Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy
The Perspectives Journal Podcast complements the journal and opinions content of Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy, to bring out left-wing ideas and strategy in a new and ever-evolving format. The podcast features interviews with policy experts, to dig deeper into the progressive angles of the issues affecting working-class, ordinary Canadians.
Hosted by editor-in-chief, Clement Nocos, the Perspectives Journal Podcast aims to bring forward timely analysis on issues from the multiple crises of the economy, cost-of-living and the environment, to the labour movement, as well as the state of Canadian democracy. The wide reaching breadth of this show aims to help inform policymakers and the public about approaches to today’s pressing problems that are rooted in Ed Broadbent’s Principles for Canadian Social Democracy.
Perspectives Journal also produces and features shows hosted by the Broadbent Institute’s friends and affiliates, providing a progressive platform for limited and irregular conversations that are still necessary to enliven Canada’s political discourse. The Perspectives Journal Podcast is a proud members of the Harbinger Media Network, Canada’s progressive podcast community.
Activists Make History
Activists Make History with Peggy Nash is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal that finds the political underdogs and asks how they got started, against the odds, to fight for progressive change. Policymakers, activists and experts from underrepresented communities and backgrounds, that are typically pushed to the margins of Canadian political life, are front and centre in conversation with Peggy Nash, who has been a union activist, a feminist advocate, and a Member of Parliament in Canada’s House of Commons for nearly a decade.
Reflecting on these experiences as a political outsider, and in conversation with other like-minded outsiders that take our struggles into the halls of power, Activists Make History aims to show how we can win a better world through elected office. Activists Make History is only made possible by the generous contribution of Unifor.
Episodes
71 episodes
Social Democrats of the North: George Hara Williams
In 1944, the Saskatchewan CCF formed the first social democratic government in North America. Behind this landmark achievement was George Hara Williams, the oft-forgotten architect of the CCF’s success in the province, who laid the organ...
.png)
Class & Climate: The COP Folly with Martin Empson
The UK-based climate activist and writer explains how the Conferences of Parties have bureaucratized climate organizing.Martin Empson is a climate activist from the UK and the editor and a contributor to System Change not Cl...
Social Democrats of the North: École Sociale Populaire
Learn about the unique Catholic roots of Quebec's social democratic tradition.While Quebec's social democratic tradition is often traced back to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, the province's left-wing roots are planted deepe...
%20v02.png)
Social Democrats of the North: Ernest Winch and Harold Winch
Social democracy has long been a powerful political force in British Columbia. This episode explores its origins in the province through the lives and ideas of two of British Columbia’s left-wing pioneers: Ernest Winch and Harold Winch. This fa...
.png)
Social Democrats of the North: League for Social Reconstruction
The League for Social Reconstruction was a group of socialist thinkers, brought together by the crisis of the Great Depression, that laid the intellectual foundations for modern Canadian social democracy.Through the crisis of th...
.png)
Activists Make History: Winning for Working People with Rob Ashton
The longshoreman and leadership hopeful shares his vision for Canada's NDP as the party of workers and everyday people.SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Activists Make History...
.png)
Activists Make History: A New Era for the NDP with Tanille Johnston
The NDP leadership hopeful reflects on her roots in student organizing to usher in a new era for progressive organizing in the federal NDP.SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Ac...
.png)
Social Democrats of the North: Agnes Macphail, Canada's First Female MP
Rather than treating feminism and social democracy as separate projects, Agnes Macphail understood both as essential to building a more democratic and equal society.A committed social democrat, Agnes Macphail was Canada’s first ...
%20(2).png)
Extreme Wealth’s Threat to Democracy with Patriotic Millionaires Canada
Even the rich agree: extreme wealth inequality is a threat to democracy. In a new survey conducted by Patriotic Millionaires of millionaires and billionaires across G20 countries, 65% agree that extreme wealth is a threat to democracy. Yet, in ...
Activists Make History: Big Tent Organizing with Heather McPherson
Heather McPherson is channeling value-driven politics in her campaign for NDP leadership.SUBSCRIBE to the Perspectives Journal Podcast and Activists Make History for previous and ...
