The Big Story (Frequency Podcast Network)

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

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The list is long, and varies from school to school. Some of it is structural—leaky roofs and mice infestations, repairs that never get made, poor ventilation. Some of it is impacting learning more directly—staffing shortages, a lack of equipment like textbooks and markers, and not even 1x1 care for students with special needs. Add it all up, and most schools are fighting just to stay afloat.

How did this happen? It's a story that spans the past few decades, and has also happened elsewhere in Ontario. It's a problem that could happen anywhere, really. The question is if we'll solve it before it takes its toll on students...

GUEST: Wency Leung, reporter, The Local

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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

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Ontario's liquor distribution workers are on strike for the first time in their history. The reason? The government's plan to open up places like corner stores for beer, wine and mixed cooler sales. It's the latest chapter in a strange history of alcohol policy in the province that dates back to prohibition.

The LCBO brings in billions in revenue each year for the government, but Premier Doug Ford has long pushed for more convenience in alcohol retail. Meanwhile, the rest of the country wonders why the province needed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars just to make beer in corner stores possible. Today, a look inside this fight, and many others Ontario has had over drink, over the years.

GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

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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

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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

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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

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Canadians love our toonies. And that might explain why a story about bogus ones became our most listened to episodes of all time. 

So on one of the last remaining summer weekends, enjoy this trip inside the shadowy world of Canadian coin counterfeiting, and make sure to take a look in your own change bowl to see if you've been carrying around any fakes. 

Enjoy! 

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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

 

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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

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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!

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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

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After nine seasons as a Toronto Raptor, Kyle Lowry is leaving for a three-year, 90 million dollar contract with the Miami Heat. He led us to our first-ever championship and along the way become the heart and soul of an entire city and country — an honour awarded to few athletes.

Who was the man behind the title? How did he shape the team? And how will they go on without him?

Guest: Doug Smith, Toronto Star
Guest-host: Fatima Syed

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Should I put my savings into an RRSP? If I do that, will I pay less taxes? What happens if I want to access that money before I retire? These are just a few of the RRSP-related questions we've received lately. So, here's everything you need to know about RRSPs in one episode. Just in time for tax season!

With Jackie Porter, certified financial planner and ambassador for FP Canada, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing better financial wellness for all Canadians. Learn more about FP Canada here. 

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In the weeks since United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down on the street in Manhattan, the public’s reaction has become a major part of the story.

 

While some condemn the killing of an innocent man, many are publicly celebrating the shooter’s act of violence.

 

Why are so many Americans unfazed by the targeted killing of a CEO?

 

Host David Smith speaks with Ali Breland, staff writer for The Atlantic, who has been writing about the public’s treatment of alleged killer Luigi Mangione.

 

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The first couple of weeks of the campaign have gone very well for the Conservative leader. He's closed a gap in the polls to a sliver, and introduced himself to Canadians who didn't really know him at all. But now comes the hard part. In the coming weeks, as more Canadians begin to follow the race, O'Toole will have to define himself in the face of Liberal attempts to define him. He'll have to weather the storm of attacks that are sure to come from his opponents after labour day and he'll have to do it while keeping his base firmly in line. If he can do all that, it seems like he's got a real shot. Can he? And if so, how?

GUEST: Stephen Maher, reporter and political commentator; contributing editor at Maclean's

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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

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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! 

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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

 

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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.

 

  

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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. 

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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

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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

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**WARNING: This episode discusses addition and thoughts of suicide.  Please take care.**  

Going out for a beer, glass of wine, or cocktail?  Experts are increasingly raising the alarm about the health impacts of alcohol, and calling for more government action to alert the public.  

One Senator in Canada is leading the charge for change, introducing two pieces of legislation that aim to treat alcoholic beverages the same as tobacco products, with warning labels and advertising bans.  

Host Cormac Mac Sweeney speaks with Senator Patrick Brazeau about his personal struggles with alcohol, his attempt to change federal rules, and whether the Trudeau government has shown any interest in cracking down.

 

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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

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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

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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

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In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's budget announcement, the federal government has been hammering a message that this document would make life more affordable for Canadians. 

