As the Iran war wraps up its fifth week, the increasing price on fuel and food is wreaking havoc on consumers and businesses around the world. Global markets are also incredibly volatile.Right now, the economic fallout is more pronounced in the Gulf, Asia, and Europe, but analysts say the shockwaves could soon be felt in North America.Liz Hoffman is the business and finance editor at Semafor, and the host of their podcast, Compound Interest.She talks to host Jayme Poisson about how close we are to a full blown global economic disaster.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war, Iran has been publishing AI propaganda videos online trolling the United States, and Donald Trump. Conversely, the U.S. military, and Donald Trump specifically, have spent the better part of the last year publishing all kinds of war and military content and propaganda of their own. Propaganda has always been part of war. But in 2026, something about it looks and feels different: it’s shorter, funnier, more synthetic, and tailored to the algorithm.  Nicholas Cull is an authority on propaganda and has written a number of books on the subject including ‘The Cold War and the United States Information Agency.’ He’s a professor at the University of Southern California.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today we’re joined by Alex Panetta, journalist and former Front Burner guest host. You may remember him as a regular on this show when he was a CBC Washington correspondent.Alex is now on sabbatical studying artificial intelligence and has been grappling with a lot of the big questions we have been thinking about too.So today we’re going to talk about the ways he’s been using AI in his own life and interrogating how this technology can impact our ability to think critically. Will AI make us all dumber?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nearly a year after the federal NDP’s most devastating election result in history, the party declared Avi Lewis – who ran on a campaign of democratic socialism – its new leader.It was a decisive win – Lewis won over half of the 70,930 eligible votes cast. The turnout was high – at about 70 percent of membership.Avi Lewis talks to host Jayme Poisson about his vision for the federal NDP’s future, the challenges ahead for the party, and what pressures he plans to put on Prime Minister Carney’s Liberal government.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Experts, market watchers and the authorities in Iran have accused the U.S. President of engaging in market manipulation surrounding the Iran war by timing military announcements around market opens and closes.On top of that, there have been questions of possible insider trading in connection to Trump’s moves. Last Monday, a spike of highly suspicious and extremely lucrative oil futures trades and prediction market bets took place minutes before Trump posted about the war winding down. It follows a pattern seen before around tariff policy, and the attack on Venezuela. To parse the accusations of market manipulation and insider trading, we’re joined by Mike Bird, the Wall Street editor at The Economist and co-host of The Economist’s Money Talks podcast. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Operation Epic Fury, is nearly one-month old and the shadow of another war looms over this one: Operation Iraqi Freedom, George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.Today on Front Burner, a documentary about the Iraq war and its parallels and differences with what is happening now. Featuring interviews with three veteran reporters: Jane Arraf, Jonathan Landay, and Jeremy Bowen.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Newly declassified documents reveal the extraordinary depth and reach the Canadian government took to spy on Indigenous leaders in the ‘60s and ‘70s. This new reporting is the result of a years-long effort by CBC Indigenous and CBC Investigates.Today we hear how the RCMP infiltrated and sought to disrupt legitimate political Indigenous organizations, in an extensive program of covert surveillance, informants and countersubversion.Brett Forester with CBC Indigenous is our guest.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

“I do believe I will be having the honor of taking Cuba.”Those are the words of U.S. President Donald Trump spoken to a group of reporters assembled at the White House.For more than a century Cuba has remained a fixation of American foreign policy. The U.S. has tried everything from buying the island to taking it by force.Today the country faces the worst economic crisis in its modern history, and U.S. officials say Cuba could face a similar fate to Venezuela, where the Trump administration launched a military operation and removed its president from power. We sort through the history with our guest Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the National Security Archive and author of ‘Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana.’For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This spring, just outside Regina, construction is set to begin on Canada's largest data centre. Many of these massive server farms, that train and power AI, are being built or proposed across the country.They’re all part of a global infrastructure supercycle. In the U.S. alone, data centres have nearly quadrupled since 2010. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta plan to spend more than $600 billion on their expansion in 2026.But as they grow – so does resistance to them, as communities begin to ask what they’re giving up to power the world’s chatbots.Ellen Thomas is an investigative reporter with Business Insider. She’s been covering the AI data centre boom in the U.S. for years.Ellen spoke to host Jayme Poisson about the true cost of building data centres, and what it takes to keep them open.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As the world watches for updates in the war on Iran, cutting through the fog of war and getting a real sense of the extent of damage and military activity in the region isn’t easy. For some, the answer is open source intelligence: pouring over satellite images, flight radars, news updates, social media posts, and just about any kind of data someone can get their hands on.And while OSINT investigations have worked their way into common practice for newsrooms all over the world, it’s also increasingly popular among amateurs or “OSINT cowboys” with sophisticated AI-coded dashboards streaming constant real life info so that they can monitor the situation as closely as possible and even place bets on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. But how accurate are these OSINT reports? And what happens when watching for war updates becomes gamified?Tyler McBrien, the managing editor at Lawfare, joins us to talk about the piece he wrote on this topic for The Baffler.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Ottawa prepares to tighten bail laws across the country, we take a documentary look at how the issue has become a focal point of Canadian anxiety around crime and ask what might change with Bill C-14, legislation the Prime Minister has called “arguably the most aggressive tightening of the criminal code seen in decades.”For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday U.S. president Donald Trump took back his appeal for help to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, and called out his NATO allies for largely ignoring his request.Iran’s blockade of the chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman has effectively cut off commercial shipping. This has halted the flow of nearly 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply, caused fuel prices to surge, and sent shockwaves through the global economy.As the Israel and U.S. war on Iran continues, today we’re asking whether the U.S. can open the Strait on its own, why allies are so reluctant to help, and if diplomacy — not military might — will be the key to unlocking the shipping route. Guest host Jason Markusoff speaks with Aaron Ettinger, professor of political science at Carleton University.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

“If we lose the midterms, we’re going to jail.” That’s Steve Bannon’s warning to Republicans: a call to act urgently, to “seize the institutions,” and prevent what he calls another stolen election. It’s a sentiment shared by Donald Trump, who has said the midterms must be won in order to avoid impeachment. He’s also suggested that if elections are run “properly,” his supporters will not have to worry about voting again. In recent months, the FBI has raided an election facility in Georgia, The White House has proposed decertifying voting machines and limiting mail ballots, officials have proposed nationalizing parts of election administration, and some in Trump’s orbit have called for a military presence at every polling station across the country. The list goes on.Our guest is David A. Graham. He's a staff writer at The Atlantic who has done a lot of reporting on Trump and election interference.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

One of the most brutal fronts in the escalating war in the Middle East right now is in Lebanon. Israel’s ground troops have crossed the border into the south of the country, and the bombing campaign continues in cities like Beirut. Israel says its mission is to root out and defang Hezbollah and to carve out a security buffer zone in the south.  According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 850 people have been killed, including over a hundred children. Around 800 thousand people are now internal refugees, fueling a crisis the current government is struggling to handle.  Beirut-based journalist Rania Abouzeid has covered political upheaval, human rights and conflicts in the Middle East for more than two decades. She spoke to host Jayme Poisson about how the conflict in Lebanon got to where it is, and where it could be headed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is one of the figures central to the ongoing war in Iran. Critics say that the former Fox News host is both dangerous and completely out of his depth. He has made headlines recently for promising “death and destruction," picking fights with the media, and using Christian rhetoric to justify war.The Guardian's Washington bureau chief David Smith joins us to talk about the man who heads the world’s most powerful military. What is Hegseth’s worldview? How does his past shape what we are seeing from him now? And just how much influence does he wield?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. intelligence reports this week show that, despite U.S and Israeli strikes, very little has changed about the Iranian regime’s grip since the start of the war.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or the IRGC for short, along with interim leaders that stepped in after Supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s death, still retain control of the country.The IRGC has been described as a parallel state, and the most powerful institution in Iran outside of the Supreme Leader’s office. They have broad control over Iran’s industry and major sectors of the country’s economy, and have been designated a terror group by Canada and the U.S.Ali Vaez is the International Crisis Group's Iran Project Director. He joins us to discuss the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – an organization that has a central place in Iran’s public, private and political life, and a key role in the escalating war in the Middle East.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor this week, becoming the first New Democrat to defect to Prime Minister Carney’s Liberals.With three byelections coming up next month, this puts the Carney Government on a likely path to a majority. It also adds to the troubles facing the NDP, who are in the middle of a leadership race following their worst election result ever.CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry talks through how this could all play out.

Amidst communications blackouts and rising casualties, Jayme Poisson reaches a resident in Tehran to discuss the war, Trump, the Iranian regime, and his pessimistic view about where this goes next. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The world could face one of the most severe shocks to energy markets since the 1970s as we enter week two of the war in the Middle East.The strait of Hormuz, the artery for 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas, has been effectively shut down. Qatar, which makes up one fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas exports, has stopped production of LNG after Iran struck two of its sites. In the aftermath natural gas prices spiked in Asia and Europe.Jim Krane, a fellow in Middle East Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is here to talk through the high stakes. Jim also reported for the Associated Press in the Middle East for years.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Images coming out of Tehran over the weekend were apocalyptic, with oil refinery fires burning and massive clouds of black smoke turning day into night.Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack other countries in the region and has chosen its new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The Economist’s Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom joins us to talk about the latest developments, as well as how other countries are getting caught up in the war.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades we have been hearing about the possibility of AI-driven warfare, and now it’s here.Anthropic's AI platform Claude has been reportedly central to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. It was used during the attack that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which involved strikes on nearly 900 targets dropped within the first 12 hours, including on a girls’ elementary school that killed at least 165 people – mostly students.Today we’re talking about AI military capabilities: how companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are working with the military, and what happens when these companies and governments start building systems that help decide who lives and who dies in a war.Heidy Khlaaf, the Chief AI Scientist at the AI Now Institute and an expert on AI safety within defense and national security, joins the show.

Today on the show, we wanted to bring on Robert Pape. He is a political scientist with the University of Chicago. And we’ve been following his work on his substack “The Escalation Trap” with a lot of interest since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Pape is going to argue that the U.S. has walked into an enormous, military escalation trap. He takes a hard look at things like missile supplies, and air defense systems, and models them out. His predictions for the future of this conflict, based on present information, and history aren’t great.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney reaffirmed his support for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.Carney spoke about the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and threatening international peace and security. But Carney also said his government supports the goals of the attack with “regret” and that Israel and the United States acted without engaging the United Nations.Is Canada trying to have it both ways by professing support for international law, while also backing what Canada’s former Liberal foreign affairs minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has called an act of aggression by Israel and the U.S. carried out in defiance of the U.N. charter?Dennis Horak joins Front Burner to navigate those questions. He served as the last head of mission for Canada in Iran. He also served as Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 1953, the United States helped stage a coup to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, largely a response to the Iranian leader’s nationalization of the oil industry. Twenty-six years later, revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran just months after having deposed the U.S. installed King. Since then, the relationship between these two nations has been defined by sanctions, proxy battles, covert operations, nuclear diplomacy, political assassinations, deep mutual mistrust, and now a war.How did we get here? Our guest is Nader Hashemi, Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian understanding and an associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This weekend after weeks of threats and tense negotiations, the U.S. and Israel began a war with Iran. The developments have been incredibly consequential, from the assasination of Iran’s Supreme Leader to Iran’s retaliatory attacks on neighbouring Gulf states. To unpack this moment, what led to it, and go through what the future of the Middle East could look like in the aftermath, we are joined by Vali Nasr, Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is also the author of Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History.

As Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand travels with Prime Minister Mark Carney to India, a feature conversation with Anand on the reset of the Canada-India relationship, the U.S. military build-up near Iran, CUSMA negotiations, and Canada’s foreign policy doctrine in a tense geopolitical moment.

This week OpenAI’s head of U.S. and Canada policy and partnerships Chan Park was hauled in front of a meeting with Canada’s AI minister Evan Solomon after it was revealed that Jesse Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account was suspended back in June for describing scenarios involving gun violence, and that a group of people at the company debated telling the RCMP, but didn’t.Van Rootselaar went on to kill eight people in Tumbler Ridge, BC. The meeting has provided us with no new information. No answers about what Van Rootselaar said or wrote to ChatGPT, or what it said back. There are no substantial answers about why OpenAI didn’t alert the police.Solomon and the federal government are saying they expect changes from the company. They are framing regulation as an option, but not an inevitable one.Today Maggie Harrison Dupré speaks with guest host Jason Markusoff. She is a senior staff writer at Futurism where she reports on the rise of AI. They discuss how chatbots can validate, rather than discourage users’ dark or violent ideas and about why regulation isn’t a louder drumbeat.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last week or so the debate over Canada’s immigration policy has come to the forefront.In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has promised to put a series of restrictive new immigration policies to a provincial referendum.In Ottawa, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has brought forward a motion that would compel the federal government to review and restrict the services available to asylum seekers.Critics have said both moves scapegoat immigrants.This is all happening at a time when polling shows that popular support for immigration is on the decline.Today's guest is someone who is uniquely positioned to talk about the proposed changes in immigration policy.Jason Kenney is the former United Conservative Party Premier of Alberta.Prior to that, Kenney spent nearly two decades in federal politics, and was a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s Conservative party.He spent years working on the immigration and multiculturalism file and was widely credited for shifting the support of new Canadians from the Liberals to the Conservatives.Note: On the same day this podcast was recorded, Jason Kenney was publicly listed as a lobbyist for a firm that deals with skills-based immigration.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Mass violence broke out on Sunday in Mexico after a military raid killed the most wanted, and feared, cartel boss in the country — a man known as El Mencho.We take a closer look at the aftermath of the operation and ask some questions: who was this kingpin, what is the powerful criminal organization he presided over, and what could happen in his absence?With us today is David Mora in Guadalajara. He’s the senior Mexico analyst at International Crisis Group.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

From two heartbreaking hockey losses to the fiery debate over whether the men’s gold medal curling team was cheating, Milano Cortina 2026 was a dramatic one for Team Canada. The games also brought some headscratching moments like a Norwegian biathlete confessing to infidelity minutes after a race and an investigation into Olympic ski-jumping dubbed ‘penis-gate’. We break down the storylines from the Winter Olympics that dominated our timelines and got us talking with senior contributor at CBC Sports, Shireen Ahmed.

On Thursday, former Prince Andrew was arrested by U.K. police.After years of controversy, scandal and allegations of sexual assault, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office.The arrest is related to his decades-long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the former prince is alleged to have sent confidential government documents to the convicted sex offender.Today, Andrew Lownie, a historian and the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, joins the show. We get into the details of the arrest, the long-standing ties between the former prince and Epstein and what recently released documents reveal.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals welcomed a third Conservative floor crosser on Wednesday – Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux. And with three by-elections coming up, two from Liberal strongholds, a Liberal majority is looking like a possibility. So a pretty seismic day on Parliament Hill. CBC’s senior writer Aaron Wherry is here to talk through how this could all play out for the Liberals and for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Looksmaxxers are a community of young men dedicated to the pursuit of maximizing their physical appearance, often at great personal cost. Many are spending thousands of dollars on cosmetic procedures, or even taking blunt objects to their faces, in the hopes of masculinizing their features to become more handsome. Or, as they refer to it: “ascending.” In a world where so many young people — particularly young men — feel as though it’s impossible to get ahead, we’ve got a conversation about this viral community augmenting their bodies in the hopes of doing exactly that. Aidan Walker is a writer and content creator whose work explores all kinds of online subcultures. He joins the show to talk about looksmaxxing, its central characters, connections to the far right, and what the movement reveals about young men right now.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, a 5000 word post on X with the headline “Something big is happening” went viral. It was written by Matt Shumer, the CEO of HyperWrite, an AI writing tool and in it he says he’s recently watched AI go from a helpful tool to something that “does my job better than I do”. And he’s not the only one. The CEO of Anthropic, one of the biggest AI companies today, wrote an essay saying it could replace half of all entry-level white collar jobs in the next one to five years. What’s behind the sudden vibe shift? A good part of it has to do with the abilities of AI agents, which are basically AI models you give a task to perform for you, with the promise of little supervision.Are we on the precipice of something big? Or is it another way to build hype amid fears of a bubble? Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor for the MIT Technology Review, joins us to separate reality from hype. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time.In the latest season of Personally: Creation Myth, Helena does not want kids. Her husband believes she’ll change her mind—she has so much love to give, she would be a perfect mother. That will never happen, she tells him. Again. And again. Until one day, he leaves.In the silence, doubt starts rushing in. So she asks her close friends, her mother, her sister, even a perfect stranger—did she make the right decision? What is the purpose of life? Center your pleasure, says one friend. Go for adventure, says another, and isn’t parenthood the biggest adventure of all? Be true to yourself, says a father who regrets his decision. But the voice she needs to hear is her own. More episodes of Creation Myth are available wherever you get your podcasts and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CMxFB

Cuba has been facing rolling blackouts, food shortages, and rationed hospital resources after a month with no oil imports. The energy crisis has also been a major blow to the country’s tourism industry, as major airlines suspended service to the country.The cutoff came after the United States severed the island’s access to Venezuelan oil in January, and then warned any country supplying Cuba it could face retaliation. The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson has been reporting on the region for decades. He joins us to talk about how the Trump administration hopes this could end communist rule in the country.

A horrific mass shooting took place in the small community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C. on Tuesday – one of the deadliest in Canadian history.Nine people are dead, including the suspect, and 27 more were injured. Many of the victims were as young as 12 or 13 years old.CBC senior reporter Caroline Barghout is in Tumbler Ridge covering the ongoing investigation. She joins host Jayme Poisson with the latest on the tragedy, and how a community – and country – is in mourning.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Jonathan Haidt, best-selling author of “The Anxious Generation”, is our guest today. He’s been on a global mission to educate parents, the media, and government officials about the harms that social media companies inflict on children.He believes that the world ran a huge uncontrolled experiment on kids in the 2010s by giving them smartphones and social media accounts. And now, there is clear evidence – often through court case disclosure – that the experiment has harmed children, and that it’s time to call it off.Haidt has been calling on governments to ban social media for those under 16. And they’re listening. Canada is reportedly considering one for kids under 14 right now.Today, we’re going to get into some of Jonathan Haidt’s research, what he thinks a ban can achieve, and more broadly about his core goal: reclaiming childhood.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The final remaining agreement constraining U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons expired last week.The New START treaty was established by President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. And since then the treaty has governed much of the global landscape concerning nuclear weapons and non-proliferation. Reporting suggests both sides remain in talks.Yet as the U.S. threatens annexation, attacks nations abroad, and threatens to re-emerge as a colonial power in the Western Hemisphere, some are asking whether nuclear weapons have become a necessity for countries hoping to guarantee their sovereignty. Canada’s former defence chief Wayne Eyre has said we should “keep our options open” on acquiring nuclear weapons.For more on the future of this landmark treaty, and the possibility of a nuclear arms race, we’re joined by George Perkovich. He is the author of a number of books on nuclear weapons and non-proliferation and Senior Fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Donald Trump’s border Czar Tom Homan announced a drawdown of ICE personnel in Minnesota, following weeks of chaos and two deadly incidents in the state. Homan insisted that ICE was not surrendering, and this departure was instead evidence of ICE’s success in Minnesota. Beginning in December 2025, ICE announced ‘Operation Metro Surge’ — an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota described as “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out.” The operation incited weeks of protest, direct action and civil disobedience across the Twin Cities.Today, we take a step back to assess how this operation unfolded, why Minneapolis became the stage for it, and what the unified response across so much of Minnesota says about the state of immigration enforcement in the U.S. today. We’re joined by Robert Worth, a contributing writer with The Atlantic who spent time in Minneapolis last month to report on the protests.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today on the show we are going to discuss the complete gutting of the Washington Post, an American institution. The paper that broke Watergate. The paper that just nine years ago told the world “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.And we’re going to place this latest news in the context of a much broader political assault on journalism, and the further consolidation of information in the hands of the billionaire class of Trump allies.Our guest today is Max Tani. He is the media editor and co-host of the Mixed Signals podcast at Semafor.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a very public warning to Prime Minister Mark Carney. At the centre of that warning is the USMCA trade deal, which kept Trump’s tariffs from unleashing even deeper damage to the Canadian economy. A mandatory review of the US-Mexico-Canada pact is kicking-off now. It has turned into a high stakes negotiation, with the U.S. poised to squeeze Canada and Mexico and to use the negotiation itself as leverage to advance the administration’s interests. Today, trade expert Eric Miller is back to talk about where the trade talks are headed, what the Americans are hoping for, and what would happen if the deal got ripped up altogether.  Miller is the president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group and a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Jeffrey Epstein’s vast connections with the rich and powerful, the world over, are on full display in the over 3 million files and documents released by the U.S. Justice department late last week.There’s mounting evidence of Epstein’s relationships with people like President Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and tech titan Peter Thiel, as well as behind the scenes dealmaking with global power brokers.Today, we go over the biggest revelations with Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney. We also discuss why so few have been held accountable.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Around 73 thousand people have been detained in ICE facilities across the United States over the past year. That’s a 75 per cent increase from right before Donald Trump took office. At least 38 people have died in ICE custody since then. It’s all part of the Trump administration’s rapidly expanding immigration crackdown, which has included the addition of over one hundred new facilities. One of those facilities, in south Florida, has been dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. In December Amnesty International USA detailed conditions there, finding they amounted to quote “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.Amy Fischer, Director for Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International USA joins us to talk about what happens when people are detained by ICE and what, if anything, courts and lawmakers can do to stop it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Pierre Poilievre easily won his leadership review in Calgary on the weekend with 87.4% of the vote. Today, senior Parliamentary bureau writer Aaron Wherry talks about the convention, whether it guarantees Poilievre’s future and what challenges still lie ahead for the Conservative leader. Plus, why a press conference at a grocery store prompted election speculation.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In just over a decade, the Conservative Party of Canada has lost four elections, picked three new leaders, and turned on two of them when they failed to become Prime Minister. As the party votes on Pierre Poilievre’s future as leader of the Conservative Party, Front Burner speaks to Conservative insiders, Abacus Data CEO David Coletto and senior parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry to consider the path the Conservatives took to this point and whether Poilievre can keep the party united behind him.

Over the last few weeks, the Trump administration has explicitly or implicitly borrowed from the Nazi tradition on social media.Specific passages or iconography from the Third Reich have been repurposed in the context of the government’s own legislative program today. The adoption of these extreme symbols, dog whistles and phrases is part of a re-mainstreaming of fascist and Nazi ideas more broadly.Ali Breland, a staff writer at The Atlantic, explains why he sees it as part of an attempt to remake the U.S. from a country defined by ideas like liberty and equality, to one defined by bloodline and heritage.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has weighed in on the separatism movement in Alberta. Bessent has said that the province is a “natural partner” to the U.S., and that it has “great resources”.While Bessent is certainly the most high profile U.S. official to muse about Alberta separatism, he hasn’t been the only MAGA supporter to chime in. Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Republican congressman Andy Ogles have also waded into the debate.Today we’re asking why MAGA is eyeing Alberta separatism and whether it’s a threat to Canada’s national security.Joining us: Jason Markusoff, writer and producer for CBC Calgary, and Patrick Lennox, a national security expert who ran for the Liberals in the last federal election in Edmonton. We’ll also hear from Jeffrey Rath, legal counsel and spokesperson for the Alberta Prosperity Project. That’s the main advocacy group pushing for Alberta independence.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump set off a firestorm with comments dismissing the military contributions of fellow NATO members during the war in Afghanistan. This follows the president’s aggressive bid for Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO-ally Denmark, which brought into question whether NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, could survive without America, its strongest and richest member. And while some kind of agreement on Greenland now seems to be on the table, and Trump appears to be backing down, today we’re asking what damage has already been done to NATO. How does this latest challenge to its existence compare to conflicts the military alliance has faced before? Aaron Ettinger, a professor of political science at Carleton University, joins us for a conversation about how NATO’s past and present could inform its future.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Massive anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis intensified over the weekend, in the wake of the second fatal shooting of an American citizen involving federal law enforcement agents in the city this month. On Saturday, border patrol agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse.Today, we’ll be talking about Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, and how the deadly ICE surge in Minnesota is only the latest example of domestic policy that he has championed. In Trump's second administration, Miller is emerging as the main architect and enforcer of Trump's signature policies: from hardline immigration policies and mass deportations, to retaliation against the administration's perceived enemies, to increasingly aggressive foreign policy.To talk about all that we’re joined by Michael Scherer. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers American politics, and in particular the people behind it. He's the co-writer of a recent profile called "The Wrath of Stephen Miller."And please note, we spoke to Michael before this latest shooting and its aftermath in Minneapolis.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ says it has a plan for the future of Gaza. Critics say that strategy is full of holes, and that the true intention of the board extends far beyond the war ravaged territory. Today we look at how a U.S. 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza evolved into a body that some fear could undermine the United Nations and further erode international order.Jayme Poisson speaks with Hugh Lovatt, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations based in London.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It was an eventful World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, with striking speeches by both the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister. For his part Donald Trump talked for more than an hour on an array of topics, including his desire to acquire Greenland. His speech came a day after Mark Carney made international headlines announcing the end of the old world order as he sees it, and the need for a new path forward for “middle powers.”In today’s episode Jayme Poisson sits down with veteran journalist Paul Wells to break it down.Check out another episode of CBC's new podcast Two Blocks from the White House from our colleagues in the Washington bureau. It's American politics with Canadian context. This week, they're talking about Davos and Trump's Greenland threats. Listen to the episode here.

In a provocative speech to the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney made the case that the rules of international economics and politics are “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition”.Carney went on to say that middle powers like Canada need to work together to find their own coalitions to survive and stand up to countries using economic coercion – a clear reference to the Trump administration. This comes after Trump’s stunning threats earlier this week to slap tariffs on European countries like France, Britain, and Germany over their support of Greenland's sovereignty. It has pushed the relationship between the U.S. and Europe to the brink.Carney said he stands with our European allies in support of Greenland. But what kind of pushback can they mount? And what kind of domestic pressures are European leaders facing in their own backyard?Michaela Kuefner is the Chief Political Editor at DW News and joins us from Davos, Switzerland.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Mark Carney is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, as the situation with Greenland continues to escalate. Carney’s Davos trip is coming on the heels of a visit to China and Qatar where the Prime Minister made deals with both countries. Last year, he called China the biggest threat to Canada’s security, but now he talks about a “new world order” and says “we take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.”Aaron Wherry, senior political correspondent, joins us to talk about how Carney is navigating this new reality.

Anti-ICE protests continued throughout Minnesota over the weekend, as they have for nearly two weeks now. Since the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, ICE agents have been getting in confrontations with the people they are targeting, and the citizens attempting to observe and document ICE’s actions. The city and state are on a razor’s edge — trying to observe and protest while not giving U.S. President Donald Trump an opportunity to escalate. Trump has threatened to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops against protesters, with some 1,500 troops reportedly standing ready.Can he do that? And can anything be done to restrain the power of ICE officers deployed to Minneapolis and beyond?Today we hear from Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. He’s a Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council and has been following all of this very closely.

A mass protest movement has gripped Iran and is shaking the foundations of that country’s ruling regime. Thousands of protesters have been detained and rights groups say more than 2,500 people are dead, including one Canadian citizen.With Iranian officials signalling plans for “quick” executions, U.S. President Donald Trump issued threats of his own, hinting at military intervention.Will the U.S. throw its military weight behind Iranian protests? Will Iran’s regime fall, or will it manage to weather the storm like it did in 2018 and 2022? Gregg Carlstrom, a Middle East correspondent for The Economist, answers those questions, and more.

Potential American military intervention in Iran amid ongoing protests and violence. The shooting death of a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis at the hands of an ICE agent. A criminal investigation into the chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.Astead Herndon is a podcast host and editorial coordinator with Vox. He breaks down another seismic week in American politics. Our colleagues in CBC's Washington bureau — Katie Simpson, Paul Hunter and Willy Lowry — have launched a brand new podcast, Two Blocks from the White House. It's American politics with Canadian context. Listen to this week's episode "Could America First mean Canada's next?" here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Mark Carney arrives in Beijing today to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It’s the first time in nearly a decade for a Canadian Prime Minister to do so, and the stakes are high.Carney has to balance his handling of two problematic superpowers during these talks.On the one hand, he wants to double non-U.S. exports abroad in the next decade and China is the second largest market in the world. On the other, a closer relationship with China could set Canada on a collision course with a U.S. administration set on curtailing and containing it. Additionally, Canada must also contend with the national security threat China poses – from intellectual property theft or meddling in Canada’s democratic processes.Vina Nadjibulla is back on the show to discuss all of this. She’s the Vice President of Research & Strategy for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by military force. Promises to "take back" the Panama Canal. Massive tariffs on Brazil. Threats to take action against cartels in Mexico.Donald Trump's foreign policy in Latin America in recent months has been chaotic, even contradictory at times. But it all seems to be part of what Trump has referred to as the "Donroe Doctrine": a reinvention of the Monroe Doctrine that saw America looking to exert hegemonic dominance across the entire western hemisphere.John Feeley worked as a diplomat for the American government for nearly 30 years, including serving as ambassador to Panama. He breaks down the current geopolitical situation and lays out the Trump administration's goals for the region — and beyond.

Right now, the future of Greenland hangs in the balance. And with it, an entire system of military and political alliances that has underpinned the global order since the end of the Second World War.So when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s going to meet with Danish leaders to talk about Greenland this week, that’s what diplomats, historians and politicians the world over say is at stake.This could have massive implications for Canada, both as a NATO member and target of Trump’s expansionist appetites.Casey Michel joins us. He’s a journalist and author of the upcoming book ‘United States of Oligarchy’. He recently wrote a piece for Foreign Policy titled “Annexing Greenland would be a Strategic Catastrophe.”

Whether you think it’s world-changing or over-hyped, it’s undeniable that artificial intelligence has transformed the tech industry.But as tech companies chase the dream of building a human-like intelligence and revolutionizing everything from doctor’s visits to movie-making, the industry continues to face big questions around things like the mental health of users, copyright infringement, reliability of large language models, and its financial future.Murad Hemmadi, a reporter with The Logic, is here to talk about how all of these questions could play out in the year ahead.

In 1999 Hugo Chavez was elected President of Venezuela, beginning a years-long ‘Bolivarian Revolution,’ following multiple coup attempts, and time in prison. Chavez would go on to govern the country as President until his death in 2013 — passing sweeping anti-poverty programs, nationalizing oil and industry, and opposing US hegemony in the region. Just before his death, Chavez hand selected Nicolas Maduro as the person to carry forward his political program and legacy. Maduro’s time in power was hamstrung between domestic mismanagement, US sanction regimes, and authoritarian crackdowns. But at the core of his time in power was the ‘Chavismo’ political ideology, created in the image of his predecessor. For a better sense of Venezuela’s modern political history, we have a look at its central characters: Simon Bolivar, Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Today, we’re joined by Alejandro Velasco, a professor of Latin American history at New York University, and author of ‘Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela.’For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, Gerry Butts – former principal secretary to Justin Trudeau and current adviser to Prime Minister Carney – is on the show.Butts is also the vice chairman of the global political risk firm, the Eurasia group, which releases a “Top Risks” list every year. We’ll drill down on a few of them, including their number one risk, the “U.S. political revolution”. The report makes the case that, outside of the U.S. itself, America’s political upheaval has the greatest impact on Canada. We’ll also discuss the “Zombie USMCA” deal and the future of NATO.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the wake of the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, there has been a flurry of concern about what that country’s oil could mean for the Canadian economy.Is American access to the world’s largest proven oil reserves a major threat to Canada? Have we lost leverage with the U.S. as we move forward in trade negotiations? Over the last few days, Trump has threatened Cuba, Greenland, Iran, Colombia and Mexico. What are Canada’s primary concerns as we navigate this new reality? From CBC’s Parliamentary bureau, senior reporter Evan Dyer is here. Evan has a lot of experience covering Canadian foreign policy, Latin America, and has reported extensively from the region.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After months of rhetoric, military presence and strikes, U.S. forces have launched an attack on the Venezuelan capital Caracas. They seized the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, and flew him to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.U.S. officials say Maduro heads up a cartel responsible for flooding the United States with drugs, but critics — and Maduro himself — say the charges are just a pretext for regime change — and access to the country's vast oil reserves. U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States will "run" Venezuela for the immediate future, and that American oil companies will move in to take over the country's oil industry.Jon Lee Anderson is a staff writer with the New Yorker who has covered conflict in Latin America for decades. He explains the complicated power dynamics at play with Maduro out of the picture, and what we might see in the weeks ahead.

