The Walrus

On November 9 at Democracy Live, join author Dr. Peter Ives, journalist @kirannazish Anishinaabe social innovator Diane Roussin, and Strong Cities Network's Eunhye Lee for Democracy Provocations: City and Country We Build. Get tickets: www.eventbrite.ca/e/democracy...

A look behind the work at The Walrus Lab. Get updates on our latest projects, partnerships, and collaborations. Subscribe to The Walrus Lab Insider, with the next edition coming soon! Sign up here: thewalrus.activehosted.com/f/25

When a premier calls a snap election halfway through a four-year mandate with little reason, voters notice. Now, former BC premier David Eby has lost his seat to a virtually unknown Conservative leader. How did this happen? Doug Firby unpacks it: thewalrus.ca/bcs-conservative...

The Canadian jewellery brand Mejuri made its fast rise in our brave new world of ethics—or, at least, talking about ethics. But is its “cute” factor obscuring the labour and environmental damage that makes its “sustainable” success possible? Writer Kathy Chow reports: thewalrus.ca/mejuri-jewellery/

The BC election will go down in the record books as one of the most spectacular political blunders in Canadian history. It should also be a lesson. Doug Firby analyzes how now-former BC premier David Eby’s antidemocratic gamble backfired: thewalrus.ca/bcs-conservative...

Grounded in local realities, Democracy Live connects Winnipeg and Manitoba to the national democratic conversation. Join The Walrus and DXC+ on November 9 to address economic sovereignty, diversity, and housing security: www.eventbrite.ca/e/democracy...

Our December issue is full of treats: a deep dive into an unprofitable jewellery company, a snapshot of what Canadians go through to get hair transplants in Turkïye, and an inside look at why the publishing industry is losing faith in nonfiction. Get into the hype: thewalrus.ca/how-to-protect-y...

They might have stark political differences, but Mark Carney and Doug Ford have formed an unlikely alliance against US tariffs. Is their anti-Trump bromance enough to deliver results to Canadians? Drew Nelles is on the case: thewalrus.ca/doug-ford-mark-c...

“Freedom and democracy are no longer compatible,” said billionaire Peter Thiel. As Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures draw closer to Trump, that vision is taking on new significance. Gil Durán on what happens when tech wealth and political power converge: thewalrus.ca/billionaire-nerd...

The Walrus is inviting Canadian podcast creators to submit to be part of the network by Monday, November 30. The Walrus Podcast Network will include a new flagship show from the media organization, plus a slate of carefully selected independent podcasts. Read more: thewalrus.ca/the-walrus-annou...

Canadians tend to vote against parties, not for them. But what happens in a snap election where some candidates are only weeks old and others skip media interviews entirely? Contributing writer Michelle Cyca investigates: thewalrus.ca/bc-snap-election/

“The ability to go on strike is the only leverage workers really have,” says Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. So if Bill C-39 is meant to induce labour peace, why is it aiming to undermine the constitutional right to strike? Our deep dive: thewalrus.ca/bill-c-39-mark-c...

Declining voter turnout, local media deserts, and social media feeds clogged with foreign disinformation have made the perfect storm for a scandal-plagued snap election. As it approaches, are British Columbians headed to the polls completely in the dark? thewalrus.ca/bc-snap-election/

Is Canada heading for a major labour showdown? A new omnibus bill, C-39, aims to speed up projects. The catch? It would grant federal ministers unprecedented strike-breaking powers. Political scientist @David_Moscrop on the unions fighting back: thewalrus.ca/bill-c-39-mark-c...

25 years ago, Canadarm2 cemented Canada’s role in the International Space Station. On this episode, astronaut Scott Parazynski and CanadianSpace Agency flight controller Timothy Braithwaite take us behind the scenes of this landmark mission. 🎧 Listen: lnkfi.re/canadian-tim...

“Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house,” said Orwell in pre-chatbot 1946. Read Jason Guriel’s argument against AI prrose: thewalrus.ca/chatbots-are-lou...

For every dollar in tax collected by the province, Ontario municipalities get just ten cents. Between aging infrastructure and spiralling costs, small towns across the province are struggling to stay afloat. Here’s the story of one: thewalrus.ca/the-ontario-town...

