Our cheeky half before we break for August

It’s our final episode before a short summer break—and we’re closing it out with a cheeky half pint and a big-picture scan of the trade and political chaos unfolding across Canada, the US, and the UK.

In this episode:

• 🇨🇦 Carney concedes “tariff-free” deal with Trump is unlikely

   • What the PM’s first public walk-back says about expectations management

   • Does accepting some tariffs help or hurt Canada’s leverage?

   • And what is a “win” supposed to look like?

• 🇺🇸 US inflation hits 2.7% as tariffs bite

   • Will Trump’s economic strategy come back to haunt him before the holidays?

   • Why tariffs are a slow burn—but a real one

   • And how Trump’s goldfish memory makes planning impossible

• 📉 White House calls for interest rate cuts while raising consumer prices?

   • We discuss the economic contradiction—and why it’s eroding confidence

Also in this episode:

• 📊 The super honeymoon continues: Carney approval hits 58%, Liberals lead by 13

• 🧠 What the Conservatives need to ask themselves about the Polievre playbook

• 🔄 Can Carney hold his coalition together if Trump fades as the ballot question?

• 🚫 NDP leadership race kicks off—with a $100,000 entry fee. Is that populist?

Across the pond:

• 🇬🇧 Labour faces a new challenge—from the left

   • A hard-left breakaway party is forming. Could it fracture Labour’s already unstable coalition?

   • Why UK politics remains a mess—despite a massive Labour majority

   • And why the Conservative Party still doesn’t know what it stands for

We close with:

• 🍺 Tasting notes from our final craft beer of the season

• 🤦 Percy is mistaken for a 30-year-old’s father

• 🔥 And a conversation about political anger, violent rhetoric, and the lines we should never cross

🔊 Listen now to wrap your week—and the political season—with insight, irreverence, and a few sips of lemon meringue beer.

With Hunter Knifton

This week on Craft Politics, we revisit the 2025 Canadian federal election—not with hot takes, but with hard data.

Our guest is Hunter Knifton, the analyst behind the Charting Canada Substack, who’s challenging two of the most commonly accepted narratives about the election.

In this episode:

• 🗳 The myth of the “NDP-to-Conservative switcher”: why it’s not supported by the numbers

• 📉 Why the collapse of the PPC—not a working-class revolt—may explain Conservative gains in key ridings

• 👥 Who actually switched votes—and where? A closer look at new voters, older swing voters, and Carney Conservatives

• 🔄 Why the left didn’t just coalesce around the Liberals—and why the right’s coalition might be more stable than it looks

Plus:

• 🧭 Hunter breaks down his five-part typology of Carney’s voter base—from downtown professionals to rural commuters

• 🧱 What the suburban and rural wins say about the Liberals’ long-term potential

• 🔍 Are the Conservatives targeting the wrong voters with their union strategy?

And don’t miss:

• 🔮 Could Carney’s voter coalition outlast the crisis that built it?

• 🧠 What Pierre Poilievre’s team might need to rethink before the next election

• 📊 A sneak peek at Hunter’s next analysis: are we entering a permanent two-party system—or was 2025 a one-off?

🔊 Listen now if you want a clearer picture of what actually happened in the last election—and why most of us probably got it wrong.

With Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal

It’s been six months since Mark Carney smashed through the wall of Canadian politics and declared, “This is a crisis.”

He’s been elected. He’s governing. And he’s moving fast.

But how far can a technocrat push before political gravity kicks in?

To take stock of Carney’s first chapter as Prime Minister, we’re joined by Bridget Howe and Sarina Rehal—two Liberal insiders with deep experience in government, campaigns, and caucus dynamics. They give us an unvarnished read on the Carney style, the risks ahead, and what might break first.

In this episode:

• 🧭 How Carney governs—and why it’s a sharp break from Trudeau

• ⏱ The pace of change: real momentum or just top-down theatrics?

• 🧠 Why he’s (so far) been a political novice in name only

• 🤝 Caucus management, cabinet churn, and how long his honeymoon can actually last

Plus:

• 🇺🇸 Can Carney hold the coalition together once Trump fatigue sets in?

• 💸 From scrapping the carbon tax to cutting the digital services tax—how is Carney going to pay for this?

• 🧯 Is he raising expectations faster than government can meet them?

And don’t miss:

• 📉 Why Liberals aren’t missing Pierre Poilievre—or Justin Trudeau

• ⚔️ Can Carney avoid a BC-style fracture over major projects and pipelines?

• 💬 Why Bridget and Sarina disagree on who the Liberals really want to lead the Conservatives

Also in this episode:

• 📊 What Carney needs to deliver by fall to prove this isn’t just business as usual

• 🔮 Is he in it for the long haul—or just the crisis?