In the fourth and final episode of Understood: The Making of Musk, host Jacob Silverman launches into Musk’s ultimate quest, his desire to colonize Mars, and how he went from wanting to save earth to wanting to escape it. You’ll hear the origin story of SpaceX. And hear from an astrophysicist who says Musk’s plan is completely delusional. You can find Understood wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxMoM4And be sure to follow the feed for even more stories that define our digital age.

What does Musk, father of 14, expect from his quote, “legion” of children? In episode 3 of Understood: The Making of Musk, host, Jacob Silverman unravels Musk’s quest for genetic optimization, including alleged embryo screening, and his pronatalist views. And we hear from his estranged daughter, Vivian.You can find Understood wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxMoM3

Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? In search of clues, the latest season of Understood: The Making of Musk returns to his sheltered youth in apartheid South Africa, a world engineered for white supremacy. In this second episode, host Jacob Silverman explores whether Musk’s authoritarian streak traces back to his Canadian grandfather. Before Joshua Haldeman brought his family to South Africa, he made waves as part of the radical 1930s Technocracy movement. And while the two men’s lives only overlapped for three years, we find echoes of Elon’s worldview in Haldeman’s pro-tech, anti-democratic ideology.You can find Understood wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxMoM2

Today we’re joined by lawyer and author Bryan Stevenson for a conversation about the historical Mother Emanuel AME church, and what it means to tell the story of American history through a single institution. Then Canadian journalist Paul Wells stops by for a look at the rise of The New York Times, and the lessons for news media writ large. And finally, Bookends host Mattea Roach chats with Jayme about Ukraine, the power of the novel, and some very endangered snails.The books:Mother Emanuel by Kevin SackThe Times by Adam NagourneyEndling by Maria Reva

Some of our favourite guests of the year return to talk about books that helped meaningfully explain 2025. We talk about the evergreen appeal of Plato as well as Jewish identity with former Yale fascism scholar Jason Stanley. The déjà vu of trade wars and Canadian nationalism are tackled by journalist and author Stephen Maher. His pick is a book that details the last election of Sir John A. Macdonald and first election of Wilfrid Laurier.Then the career works of Herman Melville as a blueprint for modern America with historian Rick Perlstein.This is part one, in a series that will continue on tomorrow’s show! The books:The Republic Book 8 by Plato Being Jewish After Gaza: A Reckoning by Peter BeinartThe History of Canada Series: The Destiny of Canada by Christopher PenningtonThe Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville

In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. Even so, the narrative became embedded in our cultural memory, warping everything it touched — including the lives of innocent people… And it never quite died out.In the new 8-part series, The Devil You Know, Sarah Marshall (You’re Wrong About) explores the tangled web of the Satanic Panic, in a journey that will take you everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to rural Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas. This is a show about the people who experienced the Satanic Panic in real-time — the believers, the skeptics, the bystanders, and the wrongfully-convicted. What was it like to be a psychologist told to look for Satanists in every case; a mother slowly recovering memories of supposed Satanic abuse; a teenager accused of conspiracy to murder? The stories of these eyewitnesses point us toward the real underlying problems — individual and societal — that the Panic was a response to. The fault, as ever, was not with Satanists, but in ourselves.You can find more episodes of The Devil You Know wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/TDYKxFB

Forged is a six-part series from CBC in Canada and ABC Australia. Host Adrian Stimson, an artist from the Siksika Nation, travels from Thunder Bay to the Northern Territory of Australia, to reveal what's believed to be the largest art crime fraud in the world.In this first episode, rock star Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is doing rock star things — like buying paintings. And what better painting for an iconic Canadian rocker to buy than one by Norval Morrisseau, one of the most iconic Indigenous artists in Canada? But when Kevin’s Morrisseau painting is featured in an exhibit, it gets taken down because the head curator says it’s “questionable.” Kevin tries to get some answers but every answer leads to more questions. Host Adrian Stimson traces Kevin’s dogged quest to find out the truth about his painting — and learns how this one painting is the key to cracking a whole underworld open. More episodes of Forged are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/ForgedxFB

Today we're bringing you a 2025 Front Burner wrap up, answering audience questions and bringing you behind the scenes of the making of some of our most popular episodes of 2025.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2025 news of the biggest, most sensational sports scandals was broken not by ESPN or Sports Illustrated, but by a podcaster named Pablo Torre on his show Pablo Torre Finds Out.It was Pablo who investigated Kawhi Leonard’s alleged multi-million dollar under the table no show deal. And it was Pablo who uncovered potential collusion involving NFL player salaries.Pablo Torre is with us today to talk about the year in sports scandal, the state of sports journalism, and gambling grip’s grip on the whole industry.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Corruption is a word that’s come up throughout this year in relation to U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term. There have been allegations of personal enrichment, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, through his family’s crypto and real estate ventures. There are also accusations of quid pro quo deals with foreign leaders and convicted criminals seeking pardons.Is this a bug in Trump’s administration, or a feature?To put it all into focus, Tommy Vietor is here. He’s been following this issue of corruption on his very popular podcast, Pod Save America. He also co-hosts Pod Save the World.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Australian prime minister and police have said that the suspected gunmen in the Bondi Beach mass shooting at a Hanukkah event were motivated by Islamic State ideology. Australian counterterrorism officials allege the father and son received military training in southern Philippines. While it's been more than six years since the fall of the caliphate, experts like Lucas Webber say there’s been a troubling rise in Islamic State motivated activity and violence worldwide. Webber is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center and a Senior Threat Intelligence Analyst at Tech Against Terrorism. He joins us to talk about what’s known about the Bondi Beach attack, and what the evolving presence of ISIS as a decentralized terrorist network looks like.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On the first day of his second term as U.S. president, Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively gutting USAID — the United States Agency for International Development. It's an arm of the government that, in 2024, was operating in more than 130 countries worldwide, providing food, medicine and other life-saving support.At the time, advocates said the cuts would result in preventable deaths from starvation, malnutrition, and easily treatable diseases. Now, nearly a year later, reporting from ProPublica suggests that’s what happened, particularly in several African countries.Anna Maria Barry-Jester, a reporter with ProPublica, breaks down her investigation into the fallout of the collapse of USAID.

It’s been almost a year since Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. He was on the brink of a trade war. Since then, a lot has happened, from a renewed push for a separatist referendum, to election recall campaigns, to a shift in the relationship between the province and Ottawa.We are joined by two CBC colleagues. Kathleen Petty is the host of the West of Centre podcast and Jason Markusoff is a writer and producer in Calgary.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, an in-depth look at puberty blockers and their use on minors with gender dysphoria. These drugs have come under an enormous amount of scrutiny in recent years, with some questioning their benefits, safety and long-term impact.After banning the use of puberty blockers for gender treatment of people under 18, a new clinical trial in the U.K. aims to get to the bottom of those concerns.Azeen Ghorayshi is a science and gender reporter for the New York Times.She’ll parse through what we know and don’t know about the effects of blockers in minors, how this became a hugely divisive and politicized debate around the world, and whether this new trial could change our understanding.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

First, the latest on the massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia. The mass shooting targeted the Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah.We speak with Sean Tarek Goodwin, a reporter with ABC News, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene.Second, a surprise defection on Parliament Hill.Late last week, just hours after Parliament wrapped for the year, the Liberals welcomed another floor crosser into the party. With 171 seats, they are now just one MP away from holding a majority.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.He’s here to talk about all that, and look back at Prime Minister Carney’s first sitting.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

‘Make America Great Again' has been Donald Trump’s brand for a decade, riding the movement’s anti-elitist wave into the presidency and remaking the Republican Party. But cracks are now showing in the coalition, raising questions about Trump’s commitment to MAGA goals. One of his staunchest allies has become his loudest critic: Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently announced she would resign her seat next year. CBC’s Washington correspondents — Katie Simpson, Paul Hunter and Willy Lowry — discuss if Greene’s defection is a sign of growing discontent from Trump’s base.

Every U.S. president releases a national security strategy document about a year into their term, but few have made as big a splash as Donald Trump's, earlier this month.The document formally spells out much of what we've come to expect from Trump's approach to foreign policy in his second term: political relationships are transactional, and American interests take priority above all else. The document also takes particular aim at Europe, and pledges explicit support for right-wing movements abroad.Bob Rae was, until recently, Canada's ambassador to the UN, following decades of political office including premier of Ontario. He reads between the document's lines and explains what it means for Canada — and asks how much of it is actually worth taking seriously.

It's estimated that as many as 10 per cent of adults in Canada use a GLP-1 type drug like Ozempic. The prescription medicine is used for type 2 diabetes management and increasingly prescribed off-label for weight loss. And this month, for the first time, the World Health Organization has conditionally recommended GLP-1 drugs for the long-term treatment of obesity.But while these drugs have been called a game-changing tool to manage a complex and stigmatized health condition, there’s also a lot of questions about the potential negative impact.With Ozempic’s patent set to expire soon in Canada, and more affordable generic options about to hit the market, a lot more people you know could end up on a weight-loss drug.Today we bring you the rise and risks of GLP-1s with help from Dylan Scott. He is a Senior Correspondent at Vox who covers health.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two of the biggest media companies in the world are going to war over Warner Bros. Discovery, a massive media conglomerate that owns a historic Hollywood studio, as well as the likes of HBO and CNN. This week, Paramount put in a hostile all-cash takeover bid for Warner Brothers worth more than $108 billion. This followed Netflix’s announcement a few days earlier that they had won a bid to buy the company’s film, studio and streaming divisions, which alarmed many people in the industry. The Paramount bid is led by big time MAGA donor Larry Ellison and is backed by U.S President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump has already signaled he will be involved in whatever deal comes through. Lucas Shaw, who writes the Screentime newsletter for Bloomberg, talks us through what this means for media concentration, influence over the news and the future of the entertainment industry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Through 2022 and 2023, two Vancouver activists made international headlines with DULF — the Drug User Liberation Front. In a bid to stop overdose deaths, founders Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx sold clean, tested drugs — bought on the dark web — to their members as an alternative to the contaminated street supply.But that international attention led to political blowback. DULF was raided by police, Kalicum and Nyx were arrested, and in November they were found guilty on drug trafficking charges. Now, they're arguing in a B.C. Supreme Court that, in shutting down DULF, the government violated drug users' Charter rights.Michelle Gamage, health reporter with the Tyee, explains why DULF did what they did, and how their ongoing court case could set a legal precedent for harm reduction efforts nationwide.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, we bring you a wrap on U.S. politics. We begin with two scandals plaguing U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth, from allegations of war crimes to a scathing report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence.And we cover the fallout from President Donald Trump’s tirade against Somali immigrants, including a surge of ICE raids in Minneapolis. Plus, the politics behind Trump’s win of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.Our guest is Alex Shephard, senior editor of The New Republic.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2015, as governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney’s ‘Tragedy of the Horizons’ speech made waves in the global climate community. It was seen as a landmark call for the financial sector to recognize the costs of climate breakdown.But fast forward 10 years and a fierce debate is swirling around whether Carney is living up to that warning. Since becoming Prime Minister, he’s scrapped the consumer carbon tax, froze EV mandates and paved the way for a potential new pipeline to the B.C. coast.With a Trudeau-era environment minister resigning from Carney’s cabinet in protest, we’re asking the question: has Mark Carney betrayed the climate movement? Or is he playing a strategic long game that aims for an environmental win?Two writers from Canada’s National Observer, Ottawa Bureau Chief John Woodside and Calgary-based lead columnist Max Fawcett, join the show to take up that debate.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on the legality of President Donald Trump's sweeping worldwide tariffs. The court will rule on whether his use of a 1970s national security law violates the U.S. constitution, which clearly states that only Congress has the authority to implement taxes — of which tariffs are a type.But regardless of which way the court rules, Trump and his administration have made it clear that tariffs will continue to be a central pillar of both their economic and foreign policy. And, just over a year after they were first announced, those tariffs have had perhaps no bigger impact than here in Canada. They've reshaped not just our economic relationship with our closest trading partner, but they've fractured the political relationship too.Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, explains what's at stake in the Supreme Court's ruling, and breaks down the impact of a year of Trump tariffs.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, two National Guard soldiers were shot in Washington, D.C. after they were ambushed by a lone shooter near the airport. One was killed and the other remains in serious condition. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was shot and is still in hospital facing murder charges. The picture emerging of Lakanwal is of an isolated, deeply troubled man struggling to support his wife and five kids. Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan-national who had served as part of an elite CIA-trained and backed paramilitary group known as the Zero Units. Tasked with carrying out some of the most dangerous missions in the war on terror, the Zero Units have also been accused by rights groups of war crimes in their notorious night raids.Kevin Maurer is a best-selling author and longtime reporter who spent many years covering the war in Afghanistan. He talks about how this shooting fits into the broader legacy of the war on terrorism and the ripple effects it’s had abroad and closer to home.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Our guest today has taken a long look at an out-of-fashion principle in higher learning – institutional neutrality. Basically it’s the importance of letting students and faculty say what they want, and not have the administration put its thumb on the scale. In that he sees a whole world of problems facing post-secondary education today, from public and political support to an ongoing court case.Simon Lewsen is a magazine journalist who teaches part-time at the University of Toronto. His new story in Maclean’s is called “The Battle for the Soul of the University”. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the weekend, Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed. Venezuela’s foreign ministry responded by calling the comments "another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people".Late last week, Trump also said that land action against alleged drug trafficking networks in the country could start very soon.All of this is happening amidst a serious military buildup in the Caribbean and escalating threats to remove Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro from power.Is this the buildup to an invasion? And is it really about drugs? Or do Venezuela's massive oil reserves have something to do with it?Jon Lee Anderson is our guest. He’s a staff writer with The New Yorker, and has written extensively about U.S.-Venezuela relations and U.S. interference in Latin America.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a somber speech last week Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his people that their country was on the brink of a critical choice: either lose their dignity or risk alienating a key partner, America. His speech came after Donald Trump set a deadline demanding the war-torn country accept a unilateral American peace proposal.That proposal has been internationally panned and called a Russian “wish-list”.The dire situation Zelenskyy warned of however, did not come to pass, at least not yet.Zelenskyy says he is now ready to move forward with an American led peace process, but as Trump’s key negotiator plans to head to Moscow the question remains, are the Russians?To help us understand whether this is the beginning of the end of this war, or just another false start we’re speaking with reporter from The Kyiv Independent Francis Farrell.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Sudan’s civil war is now the worst displacement crisis in the world, with more than 12 million people currently displaced from their homes. Earlier this year, the outgoing Biden administration designated the war a genocide. This war includes countless proxies fighting over billions of dollars in natural resources, access to key shipping routes along the Red Sea, and control of one of the oldest countries in the world. Longtime journalist Michelle Shephard has just arrived from a 10 day reporting trip to the Sudan-Chad border, for The Walrus magazine. There she met families fleeing massacres, and women who crossed the desert on foot to escape sexual violence. She returns with a rare look inside a crisis the world has turned away from.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Thursday Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are set to announce the outlines of a plan that could set Alberta and B.C. on a collision course.It’s a potential energy deal that would give Alberta special exemptions from federal environmental laws and offer political support for a new oil pipeline to the B.C. coast, among other things.That is, if Alberta can get through the significant hurdles of opposition from First Nations and B.C. where Premier David Eby was completely cut out of the talks.Today we discuss the politics of all this with the CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton and Jason Markusoff from our Calgary bureau.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsCorrection: An earlier version of this episode misidentified B.C. Liberal MP Will Greaves. He represents the constituency of Victoria.

After meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in South Africa, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have announced they would restart trade talks.It’s a long way from where the two countries have been for the last several years. Relations blew up in 2023 after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused agents of India’s government of being involved in the murder of a Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.Then, last year, the RCMP publicly accused such agents of being involved in a campaign of homicides, extortions and threats targeting the South Asian community on Canadian soil. Recently, the director of CSIS suggested that the problem hasn’t gone away.In B.C.’s Lower Mainland, over 100 reports of extortion were made in the last year.Two CBC reporters who have been covering this issue give us a closer look at what exactly has been happening on the ground in Canada, particularly when it comes to extortion, who might be behind it, and how this all connects to the larger context of a thawing relationship with India.Baneet Braich is based out of Abbotsford, B.C. And Evan Dyer is with CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

At a press conference last week U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi laid out fresh allegations against Ryan Wedding, a 44-year-old Canadian and former Olympian who has been on the FBI’s most wanted list since March.Wedding is already accused of orchestrating multiple murders, and these new charges add to the drug and conspiracy allegations he’s facing.We speak to Calvi Leon, a reporter at the Toronto Star who’s been covering this case extensively.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the so-called "notwithstanding clause" — allows governments, both provincial and federal, to override sweeping sections of the other rights the Charter grants. It was intended as a last resort to prevent federal and judicial overreach, leaving power with elected officials, accountable to voters. A compromise demanded by premiers like Alberta's Peter Lougheed, the constitution almost certainly wouldn't exist without it.Since enacted in 1982, the clause has been very rarely used outside of Quebec. But in recent years, politicians have been using it — or promising to — more and more. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has now used it twice in less than month to preempt court challenges on controversial labour and transgender youth laws.University of Alberta political science professor Jared Wesley explains why governments are increasingly invoking this supposed last resort to achieve their goals, and the tensions it exposes in Canadian democracy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades there have been allegations that wealthy foreigners traveled into the Bosnian war, during the siege of Sarajevo, to shoot at besieged civilians for sport. That accusation is now the subject of an investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Milan, Italy.Today, we’re joined by Janine di Giovanni who covered the Bosnian war as a reporter for the Times of London, and lived through the siege of Sarajevo. She’s the author of two books on the war, and has covered 18 wars across her 35 years in journalism. She joins us to talk about ‘sniper tourism’, and the legacy of a defining European conflict. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Mark Carney’s Liberals survived a confidence vote on their first budget Monday night. It was a strange vote, with four members of the Conservatives and the NDP abstaining, as well as some voting chaos from two of the most powerful members of the Conservative Party.CBC’s senior Parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry breaks down how the vote went, what it tells us about Parliament right now, and whether the budget itself signals a new era of Liberal politics. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over 75 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established and signed by the newly formed United Nations after the atrocities of the Second World War to create a roadmap that establishes that every single person, regardless of who they are or where they’re from, has inalienable, inherent rights that the world must protect. But if you’ve been paying attention to the news at all lately, reality couldn’t seem further from that idea. Alex Neve is an international human rights lawyer and the former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada. He’s delivering this year’s Massey Lecture, broken into five parts, titled Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World. In it he goes through the massive challenges we face today and the things he’s learned from talking to people and bearing witness to human rights abuses from around the world. He also explores why the rights of some seem to take precedence over others. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With the absolutely massive amounts of money tied up in the AI data centre boom, it's not hard to see why people fear a bubble. That worry has come into sharper focus in recent weeks, following comments from OpenAI and some big moves on the stock market.This recent round of bubble fear isn't about the tech itself. Rather, it's a growing realization that the boom is being funded in a way that’s starting to resemble some historically devastating bubbles of the past.Paul Kedrosky is a partner at the venture capital firm SK Ventures and a research fellow at MIT's Initiative for the Digital Economy. He explains why changes in the AI boom's financing are renewing fears of a bubble bursting, and the massive potential impacts if it does.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It started with U.S. President Donald Trump's 'quips' about Canada becoming the 51st state. Nearly a year later, the Canada-U.S. relationship has weathered a barrage of tariffs, trade threats and taunts. CBC's Washington bureau — Paul Hunter, Katie Simpson and Willy Lowry — weigh in on the past year of Canada-U.S. relations under Trump, the current trade stalemate and whether the country that's been known as Canada's ally is even still a friend.

This week, thousands of pages of documents were released from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Some suggest Donald Trump knew more about Epstein’s crimes than the President has let on –– though the White House has called it a smear job.These 23-thousand pages also tell a story that goes much further than the White House, giving insight into just how enmeshed Epstein was with global power-players and events.Murtaza Hussain, a national security and foreign affairs reporter for Drop Site News, joins the show to discuss all of this and to share what his reporting has uncovered about the link between Epstein, Israeli intelligence officials and more.

The decisions of one Conservative MP to cross the floor, and another to resign have sparked a wider conversation about whether Pierre Poilievre should remain leader of the party.Those moves also forced the Conservatives into their version of damage control, given the stories of intense pressure campaigns and disputed accounts of office screaming sessions.Two conservatives joined host Jayme Poisson with their take on how Poilievre and his supporters are managing this latest crisis.Fred DeLorey is the chair of Northstar Public Affairs. He was also former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s national campaign director in 2021. Kate Harrison is the vice-chair for Summa Strategies, a public affairs firm that specializes in government relations.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau is dating the American pop star Katy Perry. He’s been spotted with her on her yacht, singing along at her concerts, and globetrotting with her hand in hand.It’s not the kind of post-political life Canadians are used to witnessing. So today, a look at the lives of Canadian Prime Ministers once they’ve left office and the post-electoral endeavors of American presidents.  Are they extensions of who they were as leaders or breaks from the past? Susan Delacourt is a longtime political journalist with the Toronto Star, and Gil Troy is a historian of American history and professor at McGill University. They join us to talk about the second acts of many of our most notable leaders.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nick Fuentes and his followers - Groypers - are working to push American conservatism and the MAGA movement into even more dangerous and reactionary territory. He started to gain a following in 2017 after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. On his show, America First, Fuentes openly praises Adolf Hitler and pushes white supremacist, Christian nationalist and antisemitic ideas. Fuentes, and his ideas moved one step closer to the mainstream last week when he sat down with Tucker Carlson, one of the most prominent right wing talk show hosts in the U.S.So we’re talking about this mainstreaming of his beliefs with Ali Breland, staff writer at The Atlantic, and Ben Lorber, senior research analyst at the social justice think tank Political Research Associates. Lorber is also the author of Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Conservative party is reeling from a pair of resignations that happened during budget week.First, Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont crossed the floor to the Liberals, citing disagreement with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s approach to politics.Two days later, Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux resigned from his position, citing the need for more time with his family. According to a senior Liberal source who spoke to the CBC, Jeneroux was in talks with Prime Minister Carney about defecting.Longtime federal politics reporter Stephen Maher walks us through the high stakes political drama. Maher is also the author of “The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau”.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

One year after Trump’s election, the U.S. looks very different than it did in 2024. PM Mark Carney has dubbed Trump “transformative”, and there’s no indication the president is shifting gears. CBC’s Washington correspondents – Paul Hunter, Katie Simpson and Louis Blouin – take stock of the last year, talking to Americans about whether they still stand by their votes, and assessing what’s ahead for Canada.

Writer George Orwell has had a major impact on the way we talk about and view the world. His book 1984 introduced us to words and phrases like “thoughtcrime,” “doublespeak” and “Big Brother,” which have become common parts of our vocabulary. Seventy five years after his death, his ideas around mass surveillance and propaganda continue to resonate in a world of Big Tech, challenges to democracy, and distrust of institutions.The new documentary Orwell: 2+2=5 by filmmaker Raoul Peck explores the origin of Orwell’s ideas, and how they connect to political events like the January 6th insurrection, the persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, and the invasion of Ukraine.Raoul Peck joins guest host Daemon Fairless to talk about Orwell’s life, his words, and the ideological battle over his ideas.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a huge win for the Democrats, Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor of New York City. He ran on an explicitly leftist platform, focused on affordability and the working class — but many of his own party's top leaders have been reluctant to endorse him. Some still haven't.A rift is growing between the party's centrist establishment, keen on partisan opposition to Trump and appeasing wealthy donors, and the progressive wing of the party newly energized by Mamdani, who promises to tax the rich and fight what he sees as a growing oligarchy.Joshua A. Cohen is the author of the American politics newsletter Ettingermentum. He breaks down the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal government have unveiled a budget that calls for $141-billion of new spending in the next five years to prop up an economy grappling with major economic disruptions. It also proposes $51.2-billion in cuts and savings, including the slashing of tens of thousands of public service jobs.From billions of investment in infrastructure and defence, to new details about the government’s climate and immigration targets, we’ll break it all down with Aaron Wherry and David Coletto.Aaron is a senior writer with CBC’s parliamentary bureau, and David is the CEO and founder of Abacus Data.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been two and a half years since a civil war broke out in Sudan after a brutal struggle for power between its army and a powerful paramilitary group - the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The UN has called it the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe. Over 150,000 people have been killed, and over 12-million displaced.Last week, the war saw a grim turning point when the northern city of El Fasher came under control of the RSF, which now controls all urban centres in Darfur. For over a year hundreds of thousands of people, many displaced and vulnerable, have been sheltering under siege in El Fasher with little to no access to food or medicine.Dallia Abdelmoniem is a Sudanese political analyst. She’s here to help us understand what’s been happening in El Fasher, the unrelenting war in Sudan more broadly, and the forces - including foreign powers - behind it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

On Tuesday, Canada’s Minister of Finance will announce his much anticipated budget.It’s Mark Carney’s first as Prime Minister, and comes at a time of instability and uncertainty for the country. Trade negotiations with the U.S. are on hiatus, and the pressure’s on to spark economic growth while trimming spending and making life more affordable for Canadians.Carney’s minority government also needs support from other parties for the budget to pass. And if it doesn’t, we could be looking at another election.Our guest is Rosemary Barton, CBC’s chief political correspondent.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Earlier this week Danielle Smith’s UCP government forced teachers back to work after a a three week strike using the notwithstanding clause. This prevents the Alberta Teachers' Association from challenging the legislation in court.In response, the Alberta Federation of Labour announced that the wheels are in motion for a possible general strike by the province's unions.Provincial affairs reporter for CBC Edmonton, Janet French, walks us through how these negotiations got to this point, what’s at stake for teachers, students and the government and where this fight could be headed.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our  listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Why has U.S. President Donald Trump suspended trade talks with Canada? Why did the U.S. ambassador to Canada level an expletive-laced tirade at Ontario's trade representative, in front of more than 200 people? Why is Trump's treasury secretary accusing the Ontario government of running a psy-op?Because of a 60-second ad, featuring clips of former president Ronald Reagan explaining why he thinks tariffs — Trump's self-professed "favourite word" — are bad economic policy.Rick Perlstein has written extensively about the history of American conservative politics, including the book Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. He breaks down what Reagan actually believed about tariffs and free trade, and why bringing up the spectre of Reagan — one of the most sacred figures in American conservatism — has caused so much chaos.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Donald Trump ends trade talks with Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Asia this week, meeting with leaders, and pitching Canada as a reliable partner in a moment of geopolitical realignment. On the trip, Carney has talked about Canada’s search for new reliable partners “who honour their commitments, who are there in tough times, and who engage collaboratively to fix something that isn’t working.” So, with Carney in Asia in search of new partners, where does this leave Canada? Our guest is Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President of Research and Strategy with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since the 1960s, Israel has been building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank — settlements deemed illegal under international law, and condemned by the Canadian government. With the settlements has also come many documented cases of violence from Israeli settlers against the Palestinians whose homes are being bulldozed to build those settlements.Now, a new investigation by CBC's the fifth estate has found that Canadian charities have been indirectly funding organizations, including the Israeli military, that support the ever-expanding settlements. That includes issuing tax receipts on those donations — despite them running afoul of the rules governing registered Canadian charities.Cohost Ioanna Roumeliotis breaks down her team's reporting, and why critics say these donations are perpetuating violence that threatens the possibility of peace and a Palestinian state.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

After an anti-tariff ad commissioned by the Ontario government ran during the World Series, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the plug on negotiations between his office and the federal government. It comes as Stellantis and General Motors announced they were moving some production to the U.S., affecting thousands of jobs on this side of the border. So we’re talking to historian Dimitry Anastakis about the importance of the Canadian auto industry, how it became so intertwined with America and what options the government has.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

In the years since their consecutive World Series wins in the early ‘90s, the Toronto Blue Jays have had their ups, downs and bat flips. And heading into this season, the team wasn’t exactly slated for a deep playoff run.But now, the Jays are headed into game one of the World Series as underdogs against the richest team in baseball. And facing off against Shohei Ohtani, who might be the best player in the history of the game.We’re joined by Blake Murphy, the host of Sportsnet’s Blue Jays podcast Jays Talk Plus to talk about this historic run, the players who are endearing the nation and whether the Jays can win it all.This episode mistakenly used a fake clip of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. talking about the New York Yankees. It has been removed.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

Through the 1960s, the U.S. government waged a war on Black activism, and activism writ large. It was led by the FBI and its longtime director, J. Edgar Hoover.It was called COINTELPRO and was the FBI’s counterintelligence program created to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” its targets.With the Trump administration’s crackdown on the American left through law enforcement campaigns and new directives, it raises the question: is a version of the FBI’s counterintelligence program back today? Beverly Gage, an historian and the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, joins the show to talk about COINTELPRO, the man who made it possible, and the ways the program continues to loom over American life today.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

Stephen Maher, a longtime federal politics reporter, is here to talk about Pierre Poilievre’s recent comments that the RCMP covered up for Justin Trudeau so he could avoid criminal charges and whether or not this will hurt or help his upcoming leadership review.Plus, fallout from carmaker Stellantis’s plan to move a plant from Brampton to Illinois and what it says about the state of trade talks with the U.S.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

Former FBI James Comey. Former national security advisor John Bolton. New York attorney general Letitia James. What do they have in common? All are now facing legal action from the U.S. government.Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of the U.S. nonprofit publication Lawfare, breaks down the Trump White House's campaign of legal revenge against the president's rivals and critics, and where it could be headed next.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.

Over the last 10 days Israel and Hamas have observed a ceasefire that saw the return of hostages and prisoners to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank as well as deliveries of much needed aid to famine-struck Gaza since the deal was reached. However, the ceasefire has remained shaky and the possibility of a permanent end to the war is still uncertain. Israel carried out airstrikes throughout southern Gaza after it said Hamas militants fired at IDF troops in Rafah. Hamas has denied this. To parse through the events that led to those developments, we talked to William Christou, freelance journalist based in Jerusalem for The Guardian. We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado.In the announcement last week, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Machado had earned the prize for her “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy". The award comes at a time when the U.S. has taken an increasingly belligerent stance against Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro.So today we’re talking about Machado, the legacy of the Nobel Peace Prize, its controversial winners, who wins it and who doesn’t.Jay Nordlinger, the author of Peace They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a writer with the Next Move, a publication of the Renew Democracy Initiative, joins the show.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Marie-Philippe Bouchard has been in her role as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada for a little under a year.Since her appointment, we’ve had a federal election that has spared the public broadcaster from defunding threats for now, but certainly not from a broad sentiment that the CBC needs change and evolution. This week, Bouchard unveiled her own five-year vision. Today, she joins the show to discuss the relationship Canadians have with the CBC, and what changes she thinks the public broadcaster needs to make.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.