Stanley Kubrick amassed 276 books on Napoleon for a film he never shot. Elizabeth Bishop spent twenty-six years on a moose poem. “A great work of art demands great labour,” writes Jason Guriel. “It wastes time, not water.” A rebuke against AI chatbot optimization: thewalrus.ca/chatbots-are-lou...

What happens when a Northern Ontario town of fewer than 500 people faces a $2.6 million deficit and nobody wants to run for mayor? Read Kunal Chaudhary’s feature on Fauquier-Strickland and the financial pressures facing municipalities across Ontario: thewalrus.ca/the-ontario-town...

Since 2016, the City of Toronto has spent about $27 million to design and install bike lanes. It’ll take an estimated $48 million to rip them up. Here, we crunch some of the numbers for what Doug Ford’s war on bike lanes will cost Toronto’s residents: thewalrus.ca/doug-ford-is-spe...

“I bled for thirty-one days, cervix gaping / in the heat of an El Nino summer, / forbidden to swim, have sex, bathe.” Read Amanda Merritt’s new poem, “Miscarriage.” thewalrus.ca/miscarriage/

Canada is shaped by multiple stories and identities. At Democracy Live, hosted by The Walrus and DXC+, speakers share how our democracy grows stronger when we let these shared narratives unite rather than divide us. www.eventbrite.ca/e/democracy...

Mark Carney can’t stop collecting feathers in his cap. Floor crossers, co-operative Conservative premiers, former leaders and ministers—and now, Saint Stephen Harper himself. How Harper is helping Carney to undermine Pierre Poilievre’s clean partisan divide: thewalrus.ca/carneys-latest-w...

“This whole exercise has been a colossal failure, morally, intellectually, and constitutionally.” In the aftermath of the Alberta vote, our editor-in-chief tries to make sense of what just happened and the “cellular weakness” that’s been exposed in our institutions: thewalrus.ca/the-separatists-...

“I don’t know why we romanticize Old MacDonald. He went bankrupt fifty years ago.” As traditional family farms give way to corporate agriculture and “entrepreneurial” operators, what are we losing? On the steep rise and fall of a mega farm in Saskatchewan: thewalrus.ca/a-mega-farms-fin...

At its peak, Monette Farms oversaw grain production across 492,000 acres and held 1.2 million acres of cattle grazing leases—an area larger than PEI. Now, the mega farm has entered creditor protection, owing nearly $1 billion. What happened? An investigation: thewalrus.ca/a-mega-farms-fin...

For a decade, Stephen Harper has had a reputation as a bland politician with a sinister reputation. But it seems Prime Minister Mark Carney has found an unexpected political virtue in him—and it’s creating a major headache for Pierre Poilievre. Read the analysis: thewalrus.ca/carneys-latest-w...

Yesterday, Albertans voted overwhelmingly against a second vote on whether to secede from Canada. But the separatists have already succeeded in turning their cause into a national crisis. How did we get here, and what’s left to lose? Our editor-in-chief reflects: thewalrus.ca/the-separatists-...

Beyond the ballot, there are the people who have to live with the outcome. CIBC Digital Journalism Fellow Ketsia Beboua is on the ground in Calgary, speaking with Albertans about Referendum Question #2 and hearing what they have to say in their own words.

CIBC Digital Fellow Ketsia Beboua is on the ground in Calgary, listening to Albertans share their perspectives on Referendum Question #1. As Alberta votes, The Walrus is making room for the voices behind the answers.

Once doubt is sown, phase two of the disinformation campaign begins: building global conservative consensus that Albertans are “oppressed” by Canadian policies, gun laws, and cultural values—and framing US annexation as “liberation.” On what might happen next: thewalrus.ca/what-if-alberta-...

Polling data suggests there’s no likely path for Alberta separatists to win the referendum, but they still believe they will—and they’re susceptible to narratives that the election is rigged. Here, former defence analyst Brynn Tannehill plays out what could happen: thewalrus.ca/what-if-alberta-...

“Prostitutes sat beside me. Drug dealers stared. Murderers and rapists, some with chains on their ankles, looked down at the floor in shame or glared across the room… Did I really belong here?” Read an excerpt from Rick Campanelli’s new memoir, Tempted: My Story. thewalrus.ca/i-had-a-dream-jo...