Does it accomplish that? What's in here that will matter to your wallet in the months to come? What takes aim at trying to bring down the cost of living over the next several years? And who's going to end up paying for all this?

GUEST: Jim Stanford, economist and Director of The Centre for Future Work

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We're coming up on the show's six year anniversary, and so we wanted to revisit the first episode we ever released to  show just how far we've come in that time. We hope you enjoy! 

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau managed to green light recreational marijuana in Canada, but there is still a lot to get done before legalized weed makes its way into the hands of Canadians. Maclean's Ottawa bureau chief, John Geddes, explains how the Liberals kept their landmark promise and what will happen next.

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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 journalist

GUEST: Erin O’Toole, former leader of the Conservative Party

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Maple syrup isn't just a staple of Canadian culture. It's big business, especially in Quebec, where the sugary liquid is so vital to the economy that the province keeps a special syrup reserve on hand to control price fluctuations.

Except that reserve is running low, dangerously low, after a couple of warm winters coupled with increased demand ate up most of the excess. And with climate change bringing even warmer winters in the years to come, the syrup industry is on alert. Is this a challenge to be overcome with ingenuity, or a crisis in the heart of syrup country?

GUEST: Warren Mabee, director of the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen's University

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Portpass was recommended to fans by the entity that owns two Calgary sports teams. They weren't alone. According to the company's estimates, more than 500,000 Canadians were using Portpass to show proof of their vaccination status. And then a local app developer got curious about what was under the hood of this supposedly secure application and started digging around. Now the police are investigating and Portpass is no longer in application stores. What happened, and how many people's records may have been exposed?

GUEST: Sarah Rieger, CBC Calgary

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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

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With the rise in both legality and popularity of gambling, it can seem like images of both winners and losers are everywhere. Images of men, that is. Take a look at gambling advertising on TV, or even promotions offering help for problem gamblers. Men. Picture gamblers in your own head. They're probably men, too.

This even extends to research, where numbers show that women do indeed gamble, nearly as much as men in some cases. And they may even develop gambling problems faster than men do. But almost no research exists to explore it. This is because women gamble in secret, in silence, and often with little help when things go wrong. Almost everyone can gamble these days. Why does the world ignore nearly half of them?

GUEST: Rob Csernyik, 2022 Michener-Deacon Investigative Journalism fellow, freelance journalist.

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This week, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre re-ignited debate about Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Poilievre is pledging to use the Notwithstanding Clause to bring in justice reforms, including reviving Harper-era consecutive life sentences that were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Host David Smith speaks with constitutional law expert Professor Eric Adams from the University of Alberta about why this section of the Canadian constitution is so controversial.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 @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

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

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(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

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It was 5 years ago today the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic because of the novel coronavirus.

It marked the start of a very different way of life, disrupting almost every part of our society, including our concept of time.

What have we learned from that fateful day 5 years ago, and what has been the impact on society and on public health?

Host Gurdeep Ahluwalia speaks with Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, @BogochIsaac, about his recollections and thoughts on how we changed as a society because of Covid-19.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Massive global events like the Olympics are a magnet for cybercriminals and hacktivists. There are incredible complex systems to disrupt, billions in digital dollars moving around and the eyes of the world's media are watching for any logistical failure. But much like intelligence services coordinate to prevent physical terrorism, there's a network of cybersecurity units from nations around the world doing the same thing in the digital space.

So how do you keep the Olympics secure, digitally? Where are the vulnerabilities in this type of event? What do organizations like the IOC or even ordinary citizens following the games need to know about the risks? We're talking to the folks that do this work for Canada to try to stay ahead in a rapid technological arms race.

GUEST: Caroline Xavier, Chief of the Communications Security Establishment of Canada

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It's the end of the Trudeau era - but the beginning of what's going to be a new chapter in Canadian politics.  There's a lot of uncertainty and a lot at stake.  So what's the next move for Canada's political parties and who will be the next Liberal leader?  

Host David Smith digs in to this with two of the best political minds in Ottawa who sit on both sides of the political spectrum. 

Guests: Susan Smith, principal of Blue Sky Strategy Group and Tim Powers, chair of Summa Strategies and managing director of Abacus Data.  

