Front Burner

Earlier this month, the Ontario legislature banned the keffiyeh, a checkered black and white scarf long worn by Palestinians and often seen at pro-Palestinian protests.The ban was brought in because of a longstanding policy against clothing items that make overt political statements. But that decision has ignited a massive debate.So, is the keffiyeh a political statement? Is it traditional regalia? Is it both? Today, we unpack those questions with Vox correspondent Abdallah Fayyad.He recently wrote a piece called "How the keffiyeh became a symbol of the Palestinian cause."

Donald Trump's first of four criminal trials is underway in New York, where he is accused of improperly disclosing money supposedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair. It's the first time a former U.S. president has been tried criminally.Washington Post court reporter Shayna Jacobs has been covering the trial. She walks us through what the court has heard in the opening week, what to expect as the prosecution builds its case, and how the defense plans to counter it.

For some time now, there’s been a growing trend on TikTok and Instagram of young women sharing about their daily lives as “trad wives.” “Traditional wives” forego the workplace, extol the virtues of homemaking, and often talk about the ways they “submit” to their husbands.So why do these women say they’ve chosen a life at home? How does their messaging cross into religion and politics? And is this “movement” a reaction to the burdens on modern women, or a threat to feminism’s progress?Journalist Sophie Elmhirst recently published a piece in the New Yorker titled “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife.”For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today we are joined by Beirut-based journalist Kim Ghattas, author of the bestselling book Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. She is also a contributing editor at the Financial Times.We’re speaking to Kim about the unprecedented, overt attacks exchanged this month between Israel and Iran — most recently an Israeli strike on Friday near the Iranian city of Isfahan. Where is this dangerous tit-for-tat headed next, and what’s at stake? What do Iran and Israel’s leaders actually want here? And what does it mean for the wider region?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The single biggest election in the history of democracy is happening right now in India. Just shy of one billion people are eligible voters, but it's not just big from a numbers perspective. It's also being called one of the most pivotal elections in Indian history.Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is projected to win. But Modi's commitment to Hindu nationalism has many questioning what a third term might mean for the future of India’s democracy, and the idea of a pluralistic Indian society.Salimah Shivji is the CBC's South Asia correspondent. She’s also working on a new CBC podcast about Modi and the fundamental ways he’s changing his country. It’ll be part of our Understood feed, you can subscribe here. Salimah spoke to host Jayme Poisson about why the stakes of this election are so high.

What is the point of Hollywood? There are two obvious answers, right? To make good stuff that entertains people. And to make money for the big studios and the people who work for them.Those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. But Daniel Bessner believes increasingly they have been.Bessner spent a year working on a deep dive into how Hollywood has evolved for Harper's Magazine. Bessner is also a historian, writer, and host of the podcast "American Prestige".For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Lubna Al Rayyes, was in the third trimester of a high risk pregnancy when the war in Gaza started. She was frightened of what that meant for her and her baby. How do you plan for your delivery, when you’re living with airstrikes and having to uproot your life? That’s when she connected with reporter Gabrielle Berbey, who documented Lubna’s journey…from attempting to get medical care in a warzone, to trying to make her way to Canada, where she has family. Gabrielle’s reporting is featured in the most recent episode of the critically-acclaimed podcast Reveal, from the Centre of Investigative Reporting.

If you're pregnant but not sure who the father of your baby is, you might turn to a DNA testing company for a prenatal paternity test for some certainty — a company like Viaguard Accu-Metrics, based in the Toronto area. But for years, Viaguard was selling tests that sometimes identified the wrong fathers — and the company's owner knew.CBC investigative reporter Jorge Barrera walks us through his team's investigation into the company, and some of the expectant parents whose lives were upended by incorrect paternity test results.

Today, the government unveiled their federal budget. And they are spending big on housing.They pledged billions of dollars for low-cost loans to increase rental construction, 30-year mortgages for first-time home buyers, and programs to spur non-profit housing.All in all, they’re promising to build 3.87 million homes by 2031.But will it fix the affordability crisis? We ask Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser.

On Saturday night, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack into Israel, firing off some 300 drones and missiles. While Israel says it intercepted some 99 per cent of them, shrapnel from one drone hit a seven-year-old girl, who as of this writing is in critical condition. Iran’s attack follows a major escalation by Israel earlier this month, when a strike at Iran’s consulate in Syria killed 16 people, including a top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.Today, the Guardian’s Julian Borger joins us to explain how these latest events have ratcheted up a long-simmering shadow war between the two powers — and the risk that they could bring the region into a much broader, and even more dangerous, conflict.

Politicians, staffers and intelligence officials have been testifying in Ottawa over the last several weeks in a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021. While many details remain classified, it appears from the testimony that China, India and even Pakistan made attempts. But did those attempts have meaningful impacts?CBC senior parliamentary reporter Janyce McGregor explains what the inquiry has shown about Canada's ability to recognize and repel foreign interference in its elections — and what that could mean for the next one.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Abortion is a topic that many analysts believe could present the biggest threat to Donald Trump’s political comeback. This week, he made two major statements that attempted to put distance between himself and the issue.But what does it mean that Trump is now running away from a policy Republicans spent decades fighting for?Today, CBC Washington correspondent Alexander Panetta joins us for a look at a problem Trump helped create, and what it could mean for the November presidential election.

Tesla is having its worst year since the pandemic. The company is selling fewer cars, and its stock is plummeting.And it’s not just Tesla. We’re seeing a cool down in North America’s EV industry as a whole.Why is this happening? And as Canada pours billions of dollars into the industry, will that bet pay off? Senior CBC business reporter Peter Armstrong explains.

After 20 years representing Timmons, Ontario, federal NDP MP Charlie Angus announced last week that he’s leaving politics. Angus has also spent much of his career fighting for indigenous rights, particularly for Indigenous children. He’s also served in the critic role for labour, agriculture and digital issues.Today, Charlie Angus on his career and departure from politics, as well as the future of the NDP and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre.

The Israeli military has been using an artificial intelligence tool to identify human targets for bombing in Gaza, according to a new investigation by Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call. Intelligence sources cited in the report allege that the AI system, called Lavender, at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets — and that approximately 10 per cent of those targets were marked in error. The sources also allege that in the early weeks of the war, the army authorized an unprecedented level of “collateral damage” — that is, civilians killed — for each target marked by Lavender. The investigation was also shared with the Guardian newspaper, which published their own in-depth reporting. Israel disputes and denies several parts of the investigation.Today, the investigation’s reporter, Yuval Abraham, joins us to explain his findings.

On Monday, an Israeli military airstrike hit an aid convoy from World Central Kitchen. The IDF killed 7 workers, including Canadian veteran Jacob Flickinger, and said it was a “mistake” and “misidentification.”So why didn’t the extensive steps WCK says it took to coordinate its movements stop the IDF from firing on them? And what does this breakdown of the way aid is delivered during war mean for getting help to Gazans on the brink of famine?David Miliband is the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian group partnering to deliver aid and medical help to Gazans. He says it’s time for a “paradigm shift” in how we think about aid during conflict.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the last year alone, the Canadian government has poured billions of dollars into the electric vehicle industry. Wrapped up in that is the production of aluminum, a lightweight and recyclable material that EV car manufacturers want.In Quebec, aluminum is big business. Rio Tinto, one of the largest manufacturers of aluminum in the world, has several plants there. It often advertises the product as green.But a new investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête calls that into question.Investigative producer Gil Shochat is here to talk about how it’s brought to light the environmental cost of this industry in Quebec, and deep into the Amazon.

In a Canadian first, four Ontario school boards are taking the companies behind Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok to court, alleging the platforms are knowingly harming students and disrupting the ways schools operate. The claims haven’t been proven in court, and all three companies say they do their best to keep young people safe online.Our guest today has been speaking for years about the kinds of issues raised in the Ontario school board lawsuits. In 2021, Frances Haugen quit Facebook, took tens of thousands of internal documents and leaked them. She later testified to the U.S. Congress, and alleged the company’s products were harming children.Today, we’ve got Haugen on the podcast to discuss the Ontario school board lawsuits, the harms she believes these companies are causing to children, and what she thinks should be done about it.A previous version of this episode included an anecdote about a boy who was bullied, and later took his own life after videos of his bullying were posted online. That anecdote has been removed. In fact, the boy was murdered by two other boys, in an attack that investigators say was planned on social media, and was triggered by an online conflict in a chat group. 

 At a time when major sports leagues are embracing online betting, the MLB’s biggest star and a player for the Toronto Raptors are now involved in gambling investigations.So what do we know about Shohei Ohtani and Jontay Porter? How could gambling partnerships be impacting fans and athletes? And have these leagues opened a Pandora’s box of betting culture that could threaten the future of their sports? Declan Hill is an associate professor of investigations at the University of New Haven, an expert on match fixing and corruption, and the author of CrimeWaves on Substack.

Not only did Pornhub become a massive moneymaker, it also helped push porn into the spotlight by using data, clever PR, and the power of celebrity. How did Pornhub make itself a household name? This is episode 2 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.More episodes are available here.

When Beyoncé took the stage at the 2016 Country Music Awards, alongside the Chicks, the racist backlash was immediate. Eight years later, she alluded to that experience when she announced her new album, Cowboy Carter. In recent years, we’ve seen some pushback against the genre’s whiteness. And with Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé is reminding us once again that at its roots, country music is Black. Today, music, pop culture, and politics writer Taylor Crumpton joins us to talk about how for decades, country music has been packaged for a white audience. And how that’s starting to change. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, for the first time since the start of the Gaza war, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. It passed after the U.S. abstained from voting, rather than using their veto power — as they did three times before. For many watching, it was a very big deal — and the strongest sign yet of a fracture in the long and special relationship the US has with Israel. But is it really?Today the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, joins us to talk about that pivotal UN vote, and whether it’s just symbolic — or if it means something more.

Canada's inflation numbers have once again come in lower than expected, and are nearing where our central bank wants them. But to get here, the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates high to slow the economy.So was it actually the Bank's rate hikes that brought inflation down? Is the sting of high rates worth the success so far? And how much further does inflation — and the economy — need to slow before the Bank drops rates? Armine Yalnizyan is an economist and the Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers.

After a warm, dry winter, Albertans are preparing for what could be a devastatingly dry summer. Snowpack is low, reservoirs around the province are well below seasonal levels, and farmers are already anticipating a difficult growing season.But this isn't a one-off. Experts say the multi-year drying trend is likely to continue, which will have major implications for water use in the province — the biggest of which is agriculture. Is the future of the province's biggest industry at risk? CBC Calgary's Joel Dryden explains what a deepening drought could mean for life in Alberta in the decades ahead.

On Friday night, gunmen stormed the packed Crocus City concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, where thousands had gathered for a rock concert. At least 133 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack in Russia for the last 20 years.ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate, has claimed responsibility — although Russia is casting doubt on those claims.Today, the CBC’s Briar Stewart takes us through what we know so far about the Crocus City Hall attack, and the many questions that remain.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How did a handful of competitive foosball players in Montreal create the world’s largest online porn site? And what do a picturesque Dutch cabin, thousands of pornographic VHS tapes, and the subprime mortgage crisis have to do with it?This is episode 1 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Dey46feN

This week, the NDP introduced a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood. The negotiations went into the night with last-minute amendments made. Why did it get so messy? What ramifications could we see come out of the passed motion?Plus, a growing number of provincial leaders are pushing for the Liberal government to cut the carbon tax, or to pause the scheduled increase for it in April. What might happen next?Senior writer Aaron Wherry joins us from the CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Vanessa had her entire life put online during the 2000s “mommy blogger” era. She’s in her 20s now. And as she tells influence culture journalist Fortesa Latifi, her life was anything but glamorous.The TikTok generation of child influencers is a multi-billion dollar industry. And with that money, comes concerns of exploitation.Fortesa Latifi recently published a three part series and mini-doc for Cosmopolitan called “The Sharenting Reckoning”. She joins us to talk about it.

Ahead of its event at a Thornhill, Ontario synagogue, the “great Israeli Real Estate Event” seemed to list settlements in the occupied West Bank on its website – settlements which the UN and Canada consider a violation of international law. On March 7th, Front Burner’s team made their way into the event and confirmed the marketing of West Bank real estate.So how did some real estate enterprises discuss properties in the West Bank? How did protesters outside the synagogue react? And what can their face off outside a synagogue tell us about how the conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank are reverberating in Canada? Front Burner host Jayme Poisson explains. 

From emergency landings to mechanical failures, airplane manufacturer Boeing has been in the news a lot recently. Earlier this year, a panel flew off mid-air on a flight, and just this month, a former employee turned whistleblower died while a key legal proceeding was underway.So what exactly is going on?Today, Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani on how Boeing went from being the crown jewel of the American aviation industry to being mired in a seemingly endless series of problems with their planes.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Monday, Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced from Puerto Rico that he would be stepping down. He’s been unable to return to Haiti since January, because heavily armed gangs have shut down the airport and taken over much of the country.Today, Haitian reporter and editor-in-chief of AyiboPost, Widlore Merancourt, explains what it’s like on the streets of Port-au-Prince, what the gangs want, and whether more foreign intervention is really the answer.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill that could lead to the forced sale or nationwide ban of TikTok in the U.S. To become law, the bill still needs to pass the U.S. Senate, and that’s not guaranteed.All of this has massive implications for the social media platform’s 170 million users in the U.S, and millions more around the world, including here in Canada.Today, NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn on the arguments for and against the bill, how realistic a forced sale or ban would be, and what all this might mean for TikTok’s users.

Kate Middleton is one of the most photographed people in the world. But for months she’s been out of the public eye, recovering from what Kensington Palace says was abdominal surgery.However, many people are not buying that everything is fine with the Princess of Wales. Bizarre choices by the palace’s PR team have only fueled speculation — like releasing a photo of Kate that major new agencies refused to use because it appears to have been manipulated.So what’s really going on?Ellie Hall was the official royal correspondent for BuzzFeed News until it shut down, and she’s going to help us unravel the mystery.

March break, one of the busiest travel times of the year, just started in Ontario. It’ll kick off across much of the country in the next few weeks. Chances are, if you’re flying out, you’re probably worried about something going wrong. It seems like everyone has a horror story about delays and cancellations, extra fees or tiny seats.Today on Front Burner, author and law professor Ganesh Sitaraman on how air travel became such a frustrating and unpleasant experience for so many, and whether there’s a solution in sight. Sitaraman is the author of Sitaraman is the author of Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It.

Orlan-10 drones are arguably one of Russia’s most important assets on the battlefield. Which is why the West has sanctions in place to keep the tech needed to build the drones out of Russian hands.So why do hacked emails show that a Russian arms dealer was seeking out parts made by Canadian tech companies? And how are Western parts ending up on the frontlines of Russia’s war with Ukraine?Today, Ben Makuch shares his CBC investigation.

Pierre Poilievre does not hide how he feels about Canadian mainstream media. His numerous, testy exchanges with reporters earn lots of online traction.Is the relationship between Poilievre and the media different from politicians that came before him? When Poilievre takes on reporters, who is he talking to?Today we explore those questions with journalist and author Paul Wells.

Since 2019, questions have swirled around why two scientists, originally from China, were marched out of a high-security infectious disease lab in Winnipeg. They were later stripped of their security clearances and fired, in a case that has raised suspicions about Chinese espionage, and prompted calls for the Liberal government to release more information.Now, at least some questions have been answered. Last week the federal government released hundreds of documents, largely from Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, about the scientists’ dismissal. The documents contain revealing insights — but also leave many questions unanswered, putting further pressure on the government to allow a deeper investigation into this story.Today CBC reporters Karen Pauls and Catharine Tunney join us to dive into the revelations in these documents, the political firestorm they’re causing, and what questions remain unanswered.

The legal proceedings between ex-spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard made nonstop headlines in 2022 — and online discourse at the time seemed to be overwhelmingly in favour of Depp. The tweets in particular caught the eye of investigative reporter and Tortoise Media editor Alexi Mostrous. They seemed to be part of a coordinated effort to smear Heard. And the closer he looked, the weirder it got.What's the connection between that trial, Johnny Depp’s friendship with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and a legion of Twitter bots for hire? Mostrous, who hosts the new podcast Who Trolled Amber?, walks us through his investigation and what it says about whether you can ever really trust what you read online.

Gaza health authorities say 118 people were killed and 760 people were injured while trying to get food staples like flour from aid trucks on Thursday, after Israeli soldiers opened fire.The Israeli military claims most people were killed in a stampede of people around the trucks, but accounts from witnesses and medical workers say most of the victims were shot.So what precipitated this deadly search for aid? How close is Gaza to famine? And what would it take to get food to the people there who are starving?Yarden Michaeli explains. He’s a reporter with Haaretz based in Tel Aviv. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, has died at the age of 84.He had an incredibly eventful nine-year tenure, from 1984 to 1993, at a time when the governments in the U.S. and the U.K. were shifting towards more deregulation and privatization.He was a champion of free trade, his work on the Canada-U.S free trade agreement, and NAFTA later, had an indelible impact on Canada's economy, but was also met with a lot of criticism along the way.Today, Peter Mansbridge, who covered much of Mulroney's time in office, is here to talk about his legacy. Mansbridge was the chief correspondent at CBC News for many years, and now hosts a podcast called The Bridge.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After two years of leading a country at war, Ukraine’s president remains popular. But as support for the fight wavers both inside and outside the country, Volodymyr Zelensky faces a new set of high-stakes challenges.Does demoting a popular general signal a shift in military strategy? Will international allies deliver the support Zelensky says he needs? If not can he negotiate a popular end peace?Today we’re joined by Tim Mak, founder of the Kyiv-based publication The Counteroffensive.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, the International Court of Justice wrapped up a set of historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.The proceedings were requested by the UN General Assembly back in 2022, and so the timing of them — almost five months into Israel’s bloody war with Hamas — is in essence coincidental. But many believe that finding a resolution to this question is fundamental to securing a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.While many are familiar with the term “occupation” in relation to this conflict, it’s another thing to understand the specific legal meaning of that term, or its practical implications. Or why Israel argues that this term doesn’t actually apply to them.Today we’re going to explain all of that, and then look at how these questions played out at these recent hearings at the UN’s top court. We’re joined by Nahlah Ayed, host of the CBC Radio show Ideas. Among other things, Nahlah was previously a foreign correspondent based in the Middle East, and she has covered other cases at the Hague, most recently one relating to the conflict in Gaza.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Liberals originally promised a bill tackling online harms would come within 100 days of their re-election in 2021.Instead, Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled their new act on Monday, which aims to create a new commission and regulate content from hate, to extremism, bullying and child abuse materials.So did the Liberals learn lessons from a previous bill criticized for the risk of censorship? And will this current bill actually make the internet safer for children?CBC senior reporter Raffy Boudjikanian explains.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent premiered last Thursday.The series, adapted by CityTV, features cases that are 'ripped from headlines' from Canada's largest city, Toronto. It films in Toronto neighbourhoods and has a very Canadian cast and crew.It is also part of a long-running network TV franchise that premiered back in 1990, and one that seems to have weathered the changes in TV as a medium, and changes in attitudes towards police and the justice system. Today, Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk on Law & Order's Toronto spinoff, and why the franchise still draws a big audience.

The debate over whether or not Joe Biden is too old to be president is getting heated.He has struggled to collect his thoughts, mumbled incoherently at press conferences, referenced recent conversations with long-dead politicians, and recently, had to be reminded of Hamas' name.It’s not a good look for any president. But it’s especially bad for the presumed Democratic nominee during an election year.Today, CBC Washington senior correspondent Paul Hunter explains why an 81-year-old with memory lapses might be the only option the Democrats have.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says his party supports a bill from an independent senator that would require websites to verify users' ages before allowing them to see sexually explicit content — similar to laws recently passed in the U.K., several E.U. countries and numerous American states. But critics say the law would be disastrous for privacy and civil liberties — and industry titan Pornhub says it might force them to block Canadians from the site altogether, as they've already done in some of those other jurisdictions.Sam Cole — a journalist with 404 Media and the host of Front Burner's upcoming spinoff podcast, The Pornhub Empire: Understood — explains the controversy around a seemingly simple push to protect children online, and what it could mean for the future of the online porn industry.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On paper, the Liberals’ deal for the NDP’s support is supposed to prop up their minority government until next summer.But in exchange, the Liberals agreed to a bill on pharmacare, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is threatening that the deal could be done if they miss an approaching March 1st deadline.So could the coming weeks see the end of the deal? Would the Liberals really risk an election right now? And did the deal deliver wins for the NDP that voters will remember?CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton returns to unpack it all.

 In 2013, Rana Plaza - an eight-storey garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 11-hundred people.It's a tragedy that led to a lot of public anger towards the brands that made clothes there. Brands like Zara, Walmart, and Joe Fresh, owned by Loblaw. And at the time, Loblaw promised safe working conditions and fair wages.But ten years later has it followed through on those promises? The Fifth Estate's Mark Kelley tells guest host Daemon Fairless about the investigation.

 OpenAI has just introduced a new tool, Sora, which turns text prompts into short, shockingly realistic videos. Sora hasn’t been released to the public yet, but it’s already sparking controversy about its potential implications for industries like animation and video games, as well as for deepfake videos — and for democracy as a whole.Today, Gary Marcus — a cognitive scientist, AI researcher and entrepreneur, and author of the forthcoming book Taming Silicon Valley — talks to us about the promise and potential consequences of Sora and other generative AI video tools.

The Kremlin says Alexei Navalny died Friday in an Arctic prison. After surviving a poisoning and still making the decision to return to Russia, President Vladimir Putin's most significant opposition figure was serving 19 years on extremism charges.What do we know about how Navalny died?Amid accusations that he was murdered, what motivations would Navalny's enemies have for acting against him now? Not long after a number of Western commentators predicted Putin's demise over the Ukraine war, what does Navalny's death mean for Putin's tightening grip on Russia?CBC's Briar Stewart explains.

