campaign manager. She has been in essence his chief of staff for the last more than three years. She’s one of the reasons Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee and Ron DeSantis is not.
U.S. Builds Web of Arms, Ships and Bases in the Pacific to Deter China
With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals. Love the presentation here.
Americans' Top Foreign Policy Priorities in 2024
The majority of Americans say preventing terrorism and reducing the flow of illegal drugs into the country are top foreign policy priorities.
Australia’s ex-PM prayed with Mike Pence about China
Latika Bourke: Australia is a secular country and does not like its politics being mixed with religion. But many politicians have regularly leaned into their faith to appeal to the country’s more culturally conservative voters.
South Korean elections cast a shadow over Yoon’s presidency
President Yoon Suk-yeol and the ruling People Power Party face a fractured political landscape in the aftermath of their election loss.
Media
Campaigns Have a New Favorite Tactic for Dealing With Reporters: Public Shaming
Reporters — doing the traditional thing of asking campaigns questions or giving them a chance to respond to reporting before publishing a story — are increasingly finding their emails to campaign staff, and their names and sometimes contact info, screenshotted and posted online like footage from a hidden-camera video. While not a complete innovation, especially in the years after former President Donald Trump normalized calling reporters “the enemy,” the notion that basic reporting is a smoking gun of some kind is moving out of the political fringes and into the mainstream Republican campaign strategy. Can attest that the Poilievre OLO has engaged in this kind of activity from time to time.
CBC News' Richard Madan: Canadians Got Edge Over Divided U.S. Networks
Richard Madan, a Washington D.C. correspondent for Canada’s CBC News, looks ahead to covering the presidential election.
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Life After X: Journos Who Ditched Elon Musk’s Twitter Speak Out
Perhaps <Musk's> biggest tiff with media newsrooms came when he made changes to Twitter’s “state-affiliated” designations in April 2023. Twitter removed this label from accounts of state-run outlets, such as Russia’s RT and Iran’s PressTV, but then added them to BBC News, CBC and Radio Canada, PBS, and NPR — although those organizations are not operated by any government.
With YouTube Booming, Podcast Creators Get Camera-Ready
To some, “video podcasts” are a contradiction in terms. That hasn’t made them any less popular.
Why you won’t see Biden, Trump on Facebook or Instagram this election
After years of pitching its suite of social media apps as the lifeblood of campaigns, Meta is breaking up with politics. The company has decreased the visibility of politics-focused posts and accounts on Facebook and Instagram as well as imposed new rules on political advertisers, kneecapping the targeting system long used by politicians to reach potential voters.
New York State implements historic tax credits to support local newspaper and broadcast news media
The new legislation offers $30 million in guaranteed tax credits for three years, with $13 million each year allocated for news organizations with fewer than 100 employees, $13 million for larger ones and $4 million allocated to support new hires.
Reader Notes
This newsletter is curated by David Akin, chief political correspondent at Global News. The headlines and excerpts are generated by the publishers of the clipping. The publisher is at the bottom left of the clipping. If I've got a comment, you''ll see that in italics. But if I've generated the headline and the excerpt, you'll see my attribution at the bottom of the item where you otherwise would see the publisher.
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Science and tech
Technology can detect wildfires. Do humans still have to?
If it takes humans out of towers, advanced technology like drones could eliminate the risk and cost of the job. But Moyles argues that technology can't entirely replace human lookouts like her, and the focus on the "sexy" tech means they aren't getting the support they need.
iPhone activation market share hits new low as Android dominates
The firm notes that while it believes Apple’s installed smartphone base is higher than the recent share of US smartphone activations, the latter has taken a dive.
