EP 3: On the Origin of the Pandemic

As Tara puts the finishing touches on her next book, on declining trust in the media, we wanted to bring you a few encore interviews that have helped shaped her thinking on the media — including today’s episode. The period often referred to as The Great Awokening is winding down now, and we’re starting to get a better understanding of what happened. My guest on today’s program argues that we have seen these kinds of social justice-styled movements before in American history — and that they ar...

21 Touko 52min

In this turbulent era, for many of us there is a moment in every day when anxiety steals over us. We pause, and in that rare period of stillness, the fears surface — but sometimes, if we’re lucky, so too do the reflections and the insights. Our guest on today’s program has called this interlude “the catastrophe hour,” and she’s just published a book of essays that beautifully captures it. Meghan Daum is an American essayist and the host of the Unspeakable Podcast. Her latest book is The Catas...

14 Touko 36min

Now that the dust has settled on the Canadian federal election, we can pause for a moment and assess where we are at as a country. What lessons can we take from the election results? Our guest on today’s program has been polling Canadians for decades — and he says that we are now a divided nation. Darrell Bricker is the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs. He’s also the author of six bestselling books, including, with John Ibbitson, The Big Shift: The Seismic Change in Canadian Politics, Business, an...

7 Touko 25min

One of the most polarizing policies of the pandemic era was the extended school closures. Critics have now been validated, with The New York Times reporting that “a growing body of research shows that pandemic school closures came at a steep cost to students” — while doing little to stop the spread of the virus. Our guest on the program today is a journalist who’s just published a deep dive investigation into the flawed decision-making behind these controversial closures. David Zweig is an Am...

30 Huhti 34min

Last week, at the English-language election debate, the leaders’ press scrums were cancelled after tensions between media outlets erupted into shouting in the press room, and other confrontations. This incident is a distressing example of how polarized our press has become. But of course, we are not the first country to grapple with this dynamic. My guest on the program today lived through political polarization in Venezuela — and he has some important lessons to share. Victor Febres is an At...

26 Huhti 31min

As election day nears, Lean Out continues to highlight the issues that we feel have not received enough attention in this news cycle. My guest on the program today is a physician who serves on death review committee with Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner. In today’s emotional interview, we take a close look at medical assistance in dying, or MAiD — and her concerns about how it’s playing out in practice. Ramona Coelho is a family doctor, and a founding member of Physicians Together With V...

23 Huhti 35min

We are in the final week of the Canadian federal election. And while Trump’s trade policy has received much coverage this election season, our housing crisis has been less of a priority for the legacy press. We at Lean Out happen to think this is the most important issue in the country — and so, on today’s program, our guest is here to answer every question you’ve ever had on the crisis, and how we got here. Mike Moffatt is a Canadian economist, the founding director of the Missing Middle Ini...

22 Huhti 42min

For some time now, writers and thinkers outside this country have been asking me: What happened to Canada? Our guest on the program today has asked this question himself, in a new book that takes a deep dive into our decline — and arrives just in time for the federal election. Tristin Hopper is a columnist and reporter for The National Post, based in Victoria, B.C. His new book is Don’t Be Canada: How One Country Did Everything Wrong All At Once. You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @T...

17 Huhti 33min