When Jon Stewart stepped down as host of the Daily Show in 2015, it seemed pretty conclusive. For nearly 16 years, he guided the show through 9/11, the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis and more, becoming a voice of reason for many amid growing political divisions — but it was time to move on.This week saw him back in the host's chair once again, where he'll now be every Monday. But things have changed a lot in the last nine years — especially politics. Does Stewart's brand of Bush-era both-sides-ism still work in 2024? Slate writer and senior editor Sam Adams unpacks the legacy of the Daily Show and whether the world still needs it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, paramedics in Belleville, Ontario responded to 13 drug overdoses in a single hour. By the time the city declared a state of emergency two days later, the total had reached almost two dozen.So how did these near-simultaneous overdoses unfold? What caused them? And how can we stop the spikes of drug poisonings that have been happening in cities across Ontario?Dan Taekema is CBC’s reporter covering eastern Ontario communities from Belleville, to Kingston, and beyond.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Rafah, a tiny city at Gaza’s border with Egypt, is currently sheltering more than half of the territory’s population. Many, crammed together in tent cities, have already relocated multiple times, as Israel’s war with Hamas has pushed them further and further south. Now, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to move ahead with a major assault on Rafah, the civilians sheltering in the city say there’s nowhere else to go. Today our guest is Haaretz reporter Yarden Michaeli. He and his colleague Avi Scharf recently investigated the vast devastation that the Israel Defense Forces’ operations have left in Gaza. He talks to us about the path of destruction that kettled 1.4 million people into Rafah, and what it could mean if a full-scale invasion goes ahead. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Canada’s Auditor General has found the government overpaid for the ArriveCan app. And poor record keeping has made it impossible for her to figure out that final total. Catherine Cullen, the host of “The House” joins Front Burner to talk about how an app that was supposed to make pandemic travel easier has ended up costing millions. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Auto thefts have been spiking in Canadian cities, with criminals using and disposing of the vehicles or selling them to fund organized crime, even exporting them overseas. . Why have cars become so easy for thieves to steal? What systems are organized crime using to take vehicles in large quantities? Will the federal Liberal’s national summit on auto theft last Thursday provide lasting solutions? Peter Edwards is a crime reporter with the Toronto Star and the author of numerous books on organized crime. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, and the teams on the field are no surprise. What is surprising is that the off-field mania around Taylor Swift dating a Chiefs player has gotten deeply, deeply weird. Some American networks have been stirring up conspiracy theories that Swift and Kelce’s relationship is a deep-state psy-op. The Super Bowl has morphed into a sort of singularity-level conspiracy, pulling in everything: vaccines, the CIA, light beer, billionaire investor George Soros, and President Joe Biden. Drew Magary is an author and a columnist with Defector and SFGate. He writes a lot about football, and he’s one of the hosts of Defector’s Distraction podcast. He’s here to dig into it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate was set to vote on a sweeping national defense bill. It included reforms to immigration, in reaction to a surge in migration across the U-S southern border. It also included military support for the war in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It came together through months of bipartisan meetings. But the vote failed. Why? The CBC’s Alex Panetta is here with the answers. He’s a reporter with our bureau in Washington D.C. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Alberta premier Danielle Smith has frequently said that she doesn't want to politicize issues around the rights and personal decisions of transgender youth. But then, last week, she unveiled the toughest set of policies affecting trans teens in the country. The proposed rules would have wide-ranging impacts for gender-affirming medical care, sports, sex education and the use of preferred pronouns in schools. Today, CBC Calgary's Jason Markusoff joins us for a look at the reaction in Alberta to the proposed policies, and why Smith may have so dramatically changed her position on this issue now. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Elon Musk says a person has had a computer chip implanted in their brain as part of Neuralink’s first human trial. The billionaire’s company is racing to develop a device, in an attempt to catch up to competitors in the brain-computer interface industry. Marisa Taylor, an investigative journalist with Reuters, joins Front Burner to separate fact from fiction, as Neuralink tries to revolutionize brain implants. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly two years ago, most men have been banned from leaving Ukraine. That hasn’t stopped thousands from making illegal border crossings to escape. Why are so many Ukrainian men risking these journeys? How is Ukraine trying to stop them? What could the crossings signal about Ukrainians’ attitudes toward a new phase of this war? CBC’s Briar Stewart went to neighbouring Moldova to find answers. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts comes Hollywood Exiles. Host Oona Chaplin tells the story of the decades-long campaign to root out communism in Hollywood. It’s a campaign that eventually drove her grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, and many others out of tinseltown. Hollywood Exiles is a tale of glamour, duplicity and political intrigue that reverberates to this day. It’s the story of how Tinseltown became an ideological battleground. The toll of the fight was enormous – reputations, careers and families were torn apart by the campaign to drive communists from the movie business. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/zeWK1tTg

Four NHL players, and one pro European player, are charged with sexual assault, in a troubling story that began years ago. The charges relate to the alleged group assault of a woman in 2018, that took place when the accused were members of Canada’s world junior hockey team. Katie Strang is a senior investigative writer with The Athletic and walks us through these new charges — and whether anything has actually changed in hockey since this scandal first came to light. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Trudeau government’s announcement in 2021 that they would bring daycare fees down to $10 a day within five years was a massive relief to many parents across the country. But two years after all the provinces signed on, this extremely popular program is clearly facing some bumps in the road: staffing shortages, massive wait lists, and daycares that can’t cover their costs. Today, Martha Friendly, executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, speaks to us about the growing pains confronting affordable daycare.

According to a new study published in Science, operations in Alberta’s oilsands are pumping out as much as 64 times more air pollutants than officially reported. How could industry estimates be missing these huge amounts of chemicals? What could the health and environmental consequences be? How does this study add to other concerns that don't we truly understand the impact of the oil sands? Drew Anderson is the Prairies reporter for The Narwhal, whose team of investigative journalists report on the natural world. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Pokémon is the single biggest grossing media franchise on the planet. So when a game best described as "Pokémon with guns" was released earlier this month, it's perhaps no surprise that it quickly became one of the most played — and talked about — video games in the world. Washington Post video game critic and reporter Gene Park explains why the game has blown up, and whether the developers might find themselves in Nintendo's legal crosshairs for copying their homework. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The public inquiry into foreign electoral interference begins today. The independent commission was sparked by allegations that China had interfered in Canadian elections — a bombshell accusation that ignited a major political battle in Ottawa. The inquiry is already facing hard questions about who gets to take part and how, and how much of the findings can actually be shared with the public. CBC parliamentary reporter Catharine Tunney on what’s ahead, and what’s at stake with the inquiry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A new investigation by the CBC’s Fifth Estate sheds light on who might have been responsible for a devastating and fatal human smuggling case two years ago. On January 19, 2022, police found four people frozen to death, just metres away from the US border in Manitoba. RCMP confirmed all four were Indian citizens, and all from the same family. Today, Fifth Estate co-host Steven D’Souza on his search for answers about the smugglers that sent that family, the Patels, into a blinding snowstorm.

A scheme called HyperVerse attracted more than a billion dollars in investments and endorsements from celebrities including Chuck Norris and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. But a Guardian Australia investigation found that the CEO of HyperVerse didn’t even exist. Sarah Martin, a senior correspondent with Guardian Australia, explains how the scheme worked, who was behind it, and how regular people lost a lot of money. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Invasive Group A strep is a rare form of infection that happens when the usually harmless bacteria invades parts of the body where it's not normally found. This can lead to complications like flesh-eating disease, meningitis and even death — and case numbers are on the rise in Canada, with 10 children dead of the disease since October. CBC health reporter Lauren Pelley breaks down what you need to know about invasive strep A and the multiple factors that could be behind the recent surge in cases. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Pascal Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers in a blockbuster deal last week that, for many, marked the end of the team’s 2019 championship era. So, what direction are the Raptors headed in? And how are fans feeling about saying goodbye to one of the most beloved players in franchise history? Freelance NBA writer and author of “Prehistoric: The Audacious and Improbable Origin Story of the Toronto Raptors”, Alex Wong, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Less than a year and a half after a mass stabbing devastated James Smith Cree Nation and surrounding communities in Saskatchewan, a coroner’s inquest began last week into how Myles Sanderson killed 11 people and hurt 17 others. What happened in the days prior to the attacks? What do police analysts say the motive could have been? What supports do community members need now? Jason Warick is a reporter with CBC Saskatoon. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The prairies are just emerging from a record-breaking cold snap, with multiple days of temperatures well below -30. But that didn't stop the City of Edmonton from proceeding with its plan to dismantle eight homeless camps across the city. CBC Edmonton's Wallis Snowdon explains why the city is so keen to remove the camps, in a city where more than 300 people died in connection to homelessness in the last year alone. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The trial of Richard Mantha, 59, is set to begin this week in Calgary. Mantha is charged with more than two dozen counts related to seven women, including drugging, kidnapping, and sexually assaulting his alleged victims. In this episode, CBC Calgary reporter Meghan Grant walks us through the troubling case, and the allegations levelled against Mantha by women working in the sex trade. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After mounting political pressure, last weekend Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged that the number of non-permanent residents in Canada is putting a strain on housing. As Canada brings in a historic number of temporary residents and population growth sets records, some of the country’s top bank economists and even the Bank of Canada say that the federal government’s immigration policy is significantly affecting housing affordability. So how did we get here? What is Canada’s immigration policy? Would a cap on non-permanent residents help alleviate the housing crisis – or could it hurt the economy as some critics say?  Canadian Press economics reporter Nojoud Al Mallees explains.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For over a week, Ecuador has been in a state of emergency. Armed gang members have set cars on fire, taken people hostage, and attacked staff at a major TV station during a live broadcast. These acts of violence came after the disappearance of a notorious gang leader with ties to the illegal drug trade. Today, freelance journalist Carolina Loza León, based in Manta, Ecuador, on what’s been happening on the ground, the gangs at the heart of escalating violence, and whether the government’s approach is likely to quell the chaos. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In hearings at the International Court of Justice last week, South Africa accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. A potential final ruling at the court could take years, but within weeks, judges could order Israel to stop its military operations So what's behind South Africa’s argument? Why is Israel saying the case should be dismissed? And in a court without a mechanism to enforce orders, why would a ruling really matter? Canadian academic William Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University recognized with the Order of Canada as a foremost authority on genocide, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more than three decades, Wayne LaPierre has led the National Rifle Association — turning gun policy into a deeply partisan political issue. But now, facing a civil trial on corruption allegations, he's announced his resignation. With membership and revenue dropping, could this be the end of the NRA? New York Times investigative reporter Danny Hakim explains the rise of one of America's most influential lobby groups — and how, even if this is the end, the NRA's biggest battles may have already been won. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Thirty-three churches have burned to the ground across Canada, since the discovery of possible unmarked children's graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May, 2021. In most cases, officials have blamed arsonists. CBC’s Terry Reith details his investigation into the pattern of arson, and how it’s tied to Canada’s dark residential school history. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

While Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been campaigning across the country, gaining momentum in the polls, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s message of positivity and progress is failing to connect. After eight years in power, is the long-time Liberal leader in dire need of a new story? What political narrative could captivate Canadians in 2024? And what story is Poilievre betting on? CBC’s Aaron Wherry explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A few weeks ago, Syrian-Canadian doctor Anas Al-Kassem, along with 5 other doctors from the U.S and Canada, went on a medical mission to southern Gaza. They were stationed at two hospitals in Khan Younis. With explosions nearby, they closed wounds, amputated limbs, and saved the lives that they could. Today, Dr. Anas Al-Kassem on what he saw during the mission, the state of the hospitals in Gaza, and the continuing health and humanitarian crisis in the region. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Yemen’s Houthi militias are attacking commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, and say the attacks will continue until Israel ends its “crimes in Gaza.” Who’s backing the Houthi rebels? Why is the U.S. sinking Houthi ships and sailing naval destroyers in the region? What could the attacks mean for fears of a broader regional conflict? Iona Craig is an investigative journalist who’s been covering Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula for over a decade.

Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019, before he could stand trial for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring involving underaged girls and dozens of high-profile clients. Now, court documents including names of Epstein's known associates are being unsealed, shedding new light on the nature and scale of his network. Senior Washington Post editor Marc Fisher walks us through the list so far — which includes Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — and why further document releases might never fully answer the remaining mysteries. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The brand new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) kicked off its inaugural season this week, with Toronto hosting the team from New York. Hailey Salvian, a senior writer for The Athletic, walks us through the promise of the fledgling new league — but also the challenges ahead for the organization, which is hoping to succeed where others have failed. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

2024 is an election year in the U.S., but the country is still dealing with the fallout of their last election. Could former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles and accusations of insurrection interfere with his bid to return to office? Why are some Democrats questioning whether current President Joe Biden should be their nominee? Could a close election result trigger another violent, January 6-style reaction? Cameron Joseph is a freelance political reporter writing for the Guardian. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From the Arab Spring that swept across the Middle East and North Africa to the fare increase protests in Brazil that snowballed into much more, the 2010s started off with a wave of mass protests all over the world. But why did so many of them end in ways the activists behind them didn’t intend? That’s what journalist Vincent Bevins tries to answer in his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Dose is a weekly look at the health news that matters to you. Dr. Brian Goldman brings you the best science from top experts in plain language. This episode examines the many factors that influence our mood, including one we may not think about: our diet. It turns out the emotions you feel have a lot to do with what’s happening in your gut, or your gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Mary Sco., a family doctor with a PhD in nutrition, breaks it all down. More episodes of The Dose are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/PNoxliEC

In 2018, under bombardment in Syria, a 2-year-old boy named Salmaan disappeared along with his mother. At the time, the Islamic State was at the brink of defeat. For years, ISIS led a brutal campaign across Syria and Iraq, killing and kidnapping thousands of people. After the war against the Islamic State was won, many of the wives and children of its fighters were placed in prison camps in Northeast Syria. Today, BBC investigative journalist Poonam Taneja on her journey to those camps to find out what happened to Salmaan, and the fate of the thousands of children left behind in the Syrian desert.

The Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto had their worst month on record last March: more people used their services than at any other time in their 40-year history. The situation is similarly dire at food banks across the country. Today on Front Burner, producer Imogen Birchard heads out to a food bank in Etobicoke, to find out who’s using the service now and what’s driving them there. This is an encore of that documentary.

Does it feel harder these days to find the info you need on Google? Do the Amazon products that show up at the top of your search turn out to be poorer quality than the ones you really wanted? Cory Doctorow calls that 'Enshittification.' Today, an encore of our interview with Doctorow, explaining how the big internet companies have changed their profit-making strategy over time in ways that are making our experience of the internet worse.

Hip-Hop celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. What started out in the South Bronx, became a best-selling, record-breaking, and globally influential art form. But for a long time, the genre and its innovators were not only debated but often dismissed. We look back at 50 years of art form with rapper and broadcaster Shad. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In 2023, Taylor Swift dominated the music industry. Beyonce had a Renaissance. HBO’s Succession ended. Tina Turner died. Online, we debated how much men think about The Roman Empire and Martin Scorsese went viral on TikTok. But more than anything, there was an extreme amount of pink thanks to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie blockbuster. For better or worse, what drove pop culture in 2023? And when we look back on the art we consumed this year… What was it that we were collectively looking for? Culture writer and podcaster Niko Stratis and Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of CBC’s Commotion, explain. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The trial for Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai began on Monday. Lai is charged under China’s national security legislation, which has been used to crack down on dissenters in the city-state since 2020. Many activists have been prosecuted under the law already, but this is arguably the most high-profile case yet. Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, joins Front Burner senior producer Elaine Chau for a conversation about the work that led up to his father’s arrest, and what this case might mean for Hong Kong’s future. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says he’s bringing back a housing idea from the Second World War that helped build over a million homes. Could catalogues of pre-approved blueprints create more homes, faster? What other lessons should we be taking from Canada’s post-war housing effort? How has mass construction of ready-made designs impacted housing in other countries? Carolyn Whitzman is a housing policy consultant and expert advisor to the Housing Assessment Resource Tools project For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Elon Musk kicked off 2023 by losing $200 billion in wealth. And the South African entrepreneur is ending the year with a series of blunders. X, formerly known as Twitter, is absolutely bleeding advertisers. Tesla, once his bread and butter, is facing a massive recall. And Musk’s reputation has shifted from media darling and climate saviour to ill-tempered, eccentric rich guy. So, what exactly went wrong in 2023? How has Musk derailed his public persona? And is there any hope that the CEO can turn things around in 2024? Paris Marx, host of the podcast Tech Won’t Save Us, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As fighting in Gaza continues, civilian deaths are rising and those that remain face worsening conditions that include a severe lack of food and clean water, overcrowded shelters, floods and disease. As Canada and other Western nations show their support for a ceasefire, Bushra Khalidi, a policy lead with Oxfam, paints a vivid picture of what she’s hearing from family and colleagues on the ground in Gaza. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Unions in Quebec have united for one of the largest strikes in Canadian history, with more than 6% of Quebec’s population currently on strike. Is the public blaming unions or Premier François Legault for widespread school closures and delays in healthcare? How does the unions’ “Common Front” moniker invoke Quebec’s deep history of labour solidarity? If deals aren’t reached soon, how long could strikes continue? CBC Montreal journalist Jennifer Yoon explains.

Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ long-time ex-girlfriend Cassie has filed a lawsuit against him, alleging years of sexual assault and physical abuse. She’s not alone. Three other women have filed similar suits. Andre Gee, staff writer at Rolling Stone, joins us to go through the details of the cases and what it could mean for the music industry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to Washington to make a desperate plea for weapons, as a $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine is tangled up in U.S. domestic politics. Meanwhile, trench warfare with Russia grinds on. With international support faltering, and a failed counter-offensive, can Ukraine win its war with Russia? Francis Farrell, a reporter with The Kyiv Independent, details Ukraine’s dire situation. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week at COP28 the Canadian government announced a framework that will put a concrete limit on the amount of CO2 that oil and gas can emit. The idea is to accelerate how quickly Canada reduces its emissions. But the plan has sparked harsh criticism from all sides, including climate activists, the Conservatives, the NDP and oil and gas companies. How will the cap work? Does it go far enough? Will it impact production? And how does it fit into Canada’s climate targets? CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Fraud. Abduction. Murder. Every week, Crime Story host and investigative journalist Kathleen Goldhar goes deep into a tale of true crime with the storyteller who knows it best. From the reporter who exposed Bill Cosby, to the writer who solved one of Australia’s most chilling cold cases — Crime Story guests include: Gilbert King (Bone Valley), Eric Benson (Project Unabomb),Carole Fisher (The Girlfriends), and many more. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/X8TdLQoi

Genetic testing company 23andMe says attackers were able to gain access to the profiles of nearly 7 million of its users. What kind of information was exposed? How did hackers try to sell the info? What broader and future concerns do experts have about sending DNA to services like 23andMe? Jason Koebler is a co-founder of the independent tech website, 404Media.co. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As fighting in Gaza resumed, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued strong words of caution for Israel to obey international humanitarian law and to minimize civilian casualties. It was a significant shift in tone compared to the total support Blinken had delivered earlier in the war. And it’s a message that’s been echoed by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Are the long-time allies at odds over Gaza? What does strain in that relationship mean for the future of the war – and for the civilians caught in the middle? Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East Correspondent for The Economist, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A bankruptcy deal for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma gave a legal shield to the Sackler family that ran the company. Now, a challenge to the settlement has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Why are families of opioid victims split on whether they want the multi-billion dollar settlement to stand? How could the ruling change who can get immunity from lawsuits in massive corporate settlements? Why have the Boy Scouts of America and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted briefs calling for Purdue’s deal to stand? David Ovalle is a national reporter with the Washington Post focusing on opioids and addiction. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. An earlier version of this episode stated that the movie Pain Hustlers was inspired by Purdue and Oxycontin. That film was based on a different company which also sold opioid based pain medication. We've corrected this episode to remove that error.

Prosecutors in New York accuse an employee of the Indian government of conspiring to assassinate a member of the movement to create an independent Sikh state. The plot was foiled in the U.S., but the indictment sheds light on murder that was carried out in Surrey, B.C., in June. CBC’s Alex Panetta details what we learned from the indictment, and what it says about India’s alleged assassination plans in North America. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Millions of Canadians will soon feel the impact of jumps in interest rates as their mortgages come up for renewal. In some cases, their payments could go up by 40% or more.  What will happen to Canadians already struggling to make mortgage payments? What could the impact be on real estate prices?  And as banks set aside hundreds of millions more in reserves for bad loans, are there risks to Canada’s economy and financial institutions?  Ron Butler, mortgage broker at Butler Mortgage and host of the Angry Mortgage Podcast, explains.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced an agreement with Google over Bill C-18: The Online News Act. The tech giant had threatened to limit Canadians’ access to news on its platforms — similar to the one Meta imposed. Under the deal, Google will pay news companies $100 million annually. But is it enough? Who got the better deal? And what does it mean for the future of journalism in Canada? Alfred Hermida, a digital media scholar and professor at the UBC School of Journalism and the co-founder of The Conversation Canada, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A spike in seismic activity and the imminent threat of a volcanic eruption in Iceland has displaced the town of Grindavik, located near the country’s famous Blue Lagoon and a massive geothermal power plant. We hear from Hanna Evenson who’s been going into the danger zone to rescue residents’ pets and Ragga Agustsdottir, the co-founder of Lava Show Iceland, about the challenges and benefits of living in a hotbed of volcanic activity. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Canada is betting big on electric vehicles. Ahead of COP28, we’re asking why the government is pouring billions of dollars into EVs, despite debate about the industry. Just how critical is the switchover to electric vehicles? What does major investment mean for Canada’s ability to hit critical emissions targets. And what happens if we don’t make the move to zero-emissions vehicles fast enough? Ottawa-based climate reporter for the National Observer John Woodside explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Since 2020, state-level politicians in the U.S. have passed dozens of bills that LGBTQ advocates say are anti-trans. When it comes to defending these laws in court, states have been turning to an unlikely ally: Toronto psychologist James Cantor. He’s testified in more than 20 cases in the U.S. involving transgender issues. Today on Front Burner, CBC investigative journalist Jonathan Montpetit on Cantor’s influence, and how his scientific expertise is being weaponized by conservative Christian groups and Republican politicians to roll back trans rights in the U.S. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How did Israel and Hamas reach a deal that led to a brief pause in fighting and the release of dozens of captives on both sides of the conflict? Julian Borger, a Washington-based world affairs editor with the Guardian takes us through the tense negotiations. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Tuesday, the federal government’s fall economic statement was overshadowed by this year’s deficit and Ottawa’s skyrocketing debt. How did it get so bad? What does it mean for Canadians? And what’s the economic outlook in a climate of uncertainty? Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and the Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers, breaks it all down. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Known as “Chainsaw Man”, “El Loco” and “The Wig”, Argentina’s new far-right president is a controversial economist that’s often compared to Donald Trump. And he’s promised to slash government, kill the central bank and ditch the national currency. So, who is Javier Milei? How did the self-described libertarian manage to win? And what does his presidency mean for Argentina’s devastating economic crisis? Buenos Aires-based freelance journalist Natalie Alcoba explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When ChatGPT was released last year, artificial intelligence was suddenly a reality in our everyday lives. The company, OpenAI, and its CEO, Sam Altman, seemed to be on a meteoric rise. So why was Sam Altman just fired by a board tasked with keeping AI in check? Steven Levy, Editor at Large for Wired, joins us to talk about the chaos at OpenAI, and who controls the artificial intelligence that could change our world. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Nearly 50 years ago Nur Chowdhury was at the centre of an assassination and coup that killed Bangladesh’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was convicted by a court in Bangladesh, but now he lives in a Toronto suburb. Mark Kelley, co-host of CBC’s The Fifth Estate, shares his investigation into why the Canadian government still hasn’t deported Chowdhury to face justice. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Nathaniel Veltman has been found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, after violently hitting a Muslim family in London, Ontario, with a pick-up truck in 2021. What is the reaction to the verdict from the family and community? And how has this trial tested Canada’s terrorism laws? First we hear from Hina Islam, a member of the Afzaal family and a registered psychotherapist who has provided trauma support for members of London’s Muslim community. Later in the episode, CBC’s Kate Dubinski explains what led up to the verdict. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Of all the young revolutionaries in Syria during the Arab Spring, Amina is different. An out lesbian in a country where homosexuality is illegal, she bravely documents her life on the blog Gay Girl in Damascus. Her candid posts attract readers from around the world, and soon she has a wide, ardent following. But then a post appears saying Amina has been abducted. Her fans mobilize, desperate to track down and save their fearless heroine. What they find shocks them. Journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what actually happened to the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus in this 6-part series. The result is a twisted yarn that spans the globe and challenges our thinking on love, politics and identity in cyberspace. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Bm2uZHLZ