 

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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

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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

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Norval Morrisseau is among the most iconic Indigenous artists in Canadian history. His instantly-recognizable paintings adorn the walls of institutions across the country, from art galleries to universities and provincial legislatures. Art dealers and auction houses have made millions selling his works. The only problem? A whole lot of them have turned out to be fake.

Even in the world of Indigenous art, where artists have been complaining about forgery for years, the scale of the Morrisseau fraud is unprecedented. So how did authorities uncover the deception? Who's behind the fakes? And what does this say about artists' ability to protect their work? 

GUEST: Luc Rinaldi, writing in The Walrus

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It sounds duller than watching paint dry, but an issue called "supply management" is one of the key factors in Donald Trump's tariff decision.  

Trump has criticized Canada’s protected agriculture industries for years, and now he’s been pointing to supply management in the dairy sector as one of the reasons for his tariff threats.

 What is the decades-old policy that manages how much dairy product is produced in Canada? And why does Trump care about it?

Host David Smith gets a lesson in agriculture production and trade policy from The Food Professor, Sylvain Charlebois, Director of the Agrifood Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

 

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We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the climate crisis. This was our listeners' top issue, and it wasn't particularly close.
For the first time in a federal election, every major party has a legitimate plan to deal with the climate crisis. But those plans are wildly different. Which plan is ambitious enough to be effective, but rational enough to be achievable? What do we know about the climate now that we didn't know in 2019? How much time do we have left to act, and where do our targets need to be to make a difference?
GUEST: Fatima Syed, climate and environment reporter, The Narwhal Ontario

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The province is suffering from an absolutely devastating fourth wave of Covid. Premier Jason Kenney was absent until it was too late to prevent the worst of it. Now, as hospitals blow past their capacity, Kenney is shuffling his cabinet and hoping vaccine passports can help right the ship. How did it come to this? What could have been done to prevent it? And will this cost the premier his job?
GUEST: Jason Markusoff, Maclean's

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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, CityNews
Vass Bednar, author of Regs 2 Riches
Balkan Devlen, Superforecaster at Good Judgement Inc.
Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet Writer, host of Going Deep
Fatima Syed, guest host of TBS, Ontario reporter at The Narwhal
Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

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The United States banned TikTok. But Donald Trump says it can still operate in America, for now.  

The Executive Order that Trump signed on his first day in office only protects TikTok for 75 days.

170-million users, billions of dollars and U.S. national security are at stake.

What happens next?

Host David Smith is joined by tech analyst and journalist Carmi Levy to break down what we know, and don’t know, about the TikTok ban.

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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. 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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When Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all vanished for hours on Monday, it wasn't a nefarious plan. It was a mistake. But what it revealed about how much the world has come to depend on Mark Zuckerberg's collection of apps was plain: Millions of people and businesses around the world—and even one nation's government—were completely cut off. 

What Facebook has built has become essential to the functioning of much of global communications. So what are we going to do about that?
GUEST: Jesse Hirsh, Metaviews.ca

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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

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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

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It's known as the third rail of Canadian politics, and maybe that's why we've never properly addressed it—but as long as Canada has had universal health care, people have been paying out of pocket for faster service. It's only in the past few years, though, as the public system has crumbled, that the trickle has turned into a flood.

What exactly qualifies as private health care in Canada, and who gets it? Where are the loopholes in the system that allow it to proliferate? And why does nobody in Ottawa want to talk about how to tackle a system that's not working for anyone?

GUEST: Christina Frangou, writing in Maclean's

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Canada has already seen more cases of measles in 2024 than in all of 2023. And rates of the disease in Europe and the United States are also rising. Meanwhile, vaccine uptake for the MMR shot, which protects against measles, has collapsed in recent years.

So how worried should we be about what is—for now—still just a handful of cases? Why have vaccine rates for a decades-old and proven vaccine fallen so quickly? What do you need to know about a disease that, just a few years ago, was all but eradicated in Canada?

GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, epidemiologist, associate professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Health Sciences

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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

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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 

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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. 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Most of us had a virtual health care appointment sometime during the pandemic. Those of us that didn't have almost certainly encountered virtual care of some form or another—whether that's a follow-up phone call from your doctor, or post-surgery instructions emailed to you.

