Recent reports have seen Russian forces make some of their biggest gains into Ukrainian territory in recent weeks, while aid for Ukraine from western allies has become harder and harder to come by. Does that mean a Russian victory is inevitable? Or does it merely signal a new phase of a conflict that will continue for some time?If Ukraine can't get help from its allies as it has since Russia's invasion, what happens to its forces? And what happens to NATO and other allies if Russia is able to scale up its aggression? Two years into this war, so much of the world's future still hangs in the balance...GUEST: Oleksa Drachewych, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Western University, lecturer in History at King’s University College  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

When the longtime CBC news anchor began his career as a reporter in the early 1970's, giving people the news was among the most trusted and important occupations in the country. When he retired in 2017, it was the era of "fake news", as trust in the media was at an all-time low. Seven years later, it's even lower than that.So what happened? Did the media lose people's trust? Did the internet do it for them? How does a legendary face of Canadian news grapple with the fact that, if he were in the chair today, less than half of Canadians would trust the news he delivered? Can anything be done to fix it? Or is it already too late?GUEST: Peter Mansbridge, former anchor of CBC's The National, host of The Bridge podcast We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Most people would support the concept of preventing children from accessing online pornography. But the devil is in the details. How exactly do you do that? And what level of privacy will you ask adults to give up to make it happen.A bill currently sitting in committee has this very goal, but no details yet to go with it. It may involve asking sites like industry leader PornHub to take access users' identification. It may even require facial recognition software. Nobody knows. PornHub, meanwhile, is saying it won't break the law, but it also might just decide to block all Canadians from the site, just to be safe.When politicians staret legislation pornography, it can get messy pretty quickly. And here we are...GUEST: Stephanie Taylor, Parliament Hill reporter, The Canadian Press We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In early February, a man was stabbed at what was believed to be an illegal rooming house in Toronto. A few weeks earlier, a fire at another left one person dead. The city says it can't count the number of illegal rooming houses that exist right now. And the people who live in them often pay a lot of money for a small room and what can be unsafe living conditions.And they don't have a lot of options if something goes wrong -- which it often does. The city plans to tackle the problem by allowing legal rooming houses across the city, but advocates are unsure if this will help or hurt the problem. How do these houses exist? Who lives in them? And what can illegal homes do to their tenants, and the neighbourhoods where they sit?GUEST: Pat Taney, CityNews  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Every criminal case up for trial needs a judge. But in Canada, not every case gets one. Recent years have seen a severe and growing shortage of judges across many levels of the justice system—in some cases this means cases that have waited years for a trial must be thrown out. Not only does this mean people accused of serious crimes simply walk free, it means that potentially innocent people are spending years waiting for a trial that never comes. How did we end up in this mess? Why hasn't the government appointed more judges? How many more cases will be tossed in the meantime?GUEST: Jacques Gallant, courts and legal affairs reporter, The Toronto Star We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Welcome to the first feedback episode of The Big Story. Today lead producer Joe Fish and host Jordan Heath-Rawlings go through your comments, questions and concerns to shed a little light on TBS listeners, how we make the show and what you think of some of our topics and guests.  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Jennie has been searching for a one-bedroom condo in Vancouver for over two years. Despite having money for a downpayment, her search has been largely unsuccessful. Now, she's wondering if home ownership is really the best option.Jordan calls Dr. Tom Davidoff, housing economist and real estate development expert, to find out if buying a condo is a good investment in today's market.  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It can -- but the better question might be: Is it something that could be used against you? The technology does exist to use a sample to create a sketch of a person's face, but there are doubts about its accuracy, and how much value it provides.But that hasn't stopped police from taking these sketches and running them through facial recognition software. Searching for ... someone who looks like the a drawing a computer made when it was given your DNA? Welcome to the next level of investigative technology. As you might imagine, the experts have concerns...GUEST: Dhruv Mehrotra, staff writer at WIRED We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

When Toronto's mayor presented her budget on Wednesday, the city's police services got everything they had asked for, with Olivia Chow retreating from her original plans to fund a smaller increase. Across Canada, police budgets continue to increase by millions of dollars per year, as the associations representing the police effectively lobby politicians and the public—often with vague warnings about rising crime and public safety.So let's look at the numbers. What is the correlation between police spending and crime rates? Why do police say it's taking them longer to respond to calls? Will more officers actually improve the force's efficiency? And ... is crime, including car thefts, really spiking in Canada right now?GUEST: Ted Rutland, associate professor at Concordia University, research focusing on policing in Canada. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

There's simply never been a Canadian sex survey that's comprehensive, scientific and intimate all at once. For decades we've relied on data from the United States, unscientific surveys thrown together by brands around Valentine's Day or specific looks at one narrow aspect of sexuality—such as contraception or monogamy.In her new book released today, Sex in Canada: The Who, Why, When, and How of Getting Down Up North, McMaster University sociology professor Tina Fetner examines every aspect of how we do it, who we do it with, how often and ... if it's good. As well as everything else you always wondered about your neighbours in the bedroom...GUEST: Tina Fetner, professor, McMaster University We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Cory Doctorow is one of the world's leading technology journalists and activists. Some of his specialties include information security, fraud and technology. He's written books about these things. And a little while ago...he got scammed. Totally ripped off.The lesson is an old one: If it can happen to him, it can happen to you. But it's also bigger than that. How quickly are fraudsters evolving their approaches? What is "swiss-cheese security"? How did one of the internet's leading experts get duped, and how can you learn from his example?GUEST: Cory Doctorow, technology journalist and activist, author of many books, including The Bezzle, releasing Feb. 20, 2024 We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Last year, small business insolvencies hit a level not seen in more than a decade. And that was before this January's deadline to repay pandemic relief loans in order to have some portion of them forgiven. Most businesses haven't seen pre-pandemic levels of business return—and inflation coupled with high interest rates mean consumers have less and less money to spend.How precarious are the independent businesses in your neighbourhood right now? If they close up shop, will anything replace them? Why has the government declined to extend loan repayment further? And what happens to our neighbourhoods if these businesses keep vanishing?GUEST: Ryan Mallough, Ontario vice president with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Kacey and her partner just welcomed a new baby girl into their lives. And with this bundle of joy has also  come a ton of new expenses.Jordan talks to money expert and mom of two, Melissa Leong, to find out how new parents are making it work.  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It would have to be quite the drug, right? Actually, no. While these are real health problems, with many of the impacts of a chronic physical illness, the fix isn't a new pharmaceutical. It's a new approach to a cure as old as society itself—social interaction with one's community.The problem is, lots of people who struggle with isolation might not have the means or ability to simply get out and do it. That's where the prescriptions come in...GUEST: Sonia Hsiung, director, Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

There was once a memorable slogan, used by everyone from booksellers to presidents, that proclaimed "the world needs more Canada". Now, in an era defined by chaos and conflicts, climate change and a return of authoritarian politics, what role should Canada play?Traditionally, our country has had an outsized presence on the global stage—at least when compared to our population and our tiny military—but is that still true? As the world changes, and new players rise to power, does Canada still have an important part to play? Do we even have a coherent approach to the current combination of crises?GUEST: Louise Blais, foreign policy analyst; formerly senior diplomat and Canada's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Men are this way, and women are that way. Entire careers in industries ranging from self-help to advertising to standup comedy have been based on this premise. Superficially, it can sometimes be sort of true. But generally, when it comes to political ideology, it hasn't been. Until now.It's a very recent phenomenon, but it's pronounced. And it's accelerating—the percentage of young men and women who describe themselves as liberal and conservative is breaking wide apart in many countries, including here in Canada. We don't know why this is happening, but we do have some good ideas. And we don't know what the implications are, but most of them seem pretty bad...GUEST: John Burn-Murdoch, columnist and chief data journalist for the Financial Times We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In much of the world, fertility rates are falling—but very few countries have seen theirs fall as far and as fast as Canada. With just 1.33 children per woman, we're not close to a stable level, meaning that without immigration Canada's population will decline.Why aren't Canadians having more kids? Do we need to? How did fertility rate become such a polarizing statistic? And if we did want Canadians to have more children, what could we do?GUEST: Don Kerr, Demographer, Kings University College at Western University; formerly Statistics Canada We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Since October 7, there has been no shortage of reporting about Israel's invasion of Gaza. And the death toll keeps climbing. But what has been rare are firsthand accounts of daily life in the region. Today, our guests describes being in Gaza on October 7, the days that followed, as well as what's missing from the mainstream reporting and why.GUEST: Louis Baudoin-Laarman, Doctors Without Borders Communications Manager for Palestine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Lynda has a dental emergency and is struggling to cover the cost of treatment. Jordan speaks with Dr. Carlos Quiñonez to figure out how Canadians can get the dental care they need right now.  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

A study published in December offered science's most complete look at what domestic cats around the globe hunt and consume. The short answer? Absolutely everything, with no regard for any prey's place on endangered species lists. Some of the species found in cats' diets over the past few decades are now extinct, as outdoor domestic cats have spread to every place on earth save for Antartica.We've long been told to keep cats indoors to save the lives of thousands of birds. But what if they need to be kept indoors to save the lives of ecosystems themselves? What if cats—yes, like the small, purring cutie on your couch right now—were the worst invasive species the world has known? And what if we were their willing accomplices?GUEST: Christopher Lepczyk, ecologist and professor at Auburn University in Alabama; lead author of "A global synthesis and assessment of free-ranging domestic cat diet" We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Recently, in an effort to keep children from hurting themselves, the City of Toronto banned tobogganing at 45 parks it deemed too risky for kids. This is the latest example, but it's not a one-off. For decades now, parents, schools and governments have taken action on all sorts of things, to make things safer for kids. But is it really helping them?New research shows that "risky play" is part of the building blocks of childhood, and teaches children how to process and redirect feelings like fear and anxiety into healthier places. As we've worked to make things "as safe as possible" for kids, have we been denying them the tools they need to handle adult life when they grow up?GUEST: Dr. Marianna Brussoni, Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership; professor at the University of British Columbia; leader of the Play Outside UBC Lab We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It hasn't been an easy few years for global shipping—to say the least. From the pandemic to multiple conflicts, to accidents and disasters, getting products from point A to point B has never been less reliable or more expensive. And now a prolonged drought has the Panama Canal operating at a fraction of its usual capacity.What kind of price hikes or product shortages are at stake here? Is this temporary, or a new normal in the climate era? And if it is a new normal, what other shipping lanes might open as southern ones dry up? Should Canada be looking North?GUEST: Mie Højris Dahl, reporting in Foreign Policy We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The names aren't official yet, but a look at a roster and a little research will tell you that the four remaining players who have yet to surrender to police to face charges in a 2018 sex assault case play in hockey's biggest league. There has long been talk of a 'reckoning' for hockey culture—which has usually referenced perception, culture and lessons that are imparted behind locker room doors. This case, which will result in household names in major professional markets facing courts and consequences, has the potential to blow all that wide open.What do we know about what happened that day? Who will be charged, and with what? Has anything changed in the six years since the attack allegedly occurred?GUEST: Laura Robinson, investigative reporter and author of the 1998 book Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The state recently asked the US FDA for approval to purchase Canadian pharmaceuticals wholesale, and the US regulator said, "sure." And why not? As many Americans who live near the border know, it can be significantly cheaper to fill prescriptions in Canada. But while we may not mind doing it for a few folks making the trip, supplying a state of 21 million people, when we already have our own drug shortages, is pretty much impossible.Canada has passed regulations against foreigners buying in bulk, but there are grey areas and loopholes to contend with—not to mention the US-Canada relationship in general to keep in mind. But Florida isn't the only state that wants to try this gambit, so it will be up to Health Canada to say no, and then enforce that no. What happens next?GUEST: Joelle Walker, Vice President, Public Affairs, Canadian Pharmacists Association We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Rachael feels trapped in her Toronto rental because she can't afford to move. She has no plans of ever owning a home and wants to know what, if any, rental protections exist to curb rising rates. Jordan talks to political economist and author Ricardo Tranjan about how policy can help protect renters in Canada. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Most of the large record chains of the heyday of physical music are gone now. If the chains haven't vanished entirely, most of their stores have, and the last few are disappearing one by one. But somehow...not Sunrise Records. In recent years the chain has been expanding across Canada, buying up Canadian HMV outlets and now boasts more than 80 stores and hundreds of employees. But ... why? And how?What made Sunrise the last Canadian music chain standing, even as music industry revenues crashed, streaming services swallowed the market and much of physical retail in general began struggling? The result is a fascinating look at what distressed businesses are worth, and what consumers really want from their retailers...GUEST: Richard Trapunski, digital editor at Billboard Canada, writing in The Walrus  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Experts predict the Bank of Canada will begin to lower interest rates later this year—just not Wednesday when it held the rate flat. But as inflation has slowed in many areas, it's created an interesting problem for the bank and a troubling one for many Canadians.One of the main factors driving inflation right now is the cost of shelter—otherwise known as rising rents and mortgage costs. Those increases are driven by ... the high interest rates the bank is waiting to lower.  The BoC wants to follow through on its "soft landing" by taking a cautious approach to lowering rates. But by waiting too long, are they courting disaster for millions of Canadians trying to make their monthly home payments?GUEST: David Macdonald, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

You would expect that advances in forensics and genetic technology would lead to fewer and fewer wrongful convictions. The truth is that we have no idea how many people are in prison for crimes they didn't commit—we only know that we keep finding them. How do wrongful convictions happen in the age of DNA evidence? How hard are they to overturn? And what about all the wrongful convictions that aren't murders? Do we ever try to grapple with those?GUEST: Kelly Lauzon, PhD student in the department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University; cohost of Real Life Wrongs We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Over the past several years, the number of international students Canada admits has exploded—to more than one million in 2023. While these students have struggled to find housing and work, they've also often been deceived by marketers in their home country, promising a top-tier education that they don't actually get.Will the federal government's cap, announced Monday, help ease the burden, both on students themselves and the Canadian rental market? What does it mean for schools that rely on these students for revenue? And how did they problem become so massive the government thought this action needed to be taken?GUEST: Laura Dhillon Kane, Ottawa bureau chief, Bloomberg News We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The New York Times is suing the creator of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence bot the Times alleges was trained on millions of its copyrighted articles. It's not the only such lawsuit, but it is the biggest. What this all boils down to are questions that will determine the future of a technology that has the potential to change the world, for good or ill.How different are a human and a computer, when each is learning from example? As machines become able to mimic the creative endeavours humans have mastered, what compensation is owed to the creators they learned from? And can bots like ChatGPT even survive without free access to a world of copyrighted material?GUEST: James Grimmelmann, Tessler Family Professor of Digital and Information Law, Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

This year, Erica is getting married! Together, with her fiancé, they set a budget of $50,000, however, she's a few months away from the big day and the actual cost is closer to $75,000. Erica blames the inflated budget on hidden fees from vendors and wants to know if she's being charged fairly. Jordan talks to wedding planner, Shalini Misri, to figure out what's behind these hidden fees and how how to avoid them.  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

There have been previous attempts to launch a professional league for the best women skaters in the world—the stars we've all watched at the Olympics, who have had to work second and third jobs to keep their careers going. Those attempts have all failed. In the hopes of finally, at long last, securing a stable league, with real funding and actual, professional treatment (long lacking in other women's leagues) some of the game's best players formed an association first, and only then went looking for a league to play in. This year, they got it. And the early returns have been incredible. This is the story of the long road to a real women's league, and why this time, really, is different.GUEST: Maitreyi Anantharaman, reporter, Defector We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In 2021, then-Infrastructure minister Catherine McKenna announced a process to assess all of Canada's existing infrastructure in order to better use $180 billion to fix, modernize and improve it over the next dozen years. After that announcement the government began a consultation process on how to do the assessment. At some point in the process there were roundtable discussions, written submissions, a report summarizing those submissions and discussions and ... everything but an infrastructure assessment.What do we know and what don't we know about the state of Canada's roads and bridges, pipes and public places? Why hasn't the assessment even begun, years later? Why does the saga of the infrastructure assessment seem to explain so much of how our governments can operate, and why is it so darkly funny?GUEST: David Reevely, Ottawa reporter, The Logic We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It's shaping up to be a very strange year for electric vehicles. The market leader by a mile has just launched a much-ridiculed truck. Despite growing market penetration, analysts worry the share of EVs is no longer rising fast enough. And in Canada, governments face a tough choice between offering incentives to get drivers in the cars, or to the factories to make them.We have incredibly ambitious goals for electric vehicles in this country. We're off to a good start. Can we keep the momentum going when the people who really want them, and can afford them, all have them?GUEST: David Booth, senior writer, Driving We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Starting this month, Saskatchewan has stopped collecting a carbon levy on home heating. This is, of course, against the carbon tax legislation passed by the federal Liberal government. Premier Scott Moe acknowledges the Liberals will "say it's illegal". The Liberals say they expect the province to follow the law.Once the bill comes due in February, Saskatchewan will have a choice to make: Back down and pay, or risk fines and even charges against its energy minister for ignoring federal policy. Is this a stunt? Will Moe Flinch? And if he doesn't, is the federal government prepared to follow through?GUEST: Larissa Kurz, reporter, Regina Leader-Post We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Winter on the prairies is not usually a time to worry about drought, and fire. At least, it wasn't. But large swaths of the country, from BC through Ontario, are currently seeing a lack of snow and water accumulation that is "unprecedented in modern times," according to an expert. In one BC town, the drought is so severe residents are using bottled water. The Alberta government is already making water restriction plans for the spring and summer to come. The conditions will be perfect for a wildfire season that could eclipse last year's records. And farmers will be making choices on which crops to keep, and which to let die. Welcome to the new world, where a large chunk of Canada ... simply doesn't have enough water.GUEST: John Pomeroy, hydrologist, Professor in the department of Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Kara is being asked to pay back all the money she received from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit back in 2020. But she’s making less now than she was before the pandemic and all of her expenses have gone up. She doesn't have the means to pay the Canada Revenue Agency and might have to file bankruptcy as a result. Jordan talks to Elizabeth Mulholland to find out why the CRA is going after this money now. Then speaks with licensed insolvency trustee, Doug Hoyes, to learn more about what it means to go bankrupt in Canada. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

If you compare us to peer countries, it's an embarrassment. Other nations have high-speed rail corridors shuttling thousands of people across distances between cities at speeds of up to 300 km/h. They are fast, sleek and almost always on time. Even the United States, which hasn't bothered to do much of anything with its vast resources, has better, faster trains than we do.If you ride Via Rail on its busiest corridors, you're planning for a delay—or at least, you should be. The trains and tracks we're using now haven't changed much in decades. If anything, thanks to more traffic, they've gotten slower. Canada has had many opportunities to fix our nearly-broken passenger rail system. We've even made real plans to do it. So why hasn't it happened?GUEST: Gabrielle Drolet, writing in Mainsonnneauve magazine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

None of the 177 passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight was seriously hurt, despite a panel blowing out of the middle of the aircraft at 16,000 feet shortly after takeoff. The emergency landing is a credit to the people involved. What we've since learned about this series of aircraft, though, is deeply troubling.Outsourcing is a growing trend in the aircraft industry. The company the built the key part of this aircraft—as well as others that have since been grounded—was already mired in an ongoing court case for allegedly cutting corners. This is not the first time a large chunk of Boeing planes have been grounded over safety concerns. What's happening in the airplane industry? And what do you need to know if you're flying?GUEST: Katya Schwenk, reporter at The Lever We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

They're in every city and town in Canada—the visible evidence of overlapping crises and a lack of resources to help people in need. In the past, most governments and police have dealt with encampments by tearing them down and moving their residents on. But recently courts have become more inclined to grant injunctions against that, in some cases even requiring governments to provide working bathrooms or water.As this trend continues, one expert on the legal fight over these tent cities believes we'll see more courts refusing to let cities destroy the encampments. Which will leave most communities and governments with two options: Find the resources to safely house their most vulnerable residents, or accept that tent cities will become a fixture in many public parks and spaces—and everything that entails.GUEST: Stepan Wood, Professor at the Peter Allard school of law at the University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Law, Society and Sustainability We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

You're not supposed to be paying to be prescribed drugs in Canada. You're also not generally supposed to get those prescriptions without being examined and, you know, speaking to a real live human being. But a recent investigation found that it's possible to be prescribed the country's hottest drug, which is currently facing a shortage, by using an online portal and paying $99.Where did this loophole come from? Who's exploiting it and why? Why do government regulations allow this? And what does this kind of process say about our current system as a whole, and the future of for-profit health care in Canada?GUEST: Morgan Bocknek, investigative reporter at the Toronto Star We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Conspiracy theories used to be weird, and kinda fun. Now they're everywhere, and pretty dangerous. Last year marked a significant evolution in the mainstreaming of fringe beliefs—and we're not talking about "The moon landing was faked". These conspiracy theories are often hateful, and frequently cited as a call to arms.With 2024 being a key year for elections around the globe—headlined by an American presidential campaign that will feature these theories at its core—what do you need to know about how these theories spread, where they go from here, and what new fringe beliefs will enter the mainstream conversation this year?GUEST: Amarnath Amarasingam, Assistant Professor in the School of Religion as well as Department of Political Studies at Queen's University; research focus on conspiracy theories, terrorism and online communities We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Frances has been a freelancer for the past 10 years. In that time she's never been able to stick to a budget. This year, she wants to change that, but an unpredictable payment schedule mixed with the rising cost of goods is making that goal more difficult.Jordan talks to small business accountant, Joe Collins, about how to build and maintain a budget when nothing in your financial world is predictable. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Now that Sydney—a town of 30,000 people on Cape Breton Island—has put its toxic sludge behind it, it's looking for a fresh economic start. Many towns in Atlantic Canada have found that in tourism, which usually comes from advertising to fellow Canadians in other provinces that the east coast is affordable, beautiful and perfect for a family vacation.Sydney, however, is taking a different path. A path that hopes to encourage the 1% of the world's 1% to bring themselves, and especially their outrageously expansive, ridiculously extravagant and, yes, environmentally sketchy mega vessels to its harbour. And, of course, their untold wealth to local businesses. Will this plan work? Is it a massively ambitious way to boost the economy? Is it a little ridiculous and perhaps foolishly careless of its environmental impact? Is the answer to all of those questions is "yes"?GUEST: Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It certainly seems like this season has been worse for illness than most previous years. But has it? If it has, is it the pandemic? Is it the "triple-demic"? Or is it a normal pre-pandemic cold and flu season that we use to just live through, or do we know it's worse?Whatever the reasons, hospitals are crammed, polls say nurses and doctors are fleeing their professions and we're trying to figure out: Will winters just be like this now? If they are, what do we do about that?GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, epidemiologist, science communicator specializing in global health, Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Health Sciences We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

For the first time in years, 2023 saw Canadian voters shift their federal vote intention in a meaningful way, giving the Conservative Party a huge lead in the fall, before the Liberals clawed back a few points in December. With a federal election a year or less away, the race in more volatile than it's been in recent memory—so what might make a difference this year?Meanwhile, three provinces will also go to the polls, and we'll learn a lot from the results of those elections as well. From the man who watches every riding, poll and election across the country, we take you what could be a year of big changes in Canada's political landscape.GUEST: Philippe J. Fournier, Editor In Chief and creator of 338Canada.com We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Canadian grocery giants have long claimed that they've only raised food prices to offset their increased expenses. But now, with many supply chain issues having been resolved, and energy prices coming down, the Canadian consumer still isn't feeling any relief, and the grocers continue to post record profits.  With many Canadians already struggling to feed themselves and their families, and food prices projected to rise even further in 2024, restoring food affordability has become an absolute necessity. So how do we do that? GUEST: Jim Stanford, Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work 

To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024.Happy new year! ----------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:One of the biggest problems facing humans attempting to travel anywhere in space that's farther than the moon is the years it will take to get there. A small ship simply can't support normal human life for that long. We need too much food, water, exercise and stimulation. But ... what if we didn't? What if we could shut ourselves down, the way animals do in the middle of winter, needing limited supplies and passing months as though they were days?This used to be the realm of science fiction. It's not anymore.GUEST: Brendan I. Koerner, contributing editor at WIRED, author of The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking 

To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024.Happy new year! --------------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Over the next few months, we're likely to find out how well Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually protects marginalized groups. A divisive policy enacted in Saskatchewan would require students to obtain parental consent before using a different name or pronouns at school. Advocates say the policy will out transgender kids in potentially dangerous homes. A challenge to the policy is currently before the courts, but rather than wait for an answer, Premier Scott Moe plans to use the "nuclear option"—the notwithstanding clause—to push the policy through. This will likely spark protests, court challenges and perhaps even an escalating response from the federal government. It's a complex and compelling governmental battle—with some of the country's most vulnerable kids caught in the middle of it...GUEST: Charlotte Dalwood, freelance journalist specializing in legal issues, writing in Xtra magazine

To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024.Happy new year! -----------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:For the past few years, orcas off the coast of Portugal and Spain have been attacking, and sinking, small boats. At least three boats have been completely sunk, and many more have needed urgent rescue. This behaviour doesn't occur in other orcas, and nobody can figure out exactly what's changed.There are some theories regarding trauma, or differences in their habitat. There are very real things called "orca fads"—like that time they wore dead salmon on their heads. And there is, always, humanity's endless desire to use our own narratives to explain animal motives—which is why you see people asking if the orcas are fighting back. But what's really at the heart of this behaviour? And what happens if it spreads?GUEST: Stephanie Pappas, science journalist, writing in Scientific American

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is.Coral is disappearing across the world. As much as 50 percent of it is gone. But technology we've been working on for decades is beginning to pay off, allowing us to thaw cryogenically preserved coral and mature it to adulthood. It won't fix everything overnight, but it's a major breakthrough for our hopes of regrowing the reefs we've lost, and preserving other sorts of vanishing biology.GUEST: Brent Foster, independent science writer, in Hakai Magazine

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is.Lots of companies make a tidy profit from the notion that you'll throw out their products and buy new ones every so often. This applies to everything from clothes to appliances to electronics. They don't really want you wearing that shirt you like forever, or installing the latest software on your phone from six years ago. But...tough luck. A growing community of millions of DIYers is rediscovering the lost art of repair, teaching others how to do it and fighting for the access and tools needed to make our stuff last, at long last.GUEST: Allie Volpe, senior reporter for Vox

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is."Superbugs" are antibiotic resistant bacteria that have for years now been winning the war against medicine. Part of that is because we haven't been able to find any new drugs that work against them. But a new antibiotic, and a new way of funding the creation of these drugs, may have just swung the war drastically in humanity's favour.GUEST: Dr. Gerry Wright, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is.Today: A story about birds that might as well be a Netflix reality show. No spoilers here. You have to trust us.GUEST: Fatima Syed, Ontario Reporter, The Narwhal

Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is.Today: You might have thought—based on everything you've seen and heard in the media and through your social channels—that the pandemic turned us all into angry lunatics, yelling at one another and throwing tantrums. We're delighted to inform you that's simply not remotely true, and we have the data to prove it.GUEST: Dr. John Helliwell, professor emeritus at The Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia; a founding editor of The World Happiness report

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------Anna has $9000 in credit card debt and needs help getting her spending under control. Jordan talks to money expert, Tori Dunlap, about why our collective credit card debt is rising and how users can avoid accumulating more debt than they can handle. Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

In 2025, Canadian astronaut Josh Kutryk will take to the stars for a stint on the International Space Station, the latest in a long string of examples of Canada punching above its weight in space exploration. What will he be doing there? How does the ISS manage to stay above the global geopolitical fray? How on Earth (literally) do you prepare for months in space?And just how far beyond the ISS will Canadian astronauts one day travel?GUEST: Josh Kutryk, Canadian astronaut, engineer and pilot, and occupant of the International Space Station in 2025

Even if you didn't know his name, you knew Daniel Langlois' work. Everyone who likes movies did. Langlois was the man who ushered Hollywood into an era of 3-D special effects, including on films like Jurassic Park and The Matrix.On Dec. 1 he and his partner, Dominique Marchand, were found dead in Dominica, in a burnt out car. Police say they had been shot. Their neighbour and another man have been charged with the crime, and court documents reveal a previous dispute between Langlois and the neighbour. What do we know about Langlois' life, his death and the potential story behind it? What might we still learn as police investigate? GUEST: Kenyon Wallace, investigative reporter, The Toronto Star

It started as a way to earn a few extra bucks on the side—or at least that's how Uber was pitched to potential drivers when it came to Canada in 2014. But now for many it's way to (try to) earn a living, one that's been getting tougher for years, and streets become crowded with empty Ubers hunting their next fares.That's one of many reasons Toronto placed a cap on handing out new rideshare licenses this fall, a move that's prompted Uber to sue the city. The fight between Toronto an Uber offers a perfect window into ridesharing grew beyond what cities prepared for, and where it will go next, win or lose.GUEST: Thorben Wieditz, urban geographer and the co-founder of MetStrat, a research and campaign firm that specializes in public interest campaigns, including RideFairTO (Read his piece in Ricochet.)

If you've been fooled by a viral photo or video out of Gaza in the past two months, you're far from alone. In fact you're in the company of journalists and media outlets as well, that's how fogged with mis and disinformation this conflict has become. You may not even know you were fooled, because the debunking of the information didn't travel nearly as far and wide as the initial report.Why is Israel's invasion of Gaza more difficult to parse than even the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia? Why is it so hard to get on-the-ground reporting from inside the region? How does this problem keep getting worse and what can you do to protect yourself from bad information?GUEST: Dr. Valerie Wirtschafter, fellow at the Brookings Institution in Foreign Policy, and the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative. 

If you know one food that's bad for the planet, it's probably beef. It's one of the worst polluters in the entire food industry, and its popularity means the scale of the beef industry is enormous. So much so that convincing people to give up beef has been a staple of the climate movement.But people who like beef don't want to forego their steaks and hamburgers, so one of the world's largest producers is now selling "climate-friendly" beef, and its been USDA approved. But how "friendly" is it? Is it enough to offset the damage? And will we ever be able to enjoy both prime rib and a stable climate future?GUEST: Kenny Torrella, staff reporter at Vox

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------Sal is getting ready to host family and friends for the holidays but is worried about how much food, drinks and gifts will cost this year.Jordan talks to retail analyst, Bruce Winder, to breakdown the cost of hosting and find creative ways to save. Then, he talks to financial expert, Kelley Keehn, about how to handle tricky money conversations with your guests. Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

Most of you probably at least glanced at it. And many of you were excited and eager to share your Spotify Wrapped details with your friends and followers. After all, isn't that the whole point? To show off your musical taste, connect with others who share it and provide free marketing for a streaming behemoth? Spotify's Wrapped is the biggest and most popular of algorithmically created personal year-end lists, but it isn't alone. Why do these things always suck us in? How has Spotify managed to convince us to pay them, instead of the artists we love directly? And if Spotify is getting all our money, why isn't it turning much of a profit?GUEST: Kelsey McKinney, reporter and writer at Defector, host of Normal Gossip

"The pill" has been around for more than 60 years now. And while it changed society, sparked a sexual revolution and helped reshape the workforce ... it still kind of sucks for a lot of people who take it. The past six decades have seen incredible medical advancements, but somehow hormonal birth control remains the go-to for a lot of people who menstruate—even though we keep discovering new side effects even today.Why hasn't the pill gotten much better over six decades? Why haven't better alternatives come to market? What is possible in the world of birth control and science pushes further? And why, despite promising research, is there still no proper birth control for men?GUEST: Nicole Schmidt, writing in The Walrus

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doesn't think the federal government's proposed clean energy regulations are fair, and last year she gave herself the tool she needs to fight them. The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is designed to allow the province to refuse to enforce specific federal laws or policies "that violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta."Of course, the act hasn't been tested in court, and it's difficult to know if Smith is doing this because she intends to fight these regulations all the way, or as a bargaining chip, since Ottawa has not officially confirmed the specifics of the regulations. Either way, the use of the act sets a precedent that the country should be watching closely on every issue that divides federal and provincial governments... GUEST: Rod Nickel, Reporter, Reuters, covering energy, agriculture and politics in Western Canada, focusing on energy transition

Very soon, Canada will introduce legislation to offer massive tax credits for projects that include a significant amount of carbon capture. In theory, this is a good way to make sure new projects don't add much in emissions. But in practice, most carbon capture projects are used to allow us to keep harvesting fossil fuels, which will then be burned somewhere else, adding to emissions in Canada and beyond.What is carbon capture technology and how does it work? Could it be a powerful tool to help us cut emissions? Why is it mostly used by fossil fuel companies? And why does so much of the discussion of saving the planet these days feel like haggling over bookkeeping?GUEST: Dr. Emily Eaton, professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Regina

The concept of retirement used to be a few years at the end of your life, between when you stopped working and when you died. But the average lifespan kept increasing, while the retirement age stayed at 65. Now Canadians believe they'll need $1/7 million to retire in comfort, and most of the 1,000 people retiring each day in this country don't have it.When you combine that with the economic turmoil, high interest rates and increasing cost of living, the savings they do have aren't stretching as far as expected, either. So many "retirees" are going back to work. How did we end up here? And given what we've learned about aging recently, is working during "retirement" really a bad outcome?GUEST: Cathrin Bradbury, formerly "retired" journalist, writing in The Walrus

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------Mo feels guilty spending money on social events like concerts, restaurant outings and shopping trips. But they are tired of missing memorable moments with friends. Jordan interviews personal finance expert, Shannon Lee Simmons, to determine if there’s a way to have fun without ditching your financial goals or racking up credit card debt.Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

When Olivia Chow was running for mayor, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said a Chow victory would be an "unmitigated disaster". Almost six months later, he was on stage with her, thanking her on working with him on a historic deal. He called their collaboration "amazing" and the deal "one-sided" in the mayor's favour.How has the most important relationship in Ontario politics evolved? How did this deal come together? Why isn't the federal government involved? How soon will Torontonians see the impact of it? And how does Chow plan to prioritize the many problems her city faces?GUEST: Olivia Chow, Mayor of Toronto

For years, some researchers have been sounding the alarm, about the spread of wild boars—called 'super pigs" for reasons that will become clear—on Canada's prairies. A few years ago, the situation was bad. Now it's critical. The pigs are multiplying and becoming harder to hunt or capture. They've now been seen in British Columbia and Ontario. And the US media is now reporting on the threat of Canadian super pigs. So yeah, not good.How did we end up here? How did the pigs become "super" in the first place, and what have we done about them so far? What could we do, and would it work? And what's the worst-case scenario here if we don't get their spread under control?GUEST: Dr. Ryan Brook, professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan

If you squint, it could be a trip back to 2017, when cannabis was on the cusp of becoming legal and most cities in Canada were inundated with 'dispensaries'—unlicensed retail storefronts selling pot as if it were already just fine. Mostly, crackdowns on those failed, pot became legal and everyone stopped caring. Until this year, when the cycle began again with a much different drug... Now, stores with names like "Fun Guyz" and "Shroomyz" have opened across the country, and the enforcement, or lack thereof, seems similar to 2017. But how are these two situations—and two substances—different from the cannabis experience? What does the rise of retail 'shrooms' tell us about psychedelics in general? And is psilocybin really on track to become the next legal, recreational drug? GUEST: Daniel Eisenkraft Klein, PhD Candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Fellow at the Canadian Centre for Health Economics

Rent in large Canadian cities is at ridiculous highs. It's hard to find a decent apartment. and sometimes even harder to keep it. Landlords can afford to neglect their buildings because units are so scarce, and what options do tenants have, exactly? Leave?! Stop paying rent?!Well, yes, there are several rent strikes happening in Canada right now, mostly in Toronto. Some of them are closing in on six months or more. Evictions have been long-threatened, but slow to happen. Nor have the tenants received any concession or negotiation, even when the mayor stepped in. So what are rent strikes, how do they work, and what should you know about a renter's "last resort"?GUEST: Ricardo Tranjan, Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; author of The Tenant Class

Picture it: Mosquitoes that don't spread disease. Aphids and potato beetles that stay away from our crops. Biting insects that don't bite humans. There's an awful lot of good in a world where we can make those changes. There's just one catch...In order to do those things, we have to genetically modify those creatures, using cutting-edge technology that allows us to basically rewrite their code. The upside is tremendous, so the work is being done. But there are ethical questions as well as safety concerns: Are we messing with something we don't yet fully understand? What happens if it goes wrong? And ... ummm ... isn't this how the bad parts of sci-fi techno thrillers always begin?GUEST: Ben Matthews, University of British Columbia, co-author of a report submitted to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------Sam wants to leave her comfortable white collar job to pursue her passion project full time. But she's not sure if she's financially ready to make the jump. Jordan interviews personal finance expert, Jessica Moorhouse, who went down a similar path a few years ago. Together they break down how to manage this massive transition. Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

Cameron Ortis was once seen as a fast-rising RCMP intelligence official. This week, he was found guilty of offering up Canadian intelligence to people for cash. How did he fall so far? What was he attempting to sell, and to whom?In the bigger picture, Ortis' trial was a first for Canada, in a year of many unprecedented national security issues. What can we learn from this trial, and from Canada's approach to national security in 2023? Are we finally getting serious about threats and how we tackle them?GUEST: Catharine Tunney, parliamentary reporter, CBC, covering national security and the RCMP

It's one of the world's strangest alcohol sales arrangements. Since the end of prohibition, beer in Ontario has primarily—sometimes nearly exclusively—sold at a signle chain of stores, that sell only beer. Nothing else. And while The Beer Store began as a collection of Canadian brewers, it is now almost totally owned by two megacompanies who hold a huge competitive advantage.A report last week indicated that the agreement that governs the situation will be allowed to expire, and the announcement will come before the end of the year. How did Ontario end up with The Beer Store in the first place? How has it held so much power for so long? And what will happen when it loses its hold on the industry?GUEST: Josh Rubin, business reporter, The Toronto Star

If you haven't noticed yet, Canada's labour movement is undergoing a bit of a resurgence. Workers are unionizing more, and those that are already unionized are using their newfound leverage to win concessions from employers. Amid this climate comes Bill C58, which will prohibit some employers from using replacement workers (commonly known in unions as "scabs") during strikes or lockouts.How long has this bill been in the works, and exactly what does it cover? What happens if critical workers leave the job? How will non-unionized Canadians feel it, if at all? And what can it tell us about the direction of both the labour movement and the federal government right now?GUEST: David Reevely, Ottawa correspondent, The Logic

In June 2021, Nathaniel Veltman intentionally ran his truck into the Afzaal family, who were simply out for a walk. All but one member of the family was killed, and Veltman later said he did it because he was looking for Muslims to run over. Last week, Veltman was quickly found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.His trial, the first in Canada to officially associate terrorism with white supremacy, offered a glimpse into where he found his hatred, how it twisted him, and how similar attacks might be prevented. His sentencing may also indicate just how the courts will treat terrorism charges in cases like these going forward.GUEST: Wendy Gillis, crime reporter, The Toronto Star

Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants come to Canada, looking for a better future for themselves and their children. The federal government is aiming to keep that number rising—but it's a tough time to be a new Canadian, with affordability and housing crises, an uncertain future and rising numbers of hate crimes.So how do recent Canadian immigrants feel about their decision to make this country their home? What did they expect coming here, and what did they actually get? Do they feel the dream they came here chasing is still within reach? Or do they regret their decision? A massive new cross-country survey from OMNI News gives us an exclusive look into the Canadian immigrant experience.GUEST: Rhea Santos, journalist, OMNI News Filipino

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Suki is in the market for her first car. She would like to purchase an electric vehicle but doesn't know if she can really afford it.Jordan interviews an auto industry expert to  better understand current market trends and develop a roadmap for buying a car right now.Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

If there's been one progressive assumption about cities over the past couple of decades, it's that they need to be greener—more trees, more parks, more green projects on top of buildings, all of that. And while the goals are laudable, and the plant life will surely help in the climate era, a new books asks if we're so concerned with making cities green that we're forgetting to make them functional for the people who use them?What exactly makes for a great city? Why does every development project you see now have a tinge of 'greenwashing' to it? Is there a way to make our cities better for everyone, and better prepared for the climate era that might not be as pretty, but would provide much more formidable infratructure and services?GUEST: Des Fitzgerald, Professor of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences at University College Cork, Ireland. Author of The Living City: Why cities don't need to be green to be great

Shots fired at Jewish schools in Montreal. Slurs screamed as Muslims outside a mosque. Clashes of protesters on Canadian campuses and at weekend marches. General demands to pick a side, or be placed on the other one. While every day in Gaza and Israel brings more death and tragedy, and more allegations of atrocities, the fallout from the conflict here is taking its toll on the fabric of Canadian unity.Where is the line between free speech and hate speech? What are police and governments doing to keep Jewish and Muslim Canadians safe? How can their neighbours help? And how do we find dialogue and push for human rights and freedom amid so much hate and death?GUEST: Dr. Mira Sucharov, professor of Political Science at Carleton University, specializing in Israeli-Palestinian relations

It's not the old former players in charge of the NHL—the guys who thought banning pride jerseys and tape was a smart idea—who will determine the future of hockey. It's the kids playing now, with big dreams and bright futures ahead of them, who will ultimately create whatever the game becomes. So how do we make sure hockey really is for everyone? How different is the culture right now among young players? And how are the youngest players in the NHL now bringing a different approach to their locker rooms and benches?GUEST: Brock McGillis, advocate and activist; first openly gay men's professional hockey player, speaker on the Culture Shift tour

Every week brings more layoffs and closures to local news outlets across the country, especially newspapers. It's a result of a business model that simply doesn't work anymore, say the owners making the decision, and it's tough to argue with that. But there is a business model that has begun to succeed—small, community- or subject-focused digital outlets that survive and even thrive thanks to government grants and funding from a small number of passionate readers.These are the publications that might replace the outlets that are vanishing, but they need to find an audience. And Bill C-18, designed to help Canadian media survive in the digital era, has set the world's biggest platforms against these tiny but growing outlets, making an uphill climb even steeper...GUEST: April Lindgren, principal investigator for the Local News Research Project (LNRP) at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism. 

Last year, Canadian restaurants took in roughly $100 billion in revenue, more than the pre-pandemic year of 2019. This year it's pegged to be $110 billion. Yet a third of all restaurants report they are losing money, up from just seven percent before the pandemic.Even as lockdowns eased and diners returned, a complex set of problems face restaurants in particular—and now the industry's lobby group says we're beginning to see double the numbers of closing as openings. How did this happen, and how do we keep small, local restaurants afloat?GUEST: Kelly Higginson, president and CEO of Restaurants Canada

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Daniella wants to prioritize her health. But is having a hard time justifying the costs she has incurred trying to eat healthier and feel stronger.Jordan interviews an author who has written about modern wellness culture to unpack the ways we've altered our understanding of health and wellness. Together they try to answer: How much should it really cost to take care of our well being? Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.ca. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

Everyone knows by now about health-care worker burnout. Nurses fleeing the profession. Doctors retiring early. And the absence of so many of both leaving more crucial work for their increasingly strained colleagues, and the system as a whole. What you may not know, is that things are much the same for vets and vet technicians across the country—and it's taking a massive toll on the animal caregivers who remain.Canadians adopted an additional 500,000 pets during the pandemic, and right now there are fewer vets to care for them than there were in 2019. And the ones who are trying to keep Canadians' pandemic pets healthy are seriously struggling.GUEST: Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press

For months now, recent polls have been terrible for the federal Liberals—and specifically so when it comes to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A recent survey found that a majority of Canadians want him to step down before the next election in favour of a new lIberal leader, and a longtime Liberal senator recently called for him to do the same.Surveys and suggestions are a long way from reality, though, and there's no clear idea if Trudeau will walk away, or if he does if any member of his cabinet would perform any better. There are rumours, though, about an outside who wants the job—a non-politician with an impressive resume and the credibility to be an instant contender. So who is he? And have we seen this movie play out before?GUEST: Stephen Maher, writer, reporter, political commentator at ipolitics.ca

Airline passengers in Canada have rights. They're called the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, and they determine how much you're owed if your flight is delayed, overbooked or cancelled for various reasons. The problem is, the compensation is often tough to get, and there's very little incentive for the airlines to simply pay it every time.In an effort to simply get what they are owed, some Canadians take the airlines to small claims court. Sometimes they settle, and sometimes they even win. But the process is long and difficult and doesn't result in punitive action. Why is it so hard for some Canadians to get what they're owed when the airline gets it wrong? And what should you do if it happens to you?GUEST: Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights

Regulating short-term rentals like AirBnB to ease the housing crisis isn't a new idea. It's been tried in plenty of cities in North America and beyond. But British Columbia's new legislation goes much further than most, and though it was just announced two weeks ago, a glance at apartments on sale in Victoria and Vancouver show that it's having an impact already.What's in the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act that makes it a step beyond other North American efforts. Has it gone too far, or not far enough? And if it works, could it become a model for other provinces to follow?GUEST: Ryan Hook, writing for Ricochet

Jane Doe was assaulted by a police officer. That's never an easy case to win, but she wasn't without allies. Even still, her case was lost. At least, at first.This is a story of what happens when you don't stop fighting for justice. When you end up at the Supreme Court, with an officer from a 300-year-old police force on the other side, and you don't waver. It's a story about how you change more than just the outcome of your own case...GUEST: Lindsay Jones, Atlantic Canada reporter, The Globe and Mail (Writing in The Walrus)

The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy!--------------------------------Jeremiah has seen real estate prices sky rocket to astronomical levels and he's worried he won't be able to afford a home. He's curious about co-ownership and wonders if it's possible for him.Jordan interviews two real estate professionals who specialize in co-ownership sales. Then, he speaks with someone who's living in a home he owns with his partner and another couple. Together they try to answer: Is co-ownership a viable path to home ownership? Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at hello@itepod.com. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. 

One hundred years ago, raccoons were so rare in Toronto, that a mysterious creature rummaging in a garbage bin warranted a newspaper report. Today, raccoons are basically the city's mascot—literally, the creatures are on all sorts of Toronto memorabilia. The war Toronto waged on raccoons spanned decades, with no end of amusing skirmishes. But it's abundantly clear that it's over. The raccoons won, the people lost, and now we just try to protect our garbage and hope the mess isn't too bad.This is how Toronto became the raccoon capital of the world—gradually, then suddenly.GUEST: Amy Dempsey, senior writer, The Toronto Star(Looking for a new podcast? Have a listen to the team behind The Big Story's newest show, In This Economy?! The first episode is out right now, with new ones arriving each Thursday.)

Quebec's CAQ government has spent years tightening laws around languages in the province, with a stated aim to protect French as its predominant language. Their latest attempt, doubling the tuition paid by out-of-province students attending English universities in Quebec, has led to anger, condemnation and protests in the streets.One of the policy's stated aims is to change the linguistic makeup of downtown Montreal, where thousands of students and others recently marched against it. Why target Canadian students this way? Will it work to achieve the government's aims, or could the new policy have consequences nobody has considered?GUEST: Alyssia Rubertucci, reporter, CityNews Montreal(Looking for a new podcast? Have a listen to the team behind The Big Story's newest show, In This Economy?! The first episode is out right now, with new ones arriving each Thursday.)

It's a very small piece, to be sure. But it's also a huge precedent. Almost immediately after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement last week, the government was fielding requests for similar carve-outs from across the country. on Tuesday, Saskatchewan made formal plans to stop paying part of the tax entirely, daring the federal government to enforce it. Meanwhile, everyone from the opposition to climate advocates have criticized the message the decision sends.So what, exactly, are the Liberals doing to their signature policy? What's the motivation for the move? Is it practical, or panic-induced? And what's coming next?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews(Looking for a new podcast? Have a listen to the team behind The Big Story's newest show, In This Economy?! The first episode is out right now, with new ones arriving each Thursday.)

It can be difficult to sort fact from fiction, or anecdotes from data, when it comes to a subject like assisted dying. The topic itself is so emotional. The stories of those who don't qualify or from family left behind, can be heartbreaking. And the terms and conditions used to assess someone's eligibility for the process are complex and opaque.All of that is an environment ripe for misinformation—or for potential disasters to be imagined. Next year, restrictions on the MAiD law will fall away, allowing mental illness to be a sole condition for MAiD applicants. substance use disorders may qualify under mental illness, so ... yes, drug users may be able to apply for MAiD. But that's a long way from saying their application will be granted. Today, a trip through the subtlety often missing in discussions of this controversial policy.GUEST: Jocelyn Downie, Professor Emeritus at the Faculties of Law and Medicine, Dalhousie University; works at the intersection of health care ethics, law, and policy

Depending on where you live, there's a between one-in-three and one-in-six chance that you don't have a family doctor. And the number of Canadians without one is rising rapidly. Now, at a time when older doctors are leaving the profession, the College of Family Physicians of Canada has announced plans to increase the time would-be family doctors are required to train from two years to three.Even if it's well-intentioned, the move has sparked opposition from experts and health ministers, who say we're in a crisis and desperately need new doctors. So just how rapidly is the problem escalating? What does the research tell us about the health of people with and without family doctors? Why raise the years required to become a family doctor now? And what could we do that would help encourage young students to choose this path?GUEST: Dr. Cathy Risdon, family doctor and Chair of Family Medicine at McMaster University

With the increasingly polarized rhetoric surrounding the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, and the IDF's continuous bombing of the Gaza strip, we felt it was an opportune time to revisit this episode that outlines a better way to discuss uncomfortable subjects with people you may disagree with. We hope you enjoy this episode, and find it helpful in navigating difficult conversations in your own lives. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: And how to listen to people you disagree with, so they'll listen to you.It feels like we're more stubborn than ever before. More likely to dig in our heels, refuse to listen to facts and in general hold tight to our positions no matter what. But is that true, or is that just a function of the new ways of communication that we're still learning to use?Regardless, if we can't figure out how to find solutions together, we may not have the time to figure it out. So the next time you're inclined to blow up at someone for believing in something dumb, or refusing to listen to reason, ask yourself if there's a better way to convince them.GUEST: David McRaney, author of How Minds Change

Depending on your mood, it sounds either terrifying, or like a sweet release from modernity. But solar storms hit the Earth all the time, and it's only a matter of time until a truly gigantic one fries us—it's happened before, and will again.We're more reliant on electricity and connectivity than ever before, obviously, and we don't know how the grid will handle the power of such a storm—but we know it won't be good. The problem is, we can't test for it without, well, turning it all off and then back on again. Maybe we should do that?GUEST: Christopher Mims, technology columnist, The Wall Street Journal

This week, Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra (new to the job after his predecessor resigned amid scandal in September) announced another reversal of a key government policy. This time, it was massive changes to urban boundaries outside several Ontario cities—changes most of the cities themselves fought against.Coming a week after the government introduced legislation to officially reverse its actions on Ontario's Greenbelt, and on the heels of reversals of everything from pandemic policy to license plates, is it a positive thing that this government can admit when it's wrong and change, or a worrisome sign that so many of its major initiatives need fixing?Today, a trip inside Queen's Park, where nothing is ever certain ... or dull.GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

The promise of untold millions once puffed up the legal cannabis industry to unimaginable highs. Then blunt reality set in. Now, with dreams of fortunes going up in smoke, some producers are entering joint ventures into other industries, hoping to find ways to keep business rolling.Meanwhile, the government's long-awaited review of the Cannabis Act is still pending, and everyone with money still invested in the industry is hoping the grass will be greener on the other side of that process. Is there still upside in the weed business? Or does the industry have too many chronic problems?GUEST: Tara Deschamps, reporter, The Canadian Press

Two weeks after a terror attack by Hamas, and two weeks into a devastating retaliatory bombing campaign by Israel, thousands of lives are gone, and the world wonders how and when the horror might stop. There are calls for a humanitarian pause. A ceasefire. Deescalation. It seems impossible in the moment, but then, it usually does.So today, a brief history of ceasefires, peace deals, and other quests for a pause in a deadly conflict—and an explanation from a longtime observer of how they come together...or don't. How far away might a ceasefire be now? What needs to happen? Who brings what to the table? How can Israel possibly back down now?GUEST: Dr. Randa Slim, Director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute

Technically, it's called "extended producer responsibility"—and in practice it means governments handing over the task of recycling packaging to the companies that produce the waste. It happens in some capacity in most of Canada, and now Ontario is turning all of its recycling over to this model.But can we really trust for-profit companies to take recycling seriously? Are we seeing the lower costs and packaging innovations that are supposed to be the upsides of using this strategy? When we say, "It's your mess, you clean it up!"—what happens if they don't?GUEST: Calvin Lakhan, co-investigator of the “Waste Wiki” project at York University's Faculty of Environment and Urban Change, a research project devoted to advancing understanding of waste management research and policy in Canada.

The team behind The Big Story, has a new podcast! Hosted by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, In This Economy?! debuts with weekly episodes on Nov. 2. You can follow the show on your preferred podcast app right here!

We've all been told not to judge a book by its cover. So why do so many people—from readers, to retailers, to publishers and reviewers—judge them by one little name, next to a little generic quote, that appears on that cover?If you've ever chosen your next read because the book came with a kind word from your favourite author, or if you've ever read some of those effusive blurbs, then read the book and wondered, "Did that person even read this thing?!" ... well, welcome to the publishing industry's weirdest little secret world.It's "an amazing episode of The Big Story, one of the best for sure!" — Producer Joseph FishGUEST: Sophie Vershbow, writing in Esquire(The team behind The Big Story, has a new podcast! Hosted by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, In This Economy?! debuts with weekly episodes on Nov. 2. You can listen to the trailer and follow the show on your preferred podcast app right here!)

The Israel-Hamas war is near a tipping point. At some point Israel will have to decide to push forward with a massive and unprecedented ground offensive into Gaza in an attempt to eradicate Hamas, or find a way to back down from its stated goal of its response. A large-scale ground invasion, however, may well draw other entities into a widening conflict.If Israel sends in ground troops, what happens next? How reliable is information coming out of Gaza right now? Will US President Joe Biden's presence in the region Wednesday accomplish anything? And is there any hope of a ceasefire?GUEST: Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist; Author, How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat From Within.(The team behind The Big Story, has a new podcast! Hosted by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, In This Economy?! debuts with weekly episodes on Nov. 2. You can listen to the trailer and follow the show on your preferred podcast app right here!)

Earlier this year, the province decriminalized certain amounts of some hard drugs, in an attempt to curb the overdose crisis. Nine months later, the same government has introduced legislation to ban those same drugs from public use. On the surface it looks like two conflicting approaches to the same problem—but is that true? What do we know about how decriminalization has gone so far? What will the new act mean for users in the province, and for non-users who share public space with them? How will the ban be enforced, and who will it impact? And most importantly, with the crisis closing in on a decade, and deaths still mounting ... will it help? GUEST: Dr. Lindsay Richardson, associate professor, University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity

Now that we know how huge the gap on housing is—Canada needs 3.5 million more homes by 2030—you would think governments across the country would be doing everything they can to narrow it. But instead, it's widening. In fact, our rate of building new homes has slowed to less than what it was during 2020, when many construction sites were shuttered for weeks during the first wave of Covid. How did this happen? Why aren't companies building? And if they won't, why aren't governments? Why is the problem every party acknowledges is Canada's biggest challenge still getting worse?GUEST: David Macdonald, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (author of Canada is building fewer homes today than during pandemic economy shutdown)

After a Charter challenge was turned away in Ontario, an appeal may bring the laws that govern sex work in this country directly to the supreme court—and these laws are a battleground right now.At the heart of it is this question: Is sex work inherently exploitative? Or can it be just a job? And if it can't be, then why have the courts sided with a Halifax sex worker who took a non-paying client to small claims court, and won?GUEST: Dr. Meredith Ralston, professor, Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax; filmmaker and author focusing on sex work

A couple of years ago, NFTs  were the Next Big Thing. They were everywhere, with celebrity endorsements, big media companies jumping on the bandwagon and ceaseless promotion from nearly everyone in the crypto sphere. They were "valued" as one-of-a-kind tokens to exclusive communities and riches to come.Today? A new report finds that 95 percent of them are absolutely worthless, and the communities that sprung up around them are ghost towns. Millions of dollars have been lost. But whose millions? The people who created and promoted them? Or the folks who saw a chance to join that club and put the money they couldn't afford to lose into a risky play?GUEST: Ed Zitron, writer of Where's Your Ed At? and CEO of EZPR

If you, like millions of people in Canada—and two million in Ontario alone—do not have a family doctor, the prospect of paying hundreds of dollars for the services they provide might be something you'd do, if you could afford it. That's the demand that has "nurse practitioner clinics" springing up across the province, fuelling accusations that Ontario is hurtling towards a Pay For Access system.The province's minister of health says the government is investigating the claims of patients being charged fees for these clinics—but the clinics themselves don't appear to be breaking any rules. They're just taking advantage of loopholes to find ways to charge the public for care they aren't getting under the current system. So what are the loopholes? How did we end up here? And is this really the road Ontario's health care system is headed down?GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

Since Saturday's horrific Hamas attacks and Israel's brutal response, fighting has continued, but has been contained to those two sides. There are worries, though, that may not last. Some reporting suggests that Iran, which supports Hamas and calls for the end of a Jewish state, gave approval for the attacks, which has already started some of America's hawks calling for the United States to get involved against Iran.The past four days have been bloody and heartbreaking. Many nations are trying to find a way to end the violence. Will they succeed? Or will the conflict escalate, drawing in other nations in the region, and making an already devastating tragedy so much worse?GUEST: Arash Azizi, senior lecturer in history and political science at Clemson University. Azizi's new book, What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom, will be published in January 2024.

Every use of deadly force by police in the province requires an inquest to determine how and why it happened. In theory, this prevents fear or favour from influencing the decision whether or not to hold one, ensures that an initial investigation will not simply shut down a case, and offers every family suffering through a loss the chance to ask their questions, and get their answers.In practice? As a recent investigation has revealed, it rarely works that way. And the families of those killed by police are wondering where their answers are...GUEST: Marsha McLeod, investigative reporter with The Winnipeg Free Press

Today, we're lending the feed to our friends over at Heaven Bent, a show hosted by Tara Jean Stevens that examines trends in modern christianity, and explores her own complex relationship with faith. In the first episode of the newest season, Tara Jean begins digging into an organization known as The International House of Prayer, and what she uncovers is both fascinating and thought provoking. You can listen to the rest of the season here.Enjoy!--------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESThe International House of Prayer, or IHOP as it's unofficially known, is a multi-million dollar, non-denominational, Christian organization that boasts a 24/7 Prayer Room. Thousands and thousands of people have been through its doors over nearly 25 years. In season four of Heaven Bent, host Tara Jean Stevens takes a closer look at the organization between 1999 and 2015, a period when the organization was experiencing exponential growth and their leadership was put to the test.

Romana Didulo rose to prominence in 2020, gained a massive number of followers, moved her followers from online talk to in-person action, and has been traversing thew country in a notorious RV for the past year. All of this sounds absurd, but it's all tinged with the very real threat of violence.Today, Didulo and her followers have holed up in a tiny prairie town, that absolutely does not want them there. They are encamped at an abandoned school, refusing to leave and urging more to join them. Today's episode is about the pandemic's oddest phenomenon, how it led to Richmound, Sask. and what the small community is doing about it.GUEST: Peter Smith, investigative journalist and researcher with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network

Over the next few months, we're likely to find out how well Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually protects marginalized groups. A divisive policy enacted in Saskatchewan would require students to obtain parental consent before using a different name or pronouns at school. Advocates say the policy will out transgender kids in potentially dangerous homes. A challenge to the policy is currently before the courts, but rather than wait for an answer, Premier Scott Moe plans to use the "nuclear option"—the notwithstanding clause—to push the policy through. This will likely spark protests, court challenges and perhaps even an escalating response from the federal government. It's a complex and compelling governmental battle—with some of the country's most vulnerable kids caught in the middle of it...GUEST: Charlotte Dalwood, freelance journalist specializing in legal issues, writing in Xtra magazine

The Canada Pension Plan is a world-renowned fund that controls hundreds of billions of dollars earmarked for our retirements. Alberta premier Danielle Smith, unhappy that Alberta contributes more to the fund than its citizens receive, has plans to leave the fund and start the Alberta Pension Plan—while taking more than half the CPP's money on the way out the door.Can she actually do this? How much money would Alberta get? Why would the province want to go it alone as opposed to staying in one of the world's best plans? And what happens to the CPP if Alberta leaves, even is most of the money stays?GUEST: Graham Thomson, political columnist and commentator

This is the first generation of kids to grow up entirely with smartphones in hand. Most of the time, even during school hours. Schools who have tried to ban or regulate their use have mostly failed—with a few notable exceptions. And when teachers have tried to enforce these rules on the ground in their classrooms, it can get ugly.Just how addicted are students to their phones? What are they being used for in class? Is there a way to incorporate them into learning that doesn't enable their detrimental effects? And what do we know about the long-term impact of these devices on kids who should be focusing on their studies?GUEST: Naomi Buck, writing in The Globe and Mail

You and a friend might be given two different prices by the same website for the same item. Heck, you might be given two different prices yourself depending on where you are when you're browsing the site. It's a phenomenon that began as dynamic pricing—a computer balancing supply and demand to ensure everything was sold at a price the market was prepared to pay—but it's now gone well beyond that.As algorithms become smarter and more advanced, and as we voluntarily offer our devices and the companies we do business with more of our information, the prices you see may take into account things like where you are, what device you're on, your shopping history and... well, everything the machine knows about you. Is this the kind of shopping experience we want? If not, what do we do about it?GUEST: Colin Horgan, writing in The Walrus

Somehow, nobody involved in the now-infamous affair clued into the fact that a man who was fighting against the Russians in 1943 would have been fighting ... with the Nazis. That's at the core of last week's House of Commons' screwup that has made international waves, become a hyperpartisan blame game in Ottawa and has many people speedrunning the history of the Second World War.But who's really to blame for this failure? Why will the blame land at the feet of the Liberals and Justin Trudeau regardless of the answer? And what do these frequent missteps signal about a government that seems to be getting tired, or at least giving observers that perception?GUEST: David Moscrop, author, podcaster and political commentator

Yup, the government body overseeing the economy has been hoping for a while now that some of the low unemployment rates that have been driving up salaries and opportunities for workers will vanish. It's a key pillar of their plan to steer the country away from a recession. That, and higher interest rates. All good, right?Right now a surprising amount of our economic future is being determined because, according to contemporary economic thought, things were going too well. So now we're paying for it, and hoping we don't end up paying even more. Here's how we got here, what the BoC hopes will happen, and what we can expect those forces to do to, you know, us.GUEST: Jim Stanford, economist, director of the Centre for Future Work

Last week, Ontario premier Doug Ford caved, spectacularly. He apologized for breaking his promise, and vowed to reverse his decision to open up parts of the province's Greenbelt to development. The move came after months of scandal, investigations and public outcry—it's a rare example of a politician listening and admitting he screwed up, and got it wrong.But the saga isn't over yet. There are developers who spent billions buying up land they assumed would be developed. They may sue. There are still ongoing investigations. And there is still an electorate that was showing clear signs of abandoning Ford over this move before his reversal. Will they reverse themselves, too?GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

The numbers have been climbing for years, and last year was a high not seen since the old days of manual hot-wiring. This year figures to be even worse, as a perfect storm of factors make modern cars vulnerable, movable and the target of highly organized thieves.How does a modern car-theft work, anyway? Why do the thieves seem to be ahead of the automakers? What's the best way to stop this wave, on both an individual and regulatory level? OH—and just where do all those stolen cars wind up, anyway?GUEST: Bryan Gast, vice president of investigative services at Equite Association 

In many regions of Europe, wild boars roam the landscape. Also, they're radioactive. For a long time, it was assumed the Chernobyl disaster was the cause, and that's still partly true. But the real answer goes back even further, and offers us a glimpse of how the byproducts of nuclear technology can lay dormant for decades, only detected in the most visible part of a system we're still learning to understand.This is the wild boar paradox, and this is what it can teach us about nuclear technologies past, present and future...GUEST: Becky Ferreira, science writer, regular contributor at Motherboard

You've probably got some in your medicine cabinet right now, and if you take them hoping for a relief from congestion, you're pretty much taking a placebo. A recent FDA review found that one of the most most popular active ingredients in these medications is basically useless.So how has this drug been approved and available for decades when evidence shows it doesn't do what it's supposed to? Why did it take us so long to realize it? Which medications actually will relieve congestion? And what should you do when the first cold of the fall hits your household?GUEST: Mina Tadrous, pharmacist and the host of the I'm Pharmacy podcast at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

When Justin Trudeau told the country that his government has evidence implicating India in a June murder of a Sikh leader in BC, it shocked even seasoned intelligence experts. Foreign interference is by now a nationally known problem in this country, but extrajudicial killings are a large step beyond that.What would India's role in the murder tell us about the state of Canada's national security? Will we ever find out what the government actually knows about the murder? Was there any way to stop the killing before it happened? And what must Canada do to be able to protect its citizens, even those wanted dead by their former countries?GUEST: Jessica Davis, national security expert, president and principal consultant, Insight Threat Intelligence

Last week, the president of Spanish soccer resigned amid a furor over a nonconsensual kiss given to one of  the Spanish women's team's players in the wake of their world cup triumph. Players around the world—not only women—had demanded this resignation and more, pushing for the total restructuring of Spanish soccer.In Canada, last month's collapse at the world cup marked a long-running battle between our women's team and the federation that pays and oversees the national teams. Women's teams around the world have faced similar fights. Many of them are winning. Is this the seismic shift that soccer's sexist structure has long had coming?GUEST: Shireen Ahmed, Sr. contributor, CBC sports; sports media instructor, Toronto Metropolitan University; Co-host, Burn It All Down

This afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons, and all of Canada, that this country has credible evidence that India was behind the killing of a high profile Sikh leader in BC in June. This evening we're re-sharing with you an episode we published in June, a few days after the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government had previously accused of terror offences. There were questions when it happened about if the Indian government could have been involved in his death. Canada now says it has answers. This episode explores his murder, his life, and his potential targeting by the Indian government.-----------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Nine days ago, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed in a targeted daylight shooting in a crowded area outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC. Nijjar was a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government has previously accused of terror offences— allegations he vehemently denied.His activism and controversial past have spawned many theories about who may have done this and why, but more than a week after his death, the public has seen little evidence to substantiate those rumours. Meanwhile, a community is in mourning, and they took to the streets on Sunday to demand answers.So what, if anything, can we say for certain at this point? And could this horrific crime spark further violence?GUEST: Sonia Aslam, reporter, CityNews Vancouver

In many places across Canada, outdated 911 systems are strapped for operators and barely holding on to functionality. That has led to some people calling with emergencies—like a Brampton, Ont. family dealing with a home invasion—not being able to get through to an operator. It should go without saying that if 911 doesn't work properly, lives are at risk ... yet here we are.What are the problems here? A combination of factors that are creating a serious problem. What's being done about it? Lots, but not fast enough. How do we modernize and adequately staff Canada's most critical phone number?GUEST: Graeme Frisque, reporter, Brampton Guardian and Mississauga News

You've probably noticed there are a lot of streaming platforms available these days. There are the traditional big players like Netflix, Amazon and Apple. There's Disney, with decades of family content, as well as superheroes and Star Wars. But there are also streaming platforms that cater to...everything: Horror films, British TV, Major League Soccer, Professional Tennis, theatrical performances, documentaries, influential classic films and the list goes on. All of those cost money. Add 'em up and you have something approaching or exceeding a traditional cable bill. So it's not serving most consumers well, the streamers are currently struggling to gain market share, while cancelling or not even releasing expensive projects that they've already made and are now pushing to introduce advertising.Add all that up, and what does the future of streaming look like to you? And does it work for anyone?GUEST: Angela Watercutter, Sr. Editor, WIRED

More than 250 cases, more than 20 victims in hospital. Almost all of them children, some of them in serious condition. The kids are linked to several daycares across the city. Those daycares have been linked to a kitchen, which an inspection revealed Tuesday was filled with violations.How much danger are the kids in? How on earth could this happen? Who will face consequences and where was the government during the first full week of the outbreak, as numbers climbed and parents panicked?GUEST: Courtney Theriault, reporter, CityNews

CPC leader Pierre Poilievre spent the weekend hammering a message of affordability and economic focus at his party's convention in Quebec. Most of the delegates were right there with him—but not all of them.After a great summer that saw them surge past the federal Liberals in the polls, the Conservatives are aiming to stay on track, stay unified and form government the next time Canada goes to the polls. To do that they'll have to avoid the kind of divisive, "culture-war" policies championed by some of their base. Can they do it? Will Poilievre keep the party in lockstep? And how does a party keep momentum going for two whole years, anyway?GUEST: Stephanie Taylor, Parliament Hill reporter, Canadian Press

This summer, a whole bunch of companies—including, ironically, Zoom—announced return-to-office mandates, with few exceptions. Some of those companies have since backtracked, while others have held firm. This is, however, the third September to feature these attempts to lure employees back to downtown office buildings, and it hasn't really worked so far.Will tougher measures get it done where snacks and perks have failed? Will anything convince employees who have options to give up their work-life balance for a pointless commute? What have we learned about in-person vs. remote work over the past few years, anyway? Is there really any reason this fight is still going?GUEST: Dr. Catherine Connelly, Professor of Human Resources & Management, McMaster University

On June 6, 2021, the beloved Afzaal family of London, Ontario were out for a walk, when they were hit by a speeding truck that killed four of them. Police allege that the perpetrator acted intentionally, motivated by a hatred of Muslims, and have charged him not just with first-degree murders, but also acts of terrorism.This week, Nathaniel Veltman's trial begins, and it will be closely watched to see if prosecutors can prove to a jury that far-right, white supremacist ideology motivated the attack, and if that indeed qualifies as 'terrorism' in Canada, a precedent that could change the way hate crimes are prosecuted in this country. So what will the court hear? And what might the outcome tell us?GUEST: Wendy Gillis, Crime Reporter, Toronto Star

A sign telling dogs not to park at a dog park. A regulation prohibiting baseball players from hitting home runs. A billboard the size of a small car to list extensive rules around enjoying a beer in a pilot project that has been criticized for 'encouraging' the act it explicitly permits.There are times when the rest of Canada's criticism of Toronto for being uptight and backwards is unfair. This is not one of those times...GUEST: Ben Spurr, reporter at the Toronto Star's City Hall bureau

If you've watched a sporting event—or even tuned into network TV in general—in the past year, you're probably familiar with advertisements for sports betting. There are millions of dollars being spent in the race to sign up users and encourage them to wager on everything from games themselves to tiny outcomes in real time. And some companies are using superstar athletes like Connor McDavid to do it.But at least in Ontario, that won't last much longer. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission announced new regulations in late August that will prohibit athletes from appearing in betting ads. It remains to be seen if companies will search out loopholes, create other ads, or even ramp down their TV buys to accommodate the new rules. Why are there so many gaming ads anyway, and what does the future hold for the industry as the dust starts to settle?GUEST: Dr. Timothy Dewhirst, Professor and Senior Research Fellow, University of Guelph’s Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics

You may have noticed a lack of plastic bags at some of your favourite stores, as many places in Canada phase out single-use plastics. In their place you may have been offered 'reusable' shopping bags, which are ... also often made of plastic. You may have used sustainable containers or cups—but unless you were also told how to properly dispose of them, it probably didn't make a difference. Moving towards less and more sustainable packaging is necessary. The question is all in how we do it, and how we communicate that to people who are just trying to get through their shopping, or takeout, or coffee run. So what actually makes packaging sustainable, and how can we make these products actually work for consumers?GUEST: Natalia Lumby, Toronto Metropolitan University

The brand synonymous with facial tissue is being pulled from the Canadian market, as its manufacturer cites challenges in the space. And Kleenex isn't the first big-name brand to exit Canada while succeeding in other markets. What gives?When you look deeper at how Canada encourages competition and innovation, you can see threads that go beyond facial tissue, salty snacks or name-brand frozen pizza. Kleenex's exit is a good time to examine how Canada regulates and protects foreign and domestic competitors, and whether or not that's good for us as consumers, or the economy as a whole.GUEST: Walid Hejazi, Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy at the Rotman School of Management; co-author of Everybody's Business

With back to school mere days away, we thought it would be an opportune time to revisit this episode, which serves as a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of underfunding and neglecting education.We hope you're having a restful long weekend, and that you enjoy revisiting this old favourite.Happy labour day!---------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:After a fire forced their high school to close, the Toronto District School Board decided to relocate the roughly 900 students and teachers from York Memorial Collegiate Institute to the nearby George Harvey Collegiate Institute. But George Harvey wasn't equipped to absorb all those new kids, and students showed up in September to find a school that was over-crowded, under-staffed and unsafe for them and their teachers.The York Memorial fiasco isn't just a one-off, either. The school's struggles highlight systemic challenges across Canada's largest school board, namely staffing shortages, crumbling facilities and the lack of funding to properly address those issues. And the situation may only get worse as thousands of children lag behind socially and academically after the pandemic kept them home for nearly two years.At York Memorial, it took an outcry from students, teachers and staff to spark meaningful change. What will take to get those in power to give schools the money and resources they desperately need?GUEST: Danielle Groen, Toronto-based writer and editor, wrote about York Memorial for Toronto Life

Quebec isn't the only province facing a teacher shortage, but it may be the most severe, with more than 8,000 educators missing from classrooms. Where did they go, and where are their replacements?In the meantime, the government has tried to get creative by lowering standards required to preside over a classroom. Sometimes to as low as "an adult." As shortages in general become more pronounced every year, what's happening to classrooms left without a teacher, or children learning from an under-qualified adult?GUEST: Toula Drimonis, writing for CultMTL.com 

The places that most rely on tourism to support their economy are some of the world's most vulnerable areas when it comes to climate disasters. As we saw after the tragically devastating fire that ripped through Maui, in the wake of extreme weather all a city's resources are needed to support those who have lost loved ones and homes. And tourism isn't an option.But as these events become more common, the way we travel, and the places we travel to, will change. Tourism is one of the most valuable industries on the planet, and as the crisis worsens it's poised to become one of the most volatile as well. What will tourism look like in the climate era?GUEST: Daniel Scott, Professor of Geography and Environmental Management at Waterloo University, researching climate change and tourism

For a year now, various economic predictions have marked Canada down for a looming recession. With more economic data due on Friday, that's expected to show some positive signs, it doesn't look like we're getting what we were promised. And that's a good thing, right?Why have some experts said that Canada needs a recession? How have we managed to avoid this one, at least so far? If inflation keeps falling, will the Bank of Canada stop raising interest rates? What can you expect from Canada's rollercoaster of an economy this fall and beyond?GUEST: David Macdonald, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office

Barely two weeks ago, a scathing auditor general's report sent shockwaves through Ontario's political class—detailing how acres of greenbelt land were to be handed over the developers who stand to make more than $8 billion from the move. Since then...things have only gotten stranger.We've seen the RCMP get involved, a chief of staff resign, both the Integrity Commissioner and Information and Privacy Commissioner the join the list of departments examining the scandal and a week-ending confrontational news conference from Premier Doug Ford. All this, and new stories surface every day. So what's at the bottom of this mess? And will it get even uglier before the end?GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

In 2015, three women were murdered in rural Ontario, by a former partner who had been stalking them. Last summer an inquest into the murders was held and came back with more than 80 recommendations. This month, the federal government joined Toronto and other municipalities in Canada in following one of them: Declaring intimate partner violence "an epidemic" in this country.Is this declaration meaningful? Just ask the advocates and activists who have been fighting for it, including today's guest. It's a massive step. But what comes next will truly define how seriously we're willing to take an escalating danger to women across the country...GUEST: Julie Lalonde, educator, advocate, expert on intimate partner violence (find Julie's resources on stalking and harassment here.)

It's an issue that sits at the intersection of Canada's identity and reality. Our country is extremely diverse and pro-immigration, but a massive housing crisis means we simply don't have enough homes for everyone who needs one.This week, Canada's housing minister said the government would consider a cap on the number of international students who can enter the country, in hopes this might ease the housing crunch. Would it? What are the trade-offs to such a move? And is there a risk that the housing crisis pushes more Canadians towards anti-immigration sentiment?GUEST: Laura Dhillon Kane, Ottawa bureau chief, Bloomberg News

There's always a question after tragedies like the December, 2022 shooting at a condo in Vaughan that left six people dead, including the shooter: "How did nobody see this coming?!"In this case, the killer had long held a grudge against the members of the condo board he fired upon. He was known around the property as an angry man, and had a history of domestic abuse and violence. In hindsight, all the signs were there—but that's what makes mass shooters so easy to see in the rearview mirror, but almost impossible to see coming...GUEST: Michelle Henry, reporter, The Toronto Star (Read Michelle's investigation here.)

Would it shock you to know that a significant number of homes in Canada are already uninsurable for flood damage? And as the impact of the climate crisis creates more extreme and unpredictable weather, that number is likely to climb sharply? The insurance companies are in the risk-reward business, and if there's too much risk, they'll simply say, "Nope."So what makes a home uninsurable? How rapidly is the risk-reward equation changing? How can we adapt our homes and buildings to mitigate the worst impacts of extreme weather? And what does the future of property insurance look like in the years to come?GUEST: Kathryn Bakos, Director of Climate Finance and Science at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo

Canada's housing crisis is bad and getting worse, and a huge part of it is a lack of rental units in major cities. Every government has its own proposed solutions, but none of them work without the others.A detailed report last week outlines ways that every level, from federal to municipal, can work together to speed up the process, eliminate lengthy delays and actually get shovels in the ground. The only catch is it requires everybody in power to get on the same page. How likely is that? And what happens if they can't?GUEST: Dr. Mike Moffatt, co-author of A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis; Assistant Professor in Business, Economics, and Public Policy at Ivey Business School, Western University; Senior Director of Policy at the University of Ottawa's Smart Prosperity Institute

Alberta's renewable energy sector is one of the province's great success stories. It's been growing rapidly, attracting top industry talent and becoming the envy of Canada for its size and innovation. SO naturally, the Alberta government has paused all new approvals for renewable projects for six months.So ... why? And especially, why now, with the impact of the climate crisis truly hitting home at the same time the province is actively recruiting workers from other provinces? What does this move do to the province, the industry as a whole, and Canada's plans to hit aggressive renewable energy targets?GUEST: Bob Weber, reporter, The Canadian Press

A recent report found that 6.6 million cars are being driven in Canada that have been recalled by a manufacturer for one reason or another. Some issues are minor, some could be deadly, and in many cases, the owners simply don't know the issue exists.How does this happen? Well, the world of automotive recalls is changing fast, technology is taking leaps that make some vehicles less reliable and the recall system itself is ... a little convoluted. Today, a look inside the world of getting your car fixed, for free. Or not.GUEST: Lorraine Sommerfeld, columnist at driving.ca 

(UPDATE: Late Wednesday night, the government of the Northwest Territories announced a phased evacuation order for Yellowknife as the fires closed in.)There are hundreds of fires burning in the Northwest Territories right now. Some are threatening Yellowknife, leaving parts of the city under evacuation watch. Others have already forced evacuations by plane in remote communities without road access. The challenge is immense. The area is vast, much of it is on fire, and communication can be unstable.How bad is this season compared to seasons past? How much has already been destroyed and how tense is the situation? Is any relief in sight? And why can't the local radio station that's been a lifeline during this emergency post to Facebook, where much of its audience is desperate for up-to-date information?GUEST: Emily Blake, reporter and assistant editor, Cabin Radio (Find Cabin Radio’s up to date reporting here: https://cabinradio.ca/category/news/)

By now you are likely familiar with the long, sad story of the Ottawa LRT—which just returned from being totally shut down for a month. But that project is far from the only large Canadian transit project to run into delays, mistakes, errors, sky-high budgets and everything else that can turn an ambitious idea into a headache.Why are so many of these projects stalled or broken? How hard is it to get new transit built in Canada, and why? Are there examples in this country other cities could follow if they wanted to do things right? Are we really awful at building this stuff, or do we just love to complain about our infrastructure?GUEST: Reece Martin, former transportation planner, creator of the RM Transit YouTube channel and substack. 