Snus in Sweden, Zyn all over TikTok and now, Zonnic in Canada. Nicotine pouches have been gaining profile, from Major League baseball dugouts to Joe Rogan’s podcast. What are they? How are they different from vapes, dip and cigarettes? Are they a helpful tool for people looking to quit, or just hooking a new generation? First, freelance journalist Ashwin Rodrigues takes us through the product’s rise in the U.S. and then CBC’s Marina von Stackelberg tells us why Zonnic, the brand being sold in Canada, is already controversial. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After years of superhero films dominating the box office, The Marvels just had the worst opening weekend the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever seen. Sam Adams, culture writer and senior editor at Slate, joins us to talk about why audiences might finally be sick of superhero movies and what that could mean for the film industry as a whole.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Protests that began over a mining contract with a Canadian company have seized Panama for weeks, with key highways blocked, schools shut down, and a port choked with boats. Why has the situation reignited a century of anger over North American interests?  Freelance journalist Michael Fox has been covering the protests from Panama. The first season of his upcoming podcast, Under the Shadow, looks at the lingering impact of U.S. intervention in Central America. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Demonstrators around the world are calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, as the destruction and death toll in Gaza continues to climb. Meanwhile, some of Israel’s allies, including the United States and Canada, want ‘humanitarian pauses’ in the fighting. Jonathan Guyer, senior foreign policy writer at Vox, explains the difference, and why the calls for a ceasefire are being rejected. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In 2007, military historian Sean Maloney was commissioned to write Canada’s account of the war in Afghanistan. Unlike other official histories, this one would be documented as it was being fought. The three-volume The Canadian Army in Afghanistan, was set to be published in 2014, but it didn’t see the light of day for nearly a decade due to, according to Maloney, concerns within the military. The book was quietly, and some say reluctantly, released last summer. CBC senior defence reporter Murray Brewster on the long delay, what’s actually in the book, and why historical accounts of war can be so divisive. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

More than 80 women from around the world have accused the fast-fashion mogul Peter Nygard of rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking in incidents across four decades and at least four countries. He has been charged for sex crimes in three Canadian provinces and the state of New York. He denies it all, and has claimed his accusers are lying as part of a vast conspiracy. In his words, the acts he is accused of are things he “would never do.” Nygard had built a sprawling international retail empire over the past 50 years — but his professional achievements are now overshadowed by a sinister personal life, one that has earned him the moniker, ‘Canada’s Jeffrey Epstein’. Listen to the Podcast Evil by Design at: https://link.chtbl.com/AKYfQMOA

WeWork was buzzy from the beginning. The coworking company was sold not just as office space, but a lifestyle. Its leader, Adam Neumann, not just as a CEO – but a revolutionary. Now, as the company files for bankruptcy, Eliot Brown, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal and co-author of the book The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann and the Great Startup Delusion, joins us to chronicle how the tech unicorn fell so far. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Inside the trial of former RCMP intelligence director Cameron Ortis, who’s facing allegations he tried to sell secrets to some of the very people police were targeting. What sensitive documents do police say Ortis exposed? For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. How are an encrypted phone dealer and international money laundering network involved? What’s behind the defence’s bombshell claim that Ortis was acting on foreign intel? CBC Parliamentary reporter Catharine Tunney returns to explain.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax exemption for home heating oil has renewed criticism of the entire scheme — a cornerstone of Canada’s plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. CBC’s Aaron Wherry weighs in on how the Liberal government is weathering a storm of its own making. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In 2017, an RCMP unit called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) was created to police resource-related protests in B.C. Since then, it’s been subject to lawsuits and hundreds of complaints. Critics argue that it’s a de facto private security force for resource companies. So what exactly does C-IRG do? And who does it serve? The CBC’s Steven D’Souza brings us his findings from The Fifth Estate investigation. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts, from conspiracy to fraud, following the collapse of his crypto exchange last year. Jacob Silverman, host of The Naked Emperor podcast, walks us through Bankman-Fried’s trial and explains what the verdict means for FTX customers and the cryptocurrency industry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From BBC Sounds and CBC Podcasts. Syria. 2018. ISIS is on the brink of defeat. A toddler disappears in the chaos. In London, his grandad needs answers. Poonam Taneja investigates. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/XSnmvZ1n

Iconic first-person shooting game, Call of Duty, is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. As it turns 20, the Washington Post’s Gene Park joins us to talk about its enduring cultural and societal impact. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After weeks of Israeli bombardment, and now a ground invasion, Gaza is in desperate need of food, water, fuel and electricity. We hear about the humanitarian crisis on the ground. Today, a first hand account of the conditions at the center of Gaza from Amjad Shawa, coordinator for the Palestinian NGO Network. Details on the UN World Food Program’s struggles to get aid to those who need it in Gaza from spokesperson Alia Zaki. And Gaza Medic Voices founder Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan shares the accounts of health workers in Gazan hospitals as fuel shortages make some care impossible.

As Israel’s ground war in Gaza escalates, there’s another conflict threatening to spill over. Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire on the Lebanon border, stoking fears that a second front may open up. What is Hezbollah? Why does it present a growing threat to Israel? How could an escalating conflict between the two could spark a wider regional war? Journalist Rebecca Collard in Beirut explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After CBC’s The Fifth Estate released a bombshell documentary last week calling Canadian music icon and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous ancestry into question, the reaction has been swift and complex. Drew Hayden Taylor and Kim Wheeler join us to talk about why the revelations have been painful and difficult to process for many in the Indigenous community. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A report commissioned by Alberta’s UCP government says if it left the Canada Pension Plan, the province is entitled to take over half the plan’s hundreds of billions worth of assets with it. Why have analysts ridiculed the estimate? Why is the UCP spending millions on a push to leave the CPP? What could an Alberta exit mean for pensions across the country? CBC writer and producer Jason Markusoff explains.

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous ancestry are being contradicted by members of the iconic singer-songwriter's own family and an extensive CBC investigation from The Fifth Estate, making her the latest high-profile public figure whose ancestry story has been contradicted by genealogical documentation, historical research and personal accounts. Geoff Leo is a senior Investigative Reporter with CBC Saskatchewan. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The village of Richmound, Saskatchewan, is struggling to get rid a QAnon cult that moved into a former school in the community. But how do you convince Romana Didulo, the self-styled ‘Queen of the Kingdom of Canada,’ and her followers to hit the road? Mack Lamoureux, a reporter with Vice News, brings us the latest on Didulo’s group, after paying a visit to Richmound. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

With high living costs and rising rents, governments are going after Airbnb and Vrbo. British Columbia is the latest, along with New York and Quebec. How much are short-term rentals to blame? Will this action be enough? David Wachsmuth, a researcher and professor at the School of Urban Planning at McGill University, joins us. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

With housing supply low and rent going up across the country, Canada’s rental crisis is getting worse. And it’s given rise to people who feel rent trapped — stuck in less-than-ideal and difficult living conditions. Front Burner’s Elaine Chau and Shannon Higgins bring you stories from Toronto and Vancouver. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This weekend, a limited number of aid trucks finally began moving through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, toward Gaza. Resources are critically low in the region. Today, the CBC’s Margaret Evans, who’s currently in East Jerusalem, on the status of aid there, escalating airstrikes in Gaza and the West Bank, and how tensions are growing in the region. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the 1920s, something nefarious started happening to members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. Within four years, at least 60 people were murdered or disappeared. Journalist David Grann takes us through the true crime story that inspired his book, and now a movie, Killers of the Flower Moon. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A former peace negotiator who worked on a high-profile prisoner swap on what it could take for captives in Gaza to be returned. Middle East director for the International Communities Organization Gershon Baskin also explains what he’s hearing from his contacts in Hamas. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Avi Asher-Schapiro, tech reporter with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, takes us through some of the reasons fake news or misleading content about the fight between Israel and Hamas is being amplified on social media feeds. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In October 2018, Canada legalized cannabis after decades of prohibition. The goals were to improve safety, public health and curb the illegal market. There were great expectations for a thriving cannabis industry. What’s changed in the industry since legalization? What challenges does it still face? And where does it go next? Solomon Israel, a journalist covering the cannabis industry for MJBizDaily, explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As Israeli forces sit poised for a land invasion into Gaza in their campaign against Hamas, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are facing displacement or worse. Ishaan Tharoor, global affairs columnist with the Washington Post, brings us a recap of the latest developments, and where things could be headed next. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The U.S is cracking down on fentanyl’s global supply chain by targeting Mexican and Chinese individuals with indictments and sanctions. Officials from those countries insist it’s largely an American problem. What’s actually happening on the ground in China and Mexico? What impact will U.S. retaliation have? Today, journalist Zachary Siegel explains. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After Hamas’ attack on Israel, Israeli officials announced a full siege of Gaza, cutting off all supplies, including water, electricity and food. Intense missile attacks continue to hit the territory. Today, three people who call Gaza home tell us how they’re coping. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In today's episode, we take a closer look at Hamas, the militant group behind this weekend’s assault on Israel. How did it end up governing Gaza? What are its origins and its goals? Lawrence Pintak — former CBS News Middle East correspondent and author of five books on religion, media and the Middle East — is our guest. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After Hamas launched thousands of rockets, broke through the Israeli border and took hostages in southern towns in a surprise attack on Saturday, Israel has retaliated with its own missile strikes and declared war. Now, Hamas has threatened to execute an Israeli captive for every unannounced strike on civilians, and Israel says it will block food, water and fuel from entering Gaza in a “complete siege.” As Israeli troops amass near Gaza, what could come next? Shayndi Raice is the Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief for the Middle East and North Africa, and she’s based in Tel Aviv. An earlier version of this episode stated Hamas paragliders landed at the center of an Israeli music festival before opening fire. As CBC has not independently verified the involvement of paragliders in shootings at the festival, the reference has been removed.

Host David Ridgen joins victims' family members as they investigate cold cases, tracking down leads, speaking to suspects and searching for answers. In the highly-anticipated 8th season of Someone Knows Something, award-winning investigator David Ridgen delves into a cold case that has haunted Whitehorse for more than 15 years. Angel Carlick was a vibrant youth worker, nicknamed ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ by her loved ones. She had plans after graduation to become legal guardian of her brother and work to support struggling youth at her local resource centre. But just days before she was set to graduate in 2007, at age 18, Angel disappeared. Months later, her remains were found in a remote area in the Canadian north. As David works alongside Angel's family, friends, and community, he uncovers details surrounding her death and strives to bring her justice, while honouring the legacy of her late mother, Wendy. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/6PZExn6H

What was MK-ULTRA? What brought the CIA to McGill University? What effects did the covert mind-control program have on its unwitting test subjects? How were the experiment results used in Guantanamo Bay? Why are survivors and their families still fighting for justice? Lisa Ellenwood, a producer with CBC’s The Fifth Estate and co-author of the book Les cobayes oubliés: l’histoire du programme MKULTRA à Montréal, tells the story. For more information on MKULTRA, you can check out the CBC Podcast Brainwashed that investigates the CIA’s covert mind control experiments. All episodes from the series are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/brainwashed

Brainwashed, hosted by Michelle Shephard, veteran national security reporter, investigates the CIA’s covert mind control experiments – from the Cold War and MKULTRA to the so-called War on Terror. It’s the story of how a renowned psychiatrist used his unwitting patients as human guinea pigs at a Montreal hospital, and the ripple effects on survivors, their families, and thousands of other people around the world. The series is an exploration of what happens in times of fear, when the military and medicine collide. And what happens when the survivors fight back. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/RM_zRWn-

How did Wab Kinew, leader of the Manitoba NDP, win his province’s election to become the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province? What burden does this place on him in a province struggling with reconciliation? Ian Froese, a reporter with CBC Manitoba, breaks down the campaign.

It's been 27 years since rapper Tupac Shakur was shot near the Las Vegas Strip, dying in hospital less than a week later. No charges were ever laid – that is, until Friday, when the police arrested long-time suspect Duane "Keefe D" Davis. Today, author and journalist Santi Elijah Holley explains how the Shakur legacy continues, and weighs in on the question we're all asking about the investigation: what took so long?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there are credible allegations linking India to the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader. CBC’s South Asia correspondent Salimah Shivji answers: how has Canada’s accusation played in the India media? What does the coverage tell us about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s politics? What could it mean for India’s Sikh community?

Today we bring you a bonus episode of The Naked Emperor, our spinoff miniseries about the rise and fall of the crypto exchange FTX. As Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial kicks off in New York, host Jacob Silverman is back to bring you up to speed on the latest. What’s happened at the courthouse in the lead-up to the trial? And what’s expected in the weeks to come? Joining Jacob is Zeke Faux, an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, and the author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.”

A dispute with India over assassination allegations. A Nazi fighter in Parliament. Plus a housing and cost of living crisis. What damage has been done? Can Justin Trudeau find a path forward? Or will his party and the country lose faith? Catherine Cullen, senior reporter and host of CBC’s political podcast The House, answers those questions and more. 

One of Canada’s first military sexual assault cases to be transferred to a civilian court since late 2021 will never go to trial because it took too long to get there. Is this a foreshadowing of what’s to come, in addressing the Canadian Armed Forces’ decades-long sexual misconduct crisis?CBC senior reporter Ashley Burke explains. 

Canada’s Parliament gave two standing ovations to a Ukrainian man who fought for a Nazi division. What is this division, why are its fighters in Canada, and why is it receiving modern day memorials? Ottawa Citizen journalist David Pugliese explains.

How did Rupert Murdoch build one of the most successful and politically influential media empires in the world? David Folkenflik, media correspondent for NPR News, tells the story of Murdoch's astonishing rise, the growth of Fox News, how world leaders flew around the globe in hopes of his support, and — from sexual harassment to phone hacking — how his companies got embroiled in scandal.

It’s been just over two years since four members of the Afzaal family were killed after a truck drove into them on a summer evening in London, Ontario. Now, 22-year-old Nathaniel Veltman is on trial for four counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and terrorism charges for what prosecutors are calling an attack motivated by “white nationalism”. An earlier version of this episode incorrectly stated that Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in 2021. That date is incorrect. The killings happened in 2011. So far, the jury has heard testimonies from the detective that interviewed him, arresting officers, audio of the 911 call and have seen footage Veltman’s statements to police hours after the attack. Kate Dubinski of CBC London takes us through the details of the trial, what members of the Muslim community are saying about the case and the impact it could have on the country’s terrorism laws.

A call from a group called “1 Million March 4 Children” drew protestors in dozens of cities across Canada over LGBTQ-inclusive education and school policies. According to the organizers’ website, the day was supposed to be about advocating for the elimination of a number of things in schools: the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, pronouns, “gender ideology” and mixed bathrooms. Coast-to-coast, they were met with counter-protesters who said they were there to defend LGBTQ rights. Today, Mel Woods, a senior editor with Xtra Magazine, recaps what they saw at the Vancouver protests and what turnout looked like across the country. Then we speak with Alex Harris, a grade 12 student in New Brunswick, about how the controversy over inclusive education policies and curricula is affecting LGBTQ students. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed outside his gurdwara in Surrey in June just after evening prayers. While the Sikh community has been urging investigators to get the bottom of what happened, it’s been quiet until a bombshell announcement from Prime Minister Trudeau on Monday: Canada believes there are “credible allegations” the Indian government was behind it. Since then it’s been a diplomatic firestorm. Diplomats are being pulled from both Canada and India and Canada’s allies are weighing next moves. But who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar and why do some, particularly members of the Sikh community, believe the Indian government wanted him dead? Jaskaran Sandhu from Baaz News and the World Sikh Organization takes us through who Nijjar was, the reasons he feared for his life and the long-standing tensions between India and the Sikh community. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The port city of Derna, Libya, has been devastated by flooding, with thousands of people killed. Mediterranean Storm Daniel brought torrential rain to the region last week, but it was the collapse of two dams that caused some of the worst damage, with entire sections of Derna washed away. Now, as rescue turns to recovery, we speak with Anas El Gomati, director of Sadeq Institute, a Libyan think tank, about the political situation in Libya since Moammar Gadhafi was ousted, and how that may have contributed to the scale of the disaster. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he "could have" and "should have" moved faster on making affordable housing a priority for his government, but asks how much worse the situation would be without his policies. The concession comes as his government faces the worst polling it has seen since coming to power. Host Jayme Poisson returns for this special in-depth interview where Trudeau answers questions including: why he waited until last week to enact a 2015 housing promise, why his support from young people is tanking and whether his government's attempts to force grocery stores to stabilise prices will amount to anything. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been a devastating summer of climate events in Canada, and the world. Canada saw its worst wildfire season on record, and the country was abnormally dry. There were also dramatic floods: on July 21st, Halifax got three months worth of rain in 24 hours. That’s the backdrop for the large-scale global climate action protests we saw this past weekend. Arno Kopecky is a longtime environmental journalist who attended the protests in Vancouver. After this summer, he decided that he wouldn’t just write about the environment, and the dangers it faces…he wanted to be part of trying to save it. Today on Front Burner, he’ll share what led to that decision, the challenges facing the climate action movement, and what it means to figure out how to respond in the face of escalating climate change. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, U.S. House Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy announced he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Republicans accuse Biden and his son, Hunter, of business dealings that benefited their family while he was Vice President. Though McCarthy says he is acting on “credible allegations” that Biden is entrenched in “a culture of corruption,” months of committee investigations led by the GOP failed to uncover any evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Today, CBC Washington Correspondent Paul Hunter joins the show to discuss the inquiry, the allegations, and the politics driving it all. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

“A breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” That’s how a statement from a UN special rapporteur described Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program last week, focusing particularly on low-wage and agricultural workers. The TFWP allows Canadian employers to bring in workers from abroad if they couldn’t fill a position domestically, and Canada has recently expanded the program to allow more workers to stay longer. But migrant workers have complained about abuse and exploitation, as well as a reliance on employers that can leave them powerless. Today, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Tomoyo Obokata explains his findings from two weeks on a fact-finding mission in Canada, and why some migrant workers’ situations amount to debt bondage and slavery. Transcripts of this series are available here

Germany may have won gold this weekend, their first FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup ever, but it was Canada’s overtime upset against the United States in the bronze medal playoff game that has fans and sports writers breathlessly arguing that Canadian men’s basketball has finally hit the world stage. Today we’re talking about the long road to success, the volume of Canadian talent in the NBA and what this new victory means for Canada’s chances at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Oren Weisfeld, a freelance sports journalist in Toronto. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, a judge in the U.S. will begin hearing arguments in what’s been called the first monopoly trial of the modern Internet era. At the heart of the case is whether Google used its search engine dominance to illegally throttle competition – an accusation Google denies, claiming “competition is just one click away.” Leah Nylen is an antitrust and investigations reporter with Bloomberg News, and today, she explains what the U.S. government is alleging, how Google is responding, and what this case could mean for the future of the Internet. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last couple of months, the provincial governments in both New Brunswick and Saskatchewan have made controversial changes to their LGBTQ+ policies at schools. Parental consent is now needed when a student under 16 wants to use a different name or pronoun in the classroom. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has also been saying that schools should leave conversations about LGBTQ issues to parents. This is all happening at a time when the concept of “parental rights” is a top issue for U.S Republicans. A parental rights bill was passed in the Republican-held House earlier this year and more than two dozen statehouses have passed similar legislation. Today on Front Burner, the Washington Post’s Emma Brown on the origins of the parental rights movement in the U.S. and how it became a massive political force and how that might help us understand the implications in Canada. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This year’s Burning Man festivities were more chaotic than usual when rain poured down in the Nevada desert, turning the usually dry, dusty terrain into a thick sludge. Thousands of revelers were trapped onsite, as organizers encouraged attendees to shelter in place and conserve food, water and fuel until the grounds dried on Monday and roads were passable. Meanwhile, much of the reaction on social media had a whiff of schadenfreude. To understand more about Burning Man’s origins, how it has changed, and why it provokes derision amongst some outsiders, host Tamara Khandaker speaks with freelance journalist Keith Spencer, who’s written about – and attended – Burning Man. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Doug Ford’s Greenbelt scandal continues to deepen. In the past few weeks, there have been two high-profile political resignations, revelations about a mysterious consultant known as “Mr. X”, and another provincial watchdog who panned the Greenbelt land swap as rushed and flawed. It’s all related to Ontario’s decision to allow construction on previously protected farmlands, forests and wetlands that would allow a small group of well-connected developers to make an estimated $8.3-billion. Today we’re joined by Emma McIntosh. She’s an Ontario environment reporter at The Narwal, who has been closely following this story. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Canada deals with high inflation and a housing shortage, the world’s second-largest economy is grappling with a nearly opposite reality. China has been booming for over 40 years as Beijing invested heavily to build up the country. But now, demand for housing is sinking amid overbuilding and developers mired in debt, and consumer prices have recently fallen into deflation. Today, Wall Street Journal China bureau chief Jonathan Cheng explains the signs that China’s economy is slowing down, and what it could mean for the boom that changed the world to come to an end. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Conservatives from across the country will gather this week in Quebec City for their party convention. There are some heated issues on the agenda; like a policy pushing the party to oppose gender-affirming care for minors and one advocating for the right to refuse vaccine mandates, and there are less controversial resolutions on things like housing affordability and tax reform. Today, J.P. Tasker, a reporter with CBC's parliamentary bureau, walks us through what’s at stake for Poilievre in his first Conservative convention as leader, what the party’s grassroots is asking for and what it could mean for the future of the Conservative Party. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Canada’s top consumer watchdog, CBC Marketplace looks out for your health, your safety and your money. Hosts Asha Tomlinson and David Common bring you inside eight action-packed investigations, uncovering the truth about popular products and services — and pushing hard for accountability. Phone scammers have stolen millions from Canadian victims and the losses are staggering. This episode takes you inside an investigation the team has been working on for more than five years and introduces you to an inside man at an illegal call centre who’s putting his life on the line to help people. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/L9v9gHxq

