The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and the Canadian Climate Institute.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites. Cast your minds back, only to mid-September. The Conservative Party of British Columbia is in complete disarray. 13 MLAs either quit caucus or had been expelled by then-Leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Findlay herself, then resigns. Lorne Doerkson is named interim leader. NDP Premier David Eby calls a snap early election to cash in on the chaos. Five weeks later, the Conservatives rose from the smoldering ashes of their party to win a stunning majority.

How on earth did that happen?

David gets the insider story from the woman who ran it all, Conservative campaign director Katy Merrifield. She explains how she went from swearing she’d “rather drink poison” to running the show twelve hours later, and how a full campaign team was built in just three days. They dig into the strategies on both sides, why Trump never became the ballot question, and how Katy survived becoming the story herself. Finally, they discuss what Conservatives across Canada can learn from BC – and one last plea from David for delegated leadership conventions.

Join David with Katy to hear her insider account … from ballerina to campaign boss.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and the Canadian Climate Institute.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! Alberta voted to stay in Canada on Monday by a roughly 75/25 margin. But the real story is what the referendum did to Alberta politics. David is joined by Zain Velji, campaign strategist, co-director of Naheed Nenshi’s Alberta NDP leadership run, and partner at Northweather, and Dan Arnold, who lived most of his youth in Alberta and was former lead research strategist for the Trudeau Liberals, and is now chief strategy officer at Pollara.

They dig into why separatist support barely budged, how Trump and Musk ended up motivating federalist turnout, and why Danielle Smith lost four of the nine questions she wrote herself despite outspending her opponents ten to one. Can a premier most Albertans suspect is a separatist purge the separatists from her own party? Is the Calgary-rural coalition coming apart, and is Nenshi’s NDP building something more durable? Plus: how Pierre Poilievre navigated a split base, whether Mark Carney now has permission to engage in Alberta, and whether Ottawa should draw a line on two-tier healthcare.

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and the Canadian Climate Institute.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! The Chiefs are back. This franchise has spawned more sequels than The Fast and the Furious, but unlike Vin Diesel, these three bring something new every time. David is joined by Brian Topp, Ian Brodie and Tim Murphy for a wide-ranging hour on a country being tested from three directions at once:

Quebec. The Parti Québécois has won a weak minority. They discuss whether the new government will use every tool it has to build “winning conditions” for a referendum, and whether Ottawa should confront it the way Trudeau and Dion did or quietly take its issues away one by one.

Alberta. With the referendum entering its final week, they look at what Prime Minister Carney should say when he lands in the province. They also ask whether the vote could be the beginning of the end for the UCP. And one of the things they discussed with an emerging throughline in both of those votes: the potential of immigration becoming a real wedge issue in Canada again.

Canada–U.S. There’s no deal in sight. Can Canadians hold together as the economic pain mounts, and what would it take to keep that solidarity intact?

Plus, the ever important role of the Opposition. Carney’s consensus is unusually strong. Should the Conservatives and NDP keep chipping away at it, or concede the moment and position themselves for the fight that comes after Trump?

Brian Topp was the former chief of staff to Rachel Notley and deputy chief of staff to Roy Romanow, and is now a founding partner at GT & Company. Ian Brodie was Stephen Harper’s first chief of staff and helped found the CPC; he is now a political science professor at the University of Calgary and senior advisor at New West Public Affairs. And Tim Murphy, former chief of staff to Paul Martin and now executive vice president and chief strategic affairs officer at Aecon.

Settle in for an hour of the kind of conversation you only get from people who’ve actually run government at the highest levels of Canadian government..

Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app.

Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

The sponsored ads contained in the podcast are the expressed views of the sponsor and not those of the publisher.