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 OMNI studios to talk about the stories that matter. This week, Aaron Wherry and Paul Wells join Cormac Mac Sweeney to talk about federal budget fallout, assess the opposition’s claim that the Tory plan favours only the rich, and consider Justin Trudeau’s alternative proposals a few months out from an election.

THE HEADLINES

• ON THE BUDGET A 518-page campaign pamphlet

• ON TAXES Income splitting helps the middle class

• ON NAMES The budget’s fictional characters

• ON DUFFY A trial briefly in focus

• ON ALBERTA Wells on the campaign trail

• ON DEBATES Maclean’s wants to host one