This week – Ontario police charged Kenneth Law, of Mississauga, with 12 counts of counselling or aiding suicide. That’s on top of the two counts he was charged with when he was first arrested in May. Law is accused of running several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other items that can be used for self harm. He’s alleged to have sent at least 1,200 packages to people in more than 40 countries, and is being investigated by police forces from the UK to New Zealand. Thomas Daigle has been covering this story extensively for CBC News. He’s here to explain this complicated case, and what we know about the man at the centre of it. If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help: Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 | Text 45645 (between 4 p.m. and midnight ET) Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868, live chat counseling on http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/ Find a 24-hour crisis centre, via the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: https://suicideprevention.ca/need-help/ Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The ChatGPT hype cycle has died down a bit lately. There are fewer breathless headlines about generative AI’s potential and its risks. But in a recent American survey – one in five post-secondary students said they had used AI to complete school work. Today, a closer look at what this means for the academic experience with Simon Lewsen, journalist and the author of a recent piece in Toronto Life titled ‘CheatGPT.’ We discuss if AI’s use really constitutes an epidemic of cheating, or if it’s simply a new technological tool for students to take advantage of. Plus, how post-secondary institutions might adapt, and what might be lost along the way. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As wildfires burn in the Northwest Territories, premier Caroline Cochrane called out Ottawa for failing to respond to decades-long requests to address basic infrastructure gaps. And as the residents who were forced to evacuate know, things like safe road systems and strong telecommunication networks are essential for emergency management. Today we’re talking about how this lack of infrastructure combined with other barriers have affected access to vital communication on the ground. Ollie Williams is the Editor of Cabin Radio, an independent internet radio station and an online news service based in Yellowknife that’s become a beacon of information during the crisis. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since new Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Canada “ought to consider” a cap on international students last week, the impact of the program on the housing market has dominated the affordability debate. This year, the number of international students entering Canada is expected to be 900,000, almost triple the total from a decade ago. Some, including the Prime Minister, have cautioned against blaming students for housing problems. But as some students are forced to live in unsafe housing or fall victims to scams, housing experts are questioning whether it’s ethical to welcome this many students until Canada fixes its planning failures. Today, York University gender, sexuality and women's studies professor Tania Das Gupta tells us what she’s learned about the experience of international students through her research into Punjabi migrants, and explains how Canada relies on their tuition and labour. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Russian officials said on Sunday that genetic tests had confirmed that Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last week. Just two months ago, Prigozhin led an armed rebellion in Russia, in a mutiny that lasted less than 36 hours. Now – many, including western intelligence, are speculating that this crash could have actually been an assassination – ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. Today, the Washington Post’s Russia correspondent, Francesca Ebel, discusses Prigozhin’s death, what it means for the future of the notorious Wagner group, and Putin’s Russia. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Sharing your skincare routine, whether it’s on DermTok or Instagram, is a hugely popular trend on social media. These days, there is one product that you’ll hear talked about religiously: sunscreen. You’ll find dermatologists and skincare influencers alike evangelizing about the importance of cancer- and wrinkle-preventing SPF. But there’s another reason why sunscreen is top of mind this summer — it’s become a political issue in the United States, thanks to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She recently took to TikTok to talk about how few quality sunscreens are available in America, compared to Asia and Europe. And it’s not just the U.S. — it’s a problem that’s also playing out here in Canada. Today we’ll be talking about the rise of sunscreen as a skincare must-have and the fight for better SPF options with Julian Sass. He is a cosmetic research and development professional and a content creator focused on sunscreen in Montreal. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday, as people were still reeling from the devastation of the wildfires in B.C. and in the Northwest Territories, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lashed out at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over its decision to block news from its platforms in Canada. The ban started a few weeks ago, in response to the federal government passing the Online News Act, Bill C-18. It’s a law that’s meant to get tech companies like Meta and Google to pay news outlets when their content is posted on their platforms. But rather than comply, Meta is choosing to block the sharing of news content on its platforms. Today on Front Burner, Alfred Hermida, a digital media scholar and professor at the UBC school of journalism, tells us how the ban has been working so far, and the kind of political and community reaction it’s brought out. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last month, the percentage of COVID tests coming back positive started going up again, and wastewater COVID signals are also rising, suggesting a fall COVID-19 wave could be starting in Canada. Today on Front Burner, Dr. Allison McGeer, infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, discusses the state of COVID-19 in Canada and what you need to know. Looking for a transcript of the show? They’re available here daily: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Liberal cabinet retreat is underway in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, with ministers discussing fall priorities amid flagging poll numbers. Once a source of strength for the party, the Liberals appear to be losing ground with Canadians in their 20s and 30s who are concerned with affordability. Abacus Data says the Liberals have fallen over 10 points behind the Conservatives with millennial voters. Today, CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry explains how a leader once obsessed with the middle class ended up on the opposite side of affordability anger, and what the Liberals could still do to reclaim their 2015 image. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Unpredictable and unrelenting wildfires have destroyed blocks of homes, stores and buildings in West Kelowna and part of the Shuswap region in British Columbia. The province is currently under a state of emergency. 30,000 people are on evacuation order across B.C. and 36,000 more are under evacuation alert. This is happening against the backdrop of the country’s worst wildfire season on record, with ongoing evacuation efforts in the Northwest Territories, as fire approaches Yellowknife. Today, we head to Fort Providence in the Northwest Territories and Kelowna, B.C., to hear about the human cost of these unprecedented wildfires. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Dose is a weekly look at the health news that matters to you. Dr. Brian Goldman brings you the best science from top experts in plain language. This episode answers listener questions about perimenopause and menopause symptoms and treatments. Dr. Shafeena Premji, a family doctor and medical director of Mahogany Clinic in Calgary, shares her best advice on how to manage symptoms and when to speak to a health-care provider. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/mOAbEQfT

For tourists interested in a beach vacation, Maui residents have a simple message: this is not the time to visit Hawaii. The wildfires that decimated the historic town of Lahaina, leaving at least 111 people dead and hundreds more still missing, have also laid bare the long-simmering tensions between native Hawaiians, and wealthy tourists and developers. Today we’ll be talking about why many Hawaiians have been asking tourists to stay out long before the fires and why many are afraid recovery will open the door to even more outside ownership. Savannah Harriman-Pote is an energy and climate change reporter and the lead producer of This Is Our Hawaiʻi, a new podcast from Hawai‘i Public Radio. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, Donald Trump and 18 of his associates were charged under the state of Georgia’s RICO Act. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, and it was originally designed to crack down on organized crime. And while Trump’s at the center of these latest charges, a lot of the heat is also on his former attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The former mayor of New York made his name in the 80s as a federal prosecutor for using the RICO act to take down the city’s mob. So how did this tough-on-crime anti-mafia crusader end up being charged with a legal tool he himself pioneered? Today on Front Burner, VICE News reporter Greg Walters on what led Giuliani to this point, and what these charges in Georgia could mean for his future. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been a busy month in Alberta energy politics. In early August, the provincial government caught many by surprise with a six-month pause on any new solar and wind projects that would produce more than one megawatt of power. Since then, Premier Danielle Smith has doubled down on her vow not to go along with the federal government’s plan to get to a net zero power grid by 2035. Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record. Today, CBC’s Jason Markusoff discusses these recent developments and the politics at play. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last month, the African nation of Niger became the seventh government in Western and Central Africa to suffer a military takeover in the last three years. And as of today, virtually every country in Africa’s Sahel region is governed by a current or former military officer. The Sahel is a part of the world that was dominated by France through the colonial period — and many leaders of military governments that have taken over, from Mali to Burkina Faso, have identified the unresolved legacies of colonialism as a source of their dissatisfaction. For decades, Niger, and countries in the Sahel more broadly, have received enormous investment from both France and the U.S. They have been called a “strategic partner” by both nations in the fight against islamic extremism in West Africa. Niger specifically was long touted as West Africa’s last bastion of democracy. So what happened? Today, BBC journalist Beverly Ochieng, whose reporting has long focused on the region, on what’s happening in Niger, and whether this era of insurrection in the Sahel is evidence of an anti-colonial renaissance, or something a little more complicated. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last Wednesday, Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk delivered a scathing report about the province’s plans to build on parts of the protected Greenbelt. While Premier Doug Ford had promised to preserve this vast network of vulnerable greenspace, he announced in November that the province would lift protections on thousands of acres to build more houses. The auditor general’s report finds there’s no evidence the land was needed to meet the government’s housing target and says that it was chosen under heavy influence from a small group of well-connected developers. The report goes on to say that those same landowners now stand to make a lot of money and could “ultimately see more than a collective $8.3 billion increase to the value of their properties”. To make sense of the report, we’re joined by an Ontario reporter with The Narwhal, Fatima Syed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie has announced that she's retiring from live performances. For 60 years Buffy’s music has quietly reverberated throughout pop culture and provided a touchstone for Indigenous resistance. This five-part series, hosted by Mohawk and Tuscarora writer Falen Johnson explores how Buffy’s life and legacy is essential to understanding Indigenous resilience. In this episode, Buffy is traveling from gig to gig in the 60s, armed with her guitar and little else. She makes a splash on the coffeehouse folk scene, rubbing shoulders with artists like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Tectonic changes are around the corner, and her rising success comes with some hard lessons about who to trust — and what it means to be a Indigenous woman in the music business. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/v_Eag6h4

Taylor Swift has been on tour for months but finally, Canadian fans have been given a chance to see her here. She’s having not one or two but six shows at the Rogers Centre in Toronto next year and even though there are 300,000 tickets up for grabs, fans have been likening the scramble to the Hunger Games. Swifties may be known for their dedication but those outside the fandom might be wondering: what is it about Taylor Swift that commands this kind of hype? Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of CBC Radio’s Commotion and known Swiftie, breaks it down for us. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Right now, some 3,700 workers from 27 Metro grocery stores across the Greater Toronto Area are on strike – and they’re not alone. From British Columbia’s ports to Manitoba’s liquor stores to Hollywood, a wave of people across different industries have gone on strike this summer. Today on Front Burner, we head to a Metro picket line in East Toronto. We talk to workers there about what’s at stake for them as they strike, and take a closer look at what’s driving this recent labour unrest with McGill University’s Barry Eidlin, author of ‘Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada’ For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A metallic orb scans your iris and turns it into a numeric code, providing a unique ID that confirms you as human. This is the process people in dozens of countries are undergoing for Worldcoin, a new cryptocurrency project that’s handing out free tokens and even local currency in exchange for biometric verification. The project claims it can prove our personhood online and enable voting, financial equality or even the distribution of a universal basic income. But even before its official launch late last month, Worldcoin was already facing accusations of deception, exploitation and crypto-colonialism in countries like Kenya and Sudan. Today, Jacob Silverman explains the utopian promises and dystopian fears surrounding Worldcoin. Silverman is co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, and he’s also the host of Front Burner’s special series The Naked Emperor. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In June, a group called YYC Muslims organized a large protest in front of Calgary's city hall. They were there to oppose what they call "gender ideology" in schools. They chanted, “leave our kids alone” saying they don’t want it imposed on young children. They were joined by seniors wearing T-shirts with biblical verses on them, and others sporting shirts with slogans about “government tyranny.” Counter-protesters were there too, many baffled by the unlikely alliances between the different groups of people there. This protest in Calgary is just one example of Muslim parents pushing back against LGBTQ representation in schools. Today, Omar Mosleh, a Toronto Star reporter based in Edmonton, walks us through this pushback, the people behind it, and how it has spurred a challenging conversation within the wider Muslim community in Canada. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today the Empire's loot sits in museums, galleries, private collections and burial sites with polite plaques. But its history is often messier than the plaques suggest. In each episode of this global smash hit podcast, Walkley award-winning journalist, author and genetic potluck, Marc Fennell, takes you on the wild, evocative, sometimes funny, often tragic adventure of how these stolen treasures got to where they live today. These objects will ultimately help us see the modern world - and ourselves - in a different light. This is a co-production between the ABC and CBC Canada. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/aqZlF7l1

It has been five years since Japanese phenomenon Shohei Ohtani left Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to fulfil his dream of playing for Major League Baseball in the U.S. The 29-year-old has been compared to the great Babe Ruth for his ability to bat and pitch with equal prowess. In fact, some say he’s the greatest baseball player of all time. Fans are flocking to his games to catch a glimpse of Ohtani in action, and he has sparked renewed interest in the struggling MLB. But as a player with the Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani has had to get used to losing. The team hasn’t made the playoffs in nearly a decade and hit a 14-game losing skid in the 2022 season. With Ohtani’s contract coming to an end, Ben Lindbergh, a senior editor at The Ringer, explains why the player is so impressive, and where he could go from here. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Crashed crafts, non-human biologics, and the Pentagon in possession of UFOs. Last week, former military and intelligence figures appeared as whistleblowers at a U.S. congressional hearing, testifying about the government’s apparent secrecy around UAPs: unidentified anomalous phenomena. But one former air force intelligence official, David Grusch, claimed the Pentagon collected non-human organic material and that he knew where it was keeping UFOs. Researchers searching the universe for alien life say this is far from proof they’re among us. Today, Seth Shostak explains. He’s the senior astronomer for the SETI Institute – the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – and the host of its radio show and podcast, Big Picture Science. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Were the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests in Ottawa a “peaceful protest against a tyrannical ruler,” or a bunch of people driven by “lies and misinformation, disturbing the peace of everyone, and being bigoted”? These two conflicting perspectives help illustrate Canadian polarization in a new report from the Public Policy Forum, authored by journalist Justin Ling, titled ‘Far and Wider: The Rise of Polarization in Canada.’ Ling joins guest host Tamara Khandaker to discuss political polarization in Canada, what’s driving it, and how it’s impacting young Canadians. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In January, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seemed like a real contender to win the GOP presidential nomination over former U.S. president Donald Trump. His team pitched his Florida track record, electability and “war on woke” ideals as a Trump-like candidate without the baggage. But now, just two months into his White House bid, DeSantis’s campaign is in trouble. A New York Times/Siena College poll found the Florida Governor is trailing Trump by 37 percentage points nationally. Meanwhile, the campaign has undergone a reboot, firing staff, cutting costs and reevaluating its strategy. Today, Isaac Arnsdorf, a national political reporter for the Washington Post and the author of Finish What We Started, takes us through the hype, the strategy and where the DeSantis campaign has gone wrong. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

TikTok is one of the biggest, most influential social media networks in the world — and its parent company ByteDance is making moves to capitalize on its enormous cultural influence. The company has announced plans to launch a music streaming service, a book publishing division and an e-commerce platform, all of which would allow people to connect directly to the music, books and products they see in the app's most viral videos. It's a move that puts them in direct competition with tech heavyweights like Spotify, Apple and Amazon. What will this kind of vertical integration mean for the musicians, authors and content creators who are garnering those billions of views in the first place? Insider senior media reporter Dan Whateley breaks down ByteDance's big plans, and whether TikTok could truly become the "everything app" of the Western world. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Despite months of mass protests, Israel’s far-right government pushed through a law weakening the country’s Supreme Court on Monday. Under it, the Court is no longer able to strike down some government decisions. Fears over the effect this and other planned changes could have on Israel’s democracy have driven hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to the streets, and a growing number of military reservists are refusing to report for active duty. Allison Kaplan Sommer is a journalist at Haaretz and host of Haaretz Weekly podcast. Today, she discusses where Israel goes from here, whether the country has fundamentally changed, and what this all means for Palestinians. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is almost entirely different than it was just two days ago. In Wednesday’s shuffle, all but eight of Trudeau’s 38 ministers stepped into new files. Some ministers were forced out after controversial missteps. Other star MPs got bigger economic assignments. And a number of new faces were sworn in from important election regions. Today, Catherine Cullen – the host of CBC’s political podcast The House – returns to explain why Trudeau has transformed his cabinet, and what it says about his strategy to stay in power. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Australia is leading the way on normalizing the use of some psychedelics. The country’s medical regulator has approved M-D-M-A for use for people suffering from PTSD. Regulators in the US – just last month – published guidance into the use of psychedelics for possible use treating some medical conditions. How does a drug, known for its use on the dance floor, make its way to the medicine cabinet? To find out more about all this we have Rachel Nuwer on the pod today. She’s a freelance journalist and the author of “I Feel Love: MDMA and the quest for connection in a fractured world." For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This summer a humanitarian crisis played out on the streets of downtown Toronto. With city and federal shelters at capacity, dozens of asylum seekers resorted to camping on the sidewalk, in the busy entertainment district, sleeping outside in the blistering heat and through thunderstorms, for weeks. Last week, the federal government announced a one-time $212 million dollar injection into an existing program that helps provide temporary housing to refugee claimants. And most of that funding goes to Toronto. But the city’s mayor and the Ontario premier want more funding and resources from Ottawa. While the funding is being negotiated, about 200 asylum seekers are now staying at two churches in North York, thanks to mostly Black-led community organizations and faith groups. Today on Front Burner, producer Shannon Higgins visits one of those churches to hear from the refugee claimants themselves. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Floods, fires, storms and droughts are all upending lives around the globe. And at the centre of it all is a warming planet. Heat – is the driving force. We are living through the Earth’s hottest month on record. Extreme heat has led to flash floods and property destruction in northern Italy and the Balkans, and fueled wildfires in Croatia and Greece. Nova Scotia’s dealing with historic flooding, much of B-C is engulfed in wildfires and parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest territories are under heat warnings. Our guest today warns: heat and the chaos it can unleash is serious and often deadly. Jeff Goodell is a climate reporter and contributing editor of Rolling Stone magazine. He’s also the author of the book The Heat will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Jason Aldean is one of contemporary country radio’s most played voices, and he’s no stranger to controversy. He’s been accused of misogynist comments, worn blackface at Halloween, taken an anti-mask stance during the pandemic and, last year, his wife’s transphobic comments got him dropped by his long-time PR firm. Now, his latest single, “Try That in a Small Town” is facing backlash. Depending on who you ask, it’s either an ode to old-fashioned community values, or a racist dog-whistle. Today, Elamin Abdelmahmoud, the host of CBC’s Commotion, is here to talk about the song, where the controversy is coming from, and how it all connects to a deeper divide that’s hounding country music. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., John F. Kennedy’s nephew, is running for U.S. president. Like his forefathers, he’s vying to lead the Democrats – but his political focus is noticeably different. For decades, RFK Jr. has been spreading false information about vaccines, and has more recently been peddling conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and 5G. Vera Bergengruen, a senior correspondent at TIME, recently interviewed RFK Jr. Today, she explains why RFK is campaigning on conspiracy theories and how he reflects a conspiratorial shift in U.S. society. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Forever Chemicals, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have been around since the 1940s and are used in everything from non-stick pans to take-out containers to cosmetics and fire retardant. But flash-forward to today and the long-lasting, man-made substances have been found inside Canadian blood samples – brought in through the air and dust we breathe, and even in our drinking water. And now the federal government is proposing to list them as toxic. Today on Front Burner, we’re asking why forever chemicals are seemingly everywhere, what can be done about them, and why it’s taken so long for the government to act. Joining us is Miriam Diamond, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Earth Sciences and School of the Environment. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The union representing almost 160,000 actors, SAG-AFTRA, is striking after negotiations fell through with the group representing most major Hollywood studios. The news comes about two months after 11,000 members of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) announced their strike. Studios say the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Crave and Disney+ has caused financial strain. Meanwhile, actors say the shift to streaming has led to decreasing residuals, meaning they aren’t being paid for repeats of films and television shows. They're also concerned about proposals from studios to use their images and likeness in combination with artificial intelligence to create new content without their involvement. Maureen Ryan, a Vanity Fair contributing editor and author of “Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood,” explains why Hollywood actors are striking and what it could mean for the future of television, film and the labour movement as a whole. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It's a well-established scientific fact that humans have had a massive impact on the planet. But has it been big enough to warrant the definition of a new geological epoch? It's an idea that's been hotly debated in the scientific community for years — and now, a group of researchers are arguing that a small lake in rural Ontario provides the best evidence for defining that new epoch. Crawford Lake, about 60 km southwest of Toronto, captures the history of the world in its sediment deposits, calcified like tree rings. Scientists say those layers show dramatic changes starting in the 1950s and that they mark a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene. Canadian Geographic contributing editor Alanna Mitchell explains the latest research, what makes Crawford Lake so special, and why defining the Anthropocene has been causing scientific controversy for more than two decades. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Our brains aren’t wired to save the world. But if you’re ready to make changes that actually stick, 10 Minutes to Save the Planet will show you the way. Co-hosts meteorologist and climate reporter Johanna Wagstaffe and broadcaster Rohit Joseph work through the UN’s 10 actions for a healthy planet, but in a way that won’t shame, overwhelm or bore you. Think of each episode as a bite-size guide to fight climate change, rooted in behavioural therapy. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Gs-5DFiM

It's been a week since protesters began a blockade of the Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg. They're calling on the government to search the Prairie Green landfill — a privately owned dump outside the city — for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, two murdered Indigenous women. But the government says that, despite police believing the two women's remains are there, the site won't be searched, primarily due to safety concerns. But for Cambria Harris, that's not good enough. Her mother Morgan, along with Myran and two other women whose remains were found at the Brady Road landfill, are believed to be the victim of an alleged serial killer, Jeremy Skibicki. He’s been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection to their deaths. In refusing to search the landfill, Harris says the government is perpetuating a long history of systemic racism that has led to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) in Canada. With tensions flaring as the city seeks an injunction to remove the protesters, CBC reporter Josh Crabb takes us inside the story, and where things could be headed next. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There’s a growing chorus of critics of the central bank’s decision to increase interest rates, as things like food and housing are keeping inflation up, and seem largely unaffected by higher rates. This comes as the Bank of Canada increased its key interest rate on Wednesday. It’s the 10th time the central bank has hiked the rate since March, 2022 — bringing it to five per cent. The move is all part of an effort to rein in high inflation, but that has come down significantly since its peak last year. Armine Yalnizyan, economist and the Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers, explains on today’s episode. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

“Boundaries,” “trauma,” “holding space,” “gaslighting” — These are all examples of what’s known as “therapy speak”: Phrases and buzzwords that have made their way out of the therapist’s office, onto social media and into our everyday lives. But what happens when those same words are misunderstood or used in manipulative and harmful ways? That’s what many are asking after Jonah Hill’s ex-girlfriend, professional surfer Sarah Brady, posted screenshots of text messages from their past where the actor allegedly asked her to respect his “boundaries,” which included not posting swimsuit pictures or surfing with men. Today, we sat down with Rebecca Fishbein, a culture writer that’s been following the “therapy speak” phenomenon, to unpack the benefits and pitfalls of relationship discourse in a moment where so many use the language of psychotherapy. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After Twitter caused chaos by limiting how many Tweets users can see, the company behind Instagram and Facebook made a play for its audience last week. On Wednesday, Meta released Threads, an app also centered around short text posts. With its built in connection to Instagram accounts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Threads already has 100 million users. But Threads is already experiencing the same privacy concerns as other apps, and Twitter owner Elon Musk is threatening to sue over intellectual property. Today, Mashable reporter Matt Binder discusses whether it's possible for Threads to truly replace Twitter, and the good and bad of its audience fracturing across the internet. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In two parts of the world, the future of nuclear power plants and their remains are causing alarm for very different reasons. In Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear plant has become a battleground in the war. Further east, Japan is one step closer to releasing 1.32 million tonnes of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown into the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, for many, nuclear power is one of the tools we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. Today, Jim Smith, a Professor of Environmental Science at Portsmouth University joins us to discuss whether nuclear power in an unstable world is a net positive, or a terrifying liability. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canadian nurse and sex educator Sue Johanson, who died last week at 93, was best known for her unapologetic and taboo-breaking advice on radio and TV shows like ‘Sunday Night Sex Show’ and ‘Talk Sex with Sue’ From opening a birth control clinic in a Toronto high school in the ‘70s and traveling school to school teaching sex ed seminars, to becoming a media sensation, Sue made it her mission to destigmatize sexual desire and health, one question at a time. We take a look back at her iconic life and career with her daughter, Jane Johanson, and sex advice columnist, Dan Savage, and explore why her work is even more relevant today. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two months ago, Jerry Martin opened up a shop in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside selling a clean supply of drugs like cocaine and heroin. His store was shut down by B.C. police less than 24 hours later. Last Friday, Martin himself died from a suspected fentanyl overdose. For the last several months, safe supply has been the subject of fiery debate in the House of Commons. Conservatives like Pierre Poilievre say that safe supply policies lead to an increase in drug-related deaths. But many experts and B.C. officials disagree. Today on Front Burner, VICE News reporter Manisha Krishnan discusses the life and legacy of Jerry Martin, as well as the current state of safe supply policies in Canada. Two months ago, Jerry Martin opened up a shop in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside selling a clean supply of drugs like cocaine and heroin. His store was shut down by B.C. police less than 24 hours later. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group’s rebellious march towards Moscow was cut short over a week ago, questions have been swirling about how it could happen and what it reveals about Russia’s stability right now. The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin have been working in overdrive to project an image of calm and control. But behind the scenes, a top general is missing and the military is facing Ukraine’s counteroffensive without Wagner’s crucial support. Is Putin losing his grip on power? Could what happened with The Wagner Group and its leader Prigozhin end up costing Russia the war? The Financial Times’ Polina Ivanova joins us to discuss the aftermath of the mutiny and what could happen next. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It's a Canadian media power play unlike any other: Alphabet and Meta are fighting back against the Canadian government's Bill C-18. And caught in the middle is the news media.  The Online News Act – was supposed to make tech giants pay for posting news stories to their platforms.  Now Google and Meta say they aren't going to pay. Instead — they'll remove Canadian news from their sites and apps. It's a move that will make it more difficult for Canadians to access news. And may very well plummet news companies further into the red. This all comes as news companies are cutting back, looking at mergers, trying to get out of obligations of providing local news to Canadians. Chris Waddell joins Tamara Khandaker to sort through this. He's a former professor at  the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. He's also the publisher at J-Source, a website dedicated to the Canadian media industry. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Canada’s top consumer watchdog, CBC Marketplace looks out for your health, your safety and your money. Hosts Asha Tomlinson and David Common bring you inside eight action-packed investigations, uncovering the truth about popular products and services — and pushing hard for accountability. CBC Marketplace has your back. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/PQR2eJr0

There’s been a lot of buzz about the latest show to fill HBO’s prestigious Sunday night slot, The Idol. Co-created by a team including Euphoria’s Sam Levinson and Canadian pop-icon the Weeknd, the series follows a pop star played by Lily Rose Depp who’s working on her comeback after a mental health crisis. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts But what was initially sold as a sexy satire of the music industry’s dark underbelly has been panned by critics and mocked on the internet. Today, Vox senior correspondent Alex Abad-Santos and Lucy Ford, a culture writer with British GQ, take us through the series so far and why it’s garnering attention for all the wrong reasons.