At its peak, Marineland was the second most popular tourist destination in Ontario’s Niagara region after the falls. Visitors could get up close and personal with beluga whales, dolphins and orcas, and watch them perform in elaborate shows. Throw in a side of rollercoasters and other exhibits and you had a family friendly attraction built to last.But for years, the park has been mired in controversy and allegations of animal abuse. Business has declined to the point that the park is now closed to the public. However, several animals including 30 beluga whales remain trapped there. Marineland says it needs money or a new home for the whales, or else they might have to kill them.Liam Casey of the Canadian Press has been covering this story for years. He lays out what could happen to the whales, and what it all means for other parks like Marineland.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.

Canada's first ever minister of artificial intelligence, Evan Solomon, is spearheading what he's calling a "30-day sprint" to nail down Canada's AI strategy. The plan? To figure out a government approach to the technology in order to boost the Canadian economy.Today, we wanted to take stock of the state of the industry in Canada, and a closer look at the Liberal government’s strategy. What could it all mean for our jobs, our economy, society, and environment?Murad Hemmadi, a reporter with The Logic, joins the show.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.

Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? In search of clues we return to his sheltered youth in apartheid South Africa, a world engineered for white supremacy. Along the way, we connect the dots between a bizarre White House ambush of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to teenage Elon’s ego-powered quests in video games. Finally, was his “draft dodge” from military service a moral act or an opportunist’s exit? Know more, now. Understood is an anthology podcast from the CBC that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. You can find Understood wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxMoM

Today, if all goes well, a ceasefire will begin in Gaza.In phase one, Hamas has pledged to return all of the hostages, living and dead. For its part Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, while withdrawing troops to an agreed-upon line in Gaza and maintaining majority control of the territory.Beyond that, the details of Trump’s promise of a “strong, durable, and everlasting peace” are fuzzy, but for hostage families and people in Gaza, it’s a reason to hope. Producer Allie Jaynes brings us a documentary that gives an on-the-ground perspective of what these past two years have been like for Gazans — especially for children. We hear from a 12-year-old with a popular Instagram “cooking show,” a girl living in a crowded displacement camp, and a music teacher giving lessons to kids all over Gaza to help them “escape the weight of war through the freedom of music.”We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.

Beyond the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, a shadow war between the Kremlin and Kyiv is escalating -- with covert assassinations, car bombs, civilian recruitment, and even the involvement of a terrorist group with a history in Canada. Today, national security reporter Ben Makuch examines how it’s transforming the character of the biggest land war since the Second World War -- and who might be winning.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The term ‘Antifa’ derives from the German word for Antifascist — and the constellation of resistance movements largely created as a response to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Today, Antifa describes a decentralized anti-fascist movement with local groups and unaffiliated activists all over the world. Many became aware of Antifascist organizing following  Antifa’s intervention at the white supremacist ‘Unite The Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. For the last decade, Antifa has come to symbolize progressive protest and movement building – engaging in doxxing,, property destruction, and street-level physical confrontations. In late September of this year, U.S. President Donald Trump officially designated Antifa a domestic terror organization. Mark Bray is an academic, scholar of European history and radicalism, and the author of several books including ‘ANTIFA — the anti fascist handbook.’ He joins the show to discuss the rise of antifascist movements from the 1930s to today, and why Trump’s terror designation recalls authoritarian crackdowns through history, both in the U.S., Canada and abroad. We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Egypt are underway, with the goal of reaching an agreement on the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposed peace plan. It would see the release of all remaining Israeli hostages by Hamas and potentially, over a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel as well as a ceasefire. The overall plan aims to end the war altogether.But after previous hostage exchanges and ceasefires have failed to bring a permanent end to the war, what’s different this time? Are they any closer to peace?William Christou, a freelance journalist working for The Guardian currently in Jerusalem, joins Jayme Poissonto parse through Trump’s plan, the talks so far and how people in Israel and Gaza are reacting to it all.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Aaron Wherry, senior writer at CBC's parliamentary bureau, is back today to talk Canadian politics.We get into Mark Carney’s upcoming trip to Washington and what it might mean for the possibility of some sort of trade stability with the United States.Plus, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her province will propose a new bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s coast to the federal major projects office. But with significant opposition from indigenous communities and the B.C. government, is she just trying to pressure the federal government to get involved?We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

When the book ends, the conversation begins. On Bookends, Mattea Roach speaks with writers who have something to say about their work, the world and our place in it. You’ll always walk away with big questions to ponder and new books to read.Bookends does not shy away from difficult conversations … and neither does Anna Sale, the host of the popular Slate podcast Death, Sex and Money. The show is all about diving into topics that get deep fast, and Anna expands on that promise in her book, Let’s Talk About Hard Things. In this special bonus episode, Anna joins Mattea to chat all about the book, podcasting and how her own outlook on tough topics has changed over the years. You can listen to Bookends wherever you get your podcasts, or here: https://link.mgln.ai/FB-Bookends

After Donald Trump was elected for a second time, historian Timothy Snyder wrote this in the New Yorker: “Trump has always been a presence, not an absence: the presence of fascism.” Today on Front Burner, Snyder makes that case again. His warning about fascism feels particularly relevant at this point in Trump’s presidency, as the U.S. sees an escalation in political violence, the deployment of federal law enforcement in major cities, and the proliferation of masked ICE agents on what critics call ‘roving patrols’ across the country.Timothy Snyder teaches at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. He is the author of books like “On Tyranny” and “On Freedom”.We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. government has shut down after Republicans and Democrats failed to pass a spending bill before the end of Tuesday. Government services will grind to a halt and hundreds of thousands of federal employees face unpaid leave. How long is it expected to last, and could it have been avoided? Plus, President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth held a rare gathering of the country’s top military leaders, detailing their new vision for the US military. We break it all down with Alex Shephard, senior editor at The New Republic. We'd love to hear from you! Complete our listener survey here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Canada officially recognized Palestinian statehood. In explaining this decision, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement which read, "Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel."Just over a week later, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled an alternative way forward: a 20-point plan they say would end the war in Gaza, but falls well short of creating a pathway for the creation of a Palestinian state. Today, we're talking about the creation of a Palestinian state, as well as the promise, failure, and uncertain future of the two-state solution. Our guest is Noura Erakat, an academic, human rights lawyer, author, and Palestinian-American activist. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

While Donald Trump may have shocked many at the UN General Assembly when he called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, he may just have been the most extreme messenger of a global shift being seen elsewhere. David Wallace-Wells, author of “The Uninhabitable Earth” and friend of the show, recently wrote a feature for the New York Times detailing the ways much of the world has turned away from climate politics and how the era of the Paris Agreement, which was signed 10 years ago, may be coming to an end. He talks to us about why we are seeing this shift and whether the green energy transition, led by China, is enough to make up for it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been about a month since the NDP leadership race began and two main contenders have emerged: longtime climate activist and former broadcaster Avi Lewis, and NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, Heather McPherson, one of the most prominent New Democrat voices in Western Canada.The NDP suffered a crushing defeat last election. The party went from 24 MPs to only seven, losing official party status. The next leader is faced with a monumental challenge to rebuild.Today, we’ve got two people with different visions of what that looks like.Martin Lukacs is the managing editor of the independent progressive media outlet The Breach. He’s also the author of ‘The Poilievre Project’.Cheryl Oates is a political consultant, who worked for former Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley. She’s also worked on NDP campaigns across Western Canada, and teaches at McGill’s Max Bell School of Public Policy.They join host Jayme Poisson for a spirited debate about the future of the NDP.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Dan Wang is a tech analyst and a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover History Lab. He’s one of the leading China analysts in the world right now and his new book is called “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future”.Today on the show he explains his novel way of understanding the clash between China and the United States: China owns the future because it is an “engineering state” whereas the U.S. is a “lawyerly society” that often gets in its own way.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After a brief suspension for comments he made in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, Jimmy Kimmel has made his return to late night.It was just the latest example in a string of cancellations, resignations, lawsuits, settlements and potential mergers that tell the story of a media industry buckling to Trump or consolidating under a wealthy and powerful few, many of whom are friendly with the Trump administration. Eoin Higgins, independent reporter and author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left” joins us to talk about the bigger story of what’s happening with American media and the changes still to come.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Health professionals around the world are disputing  the Trump administration’s claims about autism and its potential causes. U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with President Donald Trump himself, said this week that taking Tylenol while pregnant may cause autism in babies, and the U.S. FDA said it would reclassify the drug leucovorin — primarily used to mitigate chemotherapy side effects — to treat autism symptoms in children.But the established, peer-reviewed research on autism and its causes does not support either of these claims — or a number of other statements made in that announcement. Health experts have called the claims premature, misleading, and even dangerous.Deepa Singal, the scientific director of the Autism Alliance of Canada, explains what the science actually says about autism, why health professionals aren't changing their recommendations, and why autism is so hard to get definitive answers about in the first place.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Beloved children’s author Robert Munsch has chosen medically assisted death. Canada is one of the few places in the world where MAID is legal for patients like Munsch, who are not terminally ill. Today, a conversation with journalist Katie Engelhart, on the legacy of one of the great Canadian writers, how dementia has impacted his life and ability to come up with stories. Plus we take a broader look at how MAID works in Canada today, who can access it, and the persistent moral and ethical questions it raises.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, a wide-ranging interview with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.She talks to host Jayme Poisson about Alberta’s future in light of the Carney government’s push to fast track major projects, arguing that energy development is an issue of national unity for her constituents.Smith also responds to the controversy around her potential use of the notwithstanding clause in protecting three laws that affect transgender youth. She also offers her thoughts on Charlie Kirk’s assasination and its aftermath, something that has clearly resonated with Albertans who took part in large vigils in Calgary and Edmonton.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Memes have been written on weapons, quoted in manifestos, and cited by young attackers as the inspiration for acts of mass violence. It's a phenomenon that springs from groups of disaffected people communicating on the web through a convoluted language of impenetrable memes and irony.Utah Governor Spencer Cox has said about the 22-year-old man charged with the killing of Charlie Kirk: "There was a lot of gaming going on. Friends have confirmed that there was that deep, dark internet — Reddit culture and other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings. I didn't have any idea what those inscriptions meant, but they are certainly the memeification that is happening in our society today."Aidan Walker is a journalist and content creator whose work explores the "video game to meme to extremist" pipeline. And he's joining the show to pull back the curtain on a world where irony, gaming, and fascist subculture blur together, and how it has become such a powerful engine of radicalization.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For the first time since June, MPs returned to the House of Commons to decide the path of Canada’s future. And just a few days into the fall session, it’s already looking like a busy season.After more than a decade in politics, Chrystia Freeland announced she is calling it quits. Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney faced off for the first time in question period, and we learned when we’ll see the Liberals’ long-delayed budget –– and got a preview of some of the obstacles the minority government will face in getting it passed.Rosemary Barton, CBC’s chief political correspondent, is back to discuss an eventful week in Parliament and what we know about the national interest projects that are so key to the Prime Minister’s agenda.

The Liberal government has launched its $13-billion agency called “Build Canada Homes” which Prime Minister Mark Carney says will supercharge housing construction across the country.Today, Housing Minister Gregor Robertson talks to host Jayme Poisson about Canada’s housing affordability crisis, how the Liberal government is meeting the challenges around it, and why he thinks he’s the right person for the job.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk we're joined by Bruce Hoffman, a Senior Fellow for counter terrorism and homeland security at the Council for Foreign Relations.He helps us understand the history of assassinations, the connections between violent rhetoric and incidents of material violence, and the online meme-world that communicates motives that are unintelligible to those outside that ecosystem.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump has declared a war on drug cartels. He’s wielded the flow of narcotics, namely fentanyl, into the U.S. as one of the major reasons behind aspects of his global trade war. He’s added a number of cartels to the foreign terrorist organisations list. And last month, the Trump administration stepped things up by quietly signing a Pentagon directive to allow the use of military force against drug cartels. That led to a U.S. drone strike on a Venezuelan boat on international waters, killing all 11 on board. Now, the possibility of more attacks hangs over Venezuela and Mexico, another target of Trump’s cartel war. Alexander Aviña, an associate professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University joins us to talk about the impact of these recent escalations and what history tell us about how effective drug wars really are..For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

American conservative media figure and activist Charlie Kirk was one of the most prominent young voices of the American right. The founder of Turning Point USA, a close ally of Donald Trump, and a figure who helped shape the culture and pipeline of the MAGA movement.On Wednesday, he was shot at one of his trademark campus debate events at Utah Valley University.Will Sommer, a senior reporter with The Bulwark, joins the show to break down the shooting, how rhetoric around the killing is escalating, and how it all connects to the growing atmosphere of political violence in the United States.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal forces into Chicago — a city he’s referred to as the ‘murder capital’ of the world — we have a look at Trump’s long standing focus on Chicago, and how the city became a favourite metaphor in conservative politics.This month, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send federal forces into Chicago to confront what he calls 'the most dangerous city in the world.'His fixation on Chicago stretches back more than a decade, echoed across conservative media that cast the city as a symbol of urban decay, plagued by “Black-on-Black crime” and in need of harsher policing. In reality, violent crime in Chicago is falling, and the nation’s highest rates are in southern states firmly in Trump’s column.So why target Chicago? And how did this Midwestern city become a metaphor for America — from gun violence and race to policing, housing, and migration?Natalie Moore is a longtime journalist in Chicago with WBEZ and author of ‘The South Side: a portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.’ She now teaches journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This coming Monday, MPs return to Ottawa for Parliament’s fall session, with the health of Canada’s economy front and centre.Last Friday, Prime Minister Carney unveiled a new set of measures designed, he says, to make Canada’s economy more resilient in the face of persistent U.S. tariffs. We also now have a leaked list of the major infrastructure projects that are being considered for fast tracking.CBC senior Parliamentary writer, Aaron Wherry is here to discuss the challenges ahead for Carney’s government, with Parliament set to resume next week.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last few weeks, horrific crimes have dominated headlines across the country.There was a father of four who was killed after at least three suspects broke into his home in Vaughan, Ontario. There was a mass stabbing attack on Hollow Water First Nation, just north of Winnipeg. The suspect had been out on bail. Last weekend in Edmonton, a woman was found shot to death in her car. The suspect in that case has a long history of run-ins with the law, including convictions for violent crimes, and was on probation at the time.Politicians from every level of government have been talking about this, saying that we are at crisis levels.So today, we’re trying to figure out what’s real here: is crime going up? For that, Irvin Waller, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa and the author of Science and Secrets of Ending Violent Crime joins the show. Then, Scott Reid, the co-founder of Feschuk.Reid communications and a political commentator, talks through the politics.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Quebec has introduced a new bill that would ban prayer in public spaces. It’s the latest in a series of recent moves by the province to reinforce Quebec’s secularist values. It comes as Premier François Legault is embroiled in a spending scandal and polls that show he’s the least popular provincial leader in the country. Will falling back on Quebec values and stoking anti-immigrant sentiment work in his favour? And if Legault and the Coalition Avenir Quebec are on the outs, is it time for the Parti Quebecois and the separatist movement to make a comeback?Martin Patriquin, Quebec correspondent for The Logic, takes us through the province’s state of affairs.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Wednesday, 16 people — including Romana Didulo, the cult leader known as the “Queen of Canada” — were arrested in the tiny Saskatchewan village of Richmound. RCMP released them the following day, but then re-arrested two unidentified individuals.Didulo and her followers have been holed up in a decommissioned school there for two years. Their presence has been a source of ire for many locals, and ratcheted up divisions between the townspeople.Today: What happens when a cult comes to town — especially in a time of such intense societal polarization? Our guest is Rachel Browne, an investigative journalist and documentary maker who is currently working on a podcast for CBC about the impact that the “Queen of Canada” has had on this tiny village.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late last week - a list of over 200 books, set to be removed from Edmonton school libraries by October made the rounds online. It was in response to an order set out by Alberta’s education ministry in July to take books with sexually explicit content from the shelves.This applied from kindergarten to Grade 12.On that list? Award-winning works like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.Intense criticism from writers, educators, civil liberties groups followed and on Tuesday the Alberta government paused the order and announced that they’re reworking it.The Investigative Journalism Foundation’s Brett McKay has been covering this push to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries in Alberta. He’s here to talk about the politics behind it, the uproar that ensued and how all this mirrors similar efforts to ban books in the U.S.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today on the show, James Elder is here. James is UNICEF’s global spokesperson, and he has made five trips to Gaza since the October attacks documenting what UNICEF has called a “war on children.”  He joins us less than two weeks after a UN backed body officially designated the hunger crisis in Gaza a famine, one that the UN’s relief chief Tom Fletcher says is man-made, and the result of what he calls “systematic obstruction by Israel”. Elder has also reported from Darfur, Yemen, Afghanistan and more. But he says Gaza is unlike anything he’s seen. We’re going to talk about his experiences on the ground and the responsibility of a witness in a time of war.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a trial entering its final phase, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stands accused of attempting to stage a coup, leading an armed criminal organisation, and plotting to have the country’s current president and a Supreme Court justice killed. In response Bolsonaro ally U.S. President Donald Trump slapped Brazil with steep 50% tariffs and sanctioned the Supreme Court justice presiding over the case. Will America’s interventions help Bolsonaro and his far-right movement or backfire? And what’s at stake for the future of Brazil as the verdict nears? Gustavo Ribeiro, founder and editor in chief of the Brazilian Report, joins us. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

NATO’s secretary general has warned Russia could launch an attack on the alliance within the next five years. Talk to NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, and they’ll tell you preparation involves a lot more than just boosting military spending. As Canada seeks to strengthen ties with both countries, what can we learn from our newest NATO allies about preparing for the worst? Supported by the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship, CBC’s The House producer Emma Godmere travelled to the two Nordic countries to visit bomb shelters, the Russian border and military training grounds north of the Arctic Circle to see and hear how Finns and Swedes are steeling themselves for whatever the future may bring.Every Saturday, listen to The House for in-depth explorations of the biggest issues facing Canada. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxTTND

Last week, the U.S. released another round of sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, including a Canadian judge. They’re the latest in a string of attacks from the Trump administration this year, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.The sanctions come at a difficult time for the ICC as it operates without a chief prosecutor and is under increasing pressure to address the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. But what is really under the ICC’s jurisdiction and is it equipped to hold some of the most powerful leaders in the world to account? Kenneth Roth is the former director of Human Rights Watch and author of “Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Frontlines of Battling Abusive Governments”.He’s here to parse through the Trump administration’s sanctions, and the history and efficacy of the International Criminal Court.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

American history has always been contested, but recent decisions by U.S. President Donald Trump to reshape the way it’s taught and remembered have put museums, schools, and memorials squarely in the crosshairs. Earlier this year, Trump passed an executive order that called for the removal of what he referred to as “divisive, race-centered ideology” from the nation’s museums. He’s targeted the Smithsonian Museum in particular, calling it “out of control” and “woke”, criticizing it for focusing too much on teaching the history of slavery. What does it mean to discourage the teaching of slavery and Jim Crow laws in a country that practiced chattel slavery for nearly 250 years, and had been led by at least 12 Presidents who themselves owned slaves?Bryan Stevenson is a civil rights lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir ‘Just Mercy', and creator of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. He joins the show to talk about Trump’s attacks on American history, and the enduring legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial terror in the United States.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigned on big promises and bold action to save a country in crisis. It's now been more than 100 days since his cabinet was sworn in, but details and tangible results are still thin on the ground. How much of a runway does he have to start delivering on his promises on things like national infrastructure, housing, and a trade deal with the United States?Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre has regained his seat in the House of Commons in a summer byelection. Will we see a new approach from Poilievre and the Conservatives, or will they stick with the strategy that brought them within striking distance of forming government in the spring?CBC senior parliamentary reporter Aaron Wherry is here with a report card on the Carney cabinet’s first 100 days, and a look at the political opposition he'll be facing from Poilievre when parliament resumes next month. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The unemployment rate for Canadians between 15 and 24 is at 15 percent, the highest it's been since 2010, not including the pandemic.Why can't young people find a job? And how do these numbers fit into the wider health of our economy at the moment?Economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers Armine Yalnizyan is on the show to talk about these numbers, why they stand out and what could be done to prepare and protect the economy from a world of near-constant uncertainty.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Airstrikes and tanks continued pounding the outskirts of Gaza City over the weekend, as Israel’s plans to seize the strip’s largest urban centre continued. A much bigger operation, widely condemned by the international community, could begin within days or weeks.This is all happening as the world’s leading authority on food crises is saying that Gaza City and surrounding areas — currently home to half of the territory’s population — is now gripped by famine, and that it’s likely to spread across the rest of the strip unless a ceasefire is negotiated.Meanwhile, Israel recently approved a major settlement plan which would functionally divide the West Bank in two, blunting hopes for a future Palestinian state.Given all this — what’s the latest on ceasefire negotiations, and is there any sense that Western states have plans to step up pressure on Israel over either Gaza or the West Bank?Today, Gregg Carlstrom, the Economist’s longtime Middle East correspondent, is back on the show to discuss all of this. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Elon Musk wants a million people living on Mars within 20 years. Jeff Bezos imagines a trillion humans in space, living in a constellation of space stations the size of major cities within a few generations. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is preparing for a future where rogue AI could destroy civilization, and is stockpiling land, gas masks, and gold in the event it leads to disaster. These plans, which appear ripped from the world of science fiction, instead represent designs for the future held by some of the most powerful people in the world. Why are tech billionaires so consumed with escaping earth — and what does it mean for the rest of us?Today, guest Adam Becker — an astrophysicist, journalist, and author of More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity — joins Front Burner to explain the dystopian future being planned by the tech elite: one defined by ideas like space colonization, “technological salvation,” AI superintelligence, and the pursuit of eternal life.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Christian Zionism — the belief that the modern state of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy — has existed as a theological concept for well over a century. But in the past couple decades its political power and influence in the United States has surged, with many of Donald Trump's closest political allies among its adherents.Today we're taking a look at the theological roots of Christian Zionism, how it became a political force in America, and its impacts on U.S.-Israel policy.Our guest is Daniel Hummel, the author of Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations. **This episode originally included a reference to the Iranian government restarting its nuclear weapons program. In fact, Iran has never publicly declared a nuclear weapons program and has said its nuclear program is peaceful. The reference was removed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This summer is on track to being the second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history. It started earlier than usual with emergencies declared in the spring in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and is hitting locales that aren't typically fire-prone like Vancouver Island and Atlantic Canada. Meanwhile, fires from neighbouring provinces gave parts of southern Ontario some of the worst air quality in the world.So what does this mean for the Canadian summers of our childhood, spent mostly carefree and outdoors? What needs to be done for us to adapt to the prospect of more fires and heat to come — especially for kids growing up in this new reality? Denise Balkissoon, executive editor of The Narwhal, joins us to talk about how to navigate the ambient dread of our country's changing climate.Denise published a piece today about this in the Narwhal, which you can read here: www.thenarwhal.ca/seasonal-depression-summer-climate-change/For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last few days, US President Donald Trump has hosted a series of high-stakes talks to further the effort to end the war in Ukraine.First, on Friday, there was the summit in Alaska — Russian president Vladimir Putin’s first time in the US in nearly 20 years. Then on Monday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House for his first time since his brutal confrontation with Trump in February. This time, he was accompanied by a group of European leaders, including French president Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.Land swaps and security guarantees were all discussed — but are we any closer to actually seeing an end to the war in Ukraine? What is Ukraine being asked to give up in exchange for peace? And where do things stand with the war now? We’re joined by Francis Farrell, reporter with The Kyiv Independent. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It was a chaotic weekend for anyone flying with Air Canada. The airline canceled hundreds of flights after 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job. Less than 12 hours later, federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu had ordered them back to work — but the union took the unusual step of defying that order and continuing the strike.The main sticking points for the union had been wages and "ground work" — that is, pay for time spent working when the plane is not moving, which most airlines don't do. But now, some experts argue it's become the latest example of the federal government rushing to tip the scales in labour disputes and undermining the bargaining process.CBC senior business reporter Anis Heydari explains how the situation got so messy, and why other airlines across North America — and their workers — are so invested in the outcome.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, Canada's housing department released a document with more details on the Liberal government's plans to scale up affordable housing in the country. It's now seeking feedback from the public about it.Back in March, Prime Minister Carney vowed that his government would double the number of homes built annually in Canada to nearly half a million. This would be done through an entity called Build Canada Homes, which would spur construction with a focus on affordability and a 'made in Canada' approach.But these plans are coming together in a challenging environment. A new report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) forecasts a drop in housing starts over the next few years. That's against a backdrop of rising costs and other factors that are squeezing developers.So, can Carney's plan work, and can it work fast enough?Mike Moffatt, a founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa and the co-host of the Missing Middle podcast, joins the show.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists in recent history. Among those killed was Anas Al-Sharif — one of the last remaining reporters in Northern Gaza, and one of the most recognizable media voices in the strip.In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that the public smear campaign against him, led by the Israeli military, was part of an effort to manufacture consent to kill him. Just weeks later, this past Sunday, he and three colleagues were killed in a targeted Israeli strike near a Gaza City hospital. The Israeli military has publicly admitted to the killing, calling Anas an operative connected to Hamas’ military wing: a charge that those who know him, along with organizations like the United Nations, deny.Sharif Kouddous is the Middle East editor at Dropsite News, and a longtime reporter on and in the region. He joins us today to talk about the killing of Anas Al-Sharif, who refused to leave Gaza, his home, despite months of threats against his life, and the cost of journalism in Gaza.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

National Guard troops descended on Washington D.C. after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to take back the nation's capital and clear the streets of what he calls "crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor". It comes after the President spent the better part of the last week taking aim at D.C.'s leadership, homeless population and how crime there is "out of control" – a statement that stands in sharp contrast to official figures showing that violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low. Since then, in addition to deploying the National Guard, Trump has also taken control of the district's police force.Given that crime is on the decline in D.C., what is this takeover really about? And what could it signal to other cities in Trump's crosshairs? Alex Shephard from The New Republic joins us to make sense of it all.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

35 years ago, the Kanien'kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke squared off with the Canadian army to defend their territory, culminating an armed standoff now known as the Oka Crisis, or the Siege of Kanehsatà:ke.Now, some community members worry that same territory is being threatened by an out-of-control boom of unregulated cannabis megastores with alleged connections to organized crime. And a governance crisis exacerbated by that siege in 1990 has left the community with no clear way of resolving the growing tensions.CBC investigative reporter Jorge Barrera — who has covered the community extensively — explains how the deep history of Kanehsatà:ke has led to this pivotal moment, and what it could mean for its future.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last month, RCMP charged four people for their alleged involvement in a plot to forcibly take land north of Quebec city in what Mounties called an incident of "ideologically motivated violent extremism". Three of the men were denied bail last week.The accused, they charged, had planned to create an anti-government militia, but even more startling: two of the four people charged by RCMP are active members of the Canadian Armed Forces.While it's the first time an active member of the Canadian Armed Forces has faced terrorism-related charges, extremism in the military isn't new.Jonathan Montpetit, a senior Investigative Journalist with CBC News, chronicles the Forces' uneven track record on extremism, and how deeply this issue has infiltrated the ranks over the years.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Bad Bunny, one of the most-streamed artists on the planet, is in the middle of his 30-concert residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico titled No me Querio Ir de Aqui, or "I don't want to leave here". Much like his latest album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, it is both a celebration of Puerto Rican culture and heritage but also a statement against the political and economic forces that have worked against the well-being and livelihoods of people on the island.With Petra Rivera Rideau, Associate Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College and the author of Remixing Reggaeton: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico, we take a look at the message of Bad Bunny's album and concert residency, the political and historical context behind the work and how he fits into a generation of young Puerto Ricans hungry for change.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot is about as safe a riding as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre could hope for as a place to regain a seat in the House of Commons in a byelection later this month. But he's facing pushback from some locals who feel they're being used as a means to an end by someone who won't represent their interests in Ottawa. The riding is also the latest target of the Longest Ballot Committee protest movement — including one dinosaur-obsessed candidate, Nicola Zoghbi, who promises to move the national capital to Drumheller and rename the riding "Raptor River-Crowfoot."Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing growing pressure to secure some sort of trade deal with the United States after Donald Trump made good on a promise of 35 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports not covered by CUSMA. How much political runway does Carney have left?CBC Ottawa senior reporter Aaron Wherry breaks down both of these stories.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Later this month, OpenAI is expected to release the latest version of ChatGPT – the groundbreaking AI chatbot that became the fastest growing app in history when it was launched in 2022.When Sam Altman first pitched an ambitious plan to develop artificial intelligence, he likened it to another world changing, potentially world destroying endeavor: the Manhattan Project, in which the U.S. raced to build an atomic bomb.The sales pitch he made to Elon Musk worked. Altman was promised a billion dollars for the project and was even given a name: OpenAI.In a new book, “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares of Sam Altman’s OpenAI,” tech journalist Karen Hao chronicles the company’s secretive and zealous pursuit of artificial general intelligence.Today, Hao joins the show to not only pull back the curtain on the company’s inner workings through its astronomical rise and very public controversies, but also on the very real human and environmental impacts it has had, all in the name of advancing its technology.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s health ministry, over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas. Recently, the ministry also began reporting a new kind of toll: deaths by starvation. 180 people, including 93 children, are now reported to have died from hunger. This comes after months of Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that “there is no starvation in Gaza”. But his statements stand in stark contrast to a large body of evidence from aid agencies, verified images and eyewitnesses.In recent weeks, we’ve seen a growing number of Israelis protesting the crisis in Gaza. Along with these demonstrators, we’ve also seen a number of teenage Israelis who are publicly refusing the draft.They’re choosing prison time rather than fighting a military campaign they oppose in Gaza, and speaking out publicly against what they see as a moral crisis.Soul Behar Tsalik is one of them. He shares what led him to that decision, the cost of dissent, and how Israelis are reacting to the world’s attention on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

What does a reporter do when they receive a cold call from one of the most horrific serial killers in Canadian history?The killer: Clifford Olson, who murdered at least eleven children in the 1980s. The reporter: Arlene Bynon, who recorded her jailhouse calls with Olson for years. Alongside legendary journalist Peter Worthington, Arlene spent hundreds of hours on the phone with Olson. It was kept secret from his prison guards; he wasn't allowed to speak to the media.In Calls From a Killer, from CBC’s Uncover, Arlene unearths secrets that have been buried for decades. More episodes of Calls from a Killer are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/1rPEb1

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced plans to officially recognize Palestinian statehood in September — if certain criteria are met — marking a radical departure on Canada’s position in the region.Evan Dyer is a reporter with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. He joins the show for a discussion about this landmark moment in Canadian foreign policy, the status of Canadian arms sales to Israel, and the implications that the creation of a Palestinian state could have.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late last week, the UK government implemented a new set of rules from its Online Safety Act to keep children away from quote, “harmful and age-inappropriate content”.Companies ranging from pornography websites, social media platforms, and large search engines will need to comply by building guardrails that would prevent children from accessing porn, or material that promotes self-harm or eating disorders, for example.This includes age verification, along with changes to algorithm settings so that they’re not recommending content that’s considered harmful to kids.For many children’s safety advocates this is a step in the right direction. But others have concerns about civil liberties, privacy and censorship.Samantha Cole is a journalist with 404 Media. She’s been covering how similar online safety rules have been playing out in the U.S.Samantha was also the host of CBC Understood’s The Pornhub Empire, a four part series on the biggest porn website in the world.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. federal immigration law enforcement agency — ICE — is offshoring migrants incarcerated in the U.S. to detention camps in Africa. In at least one of these cases, migrants were told they would be transported to a domestic detention facility and instead were taken to a prison located nearly 10,000 KM away from the U.S.  This decision to deport groups of people in American prisons, against their will, to detention camps in nations they have never visited marks a radical and unprecedented shift in American policy. Legal experts say it might well be unconstitutional. Hamed Aleaziz is an immigration reporter with The New York Times and joins us for a conversation about the offshoring of immigration detention, the future of the migration crisis, and the two facilities at the centre of Trump's immigration detention plan: 'American Siberia,' and 'Alligator Alcatraz.'For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A New York City billionaire and conservative talk radio host. Two of the most vocally antivax members of Donald Trump's administration. Protesters associated with the "Freedom Convoy" that occupied downtown Ottawa in 2022. What do they have in common?They all want to save a herd of more than 400 ostriches on a small farm in rural B.C.Earlier this year, Universal Ostrich Farms was ordered to cull their remaining birds after an outbreak of avian flu killed dozens of them. But the farm has been fighting the government's order in court, claiming the ostriches' antibodies are crucial for research into alternatives to traditional vaccines.Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, a reporter with Canada's National Observer, explains why the farm's story has spread so widely through the right-wing media ecosystem, finding so much synergy with vaccine skepticism, climate denial, and other conspiracy theories about shadowy bids for global control.

