September 10, 2018
SHARE
CANADALAND
#243 What Does ‘Off The Record’ Actually Mean? The Toronto Star And BuzzFeed Explain.
Confusion over "off the record" played a pivotal role in global affairs this past week. So — how does this oft-misunderstood agreement actually work, and why do so many powerful people continue to misuse it?
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher

Jesse speaks with Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale about his scoop on Trump’s off the record comments about Canada amid NAFTA talks, and to Buzzfeed News’ editor-in-chief Ben Smith about an “off the record” email Elon Musk sent to one of his reporters.

More from this series
“There are many agents from the regime within Toronto and other cities documenting our faces and our presence.” -Bahar Almasi
March 9, 2026
"You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." -Morpheus
March 5, 2026
“Everybody needs to know about this. We need to shut this down. This is aviation. This is training. There are safety issues here.” -Jeff Weeks, Aviation Executive
March 2, 2026
“I knew that the swarm of reporters was going to descend and that everybody wanted a little piece of somebody. So I was like, well, I will allow myself to be the bone that the news hounds chew on.” -Trent Ernst, Reporter/Editor/Publisher at Tumbler RidgeLines
February 23, 2026
“ If you think the world is better with Canada in it then you have to accept that certain things have to happen for that to continue.” -Jay Baruchel
February 16, 2026
“ That is not what we were promised. That's not what our patients expected.” -Dr. Alier Marrero
February 9, 2026
We wanted to know all of your local gossip. How toxic is your subreddit? How angry are your community Facebook groups? And boy, did you deliver.
February 5, 2026
This is a tale of revenge. It’s also a David and Goliath story, about one man going up against giant corporations and winning.
February 2, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND