Stay ConnectedCOMMONS is a documentary podcast that proves Canada is anything but boring. Each season, host Arshy Mann guides you through the country’s dark underbelly, bringing you stories about crime, corruption and all manner of misdeeds.
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Copyright: © 2022 CANADALAND
Support us atwww.commonspodcast.com
Matthew Boswell is the Competition Commissioner. And he's the last man trying to stand in the way of the mega-merger between Rogers and Shaw.
But even he acknowledges that Canada's antitrust laws aren't just inadequate — they're weighted in favour of the monopolists.
A frank discussion with Canada's top competition cop.
Featured in this episode: Matthew Boswell
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Sponsors: Douglas,
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
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Rogers and Shaw are getting ready to tie the knot. But before they can consummate their less-than-holy union, they have to get the approval of Canada’s competition tribunal and the federal government. And even though most Canadians would find this union highly objectionable, it’s likely to be approved.
Because for 150 years, Canadian politicians have been talking out of both sides of their mouths. They claim they want to promote competition. And then they pass laws that do the opposite.
Featured in this episode: Vass Bednar, Keldon Bester
To learn more
“Antitrust watchdog should just say no to Rogers and Shaw merger” in The Globe and Mail by Keldon Bester and Ben Klass
“Is the Competition Bureau's efficiency defence still defensible?” in The Financial Post by Vass Bednar
“The Development of Competition Policy, 1890-1940: A Re-Evaluation of a Canadian and American Tradition” in Osgoode Law Journal by Brian Cheffins
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
“Canon in D Major” by Kevin Macleod, adapted.
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
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WIND Mobile, now known as Freedom, was a small company that tried to break through Canada’s telecom oligopoly. It did not have an easy ride.
WIND faced numerous hurdles from regulators, it was subjected to dirty tricks from the telecom oligopoly, and was eventually sold to Shaw. But it also helped lower cell phone rates and brought in unlimited data and U.S. roaming, changing the wireless market permanently.
This is the inside story of WIND Mobile, from the people who were there.
Featured in this episode: Simon Lockie, Brice Scheschuk, Tony Clement
To learn more
“Why can’t TTC riders use their cellphones on the subway? Ask Bell, Rogers or Telus” in The Toronto Star by Lex Harvey
“Wind Mobile backer regrets Canadian launch” in CBC News
“Globalive offers $3.75-billion to buy Freedom Mobile” in The Globe and Mail by Alexandra Posadzki
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
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They’re the most hated companies in the country. And yet, they’re unavoidable.
The telecom oligopoly seems to rule Canada’s economy with an iron fist. Canadians are paying more and more for our cell phones, cable and internet.
So how was it that we ended up in this situation? And was it inevitable that things would get so bad?
Featured in this episode: Ben Klass, Dwayne Winseck, Keldon Bester, Dale Eisler
To learn more
“A Social History of Canadian Telecommunications” in Canadian Journal of Communication by Dwayne Winseck
“Bell takeover of MTS gets federal approval” in CBC News
From Left To Right: Saskatchewan's Political And Economic Transformation by Dale Eisler
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Oxio
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today, it’s a department store where you might go to buy perfume or cookware. But the Hudson’s Bay Company was Canada’s first, and its most powerful, monopoly.
It grew from a largely insignificant enterprise into one of the most dominant forces in North America.
The story of the HBC reveals just how deeply embedded monopoly is in Canada’s very fabric.
Featured in this episode: Stephen R. Bown, Jean Teillet
To learn more
The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire by Stephen R. Bown
The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel’s People, The Metis Nation by Jean Teillet
The Other Side of the Ledger: An Indian View of the Hudson's Bay Company by Martin Defalco & Willie Dunn
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Some say that they’re a shadowy group that are the true power behind our elected officials, wielding enormous influence that they use to either benefit their friends or crush their enemies.
Others claim that they’re a bulwark against oligopolies, ensuring that rural Canada doesn’t turn into an empty, corporatized hellscape.
But what’s not up for debate is that Big Milk is a big deal.
Featured in this episode: Marlene Haley, Justin Ling, Bruce Muirhead
To learn more
“Cheddargate” by Justin Ling in Maisonneuve
“Milk mystery: As prices soar, dairy farmers plead poverty” by Ashleigh Stewart in Global News
“Critics of supply management are milking the argument” by Bruce Muirhead in Maclean’s
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer and Reporter), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Douglas, Rotman, Canadian History Ehx
If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Canadians are being squeezed at every end. When it comes to cell phone bills, grocery bills, housing, entertainment, we’re all paying more than ever before.
But a small number of companies that dominate their industries are reaping in enormous profits.
This season of COMMONS we’ll be digging into all of the monopolies, oligopolies and cartels that dominate our lives. And for our first stop, we head to the supermarket.
Featured in this episode: Vass Bednar, Marco Chown Oved (Toronto Star)
To learn more
“Supermarkets are hiking prices faster than necessary — and profiting from inflation, Star investigation suggests” by Marco Chown Oved in the Toronto Star
Regs to Riches by Vass Bednar
“Canada’s competition watchdog to investigate grocery industry in wake of soaring food prices” by Ghada Alsharif in the Toronto Star
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator)
Additional music from Audio Network
If you value this podcast, please support us. We rely on listeners like you paying for journalism. As a supporter, you’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on Canadaland merch, invites and tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis and you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. Come join us now, click the link in your show notes or go to https://canadaland.com/join
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
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From broadband to banking to blueberries (yes, even blueberries), life in Canada is ruled by monopolies. In the latest season of COMMONS, host Arshy Mann and producers Jordan Cornish and Noor Azrieh will bring you the stories of how these monopolists bullied their way to the top, strangled their rivals, and cornered their markets with help from the government.
Our new season launches on November 9th.
If you’re a Canadaland supporter, you can listen to the first episode now! Become a supporter at canadaland.com/join
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Meet David Wallace, political fixer. After decades in the game he says he’s getting out, telling all, and dumping his files in public. The result is the viral "Klondike Papers" theory of conspiracies, conservatives, and cults. But are the allegations true? And why is he really implicating himself, and so many others? A wild, true story.
Series launches October 31st.
Subscribe now (link).
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Afghanistan has endured more than four decades of almost ceaseless war. But since the Taliban takeover, Afghans have been abandoned by the global community and are now facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
What was all of this for? And is Afghanistan destined for yet another cycle of violence?
Featured in this episode: Rangina Hamidi, Mohsin Amin, Stephen M. Saideman
To learn more:
“Americans nurtured Afghanistan’s economy. Now they’re gutting it” by Mohsin Amin in The Washington Post
Adapting in the Dust: Lessons Learned from Canada's War in Afghanistanby Stephen M. Saideman
‘No Father Wants to Sell His Son’s Kidney.’ Afghans Pushed to Desperate Measures to Survive” by Sune Engel Rasmussen in The Wall Street Journal
“Hope and despair: Kathy Gannon on 35 years in Afghanistan” by Kathy Gannon in The Associated Press
“Taliban Splits Emerge Over Religion, Power and Girls’ Schools” by Sune Engel Rasmussen & Margherita Stancati in The Wall Street Journal
Additional music from Audio Network
This episode is brought to you by Douglas, Oxio, Calm
If you listen on Apple, subscribe to Canadaland Politics for $2.99/month for ad-free episodes of COMMONS, Wag the Doug and The BackBench.
Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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