When the Trump administration announced earlier this month that it was dropping its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and would not be releasing any further "Epstein files," it was already an unpopular decision among the MAGA faithful — many of whom Donald Trump won over by leaning into conspiracy theories about pedophilic political elites.In the weeks since, the rift has only widened. New revelations have come to light about Trump's relationship with Epstein, and what Trump knew about what was in the files and when. Trump has been on the defensive, calling the reports fake. But it doesn't appear to be working, with some of Trump's staunchest supporters saying they now feel "betrayed."Anna Merlan, a senior reporter with Mother Jones who covers disinformation, explains why the Trump administration can't seem to make the Epstein files go away.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A trial that was seven years in the making came to its conclusion with all five former Hockey Canada players found not guilty of sexual assault.Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote were acquitted in a London, Ontario courtroom by Justice Maria Carroccia.McLeod was also found not guilty of being a party to a sexual assault. All five had pleaded not guilty.The Athletic’s senior enterprise writer Dan Robson explains the decision and its implications.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Many First Nations leaders across Canada are furious about two laws just passed by both the federal government and Ontario's provincial government.The Protecting Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act and the federal Building Canada Act, better known as Bill 5 and Bill C5, are meant to fast-track large development projects and have faced similar criticisms.Many Indigenous people say the bills stomp on treaty rights and ignore the need to get their consent for development in their territories –– and this could shape up to mean some big battles across the country.Alvin Fiddler, Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political organization that represents 49 Ontario First Nations, joins the show to unpack the controversy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Groups known as "active clubs" are growing across Canada. They often meet in public parks or martial arts clubs, and say they are building community and fitness while standing up for Canada's European history. But they're part of a decentralized network with deep ties to white nationalist, neo-Nazi, and other far-right groups — and they're spreading fast.An exclusive CBC investigation has uncovered exactly how and where these groups operate, who's involved, who they target, and their connections to other extremist groups in Canada and beyond. The CBC's Eric Szeto explains what his team uncovered during the months-long investigation. Then, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue's Mack Lamoureux puts the clubs into the context of growing far-right extremism worldwide, and the broader goals of the movement.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, told journalists earlier this month that he has instructed the military to draw up plans for a camp in southern Gaza, which would eventually house the entire population of the strip. According to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Katz said residents would not be allowed to leave once they entered — although he and other Israeli officials are still talking about plans to deport, or “voluntarily relocate,” Gazan civilians.While Katz described this as a “humanitarian city,” critics — including a former Israeli prime minister — have decried the plan as a “concentration camp.”Today, we’ll first hear from a man in the area of southern Gaza from which people would theoretically be moved into this proposed camp. Then we’ll speak to Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based pollster and political analyst, and author of the recent book The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the rapidly growing world of generative AI chatbots, Grok stands out. Created by Elon Musk's xAI and touted as a "politically incorrect," "anti-woke" alternative to models like ChatGPT, Grok has become a pervasive presence on Musk's social media platform X. So a lot of people took notice earlier this month when Grok started spouting anti-Semitic stereotypes, making violent sexually charged threats, and dubbing itself "MechaHitler."xAI says it has fixed the issue that was introduced in a recent update, but the incident has raised concerns about the apparent lack of guardrails on the technology — particularly when, a week later, the company launched personal AI "companion" characters that included a female anime character with an X-rated mode, and won a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense worth $200 million USD.Kate Conger — a technology reporter with the New York Times and co-author of the book Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter — explains what led to Grok's most recent online meltdown and the broader safety concerns about the untested tech behind it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Donald Trump promised to make America the cryptocurrency capital of the world and he’s been working to make good on that. This week, in what House Republicans dubbed “Crypto Week”, he pushed Congress to pass three major pieces of legislation championed by the industry.Trump hasn’t always been a fan of crypto but after his sons caught on and tens of millions from the crypto industry poured into his re-election campaign, he’s gone all in. Now, he’s got multiple ventures but none as big as World Liberty Financial, the start-up that’s earned his family an estimated $500 million so far. But who is he striking these deals with? And why are some Democrats calling it all a “vehicle for corruption”? To untangle this complex web of policymaking, moneymaking and influence, we’re joined by Jacob Silverman, the co-author of “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” and the host of The Naked Emperor, CBC Understood’s four part podcast series about the rise and fall of FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After more than four decades of activism and advocacy, David Suzuki is one of the most renowned and respected voices in the environmental movement. So when he says it's too late to stop climate change, people take notice. And that's now exactly what he's saying.He's delivering this message as Prime Minister Mark Carney's government focuses on fast-tracking major projects it deems to be of national interest, which could include a new pipeline for fossil fuels from Alberta. Suzuki says that, despite his understanding of the climate crisis, Carney — like all of us — is trapped by the economic and political systems we've created. And for Suzuki, our only hope for survival is to scrap those systems entirely.David Suzuki joins Jayme Poisson on the podcast for a wide-ranging discussion from what a world of irreversible climate change looks like to what he describes as the "madness" of continued investment in fossil fuels to the lessons environmentalists of the future can take from the past.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

Zohran Mamdani’s win in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York is one of the most stunning upsets in the city’s political history. The 33-year-old assemblyman led a campaign focused on affordability, with a platform that included a rent freeze, free public transportation and free child care.Zohran’s win garnered international attention. It also marked the introduction of the first star the Democratic party has produced in many years, appealing to voters that the party has struggled to retain. But since then, political forces - including many from within his own party - have been trying to stop his rise. Why is that? And why is the Democratic Party establishment in particular, hesitating to back him?Errol Louis is a reporter with New York Magazine and a local anchor in New York City. Louis has written a number of pieces about Mamdani, and joins the show to talk about his rapid ascent to stardom, and the identity crisis at the heart of the Democratic Party. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote letters to over two dozen trading partners last week, threatening a fresh set of tariffs. Canada was among them and is now facing the possibility of 35% tariffs on all Canadian goods that don’t comply with CUSMA, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, if a deal isn’t reached by August 1st. Where do our negotiations with the Trump administration stand and how much worse could things get if these tariffs come into effect? What cards can Canada still play at the negotiating table? And what does Trump’s ongoing tariff approach mean for the world? To help make sense of it all, we’re joined by Eric Miller, trade analyst and president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.

To kick off the week, we tackle a few big stories in two realms of Canadian politics: the military, and the federal public service.First, the Ottawa Citizen's David Pugliese tells us about the investigation into a Facebook group where military members of one regiment regularly share misogynistic, racist and derogatory content. He also shares his thoughts on another story involving the Canadian army: the charges laid last week by the RCMP against military members accused of planning to form an anti-government militia.Then, to get a sense of what Prime Minister Mark Carney's goal to cut tens of billions in government spending might look like, we are joined by Yves Giroux, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, the non-partisan watchdog whose job is to promote budget transparency and accountability.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Following years of speculation, this week U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi dismissed the existence of a long-rumored "Epstein client list," and reaffirmed that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide.This comes after months of hopes — in some quarters — that Trump would make good on his promise to reveal more details about the case and those involved in a powerful network surrounding the now-dead Epstein.Trump's own vice president, J.D. Vance, wanted to know more. So did Elon Musk, who accused Trump of being in the so-called "Epstein files." Folks in the conservative media ecosystem are not taking this well. Vicky Ward is an investigative reporter and bestselling author who has been reporting on Epstein for years. You can read her work on Substack at Vicky Ward Investigates, and her most recent book, The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy, is out on Monday. Ward joins us to talk about the "Epstein files" and how the life and crimes of Jeffrey Epstein became one of the defining conspiracies of the 21st century.

The Dalai Lama has spent almost his entire adult life as a refugee from his homeland of Tibet. Fleeing Chinese persecution in the 1950s, he has built a nation in exile, striving to preserve Tibetan culture as not just the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, but as a global ambassador for his people's cause.But he knows a transition is coming. On his 90th birthday this week, the Dalai Lama announced plans for how his successor will be chosen after his death. Since that successor will be a child, that means years of power vacuum that China is almost certain to capitalize on, including attempting to name a rival Dalai Lama of their own.Mujib Mashal is the South Asia bureau chief with the New York Times. He explains what's at stake for the people of Tibet — and Asian geopolitics more broadly — in the coming power struggle when the Dalai Lama passes on.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Search efforts continue in central Texas after extraordinary flash flooding killed more than 100 people. As the death toll rises, questions are growing about whether local, state and federal authorities should have done more to warn residents, and help them get to safety.The disaster is also placing fresh scrutiny on the Trump administration's enormous cuts to the federal bodies involved in disaster alerts and relief, including the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Many are wondering what this means for the next time disaster strikes.Today we're joined by Emily Foxhall, a climate reporter with the Texas Tribune.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington this week, meeting with Donald Trump and senior members of the Trump administration, in a trip that could end in a Gaza ceasefire agreement expected to last 60 days. The critical questions revolve around Hamas’ attitude toward the repatriation of the remaining 50 Israeli hostages in their custody, and Israel’s hesitancy to agree to a deal that involves a permanent peace. Our guest is Meron Rapoport, a 35-year veteran of the Israeli news industry and was formerly the head of news at Israel's Ha’aretz newspaper. Today, he works as an editor at Local Call, a Hebrew language news organization operating in Israel.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The passing of Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill last week came with over a trillion dollars of cuts to Medicaid, kicking an estimated 12 million Americans off health insurance coverage by 2034. And it was passed with the blessing of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Widespread upheaval of the American healthcare system, including cuts to public health departments and medical research, is all part of RFK Jr.’s plan to further his Make America Healthy Again agenda. But how will MAHA, a movement that’s touted vaccine disinformation among other things, actually impact the health of Americans and the world? Nicholas Florko from The Atlantic joins us. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After a long and very public trial, producer and music mogul Sean Diddy Combs has been found not guilty of the most severe charges against him.On Wednesday he was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking, but found guilty on lesser charges - two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. This was widely considered as a huge victory for Diddy.During the trial, prosecutors had accused him of running an extensive sex trafficking operation. And that he did so with the help of a network of employees.Diddy's lawyers argued all the sex at issue in the case was consensual.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty is a BBC journalist and host of the podcast, Diddy on Trial. She talks to Elaine Chau about the verdict, what led to this win for Diddy in federal court, and what it might mean for the #MeToo movement more broadly.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Mark Carney made big promises to transform the Canadian economy, fast track national building projects and secure a trade deal with U.S. He also set Canada Day this year as a deadline for some key goals. How has he done so far and what are we learning about what he’s willing to do to make things happen?Plus, where do trade talks stand now that Ottawa has dropped the Digital Services Tax, a major sticking point for their American counterparts? How has Pierre Poilievre been handling his time away from Parliament and the byelection race in Alberta? Catherine Cullen, host of CBC’s The House, joins us. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For at least the last decade U.S. President Doanld Trump has discussed his desire to end the practice of birthright citizenship. On his first day back in office Trump passed an executive order looking to exclude the children of undocumented people from birthright citizenship completely: an action that was immediately challenged in lower courts across the country. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered Donald Trump a major victory, limiting the power of lower courts to challenge the President’s executive actions. Isabela Dias is an immigration reporter with Mother Jones, and has reported extensively on birthright citizenship. She joins the show to discuss the impact of the Supreme Court's decision, Trump’s changing definition of ‘citizen,’ and what the end of 160 years of birthright citizenship would mean for all American citizens. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Outlaw Ocean is an anthology podcast that plunges you into the vast and often lawless world of the open seas. Today we're featuring an investigation from S2 called The repo man of the seas. In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Urbina joins Max Hardberger. Depending on who you ask, Max is either a seagoing James Bond or a swashbuckling pirate. Hardberger runs a rare kind of repo service, extracting huge ships from foreign ports. His company is a last resort for ship owners whose vessels have been seized, often by bad actors, and over the years he’s built a reputation for taking the kinds of jobs others turn down. Hardberger’s specialty is infiltrating hostile territory and taking control of ships in whatever way he can – usually through subterfuge and stealth. Whatever part of the world his missions take him, Hardberger thrives in its grey areas.More episodes of The Outlaw Ocean are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/oo-FB

After a transformative 13 years, it was announced that the Toronto Raptors and longtime President Masai Ujiri would be parting ways. Across his time with the Raptors Ujiri became a figure central to Canadian and international sport — capping his time with the Raptors’ lone NBA championship in 2019. The years since then have been slower and gave way to a team in purgatory, as well as executive level disagreements about Ujiri’s place in the Raptors hierarchy. We sat down with Masai Ujiri in 2021 for a conversation about his career to that point. About revolutionizing basketball in Toronto, life after a history-making NBA title, his African roots, and his bid to internationalize the game of basketball.

Canada’s energy and natural resources minister Tim Hodgson is in charge of an extremely important file for the federal government.That’s because Prime Minister Carney campaigned on getting big energy and resources projects done, boosting Canada’s economy and extracting us from our close relationship with the U.S.The stakes are pretty high for Minister Hodgson, who is new to politics but has extensive experience in the private sector, including time as CEO of Goldman Sachs Canada. He was also an adviser to Mark Carney during his time as governor of Bank of Canada.He talks to host Jayme Poisson about the controversial piece of legislation, Bill C-5, that would allow the government to fast track projects, but also exempt them from environmental laws and with some exceptions, acts of Parliament.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, Donald Trump angrily swore about his frustrations with Israel and Iran after both countries exchanged missile fire just before the ceasefire Trump helped negotiate.So far, the fragile ceasefire has held. However as more information comes out about the extent of the damage done to Iran’s nuclear facilities and their plans to continue their nuclear program, will it last? Will the U.S. be able to engage in diplomacy with Iran after joining Israel’s bombing campaign? And after Trump publicly chastised Israel, what does it tell us about the U.S.’s relationship with Israel right now?Our returning guest is Gregg Carlstrom, longtime Middle East correspondent with The Economist and author of the book “How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat From Within”. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has just launched a constitutional challenge against legislation in the city of Vaughan known as a “bubble zone” bylaw. It restricts protest within 100 metres of a place of worship, school, daycare, hospital or care facility. Advocates say that in a time of rising extremism and hate crimes, the bylaws are necessary to protect vulnerable groups’ access to these spaces.Toronto and the nearby town of Oakville also passed bubble zone bylaws last month, and several other Ontario municipalities, including Ottawa, are considering similar legislation of their own.But the CCLA argues the bylaws are unnecessary and infringe on free expression rights, while other critics have argued they’re being used to silence dissent — in particular pro-Palestinian protest. Today, producer Allie Jaynes looks at the surprising history of bubble zones, the cases for and against them, and whether they’re being used to chill peaceful protest.This episode references another Front Burner episode, from May 2024, on protests outside a synagogue in Vaughan, Ontario. You can find that episode here: Apple / SpotifyFor transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last week, as the exchange of missiles between Israel and Iran intensified, Donald Trump’s supporters have found themselves in two camps: the hawks, like Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz who support America joining Israel in its fight against Iran. And the isolationists, like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, who urge the president not to plunge the U.S. into yet another protracted war in the Middle East. Now that the U.S. air strikes on Iran have been met with a retaliatory strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar, are the MAGA factions digging in their heels or falling in line with the White House?Adam Wren, senior politics correspondent at Politico and a contributing author to POLITICO Playbook, breaks it all down. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Days into the Iran-Israel war, the United States has carried out a series of limited strikes centered on three Iranian nuclear sites. U.S. President Donald Trump has referred to the strikes as a “spectacular military success” and the Israeli government has made clear there was “full co-ordination” on the operation. Iranian officials claim to have removed enriched uranium from the facilities before they were bombed. Negar Mortazavi is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy, and the Host of the Iran Podcast. She joins the show to discuss the American strikes on Iran and whether this escalation from Trump was about addressing Iran’s nuclear capability, clearing a pathway to regime change, or something else. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Front Burner spent a few days in Three Hills, Alberta, a small town northeast of Calgary. We attended an event about Alberta independence, and spoke to a wide array of people about separation from Canada, and the possibility of an upcoming referendum on the issue. CBC Calgary’s Jason Markusoff came with us.Why Three Hills? Because while separatist sentiment does exist in the province’s cities, it runs deeper in rural small towns, where people tend to feel more disconnected and frustrated with the federal government.People in Three Hills will also be voting in a provincial byelection this Monday, where a separatist party – the Alberta Republican Party – is running a candidate. So in a way, separatism is already on the ballot.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsRead Jason Markusoff's piece here: How voters in rural conservative heartland wrestle with Alberta separatism

For months now, agents working for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have been carrying out raids, arresting people on the street, at work and at immigration courthouses. Often they are wearing plain clothes and masks.As U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown intensifies, so have the instances of arrests and detentions by ICE, sometimes without warrants or due process. Despite mass protests and pushback from opposition politicians and immigrants rights groups, the Trump administration has vowed the arrests will continue as they aim for one million deportations a year.But how, exactly, does ICE operate? How did the agency come to be and how does it compare to immigration enforcement in America’s past? To help us dive deep into ICE’s history and put it all into context, we’re joined by Adam Goodman, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and the author of The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In this politics roundup, we first check in with the CBC’s Aaron Wherry in the Alberta Rockies about the main takeaways from the G7 summit, which wrapped without Donald Trump after he left to deal with the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Then, we speak to Toronto Star national columnist Althia Raj about C-5, an omnibus bill which is moving through parliament at breakneck speed. The bill’s intent is to speed up approval for resource projects, but it’s been panned by critics as dangerous and undemocratic.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Palantir’s technology has been used by everyone from the CIA and Mossad to Airbus and Morgan Stanley. The multi-billion dollar big data software company is at the centre of many of the major issues of our time. Michael Steinberger is a reporter with The New York Times Magazine and the author of a forthcoming book on Palantir’s CEO entitled ‘The Philosopher in the Valley.’ He joins the show to discuss Palantir’s wide-reaching technology, and what it tells us about the future of government and surveillance.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Longstanding tensions came to a head last week when Israel launched a missile attack on Iran, targeting the country’s nuclear facilities and killing several high-level military personnel and nuclear scientists. In the days following the two countries have exchanged missile strikes, killing at least 78 in Iran and 13 in Israel. As the conflict continues to escalate, what will it mean for the region? And as the bombardment derails Iran-U.S. nuclear talks, will the U.S. be pulled into an active war? To discuss this perilous moment and its dangerous implications, we’re joined by Gregg Carlstrom, a longtime Middle East correspondent with The Economist and author of the book “How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat From Within.” Fill out our listener survey here. We appreciate your input!For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Starting Sunday, political and economic representatives of a world order that Donald Trump is intent on shattering are gathering in Kananaskis, in Alberta's Rocky Mountains.That on its own would be high stakes. But add to it Mark Carney's aggressive national to-do list, and you've got two days that could show us how much Canada and the world have changed since Trump became president a second time.Aaron Wherry, a senior writer with CBC's Parliamentary Bureau, joins the show to unpack what he'll be watching for as he covers the event. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For years now Canada's been badgered to pony up, and spend more money on the military. Those calls have come from our actual military itself, our NATO allies, and more recently the U.S. President.Well it looks like Mark Carney is going to pull out the credit card, and commit to spending an extra $9.3-billion on the armed forces by March, bumping our military spending up to two per cent of Canada's entire GDP.Carney has also pledged to end this country's reliance on the U.S. for equipment by diverting billions of dollars in spending to Canadian manufacturers.The timing awkwardly coincided with news about an embarrassing foray into Canadian military procurement: our plans to buy a fleet of F-35 fighter jets from America that the auditor general reported was billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.So, what is Carney's vision for the future of our military? And how serious are the threats against Canada?David Pugliese, defence reporter with the Ottawa Citizen, talks us through it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As many as 40,000 Canadians are out of their homes right now with evacuation alerts and states of emergency in effect across much of western Canada, from B.C. through northern Ontario. Many, especially those from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, have been away from home for weeks, with no indication of when they'll return.CBC Thunder Bay's Sarah Law brings us the story of evacuees from Sandy Lake First Nation, making their way to Thunder Bay, Ont., as fire bears down on their fly-in, fly-out community.Then, Chief David Monias of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Manitoba tells us about the struggle his community has had getting the resources to effectively fight the fires and support its community members through the ongoing evacuation.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The city of Los Angeles has been embroiled in protests for days after a series of ICE raids rounded up dozens of people. Now, after President Donald Trump sent in 2000 members of the National Guard, the city finds itself in the middle of a fight between the White House and state and local governments over the rights of undocumented immigrants.Jeannette Zanipatin is a lawyer and the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), an L.A.-based organization that supports immigrants. The group has been involved with some of the demonstrations. She explains how this situation came to be, what the community has been dealing with and the legal and political implications of Trump’s crackdown. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A feud between Elon Musk and U.S. President Trump escalated and exploded over the course of 72 hours last week.It started off with Musk’s criticism of Trump’s new spending bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination.” Trump later criticized Musk during a press conference in the Oval Office, saying that he would have won the 2024 election without the millions of dollars Musk spent to support him. From there, a barrage of attacks ensued over social media, and threats to cancel government contracts and cooperation. Dasha Burns, Politico’s White House Bureau Chief and host of “The Conversation with Dasha Burns”, is here to walk through the twists and turns of this public breakup, and reflect on who wins and who loses when two of the most powerful people in the world fight.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

What is Canadian content? And why does it matter? The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission has been hearing very different answers to that question — as they try to come up with new CanCon rules. Commotion's Elamin Abdelmahmoud talks with storyteller Jesse Wente, policy expert Vass Bednar and showrunner Anthony Q Farrell about why getting CanCon right has never been more important.Big laughs. Smart takes. Every day. Commotion is where you go for thoughtful and vibrant conversations about all things pop culture. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud calls on journalists, critics, creators and friends to talk through the biggest arts and entertainment stories of the day, in 30 minutes or less.More episodes of Commotion are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/L1GJWq

On Sunday, Ukraine launched Operation Spider’s Web, a surprise drone attack that went deep inside Russia, reaching as far as Siberia for the first time.Ukraine says 117 drones were smuggled into Russia, hidden in the roofs of wooden sheds and later loaded onto the backs of trucks then launched remotely. The result was an enormous blow to Russia’s strategic bomber fleet.Cheaper than traditional weapons and commercially available, drones have become increasingly important to both sides of the Ukraine-Russia war and in conflicts around the world.Josh Schwartz, an assistant professor of international relations at Carnegie Mellon University, joins the show to explain how they are transforming modern warfare.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Liberals have tabled new legislation that would significantly expand law enforcement powers and tighten immigration of all kinds, including refugee claims, in a move to appease the Trump White House — but critics say it raises major concerns for Canadians' civil liberties.Meanwhile, Mark Carney met with Canada's provincial and territorial premiers this week in his first ever first ministers' meeting, and the post-meeting vibes have been extremely positive. There seems to be a general agreement on the idea of building a new east-west pipeline — but almost nothing else about it is clear, including who would actually build it. How long will the honeymoon last?The Toronto Star's Althia Raj and CBC Ottawa's Aaron Wherry are on the show to tackle this political doubleheader.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A little over five months ago, few outside of the New York City real estate scene knew who Steve Witkoff was. Now, as the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, he’s not only been tasked with trying to end the war in Gaza but he’s also at the centre of negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine and with Iran to secure a new nuclear deal. To understand how one of President Donald Trump’s closest friends came to spearhead negotiations in some of the most complex foreign policy files of the last few years we talk to Isaac Stanley-Becker, staff writer at The Atlantic who recently wrote a profile on Steve Witkoff. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since October 7, access to food in Gaza – and its systematic restriction by Israel – has been the subject of international condemnation. The most recent incident is the killing of dozens of Palestinians attempting to obtain food from an aid distribution centre.Israeli settlers have blocked roads, and aid delivery. Aid convoys and workers have also been targeted with violence. And as of March, Israel established a full scale blockade on aid into the Gaza strip. Today a trickle has been allowed into the territory.International organizations have been warning of famine in Gaza for more than a year. Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, and author of ‘Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine.’ He joins the show for a discussion about starvation crimes, why the weaponization of food during wartime continues, and how famine has proven difficult to prosecute in court.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Alex Shephard, senior editor at The New Republic, is on Front Burner to break down a few of the big developing news stories coming out of the Trump administration in recent weeks.He talks to host Jayme Poisson about Elon Musk’s exit from the White House, U.S. President Trump’s war with Harvard, and where we are right now with the on again, off again tariffs as they get kicked around the courts.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The use of generative AI has become rampant on college and university campuses across North America. KPMG - who surveyed over 400 Canadian students about this in the fall — found that around 60 per cent use AI models like ChatGPT in their assignments.James Walsh recently wrote a piece in New York Magazine called Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College, where he spoke to dozens of students, professors, and administrators about the AI cheating surge, and how it’s ratcheting up a debate about the future of the higher education system in North America.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act – also known as Bill 5 – aims to fast track mining projects in Ontario and gives the government the power to create 'special economic zones' that would grant the government the power to exempt companies from still-unspecified laws.Ontario Premier Doug Ford has framed these measures as necessary to protect the province against the threat of Donald Trump's trade war. But the sweeping power it affords the government has Indigenous groups, the Civil Liberties Association and more sounding the alarm.Mike Crawley is a senior reporter with CBC News covering Ontario and he's here to break down the bill, the controversy around it and whether 'cutting red tape' is really the answer to the economic threat posed by Donald Trump.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For the third time in Canadian history, the head of the British monarchy delivered the throne speech before ushering in a new session of parliament. It comes at a time when Canada could use some help protecting its sovereignty in the face of threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.But how does this moment fit in with King Charles’ reign so far, which has been marked by political turmoil, royal rifts, calls for reparations and cutting ties with the British monarchy? We break it all down with Ellie Hall, a freelance reporter and former official royal correspondent for BuzzFeed News. Listen to Power & Politics' exclusive interview with Prime Minister Mark Carney here: https://link.mgln.ai/E5RqMrFor transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last June, during the first presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. election campaign, Joe Biden stumbled and struggled to find the right words. His performance was described as disastrous and incoherent.At that point, many Americans had already come to the conclusion that Biden was too old for the job. But for those who hadn't yet, the debate was the moment that fact became impossible to deny.Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is a new book that investigates Biden’s cognitive and physical decline in recent years, and the attempt by a small group of loyalists and family members to keep it from public view.Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson did over two hundred interviews with lawmakers, White House officials, and campaign insiders for it.Despite the reporting, Joe Biden continues to reject concerns about his age. His recent diagnosis of an aggressive prostate cancer has brought his health back into the spotlight.Today on Front Burner, Axios’ National Political Correspondent Alex Thompson on his new book, and the political consequences of Joe Biden’s decline.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s 'Golden Dome’ is a proposed defense program that will feature the use of space lasers, satellites and interceptors designed to provide 24/7 space based defence. It’s advertised as a bulwark against missiles and nuclear attacks from the likes of China, North Korea and Russia. Mike Stone is a Reuters reporter covering the U.S. arms trade and defense industry and joins the show to discuss Donald Trump’s trillion dollar sci-fi inspired project, Canada’s potential involvement, and its implications for the global arms race. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On May 25th 2020, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. The whole thing was caught on video and once it got out, it set America on fire. Protests spread across the country and then the world. Promises of sweeping changes to policing and greater commitment to racial justice and equity were made.Fast forward to now, five years later, and the outlook is very different. There are more Americans killed at the hands of police, DEI initiatives have been rolled back and President Donald Trump is taking actions to give police more power.We talk to Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, about calls to pardon Derek Chauvin, the current state of policing and racial justice and where America could be headed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been a year and a half since the R&B singer Cassie Ventura first accused hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape and repeated physical abuse over the course of their decade-long relationship. Those initial allegations unleashed a torrent of accusations from others, more than 70 sexual assault lawsuits, and federal raids of his homes.Now, Diddy’s high-profile criminal trial is underway in a Manhattan court. He faces charges of sexually trafficking three women, as well as transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.Today, the BBC’s Nada Tawfik takes us inside the trial to learn what the court has heard so far from Cassie and other witnesses, and how the prosecution is trying to build their case that this was not simply a story of domestic violence, but of sex trafficking and racketeering.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today on the show is historian Timothy Ryback. Timothy is an author and writer with The Atlantic. He’s the director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague. Last year he published ‘Takeover’ which documents the ways Hitler and his enablers in the German establishment cleared the pathway to Nazism through constitutional means.He’s on the show to discuss - what he refers to as the “disturbing echoes” between Nazi Germany and contemporary America. Particularly between Adolf Hitler and US President Donald Trump.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Hundreds of people filled a banquet hall in Calgary last week to hear from the Alberta Prosperity Project, a group that wants Alberta to separate from Canada.They're trying to drum up support for a petition and earn enough signatures to trigger a referendum on separation in 2026.One of the reasons the petition is picking up steam is because Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party has just passed legislation that would lower the bar for holding a referendum vote.Jason Markusoff is a producer and writer who covers Alberta politics for the CBC. He speaks to host Jayme Poisson about Smith's latest political moves, including the backlash, as well as the separatist movement itself.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It's not you — the internet really does suck. Novelist, blogger and noted internet commentator Cory Doctorow explains what happened to the internet and why you're tormented by ads, bots, algorithms, AI slop and so many pop-ups. Spoiler alert: it wasn't an accident.In Understood: Who Broke the Internet, Doctorow gets into the decisions made by powerful people that got us here, and most importantly, how we fix it. More episodes of Who Broke the Internet are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/DkvHgc

