Niigaan and the Lone Ranger

In his first long-form interview, PC Party of Manitoba Leader Obby Khan talks about being misled by his party on controversial campaign ads and his commitment to making sure it never happens again

The world-famous Prognosticator's Panel returns with its predictions for the 45th General Election. Plus, Stephen Harper and Mike Myers talk about the travails of campaign advertising.

Niigaan and the Lone Ranger officially shack up, and Eric Grenier from The Writ brings some truth to the campaign trail.

Niigaan & the Lone Ranger touch base with Mia Rabson, former Winnipeg Free Press parliamentary correspondent and current Canadian Press Ottawa deputy bureau chief.

Niigaan and Dan talk with National Observer columnist Max Fawcett about how Donald Trump has completely up-ended federal politics in Canada.

Probe Research principal Curtis Brown stops by to explain what the hell is going on with political polls and why the Liberals are making what appears to be a historic comeback.

Niigaan and Dan talk with former Manitoba premier and former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer about Trump, tariffs, and how Manitoba can become the "Costco of Critical Minerals."

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem talks inflation, the difficulties of predicting a depression and what it's like to see his signature on Canadian bank notes.

Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association and medical lead of Manitoba's vaccine task force, talks about health care and what the last pandemic can teach us about the next one.

The former mayor of Calgary is vying to become the leader of Alberta's NDP — and in so doing, wants to change the province's politics.

The NDP leader prepares for a federal byelection while hoping to capitalize on Liberal misery.

During his recent visit to Winnipeg, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks about competing visions for the future of Canada and why he's too busy to think about retiring.

Manitoba's minister of housing, addictions, homelessness and mental health talks about her campaign to bring dignity to vulnerable Manitobans.

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara talks about overseeing the provincial government's largest budget and fixing a health care system that is gridlocked and short staffed.

A feature interview with Manitoba's new finance minister about the "everyone got something but nobody got everything" provincial budget tabled earlier this week.

Kate Kehler from the Police Accountability Coalition and Greg Burnett from the Downtown Community Safety Partnership discuss a better way to help people suffering mental health and addictions crises.

A probing interview with Weakerthans frontman John K Samson on libraries, Portage & Main and what his music reveals about the heart and soul of Winnipeg.

Mayor Scott Gillingham talks about reopening Portage and Main to pedestrians, corking a raw sewage leak and balancing the city's infrastructure needs.

Dan Lett and guest host Julia-Simone Rutgers dig deep into the Sio Silica story and find that while we know a lot, much more information is needed.

Season 3 of Niigaan and the Lone Ranger kicks off with a look at the NDP's first 100 days of government, the new government's first budget and a plea to support the NHL's best team.

In this Dan-less episode, Niigaan and APTN National News anchor Dennis Ward come together to analyze the CBC Fifth Estate documentary on the identity of Buffy Sainte-Marie, and they discuss what makes covering news at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network different, and the ins and outs of covering Indigenous issues – especially during elections.

Premier Wab Kinew explains how he will follow through with long-standing promises made while in opposition to call inquiries into the Winnipeg Police Service HQ scandal and Manitoba's pandemic response.

Niigaan and Dan rip apart the results of the 43rd Manitoba general election with Canada's foremost polling analyst and seat forecaster, Eric Grenier of The Writ podcast.

Former Tory cabinet minister and MLA Rochelle Squires goes in-depth on how the PC election campaign betrayed Tory candidates.

They tried, but Dan and Niigaan couldn't get Manitoba PC Leader Heather Stefanson to appear on the podcast. In a special Stefanson-less episode, we talk about the Tory campaign anyway.

In the second of our three pods with Manitoba party leaders, Niigaan and Dan do the deep dive with NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who is vying to become the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province.

Dan and Niigaan are joined by Liberal, PC and NDP operatives to discuss the campaign to date. They were (mostly) well behaved.

Niigaan and Dan return from summer hiatus by putting Grit leader Dougald Lamont on the hot seat. The fellas talk to Dougald about his party's chances in the 2023 election and whether the Liberals could hold the balance of power in a minority legislature. And a tribute to Bob Barker.