Right now, thousands of grocery store workers are striking because, they say, they can't afford to buy food at the chain they work for. Food bank use has skyrocketed. Shopifting has increased so rapidly that stores are using it as a reason to try to check customers' bags and receipts. Food inflation still hovers near double digits, even as general inflation has cooled. And the heads of Canada's huge grocery chains have testified that billions in profits don't come from hikes to food prices.Amid all this, the federal government has given some Canadians a one-time grocery rebate and ... so far, that's it, across all levels of government. But food inflation is here to stay and if politicians wanted to help, there are plenty of other options they could consider. So why wouldn't they? What's the hold up? GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After

By now everyone is aware of the strains that short-term rentals like Air BnB can place on a city's housing market. But recently Montreal has seen that problem compounded to devastating effect. A deadly fire earlier this year brought national attention to the way traditional rental units are being carved up and turned into multiple short-term rentals, and a real estate manoeuvre known as 'the Montreal shuffle' makes these moves possible at scale.So what's happening exactly and how does it work? What is the proliferation of short-term rentals doing to a city once known for as one of Canada's best places to rent? What is the government doing to attempt to regulate the problem, and why isn't it working?GUEST: Ethan Cox, senior editor and co-founder of The Ricochet (read The Ricochet's extensive work on short-term rentals in Montreal here.)

The Greenbelt is one of Ontario's biggest environmental success stories—millions acres of protected land that capture carbon, protect at-risk species and play a huge role in feeding the province. Unless of course the land is carved up and sold to developers to create housing. Ontario's auditor general released a report this week that found the Doug Ford's government, in choosing portions of land to be developed, was influenced by developers who now stand to make billions, their "information gathering and decision protocols were sidelined and abandoned" and did not consider environmental, agricultural or financial impacts of the move. It's a damning report that needs to be explained in detail—how we got here, what it means and what might happen now. So we'll do that with a member of the team that led the reporting on the issue since last year.GUEST: Fatima, Syed, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal (Read Fatima's and her colleague Emma McIntosh's full coverage of the Greenbelt scandal here.)

The polls are not looking good for Justin Trudeau and company. The Liberals' recent cabinet shuffle failed to halt their downward slide. And even their territorial advantage in Ontario seems to be waning. But there's still likely another year-plus to go before the next election, so plenty of time...right? Well, maybe.Canadian history tells us that governments winning a fourth straight election is rare, and that voters definitely tire of prime ministers after multiple campaigns—so what might the Liberals do to change the narrative? And will it matter if Canadians are just angry? At Trudeau, inflation, the climate and whatever else happens to be blamed on the government.GUEST: David Moscrop, writer, author, podcaster, and political commentator, find him at: davidmoscrop.substack.com

A new report looks at the circumstances that led to the convoy's arrival in Ottawa (and other places across Canada) in early 2022, and finds that it stems from a series of events that began in 2015. It took years before efforts at forming a convoy and rolling to Ottawa actually came together—and there were several failed tries along the way.So what changed during the pandemic? How were far right Canadians able to band together long enough to organize the event, and why were so many more relatively moderate citizens drawn to their cause? Was this an example of lightning in a bottle, or the new face of extremism in Canada?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, national security expert, author of Polarization and Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada since 2015

It's almost time for what will likely become your annual covid shot—assuming you're one of the people who will actually get it. Canada's vaccine advisory committee updated its guidelines to urge everyone in the authorized age groups (which are still to be determined) to get the new booster when it arrives this fall.What is the booster and who needs it? What will the fall bring in terms of covid and other respiratory viruses? Why are so many people still refusing to get an annual shot, when so many more get the flu shot every year, and how should public health be tackling that problem?GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, masters in clinical pharmacology

We realized recently that we've done an awful lot of climate coverage this summer, and that it's been overwhelmingly depressing. So, as we take a brief hiatus for this long weekend Monday, we thought we'd dig this old episode out of the vault, where climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, outlines a better way to do climate discourse. We hope you enjoy! --------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Reports on the impact of a rapidly warming globe make some people depressed. They make some people angry. And they make others deny scientific research altogether. They don't make anybody hopeful...but maybe they should?Today's discussion with climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe—guest editor of this month's issue of Chatelaine—is an answer to the despair you might feel when reading the latest news stories. It's also a lesson in how to talk to your friends and family who either don't believe in climate change or aren't willing to take any action because "it's too small to make a difference." You don't have to go vegan, sell your car, or move to the forest to make a difference—even though it might feel you do. There's a better way.GUEST: Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist, guest editor of Chatelaine

It turns out Taylor Swift is coming to Canada after all! And if you're hoping to see her, you already know you'll be forking over hundreds of dollars. But in the past few years, even mid-tier concerts have crossed well into three-digit territory, and if smaller acts can afford to tour at all, they're taking a huge financial gamble to head out on the road.What's driven these prices through the roof? How has the streaming era impacted the life of a non-superstar musician? Will live music eventually end up with Taylor, Beyonce and Drake raking in billions, and everyone else fighting for the scraps? And if it does, what happens to the industry as a whole?GUEST: Soraya Roberts, culture reporter

On Tuesday Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, made good on a threat to block all news from Canadians on its platforms. Google is promising to do much the same thing, and has already tested its capacity to do so. Whatever side of the political debate over Bill C-18 you might be on, it's time to look at what the tech companies' retaliations to the bill will do in practice.How do Canadians find specific news without Google, Facebook and Instagram? If they're not encountering reliable news sources on those platforms, what will they find in their place? What does this do to smaller, independent publishers who rely on discoverability to grow their audience and what are some of them trying to do to get around the blocks?GUEST:  Sarah Krichel, social media manager, The Tyee (read Sarah's analysis of the Meta/Google blocks here)

First it was fires. Then floods. Now the province, already devastated by two extreme events, will wait to see what kind of impact unusually warm ocean temperatures will have on this year's hurricane season. As the Earth heats up, the impact of the climate crisis is speeding up. Nowhere is safe, but places like Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada, surrounded by so much ocean, might bear a heavier load. What can this summer of extremes teach us about the future of Eastern Canada? What comes next, and how should we prepare for it?GUEST: Dr. Kent Moore, professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto, joins us from Nova Scotia

Recently a feature story in Maclean's magazine described parents who were "losing their kids to Fortnite." While some gamers may hear that and see the kind of rhetoric that has followed video games around since their inception, others heard recognition and acknowledgement.Many behaviours, including video games, can be addicting, usually to a very small subset of people. But what makes video games different is that they are constantly evolving, and rapidly—usually with the goal of increasing the time spent playing them. As technology has improved, so has game design, and games with an online element have a social aspect that can also offer Fear Of Missing Out. So are modern games more addicting than ever? And if they are, how do we recognize and deal with that?GUEST: Luc Rinaldi, writing in Maclean's

This is the story of a scam that lasted for decades, and cost its victims over $200 million. It was run by a Canadian man who now sits in an American prison. It sold the services of a psychic, but that wasn't the problem with it—the issue was that the scammer used a particular psychic's likeness without permission.How did the scheme work, and who fell for it? Can you really scam people who are already voluntarily paying for a service that promises to tell you the future or make you rich? What can the saga of Patrice Runner teach us about the nature of deceit?GUEST: Rachel Browne, an investigative journalist and documentary producer, wrote about Patrice Runner for The Walrus

Since the last covid lockdowns ended in 2021, barely a month has passed without major job actions—union drives at huge companies, or massive strikes in the public or private sectors—making headlines. If you look at the numbers, we're seeing the kind of labour push we haven't seen in decades. From Hollywood's writers and actors, Canada's federal government workers, Ontario's education support staff and BC's port workers, employees from all over are fighting for what they see as long overdue gains.Why is now the time, and will this moment last? Is this the return of a militant workforce ready to withhold their labour? A true generational shift? Or a brief moment that will be met with ferocity from employers trying to regain the upper hand?GUEST: Dr. Stephanie Ross, associate professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University

Cabinet shuffles ahead of a fall session of parliament aren't unusual, but Wednesday's changes which saw most of Justin Trudeau's ministers switch roles or exit cabinet altogether definitely are. All told 30 of 38 positions were shifted in sweeping changes that clearly show the government is ... what?Are they terrified by their recent drop in the polls? Chasing fresh voices and new perspectives? "Listening to Canadians," as Trudeau put it in his announcement Wednesday? Or even preparing for an election? We'll look at who's in, who's out and what it all means both for the upcoming session and for the next election, whenever that is...GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews (You can find a full list of the new ministers and their portfolios right here)

Last year, a man was arrested and charged with the murder of four Indigenous women in the Winnipeg area. When the charges were laid police said they believed the remains of two of the women would be found at the Prairie Green landfill, but that they wouldn't be searching for them.This sparked outrage from the victims families and the Indigenous community, and a push for a search began. Experts weighed in, the federal government was petitioned, costs and concerns were cited and last week Manitoba's provincial government decided not to allow a search, and the protests began. Why would the government prevent a search? What impact could this have on the case, and on families and community? And with protests not stopping anytime soon, what happens next?GUEST: Brittany Hobson, reporter, The Canadian Press

Every so often, federal and provincial governments reexamine plans they have made in the event of a nuclear accident or missile exchange, which have existed in one form or another since the beginning of the cold war. Last week, we learned those plans had been updated very recently, at least in part due to Russian control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.These plans cover everything from trying to protect Canadians overseas who may be impacted by an accident, to more classified documents working out emergency preparations in the event of nuclear missiles being fired. How likely is either the former or latter? What do these plans entail? What would happen should Russia sabotage the plant? And should we really worry about an actual nuclear exchange?GUEST: Ed Waller, Professor in the Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science at OntarioTechU, NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Health Physics and Environmental Safety

Reaching net-zero emissions by 2035 will require major overhauls to Canada's national power grid. One of the major challenges to doing so is the patchwork of power-generation methods across different provinces, making it impossible to implement a one-size-fits-all approach to decarbonization. And political differences between provincial leaders and the federal government will only complicate things further. So what will it take to develop a clean national grid in Canada? What are the feds doing to bring resistant provinces on-side?GUEST: Adam Radwanski, climate change columnist and feature writer for The Globe and Mail  

Last week, after negotiations with studios and streaming giants failed to yield an agreement, the 160000 performers represented by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) decided to go on strike. They're joined on the picket lines by Writers Guild of America members — the first time both unions have been on strike simultaneously since the 1960's. Their demands differ, but both group's grievances boil down to two things: revenue decreases in the age of streaming, and concern about AI-induced job losses. And with their collective actions bringing many major productions to a screeching halt, and leaving thousands of people out of work, the pressure is on both sides to come up with a reasonable compromise. So what's  really at stake here? And who might blink first? GUEST: Barry Hertz, Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor for The Globe and Mail

Drug busts have long been a go-to tactic for law enforcement in the so-called 'war on drugs', but with the ubiquity of powerful narcotics like fentanyl, it's doubtful that they do much to actually stem the flow of substances to the street. And a new study out of the United States demonstrating a link between drug seizures and overdose deaths, suggests the approach may actually be making things worse. So what does this new research show, exactly? And if these old tactics don't seem to be working, then why are governments and law enforcement agencies so hesitant to try something new?GUEST HOST: Manisha Krishnan, Senior Reporter at Vice NewsGUEST: Grant Victor, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, co-author of the study on overdose deaths  

Asylum seekers come to Canada for safety and a better life, but instead a group of them ended up sleeping on the streets of the country’s biggest city.The Peter Street shelter intake office was thrust into the national spotlight after the city–dealing with an overwhelmed shelter system–started to refer asylum seekers to federally run programs. But when people in need showed up to Peter Street site they were met with long waits, forcing them to stay on the street out front for weeks with no other place to go.Community leaders have taken matters into their own hands, helping move the unhoused people to GTA churches. Hours after they stepped up, the federal government announced more than $200 million nationally to fund interim housing for asylum seekers, with about half going to Toronto.But will this last-minute funding make a difference? And what will it take to create sustainable housing for asylum seekers in Toronto – and beyond?GUEST HOST: Melissa Duggan, reporter for CityNewsGUEST: Sharry Aiken, Associate Professor specializing in immigration and refugee law at Queen’s University

This episode is guest-hosted by Erica Lenti, deputy features editor at Chatelaine.27-year old Breeanna Bascombe was trying to rock her infant daughter to sleep when police descended on her parents' Brampton, Ontario home to arrest her, and charge her as an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. The charge was related to a crime allegedly committed by Breanna's ex-boyfriend that she had absolutely nothing to do with. Breeanna thinks her very public arrest was an attempt to coax him out of hiding.  Eventually, her charges were stayed, but Breeanna was left with what's called a 'non-conviction', which can remain on your record in perpetuity and negatively impact your ability to work, travel or even adopt a pet. And her story is far from unique; in Ontario, around half the people charged with crimes end up with non-conviction records.So why are so many innocent people being caught up in the Canadian criminal justice system? How do we prevent it? And is there any way for them to get their lives back? GUEST: Eternity Martis, award winning journalist and author, writing about Breeanna Bascombe in Chatelaine

This week we have guest hosts filling in for Jordan Health-Rawlings. Today, we have Justin Ling interviewing Erin O’Toole.Like many places around the world, politics has become more polarized. It seems that long gone are the days of trying to pander to the majority of voters, and now some parties have gone to their most extreme constituents for support.Probably the best example of this was the election of Pierre Poilievre as the new Conservative Party leader. No matter how you feel about Poilievre, there’s little doubt that he’s a sign of a new type of political polarization happening inside Canada.Last month, former Conservative Parter leader Erin O’Toole resigned his seat in the House of Commons and delivered an emotional goodbye to his colleagues. He made an appeal to everybody in politics to make Ottawa less combative, less toxic, and less polarized.So what exactly is wrong with Ottawa these days? What’s going on behind the scenes? And can we fix it?GUEST HOST: Justin Ling, freelance investigative journalistGUEST: Erin O’Toole, former leader of the Conservative Party

This is the final episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.So far this week, we’ve covered problems facing small communities—from housing to the economy to health care. Although these issues are felt across pretty much every community, big or small in Canada, there’s one existential threat we must face globally: the climate crisis.We are hurtling rapidly towards a point of no return, and that’s pushing us towards alternative ways to create energy. In some communities, this is viewed as a threat perhaps as dire as the climate crisis itself. In other places, like a First Nation in southern Ontario, it’s a solution to the needs of a province. It’s a chance to turn the tide of our increasing demand for power, and move away from reliance on fossil fuels.Here’s how one energy project near Six Nations of the Grand River could revolutionize the national grid.GUEST: Fatima Syed, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

This is the fourth episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.The smaller your community is, the more likely it is to rely on a handful of employers to keep its economy stable. So when employers are looking for a place to set up shop—especially if that shop might be a little noisy or disruptive or require some tax breaks—they know that promising a certain number of well-paying jobs is a pretty good way to get the community on board.That’s how it’s worked forever. But sometimes, as is the case in one town in New Brunswick, it stinks. Literally. A shell-drying company moved into Richibucto, N.B., promising jobs and prosperity, and the process produced a stench so bad it makes people gag.So what happens when the jobs are fewer than hoped for? When the byproduct of the plant actively drives people away? What are the consequences, if any? And is there any way to stop the stink?GUEST: Lindsay Jones, reporter, The Globe and Mail

This is the third episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.With Canada having its worst wildfire season on record, people across the country are waking up to the reality of what it’s like to live with these natural disasters. But for many communities, the dangers of wildfire season have long been felt and understood.Perhaps few communities understand this reality better than Lytton, B.C., which was burned to the ground in 2021 after a wildfire. The town and the province pledged at the time that they would rebuild, but two years later, the work has barely begun.Does that represent a failure, or simple reality? Should the town, which holds the record for being the hottest place in Canada, be rebuilt on the same spot? Is it smart to build in an area vulnerable to these types of fires? And what happened to Lytton, BC, and its people, when the media moved on to other fires, and new climate disasters?GUEST: Tyler Olsen, editor and reporter, Fraser Valley Current

This is the second episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.Canada’s health care system has been stressed for many years, but the pandemic pushed the threadbare system past its breaking point.And nowhere else has our capacity for care—in everything from family doctors to walk-in clinics to hospitals—been tested more than rural areas, and small towns. Emergency rooms in smaller areas have cut back hours, or closed temporarily, often due to a lack of either doctors or nurses. But now Minden, Ontario’s emergency room is closed for good.Is Minden’s ER the first of more to come? What happens to a town when its primary centre of medicine evaporates? What other options are there for care, in both Minden and other communities like it?GUEST: Emily Stonehouse, Editor of The Minden Times

Welcome to Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.Access to affordable housing is not just an issue in large cities across Canada anymore—small communities are also struggling to provide affordable places for the people who need them. And perhaps nowhere is that crunch felt harder than Canada’s north. Everything costs significantly more there, from groceries to basic supplies to houses.To address the high cost of living, Nunavut relies heavily on an already overwhelmed public housing framework. But it wasn’t always that way. For many years, people in the area that would eventually become Nunavut were regularly building their own homes to live in.So why did that stop? And would bringing it back offer a glimpse of a way out of the crisis we’re facing?GUEST: David Venn, journalist formerly based in Iqaluit, wrote this series for Nunatsiaq News

We've known for decades the world is warming, so it shouldn't come as a shock when some records get broken along the way. But what has set off alarm bells among the scientists who study our changing climate recently is just how fast it's happening, in ways that don't match up with any previous models. From ocean temperature to sea ice, forest fires to heat domes and the world's daily average temperature record being broken at least twice just this week, warning lights are flashing.Is this truly the tipping point for our climate crisis? What does that even mean in this context? And as the bad news rolls in, is there another tipping point coming—a moment in which we collectively realize we can't survive without massive change?GUEST: Catherine Abreu, Executive Director of Destination Zero

This isn't about streaming services, like Spotify or Netflix, that rent you endless content for a monthly fee. It's about digital copies of art that you've purchased via a link or button that indicates a paid transaction. In many cases, the companies that sold them to you ... haven't, really.Earlier this year, this became abundantly clear when e-books by authors like Roald Dahl or Agatha Christie were changed to make certain phrases less offensive. Whether you agree with those changes or not, they were applied to all e-books that updated automatically. And if you read the fine print, the control publishers have over your purchases doesn't stop there...GUEST: Reggie Ugwu, pop culture reporter, The New York Times

Last week three people were stabbed inside a classroom at the University of Waterloo. The class dealt with philosophy of gender issues, and the attacker reportedly asked about the subject before drawing a knife.For quite some time now anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has been growing harsher and more violent. Was it only a matter of time until something like this happened in Canada? How does a simple word like 'gender' become a red flag to disturbed individuals? What's stochastic terrorism and what can we do to stop it?GUEST: Dr. Shana MacDonald, Associate Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo; author of this analysis in The Conversation

As awful as Canada's legacy of residential schools is, there are some in this country who don't want to believe it. In recent months, there's been a rise in attempts to use linguistic missteps on the part of journalists or Indigenous leaders to "expose" what minimizers claim is a lack of proof that thousands of children died at these schools.The case hinges on the difference between terms like "anomalies", "unmarked graves" and "remains" used when sites are explored with ground-penetrating radar. So how do the searches at the school sites work? What, precisely, has been found there? And if we know there are remains in the ground, why haven't more of them been exhumed? GUEST: Niigaan Sinclair, professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba

It's here. It's become a part of summer in most areas of Canada. It's bad for you. What exactly makes wildfire smoke harmful to breathe? And what about the mental health impact of hazy skies and a darkened future?If we're going to live with this we need less speculation, and more science and solutions. Here they are.GUEST: Dr. Courtney Howard, emergency physician; Vice-Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance     

Let's say you've been victimized by romance fraud. You are humiliated and embarrassed beyond belief, but you have evidence to prove the fraudster is guilty. So, you turn that information over to the police and hope there will be charges, maybe even a conviction.The truth is, in Canada, these cases are difficult to pursue, often leaving perpetrators free to go with a slap on the wrist and victims shocked and traumatized. But romance fraud is on the rise with more and more losses being reported each year. So, what can the authorities do about it? How do we change our system to stop fraudsters? And how can we rewrite the narrative to better support victims?

If you're held "on remand" it means you haven't been convicted of a crime yet, but also that you can't secure bail or a judge's release. Practically, it means you go to jail, and stay there while your case crawls through the courts.In some provinces there are thousands more people on remand in jail than there are convicted criminals serving jail time. It leads to crowding, illness and sometimes death. Should a person who hasn't been convicted ever die in jail? How is this system supposed to work, and what's led to its current state?GUEST: Geena Mortfield, court and crime reporter for the Brandon Sun; writing in The Walus

Nine days ago, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed in a targeted daylight shooting in a crowded area outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC. Nijjar was a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government has previously accused of terror offences— allegations he vehemently denied.His activism and controversial past have spawned many theories about who may have done this and why, but more than a week after his death, the public has seen little evidence to substantiate those rumours. Meanwhile, a community is in mourning, and they took to the streets on Sunday to demand answers.So what, if anything, can we say for certain at this point? And could this horrific crime spark further violence?GUEST: Sonia Aslam, reporter, CityNews Vancouver

In the age of the internet, it's understandable to wonder what function, if any, our libraries still serve. But the shifting needs of the communities they cater to, and widening holes in the social safety net, have actually made these institutions more essential than ever.As homelessness and mental health crises have spiked, libraries and the people who work inside them have become de facto social workers, sometimes tasked with everything from finding shelter beds to administering naloxone.While the work they do is inspiring, is this really a viable way to approach the problems in towns and cities across the country? And are librarians equipped to deal with what has become an entirely different job?GUEST: Nicholas Hune-Brown, writing in The Walrus

It's hard to believe but The Big Story launched on this date, five years ago, June 25, 2018. Since then we've recorded more than 1,250 episodes and listeners have spent millions of hours listening to this podcast. As a token of our appreciation, we made a special bonus episode, digging into the archives for some of our oldest, biggest, strangest and best-remembered clips. If you've listened to this show, even just once, thank you. We wouldn't be here without you.As always, you can find us on Twitter @TheBigStoryFPN, via email: hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca or with a voicemail at 416-935-5935. We love hearing from listeners, so don't be a stranger!

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! -------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESToronto never got the chance to reelect Mayor Rob Ford. Nor did it get the chance to kick him out of office. It wasn’t the ending anyone wanted, it’s just what happened. And over the next few years, it would become clear just how profoundly Rob had changed politics, at home and around the world.

For a long time now, Toronto has been run by conservative mayors. But all the polls indicate that will change on Monday, with former NDP MP and longtime progressive Olivia Chow holding a commanding lead. Chow ran for mayor before, in 2014, and lost badly. What's different this time, about both the city and her?Whomever wins the job will have to work with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said this week that Chow would be an "unmitigated disaster" as mayor. So first, will she pull it off? And second, what happens if she does, and has to try to fix a crumbling city while needing the help of her political opposite to get things done with the province?GUEST: Ben Spurr, City Hall bureau, Toronto Star

It's one thing when companies that exist entirely online—like Facebook and Instagram—use chatbots and emails instead of a real person as a customer service solution. That's annoying, but understandable. It's another when business like appliance vendors, airlines and shipping companies have no way to connect a customer with a problem to an actual human who can help them.But this trend has been gathering steam for years now, and the problems it creates are worth examining. What happens when business-customer exchanges are entirely impersonal? What's the cost-benefit decision the company is making here? How does an actual human voice change tense interactions? And what happens when more and more companies turn this stuff over to artificial intelligence?GUEST: Emily Stewart, business and economics reporter at Vox

A submersible intended to take five people to visit the wreck of the Titanic was missing as of Wednesday night. If the people inside are still alive, they are rapidly running out of air. A massive search is underway, but the ocean is huge, and the vehicle could be anywhere.The expedition is a commercial endeavour run by a company called OceanGate, that runs out of St. John's. Would-be explorers pay $250,000 to risk death in exchange for a glimpse of the fabled wreck more than three kilometres below the surface. Why would someone pay so much to risk their life this way? What do we know about the craft that carries the crew, and the company that built it? And why does the Titanic still hold such a grip on our psyches after all this time?GUEST: Leyland Cecco, Canadian reporter with The Guardian

It wasn't that long ago that airlines were slashing prices and offering huge seat sales to lure timid customers back onto planes during the pandemic. Safe to say, those days are over. For at least a year now, prices have been climbing and the summer travel season marks a new peak. A peak that likely won't last past next summer.How are seat prices set, anyway? How much of this is based on an airline's increased costs, and how much is a profit grab? What can you do to try to find cheaper fares? Do price-busting apps actually work? And why do you and your friend see different prices for the same seat on the same plane?GUEST: John Gradek, Faculty Lecturer in Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations and Aviation Management at McGill University

After a fire forced their high school to close, the Toronto District School Board decided to relocate the roughly 900 students and teachers from York Memorial Collegiate Institute to the nearby George Harvey Collegiate Institute. But George Harvey wasn't equipped to absorb all those new kids, and students showed up in September to find a school that was over-crowded, under-staffed and unsafe for them and their teachers. The York Memorial fiasco isn't just a one-off, either. The school's struggles highlight systemic challenges across Canada's largest school board, namely staffing shortages, crumbling facilities and the lack of funding to properly address those issues. And the situation may only get worse as thousands of children lag behind socially and academically after the pandemic kept them home for nearly two years. At York Memorial, it took an outcry from students, teachers and staff to spark meaningful change. What will take to get those in power to give schools the money and resources they desperately need? GUEST: Danielle Groen, Toronto-based writer and editor, wrote about York Memorial for Toronto Life   

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! -------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESMore than a year after the first stories about a ‘crack video’ broke, and months after the mayor admitted he’d tried the drug ‘during one of (his) drunken stupors’, Rob Ford admitted to the public that he had a substance abuse problem, and that he needed help. And he went to rehab. For a few weeks. Then he returned to the race for reelection. A race he very much expected to win. So Toronto had a choice. Four more years of this…or something else.

You know how sometimes you notice that it's eerily quiet? That's because we're so accustomed to the background noise of life in a city of any size, that sudden silence catches our attention. From cars and trucks to neighbours and kids, modern appliances to incessant TV, music or videos, we rarely have a silent waking moment.New research is beginning to discover exactly what that's doing to us, and the results are fascinating. It's not just us, either. When the world's water traffic mostly stopped during the first month of Covid lockdowns, the absence of the usual noise actually changed the way some sea creatures communicate... so what does a noisy world do to us all?GUEST: Bojan Furst, writing in The Walrus

Right now, Canada is working on a process to improve our tracking and reporting of sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects. In late May, NASA and the US Department of Defence help a joint public meeting, where it was revealed that the Five Eyes—an alliance of intelligence agencies including the US and Canada—held a private forum about the sightings, which have included, specifically, metallic orbs seen all over the world.All of this could sounds like the opening of a blockbuster, or just a conspiracy theory. But it's neither. It's a serious attempt by some of the world's biggest military and intelligence agencies to figure out exactly what's going on in our skies, be it natural phenomena, secretive new aerospace technology or, yes, something out of this world...GUEST: Daniel Otis, freelance journalist reporting on UFOs

This is an immigrant's story. A Canadian story. A mystery. Six months ago, Eduardo Malpica went missing after a night at a bar in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Last week, his body was pulled from the St. Lawrence RIver. Was he hurt by men he argued with outside the bar? Did he wander off, embarrassed and drunk, and kill himself? Was his drink spiked? Nobody's sure.But Malpica came from nothing, built a life here and was beloved by so many, especially new Canadians that he often took under his wing. He was a professor with a family and a lovely home. What happened to him, and why?GUEST: Christopher Curtis, journalist and co-founder of The Rover

Two weeks ago, special rapporteur David Johnston said nothing would stop him from completing his work investigating foreign interference in Canadian politics. Friday, he stopped. A surprise resignation meant a weekend of confusion in Canadian politics, followed by a chaotic Monday when the house resumed.Why did Johnston quit? Will Canada now finally get the public inquiry many have lobbied for? Will Johnston's resignation satisfy opposing critics? Will anything? And ... are we gonna end up having an election over this? GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, parliament hill reporter, CityNews

Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, the company behind ChatGPT, has co-founded a cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin, which is currently scanning people's eyeballs using an orb and digitizing their irises for use as identification.Currently more than 1.8 million people have had their irises scanned in exchange for the promise of some Worldcoin later (it doesn't exist yet), local currency, or small gifts. This is taking place mostly in poorer countries, but not in the US or Canada, where regulations discourage things like collecting people's irises for some vaguely-defined future use.If this all sounds incredibly strange to you, you're not alone. So what the heck is going on here? GUEST: Jacob Silverman, co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, host of The Naked Emperor.

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! -------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESMayor Rob Ford publicly admitted to smoking crack “in one of my drunken stupors” on Nov. 5, 2013. And then all hell broke loose.

Right now, the federal government is reviewing the laws that made recreational pot legal in Canada. Everything is theoretically on the table, even if the basics of the act are unlikely to change much. But there are things we could fix that would make the system work better—and more fairly—for everyone.From the pardon process to the makeup of the industry and who gets licenses and sits on boards, legal Cannabis has resembled the days of prohibition in one way—a lack of racial justice, and an inability to truly grant amnesty to everyone who should have it. This is our chance to fix that. Will we take it?GUEST: Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, associate professor of criminal justice, University of Toronto; co-author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice.

For the past few years, orcas off the coast of Portugal and Spain have been attacking, and sinking, small boats. At least three boats have been completely sunk, and many more have needed urgent rescue. This behaviour doesn't occur in other orcas, and nobody can figure out exactly what's changed.There are some theories regarding trauma, or differences in their habitat. There are very real things called "orca fads"—like that time they wore dead salmon on their heads. And there is, always, humanity's endless desire to use our own narratives to explain animal motives—which is why you see people asking if the orcas are fighting back. But what's really at the heart of this behaviour? And what happens if it spreads?GUEST: Stephanie Pappas, science journalist, writing in Scientific American

For the past few weeks, military analysts have been expecting a Ukrainian offensive in the conflict with Russia, one that might the tables on the Russians, break past the front lines and bring the war home to the aggressors. That offensive might still happen, but a more immediate problem emerged Tuesday—a collapsed dam releasing a torrent of water, endangering civilians, military, home and infrastructure, and perhaps even threatening a nuclear plant.As Russia's invasion of Ukraine has faltered, it's become clear just how far Putin's regime will go to continue it. As Ukraine prepares to take the fight to them, the war might just be coming to a turning point. But right now, chaos reigns, so what just happened and what comes next?GUEST: Balkan Devlen, Superforecaster at Good Judgement Inc. senior fellow and director of the transatlantic program and the McDonald Laurier Institute.

In the grips of a deadly emergency, Canada's health care system stood on its head. It's what the people who sign up to save lives do. But after three years of fending off both a virus and systemic problems, our capacity is at an all-time low. ERs are closing—some temporarily, some permanently. Family doctors in some places are impossible to find. In Lethbridge, AB there is precisely one OB-GYN for the entire community's pregnancy needs. The anecdotes are endless, and that doesn't even count general burnout.Ahead of a Premiers meeting next month, the Canadian Medical Association issued a call Monday to the leaders of the provinces: Work together and start fixing this mess. Money alone won't get it done, but spending it the right way just might. So where are the problems, and what are the opportunities?GUEST: Dr. Alika Lafontaine, President of the Canadian Medical Association and rural anesthesiologist

A policy in New Brunswick that took 10 years to create, and was implemented by a Conservative government three years ago, is now being “reviewed” by that same government. Policy 713 was designed to provide safety for LGBTQIA+ kids in public schools, from washroom use to students being able to change their names or pronouns without parental contact. Premier Blaine Higgs has been vague about what that review actually entails, and phrases such as “parents have a right to know” have been used.Thus far, while the homophobia and transphobia driving anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in the United States is definitely present in Canada, our governments have not allowed it space in policy. The review of Policy 713 in New Brunswick is the first real test of whether we'll go down the same road, and it comes at the beginning of the most politically fraught Pride month in years...GUEST: Dale Smith, parliamentary press gallery journalist, national columnist for XtraWe love hearing from our listeners. If you'd like to offer feedback, suggest an episode topic or have a question about this episode or any other, you can find The Big Story on Twitter @thebigstoryfpn, you can email us at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca, and you can call and leave a voicemail at 416-935-5935.

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! -------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESThe whole world was talking about whether or not Toronto’s mayor smoked crack. You might think that the mayor would change his behaviour following the headlines about his drug use. But he didn’t. We know this because the police were watching him with a secret investigation named Project Brazen II.

Last week it was The Little Mermaid. The week before that, the tenth Fast and Furious movie. Soon, it will be Spider-Man and then Barbie's turn. Until the next comic book movie shows up. Reboots, remakes and familiar characters can sometimes feel like the only things on screen. They're not, of course. They just get all the marketing money.What began as a profitable sideline for Hollywood has come to consume the entire industry in a search for intellectual property. It's not about a lack of ideas, though, it's just about one thing: The hunger for more. This is the story of how the venture capital mentality is destroying movies.GUEST: Jacob Oller, movies editor, Paste Magazine

They were born in the early days of Facebook. Now they're becoming adults and have spent the past few years realizing just how much of their lives their parents turned into content—in many cases, embarrassing, humiliating content. And they don't own or control any of it.Some of these kids have convinced their parents to remove it. In some cases it has fractured the relationship. Some of them have even gone to court to try to get control of their baby pictures back, or in the cases of influencers, to recoup some of the money their parents made with them. And as the kids of YouTubers and TikTokers grow up, the problem will only get bigger. So what rights do kids have to privacy when their parents' post?GUEST: Kate Lindsay, culture writer and cofounder of Embedded. She wrote this piece for The Atlantic.

Canadian households owe more in debt than the total of Canada's GDP. That's first among the G7 and near the top of all the world's developed countries. And as the cost of living increases, if we can't afford to service that debt, things could get bad, quickly.How did we get ourselves into this situation? Why do we see household debt as a moral failing instead of the product of the country's economic realities? What's to blame for skyrocketing debt, and what could curtail it? And why do we spend so much time thinking about if a government can balance its budget, and so little thinking about how they can help balance ours?GUEST: Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work

It happened so, so fast. Less than an hour after the first spark, thousands were evacuating, and crews were racing to close thew roads behind them on their way out. One of the fastest fires the province has ever seen was just outside the city, in no time at all.Since yesterday afternoon, more than 14,000 people have been evacuated, resources have been deployed fro other provinces—at least those that hadn't already been sent to Alberta—and a State of Emergency had been declared. Now hundreds of firefighters are digging in to halt the fire where it stands ... but a change in the wind could still change everything.GUEST: Dan Ahlstrand, news director at CityNews 95.7 in Halifax

It's a rarely used program—little-known and tough to qualify for—that allows children under five to live inside Canadian women's prisons with their mothers. And a look inside those prisons at the moms and their kids offers a glimpse we don't often get inside Canada's institutions.How does this program work? Is it better for the kids than living outside prison, but without their moms? Who can qualify? And what is it actually like inside these places? Where convicted killers can be found living in small homes with private kitchens and bathrooms, choosing and cooking their own meals, wearing their own clothes and helping out with nap time and diaper changes?GUEST: Cristina Howorun, CityNews reporter; host and writer of VeraCity: Prison Moms

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! --------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:As Rob Ford began his term as mayor by ending taxes and cancelling transit plans, his colleagues on city council and the reporters who covered them were starting to gossip. As his first weeks turned to months, Ford was around less and less, and people were starting to wonder: What was going on with the mayor? And then, two high-profile nights out added fuel to that fire…

Harm reduction programs in general tend to be divisive, but safe supply might be the most controversial of them all. It involves providing drug users with, well, drugs—in the hopes they won't use more dangerous ones.The programs have been criticized by politicians, "exposed" in long newspaper features and serve as an easy target for anyone focused on "getting users off drugs" as a strategy to fight the overdose crisis. The reality is complex, and there's still a lot we don't know. But as overdose deaths continue to break records, we can't afford not to explore every option. So, what is safe supply? Does it work or are the claims made by its opponents true? Or both?GUEST: Dr. Lindsey Richardson, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health EquityWe love hearing from listeners! If you'd like to offer feedback, suggest an episode topic or have a question about this episode or any other, you can find The Big Story on Twitter @thebigstoryfpn, you can email us at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca, and you can call and leave a voicemail at 416-935-5935.If you'd like to share The Big Story with a friend, you can send them this link, which will allow them to open the podcast in their favourite podcast player.

The climate is changing, so wildfires are changing too. The "unprecedented" fires of the past few weeks, won't be unprecedented when they happen again, and again. And the conditions that created them aren't going away. But we aren't helpless against them.The way we fight fires is changing, too. From earlier detection, more accurate predictions, a different approach to management and ways to get boots on the ground faster in the places where they'll make a difference, the playbook is being written in real time. Here's what we're learning, how we'll use it and how to keep the fires of the future away from homes.GUEST: Dr. Mike Flannigan, professor at Thompson Rivers University; BC Research Chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire ScienceWe love hearing from listeners! If you'd like to offer feedback, suggest an episode topic or have a question about this episode or any other, you can find The Big Story on Twitter @thebigstoryfpn, you can email us at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca, and you can call and leave a voicemail at 416-935-5935. If you'd like to share The Big Story with a friend, you can send them this link, which will allow them to open the podcast in their favourite podcast player.