Measles case numbers in Ontario are now higher than the total registered cases in the entire United States.This week’s report from Ontario Public Health puts the total at 1,646 cases of the disease since January. In Alberta, measles is spreading even quicker, outpacing Ontario in growth per-capita. Nearly three decades ago Canada had declared measles completely eliminated. But now the country is facing a situation where public health experts say, without prompt action, the disease could become endemic once again.CBC senior health reporter, Jennifer Yoon, joins the show to talk about how things got so bad and what public health officials are doing about it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Content warning: this conversation contains graphic details of an alleged sexual assault so please take care while listening.Proceedings began late last month in a trial that has been seven years in the making.It involves five former members of Canada's gold medal winning 2018 world juniors hockey team. They've been accused of sexually assaulting a woman who is known as E.M.All five have pleaded not guilty.This same alleged assault made headlines a few years back when it was revealed that Hockey Canada quietly settled a civil suit over it, and had settled other unrelated cases as well.The CEO and entire board of Hockey Canada resigned. It ignited a fierce debate over hockey culture in this country.The ongoing criminal trial has put that debate back in the crosshairs as the woman at the centre wrapped up a marathon seven day cross examination by multiple lawyers this week.Today we are going to talk about what has transpired in the case so far and the larger questions about hockey culture with Katie Strang, a reporter with The Athletic.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet was sworn in at Rideau Hall. Among them are 24 new faces but also a solid handful of the same big names from the previous government. What does it tell us about the government’s priorities? Is it enough of a change from the Trudeau years?Plus, the Liberals gained a seat after winning a recount in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne by a single vote. It’s fuelling conspiracy theories and misinformation about the electoral process.CBC’s chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, joins us to talk about all that and more.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israel is planning a major escalation of its military campaign in Gaza — one that the government says is necessary to eradicate Hamas, but which rights groups have said amounts to the annexation of the Palestinian territory.It comes amid apparent rifts between the U.S. and Israel. Trump is currently on a tour of the Middle East which won’t include a stop in Israel; he has conducted talks with a number of countries in the region without notifying Israel; and the U.S. has just secured the release of a hostage from Gaza — again without any Israeli involvement. What does all this mean for US-Israel relations? Could it mean that the Trump administration may intervene in an expanded military campaign? Or broker a lasting ceasefire?Today we’re joined by Meron Rapoport. He’s a 35-year veteran of the Israeli news industry and was formerly the head of news at Israel's Ha’aretz newspaper. Today, he works as an editor at Local Call, a Hebrew-language news organization operating in Israel.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Top economic officials from the U.S. and China met in Geneva, Switzerland over the weekend. This was the first time that they’ve had face-to-face since the start of their enormous trade war.The U.S. has currently placed 145 per cent tariffs on China. China has responded with 125 per cent. These levies have essentially stopped business between the world’s two largest economies.Daniel Desrochers is Politico’s international trade reporter. He’s here for a catch-up on the latest developments of the global trade war.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Dozens have died this week as military tensions escalate between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir. India fired missiles into Pakistan-controlled territory in what it says is retaliation for a militant attack on a tourist town in Indian territory in April.The Kashmir region has long been the source of violent conflict between India and Pakistan. But there are concerns that this latest flare-up could lead to a much bigger conflict between the two nuclear powers.Salimah Shivji, CBC's South Asia bureau chief, explains what's been happening this week and where it could go next.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

What's going on behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel this week, as the Catholic Church's cardinals meet in Rome to choose the next pope?It's a centuries-old tradition, but this time, the college of cardinals is bigger than ever, with a growing contingent from Africa and Asia — many of them attending their first conclave ever. That means lots of different priorities, and of course the lingering question of whether to continue the liberal legacy of the late Francis, or to opt for more stability and traditionality.Charles Collins is the managing editor of the Crux, an independent publication covering the Catholic Church. He is our guest to break it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump had their first face-to-face meeting, amidst an ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S.The relationship between the two countries is at a historic low. On top of existing tariffs, Trump said on Monday that he wants to impose 100 per cent tariffs on movies produced outside the U.S. The move could have devastating implications for the Canadian film industry.On top of all that, there was the potential for things to go sideways, given how the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump went earlier this year.There was a lot at stake.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. He spoke to Front Burner guest host Elaine Chau about how the meeting went, and where Canada-U.S. trade negotiations go from here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Dr. Agnès Callamard has been a leader in the human rights sector for decades, and since 2021 has worked in the role of Secretary General for Amnesty International. She joins the show to discuss doing human rights work at this difficult historical moment, the future of international law, Canada’s role on the world stage, the question of genocide, and some of the lessons that can be drawn from the world’s most precarious frontiers. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second administration have been turbulent, controversial, and transformative. Today we’re joined by Alex Shephard, a senior editor at the New Republic, to take stock of the most consequential changes, their impact on the United States and its place in the world, and to what extent they are irreversible.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For many Canadians, travel to the United States is a yearly routine. But that’s started to change.People around the world have shared stories about travel to the U.S. gone wrong. Some have been pulled into the back rooms of airports for additional screening, others have been pressured to share their social media accounts for examination and in the worst case scenarios, detained.Now, out of fear or even national pride, many travelers are rethinking their travel plans. In March, nearly 900,000 fewer Canadians visited the U.S. So, what might you encounter if you choose to head down south? Is there reason to be concerned?Today, Hannah Sampson, a travel reporter with the Washington Post, joins the show to break down the reality of traveling to the U.S. under Trump.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Conservative Party of Canada is once again the Official Opposition.Now, the Tories are grappling with the disappointing results of Monday’s election. They lost to the Liberals after leading in the polls mere months ago and their party leader, Pierre Poilievre, failed to win in his own riding. But it wasn’t a total loss. The Conservatives won 41 per cent of the popular vote, and picked up more seats than any other party, flipping both red and orange seats to blue. Top Conservative strategist, Kory Teneycke, joins the show to talk about the path forward – what the results mean for Poilievre and what kinds of challenges he will face, if he stays on as leader, in uniting Conservatives and expanding their base.

It's official: the Liberals have a minority government.They've got ambitious plans, and they've made big promises. But even though they got a substantial 44 per cent of the popular vote, they're now leading a country where 41 per cent of voters coalesced around their biggest opponent, the Conservatives. And they're still dealing with Donald Trump's trade war.So how will they make it work?Today, Paul Wells — a longtime political journalist who also publishes a Substack under his own name — joins us to talk about the Liberals' path forward.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A whirlwind election campaign has ended with Mark Carney leading the Liberal Party to victory, coming back from disastrous polling numbers just months ago. The NDP has been decimated, with leader Jagmeet Singh stepping down. Yet, despite losing, Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party still earned the support of a large percentage of the population, leaving the Liberals with the prospect of leading a country dealing with persistent political divides.CBC Ottawa senior writer Aaron Wherry and David Coletto, CEO of the polling firm Abacus Data, recap the biggest moments of the night and what to expect in the coming months.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s election day. The campaign has been short, but it’s been packed with plenty of drama. From annexation talk and economic chaos to stunning polls reversals to internal party blowups. Today we’re speaking with host of the The House podcast Catherine Cullen to spend a bit of time marveling at what an eventful several months this has been and talk about how things could have been different. We’ll also get into what she’s looking for as the results come in.  Make sure to watch our election night livestream TONIGHT starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok.

It's almost election day, and our colleagues at Power and Politics have been putting out a weekly wrap, where political strategists break down what the biggest federal election stories actually mean for the campaign.This week, former Justin Trudeau adviser Laura D'Angelo, former Harper government staffer Michael Solberg and former Alberta NDP strategist Zain Velji talk platforms -- do they matter, at this stage in the campaign game? And especially for a party like the Conservatives, who keep polling behind the Liberals? The strategists also have thoughts on tensions between Pierre Poilievre and conservative premiers, and weigh in with what they think are the most under-the-radar election stories of the week.To hear more of Power and Politics daily: https://link.mgln.ai/8DXaye

Within the last week, the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP have all released their costed platforms, detailing their plans for the country and how they will pay for them. While the question of who will be Canada’s next prime minister remains, it’s certain they’ll face a challenging economic outlook, with a Canada-U.S. trade war in full swing and a recession looming. Who’s spending more and on what? How does the confusing math work? Today, we’re breaking down the details with Aaron Wherry, a senior writer with CBC's Ottawa bureau. Make sure to watch our election night livestream on Monday, April 28 starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok.

Since 2016, the toxic drug crisis has taken more than 50 thousand Canadian lives.The Conservative party has promised $200-million a year to fund addictions recovery care for 50,000 people, according to the party's platform. Leader Pierre Poilievre has also vowed to “defund drug dens” – imposing strict new rules for overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites.Liberal leader Mark Carney has said that his party would review the effectiveness of such sites, while the federal NDP supports them.So given all of that…who’s left fighting the toxic drug crisis? How did harm reduction programs become so politically unviable? And what does that mean for drug users?Front Burner senior producer Elaine Chau brings us this documentary from Vancouver – ground zero of an overdose crisis that’s now wreaked havoc across the country.Make sure to watch our election night livestream on Monday, April 28 starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP have released their platforms. What exactly are they promising to do on issues like housing, climate change, crime and justice and the cost of living?We’ve gathered a collection of experts to break down all the details and hear from economist Mike Moffatt, climate journalist Arno Kopecky, CBC senior business reporter Anis Heydari, and CBC Senior writer Peter Zimonjic.Make sure to watch our election night livestream on Monday, April 28 starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Pope Francis brought a lot of firsts to the Catholic Church. He was the first from Latin America, and under him, the church became increasingly globalized and diverse. He spoke up for LGBTQ rights, for the people of Gaza, and for migrants and refugees around the world. In 2022, he apologized for the Catholic Church's role in Canada's residential school system.But his death on Monday comes at a complicated time for the church. The Vatican is grappling with the new political direction in the United States, and the college of cardinals is bigger and more diverse than it has ever been.Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University, breaks down the legacy of Pope Francis and what the future of the Catholic Church could look like under his successor.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Drugs looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now.More episodes of On Drugs are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/Q5X33U

As the federal election reaches the homestretch, four party leaders squared off in Montreal Thursday evening in the only English-language debate of the campaign. Liberal leader and polling frontrunner Mark Carney took heat from all sides as the Conservatives' Pierre Poilievre, the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and the Bloc's Yves-François Blanchet kept the barbs coming his way all night.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with CBC's Ottawa bureau. He breaks down how everyone performed and what we learned from them — as well as the controversy surrounding the debate commission itself, and the drama that led to post-debate reporter scrums being canceled.Make sure to watch our election night livestream on Monday, April 28 starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok.

With just over a week until election day, Canada's main party leaders go head to head tonight in the only English language debate. So, where does the campaign stand? Is anything shifting? How do people feel about the leaders at the moment? Where are parties drawing their biggest support and losses from? David Coletto, the CEO of the polling firm Abacus Data, joins the show today to tell us what the latest polls are saying.He will rejoin the show as just one of several special guests on our election night livestream, Monday, April 28. Watch it on the CBC News YouTube channel and CBC News on TikTok. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A big part of Donald Trump’s global tariff regime targets the Chinese economy in a bid, he says, to force the country into a deal favorable to the United States. Despite this, officials in China have been undeterred — claiming that tariffs will hurt Americans more than Chinese, and drawing comparison between the actions of Donald Trump and Mao Zedong’s ‘cultural revolution.’Chinese officials have also responded to Donald Trump’s tariff program saying, in part: “if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end." David Rennie is a columnist with The Economist, where he formerly worked as the magazine’s Beijing correspondent. He joins us for a conversation about the China-U.S. relationship, why officials in China view Trump as a ‘revolutionary’ figure, and this as a one of the great moments of opportunity in China’s modern history. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Three terms and a decisive majority under Stephen Harper. Erin O'Toole's leadership run — and subsequent castigation. Pierre Poilievre's meteoric ascendency to within striking distance of the country's top office.What do these things all have in common? Jenni Byrne, the longtime Conservative powerbroker running Poilievre's campaign, who has moved in the party's inner circles since first joining the Reform Party at age 16.Simon Lewsen recently profiled Byrne for Maclean's. He takes us through her biggest wins, her most crushing losses, and why her unwavering commitment to populist conservative principles has been her greatest strength — but may now have become one of the campaign's biggest liabilities.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Election day in Canada is only two weeks away.All the major parties have been holding rallies across the country, with some Conservative supporters bringing “Do you believe the polls?” signs to a party event.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is facing scrutiny over limiting media access, and Liberal leader Mark Carney is facing questions about his time working in the private sector and billion-dollar funds he oversaw in tax havens.Rosemary Barton is the CBC’s chief political correspondent. She’s here to catch us up on the latest developments in the campaign.Plus, we get the story behind how two Liberal party staffers planted ‘stop the steal’ buttons at a conservative conference.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the wake of 9/11, anthrax-laced letters unleashed a new wave of terror across the nation. But who was behind the attacks — and why has America nearly forgotten this story?As government buildings shut down and law enforcement scrambled to track the perpetrator, the FBI launched one of the largest and most complex investigations in its history. Untangling a web of scientific evidence and false leads, the case took unexpected turns with lasting consequences.From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, Dig Studios and CBC, this eight-part series grants unprecedented access to declassified materials and firsthand accounts, revealing how the anthrax attacks reshaped America—and the hidden impact that still lingers today. More episodes of Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/nDyBn7

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on much of what he calls "reciprocal tariffs" barely a week after first imposing them — while also implementing a 10 per cent tariff across the board on most countries, and a whopping 145 per cent tariff on China.Markets first soared at the news, then went back into freefall. Members of Trump's cabinet claimed this was the strategy all along. The chaos even brought the stability of U.S. government bonds into question.Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, unpacks what's really going on here, and why Trump's past dealings with Canada could provide some insight into how it will all shake out.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping global reciprocal tariffs for all countries, except for China.Trump has long expressed his love of tariffs. Just last week, he spoke about how believes the U.S. was founded on tariffs, and that they could have helped the country avoid the Great Depression. Then, referring to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the President said: “They tried to bring back tariffs to save our country, but it was gone. It was gone. It was too late. Nothing could have been done — took years and years to get out of that depression.”Today on Front Burner, what lessons do the Smoot-Hawley tariffs offer during this moment of global economic chaos?Asa McKercher is the Hudson Chair in Canada-U.S. relations at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government. He’s back on Front Burner to talk about that and much more.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today our guest is Jason Kenney, the longtime federal Conservative MP and former United Conservative Party premier of Alberta. Kenney worked closely for many years with now-Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre, and he has been outspoken on the trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. So today we’re having him on to talk about tariffs, the Canadian election, and tensions within the Conservative movement.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s trade war has revived calls for the building of east-west pipelines within Canada, as a way for the country to unleash its natural resources and reduce its dependence on the U.S. as its key trading partner.But do the economics of building new pipelines — or the logistics, or the environmental realities — actually make sense here? And what are the parties actually saying about them?Today we’re speaking to Andrew Leach, an energy and environmental economist and an Associate Professor at the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Trump’s latest and most severe tariffs have caused a bloodbath on the global markets and widespread economic anxiety.JP Morgan’s chief economist raised the odds of a global recession by the end of the year to 60 per cent, up from 40 per cent.People are looking at their jobs being eliminated in places like auto plants, and elsewhere in the manufacturing sector.Journalist Joe Weisenthal is the co-host of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. He’s here to explain the global market meltdown, and what we can expect in the coming days.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

FBI undercover agent Scott Payne’s job was to infiltrate the most dangerous gangs of our times: outlaw bikers, drug cartels and the international neo-Nazi networks hellbent on inciting a race war. He was taking down these groups from within. And Scott was good at it — people confided in him their most audacious plans for mass violence and domestic terrorism.In the second season of White Hot Hate, host Michelle Shephard gives you an unvarnished view of a life undercover. Because after a 28-year-long career pretending to be somebody else, Agent Payne is ready to tell his side of the story. This series was produced alongside a book co-written by Scott Payne and Michelle Shephard titled Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis.More episodes of White Hot Hate: Agent Pale Horse are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/tNLnXF

Canada may have dodged the worst of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, but it didn’t emerge unscathed.U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he is going ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on "all foreign-made" automobiles – a devastating blow for the Canadian auto sector, plunging it into uncertainty.Aaron Wherry, a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau, joins the show to discuss the fallout from Trump’s latest levies, how Canada’s political leaders are responding and what it all means for the final weeks of the campaign.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the culmination of countless speeches, tweets and campaign promises, U.S. president Donald Trump has finally unveiled sweeping tariffs on goods imported into the country — from nearly every country it does business with.He dubbed it "Liberation Day," calling it the start of a new era of economic independence for the United States, saying it will bring jobs and industry back to the country. But some economists say the tariffs will throw international trade into chaos, with unpredictable knock-on effects, and possibly even cause a worldwide recession.Eric Miller is an international trade consultant and president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. He breaks down everything we know so far about the tariffs, what they'll mean for Canada and whether the free trade era as we know it is over for good.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week one of the U.S.’s leading scholars and thinkers on fascism announced his intention to leave his country, which he said was “tilting toward authoritarian dictatorship.” Jason Stanley will be leaving Yale and taking up a post at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Stanley has been warning about the threat and rise of fascism in the United States since Donald Trump’s first term – his work notes the throughline between American Jim Crow and the Third Reich, fascism’s reliance on the identification of internal enemies, and why fascism rests upon the promise of restoring a mythic past. Stanley is a longtime professor and his latest book is titled ‘Erasing History, how fascists rewrite the past to control the future.’ He joins the show to discuss his decision to come to Canada as an academic refugee, and situate fascism in the broader continuum of American history.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As the Liberals ride strong, support for the NDP is collapsing. Most polls now show their support at less than 10 per cent — half of what it was just three months ago. Some data suggest they could lose three quarters of their seats in the house, and that they’re at risk of losing official party status.How did the New Democrats get here? Why hasn’t leader Jagmeet Singh been able to turn policy wins for the party into electoral success? And where do they go from here?Today we’re joined by two people who have been following the NDP for a long time. Jordan Leichnitz is a former NDP senior strategist, and David Moscrop is a political commentator.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Just over one week into the federal election campaign and there's lots to talk about. From Mark Carney's first call with Donald Trump, after which the U.S. President pulled a dramatic change in rhetoric about Canada, to infighting and chaos in the Conservative ranks.CBC's Chief Political correspondent Rosemary Barton breaks down week one of campaigning in this pivotal election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Across the world an anti-Tesla campaign has been growing since Elon Musk began his work dismantling U.S. government institutions, and meddling in other country’s democracies. The protests, dubbed “Trash Tesla,” are seeing regular folks and former customers selling their cars, dumping stock and picketing dealerships. Others are torching Tesla vehicles.As a result the U.S. attorney general says they’re looking into the incidents as potential domestic terrorism.Today on the show, Wired writer Carlton Reid is joining us to talk about his reporting on the Tesla backlash. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The federal election has only been officially underway since Sunday, and a few stories are dominating the headlines.Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are facing allegations of foreign interference, which has once again resurfaced questions about why Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre refuses to get his security clearance to be briefed on such issues.Liberal leader Mark Carney continues to face scrutiny for his time in the private sector, in particular his role at Brookfield Asset Management, which moved its headquarters from Toronto to New York during his tenure.Meanwhile, comments from Alberta premier Danielle Smith to American conservative media, as well as a continued cold shoulder from Ontario premier Doug Ford, raise the question of whether the country's two most prominent Conservative premiers are going to be bigger liabilities than assets for Poilievre in this campaign.Catherine Cullen and Jason Markusoff — the hosts of CBC's politics podcast House Party, which you can find here — break it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a 2021 speech entitled ‘The Universities are the enemy,’ Vice President JD Vance laid out a plan for America’s universities saying in part “we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.”Columbia University has become ground zero for the Trump administration's war on higher education. Following a year of pro-Palestinian protest on campus, Trump revoked $400-million in funding and has instructed federal agents to oversee raids on campus, looking to deport international students and permanent residents that have been involved in protest. Joseph Howley is a professor at Columbia and joins the show to discuss the last year and a half on campus, at a time students are being hunted, and some feel the university has capitulated to the demands of a hostile government.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With the federal election underway, Pierre Poilievre’s political opponents have intensified their accusations that the Conservative leader is like U.S. President Trump.On Sunday, Liberal leader Mark Carney said that Poilievre mirrors Trump in language and intention, and that he followed the administration’s lead in proposing foreign aid cuts.For weeks now, the party has been putting out ads focusing on the similarities between Poilievre and Trump.NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said, also on Sunday, that Poilievre is endorsed by Elon Musk, who is leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.In a country where the majority of people have negative views of Trump, this start to the campaign likely wasn’t an ideal one for Poilievre and his team.CBC parliamentary bureau reporter J.P. Tasker, who’s currently on the campaign trail with the Conservatives, outlines Pierre Poilievre’s Trump problem, and what it might mean for the campaign moving forward.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With trust in journalism eroding, disinformation — once fringe — is now mainstream. Much of it is spreading on social media. Today’s guest says the online media environment in Canada is more fragile and vulnerable to manipulation than ever before. A dangerous situation at the best of times — even more so during an election.Taylor Owen is a professor at McGill University, the Chair in Media, Ethics and Communication, the founding Director of The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and principal investigator at the Media Ecosystem Observatory.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canadian pride reached a fever pitch after the NHL 4 Nations Cup last month and it hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down since. Sales of the Canadian flags are up. American liquor and beer have been pulled off the shelves in stores throughout the country. “Elbows Up”, a war cry and tribute to Gordie Howe’s signature defensive move, has been trending on social media. But in a country that, according to polls, saw declining national pride for decades, what is our national identity? And how do you build a forward-looking and also inclusive, patriotic society? We wade through the good, the bad and the ugly of Canadian patriotism with David Moscrop, a freelance journalist and political scientist, and Jeet Heer, author and national affairs correspondent at The Nation.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On August 9th and 10th of 1969, a series of brutal murders took place in Los Angeles. Seven people were killed, including actress Sharon Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski.Members of the Manson family, a kind of cult, were found guilty for the crimes. Manson and four of his followers were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death.The prosecutor at the time said that Manson wanted to start a race war and trigger the end of the world. For decades, that was how the story went.But a new film by legendary documentary filmmaker Errol Morris asks the audience to reconsider that. It's inspired by a book called "CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties" by journalist Tom O'Neill, which makes the case that Manson might have been connected to the CIA's mind control program, MK-Ultra.Errol Morris talks to host Jayme Poisson about "Chaos: The Manson Murders", unpacking the many theories about Charles Manson, and the culture of paranoia from that era of American history. The film is out on Netflix now.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Trump administration is continuing to expand its mass deportation of immigrants, and more and more people are getting caught up in its dragnet — from green card holders to Canadians, and even U.S. citizens. Court orders to block many of these actions are mounting, but the Trump administration is pushing back hard — going so far as pushing for the impeachment of a judge involved in one case.Today, we’re speaking to Arelis Hernandez, a border reporter for The Washington Post, for a look at what separates this from previous immigration crackdowns, and where this all might lead. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week Jayme had the opportunity to interview Nobel Prize winning economist, and former staffer and advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Joseph Stiglitz.Stiglitz also worked as the chief economist at the world bank, is a bestselling author many times over and remains one of the towering economic thinkers of our time. He has long been a sharp critic of neoliberalism, and trade policies like NAFTA that he believes privileged the rich and corporations, but disenfranchised workers. This was a wide ranging conversation and dealt with Trump's tariff war, the threats towards Canada and the recent arrest and attempt to deport a Columbia student who helped lead protests against Israel's war in Gaza last year. The conversation was recorded in front of an audience. It was part of a conference put on by McGill's Media Ecosystem Observatory and the Max Bell School of Public Policy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister. He wasted no time in appointing a new cabinet, getting rid of the carbon tax, and heading off on a diplomatic trip to Europe.Today, Rosemary Barton, CBC’s chief political correspondent, joins us to talk about what Carney’s first days in office indicate about his political priorities, how the Conservatives are responding, and when we might expect an election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On October 25th, 2023, after weeks of Israeli bombardment on Gaza, Canadian novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad posted this on X:"One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this."Israel had declared war on Hamas after the Oct 7 attack. On top of the bombardment, there was a full siege in place – civilians in Gaza were cut off from water, electricity, and food. As Omar witnessed the destruction from afar, he kept track of how the war was being framed and talked about by Western media and governments. He spoke to host Jayme Poisson about how his frustration with all of that prompted, in part, his latest book: "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This".For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There's been a flurry of news and uncertainty around tariffs and Canada-U.S. relations lately so we thought we'd open the floor to you in case you have any burning questions. Turns out a lot of you do!So, we took some of your questions to five incredible experts: Economist Armine Yalnizyan, CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta, energy economist Andrew Leach and Ottawa Citizen national security reporter David Pugliese. Together, with Jayme Poisson, they parse through your concerns and queries and do their best to make sense of this moment.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

By the end of Tuesday, day eight of the Canada-U.S. trade war, Ontario Premier Doug Ford had backed down on a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity going to the U.S. that was supposed to go into effect that day. It came after a "productive conversation" between Ford and U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who agreed to meet Ford on Thursday. Lutnick has been making the rounds on U.S. cable networks selling Trump's tariffs and ripping into Canada's response. He was also on the call last week between Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump, and has been in constant communication with Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc.So, who is Howard Lutnick? What kind of negotiator is he? What does he believe?Dan Alexander is a senior editor at Forbes Magazine. He recently wrote a profile on Lutnick titled "The most hated guy on Wall Street: the unspoken story around Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary".

As Canadians grapple with the ongoing threat of American tariffs, south of the U.S., Mexicans are dealing with the same thing. Today we look at the similarities and differences in the situations both countries are facing, the different ways our leaders are dealing with Trump, and the surprising impacts the tariff threat may be having in Mexico’s war on drugs.Elías Camhaji, a reporter with the newspaper El País based in Mexico City, joins us.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After a two-month race, the Liberal Party of Canada chose Mark Carney as its new leader on Sunday night. It was an overwhelming win – Carney won with 86 per cent of the vote. The Prime Minister-Designate is expected to be sworn in, in the coming days.Paul Wells has written about Canadian politics for decades. He also has a substack under his own name.He looks ahead to the challenges facing Carney. From figuring out the pros and cons of calling a federal election straight away, to not having a seat in Parliament, to arguably the most significant challenge of all: managing Canada’s response in a trade war with the U.S. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s first four years in office were met with protest and obstruction — a popular movement which came to be known as ‘The Resistance.’ It featured a coalition that included members of the media, establishment Republicans, figures on the left, celebrities and business leaders. Forty days into his second term, many are wondering: what happened to ‘The Resistance.’ Franklin Foer is a staff writer at The Atlantic and joins us to discuss ‘Resistance Fatigue,’ the Trump administration’s plan to overwhelm the attention of the public, and whether people are, today, too overburdened to care.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two days after U.S. tariffs were imposed on Canada and Mexico, the trade war rages on. While an exemption has been made for three major automakers, President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau still appear to be at an impasse. As Ottawa imposes counter-tariffs and the provinces announce further retaliatory measures, what are levers can Canada pull on to get the Americans to walk back? Some of the biggest include our crude oil and wide range of critical minerals.Jonathon Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, joins us to talk about the latest on how talks are going between the two governments and why he thinks the U.S. won’t be able to hold out without Canadian resources for long. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After months of back-and-forth, will-he-or-won’t-he, it’s officially on: U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods, and 10% on Canadian energy. Canada has hit back with tariffs of its own — which Trump says will cause further retaliation.CBC Washington correspondent Alexander Panetta joins us for a look at what happens now. Will measures from the federal government, or any of Canada’s premiers, make any difference? What are the offramps? And how long could this all last?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Humiliating the president of Ukraine in the Oval Office. Admonishing European leaders about migration and free speech. Voting alongside Russia against a UN resolution to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Withdrawing from the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council. They are all signs from the Trump administration that point to a massive shift in America’s foreign policy and alignment with the very “rules-based” international order the U.S. led after WWII.But how did the world order as we know it come to be? And if it comes to an end, what could the future look like? Dominic Sandbrook, co-host of The Rest is History, takes us through the last 70 years of global politics and how we got to this turning point. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Trump has been talking about wanting to gain control of Greenland, and expand American influence in the Arctic.It’s a region rich in minerals and oil. It’s also an important potential trade route being opened up by climate change.  The U.S. is reportedly in talks with Russia about possible collaboration on energy projects there.This has a lot of people in Canada – from Northern premiers, federal politicians, and members of Canada’s military – worried about our country’s sovereignty and security.David Pugliese is the longtime military and defence reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. He explains why the Arctic is both so valuable and vulnerable, whether the region’s sovereignty is at risk, and what Canada could do about it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As a child, Alex Kurzem faced a choice: be killed or join the killers.In the midst of the Second World War, he was separated from his family and taken in by a group of soldiers as one of their own. He was made a member of Hitler’s army – a toy soldier with his own rifle and miniature SS uniform.But what the soldiers didn’t know and what no one would know for decades: he was a Jewish boy masquerading as a Nazi to save his life.Alex lives with this false identity for so long, he no longer remembers who he was before – forgetting his parents’ faces, his birthday, his own name. But before he dies, Alex is determined to find the identity and family stolen from him during the Holocaust. This is the story Alex would tell the world decades later, but doubts quickly took hold and wouldn’t let go. Could a story so unbelievable be true? Or is this a con to profit from the Holocaust? Eighty years on, is it possible to uncover who Alex really is? Host Dan Goldberg unravels the true story.Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time.More episodes of Personally: Toy Soldier are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/PVBRcQ

SUVs and pickup trucks make up more than four out of every five new cars sold in the U.S., and in Canada, they represented 86 per cent of all vehicles sold in May of last year. Lots of these vehicles bill themselves as “safe,” but safe for who? The drivers and passengers? Or everyone else?David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a contributing writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab, has coined the term “car bloat” to describe the ever-expanding size of the average automobile. He joins the show to talk about the enormous problems these cars are causing, how they got to be so huge, and whether the trend will continue.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to end all future funding to South Africa claiming that in the country, “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” Trump went on to announce a new specialized refugee program which would facilitate the entry of White South Africans — Afrikaners — into the U.S., as a result of “government sponsored race-based discrimination.”It’s left many wondering exactly why Trump has taken up this new interest in South Africa? The answer to this may lie in a group of white billionaires and political insiders from apartheid-era South Africa that have embedded themselves within Donald Trump’s orbit, a group which includes the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, the billionaire Peter Thiel, Trump donor and official David Sacks, and well known South African golfer Gary Player. Chris McGreal is a journalist with The Guardian and a former South Africa correspondent with the paper through the final years of Apartheid. He joins the show to unpack the throughline connecting apartheid South Africa to the US today.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The four Liberal leadership candidates - Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis - had a chance to make their case to voters and challenge each other over two debates this week. The winner of the race will go on to be the next Prime Minister and will head directly into a tariff war with Donald Trump and an imminent federal election. But with so many points of agreement, did any of the four prove they were up to the task? Especially Carney, the front-runner?Aaron Wherry, senior writer at CBC’s Parliamentary Bureau, joins us to talk about the highlights and takeaways from the debates and what it all means for the race and election ahead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The world marked the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal full scale invasion on Monday.This milestone in the deadliest conflict Europe has seen since World War Two comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have moved closer to the Kremlin and sidelined Europe and Ukraine. A lot happened on Monday on multiple fronts, as rival leaders scrambled to try and shape the course of this pivotal moment in Ukraine and Europe’s history.Will there be a peace deal and what could it look like?Jayme Poisson speaks to Francis Farrell, a journalist for the Kyiv Independent, who’s been covering the conflict since 2022 including time spent reporting from the frontlines.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

People in Ontario will head to the polls on Thursday, in an election that was called more than a year ahead of schedule.Doug Ford, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party is on track to win a third mandate. He says he needs the province’s confidence to deal with U.S.President Trump’s tariffs. The latest from Abacus Data puts the Conservatives at 41 per cent of the vote share.CBC Queen’s Park reporter Mike Crawley talks to host Jayme Poisson about the campaign so far, including the fight that other parties have mounted on issues like health care, and why Doug Ford is holding a steady lead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday, shortly after two in the afternoon, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis was cleared to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport. As the plane touched down, its right wing hit the ground, sparking flames. Passengers on the flight described a scene of metal scraping against cement as the wing was ripped off and the aircraft rolled, flipping onto its back and skidding before coming to a stop in a cloud of smoke and fire.   This is just the latest in a string of high profile crashes over the last few months, and with stories of the sweeping changes to U.S. aviation regulators imposed by the Trump administration, travelers’ confidence in air travel has been shaken.Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani joins us today to discuss what we know about the crashes, the problems plaguing the aviation industry and whether flying is actually getting more dangerous. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It can be hard to truly understand the motivations behind Donald Trump and his administration. But when looking at some of the countries that have found themselves in his crosshairs, there’s a throughline that binds them. Canada, Greenland and Ukraine are all rich in critical mineral resources. These metals are used in everything from cell phones to EV batteries to fighter jets.As the global race to shore up critical minerals and challenge China’s dominance heats up, could that be one of the factors driving the U.S. as they challenge and antagonize other countries on the world stage? Jacob Lorinc, mining reporter at Bloomberg, joins us to talk about the critical minerals rush and why competing could be more complicated than it seems.

