Here's what to expect from On the Trail (Isaac Peltz) in 2026
This year is going to be insane, politically. Here's what you can expect from me.
2025 is over. It was the most eventful year in Canadian politics of my life.
2026 looks to be similar, with our first major event being a latin american coup instigated by Donald Trump. They have been saying quite openly that they will allow the new president, Delcy Eloina Rodríguez Gómez, to continue running the country if she does everything the Trump administration wants.
Canada is walking a delicate balance into the future, with Carney and Anita Anand releasing statements that are simultaneously congratulating Trump and condemning Trump for his actions. Canada, at first glance, seems safe. But if Carney remilitarizing the nation is any indication, the Liberal government does not think that we are safe from United States imperialism. Elbows up was code for re-arming our country.
That in mind, this year is going to be chaotic in Canada (politically.) Floor crossers, Poilievre, Carney, Quebec elections, BC and Alberta being chaotic, Montreal municipal politics are going to be spicy… If you want to support me, now is the time. This year will be huge in Canadian politics, and I will be right there, scrutinizing government overreach and creating articles to help you understand our government and what we need to be fighting against. Folks, fund me for the rest of the year– help me stay in the fight! I live almost entirely off of your subscriptions. Without your help, none of this happens.
In my view, this is also the year where AI will become indistinguishable from reality. This has me highly concerned, but it means we, as a society, need to redouble our efforts in finding truth and become more reliant on people we see, and whom we trust. I hope you’ll support me so I can be exactly that. In my ethics disclosure I outline the exact way that I use AI, if you want to read it. I will be adhering pretty strictly to my ethics disclosure, so I encourage everyone to read it if you want to understand my approach to journalism, view on the world, and approach to things such as corrections and AI.
In the spirit of AI becoming the dominant force of our lives in the next year, I want to be up front with you all in hopes that we can continue building trust. It’s important to build this trust, and it’s important for everyone to find people they trust, because it’s gonna be rocky for a while. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel suspect of everything online. I am detaching myself from the internet and my phone.
In the spirit of domination by AI, and a very intense political year, I want to outline what my approach will be this year, so you know exactly what to expect. What will your $5/month produce? I have it boiled down to a very predictable math, and I expect to do exactly what I am presenting to you right now. You can expect exactly what I’m presenting here.
Socials
As always, I’m going to be making social media posts. My social media strategy is divided into stories and posts.
Something I started doing sometime last year was posting the top headlines in my stories every morning with a little update around midday if anything else happened. It’s only headlines, and I usually throw in a little commentary into it. The commentary is mostly to make you laugh, and is rarely serious. I also try to add a bit of context, or give a bit more background. It doesn’t replace reading the news and scrutinizing it yourself, but when we’re all so busy and so stressed, these stories can be a useful resource. Now, on instagram, you can share my stories in your stories! So, please take advantage of this resource and help inform others! I hope it will serve you well.
With posts, I think by the end of last year I had developed my format. I feel bad for you all, you’ve had to deal with me learning on the fly all year! I’ve grown and learned a lot this year, and will continue to do so. I’ve been really enjoying taking my best written posts and condensing them into ten slides. I’ve also been making more videos in my studio, when I have the ability! It’s much better, and allows me to produce higher quality stuff, and show sources on the screen. I hope you’ve been liking this format, because it’s much better in my opinion, and more informative.
Expect, with some give or take, 2 videos and 1 carousel/written post a week, or the inverse, 2 written and 1 carousel. Depends on the week. Also, this is not set in stone. If I wind up publishing as a freelancer you can expect extra stuff– sometimes I publish four articles in one week with various media across Canada, and I wouldn’t expect that to change. I love working with established media.
Finally, if you haven’t already, subscribe to my slowly growing youtube. I will be doing longer form stuff on there when it’s possible. My social media strategy is fairly well developed at this point, and I’m feeling quite confident in it.
Substack
Substack is often my best work. Social media might be what I’m known for, but one time Christopher Curtis, king of the Rover, said to me “Yeah, you’re alright at videos, but you’re at your best in written form.” I’m inclined to agree.
With substack, I’m adapting my approach a bit this year. Every time I release big, long reports they do really well and have much more value in the long term. Thus, I have developed an efficient strategy that I believe will appeal to most people.
I will be releasing the Gab & Isaac show every Monday, which I have retooled to be a bit more organized and resourceful. It will cover the news from last week, the biggest of the biggest news, with commentary, opinion and analysis from Gabrielle and I. Every other week, along with the G&I show, expect the French version of the show along with the ever brilliant philosopher, Ludvic. Le Plancher des vaches is in partnership with Pivot. I’ll let you know if there’s interruptions to the podcasts ever, sometimes Gab is travelling or I’m busy, or both of us are busy. But we’ve been fairly consistent.
I’ll also be continuing to do interviews with people in power across Canada, although don’t expect a built in weekly schedule for that. I am also producing longer form video investigations, but similarly, don’t expect a set schedule on that one! It’s gonna be as I find time. Video documentaries take way longer than writing, despite being (in my opinion) less detailed. Thus, I’ll focus my efforts on big weekly writing projects.
After these two podcasts, and the interviews, you can expect a weekly Saturday update with the various databases I’m working on. Right now, I am working in partnership with J-Source on the piece about Post Media (it’s been pretty much done for a month and a half, but I wanted to work with J-Source on it,) I have the newest version of the database of MPs as landlords ready to go in partnership with Aedan. Lots more of this coming this year, but it’ll be more quality over quantity from here on out.
I also work with other media, often! But these have no rhyme or reason, and are impossible to predict when or how this will happen. Thus, expect articles when they happen. They’ll appear at random, whenever someone wants to work with me.
Just a reminder, that you can go into substack settings and choose which things you get emails for. If you only want the news articles sent to your email, you can turn off podcast emails. If I were you, I’d put the rss feed of the podcast into your podcast application, and only receive emails of the articles. But hey, that’s just me! If you like getting notified by email when the podcast is out, be my guest. Nonetheless, make sure your email preferences are set as you like!
Publication schedule simplified:
Monday: Gab & Isaac Show (English news analysis & opinion)
Tuesday (every other week): Le Plancher des vaches (nouvelles françaises analyse & opinions)
Saturday: Weekly major publication
Random: interviews and videos, or publications with other media
Later this year, I will be announcing a major project as well. I will be announcing it in April. It will be in collaboration with one of the coolest media in Canada, and we are planning the exact itinerary and details of the project, but it’s already got the green light. I will announce it when it is ready, but expect something exciting in mid-late April. For now it shall remain a secret and not be spoken of again until then.
If you want to support this work, and push for better information, come along for the journey, five dollars a month is as affordable as it gets! I’m excited for 2026. It’s going to be momentous.