With thousands of dollars owed to casinos, Rick Campanelli couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was going to happen on his way to Las Vegas. When he landed, homeland security was waiting. An account of the gambling addiction that nearly cost him everything: thewalrus.ca/i-had-a-dream-jo...

Successful adaptations have an uphill battle: they need a clear relationship to the original material and to also stand on their own. But why do we care so much about the quality of adaptations as adaptations? Isn’t it enough for a movie to just be good? thewalrus.ca/is-a-bad-jane-au...

On this episode of WONK from @ppforumca.bsky.social and The Walrus Lab, explore findings from a landmark survey of Canadian foreign policy views, revealing surprising areas of agreement on trade diversification, global health, and the state of democracy in Canada. Listen: lnk.to/wonkpodcast

In our latest batch of letters to the editor, our readers weigh in on writing from David Moscrop, Sarah Treleaven, and Alex Cyr. thewalrus.ca/canines-conducto...

“I can feel the salinated bulge / of the IV; the distorted edge / of the sun’s call and response.” Read Jim Johnstone’s striking new poem, “Waking from Anaesthesia.” thewalrus.ca/waking-from-anae...

For decades, the debate over book adaptations was dominated by “fidelity criticism”—the idea that a good movie must faithfully reproduce its source text. But in a post-“Austenmania” world of creative liberties, what are the stakes and limits of the adaptation? thewalrus.ca/is-a-bad-jane-au...

In Sault Ste. Marie, Algoma Steel employed over 3 percent of the city’s population—with over 40 percent being laid off this year. Writer Shilpashree Jagannathan on the fallout of the US tariffs and what the Canadian government is doing about it: thewalrus.ca/first-algoma-now...

In 2000, neuroscientist Karim Nader made a groundbreaking discovery that changed the field forever. When a long-term memory is retrieved, he found, it temporarily becomes unstable, prone to revision or erasure. Now, Nader is facing his own cognitive decline. thewalrus.ca/karim-nader/

“Whatever you thought of the Parti Québécois’s arguments for breaking up Canada, the question it posed was as consequential as it gets: Does a nation need its own country?” Read Carmine Starnino’s editor’s letter for our November issue, on newsstands now. thewalrus.ca/why-do-alberta-s...

In a country of many stories, how do we build the civic muscle to stay united? Join us in Winnipeg or online on November 9 for Democracy Live: Stories Shaping Change, presented by The Walrus and DXC+. www.eventbrite.ca/e/democracy...

Unlike in North America—where hair loss is a taboo that gets joked about—patients in Istanbul report a complete lack of self-consciousness, often running into each other in hotel elevators or at the breakfast buffet. Nobody bats an eye. thewalrus.ca/hair-transplant/

Arriving at the Istanbul airport often means being met by private drivers in Maybachs. “It’s hard not to see them as an extension of the hypermasculine fantasy, an aspirational glimpse of the luxury that comes with a new and improved you,” writes Andrew Seale. thewalrus.ca/hair-transplant/

Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s proximity to MAGA circles has appealed to right-wing figures like Steve Bannon, who frame the province as the “linchpin” for future US dominance and Arctic competition. Smith, says Bannon, is one of few who “really gets it.” thewalrus.ca/danielle-smith-i...

Separatist sentiment has always simmered in rural Alberta, but no premier has gone further than Smith in legitimizing their grievances and aligning executive power models with conservative US movements like the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint. thewalrus.ca/danielle-smith-i...

In this episode of This Being Human from the @agakhanmuseum.org, discover how community-led preservation is transforming Esna, Egypt, while keeping its heritage alive. 🎧 Listen: lnk.to/this-being-h...

“AI-generated writing is a scourge, no doubt, and maybe constantly scanning for it will make it go away,” writes Colin Horgan. “But more likely, the result of our constant vigilance will be that we ruin reading.” On the trend producing a skeptical readership: thewalrus.ca/readers-think-th...

“Trying to figure out what AI writing looks like is turning writer and reader into adversaries.” Colin Horgan unpacks how the AI-writing witch hunt has produced a new kind of reader: skeptical, antagonistic, and unwilling to give humans the benefit of the doubt. thewalrus.ca/readers-think-th...