This month, New Brunswick’s Department of Education announced changes to a policy meant to protect LGBTQ students. As of Saturday, the minister responsible says staff can’t call kids under 16 by their preferred pronouns or names unless they have parental permission, though the actual text of the changes differs. Premier Blaine Higgs has added to the controversy with misleading comments about coming out as transgender being “trendy” and the risks of gender-affirming care. For these changes and a number of Higgs’ past moves, two of his cabinet ministers have resigned, and more than half the party’s riding presidents have signed letters that could trigger a vote on his leadership. Today on Front Burner, CBC New Brunswick reporter Hadeel Ibrahim and provincial affairs reporter Jacques Poitras explain the upheaval amoung LGBTQ advocates and Higgs’ own MLAs, and the fears for backsliding of rights beyond the province. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

When Matthew Michel was 14, he was subject to a device called the Wrap for the first time, while in youth detention in Saskatchewan. It’s essentially a series of straps that bound his torso, legs and ankles. A shoulder harness would keep his body in a forward-sitting position, with his hands cuffed behind his back and clipped in. According to provincial records, Michel was in the Wrap 12 times. CBC investigative journalist Joseph Loiero talks about Michel’s story, wider concerns about the Wrap itself, and what its use might say about Canada’s youth detention system. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Gurduwara leader and Khalistani separatist advocate, was gunned down in his car just outside his temple last week after evening prayers. Now, as investigators search for two suspects and a possible motive, some in the Sikh community are saying they think the Indian government could have been behind it. The killing comes after similar murders of Sikh leaders over the past year in Canada and abroad. Independent journalist Gurpreet Singh joins us to talk about who Nijjar was, why he was afraid for his life and how this incident could impact the separatist movement and the greater Sikh community. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After the Wagner Group’s leader made threats against Russian military leadership on Friday, Wagner mercenaries came over the border from Ukraine, captured a military headquarters, and marched toward the capital. The world discussed whether a coup was unfolding. But after just 36 hours of rebellion, Belarus announced it had brokered a deal for the Wagner Group to turn around, and for its leader to leave the country unscathed. It was a confusing end to a chaotic insurgency. Today, Washington Post reporter Mary Ilyushina returns to discuss why the Wagner Group stopped, why President Vladimir Putin was so soft on a “mutiny,” and what this could mean for the future of the Kremlin and the conflict in Ukraine. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

From the host that brought you The Band Played On, The Banned Teacher is a new investigation, in a different city. He says it was consensual sex. She says it was rape. He was her music teacher. She was a teen. And it wasn't just once, with one girl. He had sex with students in closets, classrooms, and cars. The Banned Teacher begins with one victim's search for justice but turns into a full investigation by host Julie Ireton. Warning: This series contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/2atEYzri

Skyrocketing housing costs, decaying infrastructure, anxiety over public safety and budgets stretched thin. On June 26, Canada’s biggest city goes to the polls to decide who will lead Toronto’s approximately two-and-half-million residents amidst all these issues and more. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts A lot of the problems that the Toronto mayoral candidates are going to have to confront are felt in cities across the country. Today on Front Burner, CBC Toronto municipal affairs reporter, Shawn Jeffords, discusses the problems Toronto’s facing and how the big names in the mayoral race are saying they’ll tackle them.

Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard officials are undertaking a desperate search in a vast swath of the North Atlantic, after five men in a small sub embarked on a risky dive to the wreck of the Titanic, 3,800 metres below the surface. Passengers each paid $250,000 for a spot in the cramped submersible, which has no chairs, one small portal, a consumer-grade gaming controller to operate the vessel, and a limited amount of oxygen to sustain life. On this episode, Timothy Bella, a national reporter with the Washington Post, shares the latest details of the search, the expedition that’s gone awry, and the company offering the pricey opportunity for tourists to see the Titanic for themselves, OceanGate. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In recent years, Pride Month has seen a flood of corporations using rainbow logos and products to show LGBTQ support. Whether the brands are being helpful or opportunistic has been cause for debate. But this year, amidst a wave of hate against queer and trans people, boycotts and threats are leading some brands to walk back their Pride marketing and merch. Today, Xtra Magazine senior editor Mel Woods discusses whether corporate support for Pride matters, and what brands giving in to homophobic demands could signal about rising hatred. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

To the frustration and hurt of the families of Paul Bernardo’s victims, the notorious rapist and murderer has been moved from a maximum security prison to a medium security one. Conservatives are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene and move Bernardo back to a maximum security facility. They also want Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to resign over how his office handled information about the transfer. Ashley Burke is a senior reporter at the CBC’s Parliamentary Bureau. She’s been looking into how the Liberals handled Bernardo’s move and the controversy that has followed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There’s a growing sense that the internet – or at least the big sites we use all the time like Amazon, Facebook and Google – is becoming worse. Instead of seeing what’s best for us at the top of our searches, we’re seeing more and more of what makes the tech giant the most money pop to the top. Cory Doctorow calls it ‘Enshittification.’ He explains how it works. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Before his death, John Lennon recorded a demo of a new song, "Now and Then" on a cassette. His Beatles bandmates later tried to repurpose it for release, but abandoned the project in part because of the poor voice quality. This week, Paul McCartney revealed that, 43 years after Lennon's death, the song will drop – thanks to AI technology. It's just the latest example of artificial intelligence's increasing presence in the music industry. Fake Drake songs, AI-generated Kanye covers and posthumous Biggie collabs have raised alarm about copyright, and existential questions about songwriting and creativity. Today, Saroja Coelho speaks with the host of Vulture's Switched on Pop podcast, Charlie Harding, about what the technology means for the music industry and art itself. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, Silvio Berlusconi died at the age of 86. He served as Italy’s prime minister three separate times, leaving a permanent mark on the country’s politics, media, and culture. Berlusconi created an empire for himself, based on money, sex and a willingness to push legal limits — and in many ways, he created a template for billionaire populist political leaders. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts On this episode, Alexander Stille, professor of journalism at Columbia University and the author of The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken Over by a Man named Silvio Berlusconi, discusses how Berlusconi changed Italy and the world.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 37 federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. CBC’s Washington Correspondent Alex Panetta explains the evidence against him and the ramifications of this case for the next presidential election. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As smoke from wildfires in Ontario and Quebec blanketed the nation’s capital early last week, air quality advisories caused residents to wear masks and kids to stay inside for recess. Most debate in the House of Commons, however, remained around the economy and inflation – including arguments that climate change measures should be stopped or curtailed. Smoke and burning skies in Toronto, New York, Philadelphia and Washington have since sparked international conversations about our changing climate. Today, CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry joins us to discuss why – even as Canada itself burns – our environmental policy debate continues to stagnate around the merits of carbon taxes. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After more than eight weeks of fighting, the power struggle between two rival military groups continues in Sudan. The conflict has turned the capital of Khartoum into a battleground. With hundreds of civilians killed and thousands wounded, people are migrating en masse to bordering countries in search of safety. Tens of thousands of people have headed southward into South Sudan, the world’s poorest nation. CBC News Foreign Correspondent Chris Brown spent several days at the border between the two countries. Today, he joins us to share what he learned from refugees and humanitarian workers about concerns the conflict’s spillover effects could destabilize an already vulnerable region. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For many of us, coffee is an essential part of our day. So what impact is it having on us, beyond just waking us up in the morning? To try to answer that question, Dr. Brian Goldman from the CBC podcast The Dose speaks to Thomas Merritt, a geneticist and professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/AogMj1Af

MPs have just a couple weeks before Parliament is set to break for the summer, but there’s still a lot going on in Ottawa. David Johnston continues to fend off calls to step aside as special rapporteur on foreign interference, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre is signalling Conservatives will continue to protest the Liberals’ budget in the Senate, despite its passage in the House of Commons, and the People’s Party of Canada leader is trying to make his return to the Parliament. On this episode, guest host Saroja Coelho dives into the top political stories with Catherine Cullen, host of the CBC political podcast, The House. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The biggest crypto exchange in the world is being sued by an American regulator accusing Binance and its Canadian billionaire founder of breaking a string of laws and misusing investor funds. Changpeng Zhao and his company say they will fight back “vigorously.” Today on Front Burner, Jacob Silverman, who you may know from our podcast The Naked Emperor, joins us to talk about what all this means for crypto’s future. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There are two rent strikes underway in Toronto, where some tenants have organized and are withholding rent to protest against above-guideline rent increases. But the strategy carries serious risks – including potential eviction. Today, we hear from one tenant in Thorncliffe Park on why he’s taking part in the strike, and Ricardo Tranjan of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives talks more about the radical tactic, and tenant organizing in Canada. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Forest fire season has come in with a bang. A record-setting blaze in Nova Scotia, plus sprawling fires in Alberta and now Quebec have claimed homes and forced tens of thousands to flee. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned this week federal modeling shows we’re entering an especially severe wildfire season. He also pledged the Canadian government would be there with “whatever it takes to keep people safe, and provide support.” But do we have the capacity? What is the plan to fight the fires of the future? Wildfire ecologist Robert Gray explains why Canada should get on a “war footing” to address these climate-change enhanced super-fires. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Warning: This story contains anti-trans comments and deals with suicide. Today on Front Burner, CBC investigative reporter Jonathan Montpetit goes inside a fundamentalist Christian movement deeply conservative in its social values and radical in its ideas for reform – one that came together in the pandemic, and has since joined the backlash to LGBTQ rights. You can read more on this story at cbc.ca/1.6793677 This documentary was produced by Jonathan Montpetit and Julia Pagel at CBC’s Audio Doc Unit. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Earlier this month, one of football’s brightest stars was targeted with an unprecedented amount of racist abuse during a game. Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior — the heir to the throne of Brazilian football — was called a monkey and abused with monkey noises by tens of thousands of fans during a game in Spain’s La Liga. But rather than punish those abusing the athlete, it was Vinicius who was shown a red card. In the aftermath of the incident, everyone from the Spanish press to the president of the Spanish football league seemed to blame the victim of the racist attack, rather than his attackers. On this episode, guest host Jodie Martinson talks to sports journalist Shireen Ahmed about one of the brightest stars in world sports, but also about the broader tradition of racism in soccer, and why it remains an ugly issue in the beautiful game. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Ukraine has been dealt some blows in the last month. Kyiv has seen the most air strikes since the start of the war, and the city of Bakhmut is almost entirely occupied by the Russians. However, a shift could be coming. After receiving billions of dollars worth of international military aid, Ukraine may be ready to launch its much anticipated spring counteroffensive. And after a drone strike hit an apartment block in a Moscow suburb, some are asking whether it’s already underway. Plus, tensions between the powerful mercenary organisation, The Wagner Group, and the Kremlin are increasing, after more than 20,000 of their soldiers were killed in Bakhmut. Could Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin be a threat to Putin’s leadership? Paul Adams, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, has been watching this all closely and helps us make sense of the latest developments — and where the war in Ukraine could be headed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Orcas ramming boats and chewing on rudders pierced the hull of a yacht near Spain last week. They've also brought down three vessels in the surrounding waters in the last year. Many experts are suggesting the killer whales could be playing. Others have wondered whether a matriarch named White Gladis could be teaching her pod the behaviour, following a traumatic incident with a ship. The internet, meanwhile, can't stop joking about the orcas taking revenge on humanity. If this is a case of psychological projection, it might be because orcas have reason to be mad at us. Today, Raincoast Conservation Foundation senior scientist Peter Ross tells us about the health of the orca population including the one we understand best, the Southern Resident killer whales near our west coast, and discusses why humans see so much of themselves in these neighbours. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Danielle Smith and her United Conservative Party have been returned to power in Alberta, as voters reject the NDP and Rachel Notley's vision for the province. Smith overcame a slew of stumbles and hiccups in her first seven months as premier, and won over enough people to secure another four years in control for her party. On this episode, CBC Calgary's Jason Markusoff shares his analysis of how Smith won, what it means for Alberta, and for the rest of the country. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

COVID-19 disrupted almost everything about our lives when it struck. Now, as the WHO says the global emergency over the novel virus is over, how dangerous is the virus and what will it be like to live with it into the future? Helen Branswell is a world-respected reporter who has spent her career writing about infectious disease and global health. She writes for STAT News and takes us through the latest science. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Argentina's annual inflation rate reached a staggering 104.3 per cent in March. It's one of the highest rates in the world, resulting in a cost-of-living crisis for many in the country. It's not a new problem in Argentina, where the market has been volatile for decades, especially during the 1980s debt crisis.From bartering to stocking up on goods before inflation spikes, Argentines have found inventive ways to cope with this economic reality. But there's also been growing discontent with the government, and the country's relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — especially as a general election approaches this fall. This episode from Nothing is foreign looks at how people on the ground deal with this sky-high inflation rate, the historical conditions that led to this and what happens to a society when it's trapped in a cycle of debt and austerity. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/M-fZk-5h

It’s been nearly four years since Jeffrey Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Yet more of his ties to the world’s rich and powerful are still being uncovered, and attempts to obtain some measure of accountability continue. One route is through Epstein’s former bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., which is currently embroiled in two lawsuits, including one from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein kept an estate. The Virgin Islands has issued subpoenas to a number of billionaires in connection with the case – including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and more recently, embattled Tesla CEO Elon Musk. And there are new revelations about Epstein’s relationship with Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates. Today, Wall Street Journal reporter David Benoit speaks with guest host Alex Panetta about these lawsuits, Epstein’s history with America’s biggest bank and what we’re still learning about the convicted sex offender’s web, years after his death. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As some prospective home buyers watched prices climb to dozens of times their income during the pandemic, they pinned their hopes of ownership on a market crash. And for nearly a year starting last April, prices did fall – in Toronto, the average price of a home dropped about 18%. But now, for the last two months, prices have been on the rise again. So with houses still historically unaffordable, what would it take for Canada’s home prices to drop or crash toward affordability, and would the economic damage do more harm than low prices can help? Today, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives senior economist Marc Lee explains the paths that remain to ownership for the low and middle class. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Former governor general David Johnston — now serving as a special rapporteur — says a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections would not satisfy the public, because so much of the material is classified and can’t be shared. Will the decision to reject a public inquiry on foreign interference in Canadian elections darken the cloud of mistrust, or help clear it? On this episode, David Fraser, a reporter with the Canadian Press, details what Johnston is recommending instead of an inquiry. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Violent crime is up in Canada. The country’s homicide rate jumped 42 per cent from 2013 to 2021, and attacks have increased on public transit. With crime in the headlines, public safety has become a real concern for many Canadians. Last week, federal Justice Minister David Lametti introduced new bail-reform legislation to address that anxiety. If passed, Bill C-48 would make it more difficult for some repeat violent offenders to get released from prison on bail. But reviews for the plan are mixed. Today, CBC parliamentary bureau reporter JP Tasker and Vancouver-based criminal defence lawyer Kyla Lee take us through the Liberals’ bail reform legislation and the political pressure campaign that preceded it. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

If laughter really was the best medicine, Gavin Crawford would have cured his mother of Alzheimer’s disease. As a son, his mother’s dementia has been devastating. As a comedian though…it’s been sort of funny. Honestly, how do you respond when your mom confuses you with her teenage crush and wants you to take her to the high-school dance? Well, you laugh. Because it’s the only thing you can do. In this seven-part series, Gavin tells the story of losing his mother — his best friend and the inspiration for a lot of his comedy — to a disease that can be as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. He’s joined by comedian friends who share their experience caring for family members with dementia. The result is a cross between an improv act and a support group. Part memoir, part stand-up, part meditation on grief and loss, Let’s Not Be Kidding is a dose of the very best medicine for anyone dealing with hard times. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/bBtOceaA

Not all Canadian history happens in Canada. Over 70 years ago, nearly 30,000 Canadians volunteered to fight in the Korean War. It was the third-deadliest overseas conflict in Canada’s military history — so why is it often referred to as “The Forgotten War”? In this episode from The Secret Life of Canada, friend of the pod and producer Eunice Kim joins in to explore what led to the conflict, why Canada got involved, the lasting impact of a war that technically never ended, and how some Korean Canadians are making sure we never forget. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/34eva0d5

This week, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed yet another bill targeting the state’s education system into law. In this case, the law will defund state college programs that encourage diversity in higher education and limit the discussion of race in many courses. Under his leadership, Florida has become the epicentre of the culture war in America — a struggle that often focuses on classrooms and public education. On this episode, guest host Matthew Amha speaks with Alex Ingram, a high school teacher who taught in Jacksonville, Florida, for a decade, before deciding that teaching there had become untenable. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, Vice Media filed for bankruptcy. According to reports, the company may be bought for $225 million, plus its sizable debt. At its peak not long ago, Vice was valued at nearly $6 billion. It was shaping the media landscape, had a huge influence on culture, fashion, and how to draw young audiences to news stories around the world. On this episode, Reeves Wiedeman, writer with New York Magazine, explains how Vice rose to such stunning heights, and what contributed to its downfall. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Albertans are suffering an unprecedented wildfire season. Tens of thousands have been evacuated out of the path of massive blazes. Across the province, skies are smoky and air quality is poor. Author John Vaillant is watching it unfold with a terrifying comprehension of the science of these super fires and just how dangerous they can be. He has spent years investigating what happened in 2016 when parts of Fort McMurray burned to the ground. His new book, ‘Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast,’ explains why the fires we battle today are hotter, faster and more destructive than the fires of before. He joins Alex Panetta for a conversation about the future of fire in our changing climate. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For a year and a half, almost 50,000 migrants had walked into Canada via Quebec’s Roxham Road to seek asylum. Then, at midnight on the morning of March 25th, Roxham Road – and the immigration loophole that made it a famous irregular border crossing – effectively closed. CBC Montreal reporter Verity Stevenson has been speaking to migrants who arrived at Roxham soon after the change, only to suddenly discover their journey would be cut short. Today, she brings us their stories, as well as what she saw in towns south of the U.S. border that are hosting hundreds of asylum seekers rejected from Canada. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto had their worst month on record in March: more people used their services than at any other time in their 40-year history. This, at a time when Canada’s unemployment rate is at a near-record low. The situation is similarly dire at food banks across the country. So today on Front Burner, producer Imogen Birchard heads out to a food bank in Etobicoke, to find out who’s using the service now and what’s driving them there. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

When it comes to classic video games, there are names everyone’s heard of. There's Mario. Donkey Kong. And of course there’s the Legend of Zelda. The game made its pixelated debut over thirty-five years ago and, in the decades since, the Zelda series has come to represent the spirit of adventure for millions of gamers. But, six years ago, the influential franchise managed to outdo itself with the release of Breath of the Wild – a game that redefined gaming for the modern age by giving players unparalleled control and creativity. Today, the long-awaited sequel is out. Lucy James, a senior video producer for Gamespot and Giant Bomb, joins Front Burner to explain the hype of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the series’ influence on the highest grossing industry in entertainment. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Shortly after George Santos was elected to Congress in 2022, the New York Times found that he had fabricated almost every aspect of his life story – personally and professionally.  On Wednesday, this once rising star was hit with 13 charges including fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds. Santos, echoing the words of former President Donald Trump, calls it a "witch hunt." Despite calls for him to resign, he vows to continue to serve in Congress and pledges he will run again in 2024.  Today, Washington Post national reporter Azi Paybarah joins us to explain Santos' lies, the criminal charges he now faces, and how the American political star-making machine can sometimes attract fraudsters. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A growing crisis between Canada and China has led to the expulsion of diplomats from both countries, following revelations that a Chinese official reportedly targeted Canadian MP Michael Chong’s family. CBC parliamentary reporter Catharine Tunney joins Front Burner to sort through what happened to Chong, what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government knew about the 2021 incident, and how the two countries are now handling it. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The weather turned hot suddenly this year in Alberta and it is already remarkably dry. Wildfires, some burning out of control, have forced people to flee their homes, triggered a provincial state of emergency, and now there’s a request for the military to move in. CBC Edmonton host and producer Nancy Carlson is no stranger to wildfires in her home province. She covered the 2016 fires that swept Fort McMurray. She was evacuated last week when fires threatened her neighbourhood. Nancy explains what led to this season and how Albertans like her are managing with the threat of what’s already being called an ‘unprecedented’ fire season. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Artificial intelligence is developing at such a rapid pace that leading figures in the field are warning about the mortal threats of losing control. Among the trio known collectively as the “godfathers of artificial intelligence,” two researchers – both Canadian – are calling out the economic, ethical and existential risks of the tech they pioneered. University of Toronto scientist Geoffrey Hinton recently announced he’d quit his job at Google to speak out, and Yoshua Bengio is calling to pause the development of powerful AI systems like GPT-4. Today, Bengio joins us to explain the near-term dangers of AI, and what it would take for the tech to be a threat to humanity. Bengio is a professor at Université de Montréal and scientific director at Mila - Quebec AI institute. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Saturday, pomp, circumstance and royal wealth will be on display in the official crowning ceremony of King Charles III. The ceremony’s estimated price tag is 100 million pounds and comes at a time when so many people are struggling to put food on the table. This has led to questions about just how wealthy the royal family is and why they aren’t footing the bill. Reporter David Pegg has worked with The Guardian on a comprehensive investigative series into the royal finances called Cost of the Crown. Today, he takes us through where the monarchy gets its money, explains the secrecy around the Windsor fortune and breaks down the confusion about what belongs to the royals and what belongs to Britain. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday at midnight, over 11,000 television and film writers with the Writers’ Guild of America officially went on strike. The strike has triggered a sense of déjà vu in the TV world, in part because Saturday Night Live and late night talk shows are headed into reruns. But it’s also rekindling memories of the last major work stoppage in Hollywood: the 100 day writers’ strike in 2007 which caused a boom in reality TV and – by some estimates – cost the California economy over $2 billion USD. Lucas Shaw covers media and entertainment for Bloomberg, and today he’ll explain why writers are striking in an industry changed by streaming, and what parallels exist with other job action happening across the economy. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced new measures to get more police “boots on the ground,” including covering the costs of mandatory training and scrapping the post-secondary education requirement to be hired as an officer. Ford has also been making headlines for his plans for the redevelopment of a parcel of public land on Toronto’s waterfront which include a sprawling private spa. Today, provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley brings guest host Alex Panetta up to speed on both issues, and discusses the role Ford could play in Toronto’s upcoming mayoral election. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Pras Michel, the rapper known for being one third of the famed ‘90s-era group, the Fugees, has been convicted of 10 criminal counts connected to a web of international political influence, conspiracy, and embezzlement. As Front Burner guest Michael Ames wrote for Rolling Stone magazine, the wild story of includes former U.S. president Barack Obama, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and a wealthy Malaysian fugitive. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two women who have both served as Alberta premier are the leading candidates in a tight race to run the province. The United Conservative Party’s Danielle Smith, is facing rival Rachel Notley of the NDP. Elise von Scheel, provincial affairs reporter for CBC Calgary, explains why the race is shaping up to be a very close one. And how the changing demographics of Calgary could be a huge factor. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For more than a year the possibility of peace in Ukraine has seemed out of reach. But this week, a new world leader stepped in with an offer to mediate. After months of waiting, this week Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone. Zelensky described the call as "meaningful" and as a potential step toward the elusive goal of peace. China says it plans to help facilitate communication between Russia and Ukraine. Emma Graham-Harrison is the senior international affairs correspondent for The Guardian and The Observer. She has lived in China and is currently reporting from Ukraine. Today, she takes us through what Xi Jinping is proposing, whether China could bring peace to Ukraine and whether there is reason to be skeptical.

