Reading List: Companion reading to the Maclean’s debate

We’re ready to host Maclean’s National Leaders Debate, August 6 at 8 p.m. ET. And we know that we’re ready because of our years of comprehensive coverage from Parliament Hill since the last election, full of smart, incisive reads from our Ottawa bureau and our newsroom at large. We have long interviews with our parties’ leaders; we have deep dives on national issues; we have insight into the thinking that goes behind the decisions that affect all Canadians.

Here’s a curated selection of some of Maclean’s big reads from the last few years that will help get you up to speed on some of tonight’s debate’s biggest issues.

• 
  PROFILE: THOMAS MULCAIR
  The definitive profile of the NDP leader, by John Geddes.

• 
  PROFILE: JUSTIN TRUDEAU
  Paul Wells presses the Liberal leader on what a Justin Trudeau government would look like.

• 
  ECONOMY: WHAT HAPPENED TO CANADA’S ECONOMIC MIRACLE?
  Stalled growth, rising debt — Canada’s stuck.

• 
  ECONOMY: HOW SAFE IS YOUR JOB?
  The recession is over, but factories are still closing, companies are downsizing and people are getting laid off.

• 
  ECONOMY: STEPHEN HARPER’S SURPRISINGLY LIBERAL ECONOMIC RECORD
  An exhaustive audit of Stephen Harper’s nine years in power reveals an economic record that’s (gasp) not so conservative.

• 
  DEMOCRACY: MICHAEL CHONG, UNLIKELY REVOLUTIONARY
  How a private member’s bill may change the face of Parliament.

• 
  DEMOCRACY: TIME TO SCRAP THE SENATE?
  After months of scandals, could it finally be time to scrap the Senate? John Geddes reports.

• 
  DEMOCRACY: THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IS A SHAM
  No one shows up. Nothing gets done. The sad decline of our most important institution.

• 
  DEMOCRACY: IGNORE THE SENATE
  Stephen Harper’s go-it-alone approach to Senate reform was doomed from the start. And now he’s free to focus on his real interests.

• 
  ENERGY: PUMPED TO FIND ANOTHER WAY
  Time for Plan B as Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines stall.

• 
  ENERGY: THE UNTOLD STORY OF KEYSTONE XL
  How one Nebraska farmer tried to kill the pipeline.

• 
  ENERGY: STEPHEN HARPER, OIL’S WORST ENEMY?
  By trying to protect and promote the oil sector, the Harper government effectively shackled Canada’s pipelines in purgatory.

• 
  ENERGY: CRUDE AWAKENING
  Paul Wells on why unlocking Alberta’s vast petroleum riches will be anything but easy.

• 
  COALITIONS: INSIDE A CRISIS THAT SHOOK THE NATION
  Secret meetings, shocking alliances, faulty strategies—and one wonky video camera.

• 
  FOREIGN POLICY: STEPHEN HARPER GOES TO CHINA
  The prime minister’s trip wasn’t about trade, goodwill or pandas. It was about crushing his opposition at home.

• 
  FOREIGN POLICY: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
  Why Barack Obama shelved the Keystone pipeline, and insulted Canada (yet again) in the process.

• 
  TERROR: BREAKING DOWN BOTH SIDES OF BILL C-51
  An expert panel with Ray Boisvert, a security analyst who spent nearly 30 years with CSIS, and Craig Forcese, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

• 
  TERROR: JUSTIN TRUDEAU DEFENDS VOTING FOR C-51
  The Liberal leader says he’s surprised anyone would ‘make it seem like the Liberal party doesn’t care about the Charter.’

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Read our in-depth primers on the 12 issues that will dominate the election