What, me worry? In the final podcast episode of this season, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tells Niigaan and Dan he isn't concerned about his deal with the minority Liberal government, and thinks you shouldn't be losing any sleep, either.

An in-depth chat with Green Party leader Elizabeth May. Plus, Niigaan and Dan celebrate Indigenous People's Day with party favors — and what is up with Paul Bernardo's prison transfer.

Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser discusses Liberal plans to reform and expand Canada's immigration program. Plus, Niigaan and Dan consider the threat posed by exotic butterflies and celebrate the Mermen of the North.

Niigaan and Dan talk with Shared Health CEO Lanette Siragusa about how she will heal an ailing health-care system. Plus, Manitoba's odd decision to politically appoint a high-profile residential school denier, and the equally odd emergence of Liberal Party trolls.

Niigaan and Dan plan the 2023 Manitoba Powwow Road Trip. Spoiler alert: there are silly t-shirts. Plus, a conversation with local urban planner and professor Jino Distasio about the True North proposal to reimagine Portage Place mall.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen plays 20 questions with Dan Lett, and ends up talking at length about bail reform, Manitoba Public Insurance and chance encounters at the Smitty's in Steinbach.

Niigaan and Dan are joined by Brent Bellamy of Number 10 Architectural Group and Jaya Beange of Storefront MB to talk about real options for the future of Portage and Main.

Are the NDP headed for a landslide? Are the Tories headed to political oblivion? Niigaan and Dan talk with an all-star panel of political pundits to handicap the 2023 election on a riding-by-riding basis.

Manitoba Families Minister Rochelle Squires talks about her government's efforts - both good and bad - to support the victims of family violence. We also discuss the upcoming provincial election and how the Progressive Conservative government will be appealing to voters.

Brian Bowman is alive and well and enjoying life out of politics. Dan Lett and guest host Jen Zoratti talk to the former Winnipeg mayor about an inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters and whether he still believes Portage and Main will, one day, be reopened to pedestrians.

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti discusses the Joyce and David Milgaard Act, which would create Canada's first independent commission to review wrongful convictions. Milgaard's lawyer David Asper offers his take on Lametti's efforts.

Niigaan and guest co-host Julia-Simone Rutgers discuss Manitoba's standing in the latest Campaign 2000 national child poverty report. Feature interview discussing mining in Manitoba's North with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee. The story of how a musician was born by poet and emcee Elliot Walsh a.k.a. Nestor Wynrush.

Niigaan and Dan sit down with former federal health minister and current director of the School of Medicine for Queen's University Dr. Jane Philpott to talk about the new provincial health care deal as well as her career in politics and its controversial end.Cree opera singer Rhonda Head tells an amazing story of how Cree music changed the Grammys.And a feature discussion on Winnie The Pooh entering the slasher realm.

Feature interview with NDP Leader Wab Kinew. Plus, stepping up the campaign to get Will Arnett on the podcast and more on the raging raisin debate.

Wondering about the state of health care? Niigaan assures us it ain't good. Plus, an interview with outgoing CentreVenture CEO Angela Mathieson and a chance meeting with Fidel Castro.

Niigaan Sinclair's full interview with RoseAnne Archibald, the first female national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Discussed are her accomplishments during the first half of her term as national chief, her priorities for the second half, and the attention she is paying to Winnipeg and the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit peoples.

Niigaan and the Lone Ranger sit down to discuss the anniversary of the Patels — a family from India who froze to death trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border near Emerson a year ago — and the drop in housing prices in the Canadian market.Also, a feature interview with the first female national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, alongside a great story from our friend Gio.