Two years ago, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the creator and star of the show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, bought Wrexham AFC. The small Welsh soccer team had been languishing in the lowest possible division of football in the U.K. This week, the team celebrated a triumphant victory that earned it promotion out of the game’s backwater. On this episode, Richard Sutcliffe, a writer for The Athletic covering Wrexham AFC, discusses how the Hollywood touch has helped turn the relatively obscure team into a global sensation. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For over seven years on Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight leveraged immigration, vaccines and racial tensions to divide viewers’ worlds into “us” and “them”. Carlson became a kingmaker who could make or break Republican primary campaigns or set the policy agenda. Then, this week, the show’s incendiary reign atop cable news ended, when Fox News sent him packing. Today on Front Burner, New York Times political and investigative reporter Nicholas Confessore explains the political transformation that informed the world of Tucker Carlson Tonight, and what could be next for one of the most powerful voices in right-wing politics. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This episode deals with details of violence. In August 2015, 33-year-old Myles Gray was making a delivery for his wholesale florist business in B.C. when he confronted a woman who was watering her lawn in the midst of an extended drought. The police were called. Within an hour, Gray – who was unarmed – was dead. His list of injuries – including a fractured voice box, several broken bones, brain hemorrhaging and a ruptured testicle – was so extensive that forensic experts could not pinpoint the exact cause of death. The officers involved are speaking publicly for the first time since Gray’s death at a coroner’s inquest. CBC’s Rhianna Schmunk joins guest host Alex Panetta to explain what we’re learning about what happened to Myles Gray, and his family’s hopes for answers and accountability. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

According to new reporting on the trove of leaked documents known as the ‘Pentagon Leaks,’ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau privately told NATO officials that Canada will never meet a two per cent defense-spending target. A secret document, accessed by the Washington Post, also details criticisms leveled at Canada by its NATO allies. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts On this episode, Amanda Coletta, who covers Canada for the Washington Post, discusses what the leaks mean for Canada’s military standing among its peers, and what shortcomings have been identified by those allies. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The concept of 15-minute cities — where a person’s daily needs in a city are accessible within a 15-minute walk, bike or transit ride from their home — is a few years old. It’s been picked up by many cities to guide urban planning and design. But in recent months, the 15-minute city idea has also been seized on by people who fear it’s an elaborate conspiracy to limit individual freedoms, mobility, and to create barricaded sectors to keep them trapped. In this episode, Tiffany Hsu, a reporter who covers disinformation for the New York Times, breaks down the actual idea, where it came from, and how it got twisted into a dystopian conspiracy. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Picket lines have been set up at major government buildings and ministers' offices across the country as more than a hundred thousand public servants go on strike. After nearly two years of bargaining without a contract, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says Ottawa has failed to propose a reasonable agreement and wage increases that keep apace with inflation. But the government says the union's demands are untenable. Meanwhile, Canadians could see delays in accessing government services as passport office workers, immigration processing staff and most Canada Revenue Agency employees will be off the job in the biggest labour action the federal government has seen in nearly 20 years. Today, J.P. Tasker, a reporter with CBC's parliamentary bureau, walks us through the points of contention, how the government is responding and the possible consequences. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Fox News is the most watched news network in the United States. In the days after the 2020 Presidential election, it broadcasted Donald Trump’s ‘Big Lie”: that the election was stolen from him and voting machines were partly to blame. The company that makes some of those voting machines, Dominion Voting, pushed back suing Fox for defamation and settling for $787-million. Today, CBC’s Washington-based correspondent Alex Panetta takes us through what court filings revealed about how Fox’s most powerful people knew they were telling their audience was untrue, but did it anyway for ratings. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This year alone, hundreds of new laws targeting trans people have been introduced by Republicans in the United States. Many of them make it harder for doctors to provide gender-affirming care for young people, or ban it completely. On this episode, Ryan Sallans, a transgender author and consultant focused on gender diversity based in Nebraska, and Dr. Hussein Abdul-Latif, an endocrinologist who works with trans kids in Alabama, discuss the impact of the new bills. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has been pulled into the ongoing controversy surrounding allegations of Chinese meddling in Canadian elections. Last week, the foundation’s president and board of directors resigned en masse, saying in a media statement that “the circumstances created by the politicization of the foundation have made it impossible to continue with the status quo.” Today, Catherine Cullen explains how a $140,000 donation to the foundation in 2016 led to these resignations, the implications of the ongoing controversy, and the calls for further investigation. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, classified U.S. military documents largely about the Ukraine war started circulating around the internet and making headlines. But the files appear to have started out on Discord, a platform mostly known for its popularity with gamers, where some were posted months ago. And by Thursday afternoon, the FBI had swooped into a North Dighton, Massachusetts home and arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Today, Julian Borger, a Washington-based world affairs editor with the Guardian, takes us through how and why this leak may have come out, how it compares to past ones and the real world consequences of the breach. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Ten years ago this week, Justin Trudeau took over the Liberals’ top job. He won it in a landslide. In his acceptance speech to the excited room, Trudeau swore that unlike Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, he heard Canadians’ pleas for something better, and vowed that he was going to devote his leadership to addressing the issues of “the millions upon millions of middle class Canadians and the millions more who work hard to join the middle class.” Now, a decade into Trudeau’s tenure, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is arguing that far from getting better, “everything feels broken.” Today on Front Burner, CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry looks back at the Trudeau of ten years ago, compares him to where he’s at today, and talks about what it means for his political future. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last weekend The Super Mario Bros. Movie had the biggest global opening weekend for an animated movie ever. The story of how Nike brought the world Air Jordans is also raking it in at the box office. And the internet was abuzz last week after the teaser trailer for Barbie dropped. It all begs the question: when did Hollywood movies start looking like a ten year old's Christmas list circa 1993? Host of CBC Radio's Commotion, Elamin Abdelmahmoud, joins us to dig into this growing trend of movies about products. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In late September of 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines — which supply Russian natural gas to Germany and the rest of Europe via the Baltic Sea — were hit by a series of underwater explosions. Against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing tensions that have resulted, officials soon concluded that it was an act of intentional sabotage. But by whom? More than half a year later, there's still no clear answer. Today, Washington Post reporter Shane Harris takes us inside this high-stakes whodunnit, explaining the various theories, and the evidence supporting or undercutting them — and how it all hinges on an unassuming 50-foot sailing yacht known as the Andromeda. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Sam Bankman-Fried couldn’t have marketed FTX to the masses on his own. He had help – from the institutional investors who brought in the big bucks, to the celebrity endorsers who told the public that FTX was “a safe and easy way to get into crypto.” One FTX brand ambassador was Kevin O’Leary, from the reality show Shark Tank. Host Jacob Silverman questions O’Leary about his due diligence before accepting the multimillion dollar endorsement deal. We also hear from everyday investors and hopeful beneficiaries of SBF’s charitable largesse and learn how their hopes were dashed on the rocks of alleged fraud. Zooming out, we learn that a lot of people may be responsible for what happened to FTX and that the losses, especially in a big alleged financial fraud scheme, can reverberate widely. Fourteen years into the crypto experiment, we survey the damage and the successes, and ask what we can learn from the disaster that Sam Bankman-Fried left in his wake. For more episodes of The Naked Emperor, check out its podcast feed: https://link.chtbl.com/uXdCyMR8 For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the weeks after FTX filed for bankruptcy Sam stuck to his story: he did not commit fraud. FTX’s post-collapse CEO claimed the company had been a managerial and financial disaster, writing that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.” In response to his cratering public image, Sam Bankman-Fried talked. A lot. He exhibited an almost reckless desire to tell his side of things, insisting he could explain – and vindicate – himself. It was an exceptionally bizarre move for someone who had lost not just his personal fortune, but potentially the funds of millions of customers. Even as U.S. prosecutors filed charges, and his former friends turned on him, SBF was unwavering. With the legal odds against him, why would SBF risk so much by refusing to shut up? Update: Since this episode was published, U.S. prosecutors have added a new charge against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing him of conspiring to bribe one or more Chinese government officials. The charge has not been proven in court. For more episodes of The Naked Emperor, check out its podcast feed: https://link.chtbl.com/uXdCyMR8 For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Vancouver is just one of many cities in Canada in the middle of a housing affordability crisis. This week, B.C. Premier David Eby floated a new plan that would mean some big changes. In Greater Vancouver, the benchmark price for a single family home is over $1.8 million, and rents have gone up too. An average 2-bedroom apartment rents for $2,000 a month – if you can find one, with vacancy rates around one per cent. Today, Mike Moffatt, an Assistant Professor at the Ivey Business School at Western University, takes us through B.C.’s new plan and whether the policy could provide a roadmap for the rest of the country. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A leaked phone conversation between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and a pastor facing pandemic-related charges is raising questions about potential political interference. During the call, Smith tells the pastor she will discuss his case with justice officials. Smith has continuously denied that she or her office engaged in any inappropriate conduct regarding COVID prosecutions. Today, the CBC’s Jason Markusoff joins the show to talk about the leaked call, and the political implications in the leadup to a closely contested Alberta election. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Editor’s Note: This segment follows a Jan. 19, 2023 story that has been updated. As detailed in the Editor’s Note accompanying that story, while Crown prosecutors felt political pressure, CBC could not substantiate the content of emails referenced here or confirm their existence. Read the full note here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-premier-office-emails-prosecutors-coutts-1.6719743

Poor communication, a victim treated as a suspect and a police force that was unprepared — these are some conclusions about the RCMP’s handling of Canada’s deadliest mass shooting. Today’s guest, Angela MacIvor, an investigative journalist with CBC Nova Scotia, talks about how more than half of the commission's 130 recommendations focus on the RCMP, and asks whether the force will be forced to implement real change. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has faced multiple investigations, into claims of election interference in Georgia, his handling of classified material, and his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. But it’s the investigation into a hush money payment made to the porn star Stormy Daniels that has made him the first former President in U.S. history to face criminal charges. Today on Front Burner, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta walks host Jayme Poisson through the potential implications of this extraordinary development. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

We return to the beginning of Sam Bankman-Fried’s lucrative foray into crypto and ask: how did it all fall apart? Sam Bankman-Fried rose to the top of the crypto world with help from his friends. Gary Wang was a former fellow math-camper and brilliant programmer; Caroline Ellison was a former colleague at an elite Wall Street firm and an avid LARPer on the side. While still in their twenties, they were entrusted with billions of dollars of customer and investor funds. But in retrospect there were signs that maybe their enormous fortunes weren't created simply through their supposed technological and financial genius. For more episodes of The Naked Emperor, check out its podcast feed: https://link.chtbl.com/uXdCyMR8 For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Pride Nights began in the NHL about ten years ago. They're meant to send a clear message to LGBTQ+ fans to feel welcome spending money and time watching hockey. But since January, a growing number of teams and players are refusing to wear the rainbow-themed jerseys teams use for warm up skates and then auction off to charity. Some players say wearing the jersey is against their faith. Some teams have said they're concerned Russia would see participation as a violation of Putin's anti-gay laws and that would put their Russian players at risk. Now, league commissioner Gary Bettman says the league will need to decide whether Pride Nights should continue. Mark Lazerus writes about hockey for The Athletic. He says the NHL is failing to show leadership in this latest crisis of culture. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets and union strikes disrupted everything from flights to hospitals in Israel this week, as nearly three months of demonstrations reached a new intensity. The protests began in January, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government announced plans for a judicial overhaul that would curtail the Supreme Court’s powers. Netanyahu agreed to pause the legislation on Monday. But does that mean he’s looking for consensus, or just waiting for the fervour to die down? Today, Atlantic staff writer Yair Rosenberg returns to explain how Israel reached this democratic crossroads, and the paths that remain out of it. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

TikTok is facing tough questions from many western democracies about the personal data it gathers and who has access to it. The app’s parent company is based in China and now US politicians want to make sure the country’s government can’t get access to Americans’ personal information. They aren’t liking the answers they’re getting. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Toronto-area MP Han Dong is denying allegations that he worked against the release of ‘the two Michaels’ in 2021. His denial comes in the wake of a story from Global News that alleges Dong advised a senior Chinese diplomat in Toronto to delay the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians being held in Chinese detention. Meanwhile, calls for a public inquiry into foreign election interference grow louder. Today, CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton brings us up to speed on the latest escalation in allegations of Chinese government interference in Canadian affairs. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Sam Bankman-Fried wasn't like other crypto moguls: he drove a Toyota Corolla, he was an advocate for government regulation, he said he would give billions away to charity. That is, until he lost it all in what has been called “one of history’s greatest-ever destructions of wealth.” In episode 1 of Front Burner’s first spin off podcast series — The Naked Emperor — host Jacob Silverman, co-author of a forthcoming book about crypto and fraud, takes a closer look at the hype around SBF and FTX, and how it only grew, even as other crypto companies crashed around them. How powerful was Sam Bankman-Fried? And how did he initially manage to hang on, to thrive even, as other giants tumbled towards bankruptcy? For more episodes of The Naked Emperor, check out its podcast feed: https://link.chtbl.com/uXdCyMR8

Front Burner is a daily news podcast from CBC that explores the big stories of the day with curiosity and an open mind. Hosted by award-winning investigative journalist Jayme Poisson who takes you deep into the narratives shaping Canada and the world.

Twenty years ago this week, a US military campaign called ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ began in the skies over Iraq’s capital, Badgdad. Overnight, cruise missiles were launched, and by the next morning coalition forces, led by the United States, were on the ground beginning their invasion of Iraq. Today, Mustafa Salim, a reporter with the Washington Post’s Baghdad bureau, reflects on the 20-year legacy of the US-led coalition’s invasion of Iraq, the great lie that facilitated war, and the chaos it all created. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Thousands of protesters hit the streets of Paris with renewed anger this week, as an unpopular raise to France’s retirement age became law. President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced plans to shift the age from 62 to 64 in January. Since then, demonstrations across France have included strikes from rail workers and garbage collectors, leading to piles of trash growing in Paris. On Monday, his government survived a resulting no-confidence motion by only nine votes. Today, New York Times correspondent Catherine Porter joins us to explain France’s unique identity of work-life balance, and the globally relevant reasons Macron risked his future to delay the country’s retirement. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the last two weeks, four banks in the United States and one in Europe have either found themselves teetering on the brink or completely collapsed. In response, other private banks and governments all over the world have rushed to try to contain the potential financial contagion. On Sunday, the central banks of Canada, the US, Asia and Europe all agreed to increase money available, which in turn would help banks lend more to each other so they can stay afloat. Today on Front Burner, we are talking to Canadian Jim Stanford. Just how bad this financial crisis could get? How comparable will it be to the 2008 recession? And will this mean for the average Canadian? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been less than a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and now abortions are banned in 13 states. And in several other states, abortion is prohibited after a certain length of pregnancy. But now the new frontier in the legal fight is all about the abortion pill as a Texas judge weighs arguments from anti-abortion groups who are suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These groups want the judge to order the FDA to withdraw its two decades-long approval of a drug called mifepristone that’s used in abortion pills. If this happens, it could curtail access to abortion pills across the entire country. Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California’s Davis School of Law, shares her thoughts on this case and other efforts that are contributing to the uncertain legal landscape for the abortion pill in the United States. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

They devour farmers’ crops, breed rapidly and can tunnel beneath the snow to survive: feral pigs have taken residence on the Canadian prairies and are wreaking destruction. Today, Megan Evans, the Executive Director of the Alberta Invasive Species Council, takes us through why the surge in swine is so serious, and why efforts to eradicate them have been so unsuccessful. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Toronto District School Board has become the first board in Canada to officially recognize caste based discrimination. The caste system is thought to be among the oldest forms of social hierarchy of classification in the world, and has dominated the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. It can dictate romantic relationships, job prospects, housing, and even lead to violence. Today, reporter Uday Rana explores the beginnings of caste in Canada, and the modern impact the ancient hierarchy has on Canada's South Asian diaspora today. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As a kid in the Winnipeg suburb of Transcona, Tyson Smith was obsessed with hockey and the Winnipeg Jets. He dreamed of being a professional goaltender. Decades later, Smith – now known as “Kenny Omega” – has made his way to the Jets’ home arena for a different reason: he’s performing as a professional wrestler. Omega is the headliner for a show with All Elite Wrestling, the wrestling company he helped build into the first direct competitor to the WWE in almost 20 years. Before he stepped into the ring, Omega joined Front Burner host Jayme Poisson to discuss the culture of wrestling in Winnipeg, his path to fame in Japan, his push to expand inclusivity and storytelling in the sport, and swirling rumours about what he’ll do next. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Sunday, a group of U.S. government agencies made the extraordinary decision to ensure that everyone who had money in Silicon Valley Bank would be able to access that cash. The move comes on the heels of Friday’s collapse of the California-based bank following a bank run. Silicon Valley Bank is the second largest bank to fail in the U.S. – the first was Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis. Felix Salmon is a Chief Financial Correspondent at Axios and the host of Slate Money. Today on Front Burner he joins us to explain why Silicon Valley Bank went under and what might happen next. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week a US congressional committee began what could be a months-long probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Was it the result of a lab leak in Wuhan? And did Dr. Anthony Fauci and his team of experts carry out a cover-up in the early days of the outbreak? These are the questions the Republican-led committee are trying to answer. Today on Front Burner, The Atlantic’s Daniel Enger on the shifting narratives around the origins of COVID-19 -- and how it went from the fringes to the mainstream. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, a federal court judge in Toronto heard arguments from a plastics lobby group and the federal government, in a challenge to a ban on single-use plastics like bags, straws and stir sticks that was introduced last year. On today’s episode, Lisa Erdle, microplastics researcher and the director of science and innovation at the U.S.-based 5 Gyres Institute, describes what’s at stake in the court hearing, the impact of plastics in the environment and what can be done to improve the situation. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since the Kearl mine in northern Alberta began production on Treaty 8 territory in 2013, the company has touted technological innovations that they say “enhance environmental performance.” Yet for months, wastewater from the mine’s tailings ponds, containing arsenic, hydrocarbons and sulphides has been seeping into the land. The company that runs the mine, Imperial Oil, first reported the leak in May 2022 to the provincial regulator. But Chief Allan Adam of the nearby Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says his community only learned of the seepage last month. That’s created anxiety, says Chief Adam, because people have been hunting, fishing and trapping without knowing there was a risk of contamination. Drew Anderson, the Narwhal’s Prairies reporter, joins us today to walk us through how the leak happened, Alberta’s tailings pond debate and who’s accountable. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last year, about 39,000 people entered Canada at Roxham Road, an irregular border crossing in Quebec, in search of asylum. It was a record number — and so far this year, the upward trend is continuing. The steady flow of migrants entering Canada at Roxham Road has become a political issue, but how to handle the stream of people seeking asylum at the border is an open question. On this episode, Paul Hunter, a senior correspondent with CBC News, takes us to the US-Mexico border in Juarez to see what we can learn from migrants there about the issue at America’s northern border and Roxham Road. Clarification: In this episode we discuss a video shown to senior correspondent Paul Hunter by a Venezuelan migrant couple Nelson Ramirez, and his wife, Yescee Urbina at an aid office in Juarez, Mexico. The video depicts a crocodile swimming with a human leg in its mouth.  We reported that the video was filmed during the couple’s journey through the Panamanian jungle. However, the video shown to CBC News was filmed a few years ago. Ramirez showed the video to convey the desperation and danger that migrants from Central and South America experience trying to seek asylum further north. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2016, a handful of American and Canadian government employees working in Cuba came down with mysterious symptoms: nausea, ringing ears, headaches, and minor memory loss. Their illness came to be known as Havana Syndrome. Theories about what caused it have included microwaves fired by Russia, insecticides, and even crickets. Now, a new report from US intelligence agencies rejects the idea that an enemy with an energy weapon is to blame. Shane Harris is an Intelligence and National Security Reporter for the Washington Post. He has spoken to sources who’ve seen the new report, and walks us through its findings. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once again resisted a call that’s been getting progressively louder in Ottawa: the call for a public inquiry into allegations of Beijing’s interference in our most recent elections. Opposition MPs on a Parliamentary committee have already voted in favour of an inquiry into foreign interference, although that motion is non-binding. Meanwhile, a number of reports, committee investigations and witness testimonies have either already been delivered, or are on the way. Today, CBC’s The House host Catherine Cullen explains the newest revelations, what big questions are still at play, and what avenues remain to get those answers. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada women's national soccer team currently ranks as one of the top ten teams worldwide. Despite their track record of victory, the team’s future success is now at risk. As the FIFA Women’s World Cup approaches, the team’s engaged in a very visible fight with their bosses that has meant strikes, on-field protests, and the resignation of the president of Soccer Canada. The turmoil comes because of what the players say is a shocking lack of funding and very different treatment compared to the men’s team. But the issue goes deeper than the women’s fight. TSN senior correspondent, Rick Westhead, takes guest host Daemon Fairless through the national women’s team’s fight, the controversial business deal that may be behind the federation’s money woes, and what’s at stake for the sport in Canada. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

More than three weeks after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, aftershocks continue to shake devastated cities in Turkey. Officials say more than 44,000 people have died in the country, and the UN estimates 1.5 million people are without homes. One of the worst-hit cities in Turkey's southeast, Antakya, is largely uninhabitable after entire sections of the city collapsed into rubble. Today, The Sunday Times Middle East correspondent Louise Callaghan tells us what she saw in Antakya in the weeks after the earthquake, the stories of survival and loss she heard from residents, and the allegations that corruption and illegal construction amplified that destruction and casualties. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Recent reports by the Globe and Mail and Global News, relying on Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents and unnamed intelligence sources, have detailed different ways the Chinese government has allegedly interfered with Canadian elections. On this episode, Dick Fadden, a former director of CSIS and a former national security advisor to both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, walks us through the way the spy agency operates on cases like this, and what should be done now to ensure Canadian elections are free of foreign meddling. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Colorado River – the lifeblood of the American southwest – is drying up. The river’s basin supplies water to 40 million Americans across seven states, plus two states in Mexico. It’s partly because of climate change, a major drought, and because of century-old rules that govern who has the rights to the water. And it’s a big deal: the Colorado River is a key source of drinking water, power production, and crop irrigation for agriculture that helps feed North America.  Today on Front Burner, guest host Jodie Martinson speaks with CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta, who recently got back from reporting in Arizona, about the politics of drought and how it’s fueling a fight over its most precious resource – water. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Loblaw Companies, the country’s biggest grocery chain, reported its finances for 2022 on Thursday. In a year when Canadians felt the squeeze from skyrocketing grocery bills increased by inflation, the retailer posted net earnings of $2.3 billion dollars. Also in 2022, Loblaw spent $1.3-billion on something called stock buybacks, which pulls shares off the market and tends to pump up the prices of those still held by investors and executives. Loblaw isn’t alone in carrying out billion-dollar share buybacks. Today, CBC business journalist Pete Evans returns to explain why so many buybacks are happening, and why critics say they’re happening at the expense of Canadian workers, customers and productivity. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Microsoft soft-launched its new AI-powered search engine in early February. After years of playing second fiddle to Google, the new Bing seemed to finally have something exciting to offer. More than a million people signed up on a wait list to try out the new feature. But it wasn’t long before some early testers reported that their interactions with the chatbot had taken an unsettling turn. For some, the bizarre interactions were disconcertingly similar to depictions of AI gone sentient straight out of science fiction. Today, Chris Stokel-Walker, a technology journalist and contributor to the Guardian’s TechScape newsletter, explains this latest chatbot, what the technology is doing and whether it’s as terrifying as it sounds.

