Politics Is Broken

Politics Is Broken

Canadian and Global Politics, Unspun. Politics is messy, loud, and usually full of nonsense. Politics Is Broken takes all that chaos, filters it through a Canadian sense of humour, and hands it back in a way that actually makes sense. Hosted by Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds) and Lisa B., it’s smart, funny, and just irreverent enough to make the news bearable. www.brittlestar.com

Episodes

December 21, 2025 71 mins

It’s the year-end wrap for Politics is Broken… and it’s festive in the way a tire fire is festive when someone tosses a candy cane into it.

In “The 12 Months of Crisismas”, Brittlestar and Lisa rip through 2025 month-by-month… Trudeau stepping aside, Doug Ford’s third majority, Carney’s technocratic pivot, election anxiety, internal trade “why didn’t we do this 100 years ago,” Poilievre’s by-election comeback, Alberta’s culture-war ...

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This week on Politics Is Broken, Danielle Smith becomes the first Alberta premier in nearly 90 years to face a citizen-led recall petition... and the UCP’s own recall law starts doing exactly what everyone warned it would do (just not to the people who wrote it).

Then we pivot south, where the U.S. releases a new “National Security Strategy” that reads less like policy and more like a world dominance mood board... complete with Amer...

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December 7, 2025 70 mins

Canada’s back in the global spotlight… and this time it’s not for policy, it’s for pop. In this episode, Brittlestar and Lisa start with the truly urgent question of our time: is Justin Trudeau actually soft-launching a relationship with Katy Perry, complete with a former Japanese prime minister accidentally hard-launching it to the world?

From there, they dig into FIFA’s World Cup draw, the eye-rollingly absurd “Peace Prize” nobody...

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November 30, 2025 47 mins

In this week’s Politics Is Broken:

  • The death of “statesmanlike” behaviour
  • Trump’s “quiet, quiet, piggy” moment and Ford’s “get a job” clapback
  • How recall actually works in Alberta (and why there are so many petitions)
  • What other countries do with recall… and why it’s so rare
  • Whether recall is a dangerous precedent or a much-needed pressure valve
  • And why this all “smells a little like hope” in a grim political year
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November 23, 2025 58 mins

Brittlestar and Lisa tackle Alberta’s chaos spiral - from the government using the notwithstanding clause to target trans kids, to a $125M privatization disaster, to a “not two-tier” healthcare plan that sure feels like two tiers. What the hell, Alberta?

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November 16, 2025 54 mins

This week on Politics Is Broken, Brittlestar and Lisa tackle a topic that makes you want to wash your hands just for saying it out loud: Jeffrey Epstein. The scandal that won’t die has become a mirror for power, privilege, and the myth that Canada’s too polite for corruption.

They dig into how systems protect the powerful, why accountability in Canada feels so slow, and whether or not we’re just naïve enough to think “it couldn’t ha...

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Is anger politics finally over? … and If it is, where do we send the people who still want to yell on Facebook? This week, Brittlestar & Lisa dive into MP jumping parties, a democratic socialist win in New York City, and a federal budget that might have been written entirely by ChatGPT with a positive attitude problem.

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This week on Politics Is Broken, Brittlestar and Lisa ask if America’s chaos has finally spilled into Canada. From Trump’s revenge tariffs to Alberta’s teacher strikes and a white supremacist tantrum outside the CBC, it’s all cheese, chaos, and constitutional clauses. Perfect for fans of smart, unhinged politics.

Politics Is Broken. A weekly podcast where Brittlestar and Lisa B attempt to make Canadian News and Politics funner.

The ...

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October 26, 2025 52 mins

Big week. Trump’s thrown his toys out of the NAFTA crib, a Canadian MP’s doing his best Charlie Kirk cosplay, and the Blue Jays are suddenly making us believe in something again -which, frankly, is dangerous.

Today we’re asking whether American-style politics can actually work here, what ‘ending trade talks’ really means when your biggest customer lives next door, and whether baseball can unite a country that mostly only watches it...

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October 19, 2025 46 mins

This week on Podcast Is Broken, Brittlestar & Lisa dive into the strange world of good deeds done for all the wrong reasons. From Trump’s ego-fueled Abraham Accords to Doug Ford’s reluctant wins, the crew asks: do motives matter if the results are good?

