Gloves Off returns for season two on Canada Day 2026, with eight new episodes and new YouTube aftershow

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at Davos garnered international attention but also raised questions about the exact nature and role of middle powers in a shift away from our decades-long dependency on the United States. These questions are the focus of eight brand-new episodes about the threat to Canada’s sovereignty and how the country can thrive in a new world disorder.

Gloves Off, season two, launches weekly starting on Canada Day wherever you get your podcasts. A video version can be seen on Youtube and Spotify. In addition, a Youtube aftershow called Cross Check features additional analysis from host Stephen Marche in conversation with Vass Bednar of the Canadian Shield Institute and Jon Shell of Social Capital Partners. Further research provided by the Canadian Shield Institute.

Season two subjects include: the viability and potential formation of middle power alliances; how Canada’s trade and economy might benefit from them; our adoption of asymmetric warfare capabilities, the building of digital sovereignty with a move away from the American tech stack; defense of our cognitive sovereignty; fending off foreign influence bad actors.

We talk to experts from around the globe who share lessons Canada could adopt to form a third pole of power in alliance with other middle powers.