Late last week, the Globe and Mail broke an explosive story with allegations that China tried to influence the 2021 election here in Canada. Then, on Tuesday, a parliamentary committee that was already studying allegations of foreign meddling in the 2019 federal election decided to widen its scope. Elections Canada, the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and Liberal cabinet ministers were all summoned to testify to answer questions about these new allegations to determine what the government and national security agencies are doing to protect democracy in Canada. Today on Front Burner guest host Jodie Martinson is joined by Catherine Cullen, the host of CBC's political podcast, The House, and a senior reporter in our parliamentary bureau.

Russia has put at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in camps, according to a U.S.-funded report from Yale University. The report says the children are enduring pro-Russian re-education. Some are being adopted out to Russian families with fanfare from Russian officials, while others are allegedly receiving military training. Meanwhile, Ukrainian mothers have been making long and treacherous journeys in an attempt to retrieve their children. Today, Yale Humanitarian Research Lab executive director Nathaniel Raymond explains the findings of the report, why Russia's actions could amount to war crimes, and why he says the report should be read as a "gigantic Amber Alert."

Weeks after a train derailed and crews released and burned toxic chemicals, officials are reassuring residents of East Palestine, Ohio that the air and water are safe. Many residents, however, remain wary of the long-term effects of materials like vinyl chloride, with some reporting symptoms like skin and eye irritation and hoarseness. Simultaneously, a political conversation is unfolding about who or what to blame for the crash, with critics pointing to a lack of regulation and cost-cutting from rail giants as they post record profits. Today, a look at what's happening on the ground as residents return to East Palestine, and a look at why rail disasters like this continue to happen more than a decade after the fatal catastrophe in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

News of the mysterious deaths of billionaire Canadian pharma giant Barry Sherman and his philanthropist wife Honey in December 2017 reverberated around the world. Five years later, with no arrests and little news from the police, their deaths remain shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories, with too many lingering questions. Not just who killed them, but what kind of life do you have to live that when you’re found dead, there are multiple theories, including some involving your own family? That’s the question journalist Kathleen Goldhar set out to discover, in The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, as she explores who the Shermans really were and why too much money might have been what killed them in the end. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/DTlP12wc

Within the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors around the world noticed something strange. Suddenly, they were seeing a surge of young patients presenting with sudden, explosive tics. But in many cases, these tics didn’t fit the profile of a tic disorder like Tourette Syndrome. Doctors started searching for a shared source that was causing the outbreak, and that search led them to TikTok. Experts at the University of Calgary have been leading the research. Azeen Ghorayshi is a reporter with the New York Times. Today, she takes us through what researchers have found about why so many teens were affected, what the pandemic had to do with it and the role social media played in the spread.

Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called out oil companies for raking in “monster profits” and expanding production instead of focusing on renewable energy. 2022 was a record-breaking year for oil producers. According to the International Energy Agency, global gas and oil profits went from a recent average of $1.5 trillion to four trillion dollars last year alone. And in the wake of those profits many oil companies are walking back on climate-friendly pledges. Today on Front Burner, we’ll be talking about why Big Oil is raking in so much cash, how long a fossil fuel resurgence could really last. Geoff Dembicki is an investigative climate reporter who has been following this closely for DeSmog and the author of The Petroleum Papers.

It all started two weeks ago with a suspected Chinese spy balloon, which carried a payload about the size of three buses. A U.S. fighter jet shot it down after it floated across the continent. Then, the U.S shot down a second object: something airborne over Alaska that the U.S. said was likely not a balloon at all. And now, there’s been a third and a fourth object taken down above North America this month, in these cases over Yukon and Lake Huron. Today, Dan Lamothe explains the knowns and unknowns about these objects and what could be driving the decisions to shoot them down. Lamothe covers the Pentagon and U.S. Military for The Washington Post.

A few days ago, Canopy Growth Corporation, one of weed's biggest players, announced significant cuts and the closure of its headquarters in Smith Falls, Ontario, resulting in 800 layoffs for the town's biggest employer. Canopy reported a net loss of $267 million this quarter, bringing the struggling company's losses in the first three quarters of the year to $2.6 billion. Today on Front Burner, Solomon Israel, a reporter with MJBizDaily, joins us to discuss the closure and what this means for a slowing cannabis industry.

An hour after the Toronto Star published an article about his affair on Friday, mayor John Tory was standing before reporters at Toronto City Hall. He offered his resignation. During his over eight years in office, some praised Tory as a boring mayor, a return to normalcy after the explosive Rob Ford years. But his critics have also accused him of presiding over a historic decline in Toronto, pointing to decaying services and failures for the most vulnerable. Today, a conversation with Canadaland editor Jonathan Goldsbie about why Tory resigned this quickly, and what will become of his increasingly complicated legacy.

In 1985, at the height of the Black Power era, police dropped a bomb in a Philadelphia neighborhood. Their target? A family of Black radicals known as ‘MOVE,’ who found themselves ensnared in a city — and nation’s — domestic war on Black Liberation. Over seven episodes, host Matthew Amha investigates the events that culminated in the MOVE bombing, and the long afterlife of a forgotten American tragedy. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/X9pEruGw

Last year, a TV show called Pam and Tommy dramatized the turbulent marriage between Canadian actress/model Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. It’s the latest in a string of documentaries and shows that revisit and reframe the cultural conversation around famous women of the ‘90s and 2000s who were often wronged in the name of entertainment. But for Pamela Anderson, Pam and Tommy was not vindication. Now the Baywatch star is speaking out against the project, and telling her own story, with an intimate new Netflix documentary called Pamela, a love story. Today on Front Burner, Constance Grady, senior correspondent on the Culture team at Vox, joins us to cover the documentary and share her thoughts.

Alaa Alakel says the night after major earthquakes struck her home country of Syria was maybe the worst night of her life. She is a student in Toronto and waited sleeplessly by her phone for news from her family back home in Idlib. Rescue teams continue to search for survivors of the earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday. It’s the deadliest earthquake in the last decade and, as of Wednesday, the death toll has risen to over 12,000. Among the hardest hit areas was Idlib province, a rebel-held part of Syria that was home to intense fighting over the last decade of conflict in the region. And the earthquakes are only the latest in a string of humanitarian disasters that have broken apart families and devastated communities. Today on Front Burner, we’re joined by Alaa Alakel and her brother, Mohammed Alakel. Mohammed spoke to us from his family's home in a camp in Barisha, a village in northwest Syria. And Alaa translated from Toronto.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with all 13 of Canada's premiers on Tuesday to pitch his plan for increased health-care funding to provinces and territories. The measures would amount to over $46 billion in new funding and – combined with what Ottawa was already planning to pitch in – totals almost 200 billion in total federal health-care spending over the next decade. Today, CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton breaks down the details of the proposal, discusses why many provinces and territories say it isn't enough, and recaps the latest from Ottawa.

Canadian director Sarah Polley’s new Oscar-nominated film Women Talking is set in an isolated religious community where a group of women and girls must decide how to respond to sexual assault in their community. Over two days, they debate: should they do nothing, should they fight, or should they flee? Polley has been clear that her story is fiction. It is based on a novel by Miriam Toews, a Canadian author who grew up in a Mennonite family. But before the book and the film, there was a real community where women woke up with foggy memories and physical pain. That community is the Manitoba Mennonite Colony in Bolivia. Journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky traveled there over a decade ago to speak to women about what had happened to them. She says what they told her still haunts her to this day. *A warning: today’s episode contains graphic details involving sexual assault.*

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger made a prediction about how the world will vie for resources in the coming decades. For years, Gelsinger said, much of geopolitical relations have turned on access to oil reserves. But in the future, he thinks a more important factor will be where microchips are made. Intel is a prominent figure in the computer chip business, but some 90 per cent of the world’s most advanced chips are currently made by one company in Taiwan. And according to Chris Miller, if the TSMC plant in Taiwan was destroyed the disruption of everything from smartphones to cars could be the biggest manufacturing shock since the Great Depression. Miller is an Associate Professor of International History at Tufts University, and he recently released the book Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology.

Behind every catfish, there’s the bait. Who is Janessa Brazil? Stolen images of an adult entertainment star are being used to con victims out of thousands of dollars, breaking hearts in the process. Journalist Hannah Ajala embarks on a quest to find Janessa, in this 8-part true crime series. And who is responsible for catfishing scams? Produced for the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts by Antica Productions and Telltale Industries. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/La1M2VKj

Ozempic is a brand name for a drug that's prescribed to help manage Type 2 diabetes. But it's also being used in Canada as a treatment for obesity, something that some doctors – and a lot of people on TikTok – are talking about. There's a lot of questions about the risks and benefits of Ozempic when it comes to weight loss, and so much interest that there's been supply shortages of the drug, particularly in the United States. Elaine Chen is a cardiovascular disease reporter at STAT News. She covers metabolic conditions including diabetes and obesity. Today, she discusses why some people are calling this new drug a gamechanger and how it is challenging the way the medical community treats people who live with obesity.

This week, a parliamentary committee questioned Gymnastics Canada CEO, Ian Moss, about his organization’s response to allegations of misconduct against a national team coach. The national gymnastics federation is just the latest in a growing list of sports organizations that have faced scrutiny for their handling of allegations of abuse and misconduct. Many have called it a safe sport crisis. While Ottawa says it’s taking the issue very seriously, critics – including Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan – say the government hasn’t done enough. Macintosh Ross is an assistant professor of kinesiology at Western University, where he studies human rights abuses and the Olympics, and a member of Scholars Against Abuse. Today he shares his thoughts on why an independent inquiry is necessary to shift the culture in Canadian sport.

Over the past month, Israelis have taken to the streets in massive demonstrations. They're opposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu's new plan to limit the power of the Supreme Court and worry about what that means for minority rights and Israeli democracy. Today, we will talk about the make-up of Netanyahu's new coalition government and why that has protestors so concerned. We'll talk about Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir who has been convicted of incitement to racism and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who has described himself as a homophobe. Yair Rosenberg is a staff writer for The Atlantic and he'll explain what's behind the government's shift rightward, what it means for democracy, and how it moves Israelis and Palestinians even further from a two-state solution.

Last week, after months of requests, Germany agreed to send German-built tanks called Leopard 2s to Ukraine, to help in their fight against Russia. That decision opened the door for other countries to send their Leopard 2s, including Canada – which will send four. The US also jumped in, agreeing to send 31 of its M1 Abrams tanks. All in, over 300 tanks are being sent to the country. Now, Ukraine is asking for more weapons – including long range guided missiles – faster. But this begs the question: how will an influx of heavy weaponry change the situation on the ground? Could this mean an end to the war? Or could it mark the start of a new, increasingly violent and dangerous impasse? Rajan Menon is the Director of The Grand Strategy program at The Defence Priorities think tank. He’s also a senior research scholar at Columbia. He gives his take on how this next phase of the war could play out.

29-year-old Tyre Nichols was on his way to his mother’s house when Memphis police pulled him over. Police body cam footage and other video show officers punching, pepper-spraying, hitting him with a baton, and kicking him. He died three days later in hospital. Officials in Memphis have fired the five officers who were involved, who are all Black, and charged them with second-degree murder. They’ve also disbanded the special unit the officers were part of that had been created to bring down crime in certain neighbourhoods. Today we’ll be talking about how Americans have reacted to yet another police beating of an unarmed Black man. We’ll also talk about what needs to happen to fix the ways police treat Black Americans.

This week, it was announced that Everything Everywhere All At Once was leading the Oscars with eleven nominations in total. It’s a mind-bending movie about a Chinese-American immigrant family with a laundromat that’s facing a tax audit. It’s a high-concept science fiction with a multiverse storyline, but it’s resonating with people for touching on issues like intergenerational trauma, the experiences of queer children of immigrants, and even existential nihilism. Today we’ll be talking about why this movie has so much significance, especially for people in the Asian community, with three guests. Frankie Huang is a freelance writer and illustrator. Mallory Yu is a producer and editor for NPR's All Things Considered. And Jeff Yang, is the co-author of RISE: A Pop History of Asian America From the Nineties to Now and author of the upcoming book, The Golden Stream: The Movies that made Asian America.

WARNING: This episode contains disturbting details about the deaths of two women and an Indigenous girl, in addition to allegations of sexual assault. Key First Nation member Noelle O’Soup died at just 14 years old. Police found her body in an apartment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where they also found the bodies of an unnamed woman and a man immigration officials deemed a “danger to the public” – but released from custody anyway. CBC Vancouver reporter Michelle Ghoussoub has been investigating that man’s nearly three-decade criminal history, including selling fentanyl and accusations he used drugs to lure women for sex. She found the man had received an order for deportation, and that this wasn’t the first time a woman had died in his presence. Today, Ghoussoub discusses why O’Soup’s family is outraged at authorities' responses before and after her death, and how the case fits into a surge of violence against vulnerable women in the Downtown Eastside.

In the weeks following the 2020 killings of 22 people in Portapique, Nova Scotia — the deadliest shooting rampage in Canadian history — the federal government began introducing steps to limit the types of guns people can own and use. There were orders in council, which began with a list of more than 1,500 firearms, before more were added, and later a piece of proposed gun control legislation, Bill C-21. That bill had two readings in the House of Commons, before a major 478-page amendment was added. The changes have drawn more criticism to what was already a contentious bill, as some question whether it’s too broad and will affect too many types of guns. On today’s episode, we’re joined by Kieran Oudshoorn, a producer with CBC’s audio documentary unit, to walk through Liberal government’s plans for gun control.

Wagner Group is a private army that's been violently advancing Russian interests internationally – but in the shadows – for years. Now as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stalled, the fighters-for-hire have taken centre stage to fight on Russia’s side. The mercenaries have been involved in some of the bloodiest battles of the entire war. Mary Ilyushina is a reporter covering Russia for the Washington Post. Today on Front Burner, she joins guest host Jodie Martinson to explain the evolution, and growing influence, of the Wagner Group in Russia and other parts of the world.

Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took power, the federal government has awarded consulting firm McKinsey over $100 million dollars in contracts. Early this month, Radio-Canada reported that Ottawa’s use of the firm has skyrocketed since 2015, and that sources inside Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada were concerned about McKinsey’s growing influence on their policy without public knowledge. Since then, a parliamentary committee has voted for a probe into the contracts. Opposition MPs have raised concerns about the Liberals’ relationship with Dominic Barton – the former global head of McKinsey who advised Ottawa on the economy, and was later appointed ambassador to China. Today on Front Burner, a comprehensive look at the revelations from Radio-Canada’s reporting on McKinsey. Then, a conversation with journalist Paul Wells about the global trend toward governments relying on consulting, and what it means for our democracies.

World news, local voices. Nothing is Foreign is a weekly trip to where the story is unfolding. Hosted by Tamara Khandaker. Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a crackdown on the rights and freedoms of women in the country. This episode of Nothing is Foreign shares the courageous story of a teacher in Afghanistan and her students — a secret class of girls between grades 7-12 in Kabul — who are defying Taliban laws that prevent girls and women from getting an education. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/zMgUEUti

According to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, people should limit their alcohol consumption to just two drinks per week to avoid certain cancers and other health issues. The new health guidelines significantly reduce the number of drinks considered risky — the previous recommendation capped weekly consumption at 15 drinks for men and 10 drinks for women. On today’s episode, Tim Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute For Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria and a member of the scientific advisory panel that contributed to the new guidelines, tells us what’s behind the changes.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, and its aging electrical grid. In the hurricane's aftermath, and after decades of neglect and underfunding, the island's public electrical utility, PREPA, went bankrupt. In 2020, the government made the controversial choice to hand control of the grid over to the private sector. They awarded a 15-year contract to a new Canadian-American company, LUMA Energy. And since LUMA Energy took over the electrical grid, the company has been a source of controversy, and faced harsh criticism on the island. There have been weekly protests against LUMA Energy, reggaeton star Bad Bunny has called the company out at concerts, and the governor of Puerto Rico has called on the CEO to resign. Today, CBC senior investigative reporter Jonathon Gatehouse and Front Burner producer Allie Jaynes explain how Luma Energy and its Canadian co-parent became embroiled in controversy and what it all means for Puerto Rico's access to reliable electricity. Update: After this episode was released, five changes were made to the content. We originally reported that a penalty leveled at the Canadian co-parent company ATCO was described as the largest of its kind in Canadian enforcement history. The penalty was among the largest of its kind. We also reported that a company called ASL could have made up to $100 million on a contract. The $100 million figure represents the capital costs of the project and not the profit. Additional information provided by Luma after publication was added at the end of the episode. The headline was changed in the online and podcast version of this story. When published, the headline was "How a Canadian company became a public enemy in Puerto Rico." The headline is now, "How a Canadian-led company became a public enemy in Puerto Rico," to better reflect the leadership of the company. Two sentences were altered following the receipt of additional information provided by LUMA Energy, after publication, that specified when a private firm was hired to make electrical repairs at Escuela Rafael Rivera Otero, and by whom.

This week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a plan to significantly increase the number of surgeries being done outside hospitals, which are struggling with a major backlog of operations. Many of the procedures — including things like cataract, hip and knee operations — will be performed by for-profit clinics. The plan has drawn criticism from several groups, including five major Ontario health care unions, which say it will divert frontline staff and funding away from the public health care system.

This week, five leaders of the violent far-right group Proud Boys are on trial in Washington D.C., charged with seditious conspiracy for conspiring to overthrow the government, in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Andy Campbell is the author of We Are Proud Boys and reports on extremism as a Senior Editor at HuffPost. He’s been covering this story from the courtroom. And he’s with us today to explain how the case could reveal the inner-workings of the group, their connections with Republicans, and how the American government has responded to the threat extremist groups pose to democracy.

Seasonal viruses including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have come back with a vengeance, after sparing the public through most of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, new COVID subvariants threaten to be the most transmissible seen yet, and appear to be on the rise. This triple-whammy 'tridemic' is straining the healthcare system and many families — especially those with young children who skipped a couple years of viral infection. Today we're joined by Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, to figure out when an especially tough sick season will ease up.

This week, a kitchen appliance became the latest target of the culture wars after a recent study linked gas stoves with an increased risk of asthma in children. American politicians from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin to Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz made passionate statements in defense of their gas stoves, all because a consumer watchdog had begun looking into options for phasing out gas stoves. It all follows decades of research that shows cooking with gas comes with health risks and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. We're joined by Vox's Rebecca Leber, a senior reporter who covers climate change.

Prince Harry's lifelong discomfort – and even downright hatred – of the press has been a major theme during the publicity tour for his new memoir, Spare. The book has made headlines with allegations about how those closest to the crown use the press for their own ends. Today we explore the delicate and deeply entwined relationship between the monarchy and the media and hear an inside view about how the system works.. Katie Nicholl is Vanity Fair's royals correspondent and author of The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown.

A little over a month after China was enforcing some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 policies, the country has now removed most of those restrictions. This followed unusually widespread and sustained protests in December. Mass testing and quarantining has ended. On Sunday, China lifted international travel restrictions for the first time in three-years. But while the government’s numbers on COVID-19 cases and deaths remain low or unavailable, accounts from inside the country indicate the virus is spreading faster than ever. Today on Front Burner, Wall Street Journal China bureau chief Jonathan Cheng gives us a look at what’s happening in Beijing after China’s policy reversal.

Supporters of outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ransacked the country’s capital buildings this week in a show of defiance against the country’s recent election results. New President Lula da Silva accused his predecessor for inciting the violence and vowed to punish those who took part. Journalist Gustavo Ribeiro has watched and reported for years on false claims from President Jair Bolsonaro that Brazil’s election system is faulty. He describes how Bolsonaro has created a deeply divided Brazil.

Not long ago, Tesla seemed unstoppable. But Elon Musk's electric vehicle juggernaut closed out 2022 as the worst-performing stock among the most valuable tech companies — and its shares have dipped even lower since then. Today, Patrick George — a contributing writer with Vox Media's The Verge and an editor with The Autopian — joins us for a look at where things went south for Tesla, and the hurdles the company faces going forward.

During a high-profile Monday Night Football game this week, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin made a tackle that nearly ended his life, live, in front of millions of people tuned into the TV broadcast. Hamlin was resuscitated after medical staff applied CPR. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre where he has remained in critical condition. According to today's guest, Jerry Brewer, national sports columnist with the Washington Post, the tackle barely ranked on the scale of how brutal the game can be. He says team owners and the league need to do more to provide immediate and long term healthcare for players.

Bill C-18 would require big digital platforms like Facebook and Google to pay Canadian media outlets for posting or linking to their news content. According to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the measures would fairly compensate Canadian media, keeping journalism healthy and strengthening democracy. According to critics, the bill would line the pockets of big broadcasters and threaten freedom of expression online. And as for platforms like Facebook – its parent company Meta has threatened to remove news content in Canada altogether. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist about why he believes this bill could harm both the internet and the media for Canadians.

Andrew Tate, the controversial influencer and self-declared misogynist, was arrested on Thursday in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group. Depending on your social circles — and your algorithms — you may not have heard of Andrew Tate before. But he has quickly risen from relative obscurity to become one of the most-discussed people on social media. His controversial video clips, including some where he describes hitting and choking women, have been viewed billions of times. Today, we dive into the story of Andrew Tate: who he is, his arrest, and what it means that a man known as the “king of toxic masculinity” could gain so much fame and influence.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed US congress and is now pushing a "no-compromises" path toward ending the war in his country. But neither Ukraine nor Russia have shown any signs of compromise in the ten months of conflict, and as the fighting rages on, peace seems out of reach for now. Today on Front Burner, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams explores how far apart the Russian and Ukrainian sides are, what their standings are internationally and what that could all mean for a new year of war.