Despite the controversy dominating federal politics for months now, Canadians will not get a public inquiry about Chinese government interference into our democracy and elections. That's one of the takeaways from former Governor General David Johnston's report on the affair, which was released yesterday. So why did Johnston decide it wouldn't—or couldn't—happen? What did we learn from the report he presented? What will the next few months bring? More hearings? More leaks? A reasoned, thorough and bipartisan review of the difficulties of handling classified information? Or allegations of a "cover-up"?GUEST: Stephen Maher, reporter and commentator, writing on foreign interference in The Walrus

It's not easy to make yourself notorious among the more than 40,000 McDonald's franchises in the world—but Ottawa's Rideau Street location accomplished it. From dangerous violence, to drug use, general chaos and viral incidents that became world famous (like the raccoon fight...) the recently closed restaurant earned the moniker given to it by a former police chief.But the story of this McDonald's isn't just one of crime and online fame. It's a story about public space and who gets to use it, how a  city changes at night, what resources we offer to people who need them and how every city's downtown is changing right now. Today, the rise and fall of the most famous McDonald's in Canada.GUEST: Amy Dempsey, senior writer, Toronto Star

Right now, while controlling our own food security becomes more important than ever, Canada's farming industry is in transition. An older generation of farmers are ready to retire—but many of them don't have anyone ready to take over the family business. Meanwhile, corporate megafarms are scooping up farmland where they can and a younger generation of farmers is desperately trying to get ahold of space to grow on.Where is the next generation coming from and what are they doing differently? Why are so many older farmers having trouble keeping the business going? What does the future of Canadian farming look like and who owns (or rents) it?GUESTS: Keith Currie, farmer and president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture; Aliyah Fraser, Owner and Operator at Lucky Bug Farm

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! --------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:As Rob Ford began his term as mayor by ending taxes and cancelling transit plans, his colleagues on city council and the reporters who covered them were starting to gossip. As his first weeks turned to months, Ford was around less and less, and people were starting to wonder: What was going on with the mayor? And then, two high-profile nights out added fuel to that fire…

Bad information, and the things that make us vulnerable to it, can spread like a virus. It's everywhere and at this point even the most savvy news consumers need to be in the habit of checking things twice. And with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes, the problem will only get worse. But we're not without weapons.Models show that misinformation spreads just like an illness, and research also shows that we can inoculate ourselves from the worst of it. And we can help our family and friends do the same. How do we do that? Just like real vaccination, it starts with a little bit of the virus itself, to help us learn what we're fighting...GUEST: Sander van der Linden, author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity

Technically, the Ontario Liberals aren't officially a party anymore. They lost that status when they were shellacked in the 2018 election after being in power for 15 years. When the Ontario Progressive Conservatives won a large majority last year, the Liberals won eight seats and finished a distant third. It's not an exaggeration to say the once-proud party is in shambles.Last week, the first person threw his hat in the ring as the man who plans to fix that. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is a federal Liberal MP from east-end Toronto who became the first contender for leadership of the Ontario Liberals. So how does he plan to bring the party back from the wilderness? Why leave federal politics for a provincial race? Why do so many of his fellow Liberals underestimate Doug Ford? And what does his Ontario look like?GUEST: Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP for Beaches-East York; Candidate for Ontario Liberal party leadership

Nobody who covers the business of sports can remember a bidding process quite like this one. For one thing, everybody's talking! Normally this is a behind-the-scenes process that only goes public when a winner is chosen, or a final bid or two is being examined. But this time, ever since actor Ryan Reynolds threw his hat into the ring early, the whole saga has largely played out in public.And not just in public, in Hollywood and beyond. After Reynolds got involved, other bidders added Snoop Dogg and The Weeknd, respectively, to their bids, and Snoop has been doing media interviews talking up his love for hockey, and the city of Ottawa in general. It's safe to say that nobody expected the sale of the NHL's smallest Canadian-market team to make international headlines like this. So ... what's going on here?GUEST: Elliotte Friedman, Sportsnet insider, Hockey Night In Canada panelist, co-host of the 32 Thoughts podcast

Last week's exchange that saw each country expel a diplomat was called a "spat"—but really it was the latest volley in a low-heat diplomatic conflict that's been simmering for years. Every new twist, from takeovers to arrests, from allegations of election interference and threats of retaliation, only makes the next more likely.How did China and Canada end up here? What have we learned in the past few months about just what China is trying to do in this country? What steps has our government taken to protect our democracy from outside interference? And what should we expect if China decides to retaliate?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

On Halloween night in 2020, a mass shooting took place near the resort community of Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island. Three people are found dead in a make-shift encampment deep in the woods. Beside them, four dead dogs and a burned-out trailer. Now, more than two years on, the case is at a standstill. This week, a new podcast, Island Crime Season 5: Whiskey Creek explores the secrecy and fear surrounding the shootings. And asks the question: Who deserves to have their story told?GUEST: Laura Palmer, host and producer of Island Crime  

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! ---------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:Rob Ford’s colleagues laughed off his campaign for mayor. They shouldn’t have. They assumed the numerous scandals he’d already suffered through, and the fresh ones that would dominate his campaign, would crush his chances. They shouldn’t have. They ran traditional campaigns and counted on Torontonians to make a relatively traditional choice, the kind they’d always made. They really, really shouldn’t have.

Whether or not you think it's "becoming more efficient" or "being dismantled piece by piece", it's pretty clear Universal Health Care in Canada is changing. This week, Ontario passed Bill 60, which allows private clinics to perform some surgeries and procedures—theoretically at no additional cost to the patient. This is already happening in Quebec and British Columbia, and Alberta's election is currently partly a debate about how involved the private system should be with public care.So what exactly is in Bill 60? What language protects the patient, if any? What are medical groups so concerned about? What are the upsides and the downsides? And how will we know if this is working or not?  GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews Toronto

Last week, police in Peel, Ontario charged a man with aiding or counselling suicide, after they allege he preyed upon people in distress online and sold them sodium nitrite intended to be used for suicide.The charges relate to two Canadian deaths, but reporting in other countries has linked at least seven deaths to the substance—which police claim Kenneth Law sold online and encouraged victims to use. What do we know so far about what happened? How common is suicide soliciting online? And what will we learn as the case continues?GUEST: Lucas Casaletto, reporter, CityNews Toronto

That's not a metaphorical question. As Alberta deals with an ongoing wildfire situation the premier has called "unprecedented", the province goes to the polls in less than three weeks for the closest election in decades. Over the weekend a state of emergency was declared and the federal government promised support. But though temperatures have cooled, the scorching weather blamed for starting these fires is forecast to return. Tens of thousands of Albertans have already evacuated their homes,  and it remains to be seen when they might return.So what happens now? To the fires? To the campaign? On election day itself?GUEST: Courtney Theriault, reporter, CityNews Edmonton

Last week, the World Health Organization announced that Covid-19 was no longer a "global health emergency"—a declaration that can be seen as either a hopeful sign or dangerously naive. But while many people have gone "back to normal" or "learned to live" with the virus, the search for understand of long covid continues.We've learned much about the condition in the past three years—but not enough to know how it happens, or how to stop it. And as covid continues to circulate, there will be more and more long covid cases in the years to come. So who gets it? What can we do to treat it? What do we know and what's still a mystery? And how hard is it just to agree on a definition of what it is?GUEST: Dr. Kieran Quinn, long covid researcher and assistant professor, University of Toronto; general internist and palliative care physician, Sinai Health System

Welcome to the 'psychedelic renaissance', as anyone who follows research into and access to this class of drugs will call it. The past few years have brought a perfect storm of new knowledge, loosening of restrictions and curiosity from new users searching for medical solutions.Right now, in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, you can buy psilocybin, also known as 'magic mushrooms' in storefront dispensaries—and although that appears to be illegal, not much is being done about it. Meanwhile, doctors and patients are requesting, and getting, access to both psilocybin and MDMA to treat PTSD and depression.So, in a few years, will psychedelics be the new recreational marijuana?GUEST: Erika Dyck, historian and researcher; Canada Research Chair in the history of health and social justice; author of Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus

Whatever your opinion of the monarchy, it's always fascinating to walk into a history textbook. Saturday's coronation of King Charles III was the first such event since the 1950s, and the rituals performed go back a millennium.On a rainy London Saturday, Canadian broadcaster Lisa LaFlamme was live from the ceremony, taking in all the pomp and circumstance, as well as the challenges and uncertain future of the Crown. What did the ceremony look like? What was changed for a modern audience? Who is King Charles III and does he understand the task in front of him if he's to keep his family relevant?GUEST: Lisa LaFlamme, reporting for CityNews from London 

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know aboutThe Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford. With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some striking similarities to what we're seeing in the city today. We'll be dropping an episode in this feed every Saturday for the next two months leading up to election day, but they're all available in The Gravy Train feed if you prefer to binge them. Enjoy! ----------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: This is the story of how our subject goes from the outskirts of the city to a seat in the building at the heart of its power. Before he was the Mayor of Toronto, and before all the insanity that came in the years following that, Rob Ford was just a young man working at the family business in the suburbs, looking for a spark. An unlikely business request led Rob and his family into politics, and Toronto hasn’t been the same since.

There are exactly three spotted owls not in captivity left in the entire country, only one of which was originally born in the wild. That's a steep precipice from which to revive a majestic bird, especially when its habitat is shrinking.But all is not lost, if the federal and provincial governments can work together, the remaining habitat can be preserved and programs designed to repopulate the owls bear fruit. None of it is easy—but when you're trying to fight extinction, nothing ever is.GUEST Sarah Cox, BC Investigative Reporter, The Narwhal

The streaming era has changed Hollywood forever. Unfortunately it's made things worse for the people who write the shows and films we love (or hate). In an effort to level the playing field the 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America are on strike for the first time in 15 years—and it looks like this could be a long fight.How will the writers' strike change the shows you see on your favourite platforms—now and in the future? Which shows and films are most at risk? And if the strike drags on what happens to Canada's screen production industry and the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs it supplies?GUEST: Barry Hertz, film editor, The Globe and Mail

Most of us would assume that child sexual abuse material hides in the corners of the dark web, far from easy detection. But it doesn't. It's also found on websites and platforms you likely use every day.Project Arachnid is the work of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. It has flagged at least 10 million suspected cases of child pornography. And it's only after the images have been flagged that the real fight often begins...GUEST: Jacques Marcoux, Director of Research and Analytics for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection

It's the biggest piece of broadcast or media legislation in this country in decades. You would think we'd have a clear picture of its implications. But despite receiving royal assent and becoming law, not even leading experts in the field can say what the bill's many changes will look like in practice.There are basic parts of the law — What counts as a streaming service? what counts as digital Canadian content? Will user-created content be subject to the same regulations as corporate-made media? — that the government has left to the CRTC to define via a policy letter. This is a bill with profound implications both for creators and consumers of basically any kind of digital media. So why are we all so confused?GUEST: Dr. Michael Geist, law professor, University of Ottawa; Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law

We'll probably never know if Hassan Diab, a Lebanese Canadian sociology professor, had any role in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four people and injured dozens more. But he's been found guilty, in absentia, by a French court, anyway.This is the second time France has attempted to punish Diab for his alleged role in the attack, and the evidence has been described as flimsy. The first time, he was extradited and jailed in France before charges were dropped, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to criticize the case and the extradition.But now that a court has convicted, will France ask Canada for Diab a second time? If they do, will Canada comply? This is a case that could test the relationship between the two countries, and Canada's policy on extraditions in general.GUEST: Leyland Cecco, reporting for The Guardian

It's known as endovascular thrombectomy—or EVT—and in the decade-plus since it was developed it has evolved to be something of a miracle for people unlucky enough to suffer a stroke, but lucky enough to be able to access it quickly. If performed in time it can turn a potentially deadly or life-altering stroke to something that can be rehabbed in a couple of weeks.But it's an incredibly complex procedure, there aren't expert teams able to handle it everywhere, and as we all know: when it comes to strokes, time is precious. So how does a complicated medical intervention get from a lifesaving specialty to globally available? And how many lives could be saved if it does?GUEST: Eva Holland, writing in The New York Times Magazine

There are about 28 million pets in Canada. And on any given day, most of them are probably bored to tears. This doesn't mean their owners don't love them, or provide for them, or even try to exercise and stimulate them regularly. It just means that they are animals, mostly or totally confined. So they're bored.Does that mean we shouldn't own pets? Maybe, but it's safe to say that ship has sailed. Does it mean we could do better? Absolutely. So what do we know about what domesticated animals need, compared to what they get? How can you identify signs your pet might be bored or depressed? Does this podcast hate puppies and kittens and want to take yours away? No! We swear!GUEST: Kenny Torrella, staff writer, Vox, focusing on animal welfare 

It's hard to overstate just how dire things are in Sudan's capital right now, with violence on the streets and almost no access to food and water for millions, including Canadians and their families. Our government's initial response was scorned, but things are changing rapidly as the situation evolves.So what is happening right now on the ground? Who is getting out, and how? What is Canada doing? How might this conflict end, and will Canada play a role in getting it done?GUEST: Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani, associate professor, Political Science and Islamic Studies;  chair of the African Studies program, McGill University

Everything still feels expensive, but if you look at the numbers, inflation is falling quickly. Grocery prices are falling too, but they're still well above the overall inflation rate. And that makes prices three or six months down the line much tougher to predict.It's been well over a year since food prices began to spike all over the globe, and a number of complex systems have been behind the fluctuations. But with food prices no longer so closely indexed to inflation, and climate change and a volatile geopolitical situation only increasing—we can hope for the best, and perhaps plan for the worst.GUEST: Dr. Kelleen Wiseman, Academic Director, Master of Food and Resource Economics program at the university of British Columbia, one of the authors of the Canada’s Food Price Report for 2023

It's been a long time since Canada saw a strike this big, and as the Public Service Alliance of Canada's action nears the one-week mark, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Meanwhile, services in many federal departments are reduced to emergency-only levels, and unions and employers across the country watch to see what comes next.Why is this strike so important? Because it's massive, and comes at a critical time for both the economy and labour relations, with inflation, pay scale, return-to-work policies and more likely to set a precedent here that will be followed in bargaining to come. So what are the issues? How long could it go? What do you need to know?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews

His name was Gabriel Magalhaes, and he was minding his own business at Keele subway station in Toronto. His alleged killer's name is Jordan O'Brien-Tobin, and he had been released from custody just a couple of weeks ago. He has been in and out of jail for years.The death shocked the city and the country, and in the immediate aftermath, calls for harsher sentencing and bail reform were understandable. But the victims's mother thought otherwise. This is how the system failed absolutely everyone involved in this death. So why is Gabriel gone? What could have prevented this? What changes might save the next young man?GUEST: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter, Toronto Star

A few years ago, a feature called Voice ID was probably perfectly secure. It's used by many companies—including some banks—as a way to verify your identity by having you speak a phrase or two in your own unique voice. The problem is, these days, your own unique voice doesn't necessarily have to come from your own mouth.Today, a reporter explains how he used AI to hack his own online banking account, what the rapid advance of this technology means for existing forms of online security, and how to protect yourself in an age of an escalating cybersecurity arms race.GUEST: Joseph Cox, reporter, Motherboard

Every city in Canada has struggled to solve the problem. And what's mostly ended up happening is tent cities in public places, controversial and sometimes violent removal of those encampments and then a whole new cycle begins. So many people in this country have nowhere to go, and we simply don't have adequate shelter for all of them.This is where tiny home communities come in. Self-sufficient, stable and outside the official system enough to provide places for those who simply won't fit anywhere else. So where have these places sprung up? What's it like inside them? And can they really be a viable solution to a crisis that continues to escalate?GUEST: Justin Chandler, Hamilton-Niagara reporter, TVO.org

It's a phenomenon that was born out of the pandemic, but can't be completely attributed to it. It's difficult to quantify and hard to get to the bottom of, but if you ask teachers, counsellors, parents or  anyone who works or lives with school-age children, they'll tell you what they're seeing.Discipline problems, socialization struggles, attention trouble and lots and lots of anxiety. It's causing disruptions and delays in classrooms and severely straining a system that was struggling even without the added load. What's happening with school-aged kids, and what do they need to get back on track?GUESTS: Sonia Aslam and Mike Lloyd, reporters at CityNews VancouverRead part one of Sonia and Mike's five-part series on BC schools here 

There are currently almost 50 candidates running to become Toronto's next mayor. And there's no incumbent, since John Tory resigned in a scandal in February. That means anyone's got a shot, and at this point nobody can say for certain how this will shake out.The last time a Toronto mayoral race was this wide open, the city got Rob Ford. This time the cast of characters spans the entire political spectrum, from bleeding heart liberals to hard-ass former cops. So who's in the race? Who might join them? Who's got a shot? And what issues will decide the fate of Canada's largest city?GUEST: Momin Qureshi, City Hall reporter, CityNews

Col. Jeremy Hansen will soon become the first Canadian ever to travel to the moon. He's a member of the four-person Artemis II crew, which will leave low Earth orbit next year and swing out and around the moon before returning to splashdown in the ocean.Jeremy talks to us about being chosen for the team, what this mission will accomplish, its margin for error, and how it feels to be  part of a project that will pave the way for humanity to venture further into the cosmos than ever before. GUEST: Col. Jeremy Hansen, Canadian astronaut, Artemis II crew member

This isn't just a big city issue. Even in smaller municipalities, the average cost of rent has skyrocketed. More and more Canadians, priced out of the housing market, are looking to rent. And, at least right now, there simply aren't enough rental properties to go around. Hence ... boom!But this is more than a recent explosion. It's part of a decades-long trend that views renting as transitional and home ownership as the ultimate goal. Does it have to be this way? Should it? What would it take to make Canada once again a place where renting a family home was seen as a viable alternative and not just a failure to buy?GUEST: Brad Badelt, writing in The Walrus

You can't do it one at a time, or even ten at a time. When an independent Alberta chocolatier found herself with an unexpected surplus of 133,000 Rum ad Butter bars facing an expiration date in June, she turned to Facebook. The result is a sweetly puzzling predicament. She doesn't want to profit off these bars, she just wants people to enjoy them before they expire.But in order to do that, she has to find takers. Takers who are willing to pick them up, not by tens or even hundreds—in pallets of 11,000 bars each. So, how do you give away that much chocolate? With a clock ticking?GUEST: Jana Pruden, feature writer, The Globe and Mail

If you've watched TV or attended a sporting event recently, chances are you've seen an ad for Ozempic. Originally created to treat Type-2 Diabetes, the drug is now most commonly used for weight loss, and it's become so popular that some places in Canada have had to ban Americans from crossing the border to get it. And that isn't the only controversy associated with the medication, which has intensified an age old debate about obesity, how it's defined, and how doctors should treat it. Should insurance companies cover obesity and weight loss drugs? Should doctors differentiate between people who have serious health concerns, and those who may just want to drop 20 pounds? And how do we provide treatment to those who need it without furthering the stigmatization of people who may not fit into societies narrow definition of what the 'ideal' body looks like? GUEST: Carly Weeks, health reporter, The Globe and Mail

It's the official residence of the leader of the entire country. And it's a mess. Last week's report about dead rodents and their droppings in the walls was gross, but it's far from the first tale of how awful things are at 24 Sussex. The residence has been in a state of disrepair, to put it mildly, for a decade or more, and almost nothing has been done to fix it.The obvious question is: Why not? And the answer to that question will only provoke a much bigger one: What does it say about our politics in this country that we can't find a way to keep a house that is supposed to house the head of our government from becoming an embarrassment? The answer to that one can tell us a lot.GUEST: David Moscrop, writer and political commentator, author of Too Dumb For Democracy

Ever since author Joseph Boyden was called out for his claims of being an Indigenous author, every few weeks seems to bring a new story of a prominent researcher, writer or academic who has exaggerated or falsified their Indigeneity in order to secure grants or posts. But it's not just them, the numbers of people claiming Indigenous heritage in general has skyrocketed.What changed? Why are these claims only being parsed now? What do people who make these claims stand to gain, and how does it harm people of actual Indigenous ancestry?GUEST: Michelle Cyca, writing in The Walrus

It's only half a joke. A recent report found that by 2030 demand for water will outstrip the world's supply by 40 percent. In the United States, the Colorado River and other major sources of water are drying up. The number of droughts worldwide is skyrocketing. Water is clearly no longer plentiful forever, even in wealthy nations.And Canada has a lot of water that other nations will someday soon not just want but badly need. Does this mean that wars over water are inevitable? No. But increasing scarcity of a resource necessary to life is how conflicts are born. So where does water fit into our current geopolitical tensions? What can we do now to avoid fights later? And ... can't we science out way out of this somehow?GUEST: Dr. Jay Famiglietti, hydrologist and  Global Futures Professor at Arizona State University; former Executive Director Emeritus of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan; host of the What About Water podcast

It was protected just about a month ago, and it's located about 100 kilometres off the coast of Vancouver Island. And as for what's in there ... well, almost everything. That's what happens when you take 133,000 square kilometres of some of the most diverse oceanic ecosystems in the world and stop it from being exploited.Far too often we report on parts of Canada's natural beauty that are vanishing. Today, we'll do the opposite.GUEST: Jimmy Thomson, writing in The Narwhal

Just days after Canada's official unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road was shut down, eight bodies were recovered from the waters of the St. Lawrence River near the Canada-US border. The bodies belong to migrants believed to be travelling from Canada to the United States, but without the Roxham crossing, advocates say we should expect to see more dangerous attempts to cross the border that could end in tragedy.What changed to close Roxham Road, and was it the right call? What comes next for the border, and those seeking to cross it? Could the tragedy on the St. Lawrence have been avoided and how should Canada balance the needs of border security and a migrant crisis that is only going to accelerate in the years to come?GUEST: Nicholas Keung, Immigration Reporter, Toronto Star

At the end of January, British Columbia began a pilot program that decriminalized small amounts of drugs, including heroin, cocaine and opioids. It's the first province-wide program of its kind in Canada and it comes amidst a spiralling overdose crisis. Already, opinions on the program are polarizing and some municipalities in BC are trying to find ways around it.But will the program work? It's been tried elsewhere in the world and results have been positive, but there's simply not enough data yet in the province to tell. Meanwhile, other critics say the program doesn't go far enough to make a real impact, and risks further stigmatizing those who need the most help.GUEST: Dr. Lindsey Richardson, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia; Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity  

Tight elections don't seem to be Alberta's thing. After decades of Conservative blowouts, the NDP's unlikely 2015 win was ... also a blowout, and then the United Conservative Party returned the favour during the next contest. But now, with two months to go before Albertans vote on a new premier, polls indicate that the UCP and the NDP are basically tied. This might actually be a close race. So how did we get here? Have Rachel Notley and the NDP been able to capitalize on Danielle Smith's many gaffes and scandals? Are voters simply immune to weird Covid stuff from the UCP by now? And could this maybe, possibly, be an election actually decided by policy and not partisanship?GUEST: Courtney Theriault, CityNews Edmonton

When a leader sticks around a long time, it's natural that his popularity declines. That's how politics goes. But as Justin Trudeau heads towards a decade in power, there's a big chunk of Canadians who do more than just disapprove of him. They loathe the man. Meanwhile, Trudeau's top challenger, Pierre Poilievre, hasn't led the Conservative party very long, but he's still managed to rack up  impressive unfavourability numbers in a short amount of time.What's fascinating is what the data reveals about who dislikes Poilievre, and who really hates Trudeau, and why. And what those numbers can tell us about the next election, and the political makeup of Canada in 2023.GUEST: David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data

The five-day work week has been the standard for decades. But not forever. Once upon a time, it was a six-day week. So why can't it go from five to four?This isn't an idle question. Pilot projects and studies in countries around the world, including some in Canada, have proven that a four-day week can make employees more productive, as well as cause them to miss less time leaving work for appointments. Companies that have experimented with a four-day work have mostly decided to keep it. If at one time, it seems a crazy idea that just might work, by now there's enough data to show us that it does.So ... why are you working today? Why am I?GUEST: Jared Lindzon, writing in The Globe and Mail

With $432 billion in spending, it's safe to say not everything included in Tuesday's federal budget got its share of headlines. And for top-line items, that makes sense. Health care and the cost of living are things that impact every Canadian. But it can sometimes take a day or two to sort out all the rest—smaller line items that might matter a lot to some people, or long-awaited promises that have finally made it into the document. Or, on the flip side, to get through the entire document and realize what's not in there at all...So what do you need to know about this budget that can't be summed up by a headline? And what will its real impact be down the road?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews

It's a sport well over a century old. It has historically resisted change. It has also, however, been losing relevance by the year, as it gets slower and slower and the action becomes rarer and rarer. Baseball has been withering on the vine. Until (allegedly) this year!For the first time in decades, Major League Baseball has made substantial and fundamental changes to its rules, including a previously unthinkable addition — a clock for the timeless game. So why now? What will these changes do to the sport, and its audience? Is this enough to finally fix baseball?GUEST: Shi Davidi, senior baseball columnist, Sportsnet

Almost five years ago, one of the very first episodes of this podcast was about how baseball was a sport in decline. Games were too long, and too boring. The fan base was getting older and older, and younger generations didn't care. The game was less diverse and had less action, and attendance and ratings were declining.In the years to follow, this problem grew worse and worse—until finally even the traditionalists at the heart of the sport realized the game they loved, and profited from, was becoming increasingly irrelevant.So today, we visit the past, and the problem with baseball. Tomorrow, the solution ... if it works.GUEST: Stephen Brunt, sportswriter

First it was a campaign promise. Then a key plank of the Liberal-NDP supply and confidence agreement. Then it morphed into drug pricing reforms, which were delayed, and changed and delayed and ... well, we're still waiting. Meanwhile, the organization that helped devise the plan has seen resignations, amid accusations that the federal Liberal government has caved to huge pharmaceutical companies.The promise of pharmacare goes back decades in Canadian politics. For a while it seemed like it might be within reach, or at least we'd get price relief on expensive drugs for those without insurance. Instead, we're still in limbo. What happened?GUEST: Dr. Danyaal Raza, family physician; Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Department of Family & Community Medicine

It's the most ambitious offshore mining project in Canadian history, and the fight for approvals has been long and arduous. That's because of both its scope, its dangers and the potential windfall to a province that badly needs it.So what is Bay du Nord? What does it promise and what, exactly, are the risks? And how do you balance the need to phase out fossil fuels with the future of an entire province's economy?GUEST: Lyndsie Bourgon, writing in Maclean's magazine

Your friends and family live in your phone. Sure, you see them from time to time, but usually for scheduled events, planned well in advance, with an agenda and a timeframe. How often do you just find a friend ... and chill?A new book illustrates the kinds of casual hangouts that are dying out, at the same time as loneliness rates are rising around the world. There's a particular kind of energy we get from just killing time, or wandering, and we're losing it. What's that doing to us?GUEST: Sheila Liming, author of Hanging Out: The Radical Power Of Killing Time

Around the world, transgender people are under attack. Often legislatively, other times physically. And many of us would like to think of Canada as an oasis amidst this rise in prejudice. But we're not.Today, a look at a clinic that provides gender-affirming care virtually to trans and non-binary people across the entire province of Ontario. Except right now it doesn't, because new legislation makes it impossible, and the provincial government has so far refused to provide an exemption. What's standing in the way? What is gender-affirming care, and why is it so important? And why is virtual health care, the only option for many communities, being trimmed by the government?GUEST: Kai Jacobsen, steering committee, Trans PULSE Canada; co-author, The Conversation

It was thought that the former president might be arrested on Tuesday, and charged in relation to alleged hush-money payments to an adult film star. That hasn't happened, but many who have been watching the case still expect charges to come. When they do, what will happen next?But this isn't the only investigation into Trump's potential crimes. There are more, and they involve more sinister allegations. So who exactly is investigating Donald Trump, and for what? Where do those investigations stand? What would a nomination race and potential presidential campaign look like, if one of the contenders is preparing to face a trial? Or perhaps more than one trial?GUEST: Aaron Rupar, independent political and policy journalist, author of Public Notice

Today it's Nordstrom, fleeing Canada after failing to turn a profit in almost a decade of trying. Before them, it was Target, thought to be a sure thing in this country. So far, Walmart is the exception that proves the rule: If you're an American retailer with your eyes on the Canadian market, you better do your research and have a plan.The loss of Nordstrom is sad for those who love its designer names, sure, but the stores themselves are a bigger loss as anchor tenants for premium locations in big cities that are slowly being taken over by empty storefronts. So what happened here? Was it them, or us? And what can we learn from the latest American brand to fail in Canada?GUEST: Gary Newbury, retail supply chain expert, Strategic Advisor and Delivery Executive with RetailAID

Even three years after it emerged, there's still no consensus on the origin of the virus that shut down the world. Last week, the US Department of Energy said that its conclusion (albeit with "low confidence") was that the virus escaped from a lab. Three days later new genetic research pointed to the presence of the virus in racoon dogs found in Wuhan at the time the virus began to spread.So chalk up another data point for each side, and still we're searching for answers. What does the new evidence tell us about each theory? How has this debate become politicized? Will we ever know where the virus truly came from? And if we did, what would it change ... if anything?GUEST: Umair Irfan, correspondent at Vox writing about climate change, Covid-19, and energy policy. (Read Umair's latest piece on Covid's origins here.) 

It's called chlorpyrifos, and it's actually still being used in Canada right now. Despite years of reports on the danger it might pose, it was only last year that the government banned it, and it's using a gradual phase out that won't end until the end of this year.So what is chlorpyrifos and what's the risk? What kind of foods is it used on? What can exposure do to us? And why was Canada behind both Europe and the United States in getting rid of it?GUEST: Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, reporter and writer covering food, climate, plastics and the environment for Canada’s National Observer

We're already in another space race. The question this time is who gets the prize at the end of it. Both China and NASA have committed to plans to put bases on the moon in the next decade or so, and one of the main attractions is its resources.There are lots of valuable commodities on the moon, and it also makes a great jumping point for further space travel in the future. So the competition to extract the moon's minerals first, in harsh, remote conditions, with the use of space robotics, will give someone a huge advantage. And there just happens to be a country to the north of the United States that is a world leader in all those things...GUESTS: Alex Ellery, Canada Research Professor in space robotics and space technology at Carleton University;Heather Exner-Pirot, senior fellow and director of natural resources, energy and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Everyone who lived through 2008 as an adult flinched when Silicon Valley Bank failed last week. But was the bank's crash a unique situation, or something that should make us question our own financial institutions? What makes Canadian banks different from banks like SVB? What can we learn about the future of the economy from this failure? Why is the US government helping already-rich tech investors? And what do we need to watch for in the coming weeks and months?GUEST: William O’Connell, PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His research includes global management of financial crises and the regulation of cryptocurrency markets

Over the past couple of decades, five workers have died on the job at Fiera Foods, sparking protests, investigations and allegations of a dangerous workplace. But where did those workers come from? Fiera says they are employed through temp agencies, and they have filed for the tax breaks to prove it. But the CRA says those agencies aren't real, and Fiera workers tell stories of showing up at the factory and being put right out onto the floor.This legal fight sheds light on just how companies can use temp agencies to reduce liability and save money, even when the jobs can be deadly.GUEST: Sara Mojtehedzadeh, investigations team, Toronto Star

For the past month, headlines have been dominated by leaked CSIS documents, intelligence sources, fears of foreign interference in Canadian elections and the political fallout of all that. But most Canadians don't know much about how our intelligence community operates. Which agencies do what? Who do they report to? Who can access their information? Why would they release it to the press?Because this is already shaping up to be the political story of the year in Canada, we wanted to lay out the basics. Here's what you need to know to understand what matters and why.GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

Twice in the last month, Canadians were shown just how open our Northern border can be. First, the Prime Minister ordered a UFO shot down. Then, we learned that Canadian Forces had found Chinese monitoring buoys in our arctic waters. As geopolitical tensions rise, the arctic is perhaps where Canada is most vulnerable. So how do we monitor it? What do we need to do to protect ourselves? How is a changing climate making it more vulnerable? And what keeps the security experts up at night?GUEST: Dr. Whitney Lackenbauer, Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North; Professor, School for the Study of Canada, Trent University

There are indeed medical reasons that require your driver's licence to be suspended. But there are a host of other issues, everything from depression to cold sores, that have been cited as medical reasons in licence suspensions in Ontario. What's happening here.At the core of the issue are MCRs—medical condition reports that can often trigger an automatic suspension, even for a condition that doesn't impact driving, or a condition the driver may not even have. Why is Ontario handing out hundreds of thousands of these suspensions? Who benefits from all these filings? And what recourse do people have when their ability to drive—and with it, often, their livelihood—is taken away?GUEST: Declan Keogh, Investigative Journalism BureauRead his most recent Toronto Star article about MCRs here

It's Canada's most famous ongoing whodunnit. More than five years after the murders of the billionaire couple, the case is still open, the police are still chasing leads, and reporters are still getting new tips. But that hasn't resulted in a concrete suspect ... yet.Why not? What makes this case so hard to crack? And so compelling to the public? What could have been done earlier to make a difference in the information available? What are we still learning now? What might we learn in the months to come? And why does the reporter who has spent years investigating this case believe that we will, eventually, crack it?GUEST: Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter, Toronto Star; host of The Billionaire Murders podcast

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion in the country in 1973. The decision shocked many around the world, and has had folks wondering: could this happen here, at home, in Canada? And what led up to this historic moment in the U.S.? What are the real and current issues facing the state of abortion in Canada, and how can we make a difference?This two-part mini series is hosted by Sarah Sahagian, a feminist podcaster, writer, and non-profit executive living in Toronto. Her byline has appeared in such outlets as The Washington Post, The National Post, The Toronto Star, Refinery29, Romper, and Scary Mommy. In her previous life, she was a gender studies academic who studied parenting and mother blame. Sarah is also the co-host of Frequency Podcast Network’s The Reheat. 

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Morgentaler Decision. That landmark decision decriminalized abortion across Canada and turned the courageous Dr. Henry Morgentaler into a household name. As pivotal a part of Canada’s abortion rights story as Dr. Morgentaler was, many of us are unfamiliar with the stories of woman-identified activists who fought alongside him to ensure people who didn’t want to be pregnant wouldn’t have to be. So, who were the women who fought for abortion rights – and even helped others access illegal abortions – before The Morgentaler Decision? This two-part miniseries introduces listeners to a few of those voices. Hosted by Sarah Sahagian, a feminist podcaster, writer, and non-profit executive living in Toronto. Her byline has appeared in such outlets as The Washington Post, The National Post, The Toronto Star, Refinery29, Romper, and Scary Mommy. In her previous life, she was a gender studies academic who studied parenting and mother blame. Sarah is also the co-host of Frequency Podcast Network’s The Reheat. 

Last month a horrific earthquake in Turkey made it clear that outdated building codes—or non-compliance with updated codes—can turn a normal disaster into an historic one. And while Canada may not have the same earthquake risk or code non-compliance that Turkey has, we have our own problems.Simply, our building own codes are an outdated, confusing mess, and we're finding out regularly just how unequipped the current system is for the extreme weather that's coming. What makes sense about the systems surrounding building regulations in Canada? How are we adapting, if at all, for what's to come? And why can't we figure out a solution that puts the whole country on safer, and saner, footing?GUEST: Kathryn Blaze Baum, investigative reporter, The Globe and Mail

Some Canadians cannot see Canadian news on Google right now. It's because of what Google calls a 'test' that it only admitted when a reporter noticed it happening to them and asked the company. The government, meanwhile, calls it 'bullying' as it prepares to pass Bill C-18, which would force companies like Google to compensate Canadian media companies for serving up their content. If the bill passes, Google could theoretically block all Canadians from finding their news on Google.Will Google's flex work? The government says it won't back down, and that C-18 will pass, so it's preparing to call Google's bluff. What happens when a tech giant goes head-to-head with a government? And what does it say about the state of media that one company could hold such power over audiences?GUEST: Mickey Djuric, Canadian Press reporter

It costs more these days. But yeah, so does everything. What makes coffee a perfect product to explore the world's rising costs, though, is its ubiquity. You can get it absolutely anywhere in the world—but not only that, dozens upon dozens of countries grow, produce and export it, so no one factor in one nation or on one continent explains why your latte costs more.So how does the coffee industry work? Why and how is it changing? And what can that tell us about ... everything else?GUEST: Gavin Fridell, author of Coffee, Canada Research Chair in International Development Studies, St. Mary's University 

It used to be a threat almost exclusively to the poultry industry. But the current strain of H5N1 avian flu has spent the past year infecting millions of wild birds, thousands of mammals, and even humans. To experts who track the disease, it's clear something is up. But we're not yet sure what comes from it.The virus could become more contagious in mammals, but less harmful. It could remain difficult to transmit widely outside of bird populations. It could, theoretically, go away gradually. But it also might not. There is pandemic potential here and the questions on experts' minds is if we are sleepwalking towards another disaster...GUEST: Dr. Shayan Sharif, acting dean of the Ontario Veterinary College, professor of pathobiology

If the questions are "Who knew what, and when?", then Canadian voters aren't the answer. Not only have recent reports shed light on Chinese attempts to influence the 2019 and 2021 elections, but The Globe and Mail Tuesday reported that these attempts stretch back to 2014-2015, after Justin Trudeau became Liberal leader, but before his party rose to power.There are surely more revelations to come ... but why are Canadians finding out this way, through leaked bombshells in the press, instead of learning about it at the time, or at least finding out now through a public inquiry? What should we expect to learn in the coming days? And will we ever get transparency on this from Trudeau and his government?GUEST: Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Globe and Mail

Thankfully, Canada's process for updating its federal electoral map is nothing like America's partisan nightmare. But that doesn't mean it won't have an impact on the results. Every decade, boundaries are moved, new seats are added, and somebody has to win them. The questions are what's changing, what's moving where, and who stands to benefit?GUEST: Éric Grenier, political and polling expert, founder of The Writ

It's such an innocuous term, intended to define a metropolis with neighbourhoods that are walkable and livable for citizens. It's been around for a long time as a theory, and it's one well worth discussing. Except you can't discuss it anymore, at least not rationally.First in the United Kingdom, and now in Edmonton, plans for pilot projects, or even just consideration of the "15-minute" model have been met with cries of a Global World Order seeking to control the people. It's ridiculous, but it's also par for the course nowadays, when just about anything any government announces is jammed into a Universal Conspiracy Universe—featuring everything from climate lockdowns, anti-vax rhetoric and the "Great Reset". How did it happen, and is there any way back from this?GUEST: Peter Guest, Acting Business Editor, WIRED

They are majestic flying in a "v" overhead. A symbol of fall and spring. A true National treasure. And also, Canada geese can be...just total jerks.They flock to cities and universities, nesting and aggressively defending those nests, and leaving metric tons of goose poop just about everywhere. And you don't want to get on their bad side. This is the story of the many and varied efforts Canadian institutions have made to figure out how to live in peace with these creatures. If it's possible.GUEST: Tom Jokinen, writing in The Walrus

In the time in between peak travel windows, the problems at Canada's major airports seem to have mostly vanished. But does that mean airlines and airport authorities have actually fixed the issues that had us ranked among the worst in the world last year? Not really.The massive numbers of cancelled or delayed flights, and the chaotic snapshots of hundreds of bags scattered about are primed for a comeback, because there's an underlying problem we haven't solved. And there are lessons even a year of awful press has not helped the industry learn. So what makes Canada's airports and flights so unstable? What could have been done to fix this? And will it really take no more than a busy week or a bad storm to send this country's air travel into a tailspin?GUEST: John Gradek, aviation industry expert, Faculty Lecturer and Program Co-ordinator, Supply Chain, Logistics and Operations Management, McGill University

Exactly what happened on February 3 in East Palestine, Ohio? What do we know about the toxic gasses that were vented from a derailed train? What kind of effect could they have on nearby residents, and could their impact reach as far as Canada?It's been a decade since Canada's Lac-Mégantic train disaster, and somehow the push for tighter regulations for trains carrying hazardous cargo weren't enough to prevent this catastrophe. It may be years until we know everything about the environmental and health impacts, but what do we need to know, like, right now?GUEST: Rebecca Burns, reporter, The Lever

Almost three years ago, George Floyd's murder and the ensuing protests, brought the idea of defunding the police into the mainstream, and made the concept palatable to many Canadians. And yet, with police budgets increasing in pretty much every city across Canada, it seems that momentum has yet to translate into tangible social change. So what happened to the defund movement? What are some common misconceptions about its actual aims? And although police unions and politicians seem to have won the current PR battle, is the defund ideology too entrenched at this point to really be defeated? GUEST: Ted Rutland, Associate professor of geography, planning and environment at Concordia University

The Meeting House was meant to be a new kind of church; one that would appeal to those who felt alienated by mainstream Christianity. The church’s charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, with his impassioned sermons, and sometimes controversial interpretations of scripture, drew parishioners to their Oakville, Ontario headquarters from across the Greater Toronto Area. At its peak, Meeting House membership numbered 5000, and the future looked bright for the so-called ‘megachurch’.Then, in 2021, allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Cavey, and in the aftermath of that scandal, other incidents involving Meeting House staff began to surface, pointing to a more systemic issue within the church. Membership has since dwindled, and criminal proceedings against Cavey are ongoing.So what exactly happened at the Meeting House? What can this scandal tell us about the phenomenon of Church sexual abuse more broadly? And what needs to change to make sure that places of worship are also a place of safety for all?GUEST: Rachel Browne, investigative journalist and documentary producer who wrote about The Meeting House in The Walrus

The situation in Haiti, especially in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, has deteriorated in recent months. In some areas gang violence and poverty is rampant, while food, water and fuel have become scarce. While many point to the assassination of former-president Jovenel Moïse as the catalyst for the current crisis, our guest today argues that the roots of the current tumult stretch back much further, and that past Canadian foreign policy decisions have contributed heavily.Now, there are calls for foreign military intervention to stabilize the situation, and suggestions that Canada should play a leading role in that effort, many are concerned that we’ve learned nothing from our past mistakes.So what exactly is happening in Haiti? What do the Haitian people need to improve their situation? And if military intervention is not the answer, then what should Canada do to support Haiti in its struggle for peace, prosperity and justice?Guest: Jean Saint-Vil (Jafrikayiti), radio host and Member of Solidarité Québec-Haiti.

