Playbook Canada

Canada's premiers gather in Charlottetown just as President Trump threatens new 50 per cent tariffs. They say they're united, but Doug Ford is pushing for retaliation, and Danielle Smith and Scott Moe are not interested. Our summer series on Alberta separatism continues with long-time Conservative strategist Jenni Byrne, who says the referendum vote could clear 30 per cent at the ballot box and calls Danielle Smith the politician who's done the most for national unity. Her advice for Carney and the Liberals on Alberta: drop the condescension, or sit this one out.

Playbook Canada launches a special summer series on Alberta’s fight with Ottawa. First up, Martha Hall Findlay. The Alberta government has asked the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy to produce a study on the economic and fiscal consequences of separation. Hall Findlay is leading the project, and she had lots to say about the October referendum and the turnout problem hiding inside it, the pipeline announcements that landed during Stampede, and why “We gave you TMX!” is the worst thing Central Canadians can say to an Albertan.

Cowboy hats, cowboy boots and big buckles: Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric record on location at the Calgary Stampede, where this year’s celebrations are politically charged amid sharp grievances. One test to be decided: Can a pipeline soothe a separatist mood? Plus, Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan sits down for a 200-second interview.

A new POLITICO international poll finds voters everywhere fed up with their incumbents. Not in Canada. Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric talk to Seb Wride of Public First about why Mark Carney is bucking the trend, why Canadians are loving the flag again after years of treating it as a loaded symbol, and why Albertans rank among the proudest Canadians in the poll, separatism aside. Plus: listeners' picks for Playbook Canada's summer interview list, and the politicians worth watching as Stampede and the USMCA review both kick off.

A special summer edition of Playbook Canada: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, fresh off flying around the moon on Artemis II, joins Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric for a five-chapter conversation. He talks about why a first pitch at the Rogers Centre rattled him more than a rocket launch, the triple play he wants Canada chasing in the next era of space exploration, whether he’d ever run for office, his read on the grounded Snowbirds, and what traveling around the moon taught him about how we can create together rather than cancel each other.