What does a Walrus have in common with a Manitoba winter, safer-consumption sites for those addicted to drugs and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre?Not much really, but a special year-end/start of 2023 episode of the Niigaan and the Lone Ranger Podcast managed to cover all of those topics and several others.Free Press columnist Jen Zoratti and Free Press investigative journalist Katrina Clarke join hosts Niigaan Sinclair and Dan Lett for a wide-ranging discussion about the stories that impressed them most in 2022, and where those stories might be headed as we head into a new year.The panel was united in its concern that Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government continues to refuse to establish safer-consumption sites to prevent overdoses among drug users. Clarke recently returned from a trip to Hamilton, Ont., where she visited such a facility and talked to the people who credit it with saving their lives.The panel was equally united in its conclusion that death of Freya — a young female walrus that appeared along the coasts of several western European nations from August 2021 to August 2022 — was a surprisingly moving story that touched on many of the great threats and challenges facing humankind.Freya became a media sensation while swimming in waters not normally populated by walruses. So much so, that eventually, she had to be euthanized by Norwegian officials out of concern that she was a threat to public safety. Freya had, indeed, sunk boats in the Oslofjord attempting to find a place to sunbathe. Her death was widely condemned by wildlife advocates.The panel was less united in its assessment of the political ceiling for Poilievre, who is trying to mobilize a huge constituency of voters with hardline conservative and libertarian sensibilities. Lett was confident he would fail, but others thought that increasing radicalization among right-of-centre voters would provide traction for the Tories.

Fans of streaming video may have noticed there has been a proliferation of Indigenous-led television and movies this year.On various platforms right now, there is a wealth of Indigenous programming, among them: Reservation Dogs, the bittersweet story of native youth growing up on an Oklahoma reservation; Dark Winds, the big-budget detective drama (executive producer Robert Redford) that takes place on a Navajo reservation; and Three Pines, based on the Chief Insp. Armand Gamache novels (by Canadian author Louise Penny), which confronts issues such as missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the legacy of residential schools.To get some perspective on how Indigenous people are interpreting all this mainstream content, this week's episode of Niigaan & the Lone Ranger (the podcast hosted by Free Press columnists Niigaan Sinclair and Dan Lett) features an interview with Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., director of the School of Gender, Race and Nations at Portland State University and a noted expert in Indigenous film and television.Van Alst talks about the enormous cultural value for Indigenous people of seeing their own people and telling their own stories. He also noted Hollywood, in particular, still has a way to go in its treatment of Indigenous stories.The panel digs deep into the reasons why many Indigenous people around the world are protesting the next chapter in director James Cameron's Avatar movie franchise, which seems destined to become one of the highest-grossing films of all times. Despite its commercial success, Van Alst said the film is universally disliked by Indigenous people for its “settler fantasy” motif.Also this week, we get a very special edition of the Storytellers, featuring none other than Jeanette Sinclair (Niigaan's mother), who describes her son's epic performance as Joseph in a school Christmas concert.Niigaan & the Lone Ranger will be taking next week off and will return in the first week of January.

What is black and white and very, very classy all over? How about the Winnipeg Art Gallery's new exhibit to mark the 15oth anniversary of the Winnipeg Free Press?In this week's episode, we talk to Riva Symko, the WAG's head of collections and exhibitions and curator of Headlines: The Art of the News Cycle, which has just recently opened to the public.In a feature interview, Symko reveals the nearly three years of thinking and planning that went into an art installation inspired by the newspaper's 15oth anniversary. And, how she has accumulated one of the world's largest personal collections of clothing inspired by newspapers. Not kidding.Also this week: Lett and Sinclair discuss more developments in the saga of the police investigation into an alleged serial killer who preyed on Indigenous women, and the reluctance of Winnipeg Police Service to search landfills that may contain the remains of the victims.Finally, Free Press Perspectives Editor Brad Oswald provides us with another edition of The Storytellers, in which he relates his experience travelling to Rome and inadvertently discovering what could be a new Eritrean national anthem.

Niigaan and Dan talk about recent developments in the police investigation of an alleged serial killer who preyed on Indigenous women. Plus, a feature interview with Sandra Delaronde, former chair of the Manitoba MMIW Coalition and a deeply personal story from former MLA Kevin Chief.

Dan and Niigaan sit down for an extended chat with new Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. And Winnipeg poet Chandra Mayor explains why it's so difficult for poets to do concert tours.

Isha Khan, CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, discusses the state of hate throughout the world. Oh, and a new theme song that will likely never be heard again.