Politics Is Broken

Should we take Alberta separation seriously?
On one hand, most Albertans still don’t appear to want it. On the other hand, separatists reportedly submitted nearly 302,000 signatures, there’s a voter data scandal, U.S. meetings, First Nations treaty challenges, foreign disinformation concerns, and a premier trying to balance “Sovereign Alberta” with “please don’t actually break the country.”
This week on Politics Is Broken, Brittlestar and Lisa talk about why Alberta probably isn’t leaving Canada tomorrow... but why the anger, misinformation, political enabling, and machinery around the movement still matter.
It’s a conversation about separatism, grievance politics, Danielle Smith’s balancing act, and the very Canadian question: “Can we please not set the country on fire just to make a point?” The episode transcript frames the central concern as not Alberta immediately leaving Canada, but the “machinery around the idea”... anger, money, data, foreign interest, and political enabling.

Is Mark Carney opening the door for the NDP?
This week, Brittlestar and Lisa B talk about Carney’s economic update, the concerns raised in Althia Raj’s Toronto Star opinion piece, and whether cuts or stalled funding to pharmacare, child care, and health transfers could push progressive voters away from the Liberals.
They also get into Stewart’s trip to Politics and the Pen, a surprisingly funny Melissa Lantsman, Alberta’s electoral-list breach, and why this may be the NDP’s best chance in years to become the “not Liberal” option... assuming they don’t find a way to fumble it directly into a shrub.
Carney may be steadying Canada through a chaotic global moment, but the question is whether progressive voters will accept fiscal restraint when it starts touching the programs they thought they were voting to protect.

There’s a lot of “slop” online right now… and some of it is starting to shape real-world conversations.
In this episode, Brittlestar and Lisa unpack the rise of AI-generated content pushing Alberta separation and 51st state narratives — much of it coming from inauthentic sources designed to generate clicks, not clarity.
They explore how these videos work, why they spread so quickly, and how algorithms can blur the line between curiosity and influence. Along the way, they look at the broader context… including recent comments about Canada from high-profile figures, and what the data actually says about the country’s stability and quality of life.
It’s a conversation about misinformation, motivation, and the very real consequences when people are sold simple answers to complex problems.
Or, put another way… Who’s really benefiting from all this?

When political branding stops matching reality… what happens next?
In this episode of Politics Is Broken, Brittlestar and Lisa explore what they call a potential “Conservative Death Spiral” — a moment where long-standing messaging around fiscal responsibility and “common sense” begins to clash with real-world decisions and outcomes.
From Doug Ford’s controversial government jet purchase to Pierre Poilievre’s attacks on Mark Carney’s credentials, and even contradictions within the MAGA movement, the conversation looks at how narratives can start to collapse under their own weight.
They also dig into:
The psychology of political loyalty
Why supporters sometimes defend policies that hurt them
And whether we’re seeing a temporary wobble… or a deeper structural shift
A sharp, funny, and occasionally incredulous look at modern politics — and the risks of believing your own talking points for too long.

Canada’s political landscape just took a strange turn.
In this episode of Politics Is Broken, we break down the wave of floor crossings that has pushed the Liberals to within one seat of a majority government — without an election.
Are MPs switching sides out of principle… or pure political survival?
We dig into:
The recent Conservative → Liberal defections
Why Marilyn Gladu’s move is causing backlash
Whether Mark Carney is playing 4D chess… or making a risky mistake
Why majority governments might be more dangerous than they seem
And what this all says about the state of Canadian politics right now
Plus… A little Trump-induced global anxiety, ketchup chips diplomacy, and why Canadian politics increasingly feels like a group project where nobody trusts each other.