Lessons from covering referendums

Just over a year ago, when we were launching The Hatchet, there was one thing in particular that worried me — I’ve never felt fluent in federal politics.

I think I knew as much as your average journalist — I followed the news, I had my opinions and I had a general sense of the history. But outside of the occasional story, it just wasn’t a beat that I had a lot of experience covering.

Once Trudeau resigned in January 2025, it became clear that Parliament Hill was going to dominate the news cycle. And so over that winter break, I set myself a mission. I was going to learn as much as I could about federal politics.

I went back and read through (or at least familiarized myself with) as many of the classic books of Canadian political journalism and history as I could. Most were written by authors that we don’t talk about much anymore, despite the fact that they were giants of their respective eras. Christina McCall-Newman, Jeffrey Simpson, Peter C. Newman, Donald Creighton, John Duffy. And then there were excellent books by more contemporary writers about the Ottawa of the past and present from journalists like Susan Delacourt and John Ibbitson.

But none of these writers, great though they may be, made me feel like I was getting a nitty-gritty understanding of federal politics more than Paul Wells.

Now of course, like almost every journalist in the country with even a passing interesting in federal politics, I’ve been reading Wells for years. But during that winter, I really immersed myself in his work, his books, past features, his current reporting, the whole shebang.

And I have to say, I often found myself disagreeing with him. But I emerged with a new appreciation for what he does.

Wells has a keen eye for history and a willingness to call out b******t. His prose is evocative, without being flashy. And despite his many, many years of experience reporting on politics from Montreal and then from Ottawa, he never felt to me like he’d been co-opted by the Laurentian establishment.

I’m sure this sounds like a lot of unnecessary fawning over someone who is probably the most respected political journalist in Anglo-Canada.

But I just want to convey to you all how excited I was to talk to him — especially right now, at a time when Canadian politics all of a sudden feels more serious than it has in years.

Since the beginning of the New Year, we’ve been inundated not with soundbites, not with scandals, but with speeches.And I don’t think there’s anybody better to dig into these serious times than Wells.

During our conversation, we covered a lot of ground, including the 20th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election and the ups-and-downs that Carney and Poilievre have recently faced. But I was especially glad that we got to spend a good amount of time talking about the return of national unity as a serious political issue in this country.

Featured in this episode: Paul Wells

To Learn More

"The longer he's not Prime Minister" by Paul Wells on Substack

"Get started on maybe: Memories of the 1995 Quebec referendum" by Paul Wells on Substack

Right Side Up: The Fall of Paul Martin and the Rise of Stephen Harper's New Conservatism by Paul Wells

The Longer I'm Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, 2006- by Paul Wells