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The Paul Wells Show

Veteran journalist Paul Wells interviews the leaders and thinkers tackling the world's big problems — war and peace, democracy and dictatorship, making governments and communities work. Paul draws on decades of experience as a reporter and columnist at Macleans, the Toronto Star and elsewhere to bring you smart, intimate conversations with newsmakers and people who deserve a higher profile.

  1. Introducing CANADALAND: Substack’s founder on news, money, and Musk

    Wednesday, December 25th 2024

    Happy holidays. We're on a break, but we thought you might enjoy this episode from our friends at CANADALAND. It's a conversation about Substack's role in the future of journalism, featuring Paul Wells, The Line's Jen Gerson and Substack founder Chris Best.

    If you like this episode, you can subscribe to CANADALAND for more like it.

    CANADALAND credits:
    Host & Publisher: Jesse Brown
    Senior Producer: Bruce Thorson
    Audio Editor & Technical Producer: Tristan Capacchione
    Production Manager: max collins
     
    We'll be back with a new episode of the Paul Wells Show next week.

  2. Why I Hate Christmas

    Wednesday, December 18th 2024

    Join us for an hour of live music, politics, and self-reflection. Former Premiers Kathleen Wynne and Jason Kenney trade jabs onstage and look back on the year that was. Catharine Vandelinde, executive director of Options Housing, talks about her work getting people off the street and into homes. Jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould and singer-songwriter Scott Merritt provide live music. And Paul finds the spirit of Christmas... eventually.

    Thank you to the National Arts Centre for hosting this event. Thanks to Meta and WestJet for their support.

    Season 3 of The Paul Wells Show is sponsored by McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy.

  3. Wells, Gerson, and Ling on Freeland and the Liberals' future, if any

    Monday, December 16th 2024

    In a conversation that took place less than three hours after Chrystia Freeland resigned from the federal cabinet, Paul Wells is joined by Justin Ling and Jen Gerson to discuss what this astonishing news means for the Liberal Party and the Trudeau government.

  4. Special Mailbag Edition

    Wednesday, December 11th 2024

    Paul answers questions from readers (and producer Kevin Sexton) about the state of Canadian politics, Trump, journalism, and more!

  5. A woke-up call for Democrats

    Wednesday, December 4th 2024

    In his book We Have Never Been Woke, Musa al-Gharbi argues that a new class of liberal elites uses the language of “wokeness” without actually helping the marginalized and disadvantaged. 

    He joins Paul to talk about a decades-long trend of the Democrats reorienting themselves towards a constituency of wealthy white people. It’s a message he was sharing well before Kamala Harris lost the election. 

    He also talks about how moving from a red state to New York City broke a lot of illusions he had about Democrats. He talks about wealthy Democrats who talk of lifting up marginalized people, while living a lifestyle that's dependent on exploiting their labour. And he talks about periods of “Great Awokening” over the last century, which have had mixed results in terms of creating real gains for marginalized groups. 

    Musa al-Gharbi is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. You can read his Substack, Symbolic Capital(ism) here: https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/

    Season 3 of The Paul Wells Show is sponsored by McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy.

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