The Strategists

Shannon Phillips and Leah Ward dive into Elections Alberta’s referendum headaches, the growing pressure around the province’s special-ballot process, and whether the agency is actually resourced to pull off one of the biggest votes in Canadian history. Is Elections Alberta undermining confidence in the referendum by mishandling basic details? At what point does an election agency have to pull the fire alarm and say it c...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips rank the people, politicians, and campaigners on Alberta’s stay-in-Canada side. Who is actually moving votes? Are the BC Conservatives about to split themselves into two parties? And has Carter replaced AFL tipping with referendum power rankings?

Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps everybody in line.

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Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down Mark Carney’s response after Canada walks away from a trade deal with the United States, and what comes next when the relationship shifts from negotiation to trade war. Was this the exact moment Carney was hired for? How does Canada fight back? And can a great view really make up for the worst VRBO laundry room in Squamish?

Zain Velji, as always, picks the questions and keeps ...

Shannon Phillips and Zain Velji talk about what the Alberta NDP should actually be doing this summer, from candidate recruitment and Calgary-Shaw to the referendum and rural opposition to AI data centres. Should the NDP run directly against separatism in Calgary-Shaw? Can listening to angry rural voters turn a local issue into an electoral opportunity? And how does Stephen Carter have time for an hour-long phone call but not enough...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips talk about what happens when the strategist becomes the spokesperson, whether the political backroom still exists, and why Carter is discovering that dealing with the public may be the hardest part of running a campaign. Then they dig into the strange out-of-province donations flowing to the Alberta Republican Party and the loopholes that could allow even more money to move through Alberta politi...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down the increasingly crowded campaign to keep Alberta in Canada and ask whether anyone has the money or the nerve to run the air war the referendum may require. Then they strategize what the federal government, the NDP, organized labour and the various pro-Canada campaigns should actually be doing with just weeks left to reach voters. Can Canadian flags become a national unity organizing t...

Be it resolved that the Minister of Podcasts, Stephen Carter, together with the Chair of Oral Questions, Zain Velji, do hereby call this sitting of The Ministry of Podcasts to order, notwithstanding an abandoned first recording, an unexplained middle finger, and Zain Velji arriving without sufficient battery life or advance knowledge of his own schedule.

Be it further resolved that the House shall receive testimony from the duly...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down the ways Mark Carney’s extended political honeymoon could finally come to an end, from a weakening economy and progressive defections to Liberal insider culture and the arrival of a shinier opponent. What happens if voters stop believing there is no deal to be made with Donald Trump and start blaming Carney for failing to make one? Can economic progressivism keep urban voters fro...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down the emerging fight between moneyed interests and economic populists in the Democratic Party, and ask whether progressive candidates need broader coalitions, better slogans or simply better abs. Then they turn to Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, Mark Carney’s restrained response and the premiers volunteering to play attack dog. Can economic populism work in Canada? Shou...

Stephen Carter and Zain Velji break down the politics of being seen, from Naheed Nenshi’s controversial Stampede photo with the Israeli ambassador to the staffers whose job is to keep politicians out of pictures they will later regret. Can a good body person save a leader from a bad photo op? Is Mark Carney’s new PMO structure a real change or just corporate jargon? And how much of an episode can be turned into an RBC W...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down the latest referendum fundraising numbers and ask why conservative federalists seem to be getting out-organized by the separatists. Then they strategize what Corb Lund’s Water Not Coal campaign should do after its petition failed validation by Elections Alberta. Can the stay-in-Canada side turn scattered efforts into a real coalition? Should Water Not Coal fight the ruling in cou...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips break down Alberta’s increasingly murky referendum campaign, from the rules governing signs and fundraising to the power of writing questions designed to produce a preferred answer. What happens when everyone seems to be playing by a different set of rules? Can ordinary Albertans turn Stampede into amateur lobbying hour? And will Stephen Carter remember his best line long enough to use it a...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips dive into Alberta’s referendum campaigns, the NDP’s struggle to turn a pro-Canada message into partisan advantage, and the growing conservative pile-on against Calgary Mayor Jeremy Farkas over Stampede concert noise. Should party money ever be spent without asking people to vote for the party? Has Farkas become one of Alberta’s most effective opposition voices? And when the prov...

Stephen Carter and Zain Velji continue their live reaction to Carter’s appearance at The Walrus debate at the Canadian Vote Summit. As the conversation turns from democratic engagement to political reality, they unpack whether candidate debates still matter, why Question Period might be little more than political theatre, and what politicians actually learn from the process. Are democratic reforms solving real problems or cha...

Stephen Carter and Zain Velji dive into Elections Alberta’s plan to recruit 60,000 workers and count 45 million ballots, and what that could mean for how referendum results are reported on election night. Could Alberta be headed for a separatist mirage where early returns tell the wrong story? Is Pierre Poilievre walking a tightrope that Stephen Harper never would have touched? And does Shannon Phillips have her flippy-floppi...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips dive into the rapidly escalating Alberta separatism fight, the growing fractures inside the UCP, and whether Danielle Smith has finally pushed things too far. Are groups actually trying to stop separatism, or just positioning themselves to claim credit afterward? Have Alberta’s mayors become some of the most effective pro-Canada voices in the province? And why is it so hard to just get a no...

In a moment when Prairie politics feels increasingly untethered from reality, what happens when governments start making generational decisions while chasing internal political pressure?

This week on Balance of Power, Leah Ward and Shannon Phillips are joined by Saskatchewan NDP MLA Aleana Young to unpack Saskatchewan’s stunning $26 billion coal gamble, the politics driving it, and why the fight over energy policy is becom...

Stephen Carter and Shannon Phillips remain at St. Andrew’s United Church for the second coming of their Edmonton live show, joined by Senator Paula Simons and a crowd that absolutely refuses to go home. They dig into the Alberta voter list leak, foreign interference, AI slopaganda, separatism, constitutional fights, and whether the province is sleepwalking into something much bigger than a referendum campaign.

Zain Velji, ...

In a province where politics increasingly feels like performance, what happens when the people who understand the stage best start talking openly about persuasion, authenticity, and fear?

This week on Balance of Power, Annalise Klingbeil, Leah Ward, and Shannon Phillips unpack the politics of communication, the growing international fascination with Alberta separatism, and why the fight over Canada’s future may already be ...