This week, as another set of US tariffs loom, we're revisiting a previous episode about an industry that is particularly vulnerable to them. We'll be back next week with fresh CanCon in your feed!

More than 120,000 Canadians work in Canada's auto industry...for now. As tariffs imposed by the US President kick into gear, only to change and then change again, plants and shifts are adjusting by the day, and some have already shut down some production lines, at least temporarily. Right now, we're at the mercy of these tariffs, as our production is so entwined with the US and Mexico's that cars cross the border several times before they're finished.

But does it have to be that way? What does Canada need to make our auto industry less dependent on America? Could we even, perhaps, make our own cars here at home? The whole car, from start to finish? Or is that an impossible dream. Jordan talks to Lorraine Sommerfeld, a longtime auto journalist about how to keep Canadian jobs safe from American tariffs, and how to keep our plants running despite the trade war—including the possibility of a totally Canadian-made automobile.

Then, Laura grills Lorraine about how, exactly, a Canadian needing a new car should navigate the current situation. Buy now? Wait a while? Go used? Forget the whole thing? This is your guide to auto tariffs, from the macro down to the micro.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be revisiting a couple of our previous episodes—beginning with a trip through some of Canada's least-known but most worthy places to visit if you've still got some time to explore this summer: 

This summer, given ... everything going on down there, Canadians are more interested in exploring their own backyard than traveling to the United States. And since we've spent four months exploring everything about this country we need to fix, we wanted to look around at everything we don't. No matter where you live, this episode will give you some incredible ideas for your next getaway.

Bestselling author Robin Esrock (The Great Canadian Bucket List) takes us on a tour from coast to coast to coast, starting in the North, then moving from West to East. There are so many beautiful, meaningful, fun and just plain weird places in this country that we thought we'd try to celebrate them all. Later, Esrock shares travel tips for everyone from those with the money for a cross-country train ride to those who need to stick closer to home, and their budget.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Last week, we examined the Canadian Tech from a 10,000-foot perspective. This week, we take you inside the launch of Eh!, a Canadian social media platform that aims to get users out into their cities, towns and neighbourhoods, rather than lost in an algorithm.

It's been around for almost a year now, and boasts tens of thousands of users—which is great, but is also a drop in the ocean compared to Facebook and Instagram. So what makes Eh! different? How can it grow? And what won't its creator sacrifice to get there, even if that means it stays in its small corner of the internet?

This week, Jordan talks to Jessica Glowacki, founder and CEO of Trailmix Technology, which launched Eh! in 2025.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

It's been well over a year since Canadians (and our governments) realized just how dependent we are on American technology—for everything from our day-to-day lives to the infrastructure of Canadian businesses and even our defence capabilities. We knew then that Canada had the talent and the resources, all we needed was the will.

Well, that and hundreds of billions of dollars. And a tech industry that doesn't keep losing talent to the US. And a whole bunch of other things that threaten to overshadow the progress we have made by driving home just how difficult it is for any country in the world to detach its digital needs from the global leader.

Today, Douglas Soltys, editor in chief of BetaKit and host of the BetaKit podcast, takes us inside Canada's tech industry and shows us what we've managed to accomplish and the barriers still standing in our way.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Laura Palmer has been investigating and reporting on crimes on Vancouver Island for years. It's changed the way she sees one of Canada's most gorgeous places, and made her something of a local celebrity. But she's never dug into a case as old as the one she's chasing on her current season of Island Crime.

In this episode, Laura (one of the founders of this podcast) takes us inside what it's like to be something of a public detective, how chasing crimes changes the way you see your own hometown, and who a cold case file belongs to several decades later.

We also revisit the 'Elbows Up' days, and discuss how we're feeling about Canadian sovereignty more than a year later, in this special reunion episode of CanCon.

(Please pay a visit to our sponsor, GoRVing Canada; especially if you're thinking of exploring Vancouver Island, in all its natural beauty, and dark underbelly...)

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Nothing much had ever been expected from soccer in Canada—or at least from men's soccer in Canada, and mainstream soccer fandom. Until recently. After our women's team showed the world we could punch well above our weight in the 2000s, the game started to gather steam. Now, after a successful run by the mean's team at the World Cup, and what has been by all accounts a superb atmosphere at the games played in Toronto and Vancouver, are we finally a 'soccer nation'? And is it worth the hundreds of millions of dollars it cost to do it?

