Cities are being asked to solve some of society’s biggest crises with limited resources and shrinking political authority. As pressure continues to mount on municipal governments, so do questions about who really shapes the communities we live in.

Jeff Gray, Queen’s Park reporter for the Globe and Mail, offers an inside look at the machinery of local democracy, and breaks down what it will take to alleviate the strain it's under.

Gray spoke at The Walrus Talks A New City in Toronto on April 26, 2023.

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Wildfires expose how responsibility for public safety is shared—and sometimes fragmented—across systems that are not always designed to work together.

Chief Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, makes the case for stronger coordination as fires increasingly move from remote landscapes into the communities where people live.

Chief McMullen spoke at The Walrus Talks Wildfires in Saskatoon on April 1, 2026.

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Discussions around public safety tend to focus on questions of order and enforcement. In practice, however, public safety is also informed by our capacity to hold space for people in crisis instead of pushing them through it.

Suzanne Obiorah, chief executive officer of Somerset West Community Health Centre, reflects on a growing fracture in Canada’s response to addiction and underscores the importance of building holistic support systems as provinces turn toward new models of care.

Obiorah spoke at The Walrus Talks Opioids on March 24, 2026.

To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.

And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters.

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