They explore how history’s biggest breakthroughs — from Nixon’s China gamble to Caravaggio’s murderous genius — often came from messy, selfish, or downright awful intentions

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Mark Carney built his reputation as the climate banker who’d and help save the planet. Now, as Prime Minister, he’s scrapped the carbon tax, fast-tracked oil exports, and promised “balanced growth.” Gas is cheaper, Alberta’s smiling, but Canada’s services economy — where most people actually work — is shrinking fast.

This week, we dig into whether Carney’s pivot is pragmatic politics during turbulent times and tariffs - or a slow-m...

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September 28, 2025 52 mins

Britain promised kids would be safe online. Instead, Instagram “teen accounts” are still full of self-harm content, while Keir Starmer pushes a shiny new digital ID — the so-called “BritCard.” Stewart and Lisa dig into why protections for kids don’t work, how governments keep selling surveillance as safety, and why Canada’s patchwork approach might actually be a blessing. Plus: Politics & the Pen, stolen water glasses, and a ve...

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September 21, 2025 55 mins

Kimmel’s FCC suspension vs. Canada’s CRTC: which country is actually more free? Brittlestar & Lisa B dig into political speech, CanCon, and why the algorithm might be the real censor.

Topics: Kimmel/FCC suspension, political speech vs. hate-speech limits, CRTC & discoverability, Canada vs. U.S. free expression, algorithms as gatekeepers.

Contact: politicsisbrokenpodcast@gmail.com

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Green Party leader Elizabeth May joins us to unpack the fallout from Charlie Kirk’s murder, Michelle Rempel Garner’s call for Carney to speak up, and whether Canada risks following America’s path. Plus: PM Mark Carney... has his honeymoon already ended?

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September 7, 2025 51 mins

The Liberals invited the author of Project 2025 to a cabinet meeting… and then acted surprised when he ghosted them. Meanwhile, a U.S. DOJ official spilled Epstein file gossip on a Hinge date. In this episode, we ask: why do smart people keep engaging with loud idiots, and is Mark Carney just realizing what the rest of us already know?

Video version at Brittlestar.com

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This one’s the inaugural Politics Is Broken with me and Lisa B… and Owen briefly fighting the intro music. Very professional. Very us.

It’s National Payroll Week (Sept 15–19). Share your best payday story with #PowerOfPayroll and #Contest, tag National Payroll Institute, and you could win a $250 prepaid card. Every eligible post also triggers a donation to Food Banks Canada—good deeds with prize potential. Enter!

In this episode

  • T...
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It's never easy to say goodbye - and saying hello again to Poilievre isn't so fun either. Thank you for everything, Steve!

This week, Brittlestar, Steve and Lisa talk the Air Canada strike coming to an end, the return of Pierre Poilievre, schmoozers in Ottawa, and more!

Post your story on Instagram or TikTok with #PowerOfPayroll and #Contest, tag @nationalpayrollinst, and you could win a $250 prepaid credit card. Plus, for every po...

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This week we're joined by the incredible Alison Gill, a.k.a. Mueller, She Wrote! Allison also has her own fantastic podcasts, The Daily Bean, and JACK: A Special Counsel Podcast, to talk Canadians held in ICE custody, and the National Guard in D.C., Oh - also, the sandwich guy.

Post your story on Instagram or TikTok with #PowerOfPayroll and #Contest, tag @nationalpayrollinst, and you could win a $250 prepaid credit card. Plus, for e...

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This week on Podcast Is Broken, Stewart, Lisa, and Steve attempt to make it all make sense. It's not going well.

This week on Podcast Is Broken, Brittlestar, Lisa, and Steve spiral into bread-cutting conspiracies, a Danish 'Wackadoo-Zoo' (Lisa's words) for their predators. Along the way: a man gets caught kayaking into Canada like it’s an Olympic event, Mexico’s president gives Canada the politest cold shoulder, and Trump and Putin ...

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This week on Podcast Is Broken, Stewart, Lisa, and Steve attempt to make sense of Canadian politics and news… and fail spectacularly but hilariously. Topics include:

  • Justin Trudeau’s dinner date with Katy Perry’s dog (yes, really)
  • Alberta flirting with leaving Canada (again)
  • Spent fowl fraud at the border (no, we didn’t make that up)
  • A mysterious “Blue Hackle Mafia” in the Canadian military
  • And why driving a trailer on Calgary’s Dee...
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