Episodes

Tuesday Nov 05, 2024
Privatizing Universities with Randy Robinson
Tuesday Nov 05, 2024
Tuesday Nov 05, 2024
Universities have faced steep and sustained public funding cutbacks and have adapted by changing the way that they operate. What are the consequences of the de facto privatization of universities for students, researchers, and society? In this episode, we talk to Randy Robinson, Ontario Director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and co-author of Back from the Brink, a report that explores public funding cuts in Ontario universities. Randy describes the deep provincial funding cuts that have led Ontario universities to hike tuition, especially for international students, while making university jobs more precarious and less permanent. We discuss how this is changing the student experience, reducing research capacity, and hollowing out communities.
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Tuesday Oct 29, 2024
Boycotting Loblaws with Emily Johnson and Eric Wickham
Tuesday Oct 29, 2024
Tuesday Oct 29, 2024
With Loblaws facing criticism for soaring grocery prices and record-high profits during a cost-of-living crisis, can a boycott drive real change? We talk to Emily Johnson, the lead organizer for the Loblaws boycott, and Eric Wickham, a Toronto-based journalist and host of Big Shiny Takes. Emily is a mental health and addictions worker and single mother of two living in the suburbs west of Toronto, and Eric has been working on a year-long investigation on the price of groceries for The Hosier, an independent digital media outlet based in the Greater Toronto Area. We are also joined by Robert Miller, climate activist, organizer, and “spooookiest” friend of the pod, to discuss more solutions to reduce the price of groceries and save Halloween for children nationwide.
Want more episodes on the food system? Check out the episode where we go dumpster diving, our episode about Big Ag, or our episode on Food Rescue with Second Harvest.
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Tuesday Oct 22, 2024
The Financialization of Farming with Katherine Aske
Tuesday Oct 22, 2024
Tuesday Oct 22, 2024
You’ve heard of speculative investors pushing up the price of housing, but did you know it’s happening on farms too? With fewer collective protections for farmers, and pressures to sell land and consolidate farms, is the family farm becoming a thing of the past? And is a new form of feudal tenant farming the future? On today’s episode we talk to the Parkland Institute’s Katherine Aske, author of Finance in the Fields: Investors, Lenders, Farmers, and the Future of Farmland in Alberta. We discuss who owns the farmland on the prairies, why ownership models are changing, and what that means for the future of farming – and our food. Farmers are facing immense pressure in a world with fewer collective protections and more unpredictable weather. For small family farms, this can mean going into debt or renting at the whims of the market. And, as Katherine explains, that has big implications for the future of our food.
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Tuesday Oct 15, 2024
Co-op Housing with Diana Yoon
Tuesday Oct 15, 2024
Tuesday Oct 15, 2024
With home ownership out of reach for millions of Canadians and no relief in sight, could co-ops be the key to providing affordable, community-driven housing solutions? On today’s episode we talk to Diana Yoon, the Program Manager of Government Relations and Policy at the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada, which represents 2200 co-ops nationwide. In this conversation, Diana explains how housing co-ops work, their history in Canada, and what it would take for co-ops to take on a bigger role in our housing stock. We also discuss the unique benefits of co-ops, including democracy, community ownership, affordability, and long-term stability for residents. We also discuss the report The Impact of Community Housing on Productivity.
Pullback is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network
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Monday Oct 07, 2024
Citizens' Assemblies with Dimitri Courant
Monday Oct 07, 2024
Monday Oct 07, 2024
With climate action stalled by political gridlock, could citizens' assemblies be the bold democratic solution we need to break through barriers and finally make progress? When it comes to climate change, most of us want to see action but feel that we don’t have power and politicians aren’t listening. Deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment have been proposed as solutions to that widespread sense of disempowerment. In this episode, Kristen chats with Dimitry Courant, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, who explains what citizens assemblies are and how they have been used around the world to address climate change. He also shares insights about the best ways to design citizens assemblies so they work well and drive real change.
We recommend Dimitri’s writing on mini-publics and citizen’s assemblies!
Pullback is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network
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Tuesday Oct 01, 2024
Cash Back with Shady Hafez
Tuesday Oct 01, 2024
Tuesday Oct 01, 2024
You’ve heard about land back, but what about cash back? Resource and land wealth linked to dispossession has enriched Canada and corporations, so does reconciliation require financial restitution too? And what do Indigenous economies look like? This week’s guest is Shady Hafez, Policy and Research Manager to the National Association of Friendship Centres. Shady is an Algonquin Anishinabe and Syrian member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and is pursuing his PhD in Sociology at the University of Toronto. Shady explains why land back and cash back are needed for the restitution of Indigenous economies, sharing some examples of cash back in practice, and discussing the principles at play in Indigenous economic development.
Recommended Reading
The Yellowhead Institute’s Red Papers on Land Back and Cash Back
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 97 Calls to Action
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Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Status For All with Eliza MacLauchlan and Ryan MacRae
Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Canada relies on migrant workers to fill labour gaps, but the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is rife with problems, with a recent United Nations report calling the program a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”. Can this controversial program be fixed, or should it be scrapped altogether? Should all migrant workers be granted permanent residency status when they arrive here?
Kyla spoke with the Cooper Institute’s Eliza MacLauchlan and Ryan MacRae. Eliza and Ryan are the lead authors of Permanent Jobs, Temporary People, a report that examines how the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is operating on Prince Edward Island.
Eliza and Ryan explain how the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has evolved, including its growing role in Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry and the forms of exploitation that migrant workers face. They also discuss how to fix the most problematic elements of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and whether recent measures go far enough.
Pullback is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network
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Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
Abolishing Prisons with Jessica Evans
Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
Tuesday Sep 17, 2024
We often shrug off the brutality of prisons as regrettable, yet ultimately inevitable. But the recent rise of prison abolitionist movements prompts a question: are prisons obsolete? Can we imagine more humane solutions that address the root causes of crime and promote true rehabilitation? Dr. Jessica Evans is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University, who researches the causes, conditions, and consequences of incarceration in Canada. She is also active in the prison abolition movement as a co-founder of the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project. In this conversation, Jessica explains the history and current landscape of incarceration in Canada and presents the case for prison abolition.
Get Involved:
Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project
Criminalization and Punishment Education Project
East Coast Prison Justice Society
West Coast Prison Justice Society
Pullback is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network
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Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
Pullback Season 3: Coming Soon
Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
In this latest season, Kristen and Kyla interview experts on topics like prison abolition, ending the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the financialization of farmland, citizens assemblies, the privatization of universities, the Loblaws boycott, and more! Coming September 17th

Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Book Club: An Immense World By Ed Yong
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Kristen and Kyla dive into 'An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us' by Ed Yong. Join us as we explore this delightful journey through the many fascinating ways animals perceive the world. Published in 2022, Yong masterfully weaves together interviews with scientists and in-depth research, offering a narrative that deepens our appreciation for the many creatures we share our planet with.
Get a copy of the book! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616914/an-immense-world-by-ed-yong/
Find more from the Harbinger Media Network: https://harbingermedianetwork.com/
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