Over just a few days, senior Trump officials declared that Ukraine should prepare to cede territory to Russia and that Europe is not likely to have a seat at the table during negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. They then closed the week with a history-making address by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at this year’s Munich Security Conference in which he appeared to threaten the future of the US-Europe partnership wholesale. Richard Walker is DW’s Chief International Editor, and joins the show to discuss the deteriorating Western front, its implications on world affairs, and why an American President would want to unravel 80 years of foreign policy on the European continent.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he’s serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state, with his deputy chief of staff saying Trump has made no concessions on the topic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that threat is “a real thing”.Trump says he’d use economic force to drag Canada under America’s boot. But he’s been less delicate about other places, saying he could use military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.Howard Coombs is director of the Queen’s Centre for International Defence Policy. He’s also a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces and deployed as a civilian counter-insurgency advisor in Afghanistan.He talks to Jayme Poisson about what a theoretical takeover of Canada by the U.S. could look like. One that could include tariffs, but also boots on the ground.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats on Canadian goods have forced a hard reset on just about every aspect of Canada-U.S. relations.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre responded to that on Saturday at his party’s “Canada First” rally, where he hoped to define himself and his campaign given this new political reality.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. David Coletto is CEO and founder of Abacus Data.They joined host Jayme Poisson to talk about how the Conservatives’ big event went, and the political challenges facing Poilievre, especially in light of the Liberal party’s bump in the polls.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Parks Canada confirmed a dead goose in a Scarborough park tested positive for bird flu, raising concerns that with more birds flying north for spring, the virus will spread. Canada saw its first and only domestically-acquired human case in November, but in the U.S., at least 68 people have been reported infected in the last year, according to CDC data. One person has died from the illness. The poultry industries on both sides of the border have been grappling with the virus for years, and outbreaks have led to the culling of millions of birds in the last year. Now, the U.S. dairy industry is being impacted as herds of cattle in several states have fallen ill. Nicholas Florko, a staff writer with The Atlantic, joins the show to talk about the virus, how it’s spreading in the U.S. and why some people are worried that it could be the beginning of the next pandemic.

Following years of disillusionment with the federal Liberal party, some of Canada’s most high profile tech CEOs are leading a movement to bring their industry in line with the Conservative Party of Canada. According to new reporting, a collection of Canada’s tech CEOs have been discussing plans to influence Canada’s future in a WhatsApp group called ‘Build Canada’. Canada’s tech sector was once closely bound to the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but many feel slighted by a government they feel failed to take their concerns seriously.Catherine McIntyre is a reporter with The Logic, and joins us to discuss Canadian Tech’s rightward drift, whether it is a product of similar trends in the United States, and the implications for Canada’s future.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Even with the tariffs on U.S. goods mostly on pause for the rest of the month, many are still doing what they can to “Buy Canadian” and switch their buying habits away from anything American-made. But how do you actually go about doing that? And should it extend into our digital and media habits too?Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University's Master of Public Policy and Digital Society program and author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians, joins us to wade through the murky waters of navigating a trade war in a country that’s so intertwined with its neighbour to the south.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau promised U.S. President Donald Trump a crackdown on fentanyl and tougher border measures in exchange for a pause on tariffs. But what could that fentanyl crackdown actually look like — and will it make things better, or worse? And as the cultural and political backlash against harm reduction increases in Canada, how could this factor into an upcoming election?Today, we’re joined by Manisha Krishnan, an Emmy award-winning journalist covering North American drug policy, for a look at what this crackdown could mean for Canada.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the latest whiplash from the White House, U.S. President Trump told reporters on Sunday that he would announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported to the U.S. – including from Canada – on Monday.This, of course, comes a week after he decided to give Canada a 30-day reprieve from blanket and crippling tariffs on all exports to the U.S.This is an incredibly tense and chilling time for two countries that have been allies and trade partners for a long time. But the current fear and anger over the tariffs, and annexation talk aren’t new.Asa McKercher has been studying the Canada-U.S. relationship for years. He is the Hudson Chair in Canada-U.S. relations at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, and teaches at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Super Bowl is North America's biggest sports event, and sports betting's biggest weekend. U.S. legal sportsbooks are expected to generate over a billion dollars in bets as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs. Sports betting has exploded in the seven years since it was effectively legalized. Now, the industry has taken over, inundating fans with advertisements and partnering with star athletes, sports media companies and the leagues themselves.On today's show, we speak with Danny Funt, a Washington Post contributor and the author of Everybody Loses, to chart the real winners and losers in the rise of sports betting.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Elon Musk, head of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ has gained access to the U.S. government’s federal payment system — the system responsible for the flow of over $6-trillion in payments to American families and businesses each year. This is a level of access into government apparatus that is unprecedented for a private citizen. Musk has used this power to declare war on, and interfere with, state agencies and organizations across the federal government. This includes USAID, the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, and the General Services Administration, among others. What are the implications of giving the richest man in the world — unelected by the public, unappointed by the President and the Senate, and unanswerable to Congress — this kind of authority and access to government? Waleed Shahid is a democratic strategist and former senior advisor and staffer for the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and he joins the show to discuss Musk’s power grab, and whether it can be fairly characterized as a ‘coup.’For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Many Canadians breathed a sigh of relief on Monday, after Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump agreed to pause tariffs for at least 30 days. But how permanent is this solution? And with the clock ticking on the Liberal leadership race, a prorogued parliament, and a looming federal election, will Canada’s domestic political chaos hamper our ability to respond if the fragile tariff peace doesn’t hold?Today Rosemary Barton, CBC’s Chief Political Correspondent, joins us to break down the government’s response so far, and the rocky road ahead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday, after a long phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump put a pause on the tariffs that were supposed to come into effect the next day.The tariffs, 25 per cent on Canadian goods, and 10 per cent on Canadian energy products, have been delayed for at least 30 days. In return, Canada is implementing a billion dollar border plan, including 10,000 frontline personnel, and committing to appointing a fentanyl czar.Despite the reprieve, Trump has said little about what it would take to avoid the tariffs for good.CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta talks to guest host Jonathan Montpetit about why Trump keeps coming back to tariffs, and what his endgame might be with them.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government would hit back against the U.S. after President Donald Trump launched a trade war against Canada.Starting Tuesday, the U.S. is imposing 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy products in particular. In response, Trudeau said that the federal government would levy retaliatory 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of U.S. goods.CBC senior business reporter Peter Armstrong on the consequences of a Canada-U.S. trade war, and what these tariffs might mean for the average Canadian.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A body is pulled from the ocean, and a race against time to capture one of the world's most wanted criminals begins.Uncover: Sea of LIes is the story of a con man who couldn't stop lying. A tale of murder, stolen identities, fine art, a diaper bag stuffed with gold bars, and a crime solved by a Rolex watch. From rural Canada to coastal England, he lied and deceived at every turn.Award-winning podcaster Sam Mullins (Chameleon: Dr. Dante & Wild Boys) takes you inside the world of a devious scammer whose trail of destruction crosses continents and decades. So who is he? And how did this ruthless villain finally get unmasked? More episodes of Sea of Lies from Uncover are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/kP7LAY

It’s been nearly two weeks since a ceasefire brought more than 15 months of violence in Gaza to an end, and now, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are returning to the north, or what’s left of it.Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian freelance journalist, joins us to share what he has witnessed since becoming thrust into this role of war correspondent, how Palestinians are feeling about this fragile peace, and what comes next.Warning: this episode describes upsetting accounts of war and despair. Please take care while listening.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A small Chinese tech company called Deepseek has upended the world of AI.  Deepseek recently released a large language model that rivals ChatGP called R1 and it shot almost immediately to #1 on the app charts. The interesting thing about it is that the company built their model really cheap and that has called into question this narrative that you need an endless supply of chips and data centres and money to develop AI.On today’s show we’re speaking to WIRED’s senior tech writer Zeyi Yang about the deepening AI cold war between the US and China and the lingering questions about where AI is headed and what it’s good for?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On his first night back in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump signed a series of sweeping executive orders that effectively dismantle federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and revoke a landmark Civil Rights-era anti-discrimination rule. This comes as major American companies, from McDonald’s to Walmart to Meta, have been rolling back their own diversity policies, which have recently faced growing legal and cultural backlash.Does this spell the end of DEI? And what could that mean, in the US and beyond?Today Washington Post business reporter Julian Mark joins us to break it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Liberal leadership candidate Karina Gould was elected as the member of Parliament for Burlington in 2015 at the age of 28, but it didn't take long before she ended up in cabinet. In fact she was the youngest ever woman named to cabinet and the first ever active minister to take maternity leave.Gould has played a number of roles for the Liberal's during their decade in government… including Minister of Democratic Institutions, Minister for International Development, followed by Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, all before becoming the Government House leader.Today, Gould makes her case why should lead the Liberal party, and if she wins, fight the next election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Liberal leadership race really got underway this week. Mark Carney wracked up endorsements from current cabinet ministers, while Chrystia Freeland pitched herself as running against the "Ottawa establishment".Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling an early election on Wednesday in hopes of shoring up another strong mandate, and capitalize on his visibility during the tariff fight.Vandana Kattar is a former advisor to Justin Trudeau, and a political strategist. Dennis Matthews is the President of the a national advertising agency Creative Currency, a conservative strategist and former advertising director for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Mélanie Richer is Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies and former Director of Communications for the NDP and Jagmeet Singh. They join host Jayme Poisson to talk about it all.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Kaitlyn Braun, a pregnant young woman in crisis, takes dozens of birth workers through an escalating series of disasters – rape, baby loss, and even a coma. One by one, the doulas struggle to support her and grieve with her, and even save her life as they’re led down a distressing path. And then the truth comes out.In this six-part true crime series, Sarah Treleaven untangles a complex web of lies and deception to ask who Kaitlyn really is and why she did the things that she did. Cases like these puzzle legal experts and raise intricate moral and ethical questions. This is not your average con. Kaitlyn is not your usual scammer.Kaitlyn's Baby is Season 2 of The Con — a podcast exposing the art of deception — from CBC and the BBC World Service. Season 1 - the critically acclaimed catfishing quest, Love, Janessa, launched in January 2023.Content warning: The latest season of The Con contains references to medical emergencies, including baby loss. We also deal with sexual assault and there is some strong language.More episodes are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/UrgPYM

On Monday night, tech billionaire Elon Musk spoke at President Trump's inauguration rally in Washington. In the middle of that speech, he slammed his right hand onto the left side of his chest and thrust it out into the air in a straight line. Then he turned around, and made the gesture again.The backlash was immediate, with many people accusing Musk of making a Nazi salute. But the Anti-Defamation League, an organization founded to combat anti-semitism disagreed, and came to Musk's defence, calling it "an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute" on X. Its defence of Musk would have been nearly unthinkable even a year and a half ago, when Musk threatened to sue the group for defamation. Mari Cohen has been covering this evolving relationship between Musk and the ADL for Jewish Currents. She spoke to host Jayme Poisson about that, and how it fits into ongoing criticisms the organization is facing.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There’s been a ton of buzz around Mark Carney throwing his hat into the Liberal leadership race. Many Liberals see Carney — the former head of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, and a former advisor to the Trudeau government — as the best hope of reversing their party’s dire fortunes. This is Carney’s first foray into party politics. So what do we know about his track record and his beliefs? Is he really, as he claims, an “outsider?” And, in a time of rising populism on the right and left — when many believe big, global financial institutions have made their lives worse — can a man like Carney meet the moment?Today, a documentary looking at Carney’s life, work, and views.

Speaking from a cabinet retreat Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the case for why the Trump administration should divert from the trade war collision course they’re currently on. His comments come just a day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president and mused about slapping 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports starting Feb. 1st.The Prime Minister went on to say that while the country will continue to negotiate - there are also preparations to fight back including considering dollar for dollar tariffs on American products coming into Canada.Today we are talking to Canadian economist Jim Stanford about the carrot and stick arguments Canadian officials are making to Americans. Stanford is director of the Centre for Future Work and recently published a report asking the question “Who’s Subsidizing Whom?” when it comes to the Canada-U.S. trade relationship.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time as President of the United States.In his inaugural address and as he signed executive orders throughout the day, Trump made his priorities for his first days in office clear. He declared an emergency at the southern border, made it the official policy of the United States that "there are only two genders", said America was "taking back" the Panama Canal and much, much more.Many of these moves are things that Trump has promised or threatened to do on "day one". Which is why on the eve of inauguration day we spoke to Tolu Olorunnipa, the Washington Bureau Chief with the Washington Post and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book 'His Name is George Floyd' about what to expect in the coming days of the second Trump Presidency.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For weeks, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has been talking about making Canada the 51st state. He’s even said that he’d look to use economic force to ‘get rid’ of the border between the two countries.Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary has been pushing the potential benefits of an ‘economic union’ with the U.S. He explained his case in a feature interview with host Jayme Poisson on Sunday.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Drugs looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now. More episodes of On Drugs are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/aRCxzV

It was another really busy week in Canadian politics.It began with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s trip to Mar-a-Lago to talk tariffs and Canadian oil with Trump and his team, and it rolled into a meeting between Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where Smith did not get onside with her colleagues.The Liberal leadership race narrowed further, and on Thursday, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney threw his hat into the ring.Catherine Cullen is the host of CBC's The House. Jason Markusoff is a producer and writer with CBC Calgary. They join host Jayme Poisson to talk about it all.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israel and Hamas signed a deal for a ceasefire set to begin Sunday January 19th that will see the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israel and the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The news was met with celebrations in Gaza where Palestinians have been suffering under a brutal Israel offensive since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Tens of thousands are dead, more than a million displaced and much of the strip is destroyed. Ceasefire negotiations have dragged on in Qatar between Israel, Hamas, the U.S. and other countries for months. So why has an agreement finally been reached now? Chaim Levinson, senior diplomatic correspondent at Ha’aretz, joins us to parse through the details of the deal, how it was reached and what could happen next.

Fires continue to burn in Los Angeles as millions of people remain under an extreme fire weather alert. The Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire have already flattened entire neighbourhoods in Los Angeles, leaving nothing but outlines and ash where homes once stood. It is expected that this will all amount to the worst natural disaster in American history in terms of cost and scale.These fires raise major questions about the future of Los Angeles, who is to blame, insurance and just how prepared we are for worsening fires and other climate change fueled disasters.To discuss the size and scope of these fires, and what can be learned from them, we’re joined by David Wallace-Wells, New York Times writer and columnist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump is building the wealthiest cabinet in American history with 13 billionaires set to be part of his administration. That of course includes his vocal backer and X CEO, Elon Musk. But it’s not just the ones joining him in office. A parade of CEOs and business giants have met with him over the past month in Mar-A-Lago including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Canada’s Kevin O’Leary.Even in a country where the super rich have always had an outsized role in American life, this moment stands out. But does it compare to the past and other administrations and why are they aligning themselves with Trump so publicly now?To explore this shift we’re joined by Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University and the author of Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation, a much clearer picture of the Liberal leadership race has emerged.Whoever the candidate ends up being will have the challenge of running both a leadership and a general election campaign at essentially the same time.According to some recent polling by Abacus Data, that won’t be the only challenge.David Coletto is the founder and CEO of the polling firm. He’ll talk about that, how Canadians are responding to Trudeau’s resignation, and what that means for the Liberal party.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Joe Biden will end his reign as President as not only the oldest holder of the executive office, but one of the longest tenured lawmakers in American history. As he enters his twilight in public life, we look at the President’s final few weeks in office and ask: how is Joe Biden likely to be remembered? President Biden’s final weeks in office include the controversial decision to pardon his son, Hunter, and the passage of the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern American history. But many believe he should use his final days to pass meaningful legislation on issues ranging from racial justice to the environment, national parks, abortion and Gaza. Our guest is Alex Shephard is a Senior Editor at The New Republic and has been writing about Biden through his Presidency, and beyond.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With just under two weeks until he re-takes the Oval Office, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has outlined a mind-map of sorts to, as he says, “make Canada the 51st American state.”He has referred to the border separating Canada and the U.S. as an “artificial line,” called Justin Trudeau Canada’s “Governor” and said Canada would “dissolve” without U.S. assistance.At the same time, he’s not ruling out forcibly incorporating the territory of Greenland into the U.S. and seizing control of the Panama Canal, a crucial shipping route.Threat, negotiation tactic, or meaningless bluster? CBC Washington correspondent Katie Simpson unpacks where it’s all coming from.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nearly a decade ago Justin Trudeau rode a wave of hope and optimism — his so-called "sunny ways" — to the prime minister's office, leading a once-flailing Liberal party out of the wilderness.A lot has changed since that time. Not only for Trudeau and his party's fortunes, but for the world — and how many people feel about the kind of hopeful vision that once helped propel people like Trudeau into power.Today we're going to grapple with Trudeau's legacy, and how he may be remembered: the accomplishments, the failures, the scandals — and whether, as the world transformed around him, Trudeau was able to adapt with it.Our guests are Aaron Wherry, CBC senior writer and the author of Promise and Peril: Justin Trudeau in Power, and Stephen Maher, author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After months of non-confidence votes and growing pressure, Justin Trudeau has stepped down as the leader of the Liberal Party. He’s still the Prime Minister, for now, after proroguing Parliament until March 24th so that the Liberals can hold a leadership race and find his successor. Wayne Long, a backbencher from New Brunswick, was among the first voices from within Trudeau’s own party to call for him to step down. Now that it’s finally happened, he talks to us about what the “internal battles” in the party actually looked like and what he thinks needs to happen next for the Liberals to have a fighting chance in the next election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For the last couple weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apparently been thinking about his future. At the same time, he faced new calls to resign: from his colleagues, the country and political rivals.Will he make it through the day, the week or the election?Tim Powers shares his thoughts on Trudeau’s political future. He’s the chair of Summa Strategies, managing director of Abacus Data, a former Conservative adviser and a regular columnist at the Hill Times.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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 writer 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, called “The Life and Death of Hollywood”. Bessner is also a historian and host of the podcast “American Prestige”. He spoke to host Jayme Poisson last April.

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?We revisit a conversation with journalist Sophie Elmhirst from last April, who wrote a piece in the New Yorker called “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife”.

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This is the final episode of the four-part series from Understood, the anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Hosted by Thomas Leblanc. More episodes of Understood are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/n5NBQC

Murray Sinclair — an Anishinaabe lawyer, judge, senator, and, most consequentially, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation commission — died in November at the age of 73. Sinclair helped bring to light the stories of thousands of Indigenous residential school survivors and advocated for justice for them. He's been recognized by many as someone who fundamentally changed the country and what Canadians know about ourselves and our history.Today we have a documentary featuring the voices of three people who knew Murray Sinclair well, about the personal lessons he taught them and how he transformed Canada.We'll hear from journalist and filmmaker Tanya Talaga; Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations; and Kim Murray, the Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsThis episode originally aired on November 11, 2025.

In the next two years, Canadian millennials will stand to inherit as much as one trillion dollars from their boomer parents. Today, we take a look at what this consolidation of family wealth could mean for Canada’s economy, and Canadian society writ large with Katrina Onsted, freelance reporter and producer for the Globe and Mail’s tech business podcast, Lately.

The Apprentice is a Donald Trump biopic that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year and got an extended standing ovation. But it quickly came under fire from its subject. Today, we bring you an encore of host Jayme Poisson’s interview with Dan Beckerman, one of the producers behind the film. He’ll walk us through the film’s complicated journey to theatres, and the challenges of making art about powerful people.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This is the third episode of the four-part series from Understood, the anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Hosted by Thomas Leblanc. More episodes of Understood are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/yrMjPh

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This is the second episode of the four-part series from Understood, the anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Hosted by Thomas Leblanc. More episodes of Understood are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/EnVXBB

Got some money burning a hole in your pocket? You could go online and place a bet about whether or not Canada will become the U.S.’s 51st state before July, whether or not there will be an election before the New Year, or whether the U.S. will ban TikTok before May 2025. And you could do it all on a website called Polymarket.Polymarket is a “prediction market”  that allows users to spend crypto to place bets on the likelihood of life events. The site is not without controversy. Polymarket is illegal to use in the US, researchers say there’s rampant “wash trading” taking place on the platform, and in November the FBI raided Polymarket CEO, Shayne Coplan’s New York apartment.Today we speak with New York Times reporter David Yaffe-Bellany about whether Polymarket is a new more accurate way of polling, or just another gambling site.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

People talk about Donald Trump as a singular figure. A one-of-a-kind politician who's made conservative history in the U.S. But where exactly does Trump fit in conservative history? In what eras does he stand on common ground? What are the big differences? Is he a revolutionary figure or a natural evolution of the movement?To work though that, we've got Sam Adler-Bell and Matt Sitman. They are the hosts of the Know Your Enemy podcast, which explores the underpinnings of contemporary conservatism.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, historian and professor Timothy Snyder wrote a long post on Facebook. Here's how it started: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience."Snyder went on to share twenty lessons about authoritarianism from the 20th century. They would lay the groundwork for his 2017 book On Tyranny. Fast forward to 2024, and Snyder's warnings about authoritarianism are being amplified once again. He joins the show to look ahead to the next four years of the Trump presidency, through the lens of his latest books: the just-released On Freedom and On Tyranny.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The fallout from Chrystia Freeland’s resignation is far from over. As more people demand Justin Trudeau’s resignation he appears to be in no hurry to heed the calls.Meanwhile, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump pokes fun at Canada’s ongoing chaos, reprising his jokes about the country becoming the 51st state. What does the drama in Ottawa mean for Canada’s position as it prepares for a potential trade war with Washington?We're joined by J.P. Tasker from CBC's parliamentary bureau and Alex Panetta, a Washington-based CBC News correspondent.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The charge of ethnic cleansing is not, on its own, considered a crime under international law. Experts consider it to be part of the overall charge of genocide. In this episode we take listeners to northern Gaza and examine the words and actions of politicians, academics and settlements organizations in order to better understand whether Israel is perpetrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Our guest is Meron Rapoport, a 30-year veteran of the Israeli news industry who formerly worked as the head of news at Israel's Ha’aretz newspaper. Today he’s an editor at the Israeli publication Local Call. He joins the show to discuss whether Israel is guilty of committing a program of ethnic cleansing, and the prospect of a ‘Second Nakba’ in Gaza. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Chrystia Freeland's bombshell resignation as finance minister has thrown Justin Trudeau's fragile government into chaos. The decisions that led to this are raising questions about the Prime Minister's judgment, loyalties, leadership and ability to stay in power.Paul Wells and Stephen Maher are our guests. Paul has a substack under his own name and has written about Canadian politics for decades. Stephen is a longtime federal politics reporter and author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late last week, federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon recommended that Canada Post workers, who have been on strike for more than four weeks, be ordered back to work until May 22, 2025. In the meantime, an inquiry would look into the roadblocks preventing the two parties from getting to an agreement.This labour dispute has led to a lot of debate and discussion about the future of Canada Post.Ian Lee is an associate professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and has studied Canada Post for many years. He walks us through the crown corporation’s grim financial situation, how its business could adapt, and its uncertain future.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates again this week. Economists say wages are up, inflation is on target and the stock market is in the green.But most everyday Canadians are living a very different story. One of insanely high grocery prices, impossible housing costs and a suffocating economic squeeze.Recently, Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland announced a temporary GST holiday on a bunch of stuff to give relief to people feeling the pinch.But she went on to muse that the economic pain people were feeling might be the result of a "vibecession". Think recession – but you know – only in your head.Today, so are we in a 'vibecession'? Economist Armine Yalnizyan is our guest.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Once crypto-skeptic, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has had a change of heart over the past year. Especially, after millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency industry poured into his campaign. Now, as he embraces the online currency, even appointing a crypto czar, the price of Bitcoin and other popular tokens reach new heights. Even memecoins are seeing a boost.But what happens if the volatile crypto market sees another crash like it did in 2022? Jacob Silverman, tech journalist and host of CBC’s The Naked Emperor, joins us to talk about why there’s so much crypto hype right now and what’s at stake if the boom goes bust.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since the U.S. election last month, Bluesky – which describes itself as ‘social media as it should be’ – has gained a lot of traction. They now have more than 24 million users, and traffic on the site is up 500% in the United States in the last month.Many users have fled there from X (formerly Twitter) which has seen a sharp decline since Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022. The frequency of bots, partisan advertisements and harassment are often cited as reasons for leaving the social media platform.Ed Zitron is a tech journalist who hosts the podcast Better Offline, and writes the newsletter Where's Your Ed At.He talks to host Jayme Poisson about the rise of Bluesky, what differentiates it from X, and what this all means for the future of social media.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, where he’s been granted political asylum. This comes after rebels seized Damascus, Syria’s capital city, on that same day.Assad’s fall from power marks the end of 50 years of brutal rule by his family. His father, Hafez al-Assad, a longtime military officer, was known for his iron fist.Joshua Landis is the head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and a leading expert on Syria.He explains the significance of Bashar al-Assad’s fall, and looks back on the Assad family’s half a century in power.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in New York City last week. In some communities online, like reddit and tik tok, Thompson’s killing has been met with encouragement and his killer has been lauded as a vigilante, a kind of folk hero. Part of the reason for that, is the deep dissatisfaction and anger with the state of healthcare in America. The murder has exposed a raw nerve and put renewed focus on troubling practices within the trillion dollar health insurance industry.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss track ‘Not Like Us’ accused Drake of being a ‘colonizer’ and a ‘pedophile.’ Now, seven months after the song’s release, Drake has filed a legal petition against Universal Music Group (UMG) for orchestrating a plot to artificially boost the popularity of the song via algorithm manipulation, online bots, and payola, in a bid to undermine him.Is Drake taking on the music business, in the tradition of Prince and Michael Jackson, or is he a sore loser, seeking litigious retribution for the fact that he lost the most high profile rap beef of all time? Brian Zisook is a co-founder of the music streaming platform Audiomack, and long time writer and executive in the hip hop world. He joins the show to discuss the facts of Drake’s case, the tradition of hip hop lawsuits that have come before, and the industry practices that created the conditions for this moment. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton is back to talk about Prime Minister Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner meeting with U.S. president-elect Trump. She’ll touch on how far it’ll go to quell tensions over Trump’s tariff threat, and whether Canada can present a united front against it.Plus, the politics behind the upcoming two month GST holiday, and whether we’re getting any closer to a federal election call.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a sudden offensive, Turkish-backed rebel forces in Syria have managed to take several villages and towns, including the second largest city in the country, Aleppo, all with minimal resistance from government forces. Now as they continue to push further south, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad is left with a diminished army and his main allies are embroiled in conflicts of their own. Kareem Shaheen is the Middle East editor at New Lines Magazine. He spoke to host Jayme Poisson about what the fall of Aleppo and renewed fighting in Syria means for the Syrian people and the region.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

At the beginning of this year, immigration minister Marc Miller said the government was looking to rein in the number of international study permits it would be granting, in a bid to take pressure off the strained housing market. But that's been bad news for the post-secondary institutions for which a significant part of their operating budgets come from tuition fees from international students. Colleges in southern Ontario have been particularly hard hit, with many announcing cuts and consolidations — and there could be more to come.But it's only part of the problem. Alex Usher, the president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, explains the crisis Canadian universities and colleges are now dealing with: the result of years of cuts and a refusal to spend more on our post-secondary institutions.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

More than 10,000 arrests, a mountain of drugs stopped at the border, and more than a hundred assassination attempts thwarted. Those are just some of the results of a massive police data hacking operation in Europe to disrupt organized crime. And at the center of it all – Vancouver tech company Sky Global – that promised communication couldn’t be hacked by their encrypted phones.Frédéric Zalac, and Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête teamed up with journalists from a dozen European media organizations for the year-long investigation.The documentary aired on The Fifth Estate as “Cracked: Crimes Behind Encryption.” You can watch it on YouTube.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

People don’t think Graham Isador is losing his sight. They think he’s an asshole.Short Sighted is an attempt to explain what vision loss feels like by exploring how it sounds.Written and hosted by master storyteller Graham Isador, the show’s mini episodes are an intimate and irreverent look at accessibility and its personal impacts.Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time. This is what it sounds like to be human.More episodes of Personally are available at: lnk.to/pJDdjXaz