It started with a suspected Chinese spy balloon, shot down by the American military off the coast of South Carolina after being tracked floating over the continent for at least 4 days. Since then, three more as-yet-unidentified objects have been blown out of the sky, one near the coast of Alaska, one in the northern Yukon Territory, and one over Lake Huron. At this point we can say with some certainty that the origin of these objects is terrestrial, and that’s essentially it.It may take some time before the public gets definitive answers about what, exactly, is going on here, but the events have sparked renewed debate about NORAD, and Canada’s ability to protect its airspace.So what types of risk could these aerial incursions pose to people on either side of the 49th parallel? Are these floating objects something new, or are we just noticing them more often now that we’re on higher alert? GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University and a former national security analyst with the government of Canada. Read her Newsweek article about the floating objects here.

John Tory for a long time seemed like your archetypal career politician; adept at avoiding scandal, and keeping his private life out of the public eye. And so the recent revelation that the thrice-elected mayor engaged in a romantic affair with a former employee — his subordinate at the time — was shocking to say the least.On top of tarnishing his public image, the scandal has thrown the Toronto political sphere into a state of disarray. Tory, with his newly acquired ‘Strong Mayor Powers’, had an ambitious agenda for his third term, including the passage of a contentious budget that’s due to be debated in council this week.Will Tory's opponents capitalize on the scandal to impose their own will onto the future of the city? And who might end up in the mayor’s seat, after what promises to be the most compelling Toronto municipal election in nearly a decade?GUEST: Ben Spurr, reporter with The Star’s City Hall Bureau

Every day brings new headlines of entrance exams Chat GPT has passed, or university essays the AI tech has scored solid grades on. And the technology will only get better from here. One of the first places that will have to reckon will the AI revolution are colleges and universities, where essays and exams are traditional forms of evaluation.So what are they doing? Are they attempting to seek out AI essays, as they do for plagiarism? To ban the programs entirely? And are those options just futile hopes? And if they can't beat 'em, will they join 'em, and incorporate AI technology into assignments and evaluations?GUEST: Jeff Schatten, associate professor of business administration at Washington and Lee University

In October of 1988,  23 year old  Tatiana “Tania” Anikejew was found in her Toronto apartment by a friend and her parents days after she had been stabbed to death.  Her killer has never been found.  Tania's parents died before any arrest was ever made in this case,  but three of her friends have never given up on finding out the truth behind her violent death.  They share her story in this episode.Listen to more episodes of Tracking a Killer. 

Traditionally, we think of a tip as an acknowledgement of a job well done, usually by someone who performs a service for us. It's become impolite not to tip, of course, but until recently the standards were still mostly understood. Then society began to go cashless...Over the past few years, tipping has crept into far more transactions than it had previously. Now businesses don't need to rely on tradition, they can simply add a tip prompt to their transaction machines, and presto! Tip creep. This creates confusion, and often resentment, when being asked to tip for handing over some goods across a counter, or ringing up groceries. And it's not the workers' fault—but they're caught in the middle.So where did tip creep come from? How much and when should you tip now, and what are the forces at work behind this dynamic?GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper

Keira Kagan should be an anonymous little girl—going to school, playing in the park, growing up. Instead, after three years of her mother fighting for answers and change and demanding better, she's a tragic example. Keira and her father—who should never have been able to pick her up for the weekend—went over a cliff together, three years ago. Every year, 30 children in Canada are killed by a parent. Many of those deaths are preventable, if the system works, and those charged with that do their jobs. In Keira's case, neither of those things happened. This is how the unthinkable happens, way too often.GUEST: Cynthia Mulligan, reporter, CityNews

In April of 2021, the federal government announced their intention to give all Canadians access to $10-a-day childcare, amounting to roughly $30-billion of federal funds over three years. It's a huge deal, as any parent who has ever paid for daycare can tell you.For the program to actually work though, daycares need to be barrier-free and high quality. Here’s the catch: there’s a staffing shortage, workers are underpaid, and working in poor conditions. How can governments make childcare accessible to parents in need? How will the childcare system ensure that needs of early childhood educators are met? And what comes next?GUEST: Emma Arkell, freelance reporter, writing in Chatelaine

A Canadian tank arrived in Poland on Monday, and will head off to bolster Ukrainian efforts agains a Russian invasion. The single tank, obviously, isn't critical on its own, but what it represents definitely is: It's a German tank, which Canada could not have offered without German agreement, which shouldn't be taken for granted.Nearly a year after the war started, holding NATO's supportive alliance together is paramount, and these tanks are a symbol that it remains. They are also critical because as the territory warms up, Russia is likely planning new incursions—and the tanks will allow Ukrainian forces to bring the fight to them. After nearly a year of death and resistance, and a cold, slow winter, what happens when the thaw arrives?GUEST: Matt Gurney, reporter and columnist, writing in The Line

What counts as "work" and what doesn't? If you're sitting there, doing nothing, thinking of how to accomplish your goals ... are you working? Well, if you're using a company laptop, the software watching your every move might not agree. And now there's a chance the courts will agree with them.Welcome to the still-very-new era of "time theft", where employee tracking can result in a case being made against workers who were using their work time for something else, at least in the eyes of their employers. What kind of rules exist around employee monitoring in Canada? How far can this go? And who among us has never "stolen" some time? Like, really?GUEST: Valerio De Stefano, Canada Research Chair in Innovation, Law and Society at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto and co-author of the 2022 book “Your boss is an Algorithm”

Much of humanity's search for extraterrestrial life has focused on, well, our kind of life—the conditions that make possible the biology we see on Earth. But what if the conditions that make life possible are far from what we imagine? What if we don't actually know what "life" is, even? Woah, dude...Seriously, though, in recent years scientists have been working to reframe our parameters in hopes that we'll find unlikely life, in unlikely places. What might that look like? The possibilities are infinite.GUEST: Sarah Scoles, science writer, reporting in Scientific American

Even if you don't live in the city, you've probably heard about the recent spate of violence on Toronto's transit system. There have been some really ugly, seemingly random incidents. And while anecdotes may not be reliable, in this case the numbers back them up: Even with far fewer riders, there has been a sharp spike in the number of serious incidents on the system since the pandemic began.The question is what happens now. When fear spreads, that keeps riders away. With fewer riders comes worse service and safety, which keeps the cycle going. Add in the failings of Toronto's shelter system and other public health initiatives to help care for the city's vulnerable population, and you have a collapsing transit system also taking on the weight of other services.Are more cops the answer? What else could the city try? Will they tackle the root cause of the problems, rather than simply the problems themselves? And what happens if they don't?GUEST: Lex Harvey, transportation reporter, Toronto Star

Pain and fever meds for children—acetaminophen and ibuprofen, usually—have been in short (or no) supply across the country for several months. Purchases made by the government have begun to hit shelves, but for many parents it's still difficult to find. How did a handful of factors combine to cause this shortage? Why has it lasted so long?And although these medicines have been the ones grabbing headlines, why don't many Canadians know just how many drugs we're running out of?GUEST: Carly Weeks, health reporter, The Globe and Mail

When new drinking guidelines for Canadians were released, it was the headline takeaway that got the most attention, and scorn. And viral interview responses. In fact, many of the other recommendations were ignored. There is a lot of science behind limiting alcohol consumption, and there are many ways to do it.But is setting a goal that is daunting for many Canadian drinkers the best way to do it? How important is the messaging to actually achieving results? Are there lessons we can learn, both from the pandemic and Canada's approach to tobacco, that could help us drink less, while also not sparking ridicule from those who enjoy a few beers?GUEST: David Sweanor, chairman of the advisory committee for the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics.

It's fair to be skeptical of ANY deal announced by a government or resource company that will lead to natural resource extraction on Indigenous land. They don't have a good track record here, to put it mildly. But even with that said—last week was very good week for putting more power over the land back in the hands that once held it.Are these deals, the sign of a new era in recognizing Indigenous rights, or will they prove to be more of the same when push comes to shove? Are they a sign of things to come, or outliers that will be overlooked?GUEST: Leyland Cecco, reporter, The Guardian

It seems Impossible. Plant-based meat products were supposed to take us Beyond our love for beef, save the environment and maybe even make us healthier. For a while, it seemed the hype was real, and the growth was sustainable. Billions of dollars were spent backing that up. Three years later, it's pretty clear something went wrong.Where did the hype come from? What was expected from these products and how did they fail to deliver? What happened to the plant-based meat revolution?GUEST: Deena Shanker, Bloomberg food industry reporter

In one word: Cameras. If you live in a city, you should probably assume there's at least one camera watching you at all times, never mind the phones that are whipped out the second anything interesting happens. Reporters who cover the courts now report that basically every case features video compilations that track every moment of the suspect's day, as well as that of the victim. Through security cameras, store cameras, traffic cameras, even doorbell cameras—it's impossible not to be seen.On one hand, solving murders is a good thing. On the other hand is ... everything that goes along with living in an age where you're under surveillance the moment you step out your door, and where the police have many more video resources than the average defendant ever will.GUEST: Alyshah Hasham, former crime and courts reporter, current city hall reporter, Toronto Star

It's a process that can take up to a decade. And individual aspects of it can take up to a year or more. Or... it can take, like, a month.The drug development process is time-consuming, intense and very, very expensive. So much so that only huge pharmaceutical companies can afford to keep swinging and missing. But a Canadian team using AI programs is aiming to change that—everything from the length of time to who can afford to do the work, and it just might revolutionize the entire process.GUEST:  Alán Aspuru-Guzik, professor of Chemistry and Computer Science at the University of Toronto; director of the Acceleration Consortium 

In 2021, Statistics Canada reported 5.8 million Canadians suffered some level of food insecurity. As inflation has spiked, so have stories of hungry families needing food banks to fill their tables. But the root causes of food insecurity aren't captured by expensive groceries, nor are they solved with monthly boxes of food.If you want to know why millions of citizens of one of the world's richest countries are hungry, you have to look deeper than that. And if we're going to solve the problem, the solutions have to go beyond simply "give them food". GUEST: Valerie Tarasuk, professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto; leader of PROOF, an interdisciplinary research program studying effective policy approaches to reduce food insecurity

Canadians are passionate about their healthcare. Even when the system is in crisis, we're proud of having universal care, and we want it to work. So when Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his government would move some surgeries into private clinics ... all hell broke loose.So what exactly is happening in Ontario? How is it different from what's already happening in British Columbia and Quebec? What are critics concerned about and just how can we tell if this is a necessary move, or a step onto a slippery slope? Or both?GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

It's probably the single brand most associated with Canada. It's also the single brand most associated with colonization, stolen land and genocide of Indigenous peoples.Yes, the Hudson's Bay company has a long legacy. But for how much longer? The company's retail footprint is shrinking and it hasn't become much of an online shopping destination. One thing it does have though, is billions of dollars in prime downtown real estate. It's given one building away already—and the motives behind that are up for debate. What will happen to the rest of them?GUEST: Don Gillmor, award-winning Canadian novelist, journalist and children's book author. Writing in The Walrus.

Many think of Canada as a promised land for immigrants from all over the world. That's because Canada literally needs newcomers to survive. As much as we love that image, it's not altruistic. Right now, we have the political and popular will to sustain big immigration targets and Canada ranks among the top destinations in the world for immigrants. That's a great place to start from.The question, though, is what are we doing to make sure immigrants will continue to want to come here? To attract the workers in sectors that we need the most? To make sure the infrastructure that already struggles, can accommodate another half million new Canadians, and do it well? And then again?GUEST: Rupa Banerjee, Canada Research Chair in Economic Inclusion, Employment and Entrepreneurship of Canada’s Immigrants, associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

It's known as Chronic Wasting Disease, and it's been around for more than a decade. In recent years, however, it has spread across Canadian prairies and animals at an alarming rate. In some places, up to 80 percent of deer populations tested may be infected. The illness makes animals like deer and elk waste away from the inside, looking like something from a horror movie (hence 'Zombie Deer').So far the disease has not moved to humans, or other unrelated animals. But it is certainly possible. Meanwhile, funding for testing, research and potential vaccines is tough to come by. So why aren't we taking this seriously? Should we? How urgent is this crisis?GUEST: Debbie McKenzie, University of Alberta professor and prion disease researcher

If that headline stunned you, you're not alone. Even veteran police officials and crime reporters can't recall a case like this one, in which eight teen girls ranging in age from 13 to 16 allegedly swarmed and attacked a homeless man, leading to his death from stab wounds. Police say there is an indication the group connected online and were involved in other altercations on the same night the attack took place. The accused are all under 18, and cannot be identified. Hard information in this case has so far been difficult to come by, and the media is fighting for more of it in court. In the meantime, what can we say about a crime with so little precedent? GUEST: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter, The Toronto Star

Lobbying is a tricky part of politics. It can be tricky to define, tricky to identify and really, really tough to analyze at scale. That's because of how it's tracked—across several different databases, with no standards, no searchability and often completely different spellings of the businesses, organizations and politicians involved.But a new data journalism project has tried to overcome that, and put everything we know about lobbying the highest levels of government in one place, so the public can see (and search) for themselves. And once they do that, you can answer the real questions: Who gets the most facetime with the most powerful people in the country, and what are they talking about?GUEST: Roberto Rocha, data journalist, Investigative Journalism Foundation

Maybe it's the top you bought on Instagram or the flashy new appliance with a touchscreen. Maybe it's an Apple product that you can't repair yourself or a replacement for a product you've been buying forever that simply ... doesn't last as long as it once did. You've probably experienced at least one of these and likely more.You're not imagining things or just getting old and grumpy. There are a number of reasons—some purposeful, others a result of circumstances—that are lowering the lifespans of products that used to last years, even decades. So why is this happening and what can we do about it?GUEST: Izzie Ramirez, deputy editor of Vox's Future Perfect

Stop us if you've heard this one before: It's more contagious, we're seeing it make up a higher percentage of cases, hospitalizations are beginning to climb, and we don't yet know if it's more severe or not. Playing the role of Omicron in this winter's version of a January spike is sub-variant XBB 1.5, otherwise known as The Kraken.So should you be worried? Will vaccines still protect us? How will we know if it's time to be concerned? What should we be doing now to make sure we can have a safe winter? And should we just prepare for this to be our seasonal situation for the next few years, as the virus moves towards real endemicity?GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist, and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at The University of Ottawa

Since Doug Ford reneged on his promise to protect the Greenbelt in November, resistance to his proposal has been fierce. In the past week that has culminated in a court challenge as well as a potential investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police. There are other investigations ongoing as well, and public protests at Queen's Park and elsewhere—but can any of it really stop development of the land for new homes?What basis do the investigations and challenges have? What does the Ford government say to answer them? What comes next in Ontario's fiercest environmental battle in years?GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

In early December, scientists announced a major breakthrough on the way to a fusion-powered world of unlimited clean energy. It received reams of media coverage and lots of hope for a miracle future that would solve the climate crisis. The problem is that it won't. It can't possibly scale up in time to solve our current problems, never mind the ones we'll develop while waiting for it. But for the people who pay attention to clean energy and the climate emergency, the coverage was frustrating. Why? Because we don't need a miracle cure, we just need to focus on the technology we can scale up, right now. GUEST: David Roberts, editor, reporter and host at Volts

Canadians were stranded in Mexico. They were on VIA trains for 20 hours, stopped on the tracks. They were stuck in airports waiting for flights that never took off or luggage that never arrived. The 2022 holiday season exposed just how fragile this country's transportation network has become. So who's to blame? What are they going to do about it? And will this ever get better?GUEST: Stephanie Taylor, Parliament Hill reporter, The Canadian Press

This year marks the beginning of a delayed phase-out of single-use plastics, mandated by Canada's federal government. As the rules change over the coming months, restaurants are trying to figure out what to do—with plastic cutlery, plastic bags and most importantly with the takeout containers themselves.Over decades, plastic takeout containers have been adapted to hundreds of different meals, from soups, to burgers, curry dishes and products that must stay really hot or really cold. So now, they're experimenting, and you might find your food looking different from one week to the next as they hunt down solutions. So what will the end result be? Can restaurants afford it? And ... will any of this really make a difference to the glut of plastic clogging the planet?GUEST: Rosa Saba, business reporter, The Canadian Press

Unlike the most recent Conservative Party of Canada leaders to attempt to win a federal election, Pierre Poilievre has a new strategy. Since he won the job last fall, he has avoided the typical shift to the centre that his predecessor's have attempted. How does he plan to win by holding firm to the right? Can he win without centrist suburban support?What would it take to get an election this year, anyway? And what would the campaign look like if one were called?GUEST: Stephen Maher, writing in The Walrus with Frank Graves

This is the time of year when many people try to organize their finances for the coming year—how much things will cost, how much to spend, how much to save, all of that. But after one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory, 2023 is shaping up to be even more unpredictable.What should Canadians expect from their economy this year? How can you make financial plans in an age of inflation and interest rates, when everything from everyday groceries to the stocks in your portfolio are volatile? Should we still be worried about filling our RRSPs and savings accounts, or just stashing anything possible to try and get by? What does a 2023 budget look like?GUEST: Shannon Lee Simmons, certified financial planner, chartered investment manager, founder of the New School of Finance and author of No-Regret Decisions

One of the biggest problems facing humans attempting to travel anywhere in space that's farther than the moon is the years it will take to get there. A small ship simply can't support normal human life for that long. We need too much food, water, exercise and stimulation. But ... what if we didn't? What if we could shut ourselves down, the way animals do in the middle of winter, needing limited supplies and passing months as though they were days?This used to be the realm of science fiction. It's not anymore.GUEST: Brendan I. Koerner, contributing editor at WIRED, author of The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. In the sixth and final instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS host Jordan Heath-Rawlings explains why he selected an episode from July about our ever-decreasing attention spans, and what he's been doing to help regain his focus. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—Have you by any chance been struggling to focus recently? Maybe you used to read long books, or dive into old hobbies and learning new things, and now that feels a lot harder than it should. You are not alone. Research shows that we are suffering through a profound loss of attention, and it's getting worse every day.So what happened to us? Did we lose ourselves in our new devices, or has our attention been deliberately stolen? And what can we do to get it back?GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and author of Stolen Focus

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. In the fifth instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS producer Joe Fish explains why he selected an episode from September about counterfeit toonies. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—They call it the "camel-toe toonie", and you will understand why as soon as you look at the front right paw of the polar bear on it. Since they were first discovered in circulation in 2020, estimates range from at least tens of thousands to likely millions of them reaching circulation.But who is behind it? How do you counterfeit toonies at scale and get them into the banking system? And ... why toonies?GUEST: Brent Mackie, creator of cameltoetoonies.ca, numismatist, treasurer of Waterloo Coin Society 

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. In the fourth instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS producer Ebyan Abdigir explains why she selected an episode that originally aired in the wake of the Pope's apology tour back in August. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—Now that the Pope has left Canada, it's worth looking at what he's leaving behind. It's complicated. Was the Papal Apology a sincere expression of regret and compassion and a promise to do better? Or was it checking off call to action #58 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list?Will his visit help to heal the pain of survivors and the grief of their families? Or will it be seen as an unsatisfying end to a story that once hoped for so much more real change? Or ... both? What needs to come from this historic apology to make it meaningful?GUEST: Patty Krawec, Anishnaabe writer from Lac Seul First Nation, co-host of the podcast Medicine for the Resistance, and author of the upcoming book, Becoming Kin.

What mattered most? What changed us? What didn't we pay enough attention to? And what will we remember about 2022 in 2025 or 2030?As the year wraps up we called some of our favourite guests from a variety of fields to ask them what stood out, and what really mattered. And we made you a blooper reel. Have a safe and happy new year from all of us at TBS, and we'll return with brand new episodes on January 3, 2023.GUESTS:Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNewsVass Bednar, author of Regs 2 RichesBalkan Devlen, Superforecaster at Good Judgement Inc.Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet Writer, host of Going DeepFatima Syed, guest host of TBS, Ontario reporter at The NarwhalSabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

Grab a hot chocolate and settle in by the fire for two tales of supernatural wonder from Canada’s frozen north: one from the Yukon Territory, one from the coast of Labrador. The first is a long-forgotten, supposedly “true” tale about how a mining engineer from Alaska was saved by a stranger who appeared to him in a dream. The second is well-known story of a phantom trapper said to roam the wilds of Labrador. Both are deeply set in the snowy wilds of the north, and deal with themes of the supernatural and salvation—perfect for sharing on a cold winter’s night.Listen to more Fireside Canada. And read the complete show notes and more at FiresideCanada.ca

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. In the third instalment of our Staff Picks series, Frequency's Digital Editor, Mary Jubran, explains why she selected an episode from April about a lack of available sex assault evidence collection kits in Canadian hospitals. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—Many victims have come to Canadian hospitals after they've survived a sexual assault, only to be informed that the hospital doesn't have either the equipment or the personnel to properly collect evidence for a future investigation. In some cases, victims have been sent to hospitals many miles away. Why are these kits scattered around the country, instead of being immediately available at any hospital? And who has the power to fix it?GUEST: Jacqueline Villeneuve-Ahmed is the founder and director of She Matters, a community of women-identifying survivors and allies

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. In the second instalment of our Staff Picks series, Frequency's manager of business development, Diana Keay, explains what she found so fascinating — and heartbreaking — about journalist Omar Mouallem's deep dive into the Canadian cannabis industry. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—It was supposed to make billions upon billions as an industry, and the investors were chasing millions of their own. Instead, thousands of Canadians were left holding empty bags, having lost jobs, savings and opportunities to the promise of fast money and an industry that could never have possibly matched the hype.How did (almost) everyone get the weed industry so wrong? And what happened to those Canadians who bought into the hype?GUEST: Omar Mouallem, reporting in Canadian Business

Christmas trees won't vanish in this country, but the people who farm them are facing some tough decisions in the coming years. As the climate changes, trees grown apart, in neat little rows, simply can't take it as well as trees that make up a natural forest. As this worsens, the cost of farmed trees will continue to rise, and farmers may have to look at non-native species.How does the tree farm industry work? Where does your perfect little triangle tree come from and why is it so difficult to grow? And ten years from now will more Canadians be heading out to the woods with axes, as our grandparents might have done?GUEST: Richard Hamelin, head of Forest Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these staff picks, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. Up first we have Stefanie Phillips, the show runner at Frequency Pods, telling us why she chose an episode from back in May, about rising food prices. —ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES— New numbers show Canada's rate of food inflation has hit a 40-year high, even passing the rate of the United States. Millions of Canadians are trying to balance their grocery bill with their budget and having to make difficult choices. So, where can you look for relief? What's less expensive even as other products are skyrocketing? How can you make sure you get the most for your money when there's little relief in sight?And finally, much of the world is facing a compounding food crisis, how can we make sure Canadians continue to have store shelves full of goods, even if they do cost more than in the past?GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast

It's a cliche to say the holidays can be a tough time for some people, but the truth is that almost everyone will spend some time this month exhausted, worried, lonely or just generally trying to make it through.If you're not one of those people, congratulations! For everyone else, or even for those with friends or family who may need some extra care, this is the prep session for you.GUEST: Erica Djossa, registered psychotherapist, host of Happy As A Mother

Most Ontario rifle hunters get less than two weeks a year to bag their deer. On Griffith Island they got 11 weeks—until the provincial government recently raised it to 13. Why such a long season? Nobody wants to talk about it. Not the government, and definitely not the exclusive hunting club on the island with its secretive membership list.On the surface, Griffith Island is an interesting curiosity that can spark discussion of privilege. More than that, however, it raises questions about who sets hunting laws, who those laws are designed to benefit, and whether those decisions are driven by the best interests of conservation, or the best interests of the wealthy few.GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

At the time of year when we should be trying to help others, those struggling with homelessness might not be feeling the love. In some Canadian cities, encampment communities have been taken down, sometimes violently. Temporary hotel shelters created during the pandemic are being shut down. And all just in time for winter.Why has homelessness spiked in Canada? What's the root cause, and why aren't governments addressing it? We know we're not creating enough affordable housing, but what good does affordable housing do if you still can't afford it? What do those living outside, in the shelter system or in community encampments actually need—from governments, and from us?GUEST: Jen St. Denis, housing and civic issues reporter, The Tyee

You've heard parts of this story in every report of a teacher preying on a vulnerable student. What makes this case different is the sheer scale of the abuse. Nearly twenty years, dozens of students ... how did it go on for so long?Michael Gregory could have been stopped before most of this happened. But he wasn't. What can this horrific case teach us about protecting children from systematic abuse in the school system?GUEST: Omar Mouallem, writer, editor, and filmmaker. (You can read Omar's piece in Maclean's right here.)

Trials will begin in Uganda this week for three vaccines that could combat the Ebola outbreak—and one of those vaccines was created here in Canada. But it was created years ago, and simply sat there, waiting for someone, anyone, to move it to trial and manufacture. And this is something of a pattern.Why is Canada among the world leaders in finding vaccines, and never doing anything with them? Why does it take for-profit companies or dozens of deaths before these projects move forward? How many lives could be saved from how many viruses if Canada, and the world, were just a little more proactive?GUEST: Jason Nickerson, humanitarian representative to Canada for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

For the first time ever, snow crab season has been cancelled. A survey of the population revealed thousands of tons of crabs, more than eleven billion animals estimates had said were on the Pacific Ocean floor, simply weren't there. The reason for their absence is a mystery, with many possible solutions—disease, migration, cannibalism and more.In the days after the discovery however, most narratives focused on climate change's role in their absence. And while it surely played some part, what does it say about our rapidly changing world that this has become the first and simplest answer to any mystery in the natural world?GUEST: Spencer Roberts, writing in Nautilus

Bill C-21 would change Canada's approach to gun control. A little bit. But an amendment to Bill C-21 would radically alter it, and it seems that the party pushing the legislation may not even realize it. In theory, the bill is intended to ban "assault-style" weapons. In practice it could ban hundreds of guns that have been legal to own for decades.As you might imagine, this is not going over well with military gun owners, hunters and others who have used firearms safely and legally for many years. And the Liberals may now walk back to proposed amendment. But the big question here is this: How did a party that has made a ton of political hay on gun policy walk right into this mess with its eyes closed?GUEST: Matt Gurney, print and broadcast journalist, co-founder of The Line

Has anyone in your family ever gotten away with murder? Are you sure? Because a new investigative DNA technique allows police to search a database for DNA linked to samples obtained in cold case investigations. Companies like 23andMe won't share your DNA with police, but many people who use those services choose to upload their results to other databases, in hopes of finding a match, or medical information, or many other things ... and they either allow, or forget to opt out of, police searching that data.Recently Toronto Police cracked two decades-old cold cases this way, and the process is gaining popularity with police forces everywhere. So how does it work? Is it legal, or ethical? And are we about to see a flood of cold cases coming off the books, thanks to curious but innocent people who don't realize there's a killer in their family tree?GUEST: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter, Toronto Star

Yes, sports betting has technically been around for a long time in this country. But it's only been a little more than a year since single-game sports betting arrived to change the landscape completely. Now it's difficult to watch any kind of sporting event without commercials urging viewers to get in on the action. What does that mean for the industry, for viewers and, perhaps most importantly, people who struggle with problem gambling? How does sports betting compare to other forms of legal gambling? Will we eventually see betting commercials and content recede as the industry establishes itself? And ... from the government's point of view, is this another legal cannabis fiasco?GUEST: Mark Hill, reporter and editor at Inverse

Last week, a judge in Ontario ruled that Iran's Revolutionary Guard was in fact a "terrorist entity". This is a move that politicians on all sides have advocated for, as well as human rights groups and ordinary Iranian and Jewish Canadians. So why was a judge making the call and not the federal government, who has so far declined to do so?What makes the IRGC a terrorist organization, by our standards? Who should be making that call, and what does it mean for the groups that meet the definition? And what's the story behind this unique ruling?GUEST: Stewart Bell, National Online journalist, Global News

Canadians are using credit cards to pay for purchases more than ever before.Why wouldn't they? Cash has been on the decline and rewards programs are better than ever. But small businesses say these programs are killing them, and it has become almost impossible to understand the complex system of fees that go into these payments. Right now, Ottawa is asking card companies and retailers to come to an agreement, before it has to step in and regulate. But why? How does the system work? Who pays for what? And what do you need to know the next time you whip out a card and chase the points during your holiday shopping?GUEST: Susan Krashinsky Robertson covers the retail industry for the Globe and Mail's Report on Business

Anytime any government misplaces taxpayer money, it's a bad thing—whether that's wasteful spending, overpaying, mismanaging the budget or losing track in a spreadsheet. But when the government in question presides over a small municipality in rural Manitoba where a) $500,000 is an awful lot of money and b) the government is comprised of neighbours and business owners, friends and enemies, and everyone knows everyone, it can bring all kinds of long-simmering tensions and resentments to the surface.Here's what happened in Westlake-Gladstone when the money vanished.GUEST: J.R. Patterson, writing in The Walrus

There has been no shortage of political mudslinging regarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's testimony at the Emergencies Act Inquiry last week—but perhaps the most important thing was that he took the stand at all. Beyond the Prime Minister answering questions, Canadians also got looks at emails, text messages, phone calls and all sorts of communications between governments and police services, different levels of leadership, different departments and more. It's important to understand how rare this is—because once we understand that, we can ask the inevitable follow-up questions: Why is it rare? Why should it be rare to see how our governments work behind closed doors? GUEST: David Moscrop, political writer and commentator; author and podcaster

It's the "Death Dilemma". When someone we love is at the end of their life, unresponsive in the ICU, our natural instinct when doctors ask us is to tell them to "do everything" to save them. But should it be?How has our changing relationship with the end of life altered the medical system? Do we prioritize quantity of life over quality? Are we costing both our loved ones and the medical system added pain by not just letting them go? And how do we balance that with the desperate need to keep them with us?GUEST: Dr. Blair Bigham, ER physician, author of Death Interrupted

Right now, Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board is barely functional. The backlog of eviction challenges, both legal and illegal, is miles long, and currently the board is focused on rent increases. Meanwhile, in landlord Facebook groups, some are asking about penalties for illegal evictions, perhaps planning to simply do that and pay for it later. While tenants, tossed by the hundreds for potentially dubious reasons since the eviction moratorium lifted, have nowhere to go—both literally, and with regards to their challenges.How did it get this bad? What, if anything, is being done to fix it? And what do both renters and landlords need to know about the situation?GUEST: Jack Hauen, reporter, QP Briefing

Depending on who you ask it will either help Canadian creators level the online playing field, or wreck their business model. The bill is intended to apply Canadian Content rules to online streaming—but it's incredibly complex and difficult to judge how it will work in practice. So what's in the bill? Why are some independent creators critical of it? What does it do in an ideal world, and will it actually work as intended? And what does it mean for the average Canadian who loves to surf YouTube or TikTok?GUEST: Vass Bednar, executive director of the Masters of Public Policy in Digital Society program at McMaster University, author of the Regs 2 Riches newsletter

It goes without saying that police services often have their own version of events—which are often revealed in press releases or in conversation with reporters. But with public opinion turning against them as abuses of power are continually revealed, some police forces are going much further than that in an attempt to burnish their image.Should cops write newsletters on Substack with their side of the story? Should they hire crisis communication firms using tax dollars? And even as they do it, does it accomplish anything?GUEST: Julia-Simone Rutgers, writer and reporter based in Winnipeg, inaugural Justice Fund writer-in-residence at The Walrus

Surgeries for children are being cancelled at paediatric hospitals as staff race to care for a huge surge in kids arriving in the ER, or needing ICU space. This fall it seems like every child is coming down with something. What's going on? Can our children's hospitals handle it? What should parents be doing to keep their kids safe? And if you do need to take a child to the ER, what do you need to know?GUEST: Dr. Katherine Smart, practicing paediatrician, past president of the Canadian Medical Association

It's only Team Canada's second time ever in FIFA's crown jewel tournament. They will be looking for their first goal. Making it to Qatar for the World Cup is the culmination of years of hard work, sacrifice and program building from Canada Soccer. For them, and the players and fans, it's a celebration.But this World Cup was ugly before it began, and has become uglier still since it kicked off. In Qatar, same sex relationships are illegal, thousands of migrant workers have died building the stadium where the team will play, and already stories of censorship and bigotry have been reported by journalists on the ground.How much ugliness will fans endure for the beautiful game?GUEST: Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet (You can find Donnovan's new show, Going Deep, right here)

There's still some debate over a possible recession in Canada, but less and less of it every day. If Canada's economy does slide, however, what will be the root causes? What are policymakers doing—and not doing—to prevent it? Where will Canadians feel it worst, and what can we look at right now to judge where we'll be in six months?OH, and how does the whole "recession" thing work, anyways?GUEST: Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work

This is the fifth episode in a weeklong collaboration between The Big Story and The Narwhal, an award-winning non-profit publication that provides in-depth coverage of climate issues across Canada.You’ve heard of Coastal GasLink: it’s the name of a fracked-gas pipeline under construction in northern B.C. The project, spearheaded by Calgary-based TC Energy, spans 670 kilometres and crosses mountain passes, salmon rivers and Indigenous lands. Those lands include around 190 kilometres of Wet’suwet’en territory, where Hereditary Chiefs have long opposed this project that’s being built without their consent. A year after the RCMP conducted raids and arrested more than 30 land defenders and two journalists, TC Energy is now drilling and laying pipe under a sacred Wet’suwet’en river — and tensions are as high as ever. The Narwhal’s northwest B.C. reporter Matt Simmons shares his first-hand view of what’s happening on the ground.Read Matt’s story about the latest tensions on Wet’suwet’en territory here.Read Matt’s explainer on the route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline here. 

This is the fourth episode in a weeklong collaboration between The Big Story and The Narwhal, an award-winning non-profit publication that provides in-depth coverage of climate issues across Canada.Indigenous Peoples have long taken care of the land — in fact, they still steward 80 per cent of remaining global biodiversity. With the world facing an extinction crisis, one solution gaining momentum is the creation of more Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. As Montreal prepares to host COP15, the United Nations conference on biodiversity, experts say Canada has a responsibility to take the lead on implementing Indigenous-led conservation practices. Will it? B.C. reporter Steph Wood and biodiversity reporter Ainslie Cruickshank dig deep.GUESTS: Stephanie Wood, B.C. reporter; Ainslie Cruikshank, B.C. biodiversity reporterRead Stephanie's story about Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas hereRead Ainslie's story about British Columbia's lack of protections for at-risk species here

This is the third episode in a weeklong collaboration between The Big Story and The Narwhal, an award-winning non-profit publication that provides in-depth coverage of climate issues across Canada.More than 200 million people could be displaced from their homes worldwide in the next few decades as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense. The biggest climate change risk in Canada? Flooding. Just last year, floods in B.C. wiped out roads, killed five people and left thousands stranded without food and water. In the Prairies, reporter Drew Anderson talked to people in the tiny, flood-prone community of Lehigh, Alta., who are being bought out of their homes before rising waters destroy them. Government reports say that Canadians need to learn to live with water — but what exactly does that mean?GUEST: Drew Anderson, Narwhal’s Prairies reporter, based in CalgaryYou can read Drew’s story, “This was our forever home”: floods, climate change and the end of one Alberta community, here.Read more of Drew’s stories here.

This is the second episode in a weeklong collaboration between The Big Story and The Narwhal, an award-winning non-profit publication that provides in-depth coverage of climate issues across Canada.For decades, Canada’s environmental policy has been greatly influenced by the interests of oil, gas and mining industries. And the close-knit bonds between these companies and government officials have been detrimental to climate action — they’ve successfully persuaded governments to weaken emissions regulations and commit billions toward pipeline projects. Oh, and both fossil fuel companies and Canada’s banks are pushing to delay climate transparency rules, climate investigations reporter Carl Meyer tells Fatima. So how do we make sense of this dark underbelly of Canadian politics? Tune in to find out.GUEST: Carl Meyer, The Narwhal's climate investigations reporter Read more about Brock Harrison and his move to the private sector hereRead about oil and gas companies lobbying against climate financial transparency hereRead Carl's coverage of efforts to regulate methane emissions here   

This is the first episode in a weeklong collaboration between The Big Story and The Narwhal, an award-winning non-profit publication that provides in-depth coverage of climate issues across Canada.Ontario Premier Doug Ford just broke his promise to not open up the protected Greenbelt to development. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bleak news these days for the province’s environmental protections: conservation authorities are being gutted, flood-mitigating wetlands are at risk and citizens are losing their voice at the table. Plus, cities that don’t want sprawl are being ordered to grow beyond their boundaries. So what’s driving Ford’s decision-making? In a word: housing.GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter at The NarwhalRead Emma's Greenbelt coverage hereRead Fatima's coverage of Doug Ford's sprawl policies hereRead Emma and Fatima's coverage of Ontario Conservation Authorities here, and their writing on Doug Ford's overhaul of environmental protections here 

Recently Bruce Willis's digital likeness was licensed for use in a Russian telecom commercial. And as both technology and acceptance of 'deepfakes' like this are improving, opportunities will soon abound for people with value attached to their names and likenesses. But who controls a digital instance of someone? Can an actor sell his or her likeness in perpetuity, to star in films when they're long dead? Can a celebrity endorse products without ever going near them or consuming them?And what happens to the aspiring actors and musicians who would otherwise have gotten the less-publicized gigs that could now go to the mere image of someone way more famous than they are? The possibilities are endless...GUEST: Will Bedingfield, London-based staff writer at WIRED 

Yesterday, Canada's new Indo-Pacific strategy specifically targeted China's human rights abuses, its threats against Taiwan and Hong Kong and increasing aggression in dealings with the west. Earlier this year, there were reports Canada would not even mention the country's name for fear of provoking retaliation.The new strategy comes on the heels of changes to the rules around foreign takeovers of Canadian businesses, and divestment orders given to three Chinese companies who purchased critical minerals businesses in Canada. Put it all together and it seems Canada has decided now is the time to push back against China. Why now? And how might China push back against Canadians?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

This is Mia's story, but she is far from the only one. When the BC government decided to take her from her band and her closest family, and ship her halfway across the country to non-Indigenous foster parent, the Gitxsan fought back. What happened offers a glimpse into a system that supposedly has learned the lessons of residential school horrors, but somehow hasn't learned enough to stop taking kids from Indigenous communities that want to care for them...GUEST: Amy Romer, writing in The Walrus

Ontario kids will be back in school Tuesday, after the provincial government backed down on its use of the notwithstanding clause to force CUPE workers into a contract. That's the simple part. But this fight was important well beyond a few days of school—with unions across the country threatening solidarity strikes, sending money to support Ontario's education support workers and generally creating a show of force not seen in decades.So will the two sides at the heart of this now find a solution? How will Doug Ford's government handle other upcoming labour battles, now that they know how hard the pushback can be? What does this one fight mean for labour in Canada this month and beyond?GUEST: Cynthia Mulligan, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

Nearly three years of into the on-going pandemic and there's still plenty of unused office spaces in most downtowns right now.The City of Calgary is leading the trend of office to residential space conversion projects. So much so that American media in San Francisco and other places has picked up on it. This kind of urban revitalization is called "adaptive re-use," and it turns out, it's not actually as inexpensive or easy to do as it seems. So,  what's required to get office conversion projects off the ground, in terms of legislation, but also, just, practically? And could this plan scale up quickly, to solve a housing crisis?Guest: Tracy Hadden Loh, Fellow with the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking at Brookings Metro.

