Gloves Off

Until the second Trump Administration, Canada's relationship to the US has been Robin to its Batman. We've trusted and counted on the US for trade, security, defence, global leadership, and so much more. But now those days are gone. As American democracy unravels and chaos grows, Canada is left exposed and vulnerable not only to the US but to bad actors around the world. With insights from Civil War expert Dr. Barbara F. Walter and...

A middle-aged graphic designer joins the Canadian Reserves, but her story reveals something bigger: our greatest friend and most important ally, the US, is now threatening our country. How prepared–or unprepared–are we to deal with this threat? Stephen Marche asks a range of Canadian leaders to grade our readiness – politically, economically, militarily. What are our strengths as a country? What are our weaknesses?

Featuring (in...

A Canadian toy company is on the brink because of US tariffs. Millions in unsold stock. But this isn’t just one company’s problem—it’s Canada’s.  

Stephen Marche digs into the economic war we’re already in with the US. How can we fight against an economy ten times our size, where the tariff goal posts keep moving, and where any brokered deal is a tweet away from becoming meaningless? What are new approaches to doing bu...

Living next to a dangerous country is new to us but many countries bordering authoritarian states have a lot of experience. Ukraine has lived in the shadow of a monster its entire existence. What can they teach us?

Ukrainian refugee Viktoriia recalls fleeing war-torn Kherson—offering a sobering reminder of how quickly peace can vanish. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman and war correspondent Tim Mak unpack what Ukraine got right,...

For most countries, the military is key to national identity. But Canada's identity has been tied to military contributions to the global order and peacekeeping. Now that's all changed. The world is heating. The North is thawing. The South is melting. How do we defend Canada and not get overtaken?

Stephen Marche heads to the Arctic with Canadian Ranger Neil Kigutaq and speaks with Retired Major General Scott Clancy and Finnish s...

What if we end up in the nightmare scenario: America invades Canada and our military isn't strong enough to resist. Canada gets annexed by force. How do we fight back? What would a Canadian insurgency look like?  

Stephen Marche explores the unthinkable: a military occupation of Canada and the resistance that would surely follow. He speaks with International Security scholar, Aisha Ahmad. We also meet former IRA member...

In 2013, a Russian journalist walked into a St. Petersburg startup looking for a job. What he found was the frontline of a new kind of war—an information war fought not with bullets but with online chaos.

Today, those tactics have gone global. Online disinformation floods our social feeds, shapes our politics, and fractures our societies. Authoritarian states are waging an invisible war against democracies like Canada, and we’re...

Over the past seven episodes, we’ve tracked Canada’s shocking, painful, and necessary awakening. The threat from America is no longer theoretical—it’s here, it’s real, and we’re not ready.

But something else is happening too. Canadians are responding. Travel boycotts. A rise in patriotism. A new spirit of sovereignty. Because our old relationship with America is over. Our final question to close the series: What does the new nor...

In this extended interview, Margaret Atwood joins Stephen Marche for a wide-ranging, sharp, and often darkly funny conversation on what we can learn from the past when Canadian sovereignty has been threatened by America; how this moment is exceptional; what we might expect in the future. From draft dodgers to free trade, red bonnets to AI servers, Atwood weighs in on where we are—and where we might be headed. Atwood brings sharp in...