.png)
Activists Make History: From the Ground Up with Tony McQuail
Tony McQuail is channeling decades of grassroots activism to platform rural issues and a green progressive vision for the federal NDP.Stay tuned for future episodes with other candidates in the 2026 NDP leadership race.
.png)
Activists Make History: Stories that Change the World with Avi Lewis
Peggy Nash is bringing conversations from the campaign trail to Activists Make History, speaking with candidates running to be the next leader of the federal NDP.Avi Lewis is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and can...
.png)
Social Democrats of the North: William Irvine, The Power of Persistence
This Scottish-born preacher turned politician helped lay the foundation for early social democratic electoral success in Alberta and across Canada.William Irvine’s life and career reflects the power of persistence in struggles. ...
.png)
Social Democrats of the North: E.A. Partridge, The Great Builder
A pioneer of Canadian prairie socialism, E.A. Partridge was a radical farmer who organized Saskatchewan grain growers in the face of rampant price fixing. The founder of the 'Grain Growers' Grain Company' cooperative and publisher of the Grain ...
%20(1).png)
Social Democrats of the North: J.S. Woodsworth, A Man of Faith
One of the most iconic socialists in Canadian history, most on the Canadian left may likely identify J.S. Woodsworth as Canada's first social democrat. Woodsworth was an organizer of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and the first leader of the ...
%20(1).png)
Activists Make History: Women United — Toronto Book Launch
The new book by Peggy Nash & Julie White tells the untold stories of dozens of women leaders in the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.In November 2025, Between the Lines books published Women United: Stories of Women’...
Social Democrats of the North: Francis Marion Beynon, Feminist Firebrand
What was the place of feminism in early Canadian social democracy? This episode looks at one of the first feminist social democrats in Canadian history: Francis Marion Beynon. Her work as journalist in Winnipeg in the early 1900s was critical f...
.png)
Social Democrats of the North: Olivar Asselin, The Radical Journalist
In the early 20th century, Montreal was a hotbed of radical thinking on working-class politics and Quebec’s place in Canada. Amidst working-class poverty and the upheaval around the First World War, Olivar Asselin emerged as one of Montreal's m...
Activists Make History: Draw the Line with Atiya Jaffar
The 350 Canada Campaigns Manager collaborated with climate, labour, Indigenous, and social justice movements to draw the line against fossil fuel expansion.On September 20, 2025, thousands of Canadians took to the streets unitin...
%20(1).png)
Social Democrats of the North - Phillips Thompson: Labor Reform Songster
The prolific satirist-turned-labour-leader penned the first full account of working-class struggles in 19th century Canada.Shortly after Confederation, Canadian cities were teeming with impoverished workers and rapid industriali...
.png)
On Fascism with Jon Weier
In September 2025 the Broadbent Institute joined left–wing think tanks from Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain to support the establishment of a global network of t...
Social Democrats of the North - Médéric Lanctôt: Canada's First Social Democrat
It’s 1867 and Canada has just officially separated itself from Great Britain and become its own country. But, are there any social democrats around? In this episode, we meet Médéric Lanctôt - the journalist, politician, and union leader ...
Carney and the Calgary School with Mack Penner
In the the Summer 2025 issue of Perspectives Journal, University of Calgary post doc and Parkland Institute board member Mack Penner wrote ‘Carney and the Calgary School: or, Passive Revolution and Canada’s Social State in the Neoliber...
Activists Make History: Holding the Line with Wesley Lesosky, CUPE Air Canada Component President
Peggy Nash chats with Air Canada flight attendants union leader Wesley Lesosky about the recent strike and the fight for fair pay in the airline industry.In August 2025, Air Canada flight...
.png)
Naomi Klein: The Rise of End-of-the-World Fascism and Resistance from the Global South
At the 2025 Panamerican Congress in Mexico City, held August 1st to 3rd, hosted by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her Morena Parliamentary Group, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein gave remarks at the Esperanza Iris theatre.The au...
