Playing chicken on Parliament Hill

On the world premiere of the Playbook Canada podcast, hosts Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric take you inside the budget brinkmanship, leadership jitters and diplomatic dust-ups driving this week in Canada — plus 200 seconds with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

With Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget reveal on Tuesday, the Hill is playing chicken over whether Canada is about to stumble into a Christmas election. Nick and Mickey trade fresh reporting from Ottawa about who wants to make a deal to pass the budget, and who would rather see the government fall.

Then, after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s “despicable” RCMP comments and the fallout, they discuss the Conservative Party’s other leadership options for a totally-not-happening (unless it happens) contest in the future.

Also on this week’s podcast: Minister Anita Anand shares her next big project after China and India – and explains why she is such a devoted runner.

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