Explain Like I'm Five: Recent Episodes
Canada 2020
Kelsey Johnson, agriculture reporter at iPolitics joins Sarah Turnbull to talk about the significance of canola production in Canada and why the industry is facing major uncertainties due to a "scientific-based disagreement" with China.
Stephanie MacLellan, senior research associate at the Centre for International Governance Innovation joins Sarah Turnbull to unpack cyber security. The two discuss how cyber threats have changed over the years, who monitors suspicious behaviour online in Canada, how regulations are enforced, and why we should be prepared for interference in the upcoming federal election.
Last month the federal government unveiled their final budget before the fall election, and just last week Ontario's PC government unveiled their first budget since taking office. With all this talk about government budgets, we thought we would revisit Aaron Reynolds' conversation with Helaina Gaspard, director of governance and institutions at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa. She explains debts, deficits, and how government spending actually works.
The Alberta election is heating up, which means we're hearing a lot about pipelines. So, today we're revisiting Aaron Reynolds' conversation with Canadian and environmental history professor at York University Sean Kheraj about their history, purpose and why they're so controversial.
Today we're recirculating host Aaron Reynolds' timely conversation with Mark Cameron, executive director of Canadians for Clean Prosperity, to unpack carbon pricing. The two chat about the origins of the concept, how CO2 emissions are measured, how tax mechanisms are enforced, and where the money ends up.
Anne Connelly, member of the blockchain faculty at Singularity University in Silicon Valley, explains to Aaron Reynolds what blockchain is, how it came about, and its real-world applications.
Host Aaron Reynolds is joined by Larry Vance, former Government of Canada pilot, former investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, and the original author of the organization's Manual of Investigations Operations. Vance shares what's known about the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash last weekend that involved a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane, its similarities to the Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia just five months ago, and the role of automation in aviation.
The Trudeau budget is set to land March 19th, so host Aaron Reynolds sat down with former Finance Minister John Manley to get a better sense of how a federal budget is made, what items are weighed more heavily than others, how it's rolled out, and what's with the new shoes tradition?
In the wake of the SNC-Lavalin controversy, host Aaron Reynolds speaks with Ottawa-based criminal defence lawyer Solomon Friedman about the roles of the Justice Minister and the Attorney General, why in Canada they're held by one person, and the pros and cons of the model.
Host Aaron Reynolds gets a behind the scenes look at what goes into a poll from veteran Canadian pollster and Chair of Nanos Research, Nik Nanos. The two discuss how polling data is gathered, its accuracy, how it's changing in a tech-based world, and predictions for 2019.
Colin Robertson, former Canadian diplomat and current Vice President and Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the world of ambassadors, embassies, and diplomacy.
Lauren Dobson-Hughes joins Aaron Reynolds to explain Brexit: how it happened, when the deadlines are, and why it has been so complicated to negotiate.
Dr. Danielle Martin, family physician and Vice President at Women's College Hospital, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain how Canada's health care system works, how it came to be, and what challenges it faces in adapting to changes in modern medicine.
Robert Johnston of Eurasia Group joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain what determines the price of oil, who sets the price, and what factors have contributed to the price of gas by the time it reaches your local gas station.
Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, joins host Aaron Reynolds to discuss how and why Canada became a bilingual country, what it means to our national identity, and why it's important to preserve those laws both federally and provincially.
In this special episode, host Aaron Reynolds visits Parliament Hill to talk to Curator of the House of Commons Johanna Mizgala about the history and significance of the Centre Block building, shortly before it closes for a decade-long renovation.
Daphne Gilbert, law professor at the University of Ottawa, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the genesis of Canada’s abortion law, how it's changed over time, and its parallels to Roe vs. Wade in the United States.
Dick Fadden, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain what CSIS is, how it operates, and why comparing it to the CIA isn't appropriate.
Andrew Griffith, former Director General of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, joins host Aaron Reynolds to talk about how the Canadian immigration system works, the pressures it faces, and the philosophies that shaped it.
Sean Kheraj, associate professor of Canadian and Environmental History at York University, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain energy pipelines in Canada: what they do, why we have them, and how the conversation around them has changed in the last fifty years. Recorded live at Central Cafe in Toronto.
Bill Owens, former U.S. congressman and now senior advisor in the public policy and regulation practice at Dentons, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the United States' midterm elections while providing a crash course on the structure of the American government.
Mark Cameron, executive director of Canadians for Clean Prosperity, joins host Aaron Reynolds to demystify carbon pricing, including the origins of carbon tax and cap-and-trade, how C02 emissions are measured, how these mechanisms are enforced, and where the money ends up.
Host Aaron Reynolds sits down with Anne McLellan, former deputy prime minister, cabinet minister, and chair of Canada's task force on cannabis legalization and regulation to discuss the rollout of cannabis law in Canada.
Michael Geist, law professor and Canada Research Chair in Internet and eCommerce law at uOttawa, joins host Aaron Reynolds to demystify the regulations around Canadian content on television, why they exist, and what they're supposed to achieve.
Phil Lagassé, associate professor at Carleton University and expert on the Westminster system, drops by the Canada 2020 studio to explain the purpose and duties of Canada's Governor General to host Aaron Reynolds.
Dale Smith, author of The Unbroken Machine: Canada's Democracy in Action, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the day-to-day workings of Canada's House of Commons.
Leah Lawrence, president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain what clean tech looks like in 2018.
Canada's Auditor General Michael Ferguson joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the role of the Auditor General and to dive into what happened with the Phoenix Pay System.
Miles Corak, professor of economics at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, joins host Aaron Reynolds to talk about the concept of guaranteed basic income, how it could work in practice, and the benefits and goals of the cancelled Ontario pilot program.
Anne Connelly joins host Aaron Reynolds to explain the concepts behind blockchain, what it can be used for, and how it is transforming our world.
Solomon Friedman, criminal lawyer and co-author of the only textbook on Canadian gun law, joins Aaron Reynolds to demystify the regulations around buying, keeping, transporting, and using firearms in Canada.
Christina Crook, author of The Joy of Missing Out, talks to Aaron Reynolds about mindfulness, the Twitter outrage cycle, and the importance of finding time to be bored.
Canada's former Justice Minister Peter MacKay joins Aaron Reynolds to explain the what, why, and how of cabinet shuffles.
Helaina Gaspard, Director of Governance and Institutions at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, joins Aaron Reynolds in the Canada 2020 studio to explain debt, deficits, and how a government buying stuff actually works.
Millennials! Who are they? What do they want? And why should we care? David Coletto, the CEO of Abacus Data, joins Aaron Reynolds to explain.
Aaron Reynolds knows more about Terminator 2 than he does about artificial intelligence, so he invited Dan Munro into the Interac studio to explain the ethics of A.I. in a way that he could understand.
Aaron Reynolds knows more about Star Wars than he does about international trade, so he invited Mike Moffatt into the Interac studio to explain tariffs in a way that he could understand.