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As Canada contends with increasing polarization, foreign threats to our sovereignty and widespread distrust in our political institutions, it is easy for Canadians to feel disengaged and disempowered. Yet, when we focus on the local level, this narrative changes. In communities across Canada, we can readily find active citizens who are nurturing civic connections in their communities and relating to their neighbours through real conversations - not just about differences but about common ground.
This context was the driving force behind IDEAS for a Better Canada, a cross-country event series presented in partnership by the Samara Centre for Democracy and CBC Radio’s IDEAS. These public talks were moderated by IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed, and recorded in public libraries in Nanaimo, Edmonton, Burlington and Charlottetown. The series took place in advance of the 2025 federal election and featured a range of local active citizens speaking about practical and tangible solutions to some of Canada’s most pressing national challenges including electoral reform, the housing and affordability crisis, polarization, book censorship, and Indigenous-settler relations.
IDEAS for a Better Canada was featured on CBC Radio Vancouver’s Early Edition with Stephen Quinn, Victoria’s On the Island with Gregor Craigie, PEI’s Island Morning with Mitch Cormier, Toronto’s Metro Morning and covered by the Burlington Gazette.
Watch highlights from IDEAS For a Better Canada.
Listen to IDEAS For a Better Canada:
This series originally aired on CBC Radio’s IDEAS the week of April 21, 2025.
Burlington: Your library is open (and believes in democracy)
Guests in this episode:
- Lita Barrie is the chief executive officer of the Burlington Public Library.
- Meg Uttangi Matsos is the director of service design and innovation at Burlington Public Library.
- Ira Wells is a journalist and academic, and the author of On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy.
Guests in this episode:
- Gregor Craigie is host of the CBC Radio morning show On the Island. He is also the author of the book Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada's Housing Crisis.
- Michael MacKenzie is chair in trust and political leadership at Vancouver Island University. He studies trust in the democratic process, ethics in governance and leadership, and political decision making.
- Joan Brown is the chief administrative officer of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. It is one of the largest First Nations in B.C. by population, with roughly 2,000 members.
- Louis James is a refugee resettlement worker helping refugees start a new life in Canada, and a writer for Strong Towns Nanaimo, a local urbanism and density advocacy group. He is American, working in Canada and hoping to stay.
- Kix Citton is from the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society.
- Leonard Krog is the mayor of Nanaimo, and was first elected in 2018. He has a long political connection to Nanaimo. For over a decade, he was the NDP MLA for the riding.
Charlottetown: Where Confederation Began, and Where Democracy Can Go
Guests in this episode:
- Kerry Campbell is CBC Charlottetown's legislative reporter. He's originally from Manitoba and has been following P.E.I. politics closely for nearly two decades.
- Ed MacDonald is professor emeritus in the history department at the University of Prince Edward Island, specializing in the province's political and social history.
- Sarah Outram is executive director of the P.E.I. Coalition for Women's Leadership.
- Sadie MacNeil is a fourth-year political science student at the University of Prince Edward Island. In 2023, she revived the UPEI Political Science Society
- Chris Ortenberger is with Islanders for Proportional Representation.
Edmonton: Attacking our biggest fear - political polarization
Guests in this episode:
- Jared Wesley is a University of Alberta political science professor.
- Cheryl Whiskeyjack is the executive director of Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Centre.
- Kwame Owuso-Ofori came to Canada as a teenager from Ghana. For the past decade, he's been working with the Edmonton Newcomers Centre, helping support immigrants and refugees. He's now a co-manager of their employment services.
- Puneeta McBryan is the executive director of the Downtown Business Association of Edmonton, a position she's held since 2020.
- Melanie Hoffman is the associate director of Alberta Talks, a branch of an environmental organization that deploys a technique called deep canvassing to help bridge ideological divides.
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