- Encore: A history of Chinese influence in Canada
Wednesday, July 30th 2025
Was the commission into foreign election interference asking the wrong question about China? That’s what journalist Jonathan Manthorpe thinks. He argues the real issue is that for decades Canada has failed to confront China’s efforts to control Canadians of Chinese heritage and influence Canadian institutions.
He wrote a book about it, Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. It was originally published in 2019, but it’s now been updated to take into account everything that’s happened since, right up to the Foreign Interference Commission
This episode originally aired May 1st, 2025
- Encore: The War Inside Rogers
Wednesday, July 23rd 2025
The book Rogers v Rogers takes us into the messy succession drama inside one of Canada’s biggest companies, Rogers Communications. It features family members fighting in public, two competing boards, and even actor Brian Cox from HBO's Succession.
The book’s author, Alexandra Posadzki, takes us behind the scenes of a company trying to find its footing after the death of their founder, all while navigating a high-stakes business deal.
This episode originally aired on March 20th, 2024
- The Summer Reading Episode
Wednesday, July 16th 2025
This week Paul Wells and three friends share their summer reading. Globe and Mail reporter Shannon Proudfoot, veteran Liberal strategist Scott Reid, and Juno-winning singer-songwriter Donovan Woods each discuss a book they're reading this summer — and a book they'd recommend from all their earlier summers of reading. It's a feast for bookworms.
- Encore: Author Max Fisher on the social media chaos machine
Wednesday, July 9th 2025
New York Times writer Max Fisher talks about his book, The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds And Our World. Relying on international reporting, leaked corporate documents and social science, he lays out the case that the problem with social media is not just about amplifying the wrong messages; it’s that social networks are designed to bring out the worst in everyone.
This episode originally aired on November 2nd, 2022.
- Encore: The symphonic Joni Mitchell with Sarah Slean
Wednesday, July 2nd 2025
Singer-songwriter Sarah Slean talks about Joni Mitchell’s enduring influence on music and women in the arts, as she prepares to perform orchestral versions of Mitchell’s songs with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Audio sources: Glenn Gould, Joni Mitchell, Sarah Slean
This episode originally aired on October 5th, 2022
