This Week's Round-Up: December 8, 2025

• Carney’s deal ignores Indigenous peoples

• Nate Erskine-Smith isn’t like the rest

• Is sex different across generations?

• The problem with protein

• The Walrus is growing

Political Defectors Face Mistrust, Hostility, Sexism, and Worse. Why Do They Do It?

Parties go to great lengths to make a deserter’s life miserable

BY ALEX MARLAND, JARED J. WESLEY, MIREILLE LALANCETTE

Erstwhile allies often heckle, boo, taunt, and ridicule their former associate. The character and judgment of the switcher can be impugned. They are dismissed as a substandard representative who is coping with personal problems or financial difficulties, who had poor attendance at caucus meetings, and who either rarely said anything in caucus or was belligerent.

The Walrus Acquires Lead Podcasting

Lead Podcasting, an award-winning podcasting team, is joining The Walrus Lab. At a time when media is shrinking, we’re growing—expanding our podcasting power and opening the door to even more storytelling. Read more about how this acquisition helps sustain our commitment to Canadian journalism.

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A MESSAGE FROM THE WALRUS LAB IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

This year marks 25 years since Canada passed the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, a pivotal step in extending legal protections to same-sex couples. Explore this milestone through a digital project and a special episode of Canadian Time Machine from The Walrus Lab, supported by funding from the Government of Canada.

In this episode of What Happened Next, host Nathan Whitlock is joined by musician and author Rik Emmett (Ten Telecaster Tales: Liner Notes for a Guitar and Its Music). Rick talks to Nathan about why, at an age when most people are enjoying retirement, he has suddenly become a published author with a new book out almost every year, and about how his former band—the multi-platinum-selling Triumph—has a way of sucking him back in.

Off the Mark

Mark Bourrie’s “Who Is Mark Carney, Really?” (November 2025) stayed with me. It’s something many Canadians are still wondering. People seem tired and want someone steady and predictable instead of another politician full of grand ideas. But comfort is not the same as inspiration. When we start valuing competence above everything else, politics can begin to feel like maintenance work instead of a space for imagination. Things might run smoothly, but the sense of possibility starts to fade. A technocrat can fix problems, but a leader makes people believe in something. Carney might bring stability, and maybe that is what the country needs for now. Still, whether he can help people believe in a shared purpose again is something we will have to wait and see.

Lisa Banti
Montreal, QC

— Carine Abouseif

Senior Editor