Three Commons hosts, three NDP leadership hopefuls, one sweltering studio. On this episode, just days before the first vote closes in the race, we speak with Niki Ashton, Jagmeet Singh and Charlie Angus about Canada-Indigenous relations, the environment, the economy and the future of the party.

Indigenous writer and activist turned politician Wab Kinew scored a historic victory last weekend by decisively winning the leadership of the Manitoba NDP. Only days before the election, however, allegations of domestic assault surfaced. A former partner of Kinew filed charges in 2003. Those charges were stayed in 2004. How has the media handled this story, and who pushed the court records to the press? Was it, in fact, someone from his own party? The National Post’s Jen Gerson joins us.

Jagmeet Singh gracefully responded to a racist idiot, which proves he can lead a major political party we guess. Also, racism is totally not a problem anymore, according to the most widely-read columnists in the country.

Welcome back to a brand-new season of Commons! To kick things off, the Commons team is profiling each of the four candidates vying to replace Thomas Mulcair as leader of the federal NDP. This week, we speak with Guy Caron. Also, we look at the summer political stories that evolved while we were on hiatus: the Charlottesville tragedy and subsequent events in Canada, the influx of asylum seekers crossing the border and Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle which may have just doubled the bureaucracy for Indigenous peoples.

The Texas of the north. Racist rednecks, gun nuts, and pickup truck enthusiasts. That’s the Alberta stereotype portrayed in much of the rest of Canada, but how much of that is accurate and how much is due to lazy media that falls back on clichéd tropes? After all, Alberta gave us the first big-city Muslim mayor, the first provincial cabinet with gender parity, and hell, led the charge for women’s suffragism (okay, that was a century ago, but still…). Despite the province’s increasingly young and multicultural population, some still believe that the only real Albertan is a conservative Albertan. And that extends to the two men – Jason Kenney and Brian Jean – who inked a proposal to merge the Conservative and Wildrose parties last week. Are they, and their policies, reflective of a new, diverse Alberta? Joining Omar to unpack Alberta’s multifaceted conservative history is Calgary journalist and author Sydney Sharpe, whose 2016 book, Notley Nation: How Alberta’s Political Upheaval Swept the Country, documented the historic 2015 provincial election which saw the NDP sweep aside the governing Tories after an unprecedented 40-plus-year run. Also in studio is Duncan Kinney, former journalist and current Executive Director of Progress Alberta.

The government declared that ISIS is committing a genocide against Yazidis. Vicky and Supriya look into what that means for Canada's obligations.

MPP Cheri DiNovo on why she couldn't sit back and watch the NDP make any more mistakes.

A farm worker wants better conditions for foreign labourers, and is Trudeau bending gender norms in politics?

Libertarian Matt Bufton does not want to be lumped in with Conservatives; a story of a Brenna Kannick's death in remand; the NDP proposed a bill to create gender equity (nearly) on the ballot.

Ex-Chronicle Herald columnist Lezlie Lowe talks about quitting the paper over its refugee schoolyard story, Trudeau's quantum computing spiel and how pundits have handled the Leap Manifesto.