James Sharman, one of Canada's leading soccer analysts and commentators, and a co-host of Footy Prime, joins us to explain how soccer in Canada came this far, both on and off the pitch, and where it might be going next.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

The House of Commons is a staid, formal institution. Right? It's been that way for well over a century. Gentlemen (and eventually Gentlewomen) debating important issues in a dignified manner? Not always.

The real history of our halls of power includes exploding protesters, lots of cats and nudity and myriad other strange situations that crop up when flawed people hold power, public citizens protest and everyone pushes for their own proposals.

On this special Canada Day episode, we're joined by Charlie Feldman, author of Unparliamentary: Tales from Canada's colourful Parliamentary past. He shows us exactly how wild it's been at times on Parliament Hill, and how all of that comes together to make us who we are.

Please show some love to our sponsor, Go RVing Canada, if you're thinking of getting out and exploring this massive country this summer.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Ticks in this country used to be a minor, if dangerous, annoyance. That's changing quickly. Not only are the traditional deer ticks that we've lived with in some areas of the country spreading further north than ever before, other species that carry different tick-borne disease than what we've come to expect. Some of them increasingly harmful.

Driving this explosion are a combination of factors. Climate change, of course. But it goes beyond that. So what do you need to know about which ticks are where? What can you do to protect yourself and your family? And what can Canada do, as a whole, to beter prevent and treat tick-borne illnesses?

Just before the long weekend, when we all head out in tick-filled paradise, Toronto-based journalist Rebecca Gao delivers some straightforward tick talk to help you understand how we got here and what happens next.

Also: Tick puns!

Please take a moment to check out our sponsor, Go RVing Canada, to learn more about how you can explore the wilds of Canada in your own (tick-free!) paradise on wheels.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Halifax, like many cities in Canada, faces a housing crunch. Not because of how big it is geographically. There's plenty of room. But because of how hard it can be for cities to rezone for increased density and create more affordable housing. If you live in a city of decent  size, you're probably familiar with why: NIMBYs, lobbyists and all the assorted complaints and opposition and money that tends to stop ambitious city-planning in its tracks. And governments that can't look further than all that opposition in the next election.

A little while ago, Halifax simply ... ignored that. Council passed an ambitious plan to rezone much of the downtown. A few years later, the results are visible to everyone, and the next step is planned. The question is, will council be willing to buck the most stubborn of all city growth opponents: The suburbs?

Today's episode features local independent journalist and founder of Grand Parade Matt Stickland, describing Halifax's ambitious housing plan. And its uncertain future.

(Please take a moment to visit our sponsor Go RVing Canada, and learn a little more about how easy it is to get out there and explore our country this summer.)

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

Well, let's just say that if everything's going great, you don't generally need to spin up an entire law enforcement agency out of thin air. But after years of failing to meaningfully cope with financial crimes, and the subsequent hits to our reputation in the international community that failure brings, the federal government has seen enough.

Instead of the RCMP, which has murders and kidnappings and daily small-town policing on its plate as well, the new Financial Crimes Agency will deal solely with the sort of crime that may seem less urgent, but actually funds some of the ugliest crime in the world.

How will they do it? How successful will they be? How do you actually go about creating a brand new agency from scratch? Jess Davis, PhD and President at Insight Threat Intelligence, as well as the host of the Secure Line podcast, joins us to discuss financial crime in Canada and if we can make a dent in it.

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].

It was long overdue, and began with a promise: It might start small, covering just a few common drugs, and expand until Canadians without benefits were no longer struggling to afford medication prescribed by doctors under our universal health care system.

Less than two years later, however, the program seems set to contract instead of expand. It never got beyond the first couple of drugs, and the funding might well be squeezed to zero by the federal government. What happened here? Does Pharmacare still have a chance? And why weren't necessary drugs part of a "universal" health care system in the first place?

Nikolas Barry-Shaw, a campaigner at the Council of Canadians, joins us to discuss how such a promising program became at risk of vanishing as quickly as it became reality.

(We're welcoming our first sponsor to CanCon. Go RVing Canada wants to help you explore the country this summer, without leaving behind the comforts of home. If you've ever been curious about RVing, but have questions, they can help.)

Feedback from listeners is so, so welcome. If you have something to say, email us: [email protected].