If you listen to the show with any regularity, you know that we recently concluded a TBS listener survey. We appreciate all of you who took the time to give us your feedback, and with this special Saturday release we're hoping to show you that we've taken all of your suggestions to heart. In this episode, Jordan and TBS producer, Ebyan Abdigir, discuss some of the more revealing results of the survey, and the ways in which your comments and thoughts will influence the way we do things moving forward. They also provide a small sneak peek into some of the more exciting projects we've got coming down the pipe. We hope you enjoy!   

There are roughly 300 wild horses left, and sometimes Aaron Stelkia has awful decisions to make as he tries to ensure their survival. But this is his job, and he's been doing it his entire life. Stelkia is a member of the Okanagan Syilx community. He's known locally as "the last Syilx cowboy". And his story is what happens when one person takes on a task because  the land and its animals need him. But what happens when he's gone?GUEST: Kate Helmore, writing in the Globe and Mail

Between Meta (formerly Facebook) losing $80 billion and Elon Musk's fumbling start to his Twitter acquisition, it's been a pretty good week for anyone who hates social media. But today's guest argues that even if you never use these platforms, what happens to them impacts your life, simply because they've grown too influential to remain in the digital world.So what does Mark Zuckerberg's relentless pursuit of the Metaverse and Musk's plans to shake up Twitter mean for the future of social media in general? And what does it mean for the future of the world that it influences? GUEST: Jesse Hirsh, technologist and futurist

It's the kind of hyperbolic claim usually made by partisan contenders: "This is the most important election of your life" or "This year, democracy is on the ballot". But with candidates who deny the results of the 2020 presidential election running in races across the United States—and some of them poised to take over posts literally overseeing vote counting in future elections—non-partisan institutions and journalists are sounding the alarm.What should Canadians expect from our neighbours on November 8 and beyond? Is political violence at the polls a real possibility? What does it mean for our own political future if America continues to slide away from democratic norms?GUEST: James McCarten, Washington correspondent, The Canadian Press

When someone steals your credit card information and uses it to buy or order things, you almost always get your money back. It's one of the reasons people trust credit cards, and policies have been in place for decades. But now a new form of payment is on the rise — the e-Transfer — and with it money can be sent between accounts in seconds.The kicker? There are none of the policies that credit cards have in place with e-Transfers. If some can gain access to your account, or convince you to send them money ... that money is gone. And this opens up a whole new can of worms for people figuring out finance policy, as well as a new world of opportunity for scammers. So what are we going to do about it?GUEST: Alex Vronces, executive director of Paytechs of Canada, an industry association of technology companies that move money. He blogs at https://themox.substack.com.

Every day, Covid mutates. Many times. Most of the mutations are harmless or ineffective. Some—as everyone knows by now—are not, and can evade immunity and change the virus to better infect humans. Right now, doctors in Canada are worried about emerging variants spiking infections this fall. But how worried should they be?Today we'll go inside the network of scientists that coordinate their efforts to better understand each emerging variant, how much of a threat it might pose, and what we need to watch out for. Before you read about a new rise in infections in the news, these are the folks sounding the alarms.GUEST: Dr. Sarah Otto, evolutionary biologist, professor at the UBC’s department of zoology, expert at the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network.

So are women, by the way. So is everyone, regardless of gender. For years, studies have shown that young people aren't having as much sex as in generations past. So it's not a surprise. But a recent study sparked a discussion around what young men, in particular, might do if they can't find a partner. The numbers were used as the basis for the increasing number of shootings in the United States, and even a proposal of a "right to sex". But what do the numbers actually say? And why, when everyone is having less sex, are young men the focus here?GUEST: Jude Ellison S. Doyle, feminist author of Trainwreck and Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers

Interest rates have risen again. Inflation has not declined. Almost everything costs more right now, especially groceries. Meanwhile, in the wake of two major companies announcing temporary price freezes within hours of one another, Canada's competition bureau has announced its intention to study why grocery prices are so high, and if having more players in the market would lower them.Are higher prices a result of inflation, profiteering, or both? How can we tell, anyway? Did the price freezes spur this investigation, or was this something planned all along? And is raising interest rates to combat inflation really our best option? What else could we try if this doesn't work?GUEST: Jim Stanford, Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work

It seemed like there was a fight for the soul of the party that also governs the province. Until there wasn't. A week before the vote, the challenger with all the momentum was disqualified from the race, paving the way for longtime MLA David Eby to become leader, and the province's premiere.So what happened? What was the split dividing the party, and how did the contest come to such an abrupt end? What happens now to challenger Anjali Appadurai and the thousands of new members she'd recruited? And what does this do to Eby's forthcoming attempts to govern a province on the front lines of Canada's climate crisis?GUEST: Arno Kopecky, BC-based environmental journalist, covering the race for Canada's National Observer 

Our friends across the pond are about to have their third Prime Minister in two months, without an election. Boris Johnson was finally ousted, only to be replaced by Liz Truss, who managed to tank the economy before resigning last week. Now Rishi Sunak is set to take on the role, and the Conservatives hope he'll hold it until a general election that's still ... 18 months away.But why is an election so far away? How exactly did Johnson manage to resign and then almost get his old job back? Exactly how did Truss screw things up so badly so fast? And just ... in general ... what the hell is going on over there?GUEST: Professor Matthew Flinders, Politics, University of Sheffield; Founding Director, Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics

There's a reason OnlyFans almost banned the content that drives the vast majority of its revenue last year. It's the same reason sex workers who sell content online speak in code on social media and sometimes call themselves "accountants". If identified as someone who sells adult content, all of a sudden any financial transaction can become ten times harder, even simple things like banking or buying airline tickets.A new case that will make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada may decriminalize all sex work in this country, but even that may not stop financial discrimination. In the year 2022, why are creators who sell perfectly legal content and services still facing this discrimination?GUEST: Maggie MacDonald, PhD candidate, University of Toronto, research focus on pornography platforms. Read her article in The Walrus here

Covid is only part of the problem. For any musical act that hasn't hit 'star' status, the current reality of putting together a tour, and keeping it on the road, is basically a highwire act. And one that can very easily lose money rather than make it.Why is it so tough to perform live music right now? Who's cancelling tours and why? And what happens to Canadian music if only the superstars can afford to show up for the fans? How do artists stay afloat?GUEST: Kyle Mullin, writing in Exclaim

A week into an inquiry looking into the so-called 'Freedom Convoy''s occupation of Ottawa, and the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act, and we've already heard several stunning revelations. It's clear there's a whole lot more to come.So what do you need to know about how this works? Who will testify? What we have learned so far and what are we still hoping to find out? And what, if anything, will come of this whole process?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews

Mahsa Amini was not the first woman, not even close, to be arrested by Iran's morality police for how she wore her hijab But when she died in police custody, a 22 year old, full of life, snuffed out. A spark was lit.More than one month later, protests continue to rage across the country, and the regime's brutal crackdowns have not stamped them out. What happens next is unclear, but the situation is not tenable, and change is coming, fast or slow. So what should Western democracies be doing to help the protesters? And what happens if they succeed?GUEST: Maziar Bahari, Iranian Canadian journalist and filmmaker, editor of IranWire.com and author of Then They Came For Me

Last week, a Swiss bank's annual ranking put Toronto No. 1 and Vancouver No. 6 on its list of the world's top housing bubbles. And although both cities have seen home prices decline this year, it's nowhere near close to matching their recent gains. So ... is this really a bubble, or will we not know until, oops, it pops?What does a popped housing bubble actually look like in cities with limited supply? What would it do to homeowners who have their life savings in their property? And what would it mean to those who currently feel like they will never be able to own a home in these cities?GUEST: Ari Altstedter, Reporter at Bloomberg News

The world needs Canadian grain more than ever. And they are buying it, providing a huge boost to prairie economies. This year, a bumper crop could be even better than 2021. If only we can get it all to market.For the past few weeks, train companies have not been able to provide enough cars to move all the grain that's needed to port. And when the beginning of the supply chain stalls, it creates huge problems down the line. So how did this happen, who is at fault, and how do we fix it, fast?GUEST: Lindsay Campbell, reporter at iPolitics.ca

All across North America, malls are vanishing. Some are simply being demolished, others are turning into condo complexes or Amazon warehouses. The rise of online shopping has made them less necessary for simply acquiring goods, but that was never all that malls were for.When was the last time you just browsed? Wandered a store with no particular purchase in mind, hoping to find something cool? Or spent some time aimlessly "just looking"? In a hyper-focused digital world, we're spending less and less time free from a specific task or goal—which is what an afternoon at the mall accomplishes, at least while they're still around.GUEST: Jason Guriel, author of On Browsing

When Laura Robinson began reporting about violence and sexual assault in Canadian junior hockey, resistance was fierce, including from the country's top commentator. But the years have obviously proven her correct, and exposed for all to see just what happens in locker rooms, buses and hotel suites.Now that Hockey Canada's leadership has resigned, Robinson explains the long road to what she hopes will finally be real change, the challenges and opportunities facing those who guide the game, and where Canada's relationship to the game it loves goes from here.GUEST: Laura Robinson, reporter and author of the 1998 book Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport

Toronto will vote in less than two weeks. Well, some of Toronto will vote. Less than a majority of citizens, that's for sure. And the outcome of the most important race is all but guaranteed already. Why don't more Canadians care about municipal politics? Even when their vote directly impacts the services they get? Even when the winners will be tasked with reshaping the biggest city in the country, and the fourth biggest in North America?GUEST: David Rider, City Hall Bureau Chief, Toronto Star

It's not a crime to claim asylum in Canada. It's a process. But that hasn't stopped the Canadian Border Services Agency from using an agreement with several provinces to put some of these people directly into provincial jails, where they are housed with, and treated the same as, convicted criminals and those charged with serious crimes and awaiting trial. The asylum seekers describe inhumane conditions, especially for people who face no charges or accusations. Human rights agencies say it's a violation of international law. The federal government disagrees, but won't say much beyond that. How did this happen, and how do we fix it?GUEST: Brigitte Bureau, award-winning investigative reporter, CBC Radio-Canada

It's the morning of June 16th, 1987, in Nashville, Tennessee. Shortly after midnight, firefighters are called to a blaze at Emmanuel Church of Christ. What they find in the ashes would change this small Pentecostal congregation forever.  Thirty-five years later, Tara Jean Stevens begins to unravel this shocking crime.On the journey with her is Sharon Edwards. She was just a kid when the fire tore apart her church family. Today, she wants to know the truth about what happened. Listen to the rest of Heaven Bent: Death in Emmanuel here. 

Bananas are the cheapest fruit around, and Canadians eat them by the millions. In fact during the pandemic and our current spike of inflation, bananas have only become cheaper—one of just a handful of foods to do so. But even still, some Canadians are choosing to pay more for their bananas. Why?The answer involves a long and difficult history of the banana trade, and a Montreal company with one goal and a slick marketing team trying to change how we buy our bunches...GUEST: Deborah Aarts, reporting in the Globe and Mail's ROB magazine

Canada has promised to reach Net Zero emissions from our grids by 2035. At the same time, as ordinary Canadians transition to things like electric vehicles and home heat pumps, we're going to need more power. Like, a lot more. So how do we scale up the system at the same time as making it cleaner? How much time do we have?What sacrifices might we have to make? And who pays the bill in the end?GUEST: Colin Guldimann, economist at RBC, author of The Price of Power report

Almost two weeks after Fiona hit Atlantic Canada, many communities are still picking up the pieces. In others, there are very few pieces to pick up—because homes and businesses are just ... gone. Thousands are still without power, and don't know when or if they'll return to their communities.As the scale of the destruction becomes clear, what does the rest of Canada need to know about what happened here? What's being done to help those who have lost everything? What's to come in the next few weeks and months? And the real question: What's it like to live your life next to the sea, only to realize it won't be the same in the years and decades to come?GUEST: Greg Mercer, Atlantic Canada reporter, The Globe and Mail

Asked to picture the hottest economy in the country, your mind goes to one of two places—the skyscrapers of Toronto's financial district, or the oil fields and towns of Alberta. But not this time. Over the past couple of years, and particularly since this February, global events have made certain industries more precarious; certain commodities harder to easily obtain.And into that breach has stepped an unlikely winner, a province that is now pushing to figure out how to sustain its success for the next decade and beyond ...GUEST: Jason Childs, associate prof of economics, University of Regina 

Last week, the creative AI DALL-E opened to everyone wanting to use it. The program, which returns images based on text prompts provided by the user, has created mesmerizing tableaus from the gorgeous to the obscene, and it gets better all the time. But is this art? If not, why not? Creative AI is simply the most visible aspect of an AI revolution that has taken major steps over the past couple of years. But how does it work? What else can it be used for and ... ummm ... should we be concerned?GUEST: Stephen Marche, writer and cultural critic, has reported on Creative AI for The New Yorker and The Atlantic

Indigenous artists are some of the world's most talented, and their unique pieces are highly valued for their creativity and culture. Unless they're not unique at all. Fraud is a huge problem, particularly in tourist areas where visitors will often want to bring home a mask or carving, and will be sold a fake duplicate of an artist's original work.Today we'll meet a man who has taken on the thankless job of trying to fight back against the fraudsters, and make people aware of how to ethically purchase real Indigenous art.GUEST: Jason Hunt, artist specializing in traditional Kwagiulth carvings

As Canada's health-care system fails, more and more people will be willing to pay up to avoid the most overcrowded and underserviced parts of it. While no politician will come out in favour of privatizing health care, you do here a lot about "looking for innovative solutions"—which can often mean a second, paid tier.Is this a viable solution to some of the system's burden? Or is it the beginning of a downward spiral we need to be very careful about?GUEST: Natalie Mehra, Executive Director, Ontario Health Coalition

As stretched as our health-care system is right now, it may be nothing compared to what will test it in the years to come. Even if we've handled the worst of Covid, and no new disease emerges, Canada still has to reckon with an aging population. And a new landmark study details just what we'll be grappling with.As our elders age, many of them will develop symptoms of early dementia. And thanks to a lack of resources, many of the early signs will go unnoticed or untreated. Eventually, these people will need a lot of care, and as things stand right now, we don't have the people, or the facilities, to provide it. So how long do we have and what should we do? Unlike Covid, this is a crisis we can clearly see coming. So are we going to meet it?GUEST: Dr. Brian Goldman, Host of The Dose, ER physician, author of the foreword for the landmark study

When Canadians can't get family doctors, walk-in clinics are backlogged and there are no nurses available to provide long-term care in homes or facilities, it doesn't take much for a patient to arrive at an emergency room as a last resort. But even there, they may not find help, unless they're willing to wait, and wait, and wait.A doctor who works in emergency rooms describes lines of ambulances, waiting but unable to drop off patients. Patients in chairs waiting for beds. And in the middle of it all, fewer doctors and nurses to care even for the critically ill patients that do make it to a bed. Emergency rooms were in trouble before the pandemic. Now they are about to collapse. But there are solutions, if we have the courage for them.GUEST: Dr. Kashif Pirzada, emergency room physician

If everyone in Canada had a family doctor, we could prevent hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits before they happen. But millions of Canadians don't have one, and can't find one. And as family doctors get older and retire, while the population continues to grow, this is only going to get worse.Why are family doctors in Canada an aging population? How can we attract more young doctors to take up family practices? And what kind of strain does it put on the system when millions of us have no first option when something is wrong, other than the local ER?GUEST: Dr. Alika Lafontaine, President of the Canadian Medical Association and rural anesthesiologist

(This is part one of a five-part series examining Canada's health care crisis. How we got here, what comes next, and what we can do about it.)Nurses are almost everyone's first point of contact with our health care system. And if you need extensive care, they will be your most reliable caregivers. But they're quitting. In droves. And without them, well, things like hospitals and long-term care facilities don't actually work.What's causing the mass exodus? What can we do to stop it? And what do people hoping to enter the nursing profession need to make an impact when they get here?GUEST: Natalie Stake-Doucet, former practicing nurse, Faculty Lecturer and PhD, Université de Montréal

Polls show a lot of support among Canadians for reexamining, and perhaps even ending, our relationship with the monarchy. This is clearly an opportunity to do something. But what does that something actually entail? What would happen if Canada tried to reopen the Constitution to become a republic? If that's not feasible, what other steps could we take to distance ourselves from the royal family? And in 10 years, who will be on the Toonie?GUEST: Stephen Maher, journalist and author, writing in ipolitics.ca

In recent years many conservative politicians have catered to the more extreme parts of their base to get elected, only to find that once in power they are obliged to continue to serve them. In the CPC leadership race, Pierre Poilievre managed to peel support away from would-be PPC voters and others on the fringe.He needs these votes to beat Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in the next election. But the challenge he will face is harnessing their support without falling prey to their worst tendencies. Can he do it? How?GUEST: Justin Ling, investigative journalist, author of the Bug-Eyed and Shameless newsletter

As they choose a new leader and prepare for a looming 2023 election, Alberta's United Conservative Party is looking ... anything but. Never mind leadership hopefuls taking shots at one another, outgoing leader Jason Kenney is still premier and is openly deriding some of the proposals from his would-be successors.Meanwhile, Albertans care about the rising cost of living more than they do about picking yet another fight with Ottawa, so who among the UCP hopefuls is ready to help them, and how? And what is the leadership fight doing to the UCP's prospects in the next election, which will come no later than next May?GUEST: Jason Ribeiro, political commentator and doctoral researcher at the University of Calgary

Three people, including a police officer, were killed. The gunman dies as well. The crimes stretched over three cities, five police agencies and hours of the middle of a day in Southern Ontario. But more than a week after the shooter was killed by police, there still isn't much to explain why this happened.What do we know about the victims and the suspect? Why would he begin his attack by ambushing a cop in a coffee shop? What will we learn in the weeks ahead? And, once again, without a proper trial, how much of what police do eventually discover will they share with the public and the media?GUEST: Wendy Gillis, crime and police reporter, Toronto Star (Read a minute-by-minute account of the shootings right here.)

As September begins, many companies are making a big push to bring their employees back to the office. But new data shows that employees are getting even more comfortable working from home, and are reporting improved mental health as a result. Meanwhile, the labour market favours workers, and employers are struggling to retain talent—which leaves them with little leverage when employees say they'd rather work remotely.So what happens now? Because one thing is becoming clear: If employers can't get their workers back at the start of a new school year, with no pandemic restrictions and office space begging to be used ... they're probably not coming back to the office, ever.GUEST: Vanmala Subramaniam, Future of Work reporter, The Globe and Mail

Queen Elizabeth II is at rest, but history is moving forward. This weekend, hundreds of thousands will say their final goodbyes to the monarch. On Monday tens of millions around the world will watch her funeral, attended by royals, world leaders and other dignitaries. And then, sometime soon, the world will have to grapple with King Charles III, the legacy of the monarchy and what commonwealth countries like Canada want to do next...GUEST: Lisa LaFlamme has covered almost every major moment in the monarchy over the past 20-plus years. She joins The Big Story from London, where she is covering the Queen's death for CityNews.

We learned earlier this summer just how vulnerable our connected services can be. It seems like the government did, too. With a new memorandum of understanding and revisions to the competition act, it looks as if the federal government is trying to stabilize what many consider an essential service. But will new regulations have any teeth? And how could it change what services Canadians receive, and how much they pay?GUEST: Vass Bednar, executive director of the Masters of Public Policy in Digital Society program at McMaster University

In less than a week, Ukrainian forces have regained more than 3000 square kilometres of territory occupied by Russia, and they plan to keep pushing. Videos show Russian tanks and ammunition left behind as soldiers flee. It's been an incredible offensive—but is it enough to turn the tide of this conflict? And what happens if Russia is humiliated in front of the world? What might Vladimir Putin do then?GUEST: Balkan Devlin, Senior Fellow at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc.

In the moment, details in a breaking story are hard to come by. So are context and understanding. But as we begin to learn the facts of what transpired last week in Saskatchewan, we start to know what questions still need to be answered.Even as reporters on the ground discover more about Myles Sanderson's possible motive, or his movements the day before the massacre, we're still trying to learn just how he ended up dead in police custody, what role, if any, his brother Damien played in the crimes... and most importantly, how the community can begin to heal, and what they need from us.GUEST: Jana Pruden, feature writer, The Globe and Mail

Ever since Canada became a nation, we've been secretly worried about our friends to the south, just as we have been publicly supportive. Recent events in the United States have only exacerbated those concerns.So what do experts think Canada should be doing to prepare for the worst? What scenarios are we gaming out? Is this even a realistic fear? And if so ... what exactly do we think we can do about it?GUET: Ira Wells, writing in The Walrus

What happens in the halls of power when a monarch dies? Who will succeed Elizabeth? And what will this mean for the Royal family, and the commonwealth more generally? (This interview was recorded in 2019, and covers the protocol for the minutes, hours, days and weeks following the passing of the Queen. Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at the age of 96.)GUEST: Patricia Treble, Royal reporter at WriteRoyalty.com

There are the normal kinds of toxins that your body can break down over time. These are different. But they're still found in plenty of every day household items, fast food and even the water you drink. It's almost impossible to avoid them. The CDC in the United States has said they are a public health concern. But they're still being manufactured, right now, by massive companies.So what are they? Why do they stick around forever? Why are they still being made despite the fact we know they are harmful? And where, exactly, are they found and how can you best avoid them?GUEST: Benji Jones, environmental reporter, Vox

(As well as a note from The Big Story about covering breaking news.)On October 3, nearly everyone agrees that Premier Francois Legault and the CAQ will win another election. But after that, there's a lot in flux. The Parti Quebecois have shrunk to almost nothing, the Liberals are fighting to offer voters a vision ... and the Quebec Solidaire party has a progressive platform and an entirely different approach to sovereignty: Why should it only be for Quebec?Can they win over enough disgruntled CAQ voters to make it close? Will Quebec's younger voters come out in droves for a young leader who rose with them in university protests? And what does the future of La Belle Province look like?GUEST: Lisa Fitterman, writing in The Walrus

The weather's getting colder, the kids are back at school, people are returning to work, and that means we're probably going to see more Covid. How much more depends on things like the efficacy and uptake of the new Omicron-specific vaccine, and people's adherence to preventative measures. With little appetite for the reinstatement of lockdowns, school closures or mask mandates, it may now be incumbent on individuals to make good choices to protect themselves and their loved ones. So what does it mean that provincial governments seem to have unilaterally decided that the pandemic is over? Without freely available data on Covid cases and deaths, how will we even know the level of risk in the community? And with the increasing specificity of Covid vaccines, could this be the last back-to-school where we even need to ask these questions? GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist, and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at The University of Ottawa 

Every month or two, more Starbucks vote to unionize. In Canada, that fight is mostly spreading from west to east, with the first in Victoria, BC, and now others even in large Alberta cities. But why Starbucks? Why not Tim Horton's or McDonald's? What makes this coffee shop a good battleground for a labour movement that is gaining power?And how is Starbucks fighting back? Is service worker organizing inevitable, or can companies like Starbucks still halt the momentum?GUEST: Jeremy Appel, writing in Jacobin

They call it the "camel-toe toonie", and you will understand why as soon as you look at the front right paw of the polar bear on it. Since they were first discovered in circulation in 2020, estimates range from at least tens of thousands to likely millions of them reaching circulation.But who is behind it? How do you counterfeit toonies at scale and get them into the banking system? And ... why toonies?GUEST: Brent Mackie, creator of cameltoetoonies.ca, numismatist, treasurer of Waterloo Coin Society

When CPC leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre shook hands with Jeremy MacKenzie, a founder of the Diagolon movement, he likely had no idea who he was. But he soon found himself being asked to distance himself from the man. That's because although many in the movement will tell you that Diagolon is a joke, or a meme, the values it espouses are the opposite.But is it really a call for a new nation? Is it just a way to justify being a troll online? What is it, actually, out in the real world? And why are people who cover hate groups worried about it?GUEST: Peter Smith, investigative reporter, Canadian Anti-Hate Network

It's called the Default Prevention and Management Policy. And for decades it was used to take control of budgets and finances away from First Nations leaders, and put them in the hands of "default managers" appointed by the government to supposedly better manage a community’s finances.Now an expansive investigation has examined just what happened in those communities that had financial control taken away. And in the vast majority of them...things got worse. In some cases, much worse. The government promised in 2017 to replace this policy — so far, without much action. Why?GUEST: Patti Sonntag, investigative and data journalist, working with a large team for Canada's National Observer

Many of Canada's politicians spent their weekend condemning the behaviour of a man who angrily confronted Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Alberta on Friday. The video, which includes screamed profanities as Freeland tries to board an elevator, went viral. But what Freeland experienced is just the tip of the iceberg.There's currently a targeted hate campaign aimed at female journalists, many of them racialized. The abuse and threats they are subjected to is unprintable. There are health care workers leaving the profession in droves, tired of constant harassment. Canada has a real problem on its hands, and asking ourselves "Is this really who we are?" isn't enough to solve it.GUEST: Fatima Syed, Vice President, Canadian Association of Journalists

HBO is really, really hoping that you streamed House of the Dragon last night. And Amazon is desperate for you to do the same with its Lord of the Rings prequel, Rings of Power, in September. These shows cost tens of millions of dollars per episode, at a time when the future of streaming platforms has never been cloudier.This year has seen layoffs, declining subscriber numbers for Netflix, a coming merger between HBOMax and Discovery+ and many other signs that after years of upward trends, the market is saturated. And what happens when the market saturates? Well, only the strongest survive.  It's a plot that wouldn't look out of place on HBO on Sunday nights.GUEST: Brian Steinberg, Senior TV Editor, Variety

It's one of the most beautiful places in Canada. It's also on a list of Places To Visit Before They're Gone Forever. But if the people who refuse to give up on their homes and businesses have anything to say about it, even soil erosion from rising sea levels won't claim their islands.They're using everything from lobster traps to sea barriers, moving what needs to be moved, to prove that even in the middle of a climate crisis, humans are adaptable and creative enough to save the places they love.GUEST: Taras Grescoe, writing in Hakai magazine

Some United Kingdom supermarkets have done away with 'best before' dates on most of their products. Others are planning to follow their lead. Research shows that best before dates lead to food waste, as still-edible items are frequently tossed in the trash. And with food inflation making waste more costly, it seems like an idea worth considering...So a new survey asked Canadians just that. Would they buy products without best before dates? Which ones? Do they ever consume products past those dates? The results illustrate Canada's culture of food safety, but also the hypocrisy in some of our food decisions.(You can find the full survey right here.)GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast

You've seen the little buttons right next to your 'checkout' box when you're shopping online. Would you like to break this payment up into four or six instalments, with no interest? With no interest? It's tempting! As online shopping skyrocketed during the pandemic, so did the new way to buy now and pay later, with companies like PayBright or Sezzle receiving increasing amounts of business. But what's the catch? Why offer no-interest loans? What do you need to know about how this business works, and what's coming next?GUEST: Kelsey Rolfe, writing in Canadian Business

It's a conversation nobody wants to have with aging loved ones. But right now Canada's Long-Term Care Facilities are struggling. They are crowded, conditions can be awful, and at least in Ontario seniors waiting in hospitals for beds can now be moved far from their families. It's urgent.When we talk to older family members, they often say, "Just don't put me in a home." But unfortunately, in Canada's current system, that's the default. If we can't have honest conversations with our loved ones, we can't take our demands to the government effectively. If we really love our elders, we need to start speaking up, loudly.GUEST: André Picard, Health reporter and columnist, The Globe and Mail, author of Neglected No More.

Peacocks look beautiful. They sound horrible. They're unique and special and can bring some whimsy to a town. They're a nuisance, and they damage property, chase cars and ruin gardens. This is the story of a peacock named Pearl, who made a town fall in love with her, until she started having more chicks....GUEST: Lyndsie Bourgon, writing in The WalrusCORRECTION: In this episode, Okanagan Lake is erroneously referred to as "Lake Kelowna". We apologize for the error. 

It's no longer a question of if our comfortable lives will change as the climate does over the next few decades. The questions are how much will they change, and where will they change the least?People with lots of money are already buying property in places they believe will be safe from disaster. You can Google "Best places to live in climate crisis" and find a lot of listicles. But very few of us have the money to buy everything we'll need, or move across the world. So how can you prepare for whatever comes next in the safest and most sensible way possible?GUEST: Alex Steffen, climate futurist, author of The Snap Forward

Early in the pandemic, nothing had to be perfect, governments just needed solutions. And Canada's developed the ArriveCAN app to help process returning Canadians and incoming foreigners, to ensure their compliance with what were then very strict Covid protocols. It might have been messy, but it sure seemed necessary.Today, most of those protocols no longer exist. But ArriveCAN is still going strong. In fact, the government recently expanded the app to help modernize the border process. Which is fine...for those who want to use it. But why is it still mandatory? What do we know about the data it collects and what is done with it? And what's the danger of a government requiring citizens to use a piece of digital technology?GUEST: Bianca Wylie, technology expert, partner at Digital Public, co-founder of Tech Reset Canada

The former US President once said he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and his supporters would never waver. After a week in which it was revealed that his Florida property was searched by the FBI in an ongoing investigation related to classified documents—including some pertaining to nuclear weapons—that statement looks prophetic. Trump's base and the Republican party have rallied around him, with escalating threats of violence against the departments conducting the investigation.But it does seem like the FBI and DOJ may be closing in. So what happens now? How far are we from an indictment, if one ever comes? Could a former president actually find himself under arrest? And if it does happen, what mayhem will it spark in a country that feels like a political powder keg?GUEST: Aaron Rupar, independent political and policy journalist, author of Public Notice

It's tempting to see Romana Didulo and her followers as a big joke. No, she's not the "Queen of Canada", or the world, so have a laugh. Why not?The answer to that question was on display in Peterborough, Ontario this weekend, when her followers attempted to perform citizens' arrests on members of the police force. Of course it didn't work, but things very nearly got out of hand. And if there were more people there, it might have.In the meantime, her followers have lost money, homes and freedom following her various directives, and it's proving difficult to help them find reality once again.GUEST: Kurt Phillips, founder of and former lead writer for Anti-Racist Canada, board member at the Canadian anti-hate network

It seems like a problem half a world away that doesn't concern us. But it's not. Strict new targets for fertilizer emissions have Dutch farmers fighting back, saying they will be forced to close. Canada's targets are not nearly as aggressive, but they have been poorly explained and may be badly implemented, causing a lot of fear among Canadian farmers worried they won't be able to care for their crops.This fear is being preyed upon by some people, who would like to stoke anger against the government, and radicalize Canadians towards their ideology. Here's what you need to understand about the difference between the emissions targets, the fear of fertilizer restrictions and the bad actors taking advantage of it.GUEST: Kelvin Heppner, field editor for RealAgriculture, family farmer in Manitoba

Kitsault was a mining town of 1,200 or so people in one of the most remote areas of British Columbia. It opened in 1981. It was empty by 1982. That was its first lifetime.Since then, however, something has happened to Kitsault. Unlike other abandoned towns, Kitsault has been maintained. First by the mining company, later by a private owner. So today it sits, almost perfectly preserved, ready for a small town's worth of people to show up and move in. Will they?GUEST: Justin McElroy, CBC reporter, personal Kitsault investigator

There's a lot of money in creating and patenting new drugs. Like, tens of billions of dollars. But the field is crowded, competitive and dominated by large pharmaceutical companies. So some new startups are looking elsewhere.For decades psychedelics have been illegal, taboo and largely considered the drugs of hippies. The past decade, though, has changed that, as psilocybin, ketamine and others have been increasingly used therapeutically. So now the race is on to create brand new psychedelics, that can be approved, patented and ... yup, marketed to you. Welcome to the psychedelic arms race.GUEST: John Semley, writer and researcher (Read John's piece in WIRED, right here.)

Ontario's health minister wants regulators to figure out a way to expedite the licensing of internationally trained doctors and nurses to help staff the province's ICUs, ERs and long-term care facilities. She hasn't said much about how, but it's a first step.There are thousands of people who would like to work in the province's hospitals, but can't. It takes money, patience and years to become licensed. Why? Why have other countries figured this out but we can't?GUEST: Dr. Shafi Bhuiyan, assistant professor at the Dalla Lana school of Public Health, founder and board member of the Canadian Association of Global Health

The World Junior Championships begin today in Edmonton. And the summer date is not the reason they'll be different this year. The past few months have seen disturbing accusations of sexual assault against several members of two team Canadas — 2003 and 2018. Hockey Canada has spent decades of time and energy turning its world juniors into a Canadian myth, and lots of people have profited from that. These accusations, and revelations from Hockey Canada itself to a government committee have shattered that. Can it ever be put back together? And finally, why did it take so long to get here? It's not as though there haven't been plenty of warning signs ignored along the way...GUEST: Michael Grange, Sportsnet

When 40-year-old Amber Manthorne fails to show up to work on Friday, July 8th, 2022, her friends immediately believe something is wrong. At first, it is thought that Amber is with her boyfriend, Justin Hall, but then Justin surfaces days later, without Amber, leaving more questions than answers.In this episode, host Laura Palmer outlines the timeline of events surrounding Amber's disappearance and sits down with Amber's friend, and family spokesperson, Kristie St. Claire.Listen to the rest of the series here. 

We've known about fast radio bursts (or FRBs) for 15 years now. But nobody had seen one quite like this. A Canadian telescope detected an FRB that not only was much longer than usual, it had a distinct repeating pattern.We learn more and more about the universe every year, and we're finding more and more things we can't quite understand. What are FRBs? Why was this one so special? And what's at the end of the discovery trail?GUEST Marina Koren science writer, The Atlantic

You may have missed the final Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate Wednesday night. No worries! Pierre Poilievre missed it, too. The frontrunner has such a huge lead according to every report, that he had nothing to gain by attending.How did this race go from competitive to ... not? Will Poilievre be different as CPC leader than he was as a candidate? How will this change both the Conservative party and the landscape of the next election, whenever that is?GUEST: David Moscrop, political analyst, columnist, author of Too Dumb For Democracy

A seminal 2006 research paper on Alzheimer's has been cited more than 2000 times over the past decade and a half. Its conclusions have informed much of the direction the field has taken since then. And recently an investigation concluded that critical images in the paper may well have been fabricated.Alzheimer's is already something of a mystery of a disease. We know so little about it. And now it appears we may not even know what we thought we knew. What happened? And what does it mean for so many years of work by so many doctors and scientists?GUEST: Charles Piller, investigative journalist, Science Magazine

Now that the Pope has left Canada, it's worth looking at what he's leaving behind. It's complicated. Was the Papal Apology a sincere expression of regret and compassion and a promise to do better? Or was it checking off call to action #58 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list?Will his visit help to heal the pain of survivors and the grief of their families? Or will it be seen as an unsatisfying end to a story that once hoped for so much more real change? Or ... both? What needs to come from this historic apology to make it meaningful?GUEST: Patty Krawec, Anishnaabe writer from Lac Seul First Nation, co-host of the podcast Medicine for the Resistance, and author of the upcoming book, Becoming Kin. 

Even if you haven't been there, you've heard the stories. Every airport is troubled this summer,  but Toronto's may literally be the worst in the world. While blame is passed from the federal government to the airlines to the airport authority and back again, one reporter decided to find out what was really behind the utter collapse of the complex systems that keep planes and passengers moving on time. It's not as simple as anyone would have you believe...GUEST: Richard Warnica, business feature writer at The Toronto Star

And how to listen to people you disagree with, so they'll listen to you.It feels like we're more stubborn than ever before. More likely to dig in our heels, refuse to listen to facts and in general hold tight to our positions no matter what. But is that true, or is that just a function of the new ways of communication that we're still learning to use?Regardless, if we can't figure out how to find solutions together, we may not have the time to figure it out. So the next time you're inclined to blow up at someone for believing in something dumb, or refusing to listen to reason, ask yourself if there's a better way to convince them.GUEST: David McRaney, author of How Minds Change

As the world continues to hope for the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of monkeypox a "global health emergency". But what makes this monkeypox virus different from ones that have been under control for decades?As numbers rise around the world and here in Canada, public health messaging needs to walk a fine line between informing the public of the realities of the outbreak, while not contributing to the stigma attached to an outbreak that appears to centre on men who have sex with men. Oh, and monkeypox won't be the last outbreak the globe has to worry about. If you're curious, look up the Marburg virus...GUEST: Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor in Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba, Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses

Or was it never really a bubble in the first place? What we know right now is that sales are falling, prices are dropping (slightly!) and some investors are getting out. What we don't know are the full ramifications of rising interest rates on a market that has been white hot for more than a decade now.Over the next few months, we'll see if this is a correction, a cooling or a crash. What will that mean for home owners? For aspiring buyers? For those stuck in a tough rental market? And even, yes, for people using homes as investment properties, which helped drive the market to such incredible highs?GUEST: Ari Altstedter, Bloomberg

Heat isn't the same everywhere. Last week Toronto was the hottest place in Canada, but even if it wasn't it might have felt like it. Large metropolises are adept at soaking up heat and trapping it. Which means even the absence of the sun won't cool things down much. If you've got a nice shady street and plenty of air conditioning, it's an annoyance. If you don't have either, it's deadly.And with records breaking annually now, and even the "normal day" temperatures increasing, cities and the people who live in them need to adapt to a future that we're already living in.GUEST: Inori Roy, The Local

50 years ago, a dispute arose between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island, a piece of land that exists almost exactly halfway between the coast of Nunavut and Greenland, a Danish territory. The island holds value as a hunting ground for local Indigenous populations, but holds no strategic or economic value for either nation. And yet, for five decades our two countries were unable to reach an agreement over ownership of the island. Canadian and Danish troops would, reportedly, exchange bottles of booze with one another, which is why the conflict is sometimes called the 'whisky war'.Recently, Canada, Greenland and Denmark reached an agreement that brought the conflict to the close. Essentially, they drew a line down the middle of the island, thus creating the first land border between Canada and Europe. So what does that actually mean in a geopolitical sense? Why did it take half a century to come up with a solution that sounds like it was written by a third grader? And as wider swathes of the region become accessible due to climate change, could the resolution serve as a framework for future Arctic diplomacy? GUEST: Martin Breum, Danish journalist and Arctic expert.   

This week, Doug Ford announced an expansion of mayoral powers in Ontario's two largest municipalities, Toronto and Ottawa. The move would provide the mayors of both cities with significant veto power, giving them the ability to force motions through council without broader support. The changes come at an interesting time for Toronto, which is in the midst of a mayoral race where the incumbent, John Tory, is the heavy favourite. So will the new powers give mayors the ability to make headway on vital issues like housing or transit? Will it lead to an erosion of democracy in two of Canada's most influential cities? And what might Toronto look like under the reign of a largely unbounded John Tory? GUEST: Ben Spurr, city hall reporter at the Toronto Star.  

Depending on which columnist you read or pundit you watch, it seems likely that Canada is headed for a recession in the not-too-distant future. People treat that word like it's the end of days, and many Canadians will definitely be feeling the pinch, but there are also things you can do that may mitigate the strain a recession will put on your personal finances. What those precautionary steps look like depends heavily on your financial situation. But regardless of your tax bracket there's always something you can do, even if that something is a step that many people are terrified to take when it comes to money: recognizing that there's an issue, and asking for help. GUEST: Kelley Keehn, personal finance expert, and author.

