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Plus, how I won over the Freedom Convoy
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This Week's Round-Up: July 22, 2026

The Conservative Feud Is Embarrassing. Grow Up

If Pierre Poilievre wants to win power, he needs to stop waging war on his own side

BY DAN ROBERTSON

Photo of Pierre Poilievre in a white shirt and white cowboy hat with his hand extended to wave.

At the Calgary Stampede, Pierre Poilievre celebrated Kerry Lynne Findlay’s victory in the British Columbia Conservative leadership race as a win over “Liberal lobbyists from out East.”

The people he described were not Liberals. They were Kory Teneycke, Nick Kouvalis, and Anthony Koch, among the most accomplished Conservative operatives in the country. What followed were days of digital crossfire involving former Poilievre communications directors, columnists, influencers, and operatives, culminating in Brian Lilley asking in print whether the leader is serious about winning and Ben Woodfinden, who gave years to Poilievre’s office, confessing he has never been more depressed about the state of conservative politics in this country.








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Photo of Prime Minister Mark Carney wearing a blue suit and looking through large, light grey binoculars.

Mark Carney Is Governing like a Wartime Leader

The Liberals are centralizing power and moving fast. Why aren’t voters alarmed?

BY DAVID COLETTO

Photo of marching protesters. The people and scenery are in black and white, and the banners they are holding are in colour. The banners are red and read "Community Solidarity March."

How I Faced Off Against the Freedom Convoy—and Won Over Its Supporters

Some even apologized and broke down in tears

BY ALEX SILAS

An illustration of two fire fighters putting out a forest fire.

Canada Is Primed to Burn. Why Aren’t We Ready?


The country still lacks the people and equipment to handle our record-breaking wildfires

BY AMY VAN DEN BERG

Photo looking down at a suburb with rows full of single-detached houses.

How Canada’s Richest Residents Block Affordable Housing

In Calgary, the wealthy have a virtual stranglehold over meetings where key decisions are made

BY PETER DORMAAR

Photo of a rock painted pink with the Airbnb logo and company name painted on it in white sitting in the grass.

Airbnb Promised a Home Away from Home. Now It’s a House of Horrors

How living like a local turned into toilets in closets and folding tables disguised as beds

BY NICOLE SCHMIDT

Photo of the exterior of a retail building with a sign that reads "Costco Wholesale" in red and blue font.

Costco Is the Anti-Amazon and It’s Thriving

Its model defies the prevailing wisdom about retail. Why does it work?

BY BENJAMIN Y. FONG

On the left" black and white image of a religious official dressed in robes, a cross, and mitre and holding a sceptre. On the right: a photo of a gathering outdoors in Vatican City featuring rows of men wearing white and black religious robes.

Vatican Casts Out Traditionalist Sect. What’s Next for Canadian Followers?

An excommunication story, fifty-six years in the making

BY CARMINE STARNINO, MICHAEL W. HIGGINS

Photo of Yukon Premier Currie Dixon, a man with short dark hair wearing a suit and striped tie, speaking behind a podium on a blue background.

Yukon’s Premier Wants to Speed Up Mining. Lawsuits Are Already Flying

Currie Dixon is turning the North into a battleground for Canada’s resource ambitions

BY TRINA MOYLES

Illustration of an elderly woman with short, grey hair and glasses wearing a green shirt.

Everybody Knows Poets Are Weird. Margaret Avison Was Weirder

Scandalously, no press wanted to publish her long-awaited biography

BY NICHOLAS BRADLEY

An illustration of a partially demolished building contained within the silhouette of a person's profile, with large black flames engulfing the image.

The Real Estate Mogul Who Burned Down His Rival’s Offices

Christophe Folla ran one of Quebec’s biggest brokerages. A grudge fuelled a seven-year campaign of revenge

BY CAITLIN WALSH MILLER

Image of a wine bottle with a yellow label and top. Angel wings are coming off of the sides with laurel leaves around the neck of the bottle. The background is yellow.

What a $600,000 Bottle of Wine Tells Us about World Peace

In our polarized time, food is how we all come back to the table

BY LEE CADESKY

A black and white photo of poet Michael Prior set against a mint green background.

Residency

The land on which we lived— / the town, the campus—was unceded. / A lawn laid pristinely over theft

BY MICHAEL PRIOR

Listen to a New Episode of What Happened Next

Host Nathan Whitlock is joined by Jeannie Marshall, author of All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel

FROM THE WALRUS LAB IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TORONTO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY.

Giving forward. Giving back. Where generosity creates change.

What inspires someone to dedicate their life to helping others? And how do those values get passed from one generation to the next?

Discover The Forefront: Next-gen generosity, a podcast featuring influential leaders, changemakers, and community builders exploring how giving forward and giving back is driving impact across education, healthcare, innovation, and beyond.

Listen

Like Oil and Water

In “Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet”, Patrick Lennox argues that not all conflicts start with an invasion. What Lennox doesn’t note is that in the same way Trump isn’t talking about oil in his war with Iran, he hardly talks about water when he says Canada needs to become the fifty-first state. The Ogallala Aquifer, which runs from South Dakota to Texas, provides drinking water to millions of Americans and supplies about a quarter of the groundwater used for agriculture in America. And parts of it are projected to become depleted in the next few decades. The heartland states currently withdraw five times more water per year than the aquifer can replace. And without intervention, parts of rural America are expected to experience water shortages. UNESCO reports that the coming water wars will fundamentally change life on the planet as we know it. And we know that Canada has some of the largest reserves of fresh water on the planet.

Sherwood Hines
Bancroft, ON


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A black and white headshot of Allison.

 Allison Baker

Head of Research, The Walrus

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