In 1996, after two hung jury trials, brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez were convicted of killing their parents in one of the most high profile trials in American history. The brothers argued they had killed their parents following years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse at the hands of their father, but it was ultimately decided that they had killed their parents in a premeditated fashion, in pursuit of their parents' million dollar estate. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.The case was a phenomenon, and one of the first to be broadcast on television via wall-to-wall coverage inside the courtroom. 35 years later, following a Netflix series and a pair of documentaries dedicated to the Menendez brothers' story, and the entry of new evidence, the brothers have put in a new bid for freedom.Robert Rand has been covering the Menendez brothers since the day after the murders, and has published reporting, books and documentaries dedicated to the story. He joins the show to discuss whether the brothers may soon be free men, how their story went on to help create the "True Crime" genre, and why had the murders taken place today things may have happened differently. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It's time for Canada to pay "a very big price." That was the message from president-elect Donald Trump this week when he announced a 25 percent tariff on literally everything coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. The tariffs will come into effect January 20th, Trump said, and stay in effect until "Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! "This isn't the first time Trump has threatened to impose major tariffs or followed through on his threats. And while previous levies didn't last - but they were around long enough to be a thorn in the side of Canadian negotiators reworking The North American Free Trade Agreement.So, is this most recent threat a negotiation ploy, political bluster or the first salvo in a trade war that could end in economic ruin?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The second of two major antitrust cases against Google wrapped up this week. Earlier this year, a judge found the company holds an illegal monopoly over the internet search market. Now the U.S. Department of Justice is arguing the same thing about its grip on online advertising. This is all part of a major push of antitrust litigation against tech companies by the U.S. government — Apple, Amazon and Meta are all facing similar cases.What's behind this push to crack down on these companies now? Would proposed remedies like breaking them up actually make a difference? And will the momentum survive the transition to a second Trump presidency? Paris Marx — author of the tech newsletter Disconnect and host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us — breaks it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding, “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, who has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” have often taken cues from Donald Trump. But now, could he be taking cues from them?Today we speak to Tracy Wilkinson, a longtime writer with the LA Times, and Natalie Alcoba, a journalist based in Argentina, about the “right-wing strongman feedback loop” happening between these three leaders — and what it could mean for the U.S. and the world.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Routine childhood vaccinations have been on the decline in recent years, with the anti-vax movement rising during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the conversation has shifted.
What was once affiliated with left-leaning counterculture has now become increasingly right-wing, with male health influencers leading much of the conversation. How did the shift happen, and what implications could it have on public health? Timothy Caulfield is a professor at the University of Alberta, with the Faculty of Law and Public Health. He’ll go through how and why the anti-vax movement changed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Christine Harron, a book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario, leaves for school in the spring of 1993 and is never seen again. A suspect emerges, confessing to her murder, but the case falls apart and Christine's family are left without answers.In Season 9 of the award winning podcast Someone Knows Something, David Ridgen, along with Christine's mother, reopen the investigation and come face to face with the man who said he killed Chrissy.Someone Knows Something is the investigative true crime series by award-winning documentarian David Ridgen. Each season tackles an unsolved case, uncovering details and bringing closure to families.More episodes of Someone Knows Something are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/3PSdjpxO

For the last year, Canada’s premier literary award The Giller Prize has been embroiled in a controversy that has split the Canadian literary community. Last years gala was interrupted by protestors who rushed the stage carrying placards emblazoned with ‘Scotiabank Funds Genocide.’ What they were referring to was the fact The Giller’s lead sponsor, Scotiabank, was a principal shareholder of one of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturers. They also objected to a pair of Giller sponsors invested in the Israeli military and settlements in the occupied West Bank. Since then, a number of former Giller winners, along with hundreds of bookworkers across the country have committed to a boycott.Winner of the 2005 Giller Prize David Bergen joins the show to discuss his decision not to attend this year’s Giller Prize – and a broader conversation about the duty of a writer, and whether it is possible for artists to reconcile their personal convictions with the interests of corporate sponsors. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Earlier this week, after months of debate and hesitation, the U.S. decided to allow Ukraine to use American made ATACMS missiles on targets inside Russia. Escalations followed, such as Russia signing a new doctrine that lowered the threshold for nuclear attacks.As the tensions ratchet up, there’s still the question of what will happen once Donald Trump takes office. To break down the gravity of this moment, we talk to David Sanger, longtime New York Times national security correspondent and the author of “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West”.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nearly a million Canadian workers have taken job action in recent years, with Canada Post employees being the latest to do so. That included work stoppages at airlines, railways and Canadian ports.You might assume, from the many headlines about strikes, that union power is growing in Canada. But in fact, over the last forty years, the number of workers who are members of a union has decreased by nearly 10 percent.At the same time, jobs across many sectors have gotten worse, from stagnating wages to reduced benefits.Barry Eidlin is an associate professor of sociology at McGill University and the author of "Labour and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada".He'll weigh in on why work sucks, what unions can do about that, and what is and is not being done.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, recently returned from a week-long trip to Canada. She was given standing ovations at sold-out speaking events, yet also faced backlash from groups who called for the Canadian government to condemn her, and advocated for the UN to remove her from her position.Today, a wide-ranging conversation with Francesca Albanese.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the past week, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has announced many members of his upcoming cabinet, giving a window into his second term’s priorities.There’s little known about the wider implications of these appointments, but one area that Trump has emphasized as a “day one” priority is immigration.This was Trump’s single biggest talking point throughout his presidential campaign, and heading into a second term, it’s a clear policy priority.Nicole Narea is a senior reporter covering politics and immigration at Vox. She’ll go through what the next four years of American immigration policy could look like.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

They needed certainty. They got chaos. For over a decade, countless people from at least five different countries put their trust in a company offering prenatal paternity tests. It promised clients “99.9% accuracy” — but then routinely, for over a decade, identified the wrong biological fathers.In the brand new season of Uncover: Bad Results, investigative journalists Jorge Barrera and Rachel Houlihan track down the people whose lives were torn apart by these bad results, the shattered families and acrimonious court cases that followed, and the story behind the company that continues to stand by its testing and is still operating today.More episodes of Uncover are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/a9dREAtd

There are a reported 13 million full time influencers in the U.S. today. According to Goldman Sachs, the influencer economy is worth around $250-billion, a number expected to double by 2027. Despite its quick rise, the influencer economy remains a nascent industry that, in many ways, has no meaningful oversight or standard and practices. We're joined by Emily Hund, author of 'The Influencer Industry: the quest for authenticity on social media' to better understand one of our quickest growing cultural and economic sectors, and the need to professionalize the industry, before it's too late. In this episode, we refer to a previous installment of Front Burner, which you can find below:The Dark Side of Family Influencers Apple/SpotifyFor transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the mid 1980s, the Canadian government tasked a commission to investigate whether a considerable number of alleged Nazi war criminals settled in Canada after the Second World War.The Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals was headed by retired Quebec judge Jules Deschênes. It looked into this issue, but for decades, many of the commission’s findings were not made public.That includes a list of 900 names of alleged Nazi war criminals who lived in Canada, and the files and documents about them.Last week, Ottawa rejected the freedom of information request to get it released. Officials at Library and Archives Canada said that after a comprehensive review, they decided to withhold the list because it could cause harm to Canadian interests, and international relations.David Pugliese is the Ottawa Citizen’s defence reporter. He helps us understand who might be on that list, how so many suspected Nazis entered Canada after WWII, and why the Canadian government has not released the names.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades, conservatives worried about losing the fight for cultural relevancy. During his campaign, Donald Trump aggressively courted Gen Z and young millennial men — appearing on podcasts, streams and alongside influencers, discussing everything from combat sports to cocaine use. A PR campaign which many have credited, in part, for his election victory. Hasan Piker is a rare political streamer on the American left; on election day, his coverage garnered 7.5 million views overall. He joins the show for a discussion about why many young men have drifted rightward, and he addresses what that appeal is fundamentally about.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In Canada, we've spent a lot of time and money studying the prospect of high-speed rail, as enjoyed by many other countries — transit infrastructure that has transformed countries like Japan and France. This week, the federal government is expected to announce plans for a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City, which could finally make that prospect a reality.But are Canadians — and their politicians — ready to spend the billions of dollars it would take? Does this particular line even make sense? And even if the answers are yes… is Canada even capable of building this kind of megaproject anymore?Reece Martin — a transit planner and creator of the YouTube channel RMTransit — explains the boon high-speed rail has been around the world, and the reasons why it continues to elude us here in Canada.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Murray Sinclair — an Anishinaabe lawyer, judge, senator, and, most consequentially, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation commission — died last week at the age of 73. Sinclair helped bring to light the stories of thousands of Indigenous residential school survivors, and provided Canada with a roadmap towards reconciliation.Today we have a documentary featuring the voices of three people who knew Murray Sinclair well, about the personal lessons he taught them and how he transformed the country.We’ll hear from journalist and filmmaker Tanya Talaga; Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations; and Kim Murray, the Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The election of a new U.S. president reverberates around the world, but none of America's partners are as intertwined economically, politically and culturally as Canada. With respect to trade, the future of NATO, immigration, and the culture wars, both Canada and the United States are inextricably linked. Today, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta and CBC senior business reporter Peter Armstrong on the longstanding political relationship between Canada and the U.S., and what a second Trump presidency is likely to mean for the country's closest ally, Canada.

As the dust settles and Donald Trump celebrates a remarkable victory, we examine what went wrong for the Democrats this time around. How did they fail to speak to working class voters of all backgrounds? Should President Biden have left the race sooner? And where does the party go from here?After a long night of covering the election, Alex Shephard, senior editor at The New Republic, joins us for a post mortem.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For months, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris rallied voters with a message: "We're not going back."But as the election was finally called in the early hours of Wednesday morning, it's now clear that America does in fact want to go back.Back to Donald Trump.Keith Boag, longtime CBC Washington correspondent, joins us to break down how this happened, and what a second Trump presidency could hold.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s been an incredibly tight race between presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ahead of today's U.S. election. The winner is expected to be decided by razor-thin margins in seven battleground states: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.From understanding the path to victory, to the value of the blue wall states, to the final stretch of the campaigns, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter guides us through what to consider while watching the U.S election results come in.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With the U.S. election just a day away and a Canadian one that could be called very soon, we’re all spending a lot of time talking about polls.But how exactly do they work and what happens when they get it wrong? Last week, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe won another majority government for the Saskatchewan Party despite some polls beforehand showing the NDP in the lead. And famously, the polls highly underestimated Donald Trump’s voter base in both 2016 and 2020.So to better understand the ins and outs of the polling business and the challenges of adapting it to changing habits and politics, we’re talking to David Coletto, founder and CEO of Abacus Data.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump takes the style, tactics, and issues straight from the right-wing radio playbook. The only question now is: Where does it go from here?This is episode 6 — the final episode — of The Flamethrowers, the story of how radio energized and then radicalized a conservative base. Hosted by Justin Ling.Listen to the full series here.

In the Democratic presidential primaries in Michigan earlier this year, rather than voting for Joe Biden, more than 100,000 people marked “uncommitted” on their ballots. It was an anti-war protest, meant to send a message to Biden to make a permanent ceasefire happen in the war in Gaza — or risk losing those voters in November.That campaign spread nationally. And while Biden is no longer the Democratic candidate, the Uncommitted movement is still going — even though it has garnered significant controversy.Nowhere does this matter more than in Uncommitted’s home state of Michigan. Not just because it’s a key battleground where the election may be won on razor-thin margins, but also because Michigan’s significant Arab and Muslim communities are crucial voting blocs in the state. Our guest today, Rima Mohammad, is a Palestinian-American from Michigan, and a lifelong Democrat. She was also a delegate representing the Uncommitted movement at the Democratic National Convention. She tells us about the disillusionment many Arabs and Muslims are feeling with Kamala Harris and her campaign, and why she worries the Democrats may have reached a “point of no return” with many in her community.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As recently as 2022, billionaire Elon Musk was saying that Donald Trump should "hang up his hat & sail into the sunset." But in recent months, Musk has become one of the most influential supporters of Trump's campaign to regain the presidency, from appearances at rallies to millions of his own dollars in funding.What prompted his change of heart? And how much might it have to do with the relationship his companies like Tesla, SpaceX and StarLink have with the U.S. government — both in terms of contracts and investigations into regulatory breaches?Washington Post technology reporter Trisha Thadani explains why Musk is all in on Trump, and what he stands to gain from a second Trump presidency.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The 2024 U.S. presidential election is happening on Tuesday.With six days left, the New Republic's senior editor, Alex Shephard, is here to take the temperature of the race. What are presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris pitching in this last week of the campaign? Where are they focusing their efforts? What issues and revelations could make a difference in these final days of a race most pollsters say is too close to call?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As CEO of Magna International, a global leader in auto parts manufacturing, Frank Stronach was a big deal in the business world. In the ‘80s alone, the company’s sales grew twelvefold, to over a billion dollars annually.Stronach would go on to be praised by prime ministers and presidents. He received the Order of Canada, and even started his own political party in Austria. You can find his name on many landmarks near Aurora, Ontario, where he used to preside over Magna.But in June of this year Stronach was arrested on five sex crime charges. Police laid more in the following months, and by October, Stronach's charge sheet had grown to 18 criminal counts. The alleged offences date from 1977 to this year, and involve 13 women.  Stronach categorically denies all the allegations.Mark Kelley has been reporting on the Stronach case for the CBC’s Fifth Estate, and interviewed Stronach twice for the investigation. You can stream “Stronach: Power and Silence” now on YouTube.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As we approach the deadline set by dissenting members of Liberal caucus for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign, we look back at the last time there was a mutiny against a once popular Liberal Prime Minister.It’s the year 2002 and after successfully winning three majority governments, Jean Chrétien has several members of his party come out and urge him to resign, throwing their support behind his recently fired finance minister, Paul Martin. In the backroom, pulling the strings for Martin were political strategists, David Herle and Scott Reid.Herle and Reid join us to talk about how they did it, what’s changed about party politics since then and why taking Trudeau down might be much more difficult. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Right-wing radio finds their greatest foe in Barack Obama: As they try to take him down at every turn, they find the perfect formula to manufacture outrage.This is episode 5 of The Flamethrowers, the story of how radio energized and then radicalized a conservative base. Hosted by Justin Ling. More episodes are available here.

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This is the first episode of the four-part series from Understood, the anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Hosted by Thomas Leblanc. Listen to episode 2 here.Follow Understood here.

Justin Trudeau is facing arguably his biggest political crisis. Some two dozen of his own MPs have signed a letter calling on him to step down as leader of the Liberal Party. After a three-hour caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday, Trudeau said his party is "strong and united" — words echoed by other Liberals throughout the day.But are they? Political reporter and author Stephen Maher breaks down the growing tensions within the Liberal Party over Trudeau's leadership and just how numbered his days as party leader might be.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As you’re probably well aware, traffic in cities across Canada is mind-numbingly bad. The geolocation firm TomTom recently ranked Toronto as having the worst traffic in North America with Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal also in the top ten. And as the debates about how to fix it rage on, it’s only seeming to get worse. That issue is being brought into sharp relief in Ontario right now, where a new bill would force municipalities across the province to get permission before installing any new bike lanes.So here’s a conversation with Jennifer Keesmaat. She’s the former chief planner of Toronto and one of Canada’s most renowned voices on urban issues.We’re going to talk about the solutions to traffic that don’t work and the ones that do.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the last few months, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has appeared on shows with huge audiences of young men. He’s been doing interviews with people like influencer Logan Paul, comedian Theo Von, video game streamer Adin Ross…all people outside the usual political media, and all with millions of followers.These appearances are just part of a deluge of efforts to court Gen Z men, in what some have called the bro or frat vote in the upcoming U.S election.Polls show that an enormous gulf has opened up between young men and women this election season - with young men way more likely to support Donald Trump.The Guardian U.S.’ senior features writer Sam Wolfson on why and how young men have shifted to Trump, and how this shift to the right is part of a global trend.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The allegations from the RCMP and the federal government last week are nothing short of explosive: That agents of the Indian government had been involved in “widespread violence” against Canadians on Canadian soil.But these kinds of allegations aren’t just coming out of Canada. High-level agents within the Indian government have allegedly been linked to assassination attempts, surveillance and harassment in the US, Pakistan, Germany, the UK and Australia. Many of the targets are Sikh activists in the Indian diaspora, who had sought exile abroad.We’re joined by Greg Miller an investigative foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, and Gerry Shih, the Washington Post’s India bureau chief, to talk about what their reporting into India’s campaign of “transnational repression” has revealed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The terror attacks of September 11th have Americans turning the dial to talk radio, where a whole new generation of broadcasters are eager to capitalize on anxiety and fear.This is episode 4 of The Flamethrowers, the story of how radio energized and then radicalized a conservative base. Hosted by Justin Ling. More episodes are available here.

Tomorrow, British Columbians head to the polls in a provincial election that’s seen plenty of twists and turns.There was the collapse of the B.C. United party, formerly the B.C Liberal party, which really opened the door for the further rise of the B.C. Conservative Party, and its leader John Rustad.Rustad, who’s running to be premier of B.C., is in a tight race with sitting B.C. NDP premier David Eby. Controversial and conspiracy-laden comments by Rustad himself, and a number of his candidates have taken up a lot of oxygen.CBC’s B.C. provincial affairs reporter Katie Derosa joins host Jayme Poisson to sort through all the political drama.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Republicans have already filed over 100 lawsuits in US courts, in what critics say is an attempt to overturn the upcoming election. Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent with Mother Jones, brings us the latest on how the 2020 Stop the Steal movement shaped the 2024 election.He also talks about the fifteen years he’s spent reporting on this topic.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Thanksgiving long weekend ended with a bombshell from the RCMP and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Accusations that agents from the Indian government are linked to, and helped orchestrate criminal acts in Canada. These allegations include acts like murder and extortion against members of the country’s Sikh community.It’s the latest development in an ongoing row between Canada and India that started last year. Now as diplomats are expelled from both countries, the fallout has just begun.Meanwhile, there is a growing movement within the federal Liberal caucus to oust Trudeau as leader, involving a secret document being passed around. Catherine Cullen, CBC senior parliamentary reporter and host of CBC Radio’s The House, joins us to talk about how everything is playing out on Parliament Hill and beyond. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud is currently based in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza. He’s spent the last year reporting on Israel’s war against Hamas in the territory.Hani has told the stories of families displaced by the war, struggling to access food and water, and grieving relatives who have been killed, while living those hardships himself.One year into Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, more than 42,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities. It’s estimated that another 10,000 may be buried under the rubble.Today, father and reporter Hani Mahmoud shares his family’s story of surviving this past year.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A TV crew offers 12 ordinary people the chance to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. But there’s a catch. The audience knows everything but the contestants are kept in the dark. As the cameras roll, no questions are allowed. Split Screen: Thrill Seekers is a new 6 part series that exposes how a TV show left contestants struggling to trust what’s actually real.Host Nick van der Kolk (Love + Radio) asks: does reality TV only succeed when it exploits those involved? He talks to the set designers, crew, and the contestants themselves to learn what it took to permanently distort their sense of reality.Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted.More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/ztducTr-

Welcome to the world of conspiracy and paranoia. A horrifying act of domestic terrorism brings right wing radio some unwanted attention, which pushes one fan of the supernatural away from politics, while a pair of anti-government broadcasters dig their heels in.This is episode 3 of The Flamethrowers, the story of how radio energized and then radicalized a conservative base. This series was originally produced in 2021. Hosted by Justin Ling. More episodes are available here.

'The Apprentice' premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received an eight minute ovation. The film follows a young, awkward, ambitious Donald Trump during his bid for respect among New York City's elite, and his formative relationship with notorious NYC lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.But in the time since its Cannes debut, team Trump has unleashed a pressure campaign to keep the film from the public.Dan Bekerman is a producer of 'The Apprentice', and joins us for a discussion about the film's complicated journey to theatres, and the challenges of making art about powerful people.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada’s fertility rate just hit a record low: 1.3 babies per woman, placing us among some of the lowest birth rates globally. While discourse around declining birth rates has been dominated by the likes of Elon Musk and Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, it’s not just tech billionaires and social conservatives paying attention to this issue. Governments around the world have tried to enact policies to encourage their citizens to have more children, in most cases to no avail. So why is the world’s population shrinking and what can be done about it?Jennifer Sciubba, a political scientist and demographer from the Population Reference Bureau, joins us to talk about the myriad of factors behind the global trend and the dangers of politicizing the issue of reproduction. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Floridians are packing up and evacuating their homes as Hurricane Milton, one of the biggest hurricanes ever recorded, bears down on Tampa Bay. A major hurricane hasn't hit the region in more than 100 years, during which time the city has grown massively in population and built up significant residential developments along the waterfront — all as climate change has made hurricanes bigger, stronger and more frequent.Thomas Mantz, president and CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay, tells us what's happening on the ground in preparation for Wednesday night's anticipated landfall. Then, meteorologist and climate journalist Eric Holthaus explains why the Tampa area is uniquely vulnerable to a hurricane of this size, and the scale of what could happen in the days and weeks ahead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

NOTE: In yesterday’s episode, we promised to bring you a conversation with a man who’s spent the last year in Gaza, both living through and reporting on Israel’s military campaign there. We were logistically unable to bring you that today, but we will do so as soon as we possibly can.For decades, the Darién Gap, a jungle crossing straddling the Colombia and Panama border, was considered impossible to cross.Today, it’s a path that many migrants take, risking their lives, to try and make it to the United States. Eight hundred thousand people are expected to use it this year, nearly 200,000 of them are children.This is all happening at a time when immigration is among the most pressing issues for voters in the upcoming U.S election, with presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.The Atlantic’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Caitlin Dickerson recently took three trips to the Darién Gap over the course of five months.She spoke to host Jayme Poisson about her report, Seventy miles in hell, which focuses the experiences of those caught in the middle of this ongoing immigration debate.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

‘Time stopped on October 7th.’Jonathan Dekel-Chen was a longtime resident of Nir Oz, an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza border. Nearly a quarter of the residents there were either killed or taken hostage on October 7th, 2023, when members of Hamas and other armed groups killed around 1200 people, and took 251 Israelis and foreigners hostage.That set off Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, which has now killed an estimated 41,500 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.Jonathan’s son Sagui was taken hostage on October 7th, and he’s believed to still be in Gaza today. He speaks to host Jayme Poisson about the attack on his kibbutz, the challenges he’s faced in trying to get his son home, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the second episode of The Flamethrowers, host Justin Ling explores how President Ronald Reagan takes the shackles off right-wing radio and inaugurates a golden era of conservative politics. And Rush Limbaugh — almost by accident — becomes a kingmaker in the Republican party and changes radio forever.The Flamethrowers was originally produced in 2021. More episodes of The Flamethrowers are available here.

The war in Afghanistan is the longest in both Canadian and American history. The U.S.' withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, signaled not only the end of a 20-year war, but it also marked the re-introduction of a familiar era in the country's history: the return of the Taliban, and the widespread subjugation of women. Three years into Taliban rule, CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault brings us inside a secret mission, led by a group of Canadian MPs, to rescue Afghanistan's last female politicians, and bring them to safety in Canada.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.

China’s economy has changed drastically in the last four decades. When China started to open up to the world in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, it went from one of the world’s poorest countries, to one of the world’s fastest growing major economies.But now, that same economy is struggling. Home prices are in freefall, retail sales are slowing down, unemployment is up. Things have gotten so rough that last week the Chinese government announced a set of stimulus measures that are meant to give the economy a big boost.Jonathan Cheng is the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief. He walks us through what these economic challenges mean for China, its citizens, and the global economy.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 most American elections, the vice presidential debates are almost an afterthought — but this has not been a typical election. Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz are relative newcomers on the national stage, both making headlines since their selection, and this will likely be the only time they face off in a one-on-one debate.CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta breaks down the debate's biggest moments, and what it can tell us about the parties' strategies for the final month of the campaign.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 Friday, Lebanon-based militant group, Hezbollah, confirmed that their secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut. As a significant political and cultural leader in the region, the death of Nasrallah poses a number of questions. Where does this leave the “Axis of Resistance”, the Iran-led coalition of militias united against Israel, of which Hezbollah is a crucial part? Does this open the door for an Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon? And what does it all mean for the fate of the Palestinians as the war in Gaza rages on?Kareem Shaheen, the Middle East editor of New Lines Magazine, joins us to unpack the significance of Nasrallah’s death its potential ripple effects throughout the 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.

While the Liberals survived the first non-confidence vote tabled last week, the Conservatives are already trying again. The Bloc Quebecois have issued an ultimatum to the Liberals for their party’s support. The Prime Minister has accused Conservative MP Garnett Genuis of making a homophobic comment during question period. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh confronts Pierre Poilievre after repeated accusations of selling out. And Pierre Poilievre goes after Bell Canada and CTV News over the editing of a clip of him in a recent news item.CBC’s J.P. Tasker joins us from the Parliamentary bureau to go over a rollercoaster week in Canadian politics.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.

Award-winning reporter Justin Ling tracks the rise of right wing radio in the U.S. from fringe preachers and conspiracy peddlers of the 1930s to the political firestorm that rages today. Our story begins with Canadian priest Charles Coughlin — a populist crusader who winds up espousing conspiracy and hate. Right-wing radio flexes its muscle with a boycott of Polish Ham. And the Kennedy government almost wipes right-wing talk off the map. The Flamethrowers was originally produced in 2021. More episodes of The Flamethrowers are available here.

Over the next two years, baby boomers will pass a reported 1 trillion dollars down to their heirs, who, in most cases, are their millennial children. This intergenerational transfer of wealth is expected to be the largest in Canadian history. The nature of homeownership in Canada has changed many times over in the last half century, and these changes have contributed to widening gulfs in wealth and prosperity. Baby boomers came into their adult years through an economic golden age, in which many were able to invest in homeownership well before prices became prohibitive. And as many now enter older age, they are sitting on homes worth many times more than what they paid for them. Katrina Onstad is a freelance reporter and producer for the Globe and Mail’s tech business podcast, Lately. And she’s just written a cover story for Maclean’s about inheritance, and an incoming millennial windfall that she calls the ‘Jackpot generation.’

On Wednesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces released a video of their top commander telling troops on the northern border to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon. The mid-week Lebanese death toll, following Israel’s air strikes that began Monday, is more than 600 people. Hezbollah on Wednesday also shot a ballistic missile towards Tel Aviv for the first time, although it was intercepted and caused no injuries.The Israel-Hezbollah conflict is escalating in a serious way.Today, we’re speaking to Tasnim Chaaban. She is a reporter for L’Orient Today, Lebanon’s long-running English-language newspaper, and she and her family made a harrowing journey to Beirut this week from an area of southern Lebanon under heavy bombardment.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.

A recent rise in hateful online posts directed towards South Asian immigrants in Canada and cases of South Asians being harassed and attacked in public has many in the community raising the alarm.Jaspreet Dhaliwal, a recent international student turned post-graduate work permit holder, talks about a concerning encounter at a local park. Press Progress reporter, Rumneek Johal, takes us through more examples of hateful online content about South Asians and recent cases of real-life harassment.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.

B.C Premier David Eby says that, if re-elected, he would expand involuntary care for those with severe addiction and mental health issues. The announcement came just a few weeks after a couple of unprovoked, violent attacks in downtown Vancouver where one man died, and another was severely injured. Many Vancouverites were shaken by what happened, and Premier Eby cited the attacks when he spoke about the need for more involuntary care in the province.But many public health experts and civil liberties advocates question whether this is the best approach to dealing with public safety concerns and a drug poisoning crisis.Journalist and writer Anna Mehler Paperny has done a lot of reporting on Canada’s mental health care system. She helps us navigate the complex debate.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, telecomms giant Rogers Communications became a majority owner of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, putting them at the helm of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors. The historic deal ensures a huge chunk of Canada’s sports star power is now all in Rogers’ hands.It’s the latest in a series of major acquisitions after a dramatic family struggle left Edward Rogers at the the helm of the company his father founded. Today, Christine Dobby with Bloomberg Canada talks to guest host Catherine Cullen about the Succession-like manouvering that’s led to Rogers becoming an ever powerful force in Canadian business.

Wake up to what's going on in Canada and the world. Each morning, World Report will give you a 10-minute dose of the biggest news stories happening now. Our CBC News colleagues will tell you about the political actors trying to make change, the movements catching fire, and the cultural moments going viral. Start your day with the very latest.More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/nN5xp_ZK

This week in Lebanon, a series of attacks targeted personal communications devices — like pagers and walkie talkies — belonging to members of the political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah. At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Among the dead are at least two children.Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, referred to the attack as an ‘act of war’ and a ‘major terrorist operation.’ Israeli officials have said the country has entered a ‘new phase of the war.’ For a better picture on the ground in Beirut, as well as a sense of how the Israeli intelligence service managed to sabotage thousands of devices in Lebanon we’re joined by two journalists. Edmund Bower is in Beirut and has reported for The Guardian, The Times of London and the Atlantic. And Yossi Melman is the co-author of Spies Against Armageddon as well as numerous other books on Israeli intelligence. He’s also an analyst for the newspaper Haaretz.In this episode, we refer to a previous episode of Front Burner, which you can find below:What is Hezbollah? 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 November of 2023, R&B singer Cassie sent shockwaves through the hip hop world when she filed a lawsuit against her former boyfriend, producer and mega-mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. She accused him of years of abuse and sexual violence, and since then a further nine lawsuits have been filed along similar lines.This week, Diddy was arrested in New York City on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, the latter charge carries a potential life sentence. In the indictment, prosecutors accuse him of decades of abuse — sexual, physical and emotional. And they say he used his status as a titan in the industry — and head of the influential Bad Boy Records empire — to commit these crimes, and to cover them up.Vanity Fair staff writer Dan Adler breaks down what Diddy has been accused of, and how he built the power and connections that allegedly facilitated it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Not long ago it seemed like the carbon tax was a fait accompli in Canada. Two elections were fought where this was a major issue, and the Liberals came out on top in both of them.But now, things are suddenly looking very different. It’s not just Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives hammering the Liberals about “axing the tax,” a growing number of Canadians have negative views of it too. And last week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh — who has previously voted with the Liberals on their carbon pricing scheme — seemed to cast doubt on it too.So how did Canadians turn against the carbon tax, a scheme where most people actually get more money back than what they put in?Today we’re speaking to climate journalist Arno Kopecky about the life, and possible death, of Canada’s carbon tax.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Former U.S. president Donald Trump was golfing on his course in Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday afternoon when the Secret Service say they spotted the barrel of a gun in the bushes. It was what they believe to be the second potential attempt at assassinating Trump in just two months.The suspect, arrested after a brief pursuit, was Ryan Welsey Routh: a 58-year-old from North Carolina who's been interviewed in the past about trying to recruit Afghan fighters to join the war effort in Ukraine.Marin Cogan, a senior correspondent for Vox, walks us through what happened, what else we know about the suspect and the tinderbox of a highly polarized and heavily armed America.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The inclusion of ‘Russians at War’ in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival has been met with a firestorm of controversy and backlash, including criticism from the Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.The first person documentary follows Russian Canadian filmmaker, Anastasia Trofimova, as she embeds herself with a group of Russian soldiers fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine as they grow increasingly disillusioned with the battle. But after Freeland and other Ukrainian-Canadians spoke out against the film, accusing it of ‘whitewashing’ Russia’s role in the conflict, TVO, one of the films financial backers, announced it would no longer be screening the film. Anastasia Trofimova joins us to talk about the making of the film, the criticism it received and why she thought it was important to give a different perspective on the war in Ukraine.