As we enter the post-pandemic era, there is a push in some quarters for more virtual care—it can improve access, speed things up and give people more control over their own care and medical records. But will it also simply create more visits, encourage unnecessary appointments and further burden an overtaxed system? There's a line we need to walk here—can we do it?

GUEST: Dr. Tara Kiran, Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto; family doctor and scientist at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. Researcher for OurCare report on primary care

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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

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What a week in Canadian politics!    

From a stunning resignation, to a tonne of speculation about the future of Justin Trudeau, there's a lot to talk about.  

Host Mike Eppel is breaking down a historic week with Darryl Bricker, the Global CEO of Ipsos Public affairs and digging in about what comes next.  

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After months of speculation, Doug Ford has sent Ontarians to the polls early.

The election campaign officially kicked off this week, with party leaders making their pitches to voters.

Why now? What’s it got to do with Donald Trump? And U.S. Tariffs?

Host David Smith speaks with two Ontario political insiders: Andrew Brander from Crestview Strategy, who was an advisor to the Ford Government, and Lindsay Maskell, a Liberal strategist and former advisor to Premier Dalton McGuinty.

 

 

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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

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Canada is the only G-7 nation without a high speed rail line, but that might be about to change.

Our federal government has unveiled plans for an ambitious project, which would link Toronto and Quebec City.

But will it happen?

Host Kris McCusker speaks to Lavagnon Ika, Professor of Project Management at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, about the potential challenges and the likelihood the project gets done.

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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

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A month ago, the federal Liberals were in the basement of Canadian politics, trailing the Conservatives by close to 30% in public opinion polls.  

But a month is a long time in politics, and the fortunes for the Liberal party have seen a stunning reversal in a short amount of time.  

Host Cormac Mac Sweeney speaks with Mount Royal University Political Scientist Duane Bratt, about how the Trump effect is having an impact on Canadian politics, how the Conservatives are pivoting to try and maintain their lead, and what this may mean for the timing of the next federal election.

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Cheap. Entitled. Greedy. Those are just a few things that come to mind when one thinks about a landlord. But have you ever considered becoming one?

According to data collected by the Canadian Real Estate Association, the current average cost of a house in Canada is just over $700 thousand dollars. Simultaneously, the cost of renting remains at an all-time high. Buying a house that has a basement unit, or something you can rent out to help cover your mortgage, might seem like an appealing option. But is it really that easy? 

Jordan speaks with Nelda Schulte, a landlord coach and author of "Canadian Landlords Handbook" to find out the hidden reality of rental properties. 

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.

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Last week, Juste Pour Rire announced that it would not hold Just For Laughs festivals in Montreal and Toronto in 2024, and that it was entering creditor protection. Toronto has already seen the cancellation of its Taste of The Danforth food festival, as well as scaled down versions of the Fringe and Luminato festivals. Hot Docs is struggling to survive and other major festivals like Shaw are facing record deficits.

Meanwhile, government help for arts institutions during the pandemic era is all but gone, while crowds have still not returned to their pre-pandemic levels. What's happening? Could it be the end of many long-running Canadian festivals? And what will we lose if it is?

GUEST: Joshua Chong, culture reporter and arts critic, the Toronto Star

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It was supposed to be an eight-day mission. It will be at least eight months. When two astronauts took Boeing's Starliner to the International Space Station in June, they were prepared for a quick turnaround. Today, the Starliner comes back to Earth ... without them. Instead, they'll have to be rescued by Boeing's biggest rival in the Space Race, Elon Musk's SpaceX. But that won't happen until next year. In the meantime, they're up there. For a lot longer than they'd planned. 

Oh, and it's probably nothing, but the Starliner is making some weird noises...

GUEST: Joey Roulette, Space Reporter, Reuters

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The videos and images of recent airplane crashes are hard to shake.  

For some, it has ignited a fear of flying – but is it warranted?

The statistics say one thing, but our minds say another.  So what can we do?  

Host Melanie Ng speaks with Dr. Ian Shulman, Psychologist and Clinical Director at Shift Cognitive Therapy - where even her subconscious kicks in, making an error right at the beginning of the episode, contrary to her notes!  