To be famous now, all you really need is an iphone, a TikTok account and some creativity. Gone were the days when celebrity status was dependent on starring film roles, or recording contracts, and the lowered barriers to entry have been great news for voices, like BIPOC or LGBTQ+ people who have long been excluded from the popular discourse.Has this increased access to celebrity caused a dilution of its power? And even as platforms allow people to cut out the middlemen and connect directly with their audience, will we see a new class of gatekeepers arise in their place? Is a more equitable media industry even possible when the profit motive still influences decisions above all else?GUEST: Stacy Lee Kong, Toronto-based writer, editor and critic. Founder of Friday Things

Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth is a family physician in Ottawa who was thrust into the limelight early on in the Covid-19 pandemic, when she was vocal in advocating for greater PPE access for physicians. She later shifted her focus towards vaccine access, and recently threatened to sue the Ontario government if they continued to limit booster access to those above the age of 65.Dr. Kaplan-Myrth joined us to share her thoughts on healthcare worker burnout, booster access and the ways you can continue to protect yourself as infections continue to increase across Canada. She also spoke to us at length about the upsides and downsides to being a public figure, especially when it comes to vaccine advocacy.GUEST: Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, family physician. You can read a profile of her here

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many to quit their jobs. We know it as The Great Resignation. And while the pandemic was clearly the catalyst that pushed many across the world to re-evaluate their relationship with work, it likely wasn't the only factor. The biggest culprit might be stress, and it's actually the precursor to burning out. Today, we're exploring burning out at work, what it means, how to spot it before it's too late, and what you can do to advocate for yourself, and maybe even change some work norms. Guest: Vanessa Bohns is a professor of organizational behaviour at Cornell University and author of the book You Have More Influence Than You Think.

At the end of June, we released the 1000th episode of The Big Story, which felt like a huge accomplishment. From our team to you, here's a little message to show our appreciation. 

Long lines. Flight delays and cancellations. Lost and missing luggage. Airports in Canada have been a mess, for weeks now. And it'll likely stay this way until September, experts warn. One way to avoid travel disappointment at airports in Canada and elsewhere, is simple: just don't take flights. Explore your own backyard! But, if you must travel by airline, we've got you covered with a survival guide. Guest: Jennifer Foden is a travel writer and editor based in Toronto. She was previously the editor of EnRoute, Air Canada’s travel magazine.

This week, the Council of the Federation, a group consisting of all 13 Canadian provincial and territorial leaders, met in Victoria B.C. to discuss a whole host of issues. At the top of the list: healthcare.The Canadian medical system has had issues coping with demand since long before the pandemic, but Covid-19 has pushed an already struggling system to the brink. Now, with rampant staffing shortages, emergency room closures and delayed surgical procedures, it's clear something needs to give, and fast.So how do we fix it? And as we enter a summer Covid wave, how much worse could it get? GUEST: Dr. Katharine Smart, paediatrician and president of the Canadian Medical Association

On Monday, Ottawa called Canada's telecom giants to the table to talk about ways to prevent future large scale disruptions like Friday's nationwide Rogers outage, demanding a plan from telecom providers within 60 days. On top of that, the CRTC, Canada's regulatory agency for broadcast and telecommunications has launched an investigation.But many of us are still feeling the sting from being disconnected on Friday and wondering what happens next? What does this say about the vulnerabilities of telecommunications infrastructure in this country? What is the government’s role in all of this? And what solutions should we be pushing for?Today, we're looking at what possible solutions are within reach. Guest:  Vass Bednar, executive director of the masters of public policy in digital society program at McMaster's University.

Their names were Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton, and on September 22, 2015, all three were killed by the same man, within hours of one another. The perpetrator had a history of abusive behaviour towards these women, and demonstrated a pattern of violent conduct spanning the last forty years. That makes this crime both predictable, and preventable; a devastating thought for the victims' family and friends.Seven years later, a coroners inquest into the murders has yielded more than 80 recommendations for how the system can better protect those experiencing intimate partner violence. So what evidence did the jury hear during the inquest? What were some of their most noteworthy recommendations? And how do we make sure their words actually translate into action? GUEST: Sarah Boesveld, Freelance journalist. You can read her inquest coverage in The Guardian here

After nearly 50 years, the repeal of Roe v Wade happened on June 24th. Immediately reproductive rights advocates, took to the streets in America to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's decision.Here in Canada, and across the world, people also took to the streets in solidarity... on both sides of the issue.In Canada the worry isn’t as much over losing the right to abortion…in 1988 abortion was decriminalized... the worry is how our neighbours to the south might start to sway the political and ideological arguments around reproductive rights taking place within our borders.Canada is also accepting of those seeking abortions coming our way from the U.S.What will that mean for an already taxed healthcare system? What happens next? How does this play out? And what other choices are left for people seeking abortions?Guest host: Garvia Bailey, journalist, and co-founder of Media Girlfriends based in Toronto.Guest: Hilary Beaumont, investigative journalist based in LA.

(This is the final part of a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.)When you were a child, did you have limits on the amount of TV you could watch? Or video or computer games you could play? Too much of that stuff "would rot your brain", right? It was universally accepted that too much screen time would hinder kids development.But is that still true in a world where children spent more than a year working, playing and learning online? In a world where my child will fall behind if she doesn't learn how to use a touchscreen? In a world where much of the rest of their lives will be spent online, how connected should children be?GUEST: Dr. Nusheen Ameenuddin, chair of The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic. 

(This is part four in a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.)The Lomi is a high-tech composter made by a Canadian company. It looks elegant and sleek. It claims to turn your leftover organic waste into compost, with no mess, no smell and no need to feel "gross"—which is how it assumes everyone feels about garbage.But does it work? Will its compost actually do for your plants what regular, messy organic waste does? Or does it sanitize the process and remove the mess, but also the life? This is a look at how modern technology deals with death and decay, two things that humans have been trying to avoid for a very, very, very long time.GUEST: Tynan Stewart, independent journalist based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tynan wrote about how the Lomi, a plastic composting gadget exemplifies tech’s desire – and failure – to smooth away imperfections of life and death for Real Life Magazine.

(This is part three in a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.)Do you know how much sleep you got last night? How much of it was REM sleep? What was your heart rate? Should you be worried if it was high? Just how fit are you, exactly?Many of us know more about ourselves—from exercise habits, to vital signs, to where we go and how fast we get there—than any humans in history. What are we doing with that knowledge? It can empower us to change our habits, or it can help us give into our more anxious impulses. What happens when we fully quantify ourselves?GUEST: Natasha Schull, cultural anthropologist and associate professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. Her second book, Keeping Track, explores the relationship between an individual self and her personal data by exploring the advance of digital data-gathering techniques, like wearables.

(This is part two in a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.)We tend to think of algorithms as something hidden and unknowable, at least to us. But of course they are not. Algorithms are tools, and humans are tool-users. And right now there are organizations and people using these tools to hack away at the social and political ties that bind us all together.It's not something that just happened by accident. The technology made this kind of warfare possible, and as we have always done, we began to use new weapons on one another. What remains to be seen is if we can find peace at the end of the road...GUEST: Renee DiResta, technical research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory, a cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching and policy engagement for the study of abuse in current information technologies.

(This is part one in a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.)Have you by any chance been struggling to focus recently? Maybe you used to read long books, or dive into old hobbies and learning new things, and now that feels a lot harder than it should. You are not alone. Research shows that we are suffering through a profound loss of attention, and it's getting worse every day.So what happened to us? Did we lose ourselves in our new devices, or has our attention been deliberately stolen? And what can we do to get it back?GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and author of Stolen Focus

Under the shadow of the MacKay Bridge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the protest camp of Eddy Carvery has stood firm as the longest civil rights protest in North American history.  Eddy has remained in defiance for nearly half a century. In this episode, Eddy introduces us to the protest that has defined his adult life. The fight to claim the land of Africville back for its people.If you care about racism, displaced peoples, and social justice, then you need to know the story of Africville Forever. Listen to the rest of the series here. Join the fight at AfricvilleForever.com

According to race-based data released by the Toronto Police Service earlier this month, Black people and other people of colour are disproportionately over-policed compared to white people. The data found that people of colour were 1.2 to 1.6 times more likely to face force when engaging with Toronto police in 2020. Alongside the release of these findings, which the police service was mandated to conduct, was an apology from interim police chief James Ramer… that nobody asked for. For decades, Black and other racialized people have known that systemic racism exists within the police force. So, what will these findings mean for the future of policing in Canada’s largest city? Today, we speak to assistant professor in the department of health and society at the University of Toronto, Notisha Massaquoi who helped develop the framework for the Toronto Police Service’s race-based data policy. 

You will no doubt be shocked to learn that the federal liberal government may have tried to politically influence an agency that should be independent. Who would have thought? Evidence released at an inquiry into the Portapique massacre seems to indicate that government officials the RCMP commissioner to release information about a weapon used by the shooter.We don't know yet if the request came from the government, or the commissioner herself. We don't know yet if the Prime Minister or Public Safety Minister were personally involved. But what do we know? What needs to happen next? And will this divert attention away from an incredibly important inquiry into the worst mass shooting in Canadian history?GUEST: Stephen Maher, Nova Scotian journalist and novelist, writing in The Line

Lately we've been wondering: why are we so distracted all the time? Always on our phones, tracking steps, anxious about the future, angry about politics? It probably has something to do with the leap we made into the digital world in 2020 — a rapid acceleration of what has been a slow process for most of our lives. But we wanted to know — what is it doing to us as a species? Because it feels like we’re evolving… digitally. Starting July 4, join us for a special series called, Interconnected, that looks into what the first 30 years of life online can tell us about humanity’s present and future.

The City of Ottawa paid millions of dollars for train cars that wouldn't run in the winter. The doors stuck if people tried to open them to get out. One derailment shut down the system for weeks on end. The story of what should have been the crown jewel of Ottawa's transit system is a tragic comedy.But as an inquiry right now is demonstrating, it's also a lesson to other Canadian cities. Because there's nothing as valuable to a city as public transit done right, and nothing more demoralizing than public transit done wrong. So what sent Ottawa's train project so far (sorry) off the rails?GUEST: Fatima Syed, Ontario Reporter, The Narwhal

A leaked intelligence document suggests that the vast majority of protesters planning to be at Parliament Hill on Canada Day will be peaceful. Many of the organizers say the same. But not everyone...The document also warns of extremist elements that are trending towards hatred and violence. Will we see these people at what is usually a happy celebration? Are police prepared this time to prevent a situation from escalating? Should members of parliament meet with organizers? And ... with almost all covid restrictions gone, what are these protests about now, anyway?GUEST: Justin Ling, investigative journalist, writing in Vice, newsletter: bugeyedandshameless.com

“Don't get into a vehicle with a driver you don't know.” This was the golden rule Don Young taught his daughter, Lisa Marie Young. But twenty years ago, on June 29th 2002, Lisa broke her father's rule. She got into a red Jaguar driven by a charming young man and was never seen alive again.Where is Lisa?: Red Jag Guy marks the 20th anniversary of Young's disappearance with a two-part story of the man behind the wheel. The man is Christopher William Adair, and the myth in Lisa's story is that the driver of the vehicle is a young man of considerable wealth and privilege. But as usual, the truth is more complicated. In part one, host Laura Palmer focuses on Chris's world before he met Lisa in 2002. She examines what is known about the last person to see Lisa alive, and asks what more might he know about what happened the night she vanished?Listen to Island Crime Season 1 Where is Lisa?: Red Jag Guy here. 

At some point the "how did we get here?" questions about the current state of inflation become less relevant than "how do I deal with this?" With inflation reaching its highest point since the early 1980's this week, and little relief in sight, that time is now for many of us.We've done episodes about the Why and How and what happens next, but today we're trying to prepare for what we're going to be dealing with for the foreseeable future. So how should you handle your day-to-day expenses? Your savings and your investments, if you're lucky enough to have them? Your future retirement, or your next mortgage? Unless you're squarely in the top half of the 1%, you've probably been worrying about some of that, so let's ask some practical questions.GUEST: Jason Heath (no relation to the host), financial planner and personal finance columnist with The Financial Post and MoneySense

By now, you might be familiar with images of RCMP officers using an axe to break down the door of a tiny house built by Indigenous land defenders on Wet'suwet'en territory. The structure was part of a camp that was blocking access to a site run by Coastal GasLink, who is currently building a natural gas pipeline through the territory, without the blessing of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. The raid made headlines across the country, in part because two journalists ended up being detained by the RCMP along with protestors. Why they were arrested, is just one of the questions that remains unanswered about the RCMP and B.C. government's conduct before, during and after the raid.Guest: Matt Simmons, Northwest B.C. Reporter for The NarwhalRead Matt's coverage here

Canada's Supreme Court said "yes," back in a May ruling. Now the federal government is tabling a bill to say "no," in June. The defence itself is narrow and nuanced, but the idea of allowing intoxicated people to to shirk responsibility in court is highly divisive.So what is the actual definition of "self-induced extreme intoxication"? What happened in the cases that set this precedent? And what would the impact be in the day-to-day operation of our justice system?GUEST: Pam Hrick, Executive Director & General Counsel at LEAF, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund

And why isn't it a bigger story? Perhaps it's because the circumstances around their detention — the discovery of $25 million worth of cocaine in bags in a plane's maintenance bay — are so mysterious. But either way five Canadians have spent several weeks first in jail and then essentially under house arrest, without being charged with a crime. And even if they never are, it may still be months before they get home.So what has the Canadian government done for them? What do authorities in the Dominican Republic have to say? What is the airline doing about it? And what happened to the seven people the crew was supposed to fly back to Toronto before the plane flight was halted when the drugs were found?GUEST: Tracey Lindeman, writing in The Guardian

Wealthsimple started with the goal of making investing, and long-term wealth building accessible to millennials. Then they became one of the first in Canada to become a regulated cryptocurrency exchange. And it went well for a while. The company made huge profits during the pandemic. But over the last month, cryptocurrencies have seen their value decrease substantially, and many investors saw their wealth evaporate.Was Wealthsimple wrong to make such a huge bet on crypto? And what does it mean for the future of the company?Guest: Jacob Lorinc, business reporter at the Toronto Star

Scrolling through your social media feeds, especially if you work in any sort of public-facing position, can be hazardous to your mental health. A big portion of the blame belongs to the trolls, who capitalize on their online anonymity to hurl misogynistic or racist abuse at strangers. But a big part of the issue is the social media platforms themselves, and the opaque algorithms they employ that populate our feeds with derogatory posts or disinformation.What if we could wrest control of our online experience back from these media conglomerates and make sure that we're only being shown the things we want to see? How do we do that without reinforcing the filter bubbles that contribute to the social fragmentation of our societies? And could this be the first step towards a safer and more equitable online future?Guest: Tracy Chou, Founder and CEO of Block Party 

Last week, LIV Golf held its first tournament, in London. Under normal circumstances, there would be no reason for anyone who isn't a diehard fan the sport to care. These, however, are anything but normal circumstances.LIV Golf is backed by a Saudi Arabian fund that invests in projects to help burnish the image of a regime that has a dismal record on human rights. That money has been used to lure away some star golfers, including Phil Mickelson, from the PGA Tour. And when Mickelson found himself defending his decision while asserting publicly that he has "deep, deep empathy" for the survivors of the 9/11 attacks, it became pretty clear something had gone badly wrong somewhere...GUEST: Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet

The more the public learns about the events in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, the more disturbing it gets. And the public hearings currently running on (most) American networks are offering a deeper look than ever before.So what are we learning that we didn't know before the hearings began? Are they really non-partisan? Could they lead to criminal charges against Donald Trump or members of his administration? And the most crucial question of all: Will they matter to voters, who will vote, both in November and in 2024, at least in part on the issue of free and fair elections?GUEST: Aaron Rupar, American political journalist, author of Public Notice

The new threshold, included in an amendment to the Customs Act, is a "reasonable general concern". What's the legal definition of that? Here's the thing: There isn't one.In an attempt to create a higher barrier to opening Canadians' devices on entry, the Alberta Court of Appeals struck down the previous threshold, but left it to the government to create a new one. That's where "reasonable general concern" comes into play—and privacy advocates as well as a Canadian Senator are very concerned about the implications.GUEST: Senator Paula Simons

In short? That it was a huge mess. But that's not enough. An inquiry is trying to get to the bottom of the police response to the worst mass shooting in Canadian history, and around every corner seems to lurk a new detail about delays, misinformation, too many commanding officers and, above all, inaction.As Canadians learned in horror how police in Uvalde, Texas stood by while a shooter was murdering children in a school, they didn't have to look hard for a Canadian example of how utterly a response to a gunman can be botched. So what are the details? What do we still have to learn? And will there be any change, consequences or closure?GUEST: Greg Mercer, Atlantic Canada reporter, The Globe and Mail

For those who have been paying attention to Canadian politics for the past 3-4 decades, Jean Charest will be a familiar figure. Charest was first elected to the House of Commons in 1984, he lead the Progressive Conservative Party from 1993-1998, he also served as the 29th premier of Quebec... as a Liberal. After a 10-year political hiatus, Charest is running for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. His past affiliations, and some of his policies, have been touted by his rivals as proof that he's a Liberal in disguise. His chances at winning may hinge on his ability to convince party members otherwise.  So what is Jean Charest's pitch? How do his politics stack up to the likely frontrunner, Pierre Poilievre? And does he actually stand a chance?  GUEST: Catherine Cullen, Senior Reporter on Parliament Hill for CBC News.

Almost five years have passed since the start of the #MeToo movement, and just a few days ago, a verdict was reached in the trial of a famous Canadian musician accused of sexual assault. The Hoggard trial serves as a sort of litmus test for how far Canada has (and hasn't) come in terms of its approach to cases involving allegations of sexual violence. The results were decidedly mixed, and quite revealing.Today, we'll take an in-depth look at the trial, and explore some of the evidence the jury never heard.GUEST: Alyshah Hasham, crime and courts reporter, The Toronto Star

On its surface, "long-Covid" might seem self-explanatory — symptoms that linger following a COVID-19 infection. But beyond the prevalence of symptoms like extreme fatigue, chest pain, and loss of smell and taste, not much is known about what exactly causes the condition, or the best way to treat it.So how are health care professionals helping Covid long-haulers regain their quality of life? Can an already over-burdened healthcare system deal with the disturbingly high number of people struggling with this chronic illness? And what is day to day life actually like when you're living with long-Covid?Guests: Susie Goulding, COVID Long-Haulers Canada, and Dr. Marina Wasilewski, Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Patrick Brown's career has been marked by ups and downs. In 2015, at just 36 years old, he was elected leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party. Then, three years later he resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct from two women — allegations that he denies. That same year, he was elected mayor of Brampton, an extremely diverse city in the Greater Toronto Area. Now he's trying to leverage that success in his current bid to become leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). At this point, Brown is not the frontrunner, but if we've learned one thing from his political career thus far, it's that we should be careful not to write him off entirely. So what is his strategy for winning this race? And what might the CPC look like under his leadership? GUEST: Stephanie Taylor, Reporter at The Canadian Press

By now, most of us know how to recognize the signs that our credit or debit card information has been compromised. Maybe you see some strange activity in your banking app, or an emailed receipt from Amazon for a heinous chaise longue you didn't order.The scam we're talking about today can be much more insidious. It can go on for years while you remain completely unaware, until one day, you get a phone call asking why you haven't made any payments on a mortgage you never signed up for. Welcome to the world of 'synthetic identity fraud'. So how does this scheme work? How can you tell if someone has used your information to take out a fraudulent car loan or mortgage? And what should you do once you've uncovered the scam? GUEST: Jennifer Fiddian-Green, leader of the National Risk and Forensic Advisory Practice at Grant-Thornton LLP

Almost 100 days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russian forces now control one-fifth of Ukraine. That is both a scary number and also a far better outcome thus far than most of the world predicted.This was a war that was supposed to be brutal and short, and it may drag on for months to come as Ukrainians fight courageously against their aggressors—but in the end, somehow, this war will end. What are the possible scenarios for how, and which is likely to play out in the coming months?GUEST: Balkan Devlen, senior fellow at McDonald Laurier Institute, Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc.

The overdose crisis is a tragedy, and in the past couple of years the number of deaths has been staggering. Harm-reduction advocates are looking for any way possible to save lives, and decriminalization is a strategy that has been used elsewhere to great effect.So starting next January, British Columbia will try it with some drugs, at low amounts. Is this a huge step towards progressive drug policy, or too-little-too-late? Could it be both?GUEST: Manisha Krishnan, senior editor, Vice News

Canada's governments are very good at commissioning reports, listening to recommendations and then ... not doing much. It's a pattern we've perfected over the years. In fact, a damning report delivered this week on sexual assault and harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces was actually the second on the same subject in seven years.But advocates have hope that this report, and the government's reaction, will be different. The report is comprehensive and the recommendations demand large-scale systemic change. Many of them are recommendations the government can put into effect in short order if they have the will to do so. So... do they?GUEST: Julie Lalonde, advocate and educator, author of Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death of Julie S. Lalonde

For an election so hotly anticipated by angry partisans, Ontario's month-long campaign doesn't seem to have inspired much of a shift from pre-election polls. The province votes in two days, and a quick glance would seem to say that Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives are headed for another majority. Beyond the top line, however, things are more murky.Why have so many PC candidates dodged debates? Why have the Liberals and NDP spent so much time attacking one another, when their federal counterparts are openly working together? Why have highways taken debate time away from a climate crisis, even as a massive storm killed nine Ontarians and left thousands (still) without power? And if Ford does retain his majority, is it the end of the line for his opponents leading the NDP and Liberal parties?GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park Reporter, CityNews

You see them in the headlines every week or so: Hundreds of thousands—more often, millions—of dollars in cryptocurrency or NFTs, stolen by hackers or scammers who lured their victims into providing access to their secure wallets, only to empty them out.As more and more non-experts jump into the scene, encouraged by big stars in high-priced commercials and dreaming of riches, there's more money than ever out there for the taking. Is crypto safe? How can you spot a scam? Does it need regulation? Or does it just need to come with a disclaimer—the same way legal gambling does?GUEST: Jacob Silverman, writing in The New Republic

We've known for a long time that mining can come with harmful by-products, but Canada has often been slow to put this knowledge into action. And that's a big part of how a veritable mountain of arsenic — enough to kill everyone in this country — ended up entombed in the ground on the outskirts of Yellowknife, just across the bay from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.How did it get there? What are we doing about it? What happens as the frozen ground up there gets warmer in the years to come? These aren't pleasant questions, but sometime soon we're going to need some decent answers.GUEST: Eva Holland, freelance journalist writing for The Walrus

Pandemics end. It's in their nature. And in recent weeks there's a large amount of data pointing to declining deaths worldwide and the logical end of the one that's plagued us for two-plus years. Finally. But how will we know when it's really "over"? What's the criteria? What comes after the pandemic phase of Covid-19, and what does the future look like? (Oh, and how worried should you be about Monkeypox?)GUEST: Dr. David Fisman, epidemiologist, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

New numbers show Canada's rate of food inflation has hit a 40-year high, even passing the rate of the United States. Millions of Canadians are trying to balance their grocery bill with their budget and having to make difficult choices. So, where can you look for relief? What's less expensive even as other products are skyrocketing? How can you make sure you get the most for your money when there's little relief in sight?And finally, much of the world is facing a compounding food crisis, how can we make sure Canadians continue to have store shelves full of goods, even if they do cost more than in the past?GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast

It begins on a dating app you use and trust, with a user located in your city. Not with emails out of nowhere or random DMs. Even the investment part makes you money at first, and you can withdraw and spend it, and check your portfolio any time you like. But then ... everything vanished, and you're left with a broken heart and an empty bank account.Welcome to the latest, incredibly sophisticated dating scam. And what we can do to get it under control.GUEST: Carlo Handy Charles, dual PhD Candidate, McMaster University and Université des Antilles; read his work here

Fights over language have always been a part of Quebec politics, and of life in the province in general. For the most part, they tend to end in a begrudging compromise, with French protected and English available but not given equal billing. A new bill about to be passed by the province's majority Coalition Avenir Quebec government is threatening to change all that.The government says it's necessary to protect the province's official language. Everyone who isn't a native French speaker, from Indigenous people to Anglophones to new immigrants hoping to make a home in Quebec, say that the bill is far too harsh and will make things like doctor-patient relationships, workplaces and institutional services far more difficult to navigate. So what's in the bill? What does it actually mean? And what happens next?GUEST: Christopher Reynolds, Montreal-based reporter, The Canadian Press

You see it most visibly when party leaders like Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh are accosted outside of events. But ordinary MPs of all parties report increasing amounts of verbal abuse and threatening behaviour—both in Ottawa and their home ridings. And it's escalating.Some veteran MPs have walked away from politics because of it. And it's quite likely this toxic climate is preventing plenty more would-be public servants from ever running for office. So how did it get this bad? And how do we fix it?GUEST: Stephen Maher, writing in The Walrus

The secret to Uber's success was always supposed to be scale. The company subsidized rides and drivers, operating at a loss on each ride, as it grew into what is now a global behemoth. At that point, with a huge chunk of the market secured, the profits would naturally follow.Uber is now as dominant in its sector as any company could hope for. It has scale to rival the world's biggest companies and ... its posting losses. Big losses. What happened here? And what does it say about the future of the app?GUEST: Alison Griswold, London-based journalist, author of Oversharing

Mohamedou Ould Slahi is not a Canadian citizen. He's Mauritanian. But he did spend a few weeks in Canada, and during that time he was watched. It is that evidence gathered by Canadian authorities, he claims, that led to his eventual detention and torture, and 14 years in security facilities. Now he's suing the Canadian government for $30 million. How did a few weeks in Montreal change his life, and how much is our government to blame?GUEST: Michelle Shephard, terrorism and human rights reporter, filmmaker and podcaster

For decades, insurance companies devoted thousands of hours and millions of dollars to complex investigations of insurance claims, trying to determine whether claimants were lying or telling the truth. Now, a would-be fraudster can concoct an elaborate excuse only to find their scheme foiled by the gadgets within the very vehicle they may be trying to get fixed. As digital technology becomes a standard part of every car, so do tracking devices that can determine everything from the route you took, where you stopped and if you were, say, going even just a kilometre or three over the speed limit. What are the implications for drivers, and the insurance industry at large?GUEST: Aaron Hutchins, Maclean's

The murder victim in Thailand was a known gangster who had spent years in and around Vancouver. One of the four men who died in the mysterious crash was wanted by Thai police for his alleged role in the killing. In between the two events is four months, multiple police investigations across the world, a second fugitive also on the run, two young pilots and dozens of unanswered questions.Who was Gene Lahrkamp? How did he end up dead near Sioux Lookout, Ontario? Why would he have travelled to Thailand to murder a gangster? What will happen when this story begins to be told?GUEST: Kim Bolan, crime reporter, Vancouver Sun

They call themselves the Norman Brigade, and they're led by Hrulf, who won't reveal his real name. But he's from Quebec, served in the Canadian military and has a Ukrainian wife and children. The brigade is composed of foreign fighters from around the world, including several Canadians. The brigade recruits through Facebook. They even sell merchandise.But former members question the leader's ability and the safety of the unit—citing poor accommodations, insufficient weapons and ammunition and a reckless leadership style. What is the Norman Brigade? Why are they fighting in Ukraine? And how dangerous are they, to themselves or to the Russians?GUEST: Tom Blackwell, senior reporter, National post

Looking at gas and grocery prices, it might be hard to believe inflation is anywhere close to stopping, but economists see some promising signs. Whether it has peaked yet or not, however, the real test will be if the inflation rate recedes or stabilizes at five percent or higher.How did we end up with this spike in the first place? What has (and hasn't) been done by Canada's federal government to control them? What should you watch for in the next couple of months, and how can you prepare for whatever comes next?GUEST: Pedro Antunes, Chief Economist, The Conference Board of Canada

It was supposed to make billions upon billions as an industry, and the investors were chasing millions of their own. Instead, thousands of Canadians were left holding empty bags, having lost jobs, savings and opportunities to the promise of fast money and an industry that could never have possibly matched the hype.How did (almost) everyone get the weed industry so wrong? And what happened to those Canadians who bought into the hype?GUEST: Omar Mouallem, reporting in Canadian Business

Employees are returning to offices this spring. Some, just for a day or two per week. Some are back in their desks full-time. But without any kind of standard, how will office employment ever find a new normal? What rights do workers have when told they must come back in person? How has the possibility (or not) of remote work changed recruiting?Is there anything to be gained from a return to office work in terms of productivity, or is it just a case of millions of dollars in expensive real estate sitting empty? And what comes next?GUEST: Vanmala Subramaniam, Future of Work reporter, The Globe and Mail

The virus driving an outbreak that's spread to almost every province is a variant. It's a more pathogenic bug that renders the host infectious even before it displays any symptoms. Sound like any other virus you know?The risk to humans is extremely low. So far. But what's already happening is devastation in the poultry industry, and widespread infections creating conditions for a potential mutation that could make things worse. Here's what you need to know.GUEST: Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt, veterinarian and researcher, Université de Montréal

The news leaked Monday night. It was shocking, but not all that surprising. A woman's right to choose has been under attack for a long time in America, and states have spent the past five years chipping away at access, first with knives and then with axes. But the crown jewel of the anti-abortion movement has always been Roe—and the leaked supreme court decision overturning it would also open up pathways to remove other rights once set in law, like contraception access, or gay marriage.What is happening in America? And what comes next? And will Canada be drawn down the same path in the years to come?GUEST: Carter Sherman, Senior Reporter, Vice News

Say what you want about Doug Ford (and people do!), there are very few people in the province he's run for four years who are neutral about him. Ontario heads into an election at a crossroads on a number of policy issues, and it's never been more important to examine where the parties each stand on them. So what's Ford's real record? What do we know about a second Ford term? Can Andrea Horwath finally win an election? Who is Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, and could his relative anonymity help keep the focus on the issues?But mostly, will this campaign turn into a fight over Ford, or not? And what should Ontarians expect to see over the next month?GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

There have been some heartbreaking headlines recently, about people who are living with chronic conditions in situations that force them to suffer—and choosing a medically assisted death because they can't find affordable housing that can accommodate them. These stories are complicated, but so is every conversation around a medically assisted death.Now that the law has been around for years, it's better understood but it's also evolving. Next year, patients will be able to request MAiD with the sole condition of mental illness, which will make these conversations even more difficult. So who can access MAiD, how is it changing? What's next? And ... why is it so difficult for Canadians to talk about death?GUEST: Dr. Stefanie Green, MAiD practitioner, co-founder and current president of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers

Recently the Progressive Conservative government released a climate plan. Actually, they specifically said not to call it a "plan". It's a set of emissions targets and how they plan to hit them. It's not very long and thin on details, and the government's budget didn't add much to it. But does any party in Ontario have a serious climate plan? And with a pandemic, a housing crisis and an inflation spike blowing through household budgets, it's worth asking how big an issue the climate will be in the upcoming election campaign.But what happens to us if it isn't?GUEST: Fatima Syed, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

It's impossible to discuss a new film or show these days without someone reminding you, "No spoilers!" Purposefully spoiling a plot point in a popular work is considered just short of evil. Entire trailers and hype campaigns are based on you not knowing one particular thing about a film, so you spend the entire time waiting, just waiting, for the big reveal.But what if all of this was ruining our ability to enjoy creativity and art for their own sake? What if when we were waiting for the guest star or unexpected twist, we were missing the things that made the piece exceptional? What if we can't see the forest because we keep looking for one special tree that everyone has told us is a big surprise? What if ... (most) spoilers were good?GUEST: Emily St. James, senior correspondent, Vox

His name was Traevon Desjarlais-Chalifoux. He was 17. And in the wake of his death, there are so many questions and so few answers. Will the system admit any responsibility? Will the government that oversees it make any changes? How big is this long-ignored systemic problem, and can we fix it before it costs another young Indigenous person their life?GUEST: Nancy Macdonald, The Globe and Mail

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit was a lifeline to millions in the early days of the pandemic. Then, in early 2021, letters went out to more than 400,000 Canadians informing them that they may not have qualified and might have to pay the money they received back to the Canada Revenue Agency. For folks already struggling to make ends meet, this was a terrifying thought.When you dig into who received those letters, though, something disturbing appears. Certain regions of the country received a disproportionately higher percentage of these frightening letters. Why? Who was targeted? And in general, who may end up owing the government money and what should you do if you receive one of these notices?GUEST: Kelly Geraldine Malone, Canadian Press

Typically, taking care of these pests has meant, well, pesticides. And sometimes, lots of them. But one Canadian city is working to curb the use of chemicals by deploying different tactics to control its mosquito population. What does Edmonton plan to do with all those bats and dragonflies, anyway?And as the weather warms up in most of the country, what can we all do to handle our own mosquito problems? It turns out there are some newer solutions than simply crowding the air with foul-smelling spray... though that still works in a pinch. Oh, and, couldn't we just exterminate all these little jerks and be done with them? No? Why not?GUEST: Sean Prager, assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan, research in insect ecology

Depends on how you do it, and who you ask. Regenerative agriculture is a practice almost as old as farming itself. But recently it's been touted as a potential climate saviour for its ability to help capture more carbon in the soil. But with no real regulation or certification, it can be a dedicated, environmentally healthy way for farmers to make their produce better and more sustainable, or a pretty claim to put in a press release. How can you tell which is which?GUEST: Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, reporter and writer covering food, climate, plastics and the environment for Canada’s National Observer.

March Vautour is a border-hopping Canadian con artist who's tricked women and men out of over a million dollars. He's been getting away with it for over 20 years, but now his survivors have teamed up to do everything they can to stop him. From Pink Moon Studio and Frequency Podcast Network, Catch Him if You Can mixes documentary and drama to tell the story of a man who thought he was untouchable and his survivors' real-time crusade to catch him.Check out Catch Him If You Can here.

When Canadians were asked to get their first two covid vaccines, they were told that doing so would get them back to normal. Now some of them are booking and receiving their fourth shots. And more than that, we originally called two shots "fully vaccinated"—when clearly time and the virus have proven that wrong. So what happened to our plan for vaccinations and how has it changed? Could a new, targeted vaccine expected this fall put an end to endless boosters? Did we get the messaging about vaccines wrong a year ago? And how do we make sure that vaccine hesitancy around Covid shots doesn't spread to shots that we've all been giving our children for decades? GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

Probably! It's called dynamic pricing, and it's very different than paying extra for premium matchups at the ballpark or seats on an airplane. Dynamic pricing in an online marketplace is an opaque system that uses an algorithm to determine how much to charge you (or someone else) for anything from milk and paper towels to books or even a Tinder subscription. Factors at play when a price is set can include your neighbourhood, shopping history, recorded preference and many others. If it sounds shady, well, it's impossible to determine just how shady it is because none of this is public to would-be consumers. And none of our existing regulations address it. Should they? And if so, how?GUEST: Vass Bednar, Executive Director, MPP in Digital Society at McMaster University, Author at Regs2Riches.com

Many victims have come to Canadian hospitals after they've survived a sexual assault, only to be informed that the hospital doesn't have either the equipment or the personnel to properly collect evidence for a future investigation. In some cases, victims have been sent to hospitals many miles away. Why are these kits scattered around the country, instead of being immediately available at any hospital? And who has the power to fix it?GUEST: Jacqueline Villeneuve-Ahmed is the founder and director of She Matters, a community of women-identifying survivors and allies

Last week, Conservative leadership favourite Pierre Poilievre released a video excoriating both municipal and federal governments for failing to keep housing affordable for the average family. It struck a chord with conservatives and many liberals as well, because of just how hopeless home ownership seems to so many. But are Poilievre's solutions workable? Are anyone's?For a long time now housing has been a commodity, an investment—not a place of shelter and safety. What will it take to actually make a dent in the affordability crisis? And does any party or politician have the guts to do it?GUEST: Leilani Farha, global director, The Shift

When the Toronto Raptors face the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night in the opening game of their NBA Playoffs series, thousands of fans will be gathered in the square outside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, watching the game from what has come to be known as 'Jurassic Park'.The last time they did this, the Raptors became the 2019 NBA Champions. And since then, everyone's life has been turned upside down. The team's journey has mirrored ours, and the hope is that Saturday marks the beginning of the end of a couple of really tough years...GUEST: William Lou, co-host of The Raptors Show, Sportsnet

At the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two things became immediately clear. First, this would not go according to Putin's plans. Russia has met fierce resistance every step of the way and has been forced to retreat from its attempt to take the Ukrainian capital. Second, it became obvious that misinformation would play a role in what we learned and didn't learn about the situation on the ground. Russia, obviously, has some experience in that area. So how are Ukrainians surviving and resisting, and how long can they hold out?GUEST: Stewart Bell, Global News Online 

The supply chain is a problem. The cost of raw materials is rising. The cost of labour is up, too. But while we tend to assume inflation is caused by companies hiking prices due to reasons that are beyond their control, the truth is much more complicated. So, how much of Canada's current price hikes are due to market factors, and how much is simply companies taking the opportunity to increase their profits? And what can we do about it?GUEST: Jacob Lorinc, business and economics reporter, Toronto Star.

Very early in the pandemic, Canada put a pause on deportations. Conditions were unsafe, the world had stopped, and a lot of these workers were doing jobs Canadians badly needed done. But the pause didn't last long, and since deportations have resumed more than 18,000 people have been sent back to their country of origin, even as frontline labour is at a premium and some of them face health and safety risks upon their return.What's the rationale behind this? What options do these aspiring Canadians have? And could we have found a different way?GUEST: Isabel Macdonald, researcher and writer based in Montreal, writing for The Walrus

The housing crisis is one of Canadians' biggest concerns, and in last week's federal budget it got some top-line attention. But inflation didn't receive nearly as much attention, and the cost of everything is rising. How will the plans unveiled by the government make your own budget easier or harder to balance? And beyond personal finances, what's in store for the environment, defence and other critical national issues? And did the Liberals deal with the NDP make this budget bigger and better, or buy the government time to plan for the long term?GUEST: Mike Eppel, senior business editor at CityNews

Every year, most Canadian provinces release lists of the top wages among public servants. And every year, lots of people get mad about them. It's easy to say that it's unfair to publish these names and salaries, as it inevitably makes some people a target. But what if instead, we made more salaries public, not less?Secrecy around salaries is just another part of Canada's lack of transparency as a country. From government records to police investigations to any number of things, we prefer to keep things in the dark. And the darker things are, the easier it is for them to remain unequal. There are places in the world where everyone's salary is public. What would this country look like if your co-workers knew what you made, or vice versa?GUEST: Robyn Doolittle, investigative reporter, The Globe and Mail

He returned to the province as a conservative saviour, uniting the right under one banner and vanquishing the NDP. But just a few short years later, Jason Kenney's own party—or at least a substantial chunk of it—wants him gone. A leadership review attracted so many interested voters that it was moved from an in-person event to a mail-in ballot, which has only furthered the cries of skullduggery from his opponents within the UCP. It also probably didn't help that Kenney was taped referring to them as "kooks" and "lunatics" in a leaked audio clip.What happened to Kenney's conservative support in Alberta? And what happens next if his party ousts him?GUEST: Jason Markusoff, Alberta-based staff writer, Maclean's 

Hospitalizations are climbing again in parts of the country, and cases are rising in others. It's deja vu all over again. It's clear we're in for at least some sort of Spring rise in Covid-19, driven by the BA.2 subvariant, but how bad could it be? Is it possible this is a sign of a virus playing itself out? What can people who are worried do to protect themselves?And ... haven't we done this enough by now? Will we ever figure this out?GUEST: Colin Furness, infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto

The federal government has ambitious targets set for the percentage of cars in Canada that will be electric by 2030. We're a long way from meeting them. But research shows hundreds of thousands of Canadians would like to purchase one. They just can't find one, can't afford one, or don't have the access to charging to make it worth their time.Meanwhile, the country's auto manufacturing hub needs help transitioning to be ready for the demand of the next generation of cars. All this adds up to problems at both ends of the supply chain, and a ticking clock making each project and incentive count.GUEST: Zoe Long, Research Manager for SFU’s Sustainable Transportation Action Research Team (START)

When you trust someone with your heart, you have to accept that it might get broken. Things might not work out. You might grow apart. But at the least, you would hope for honesty. And if not honesty then ... maybe, at least not outright fraud and theft?Sadly though, not everyone gets that — which brings us to a group of Canadian women, all of whom, had their hearts broken and bank accounts emptied by a con artist. And their sadness and loss could have been the end of the story. But it's not...GUEST: Emilia King, host and co-creator of Catch Him If You Can

For decades, Canada's men's soccer team was irrelevant at best, a punchline at worst. While the women's side went on to Olympic medals and World Cup runs, the Canadian men ... did nothing. Until a few years ago, when the tide began to turn. And then last year, when the unthinkable started to happen.Now Canada is not only headed to the World Cup for just the second time in its history, but the team also looks ready to do some damage when it gets there. How did the unthinkable happen?GUEST: John Molinaro, veteran Canadian soccer journalist, founder of TFC Republic(This episode originally aired on Feb. 2, 2022)

The ISS has long been well above Earth's political squabbles. But since Russia invaded Ukraine, and most of the world began sanctioning Putin's regime, it seems less likely it will remain that way. On the station, Russian and American (and other countries') astronauts work together to research and problem solve. But on Earth, the head of Russia's space agency says the US will be to blame for the death of the space station.Can The ISS even function without both sides cooperating? Does either side want it to, really? And with private companies like SpaceX pushing hard for increasing ISS access and work with space agencies—are we on the cusp of an entirely new era for humans in outer space?GUEST: Ivan Semeniuk, science reporter, The Globe and Mail

There are places on the coast of British Columbia that can go weeks without a visit from the coast guard or government official. But the land is cared for all the same, and so is anyone who finds themselves in danger while they're on it. The practice of Indigenous guardians goes back centuries, but recently it has been both formalized and funded by the government, giving First Nations the authority and resources to watch over their lands. It's an arrangement that may spread across the country and return more stewardship of forests, lakes and oceans to the people who have lived on them for so long... and this is how it works.GUEST: Jimmy Thomson, writing for The Narwhal

A week ago, it was record-breaking temperatures. In the Arctic as well as the Antarctic. This weekend, an ice shelf the size of New York City broke off one of the parts of Antarctica that's supposed to be stable. Is this another frightening sign of how quickly the climate crisis is escalating? A series of coincidences that ultimately won't have massive consequences? Or a chance for us to learn that the answer to both those questions can, in fact, be "Yes"—and that scary headlines ultimately might not be the best way to wake up the world?GUEST: Simon Donner, professor of climatology at the University of British Columbia

Canadian white-tailed deer can get SARS-CoV-2. More importantly, they can maybe transmit it back to humans. This may sound scary, but it's unclear how often it might happen. What's more important, however, are the questions this raises.Will animals remain a reservoir for the virus, continuing its life in areas where human cases are close to zero? Can different species create new variants that could spread to humans? How could we monitor these animals for the virus anyway, even if we wanted to? And is the same kind of transmission possible in household pets like cats and dogs?GUEST: Denise Balkissoon, Ontario Bureau Chief, The Narwhal

He's the heavy favourite to be the next leader of the federal Conservatives. He's a relentless attack dog that loves a good partisan brawl. He's angry. Especially at Justin Trudeau. Just ask him. But that's not all there is to the man. Under the public persona is something else. The question is why it's mostly kept buried, and if Poilievre thinks it's better to keep it that way?GUEST: Shannon Proudfoot, Ottawa bureau chief, Maclean's magazine (Read Shannon's profile of Poilievre right here.)

