Each week, the Maclean’s Ottawa bureau sits down to discuss the stories behind the week’s stories in our politics podcast, On The Hill.

They also gather in the City TV studios to talk about the stories that matter. This week, the bureau talks about balanced budgets—can a deficit become politically popular?—and the state of the nation’s finances. They also take stock of the election campaign’s first month and what might come next.

THE HEADLINES

• 
  ON BALANCE
  Mulcair promises black ink

• 
  ON DEFICITS
  Trudeau pitches red ink

• 
  ON CHOICES
  Try our Policy Face-off Machine

• 
  ON EMAILS
  How to ignore your inbox

• ON BOYS CLUBS
  The speech Joe Oliver never made

• 
  ON BATTLEGROUNDS
  Two boy wonders want Ajax