You can learn more about Dr. Shulman at https://shiftct.com/.  

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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.

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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

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Netflix. Disney+. Prime. Apple TV+. Spotify. Newspapers. Magazines. Video games. Substacks. A secret caller (hint: you know him!) has a minor subscription addiction and needs help getting his spending under control. 

Jordan asks Barry Hertz, Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor for The Globe and Mail, to explain the subscription boom we're living in, and learn a few tips to avoid high fees. 

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.

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Many of us have a favourite garment — a sweater we've been wearing for the last ten years,  or a pair of sweatpants we throw on every night before cozying up in front of some Netflix. Then there's all those other clothes, the shirts you buy on sale that are lucky to survive ten wash cycles, or the sweaters that pill up almost instantly.  

Increasingly, it feels like more and more clothes belong to that second category. And it's not just so-called 'fast fashion' anymore, as the push to produce more for less drags down the quality of even the most reputable brands.

So why has it become so difficult to find a decent pair of pants that'll last more than a few months? And how do we fight back against a culture that increasingly sees clothing as disposable? 

GUEST: Monika Warzecha, Digital Editor at The Walrus, where she wrote about fast fashion

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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

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Is Doug Ford Canada's most unlikely diplomat?

Doug Ford travelled to Washington last week to talk tariffs, after threatening to impose tariffs on energy or even turn off power to 3 U.S. states.

Although the temperature has been dialed down, Queen's Park reporter Richard Southern talks to pollster John Wright about Ford's actions last week and how this all ties in to the upcoming federal election.

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Today, evacuation alerts for several communities in BC and Alberta are in effect. You may not have noticed, because there are always evacuation alerts in effect now, and there are always fires burning, some of them out of control. When the whole country takes notice is when the skies over entire provinces go dark, the air turns bad or a blaze like the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 blitzes through a city.

All of that will probably happen this year. The conditions are ripe for it, and there's not much we can do to prevent a devastating fire when it comes. But we can evolve our strategies as the fires get bigger. We can adapt. But...will we?

GUEST: John Vaillant, author, Fire Weather: The making of a beast

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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!

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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. 

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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

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In a 12-month span from 1990-1991, three teenaged girls were murdered in Victoria, BC. All three had been sex trafficked and were working on what was then the city's "stroll" where sex workers solicited clients. All three were found separately, and the ensuing investigations were a jurisdictional mess. The crimes are unsolved to this day, though some with knowledge of the cases believe they may have been committed by the same person.

Who were these girls and how did they find themselves on the stroll? What might we learn about these still-open cases more than 30 years later? Why couldn't police make headway in the 1990s and what's changed that might finally help bring the killer or killers to justice?

GUEST: Laura Palmer, host and creator of Island Crime Season 6: Sweethearts

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There are dozens, if not hundreds, of projects underway to get plastic out of the ocean. They range from hands-on cleanups of beaches (Canada's effort here is one of the best) to incredibly complex solutions involving fleets of plastic scoopers working in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. None of them are perfect, all of them will miss a lot, but every one is vital.

As we try to save the world's oceans over the next decades, there is still a place for both old-fashioned hard work, and daring dreams. But the resources we devote to each project will determine what gets done. So...what has the best chance of actually working?

GUEST: Ryan Stuart, writing for Hakai magazine

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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! 

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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…

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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

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Cody wants to find a new job, in a new industry, but doesn't have the qualifications listed on the job postings he's seeing. Alan feels trapped in his current job by an unstable and unpredictable market. They both want to know if now is a good time to change careers, and how they should go about the transition. 

To find out, Jordan reaches Alan Kearns, founder of CareerJoy, a firm that helps guide people through career transitions. Together they outline the costs that need to be considered when planning a career change. 

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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!

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES

The 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.

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There's a record number of Toronto condominiums on the market right now, and despite record immigration, and an ever-worsening housing crisis, nobody seems to want to buy them.

So how hard is it to offload a condo in one of North America's hottest property markets? What happened to all of the motivated buyers? And what does the trend say more broadly about the state of Canadian real estate? 

GUEST: Diana Zlomislic, Housing reporter for The Toronto Star

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