It’s 2023, and Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now been in power for more than seven years. This year promises more challenges for a government prone to controversy and scandal: a choking economy, potential fallout from using the Emergencies Act, a widely-criticized gun control bill, and an increasingly complex international stage. Meanwhile, the NDP are trying to leverage their deal that props up the Liberals’ minority government, and new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is determined to put Trudeau at the center of the issues Canadians are struggling with. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with our chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, about how these issues could shape Canadian politics in 2023.

The high seas are beyond the reach of international law – and beyond the beat of most reporters. But Pulitzer-Prize-winner and former New York Times journalist, Ian Urbina, has sailed into uncharted territories. Urbina sets out on a years-long quest to investigate murder at sea, modern slave labour, environmental crimes and quixotic adventurers. Part travelog, part true-crime thriller, this 7-part series takes listeners to places where the laws of the land no longer exist. The Outlaw Ocean is brought to you by CBC Podcasts and the LA Times and produced by The Outlaw Ocean Project. More episodes are available at http://hyperurl.co/theoutlawocean

Pauline Dakin’s childhood was marked by unexplained events, a sense of unseen menace, and secretive moves to new cities with no warning. When Pauline was a young adult, her mother finally told her what they were running from – organized crime, secret police and double lives. It was a story so mind-bending, so disturbing, Pauline’s entire world was turned upside down. Run Hide Repeat is the story of Pauline’s life on the run, her quest for the truth – and her search for forgiveness. Based on the best-selling 2017 memoir, this powerful 5-part journey spans decades and an entire country — and it will leave listeners questioning what’s real and who they can trust. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/32Wc7aeP

In 2010, during the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic records were released, revealing civilian death and disaster on the ground for both conflicts. It was one of the largest and most explosive leaks in U.S. history and included every incident report the United States Army had ever filed about Iraq or Afghanistan. The mass leak pulled back the curtain on both wars, igniting an intense debate over the role of the U.S. military and about what information the public deserves to know. And at the centre of it all was Chelsea Manning. Manning was a young American military intelligence analyst on her first tour in Iraq who was secretly struggling with her gender identity. She became so disillusioned by the horrors of war that she decided to risk everything to publicize highly-sensitive military information. Now, more than a decade later, Manning is speaking out about her experience as a whistleblower in a new memoir called README.Txt. She joins Front Burner from New York. This episode orginally aired on November 14th, 2022.

NBA superstar Fred VanVleet had a long road to becoming a beloved Toronto Raptor. He suffered a terrible loss growing up in Rockford, Ill., when his father was shot and killed when he was just five years old. As a young man coming out of Wichita State University, the point guard went undrafted in 2016 and had to fight his way onto the roster of the lone Canadian franchise in the league. But only a few years later, VanVleet was a key member of the team that won the 2019 NBA championship. Now, VanVleet is the undisputed leader of the Toronto Raptors. In this special episode of Front Burner, we meet VanVleet at the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto to hear about his unexpected journey from underdog to all-star, and why he's partnered with the University of Toronto's undergraduate business program to launch a needs-based scholarship for Black and Indigenous students. This episode orginally aired on September 28th, 2022.

Just over a month into 2022, Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and set the tone for what looked like an ominous year for global democracy. High-stakes elections in Hungary, Brazil, the U.S., Israel, and the Philippines put core issues of democracy on the ballot, and it was anyone’s guess how things would turn out. In some cases, authoritarianism made gains. But some regimes best positioned to challenge democracy for its global influence also saw policy failures, and signs of public resistance. Today, Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp on why 2022 was a surprisingly good year for democracy, and how it exposed the fundamental weaknesses of authoritarian political models.

It’s been a historic week in Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump. On Monday, the January 6 House Committee wrapped up its investigation into the capitol insurrection and after months of speculation over whether they would, referred the former president for potential prosecution. And on Tuesday, a different U.S. committee voted to release six years of Trump’s secret tax returns. CBC’s Susan Ormiston has been covering this story. Today on Front Burner she joins us to unpack these two big developments and to explain what this could all mean for a Trump 2024 presidential run.

Pop culture in 2022 started with a bang (or slap) when Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the Oscars, and things only got weirder from there. From Brendan Fraser's comeback to Harry Styles possibly spitting on Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival, there were a lot of "did that really just happen?" moments in 2022. Today, we're joined by the hosts of CBC's pop culture podcast Pop Chat to discuss Bennifer, the return of whale tails and everything in between.

B.C. is on track to have another record-breaking year for toxic drug deaths. But as people continue to die, a backlash appears to be growing to the province’s current strategies for tackling the crisis. A recent polarizing documentary, Vancouver Is Dying, as well as a recent video by federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, have pointed fingers at B.C.’s slate of harm reduction policies. But many drug policy experts argue just the opposite. Today, Moira Wyton, a health reporter for the Tyee, joins us for a look at the state of BC’s toxic drug crisis, the criticisms coming from both ends of the spectrum, and where things go from here.

After decades of research, in early December scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California made a historic breakthrough in nuclear fusion by generating more energy than it took to create it. It’s a major scientific step because, according to experts, nuclear fusion has the potential to deliver clean and abundant zero-carbon energy. Richard Carlson is the director of energy policy at an environmental charity called Pollution Probe. Today on Front Burner, he'll explain how nuclear fusion uses the same process that powers the sun and why it could be a game changer for clean energy, if we can figure out how to harness it.

James Cameron has directed Titanic, Terminator, and Aliens. But he says the project that kept him from giving up on filmmaking entirely was Avatar. But for all of the film’s initial success Avatar’s lack of cultural impact has become a running joke over the years – there’s even a Buzzfeed quiz called: “Do You Remember Anything At All About Avatar?” Now today, 13 years later, its sequel, The Way of Water, arrives in theatres. CBC Entertainment reporter Jackson Weaver takes us through the first film’s fall from grace, what the sequel’s all about, and whether James Cameron has another big commercial hit on his hands.

On Sunday, Twitter owner Elon Musk joined comedian Dave Chappelle on stage and was roundly booed. Musk responded on Twitter saying, “Technically, it was 90% cheers,” and that “It’s almost as if I’ve offended SF’s unhinged leftists … but nahhh.” Musk has said that he’s politically a centrist, but the tweet is just one recent example of how he’s adopted partisan language in a social media culture war. Musk has distributed Twitter records that are supposed to reveal biased censorship, indulged in far-right talking points about COVID-19 and unbanned white nationalist accounts. Today, a discussion with the Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel about how and why Musk is aligning himself with different factions of the right. Warzel writes the Galaxy Brain newsletter about tech, media and politics.

In recent weeks, the latest versions of AI art-creating tools, along with a compelling new AI chatbot have flooded social media. The tools can be fun, with people creating artistic and enhanced selfies using Lensa, strange concept art with DALL-E 2, or exploring the way the chatbot, ChatGPT, creates seemingly original and complex prose in seconds. But the new tools are also a demonstration of how powerful AI has become, and hint at a relatively near future where it could convincingly replace human workers. Today, Will Knight, senior writer with WIRED, joins us to discuss what’s behind these popular new AI tools, some of their pitfalls, and the impact they’re already having on society.

A surge of respiratory illness is putting pressure on an already overloaded healthcare system in many places across the country and making it even harder for many Canadians to get examined by their family doctors, at walk-in clinics and even in the emergency room. Today we’ll be hearing personal stories from people who say they’ve struggled to get timely access to the medical care they desperately needed. Julia Murray is a mom in Conception Bay South in Newfoundland whose 3-year-old son Jack came down with an awful fever in early December. Bianca Gallant of Memramcook, New Brunswick, says she recently had a 14 hour wait in a Moncton ER that ended in her needing emergency surgery.

The price of food is soaring and so are the profits of Canada’s major grocery stores, raising questions and concerns among consumers, politicians and economists about their conduct. A parliamentary committee is scheduled to question officials for Metro and Save-On-Foods about their prices today and representatives from Loblaws and the owner of Sobeys defended themselves at the committee last week, saying they are not taking advantage of inflation to drive profit. Today on Front Burner, we’re talking to Jim Stanford, an economist and the director of a progressive think tank called the Centre for Future Work, who says grocery stores are profiting off of inflation, at the expense of struggling Canadians and that they are far from the only industry doing it.

In what’s being called the largest anti-extremism operation in modern German history, thousands of police officers conducted raids across the country on Wednesday. An active soldier, a judge and even an aristocrat were among 25 people arrested. Police say 27 more are suspected of allegedly plotting to overthrow the state in an armed coup. The group is thought to have been inspired by right-wing extremist conspiracy theories. But this is just the latest example of politically-motivated crime in the country. Today on Front Burner we’re talking to the political editor of Der Spiegel, Ann-Katrin Müller, about the details of this alleged plot, who’s behind it, and the state of right-wing extremism in Germany.

Domperidone, a gastrointestinal medication, is often prescribed off-label to breastfeeding women in Canada to help increase their milk supply. Many have described it as a “miracle drug” that has helped them feed their babies. But, as a CBC investigation has found, some also believe that withdrawal after they stopped taking the drug left them in severe psychological distress — and even, in some cases, suicidal. Today, Tara Carman — a senior reporter with CBC’s national investigative unit — walks us through her team’s findings. **UPDATE** - An earlier version of this episode said 120 million prescriptions for domperidone were filled in 2020, based on data from Health Canada. After publication of this story, Health Canada corrected their publicly available data to reflect that 1.7 million prescriptions were filled in that year, representing around 120 million tablets. This episode now reflects that change.

Winnipeg Police are alleging that a serial killer murdered four women earlier this year. Investigators believe that each of the man’s alleged victims died between March and May, and – despite only having identified three of the women – that all are Indigenous. The accused is now facing four counts of first-degree murder. Today, CBC Winnipeg reporter Stephanie Cram helps us understand more about the lives of the alleged victims, and how communities are grappling with further loss in a province some advocates call “ground zero” for violence against Indigenous women and girls.

With concerns mounting over the upcoming expansion of medical assistance in dying to include mental illness as the sole condition in March 2023, we ask Liberal Member of Parliament Marc Garneau if the federal government will listen to growing calls from mental health experts and hit pause on the controversial change. Marc Garneau is the Member of Parliament for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount and the co-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. It’s a committee that is looking into this issue for the federal government.

Kanye West’s recent comments praising Hitler and the Nazis are just the latest examples of a wave of antisemitism that appears to be penetrating further and further into mainstream U.S. society. Today on Front Burner, Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp on the long roots of American antisemitism and the threats Jewish people are currently facing in the U.S. and Canada.

This fall, chaos broke out at the world’s biggest iPhone factory. The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou employs hundreds of thousands of workers. Nicknamed “iPhone City,” the factory is operating on a closed-loop system under China’s zero-COVID policy. That means its workers eat, sleep and live at the plant in what authorities say is an effort to prevent expensive lockdowns and avoid outbreaks. But in October, the virus got in. As the company clamped down to control the spread, videos surfaced online of workers scaling fences, streaming towards the exits and hitching rides to escape the factory. The chaos at iPhone City is just one example of the growing discontent over life in zero-COVID China, which has sparked widespread protests across the country. Today, Lily Kuo, the China bureau chief with the Washington Post, shares how the demonstrations are challenging China’s leadership in a way not seen since the Tiananmen protests in 1989. Then, Sue-Lin Wong takes us through what the protests say about President Xi Jinping’s grip on the country. She’s the host of the podcast, The Prince: Searching for Xi Jinping and The Economist’s China correspondent.

Two pharmaceutical companies, Eisai and Biogen, have published the results of an 18-month human trial for their new drug, lecanemab. It's meant to treat people with early stages of Alzheimer's disease, a devastating condition that causes the majority of dementia cases and affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians. The results of the lecanemab trial are promising — the condition of people who were given the drug declined at a rate that was 27 per cent slower than those who were given a placebo. It's a glimmer of hope for those facing Alzheimer's disease, but questions about the new drug remain. Today, Mike Crawley, a reporter with CBC's health unit, is here to explain how the drug works and what it may mean for people living with Alzheimer's disease.

For years, relatives of suspected ISIS fighters — including the families of many foreign fighters — have languished in massive detention camps in northern Syria. These camps, home to tens of thousands of children, have become the sites of a violent, festering humanitarian crisis, with no clear end in sight. Now, that crisis may be about to get much worse. The camps are guarded by a U.S.-backed Kurdish military group, which is now being bombed by Turkey. They say if the Turkish offensive continues, they’ll have no choice but to abandon the camps to go fight. Experts fear this could have disastrous consequences — including a possible resurgence of ISIS. Today, BBC investigative reporter Poonam Taneja, who is on the ground in northern Syria, joins us for a look at the camps and the disastrous situation that could unfold in the region.

On Monday, Ontario passed the “More Homes Built Faster Act” – a controversial part of Premier Doug Ford’s plan for 1.5 million new homes in the next decade. Bill 23 includes measures like reducing developer fees that cities say are crucial for services and infrastructure and permits triplexes on single residential lots. Ford has also already given the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa extraordinary powers, including overruling majority votes in city council in certain circumstances. And the Ford government is moving to open up parts of the province’s Greenbelt for development – a supposedly permanently protected area that Ford said he wouldn’t “touch.” Today, CBC Toronto reporter Ryan Patrick Jones joins us to explain the controversies over Ford’s housing plan, and why critics say it’s the wrong kind of vision for a growing province.

Friday marked the end of the public hearing portion of the Emergencies Act commission. It was a blockbuster week of testimony, featuring the highest echelon of decision-makers in the country including the most senior cabinet members, Canada's top spy and the prime minister himself. David Cochrane is a senior reporter with CBC's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He's been closely watching the commission. Today on Front Burner he explains what major revelations have come to light over the last few weeks.

In an era of polarization, is it still possible to change people's minds about politics? That's the question Anand Giridharadas sought to answer in his new book, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy. The journalist noticed a crisis in the U.S. that he saw echoed around the world. In what Giridharadas describes as "the great write off," those who believe in liberal democracy are giving up on the idea that they can win people over and dismissing their political opposites as unreachable. In his book, Giridharadas speaks with experts on reaching people — organizers, activists, politicians, cognitive scientists, and even a cult deprogrammer — and takes a critical look at his fellow American progressives. If democracy stands a chance, he concludes, pro-democracy forces need to believe in the power of persuasion at least as much as anti-democratic forces do. Today on Front Burner, Giridharadas takes host Jayme Poisson through what he's learned about changing minds without diluting ideology, making ideas widely appealing, and why persuasion is so critical to maintain healthy democracies.

Danielle Smith has been premier of Alberta for about six weeks. Her anti-Ottawa rhetoric and proposed sovereignty act ignited the leadership race. Then, on the day Smith took office, she commented that unvaccinated people were the "most discriminated against group.” A First Nations leader in Alberta has even called into question her claims of Indigenous heritage. Smith took to television Tuesday evening to address the province and lay out her agenda. Now, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of who she is as a leader and where she plans to take the province. Today, CBC’s Jason Markusoff is here to explain what has happened during Smith’s first weeks as premier.

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia last Wednesday, a tense face-to-face confrontation between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping drew international headlines. Xi accused Trudeau of leaking the contents of their previous discussions to the media. The encounter was a decidedly public reflection of the countries' fraught relations when mounting allegations of Chinese meddling in Canada are causing further strain. Earlier this month, a Global News report alleged China funded Canadian candidates to influence the 2019 federal election. Last week, a Hydro-Québec worker was charged with spying for China. And the RCMP say they're investigating what have been called Chinese "police" stations set up inside Canada. Today, CBC senior writer J.P. Tasker returns to explain the allegations, how Parliament is responding, and how Canada could change its path forward with China during this historic low point in relations.

Last week, Ticketmaster pre-sales for Taylor Swift's Eras tour quickly devolved into chaos, with site crashes, many people waiting eight hours or more in online queues, and tickets going for upward of $40,000 US on secondary sales sites like Stubhub. This is far from the first incident to prompt widespread outrage against Ticketmaster. Sky-high prices for Blink-182 and Bruce Springsteen concerts have been among the sore spots. But the Swift fiasco is shining a new light on the company's virtual monopoly over wide swathes of the live music industry, prompting many — including several U.S. lawmakers — to call for the company to be investigated and broken up. Today, Jason Koebler — editor-in-chief of Motherboard, VICE's technology site — joins Front Burner to break this all down.

There's a lot of bad news in Canadian health care. We're still in the midst of a pandemic, RSV and flu season are hitting families hard, and headlines across the country have been dominated by reports of staffing shortages, severe burnout, overrun emergency rooms, and long wait times for surgeries. Front-line health-care workers and patients are raising alarms about a system breaking under the pressure. Dr. Brian Goldman is the host of CBC Radio's White Coat, Black Art and CBC podcast The Dose. He's also an emergency physician in Toronto and has spent a lot of time thinking about the issues that plague the system. Monday on Front Burner, Dr. Goldman joins us to talk about possible solutions and why some in the field are worried about a health-collapse, rather than a crisis.

After nearly three decades of trying, Canada qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and proceeded to not score a goal. But Canada could write a new chapter in its soccer history, starting Sunday, when the Qatar World Cup kicks off. We've covered the controversy surrounding soccer's biggest tournament — from human rights abuses to allegations of bribery, and corruption at FIFA. Today, we're focusing on the tournament itself. Roger Bennett is back to give us a primer on the favourites, the underdogs and some of the big storylines expected to unfold on the pitch in Qatar. He's the founder of the Men in Blazers Media network, co-host of the Men in Blazers podcast and co-author of the newly published book Gods of Soccer.

This spring brings a significant update to medical assistance in dying, known as MAID, in Canada. On March 17, 2023, Canadians with a mental illness as their sole condition will be eligible. This evolution is controversial. The change also has some doctors who have been at the forefront of helping people die medically, called MAID providers, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Dr. Madeline Li is one of them. She is a psychiatrist and a MAID provider who developed the MAID framework for the University Health Network in Toronto. She joins Front Burner today to share her concerns.

On Tuesday, the human population reached eight billion people, according to an estimate by the United Nations. While population growth has slowed in recent years, it still took about a decade to add the last billion people. Meanwhile, humankind is continuing to do irreparable harm to the planet, including climate change, accelerated species extinction and ecosystem collapse. We’re also straining the planet’s ability to sustain this many people, as revealed by water scarcity for billions of people — all while people in more affluent countries are responsible for far more than their fair share of the harm. Today we’re joined by Céline Delacroix, adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Health Sciences and the Director of the FP/Earth project with the Population Institute, to discuss how it got to this point, what it means for people and the planet, and where we go from here.

In the last two years, cryptocurrency exchange FTX spent millions of dollars on advertisements with the likes of NFL quarterback Tom Brady and Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David. FTX also sponsored Major League Baseball, the Mercedes Formula One racing team and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. Earlier this month, Bloomberg ranked the platform’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, as one of the world’s 100 richest people. He was sometimes referred to as the “King of Crypto.” But now, after financial leaks triggered mass withdrawals and a halt in trading, Bankman-Fried is worth effectively nothing. FTX has gone from a recent $32-billion US evaluation to bankruptcy. Today, CBC News senior business writer Pete Evans returns to explain how one of the world’s three biggest crypto exchanges was brought down so quickly.

In 2010, during the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic records were released, revealing civilian death and disaster on the ground for both conflicts. It was one of the largest and most explosive leaks in U.S. history and included every incident report the United States Army had ever filed about Iraq or Afghanistan. The mass leak pulled back the curtain on both wars, igniting an intense debate over the role of the U.S. military and about what information the public deserves to know. And at the centre of it all was Chelsea Manning. Manning was a young American military intelligence analyst on her first tour in Iraq who was secretly struggling with her gender identity. She became so disillusioned by the horrors of war that she decided to risk everything to publicize highly-sensitive military information. Now, more than a decade later, Manning is speaking out about her experience as a whistleblower in a new memoir called README.Txt. She joins Front Burner from New York.

Going into the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, things didn’t look good for the Democrats. Inflation is high, approval ratings for U.S. President Joe Biden are low, and traditionally, the sitting president’s party loses seats in the midterms. So, it seemed like Republicans would clean up, and pundits and politicians predicted the electoral map would reflect a red wave. But the Democrats performed better than expected, and the wave didn’t materialize. The dismal performance by the GOP has sparked introspection within the party and amplified questions about whether Donald Trump is its secret weapon, or the kiss of death. Today, CBC’s Alex Panetta takes us through what the midterm results might mean for the future of the Republican party and its devotion to Donald Trump.

This month's FIFA World Cup is a big one for Canada. It's the first time in 36 years that our men's team has qualified to compete, and the last World Cup before Canada shares hosting duties in 2026. But in the decade since Qatar won its bid to host this year's tournament, allegations of bribery, discrimination and human rights abuses have threatened to overshadow the game. Qatar criminalizes same-sex relationships and a report from the Guardian says at least 6,500 migrant workers have died since its successful bid. As players and fans grapple with how to protest, we're joined by Roger Bennett of the Men in Blazers podcast. He's just co-authored a new book called Gods of Soccer and is co-hosting World Corrupt, a podcast that dives deep into FIFA corruption and the World Cup in Qatar.

In Canada, if a government really wants to, it can take away many of the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If a provincial government is willing to risk the potential blowback, it can use Section 33 of the charter, the notwithstanding clause, which allows a government to temporarily override some of its protections and freedoms. And while once quite taboo, the notwithstanding clause is being increasingly, and controversially, used as a legislative tool by provinces like Ontario and Quebec. Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford tried to take away education workers' right to strike by invoking the clause. Then, on Monday, the union agreed to return to work after Ford promised to repeal the legislation that had imposed a four-year contract on it. Today on Front Burner, John Michael McGrath, writer and columnist at TVO.org and the co-host of the TVO podcast #Onpoli, explains why the notwithstanding clause exists and why critics argue it's being misused.

This fall, most Canadian kids returned to school and daycare with few or no COVID-19 measures. Beyond the coronavirus itself, that's meant all sorts of other viruses have started circulating more widely among children — which is, in some ways, a return to normal. But some are spreading earlier in the season than usual, and hospitals across Canada are reporting a surge in child admissions. Data from Ontario says triple the seasonal average of kids have been heading to the province's ERs with respiratory illnesses. Today, Dr. Fatima Kakkar returns to explain what's driving the surge of kids' admissions, and address parents' concerns over drug shortages and their children's immune systems. She's an infectious diseases pediatrician at Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal.

David Wallace-Wells, the acclaimed science journalist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth, says the past few years have given him reason to feel both "buoyant optimism" and "abject despair" about the future of climate change. As the COP27 climate summit kicks into gear, we're speaking to Wallace-Wells about both — and we're going to start by talking about the good news. While we aren't currently on track to keep global warming down to the levels the scientific community has called for, the worst-case scenarios are also looking far less likely than they did even a few years ago. There's more and more evidence that the actions the world has taken so far really have made a difference — and that we still have significant capacity to determine the kind of world that lies ahead.

This week the leaders of the self-described "Freedom Convoy" protest in Ottawa were brought in front of the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act. And for some of them, those facing charges, it won't be the last time they'll be held to account. We learned a lot. About the chaos, the infighting and the money. Plus, even more about what the police did, and didn't do to tackle the protest. Host of CBC's Power & Politics, and our good friend, Vassy Kapelos joins us from Ottawa to get us up to speed. We will also spend a bit of time talking about the mini-budget Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released yesterday.