Two years ago, things started changing ... quickly. They haven't stopped since. Yes, eventually the pandemic will end, but the normal we hoped would return is long gone.  After decades of unprecedented stability, especially in places like Canada, many people have simply never experienced a world in constant flux. It's a funny feeling, and one we're still learning how to cope with. So how should we grapple with the new world we inhabit?GUEST: Elamin Abdelmahmoud, culture writer at Buzzfeed News, host of Pop Chat from CBC podcasts. Elamin's book, Son of Elsewhere, is available for pre-order.

Discussion of Ukraine aid has focused mostly on military equipment—how NATO allies can aid the Ukrainians against Russia. Meanwhile, staggering numbers of Ukrainian civilians have either fled the country or are trapped in regions being devastated by Russian bombardment. The needs of the Ukrainian people are massive and varied. How can we help get them what they need, where they are or aid those who do manage to make it to Canada? And what should we expect of our government to help us get it to them?GUEST: Orest Zakydalsky, Senior Policy Advisor for the Ukrainian Canadian Congress

When the federal Liberal and New Democratic Parties announced an agreement that would keep the Liberals in power until 2025 in exchange for advancing key policy initiatives, it turned Ottawa upside down. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his frequent critic, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, are working together. The Conservatives, in the middle of a leadership race, are irate. And there are a ton of questions to answer.What kind of deal is this, and what are the precedents for it? What kinds of policy will it produce? How will Canadians' lives change? What happens if one party breaks its word? Is this really "backdoor socialism"? And how does this change the federal political landscape, for the next few years and beyond?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill Reporter

It's been one request that absolutely nobody is willing to grant. While many NATO members are sending arms and aid to Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pleas for a no-fly zone over his country have been rebuffed. And there's a good reason for that.Today: How a no-fly zone works, why allies are refusing to enact one, and what happens next in Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to increase the destructiveness of their attacks...GUEST: Abbie Shull, junior military and defense reporter at Business Insider

When anomalies arose about nearly $2 million in grant money obtained by Toronto Pride, it prompted the new guard running the organization to commit to a review and transparency around funding. As it became clear how the grants were obtained, it has raised larger questions about who Pride events are for, why they have become such huge, corporate-money-friendly events and what Pride should be at its roots: A party or a protest?GUEST: Krishna Rau, writing for Xtra

We almost didn't have baseball back. In a winter filled with loss and discontent, maybe that wouldn't have mattered much. But the return of the game mattered a lot to millions of people looking for signs of spring. And it mattered even more to a Toronto Blue Jays team that was counting on this season to make a big push towards a World Series.A labour deal got done at the 11th hour. A full 162-game season is on the books. And the Jays wasted no time in making more moves designed to load up a talented team with even more players. So, just how good can this team be?GUEST: Shi Davidi, senior baseball columnist, Sportsnet

Thunder Bay, Ontario already had a reputation as a place with a racist police force, uninvestigated Indigenous deaths and missing persons who were barely even searched for. So it shouldn't be shocking that new reports this month confirmed more of exactly that. But somehow it is.These issues have been well known for many years now—why has nothing changed? What is the municipal government prepared to do about it? What would actually make a difference?GUEST: Willow Fiddler, The Globe and Mail

By now many people assume we'll be getting annual covid boosters for the rest of our lives. That's possible, but there are other possibilities, too. In the past two years we've learned so much about how to rapidly create and deliver vaccines that there are projects in front of us that could offer much more optimistic futures.At McMaster University, one of them involves no needles at all... and might eliminate the need for yearly updates.GUEST: Dr. Matthew Miller, Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University

These last few weeks, the war in Ukraine has been at the front of everyone’s mind, and rightfully so. And while we in Canada have so far been insulated from the conflict and its worst humanitarian and economic impacts, we are starting to feel its effects, at the pumps.Across Canada, gas prices have hit historic highs, and experts say they could, and likely will rise even more in the coming weeks and months. Even if you don’t drive to work every day, or even own a car for that matter, you will feel the rising cost of energy as it drives up the price of virtually all goods and services.So what’s really behind skyrocketing gas prices? How high could they go? And is there anything anyone can do to bring them back down?GUEST: Roger McKnight, Chief Petroleum Analyst at En-Pro International Inc. 

Tse Chi Lop immigrated to Toronto from Guangzhou in 1988. As part of a collection of criminal associates known as The Big Circle Boys, he worked alongside the Montreal-based Rizzuto crime family to allegedly build one of the biggest heroin smuggling operations in history. The effort would eventually earn him six years in an American Federal prison. In the years following his release, Tse allegedly turned his attention towards Asia, specifically the region's burgeoning appetite for methamphetamines. With ready access to cheap precursor materials, a global network of criminal organizations, and a business proposition that was just too enticing to turn down, Tse and his criminal network known as 'Sam Gor' allegedly dominated the Asian meth trade, and raked in billions of dollars while doing it. So how was Tse allegedly able to build not one, but two of the biggest drug smuggling rings the world has ever seen? How was he eventually caught? And what's happened to his alleged empire since his arrest?GUEST: Stephen Marche, Freelance Writer and ReporterRead the Toronto Life​​​​​​ ​story here

For the first time, this year's JUNO's Fan Choice award will be decided in partnership with the social media platform. TikTok has allowed a new era of Canadian musicians to find their way into ears and hearts around the country in a space that has no CanCon requirements. At a time when artists are increasingly dissatisfied with streaming platforms like Spotify, traditional record sales are almost zero and the most notable independent music platform was just purchased by a gaming company, it's worth considering how the platforms we listen on shape the music that we hear.GUEST: Richard Trapunski, editor of music, tech and local business at NOW Magazine

This isn't intended to scare you. But with Vladimir Putin making clear threats towards potential nuclear warfare, it's certainly a question worth asking. And a question that not very many people have considered for decades now. So, what's the status of our nuclear defenses? How do they work? And what would it take to be ready for a worst-case scenario?GUEST: Dr. James Fergusson, Deputy Director, Centre for Defence and Security Studies; Professor of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba.

One of the reasons the carbon footprint was created was to put personal responsibility for the climate crisis onto ordinary people, instead of large corporations. If we are constantly feeling guilty for eating red meat and driving, how can we possibly criticize companies who are hurting the planet but paying it off with carbon credits?!Today, a new way to think about your personal contributions to the climate fight. Should you still walk instead of drive? Of course. But the concept of a 'climate shadow' takes into account everything a person does to work on the climate crisis, not just what a calculator can attest to. If you've been searching for a better way to figure out what you can do, this one is for you.GUEST: Emma Pattee, creator of the climate shadow

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has deep Ukrainian roots. Depending on who you ask, those roots have been an asset or an anchor over the past few weeks, as she has been able to lead the political movement to sanction Russia, while also starring in a number of misinformation campaigns based on her history. But there is no doubt that she has been a major global player in the finance fight against Vladimir Putin, and has given Canada its first tangible foreign policy strategy in some time.GUEST: Justin Ling, freelance investigative reporter

Will it all probably be fine, or are we asking for another wave? With Alberta already ending masking, and Ontario promising to follow suit, it's likely that much of Canada will be Covid-restriction free  by April.Cases and hospitalizations are trending down, and much of the country has at least two doses of vaccine. But with a new subvariant already here, and showing infection rates higher than Omicron, will wee see another spike? And it's also important to ask, as the pandemic closes in on its two-year anniversary ... if not now, when?GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa

They probably don't look like your typical picture of anti-vaxxers. They own yoga studios, or push organic juice on Instagram. But the wellness space has been home to some of the pandemic's most unexpected sentiment against vaccinations. And it shouldn't really surprise anyone who has been paying attention. Today we'll explain how it happened.GUEST: Stacy Lee Kong, writer and editor, creator of the Friday Things newsletter

It's the worst mass killing in Canadian history, and there are hundreds of questions still unanswered almost two years later. A public inquiry into the Portapique shootings is happening right now, and the early answers to some of those questions are disturbing. What more will we learn about how many lives could have been saved? Will RCMP officers actually agree to testify at all? And what about the killer's rumoured connections to the RCMP itself?How much of this mystery will we unravel? And how bad will it get?GUEST: Greg Mercer, Atlantic Canada reporter, The Globe and Mail

For all the bad news (and there is a lot of it) contained in the newest IPCC report, there is also one very clear message: It's still possible to save our world from the worst outcome, and we have about eight years to do it. The impacts of climate change are already being felt around the globe, including in many parts of Canada—but all is not yet lost.What will it take to win this fight? And what can we learn from the global response to the pandemic, or more recently from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that we can apply to the biggest existential crisis humanity has ever faced?GUEST: Catherine Abreu, founder and executive director of Destination Zero, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the global transition away from fossil fuels; member of Canada's net-zero advisory board

The footage of that legendary fighter pilot is from a video game. The Ukrainians who told the Russian warship to "go f--- yourself" were not killed and are still alive. Even the image you see attached to this episode—a still from a widely circulated video that was supposedly shot during the current conflict—was actually captured in Libya back in 2011. All this might seem obvious, but there are dozens, likely hundreds, of pieces of misinformation being shared widely as the world's attention turns to the war in Ukraine.So how can you tell real from fake? What's at play in our hearts and minds that helps us fall victim to this stuff? What should be the first thing you do when you see footage that purports to show something unbelievable from the war zone? We'll help you figure out where to start.GUEST: Craig Silverman, reporter covering misinformation and digital manipulation for ProPublica, editor of the Verification Handbook

When we share stories of immigration to Canada, we often tell them and hear them as individual, personal tales. And those stories are great—but they don't illustrate just how big a part of Canada's history programs like the West Indian Domestic Scheme really were. Thousands of women came to this country, brought their families, made Canada home and supercharged Canadian women's entry to the workforce. Why don't we view this as one of our country's building blocks?GUEST: Garvia Bailey, co-creator of Strong and Free, a Historica Canada podcast

It sounds like hyperbole—unless you listen to the Russian president's thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons on any country that intervenes with his aggression in Ukraine. That doesn't mean this conflict will escalate to a multi-nation war, but the possibility is certainly there, according to experts. And nobody knows what happens next.What does this mean for the future of the international order and traditional alliances? What does it mean for millions of innocent Ukrainians? For countries like Canada who are on the sidelines? How will this conflict reshape the world in the weeks and months to come?GUEST: Balkan Devlen, senior fellow at McDonald Laurier Institute, Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc.

On the surface it seems silly. Why hold a vaccination clinic at a strip club in downtown Toronto? But once you look a little deeper, the answer becomes obvious. Ontario currently has 92% of its 12+ population with at least one dose. Finishing the last eight percent will require reaching the people who are hardest to find, and who don't trust the traditional healthcare system. So you have to go where they can find you, safely.GUEST: Ellie Ade Kur is a board member at Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project

Both the occupation of Ottawa and the federal government's use of the emergencies act were unprecedented. And it's hard to see a future where neither one is used again. If the game is truly changing, what does that mean for Canada's national security? And for Canadians' personal freedoms?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

You would think that after so much "listening and learning" by white people over the past few years, we'd stop seeing them wearing blackface in Canada. But it still happens. Relatively often. Why do Canadians consider this an American phenomenon? What's the history of blackface in this country? And how can we provide the proper context to explain why it's so awful?GUEST: Dr. Cheryl Thompson

Yes, it's worse in America. But it's not great here, either. The past few years have seen an alarming rise in hate groups in Canada—and there's nothing on the horizon that appears set to slow it down. It's a recipe for the sort of violence we've seen in Washington recently, and have seen on our own soil more frequently in recent years.So what does defuse the growth of white supremacy? What can governments do to curtail the kind of polarizing anger that leads to reactionary violence? And what can we do, each of us, when we see people we know who may be taking the first steps down a road that leads to conspiracy theories, hate and violence?GUEST: Shakil Choudhury, Anima LeadershipThis episode was first released in January 2021. 

Do you remember the Ikea Monkey? That's just the tip of the iceberg. A lack of provincial laws around exotic animals in Ontario means that there's nothing preventing you or I from owning just about any kind of dangerous animal. To illustrate how this works today: The story of some lions who are in Ontario, were once a part of a roadside zoo and are now ... well, we don't know exactly where they are now. Really.GUEST: Grant LaFleche, investigative team The Toronto Star (Read Grant and reporter Sarah Crookall's investigation right here.)

Quick, name a signature, unique, statement building opened in Canada in the past couple of decades! Your choices are few and far between. And aside from some of the oldest buildings in the entire country, Canada is known by enthusiasts around the world for having ... not much, when it comes to beautiful public buildings and spaces.There are reasons for that. And it's possible to change our approach. But will we? Do we care enough? Do our leaders? Or will Canada remain a country of mostly grey boxes, forever?GUEST: Tracey Lindeman, writer and author, writing in the Walrus

It's a tricky phrase—but these days you are as likely to hear it from a government official or public health officer as you are from someone who is just sick of vaccine passports. As the Omicron wave subsides and governments across the country ease or eliminate restrictions, a growing number of Canadians are in favour of a future where we no longer tailor our lives to the virus.But is that possible? If it is, what would that look like? Who will thrive in this future and who will suffer? And is there a way, with proper planning and enough commitment, to have the best of both worlds? A world where we can protect the vulnerable and let everyone get "back to normal"?GUEST: Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta

You might assume that millions of crowdfunded dollars are behind the scenes on the streets of Ottawa and at border crossings across the country. But very little of the money raised on GoFundMe or GiveSendGo has been released, and what was released was mostly frozen. So where is the money to support these lengthy protests coming from? How is it getting into the hands and bank accounts of organizers? And what does it tell us about the future of fundraising and foreign influence in Canadian affairs?GUEST: Jessica Davis, president and principal consultant at Insight Threat Intelligence

This Olympics will make history for an uncomfortable reason: It will be the first winter games where basically all the snow used will be man-made. Past Olympics have needed snow machines to varying degrees, but never before to make all the snow. It's a sign of the times as a warming planet makes snowfall less reliable—but what does it mean for the future of the Olympics, and winter sports in general?GUEST: Kathryn Blaze Baum, environment reporter, The Globe and Mail

Some people deserve to have awful Google results. But a lot more people don't, and end up with them thanks to a vendetta, a soured relationship, or a targeted harassment campaign. Regardless of whether or not the reputation is deserved, there's basically one way to fix it — online reputation rehab, companies that take your money to fix your Google results.Some of these companies are totally above board, but others can trap victims in cycles of endless payment to remove new results. And there's not much stopping them.GUEST: Paul Gallant, Toronto-based reporter, writing for The Walrus

It might not look like it, but when you walk among them it becomes clear there's more than one group in Ottawa. If you want to find evidence that the protesters are peaceful, ordinary, frustrated Canadians who came to Ottawa to make their displeasure known, you can find those folks. And if you want evidence that the protesters are angry, racist, far-right agitators here to attempt to overthrow the government, you can find that, too.This is what makes the scene on the street so difficult to capture in a 60-second news report, or a short video stream. So we called in someone who has spent a couple of days attempting to blend in with both kinds of protesters, to tell us what he's seen and heard.GUEST: Matt Gurney, writer and commentator, co-founder of The Line (You can read Matt's dispatches from Ottawa right here.)

Or is Vladimir Putin bluffing to gain the world's attention? The history of Russia-Ukraine conflict dates back decades and can only be properly understood by looking at what has come before.But right now, Canadian citizens are being warned it's time to come home, there are massive amounts of troops on the border and the world is worried diplomacy might not work. So ... what happens next?GUEST: Seva Gunitsky, associate professor of political science, the University of Toronto.

If you want to know which kids are least likely to get vaccinated, there’s a decent way to tell — they're the ones attending an alternative school. Even before covid, with traditional vaccines that were proven safe over decades, the opt-out rate among alternative school kids was many times higher than kids in traditional classrooms.Why is that? Where does the hesitancy come from? And what can we learn about the factors parents weigh when they make these decisions by studying the philosophies of the schools they choose?GUEST: Inori Roy, investigative journalist, writing in The Local

Amid the current rhetoric around protests across Canada, it's worth examining what successful, peaceful protest looks like, and what we can learn from it. It took more than half a decade, work by Indigenous women and leaders and non-Indigenous allies. It took a deep understanding of treaties and laws and relentless positive commitment. And in the end, an oil and gas company simply gave up, and left a beautiful river system alone. This is the story of how it happened.GUEST: Cheryl Maloney, protest leader, Mi'kmaq woman, former national environment coordinator for the Native Women’s Association of Canada

Since Stephen Harper left, the federal Conservatives are on their fifth leader in six years. Later this year they'll likely choose a sixth—and the party's eventual choice will go a long way to determining its future. What does O'Toole's exit and the choice of Candice Bergen as interim leader reveal about the state of the party currently? Is this really good news for the federal Liberals as some pundits claim?The next few months will be critical to determining what Canadians are choosing the next time they go to the polls. Will it be a united CPC, led by the right wing of the party? A fractured party still trying to hold its various factions together? Or could the unification that led to Harper's success end with O'Toole, producing a split between the party's two ideologies?GUEST: David Moscrop, political writer and commentator, author, host of the Open To Debate podcast

Depending on where you stand, you may have blamed anything from Covid-19 to vaccine mandates, protesters to climate change, or even the federal government for the empty shelves you’ve seen. And all those answers are valid. But the reasoning you'll hear from politicians depends on who you ask. And of course, so does the assessment of how much of a crisis this actually is.So how big a problem are the scattered empty shelves? How precarious is Canada's food supply chain? When will the pressure ease? And when it does, how much more will it cost to put food on your table?GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast

For decades, Canada's men's soccer team was irrelevant at best, a punchline at worst. While the women's side went on to Olympic medals and World Cup runs, the Canadian men ... did nothing. Until a few years ago, when the tide began to turn. And then last year, when the unthinkable started to happen. Now undefeated during qualifying, having beaten both the United States and Mexico, Canada is not only likely headed to the World Cup for just the second time in its history, but the team also looks ready to do some damage when it gets there. How did the unthinkable happen?GUEST: John Molinaro, veteran Canadian soccer journalist, founder of TFC Republic

It was only ever barely about vaccine mandates. As thousands of Canadians took their grievances to Ottawa, some of the ugliest parts of the far-right joined them, distorting a message that was never that clear to begin with. After a weekend of blockades and plenty of bad behaviour, lots of legitimate protesters went home. Those who remain have vowed to occupy Canada's capital, and demand the end of the Liberal government. Who are these people? What happens next? And why are leaders from both sides pouring gas on the fire?GUEST: Elizabeth Simons, deputy director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network

The four-year-old boy, who went missing in 1991, might be Canada's most famous missing person. Thirty years after he vanished from a Victoria, BC playground, a new podcast retraces the investigation, connects with his family and tries to figure out both what happened, and why the case matters so much to so many.GUEST: Laura Palmer, investigative reporter and host of Island Crime: Missing Michael

Some critics have declared Harry Potter "over", or Lin-Manuel Miranda "cringe". In the real world, both Potter and Miranda remain enormously popular with people of all ages. Do critics become irrelevant when their views fall out of step with the vast majority of the audience? Or is shifting people's views towards a differing viewpoint part of a critic's job? How do we explain the vast gap between what an elite corner of social media feels is worthy, and what the sales numbers tell us?GUEST: Yair Rosenberg, Deep Shtetl, The Atlantic

You could hear it as far away as Alaska and the West coast. It was many, many more times powerful than an atomic bomb and the largest volcanic eruption in more than 25 years. What was so unique about the underground volcano that shook the Pacific nation last week? And what can it tell us about the climate and what's to come?GUEST:  Shane Cronin, volcanologist at the University of Auckland

Every province and territory except Ontario has made a deal with the federal government on its affordable child care plan. And with an election looming most think Doug Ford will fall into line soon. National, affordable child care has been decades in the making, and it couldn't come at a more critical time.Research shows that women have borne the brunt of the pandemic's impact on careers, often due to a lack of child care. Can this help them make up for lost time? What do we stand to gain as a country with a plan that makes it affordable for everyone?GUEST:  Carolyn Ferns, Public Policy and Government Relations Coordinator, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

The first summer and fall of the pandemic, foreign migrant workers who come to pick Canada's fruits and vegetables were experiencing some of the toughest working conditions around. In response, more inspections were promised, and the government vowed to make Covid-19 protocols safer for these vulnerable workers. Since then, what has actually happened to help protect them? What's it actually like on the farms where they work? And despite their necessity to Canada's agriculture industry, why don't many of us seem to care?GUEST: Hilary Beaumont, investigative journalist, writing for The Narwhal. Hilary worked with photographer, Chris Katsarov Luna on the project.  

British Columbia has put regulations in place to protect its dwindling salmon stocks, as fewer and fewer fish are returning to spawn. But those regulations don't apply in Alaska, and fish don't respect borders. Meanwhile Alaskan fishers are catching fish bound for BC rivers, depleting the stocks further.What should Canada do? Rely on diplomacy? Start taking fish bound for Washington State in retaliation? Is there any hope of cooperation as the industry on both sides of the border faces a supply crunch that will only get worse?GUEST: Stefan Labbe, climate and environment solutions journalist, Glacier Media.

Investors — a lot of them — were told there was gold in the Cordova mine, and that's what they believed. But there wasn't. All that was there was a rundown office inhabited by bats. So begins the long fight to reclaim a lifetime of savings. Who sold them on the mine? Why did they buy-in? How were they bilked? And what could have prevented them from losing their shirts?GUEST: Grant LaFleche, investigative reporter, St. Catharines Standard

Almost since the day the pandemic began, provincial leaders have promised more hospital and ICU capacity. They've promised hundreds of beds, thousands of beds...and two years later, only a fraction of the promised amount are available, and our hospitals are still at the breaking point during every wave. How was Canada's health care system set up to fail? Why haven't we been able to meaningfully fix it?Like it or not, at some point there will be a discussion about letting the private sector pick up some slack, if only because it's necessary to keep Canadians alive. If Canadians don't want to go down that road, then something has to change, and quickly.GUEST: Justin Ling, writing for Maclean's

If Keegan Mitchell had just kept his head down and played hockey, none of this would have happened. And we'd all be worse off for it. But when the junior player stood up for a teammate who was called a racial slur, and then broke the league's social media policy by condemning the matching suspensions the two players received, an otherwise ugly part of the game was dragged into the spotlight. Now Hockey PEI is promising to do better, and players from the Hockey Diversity Alliance are reaching out to Mitchell to thank him for demonstrating how the culture can change. And where it starts.GUEST: Keegan Mitchell, Sherwood Metros

Toronto's Vision Zero plan is now five years old. The city's residents are still waiting for it to work. On Boxing Day, the latest tragedy saw a car jump a downtown curb onto a busy corner, injuring several and killing a teenager. It would be shocking, if it weren't for the fact that barely a week goes by without a driver striking someone just minding their own business.Why is Toronto so bad at this? Is it a lack of will, or a problem with how the city was built? What are other cities doing that Toronto isn't, and how fast can that change?GUEST: Ben Spurr, transportation reporter, Toronto Star

Fifteen years ago, a human rights complaint was filed against the federal government over their fundamentally unequal treatment of First Nations children in the child welfare system. Earlier this month, after years of fighting it in court, the government agreed to a $40-billion settlement. And now as an April 1, 2022 deadline approaches, advocates for these children and families are holding their breath until the money actually comes through.Why did it take so long? Why did the government go to court, even as it admitted how badly it has handled Indigenous issues? What will this money do, and can it ever make right what our government has done wrong?GUEST: Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and professor at McGill University's School of Social Work

In the 1950s, before they fuelled the acid-trips of the '60s, psychedelics were being passed around the Weyburn Mental Hospital in Saskatchewan. And not just among the patients—as well as being given to those struggling with mental illness, doctors and their spouses were using them on themselves—for "research purposes".How did Saskatchewan become the world's psychedelic hub? What did we learn there that would inform the rise in use and then strict enforcement of these drugs in the decades to come? And how can it help us understand why these drugs are now making a return to therapy?GUEST: Erika Dyck, historian of health, medicine, and Canadian society at the University of Saskatchewan and Canada Research Chair in the History of Medicine; author of Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD on the Canadian Prairies

With hospitals under stress across the country, governments are pulling out all the stops to keep the health care system working. Ontario will allow internationally educated nurses to apply for accreditation. And Quebec has floated the idea of a tax on those who are eligible for vaccination but refuse. Is this ethical? Or is this a slippery slope?Meanwhile, with testing capacity breached in many parts of the country, how will we even know when we are starting to turn the corner on this awful winter wave?GUEST: Dr. Christopher Labos, cardiologist, master's in epidemiology, co-host of The Body of Evidence podcast.

It's called Trikafta, and people living with Cystic Fibrosis describe it as a true game-changer. It can treat symptoms at the source rather than manage them endlessly every day. It was approved in the United States in 2019 but only arrived in most Canadian provinces a few months ago. Why did it take so long? How does this drug work? And is the approval process it went through a precedent of better days to come for Canada's health care system?GUEST: Jeremie Saunders, host of Sickboy, living with Cystic Fibrosis 

This is not an episode about whether or not schools should be open. We've had that conversation. This is a discussion of what two years of on-again-off-again in-person schooling has done to Canadian kids, what we're learning from this huge and unwanted experiment and how we can help them adapt and, eventually, put this strange development stage behind them.GUEST: Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell, clinical development psychologist and professor at York University

A fresh annual report shows that by January fourth the average CEO of a top-100 Canadian company had already made the annual salary of the average Canadian worker. This shouldn't surprise anyone. The scale of CEO compensation has been escalating for years, even as regular wages have remained mostly stagnant.But it wasn't always this way. CEO salaries used to be tied to the same things as frontline workers' salaries. They were higher, but not insanely higher. How did that change? And what would it take to return to a more equitable sharing of the wealth?GUEST: David Macdonald, senior economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office

It begins a couple of decades ago, with a Saskatchewan farmer spotting some black shapes sniffing around his crops. Today these wild pigs number in the tens of thousands and may even have spread as far as Ontario. And wherever they go, they leave a trail of destruction and decimated ecosystems. What is Canada doing to stop the spread of these creatures?GUEST: Omar Mosleh, Edmonton-based journalist, the Toronto Star

Last year's attack on the Capitol building by supporters of former president, Donald Trump, was a shocking scene. But it was merely a visual representation of the problems that have long been simmering below the surface. The nation is divided and political violence grows more popular in opinion polls. Right-wing militias are ready to fight, and Republican lawmakers seem either afraid of them or complicit. The end of American democracy used to be unthinkable. Now there are several ways it could happen, far sooner than we think. GUEST: Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future

At least one group of hospitals has called a "Code Orange" this week as health care workers battle a tsunami of Covid-19 admissions. That's a protocol usually reserved for mass casualty incidents, when there are too many victims to care for. It's a sign of just how brutal the January Omicron wave may be.Schools are closed and restrictions are back in place to help stem the tide—but did it have to be this way? Could we have increased hospital capacity, kept health care workers healthy and safe and kept schools open? What would it have taken and why didn't it happen?GUEST: Dr. Katharine Smart, President, Canadian Medical Association

It's called solar geoengineering, and it's an idea being researched right now. If we can't blunt the impact of global warming with the measures available to us, eventually time will run short and humanity will need to take drastic action. By preventing some of the sun's heat from reaching the earth, we could attempt to cool the planet down. Would it work? Possibly! Could it backfire enormously, leading to massive crop die-off? Also possibly! GUEST:  Climate reporter Bob Berwyn, for Inside Climate News

In June of 1990, 22-year-old University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain disappeared. Her body has never been found, but police say it was a homicide. Elizabeth’s boyfriend Robert Baltovich was convicted of her murder. He spent eight years in prison before being deemed not guilty by the courts in 2008. Elizabeth Bain's killer remains at large.Check out Tracking a Killer here!

Whether a publicity stunt or revenge porn, the celebrity sex tape has long been a salacious and voyeuristic fascination for the media and its subjects' fans. But when it comes to male stars, their tapes have seemed to serve as fuel for their fire, while for female stars, the only rhetoric has been slut-shaming. Hosts, Sarah and Sadaf dive into the story behind the tapes of everyone from Rob Lowe to Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee to Paris Hilton to understand why, and what sort of ripple effect celebrity sex tapes have left in the years since.Check out The Reheat here!

If you're a Christmas movie person, then you already know Hallmark is a behemoth. But you might not know just how it became so dominant. It's a long story, born from a collision of religion and capitalism. But now, with critics crying for diversity, and traditionalists desperate for them to focus on family, Hallmark is at a crossroads. Will they make good on their progressive promises and risk alienating the core audience that has made them so much money? And can they afford to budge when Netflix and other streaming services are trying to carve into their market share?GUEST: Sadaf Ahsan, co-host of The Reheat (Listen to The Reheat's deep dive into Hallmark movies right here.)

As The Big Story takes its annual (and long overdue in 2021) holiday break, the team answers some questions from Jordan and shares their memories of a very strange and very tough year to be trapped in a news cycle. This is a glimpse behind the mics and mixers. If you've stuck with us all year, thank you for listening.GUESTS: The Big Story producers Stefanie Phillips, Joseph Fish and Braden Alexander

If you've heard any of our bite-sized interviews with small business owners, then you know they've faced closure so many times during this pandemic it's become part of their lives. But if we look at the big picture, what kind of help has actually made an impact? Which programs really worked? And what do the businesses that are still thriving during the pandemic have in common?This is a bonus episode of The Big Story, sponsored by Mazda's Local Legends initiative. (However, Mazda did not have any role or input in producing the editorial content of this episode.)GUEST: John Rocco, Scotiabank

From the great resignation to rising wages and the comeback of unionization, this was a year in which workers realized they don't have to take inhumane conditions and poverty-level income anymore. And all signs point to this viewpoint spreading. For the first time in decades, the labour market appears to be shifting in favour of the people who actually do the hard work that keeps society running. Can workers in North America continue to leverage that in 2022? Are we witnessing a tipping point here, or will capitalism fight back?GUEST: Juliana Kaplan, Business Insider

It will be the biggest foreign policy question of the next year, and so far our government doesn't have a concrete answer. Canada will not send diplomats to the Beijing Olympics, but we will (probably) send our athletes. The two Michaels are home in Canada, but there are other Canadians in Chinese jails. As we find ourselves torn between the traditional alliances of America and the UK, and the rising power of China ... where will Canada go in 2022?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

Hopefully, an ending! But we have hoped all along that the end was right around the next corner, only to be disappointed. It looks like we will enter 2022 riding a new wave of Covid-19 driven by the omicron variant—but will this prove to be a new evolution in the virus' takeover of our way of life or the beginning of the end? What will we learn in the next month or two that could determine how long it takes for Covid to evolve into an endemic nuisance rather than a deadly threat?And how can we get from now to whenever that happens?GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

The staggering toll on people and infrastructure over three separate climate disasters in British Columbia this year was highly unlikely, even considering the degree of warming the world has seen. But we also just don't know how weather systems will react in the climate era. As BC plans to rebuild, how should its government be thinking about adaptation? How can it be ready for whatever comes next, even if it's not as bad as this past year ... yet.GUEST: Ainslie Cruickshank, climate and environment reporter

We've told ourselves this whole time that our children are resilient. Every missed event, virtual school session or socially distant celebration, we've clung to that thought. But after nearly two years we're seeing the impact of Covid-19 on children and teens' mental health. And one of the ways it is registering frequently is through eating disorders.What do we know about the huge spike in teens and others struggling with this? How can we try to mitigate it? What should you watch for if you are worried about someone you love?GUEST: Dr. Ayisha Kurji, consultant pediatrician in Saskatoon, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Saskatchewan

It's referred to as "benzo dope", or even as "robbery dope" because it leaves its users vulnerable to theft or worse. It appears to be both more harmful and addictive than regular fentanyl and it has users and their advocates struggling to find ways to limit it or provide alternatives.The overdose crisis is already worse than ever. Do we have the will in Canada to act now to save lives?GUEST: Manisha Krishnan, ViceNews (Read Manisha's story on benzo dope here.)

We're starting to see some data on how well a two-dose vaccine series protects people from the omicron variant. It seems scary, but it actually might be hopeful? Meanwhile, Canada has been slow to scale up its booster shot program. Will the new variant give governments some urgency to move faster? And what about kids who just had their first dose or younger ones who haven't had any? How do they fare against the new variant?GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

After years of negotiations got them nowhere, last year, the Wolastoqey nations of New Brunswick filed a legal claim for title to their traditional lands. Those lands cover almost 60 percent of the province. With no response forthcoming, last week they upped the ante, taking the rare step of including corporations in the claim, including some of New Brunswick's biggest companies.The premier has responded by telling citizens that the lawsuit may involve them losing their land and houses—which the chiefs explicitly deny in the text of the claim. And now, with the long standing acrimony between the province and First Nations in NB, a long, bitter and potentially historic fight looms.GUEST: Angel Moore, Atlantic region video journalist, APTN

In case you've been under a rock, or are rich enough not to care, ordinary Canadians (and people around the world) are paying a lot more for basic stuff like groceries and gas. Why? Is this an effect of a two-year pandemic? A glimpse into the new reality of the climate era? Or a blip that will soon correct itself?We don't know yet, and until we do it's going to impact our daily lives in several ways. It will hit our wallets, of course, but perhaps also our wages, and that might not be a bad thing. With everyone being forced to pay more for things, it's fair to ask what our government plans to do, or not do, about it. Can they be blamed for whatever comes next?GUEST: Max Fawcett, National Observer columnist

The package at the Calgary airport was ... moving. Inside were 11 baby turtles who never should have crossed the border. Who never should have left their New Jersey marsh. But they were victims of a global smuggling ring which deals in a very specific kind of turtle. This is the story of how those turtles got to the airport, and who sent them there.GUEST: Dr. Clare Fieseler, journalist and Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (Read Clare's investigation in The Walrus.)

They've been around in one form or another for almost two decades. And the impact these apps have had on the restaurant business has been immense, and costly. But even as they take over every aspect of food delivery, these apps aren't turning a profit — so whatever their final form, they haven't found it yet.The real value of these apps is in the data they collect from their users—and that leads to the next logical question: If tech companies know everything about what kind of food we like, when we like it and how much we're prepared to pay...what do they need local, independent restaurants for, anyway?GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them and What Comes After

It's only been a few days since the world learned of a new variant of Covid-19. There is a ton of data we don't have yet. But when the world's leading epidemiologists look at what we do know, they see some worrying signs. How worried should we be? That still depends. What can we do to stop it? We already know that, and there is one thing we still haven't really done in Canada that could make a huge difference...Have our public health officials tell Canadians clearly that Covid-19 is airborne, and adapt our public health guidelines right now to reflect that, even if it means admitting we've been wrong. Scientists have known this for 18 months. Our federal government reluctantly admitted it, just barely, a month ago. Why?GUEST: David Fisman, epidemiologist, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Since the initial storm that caused severe flooding, mudslides, evacuations and forced the province to call in the armed forces, things haven't improved much in British Columbia. Yesterday, the third major storm in the past two weeks dumped a new round of heavy rain onto much of the province, raising fears that rivers already above their banks could overwhelm dikes. Meanwhile, gas is being rationed and highways are open for essential use only.A state of emergency will last at least two more weeks, and nobody knows when life could hope to return to normal. Is the rest of Canada paying enough attention to what's happening on the West Coast right now?GUEST: Monika Gul, morning reporter, CityNews1130 Vancouver

For centuries Quebec saw few, if any, immigrants from France. Over the past several decades that trend began to change, and in the past few years, it's been accelerating rapidly. So why are French ex-pats settling in the province en masse? What do they find when they get there? And from housing, to the workforce, to the currently booming economy: how might this influx change Quebec? GUEST: Eric Andrew Gee, Quebec correspondent, The Globe and Mail

In 70 days, the Winter Olympics will open in China. Probably, everything will proceed as though it's a normal games. But maybe not. For the first time, many athletes have been speaking out against China for silencing—or even disappearing—tennis player Peng Shuai after she made an allegation of sexual assault against a prominent Chinese politician. Meanwhile, the NHL is grappling with the fallout of a sex abuse scandal of its own. The NFL is confronting what appears to be years of racism and sexism from one of its most prominent coaches, and anti-vax rhetoric from its reigning MVP. Fans might still enjoy the spectacle, but it's clear the ugly underbelly of the games are increasingly on full display. The question is, will anyone do anything about it? Or does money still talk too loudly?GUEST: Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet

A few years ago, the world was dotted with proposals for utopian Smart Cities, like Toronto's Sidewalk Labs. One by one, those ambitious dreams were scaled down or, in the case of Toronto, canceled altogether. But the technology behind them hasn't gone away—it's still being adopted in cities around the world. Only instead of being a part of a complex urban renewal project aimed at sustainability, it's mostly used for surveillance, by police and other organizations.What happened to the dream of the smart city—and what are we willing to trade for a little more convenience?GUEST: Anna Artyushina, research fellow in data governance; Ph.D. Candidate, Science and Technology Studies, York University