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.” In November 2023, Nygard was found guilty of four counts of sexual assault in a Toronto court after being accused of attacking five women in his downtown Toronto office, and has now been sentenced to 11 years in prison.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 more episodes from the podcast Evil by Design at: https://link.chtbl.com/oKSjIkpB

During the presidential debate this week, Donald Trump once again talked about how he didn’t lose the 2020 election.It’s a false claim that many Americans believe. And some of those believers are getting ready to fight following what they think could be another stolen election in November.ProPublica’s Joshua Kaplan has been reporting on the American Patriots Three Percent, or AP3, and one of the largest active militia groups in the U.S. Despite a wider crackdown on paramilitary groups after January 6th, AP3 has so far managed to avoid much scrutiny.Joshua gives host Jayme Poisson an inside view of the militia group, perspective on how much of a threat they are, and what the stakes are ahead of the U.S election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, the Trudeau government announced they’ve brought in a new “special advisor” on economic growth: famed former central banker Mark Carney.The appointment has kicked the rumour mill into gear, because Carney’s name has often been floated as a potential successor to Justin Trudeau, if the beleaguered Liberal leader ever steps down.Whether or not there’s any grounding to that speculation, plenty of questions remain: will Carney’s appointment help or hurt the Liberals? And, as the party continues to flail, what’s in this for Carney?To dig into those questions we’re joined by Catherine Cullen, host of CBC Radio’s The House.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Before tonight, U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had never met in real life. But they took the stage in Philadelphia, Penn., last night for their first — and possibly only — televised debate of the campaign.Keith Boag, a former longtime Washington correspondent for CBC News, breaks down the biggest moments of the debate and what it could mean for the candidates' campaigns going forward.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A group of former international students with soon-to-be expired work permits in Brampton, Ontario are protesting a series of measures by the Canadian government meant to curb the number of temporary residents entering and staying in the country.We hear their stories and also from Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, talks about how growing anti-immigrant sentiment could be fuelling the government's actions and why linking migrants and international students to housing and jobs might not give the whole picture.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Tenet Media of being financed and influenced by a state-backed Russian news network.Two Russian employees of RT – the state broadcaster – are alleged of spending $10-million to secretly pay the company to spread pro-Russia propaganda.According to the indictment, the company never made it clear to its crew of commentators, some of whom are Canadian, about its ties to RT and the Russian government. Freelance reporter Justin Ling is here to explain what was in the indictment and what it says about Russian influence in the upcoming U.S. election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the street in Israel, demanding a return of all remaining hostages in the custody of Hamas. The demonstrations are the largest seen in the country since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. We take a closer look at the changing nature of public opinion currently driving these protests in Israel, and why calls for a ceasefire are complicated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu's war aims. Our guest Dahlia Scheindlin is a political analyst, pollster, author, and columnist for Haaretz and The Guardian based in Tel Aviv.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Since 2022, Jagmeet Singh's New Democrats have backed Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government with a confidence and supply agreement where the NDP would support the Liberals on confidence votes in exchange for the Liberals passing some of the NDP's policy priorities, like dental care and paid sick leave.That deal came to an end on Wednesday with an announcement from Singh, leaving the Liberals in a much more vulnerable position and opening up the possibility of an election as soon as this fall.Brian Platt, who covers Canadian politics for Bloomberg, explains the NDP's reasons for breaking up with the Liberals, why they've chosen to do it now, and why it could — but doesn't necessarily — mean an election well before September 2025.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As part of Premier Danielle Smith’s plan to dismantle the provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services, the first of four new replacement agencies began operating this week.Last month, Smith also talked about transferring some hospitals away from AHS to third-party health services. And with a government grant, a private company is developing a business case for a health services “campus” in Airdrie.So why does Smith want to divide up the health care system when other provinces are struggling to unify theirs? What role does she see for private companies in the system? And is her vision of “competition” in health a solution or threat for Canadian care?CBC Calgary producer and writer Jason Markusoff is back to explain.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The B.C. United Party has suspended its election campaign and encouraged supporters to join forces with the Conservative Party of B.C., with the aim of bringing together the right-of-centre vote ahead of next month's provincial election.This is a dramatic turn of events given that the two parties' leaders – Kevin Falcon of B.C. United, and John Rustad of the B.C. Conservative Party – were bitter rivals.Rob Shaw covers B.C. politics for CHEK news and Glacier Media. He explains the dramatic reversal, how it came to be, and what this shifting political landscape might mean for the upcoming election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

If you’ve ever been to Newfoundland, you know it’s a place where fog can envelop you so deeply, you don’t know where you’re going or where you came from. When two men, born in the same rural Newfoundland hospital on the same day, discover an unbelievable 52-year-old secret, it changes the way they see themselves forever. But this isn’t the end of the story. Because it turns out these men are not alone. A series of other close calls and near misses have begun to emerge, and not only at Come by Chance hospital. Come By Chance is a story about what it means to belong in a family — and how a twist of fate can upend the life you thought you knew. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/hdwP5zJ3

It's hard to overstate just how big a global phenomenon Oasis were at their peak in the mid '90s, but it wasn't just the music that made them compelling — it was the rock star antics and dramatic love-hate relationship between Liam and Noel Gallagher, the brothers who fronted the band and wrote the songs, respectively.After years of mini-breakups and potshots at each other in the press (and fistfights in real life), they disbanded seemingly for good in 2009. But now, after 15 years, they've announced they're getting back together for a run of shows in the U.K. and Ireland.Steven Hyden — culture writer at Uproxx and Oasis superfan — and Paolo Hewitt — music journalist and author of two books on the band, "Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis," and "Forever the People: Six Months on the Road With Oasis" — join guest host Jonathan Montpetit to explain why, when nostalgia reunion tours are a dime a dozen, this particular one is such a big deal.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Wednesday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was charged in France with a wide range of crimes related to illicit activity on the app. His detainment is part of an ongoing investigation by French authorities into the social media app. Telegram, with its more than 900 million users, often offers a window into what’s happening on the ground in countries where state censorship is rampant. At the same time, it can be a haven for hate speech and criminality because of the app’s encryption and lack of content moderation.Durov’s arrest has already lit up a firestorm of debate on whether tech leaders are accountable for what happens on their platforms. Tech journalist Chris Stokel-Walker looks at what Telegram has come to represent, the scrutiny of its founder, and what this case might tell us about the limits of free speech online.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Robert Land Academy is a “military-style” school in Wellandport, Ontario. Since it opened in the 1970s, it’s used military-like structure and uniforms in a bid to mould struggling boys into confident, capable citizens.But last week, The Walrus contributing writer Rachel Browne published a piece with former students' allegations that they experienced violence, sexual abuse and racism at the school. The school maintains it has a zero-tolerance policy regarding corporal punishment.Today, Browne details the promise of Robert Land Academy, the allegations of overlooking abuse she heard from students, and takes a big picture look at how parents struggling for help with their kids has led to a booming ‘troubled teen industry’ in North America.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Liberal ministers are hunkered down in Halifax right now for their annual end-of-summer cabinet retreat. It’s a chance for the party to get together and set the agenda ahead of the fall session of parliament. But this year, a shadow hangs over the retreat, as the party contends with dismal polling numbers, calls for leader Justin Trudeau to step down, and the looming reality of a general election that’s at best a year away.Today, JP Tasker, a senior reporter with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau, speaks to us about how the Liberals are trying to reverse their fortunes, the changes people are calling for from inside the party, and whether or not they’ve got enough time to turn things around.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.

Earlier this month, Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe warned the provincial and federal governments that his city was facing a public transit funding crisis. He says that at this rate, the city won’t have enough money to run the light rail lines currently under construction.From Metro Vancouver to Toronto, we’re seeing similar issues in major cities across Canada.These cities are dealing with what planning experts call a “transit death spiral”. When ridership drops, they can’t keep up with the costs of the current system that commuters rely on, let alone the big projects that could attract new riders.David Cooper is the founder and principal of the Canadian transportation planning firm, Leading Mobility. He co-wrote a recent report on the state of transit funding in Canada’s biggest cities.David talks to guest host Jonathan Montpetit about just how dire the situation is and what solutions are on the table.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.

Just one month ago, the Democrats were a deeply divided party, caught in a tailspin after President Joe Biden's disastrous performance in the first presidential debate. But in the wake of him dropping out and endorsing his vice president Kamala Harris, the party has found new optimism about its chances in the next election.All that excitement came to a head in Chicago this week at the Democratic National Convention. But excitement aside – is this still an uphill battle for the Democrats? And what can the convention tell us about the future Harris and her running mate Tim Walz have in store if they win? CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta shares his thoughts from the convention floor.

In politics, a “third rail” is an issue that’s so volatile, so dangerous, that politicians are afraid to touch it. The firm Abacus Data has just come out with a new poll that looks at the “third rails” of Canadian politics — the issues that would make people vote for or against a political party who promised that idea. And some of their findings — and the way they cut across the political spectrum — are actually pretty surprising.David Coletto, the founder, chair and CEO of Abacus Data, breaks down those findings and what they may mean about the state of the country.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A new federal political party, the Canadian Future Party, is pitching itself as a centrist alternative for voters disillusioned with the Conservatives and Liberals.It’s already announced candidates for two upcoming byelections.Front Burner host Jayme Poisson spoke with the party’s interim leader, Dominic Cardy, about why he believes voters are so dissatisfied with the major parties, how he says there’s a “drive towards more and more extremism” among the Liberals and Conservatives, and why he thinks centrism can satisfy Canadians looking for change.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After the events of Sept. 11, sweeping changes were made to U.S intelligence and counterrorism practices as part of the American-led 'war on terror'. Agencies like the CIA started focusing less on traditional forms of espionage, and became more of an organization centred on assassination and hunting non-state actors.As part of that broader effort, a plan was born: what if the CIA were able to conscript a white American man to infiltrate the inner workings of Al-Qaeda? Journalist Zach Dorfman spent years investigating one such deep cover operation — and tells us how the program reached the desk of then President George W Bush, and would chart the secretive intelligence agency on a course that would go on to define its future. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two and half years after Russia first invaded, Ukraine has launched what might be its boldest counterattack yet: a push into the Kursk region. It's the first military incursion across Russian borders since the Second World War, drawing Russian troops away from key battle zones in eastern Ukraine.Tim Mak, a Kyiv-based journalist who publishes the newsletter The Counteroffensive, explains why Ukraine is betting big on such a risky strategy, and whether it could change the course of this protracted war.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the last two weeks, Liberal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has said he's considering tightening Canada's temporary foreign worker program.This is amid criticism of its growing use and the conditions facing those who are in it.Since the Liberals first loosened the rules in response to the pandemic in 2021, the program has played a bigger part in our labour market, including with staff at large food and retail chains.Some Canadians believe that that’s suppressing wages and taking away jobs from young people. So how valid are those fears? And is the program also exploiting the migrant workers themselves, who so often see their rights violated or ignored? Armine Yalnizyan is an economist, a columnist for the Toronto Star, and the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Israeli prisons have been making headlines in recent weeks, after far-right protesters stormed the gates of the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility to protest the arrest of nine soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner. The incident reportedly left the man in life-threatening condition, and it has led to a furious debate within Israeli society, with some defending the use of torture against Palestinian detainees.But the case is far from isolated, according to investigations by several media outlets, who in recent months have documented numerous incidents of abuse, medical neglect and deaths in Israeli prisons.Now, a new report by the Jerusalem-based human rights group B’Tselem goes further, accusing the Israeli government of turning its prisons into a “network of torture camps” in the wake of October 7th. B’Tselem interviewed 55 former detainees, the vast majority of whom had not been charged with a crime.Today, B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak, speaks to us about their findings.You can read the report, Welcome to Hell, here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The arrest of a father and son north of Toronto accused of being in the late stages of planning an attack for the benefit of the Islamic State. A canceled stop in Vienna on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour after the threat of an attack with the main suspect allegedly inspired by ISIS. A deadly attack in March on a Moscow theatre leaving over 100 dead, allegedly committed by members of an ISIS affiliate. While the Sunni Muslim militant organization hasn’t been in the headlines regularly since 2018, and was actually declared defeated by former U.S President Donald Trump in 2019, it appears to be having a resurgence. Clara Broekaert, research fellow at The Soufan Center, takes us through what ISIS has been up to in recent years and why they are a growing threat again.

It’s been a year since Meta banned Canadian news on platforms including Facebook and Instagram, punching a significant hole in how audiences engage with outlets online.  At the same time, the continued descent of the outlets’ revenues has meant mass layoffs and closures, and the rise of news deserts around the country. Today, two journalists weigh in on whether Ottawa should further intervene and increase its financial support of news media, or whether it should heed worries about conflicts of interest and let hemorrhaging outlets fail. Justin Ling is a contributing columnist for the Toronto Star and the author of Bug-eyed and Shameless on Substack. Paul Wells is also on Substack, and spent decades writing for publications including Macleans and the National Post.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

ChatGPT took the world by storm when it launched in November of 2022, prompting massive investment in generative AI technology as tech companies rushed to capitalize on the hype. But nearly two years and billions of dollars later, the technology seems to be plateauing — and it's still not profitable. After tech stocks took a hit in early August, concerns are growing in both the tech press and on Wall Street that generative AI may be a bubble, and that it may soon burst.Paris Marx — author of the newsletter Disconnect and host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us — has been warning about this for a long time. He explains why, and what these recurring hype cycles tell us about a tech industry increasingly focused on value for shareholders over good products for users.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Shortly before Vladimir Putin was re-elected for a fifth term as Russia’s president he eliminated his last possible rival for power, Alexei Navalny, who from all available evidence was murdered in an Arctic labour camp. The deaths of dozens of Putin's opponents, often in mysterious circumstances, have been a hallmark of his time in office. Tortoise’s Giles Whittell sets out to find out why so many of Putin’s enemies have met an early end.This is episode 1 of Putin's Murders from Tortoise. You can listen to episodes 2 and 3 wherever you get your podcasts by searching for The Slow Newscast.

Online rumours and disinformation surrounding the identity of the suspect in a mass stabbing incident that left three little girls dead in a British seaside town led to an explosion of anti-immigrant and anti-migrant riots throughout the U.K. The unrest was led by mostly white far-right groups.As sudden as the riots came, the festering of resentment towards immigrants and anti-migrant rhetoric has been circulating online and throughout British politics for years. Freelance journalist and regular commentator on the politics podcast ‘Oh God, What Now?’, Zoë Grünewald, joins us to talk about the political context of this past week’s violence and what figures like Nigel Farage and Elon Musk have had to do with it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The condo market in Greater Toronto, whether it’s resale or new, is struggling.According to a recent CIBC Economics study, sales have “have dived off a cliff” to their lowest level since the late 1990s. Some condos in Toronto are now sitting empty for six to seven months, despite an ongoing housing crisis in the country.John Pasalis has been looking into why this is happening. He’s the president of Realosophy, a realty brokerage in Toronto. He’ll talk to us about the road that led to this point…and what can be done about it.

By ideas, dollars and in personal connections, Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance is intimately tied to an amorphous ideological movement known as the “New Right.”Some of its major players, which include billionaires and tech elites, want to gut the US’ institutions and upend democracy in what they see as necessary, radical action to reverse the tyranny of liberalism. So what is the New Right? How far would JD Vance be willing to go to advance its ideas in the White House? Or do Vance’s allegiances lie elsewhere? Matthew Sitman is a writer based in New York City and co-host of the podcast Know Your Enemy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week’s boxing match between Italy’s Angela Carini and Algeria’s Imane Khelif lasted just 46 seconds. But it has ignited a firestorm online, and led to a slew of misinformation about Khelif’s sex and gender — leading commentators from Elon Musk to Donald Trump to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to allege that the International Olympic Committee is allowing a man to compete in women’s boxing.Those claims are not true. Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman, something both she and the IOC have been extremely clear about. But these debates around sex and who qualifies for women’s sports are nothing new. In fact, they’ve been going on for nearly a century. Today, we speak to Rose Eveleth, host of the new podcast Tested, from CBC and NPR, about the controversial 100-year history of sex testing in women’s sports, and the many complex questions this story raises.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Tested is a new podcast series from CBC and NPR that asks the question, who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. As the Olympics approach, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. To understand how we got here, we trace the surprising, 100-year history of sex testing. More episodes of Tested are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/xY7QrHco

Olympic FOMO is your daily Olympics recap, in 20 minutes or less hosted by longtime radio duo and media best friends Mark Strong and Jemeni. Together they provide a fresh perspective to the Olympic conversation as they chat with athletes, entertainers and celebrities to get their take on the Games. In this episode, Mark and Jem chat about how Simone Biles battles haters left and right and still manages to score gold, and how a Turkish sharp shooter went viral for his hitman vibes. Mark and Jem also talk with Soca queen and legend Alison Hinds about her favourite Olympic sport. And it continues to be ‘Summer time’ — with McIntosh taking home another gold on August 1st, her third medal of the Games. More episodes of Olympic FOMO are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/j5kfQhRc

Since US President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take over as the next Democratic nominee, the US election campaign has been awash in memes.Memes about coconut trees, weirdos, Brat and even intimate relationships with couches.  But as both U.S. and Canadian political parties are learning, the power of the internet is a double edged sword that can energize campaigns or severely backfire. So when do memes work? Why do they fall flat? And what is the risk of trying to manifest the internet in real life? Rebecca Jennings is a senior correspondent at Vox covering internet culture, and Elamin Abdelmahmoud is an author and the host of CBC’s Commotion.

On Tuesday, the leader of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Iran. The killing is widely believed to have been an Israeli strike, although Israel has not claimed responsibility. News of Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel announced it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon, which it said was in retaliation for a deadly attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights a few days before.Now, the two attacks — coupled with Hamas and Hezbollah’s ties to the Iranian government — are stoking fears that a broader regional war could be closer than ever.Today we’re speaking about all of this with Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, and the author of the book Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates at an unprecedented pace the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of talk about whether we’ll be tipped into a recession. Now, as rates have finally started to come down, a lot of people are struggling. Unemployment’s gone up, people are accumulating debt, and despite inflation cooling, everything still seems really expensive. So, it can start to feel like we’re in a recession. But most experts aren’t calling it one. So what is it? BMO Financial Group’s chief economist Doug Porter joins us to talk about the state of the Canadian economy and how to make sense of it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada's women's soccer team went into the 2024 Olympics with their title as defending gold medalists on the line — but they now find themselves mired in allegations of cheating after a team analyst was caught flying a drone over a New Zealand training session.Canada is certainly not the first soccer team to be caught spying on rivals' practices.But why would they try it at such a highly scrutinized tournament?And what could it mean for the future of the sport in Canada as allegations continue to emerge that this may be something Canada's national teams have been doing for years?James Sharman, host of the podcast Footy Prime, breaks it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This is the second episode in our two-part series on the past, present and future of the US-Israel ‘special relationship.’ In Part 2, we’re going to look at how that relationship affects Americans living in the US — sometimes in surprising ways. In this episode, we refer to a few previous episodes of Front Burner, which you can find here:The US and Israel’s ‘special relationship’ — Part 1 Apple / SpotifyAt the McGill encampment: Calls to divest from Israel Apple / SpotifyThe growing wave of campus protests Apple / SpotifyTwo Jewish parents on recent school attacks Apple / SpotifyFor transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It’s more important than ever to sort out what’s real, what’s relevant and what’s truly new — and Your World Tonight does exactly that every night, seven days a week, with correspondents around the world. Our colleagues at YWT set the bar on the daily news catch up. Every night, they offer context, analysis, surprise — all in about 25 minutes. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/FJTUitZQ

Jasper is a historic resort town in western Alberta's Rocky Mountains, surrounded by towering peaks and vibrant turquoise lakes. But this week, heartbreaking images are emerging from the town and the surrounding national park: buildings turned into charred rubble; trees scorched to the point that they look like matchsticks.Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis described a "wall of fire" that bore down on the town on Wednesday night, estimated to be up to 100 metres high, with firefighters powerless to stop it.CBC Edmonton reporter Travis McEwan spoke to host Jayme Poisson about how the fire got so destructive, the challenges of fighting it, and what's next for residents there.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a long-awaited and contentious speech to a special joint session of U.S. Congress. He had been invited by all four top congressional leaders — Democrat and Republican — to speak. But not everyone was happy about it. More than 80 Democratic lawmakers skipped the speech, and thousands of people protested outside the Capitol. Netanyahu’s visit comes at a moment when the US’s relationship with Israel, and support for the war in Gaza, are facing unprecedented scrutiny. So today we’ve got the first of a two-part series looking at the past, present and future of the ties that bind Israel and the United States.In part one, the history that built this relationship into what it is today.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Vincent Lam is a Canadian addictions doctor and award-winning author who's written a couple of op-eds in the Globe and Mail on the opioid crisis in recent months, and his most recent novel, On The Ravine, is about the subject. Over 44 thousand people in Canada have died since 2016. Some see safer supply, or the prescription of pharmaceutical-grade opioids to drug users, and supervised consumption sites as crucial parts of curbing this crisis. Lam talks to host Jayme Poisson about the backlash to those measures, and what he thinks is missing from the conversation about it.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After President Biden announced that he was stepping down from the 2024 presidential race, he and other prominent democrats threw their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. The former prosecutor and senator is no stranger to the campaign trail but hasn’t generally polled well…until now. Is this finally her moment? Vox senior politics reporter, Christian Paz, joins us to talk about Kamala’s track record as a prosecutor and politician, whether she has what it takes to take on Donald Trump and why everyone’s talking about coconuts all of a sudden.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After a disastrous debate performance in June, the chorus of questions and doubts have been steadily building — is Joe Biden really the man to beat Donald Trump in this Fall's American presidential election? Biden himself has finally answered: no, he's not. On Sunday, he announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election in November, and nominated his vice-president Kamala Harris in his stead.What's next for the Democrats, and what does it mean for an already chaotic election? Washington Post political reporter Patrick Svitek breaks it all down.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It was a Republican National Convention unlike any other in Milwaukee, Wis., this week, taking place just days after an assassination attempt on the party's now-official nominee for president, Donald Trump — an event that loomed large over the proceedings. But beyond that, the convention also offered a glimpse into what is rapidly solidifying as the party's new identity. In 2016, establishment Republicans may have been split on Trump, but at the 2024 RNC, it's clear that this is now the party of Trump, of MAGA — and now of Trump's newly announced running mate, J.D. Vance.CBC Washington correspondent Alexander Panetta joins us for his analysis on the convention, and what it tells us about where the party is headed from here.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nine months into the war, Gaza sees one of its deadliest weeks after Israeli air strikes hit several schools and camps throughout the strip and a ground offensive on Gaza City.One of the attacks was an air strike on an IDF-designated humanitarian safe zone in Al-Mawasi, targeting a busy tent camp and market where Israel says two top Hamas commanders were located. Freelance journalist Akram Al-Sattari was there as more than 90 people were killed and 300 were wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry.He takes us through the destruction, the difficult decisions Gazans are making to survive, and how people there are feeling as ceasefire stalks continue to stall.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This is a big year for national elections around the world. More than 80 countries have gone to the polls, or will before 2024 is over. The volley of elections comes as incumbents struggle to remain popular amid economic challenges, high migration rates and surging challengers.We speak with political scientist, author and commentator Ian Bremmer about what’s at stake with so many elections and what social and economic forces are driving change.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.

At this point, it's still unclear what motivated Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb a nearby roof with an AR-15-style rifle and attempt to shoot former U.S. president Donald Trump. But he is far from the first person to make an attempt on the life of an American president. From the high-profile assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy to attempted assassinations of Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt, acts of politically motivated murder — whether successful or otherwise — are often major turning points in the nation's history.Centre College associate professor Jonathon L. Earle walks us through the legacy of political violence in the United States, and what that history could teach us about what could happen next.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the wake of the apparent assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, we look at the potential for an event like this to ratchet up further political violence, and how pivotal this moment could be for a democracy already in crisis.Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp is our guest. His forthcoming book, The Reactionary Spirit, looks at global challenges to democracy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As the NATO summit wraps up in Washington, D.C., this week, Canada has finally committed to spending two per cent of its GDP on defense, as required by the treaty. But NATO is an alliance forged in a post-WWII world at the dawn of the Cold War. Is it still relevant in a modern, post-Soviet world? Or has Russia's increased aggression in recent years given the alliance a renewed purpose?Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, explains how NATO got to this point, what could be next, and Canada's role in it.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2022, a convoy of truckers angry with COVID-19 measures staged an 18-day blockade, shutting down a busy border crossing with the U.S. in Coutts, Alberta. It ended with the RCMP arresting 13 protesters and finding a stockpile of guns, ammunition and pipe bombs.Now, two men are standing trial for possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with their involvement with the blockade. The prosecution says the two men believed they were preparing for “war”.Bill Graveland with the Canadian Press has been covering it from the beginning and takes us through the details of the trial so far, and the lasting impact that the blockade has had on a tiny southern Albertan community.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The late Canadian author Alice Munro remains one of the best-known fiction writers in the English language. She won a Nobel prize for her work, and was celebrated for her intimate portrayals of the lives of women and girls. But for decades, Munro hid a dark secret: her husband had sexually abused her youngest daughter when she was a child, and Munro stuck by him — even after her daughter stopped speaking to her, and even after her husband was convicted of sexual assault.Now, Munro’s daughter, Andrea Robin Skinner, has published an explosive essay in the Toronto Star, detailing the abuse and the ways that her mother — and the rest of the family — kept silent about it. Today we’re going to unpack what all of this means with Zoe Whittall, a TV and fiction writer whose books include Wild Failure, The Best Kind of People, The Spectacular, and others.If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, and you’re looking for support, you can find a list of local sexual assault centres, crisis lines and other resources across Canada at https://endingviolencecanada.org/sexual-assault-centres-crisis-lines-and-support-services/. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Canadian men's soccer team is set to take on Lionel Messi and Argentina, the current holders of the World Cup and No.1 ranked team in the world, in the semi finals of the Copa America soccer tournament. The game is arguably the biggest match in Canadian soccer history.James Sharman is a longtime soccer journalist and host of The Footy Prime Podcast. He'll share how this marks the culmination of a years-long project which has taken the Canadian program from relative obscurity to legitimacy.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, in an exclusive interview with ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos, U.S. president Joe Biden insisted that only the “Lord Almighty” could get him to quit. But as calls for him to step down grow following a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, how long can he hold on — and what might it do to the Democratic party?CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter joins us to talk about what’s next for Biden, and if there is any way for his party to stanch the bleeding.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest ruling grants presidents the ability to break the law without fear of criminal prosecution as long as it counts as an “official” act. It’s the latest in a string of wide-ranging decisions, from abortion to corporate deregulation, that critics say are reshaping America.We take a look at some of those cases with University of Michigan law professor and co-host of Crooked Media’s Strict Scrutiny, Leah Litman, and break down what motivates this majority conservative court, and how these decisions will impact the lives of Americans now and for years to come.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After his centrist coalition suffered a humiliating loss to the far right in European elections early last month, French President Emanuelle Macron called snap elections for France’s own Parliament in hopes of pushing back.Instead, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally continued their momentum and won the first round of voting last Sunday.So will Macron’s election gamble backfire? Why are the far right surging? And what would it mean for Europe and the world if they took power in the final round of voting this weekend?Don Murray is a freelance journalist currently in Southern France. For years, he covered Europe for CBC as a reporter and documentary maker.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A landslide caused by a heap leach failure at the Eagle mine site in the Yukon has been called a “disaster” by some local residents.Hundreds of workers are currently laid-off and there’s a chance that it has leaked cyanide and/or other heavy metals into the river, endangering the nearby environment and wildlife. Meanwhile, Victoria Gold, the company that owns and operates the mine, is facing charges and their stock has tanked, raising concerns the mine could close for good.Cali McTavish and Julien Greene from CBC Whitehorse join us to talk about how the incident fits into a long, troubling history with mining in the Yukon. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A little over three years ago, a roaring, rapidly spreading wildfire burned through Lytton, a B.C. town of around 200 residents. It essentially burned to the ground. And even though at least $239 million dollars have been promised or poured into the recovery – rebuilding has been slow, and people are frustrated.CBC Vancouver reporter Yvette Brend just returned from Lytton. She tells us about the town’s delayed recovery, and how it might be a cautionary tale of climate disaster recovery.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It was the biggest gold discovery in history...until it wasn’t. In 1995, Canadian mining company Bre-X announced to the world it had found a significant amount of gold deep in the jungles of Indonesia. Stock prices soared as investors worldwide fought to stake their claim. But when Bre-X’s chief geologist mysteriously fell from a helicopter over the jungle, the story of the billion dollar discovery began to unravel. Nearly three decades later, no one has ever been held accountable. In the new podcast, The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam, host Suzanne Wilton takes you from the jungles of Indonesia to small town Alberta, Canada, to investigate what really happened and find out more about the man behind the biggest goldmine fraud of all time. Produced for the BBC World Service and CBC by BBC Scotland Productions. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Duo5eihh

It was déjà vu all over again in Atlanta, Ga., on Thursday night as Donald Trump and Joe Biden squared off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. Biden will be looking to secure a second term in November, while Trump will be looking to take the office back for a second term of his own. And indeed, much of the debate focused on rehashing both men's records in office — to varying degrees of veracity and coherence.The CBC's Washington correspondent Katie Simpson breaks down both candidates' performances, the debate's biggest moments, and what it could all mean for the campaign ahead.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

When Alex Cyr was growing up on Prince Edward Island in the early aughts, the capital Charlottetown was a pretty quaint and homogeneous place.But in 2024, the city looks very different. In the last few years, the provincial government has made it easier for immigrants to flock there – and they have, more than any other city in the country.The city is younger and more diverse, and it’s solved a lot of the problems caused by its aging workforce. But housing prices have gone up, and the healthcare system is stretched.These challenges that Charlottetown faces now are familiar to so many cities across the country. Journalist Alex Cyr wrote about the city’s immigration growth for Maclean’s. His piece is called: “How Charlottetown Became an Immigration Boom Town”.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The last time a Conservative won a federal vote in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, it was 1988. The Soviet Union was still together. Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister. The territory of Nunavut wouldn’t be created for more than a decade.But on Monday, in a by-election in the riding, the Conservatives took the Liberal stronghold riding back for the first time in over thirty years. Does this spell electoral doom for the Liberals? Where does the party go from here? And despite his insistence that he’ll stay on, can Justin Trudeau really remain the party leader? John Paul Tasker is a senior reporter with CBC’s parliamentary bureau.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada announced last week that it has added Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its list of terrorist organizations under the criminal code. It now joins the United States as the only Western countries to do so. Unlike most groups on Canada’s terror list, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an official arm of the Iranian government. The designation is something some Iranian Canadians and Conservative MPs have been calling for many years. So who are the IRGC? And, why now?Kaveh Shahrooz, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and activist, joins us to explain what the IRGC is and why he’s been pushing for this move.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After going down three games to zero against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final, the Edmonton Oilers won the next three games in a row to tie the series.It’s a feat that’s only been accomplished twice, and both times were in the 1940s.Can the Oilers complete one of the greatest comebacks in pro sports in game seven tonight?After a long cup drought for both Edmonton and Canada, what would the win mean for the city and the country?And what would a ring for Connor McDavid’s status among the best players ever?Daniel Nugent-Bowman is the Oilers reporter for the Athletic. Mark Connolly is the host of CBC’s Edmonton AM. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Calgarians are still rationing water more than two weeks after a catastrophic pipe break — and the city says they’ve got at least two more weeks to go before it’s fixed.There’s still much we don’t know about why this pipe broke down, but what experts do know is that other Canadian cities should be gearing up for similar crises. Huge amounts of their infrastructure — from roads to subway cars to schools and community centres — hasn’t been properly maintained for decades, and it’s nearing the end of its life span.Matti Siemiatycki, the Director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Simone and Malcolm Collins are pronatalists: they believe many countries are headed toward a catastrophe of shrinking population, and that we need to have more babies to save them. Other supporters of the movement include Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.By choosing embryos with the genetic traits they want, are they practicing eugenics?Is their push to boost babies in rich countries really different from racist conspiracy theories about immigrants?Jenny Kleeman is a journalist and broadcaster, as well as the author of books including The Price of Life: In Search of What We're Worth and Who Decides. She recently visited the Collins’ home in Pennsylvania.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

If price is one of your top reasons for why you haven’t bought an electric car, China is looking to solve that problem. Chinese consumers can buy high quality electric cars for as little as $10 -thousand USD and Chinese carmakers are looking to expand their reach globally.But American and European governments are hoping to put a stop to it with high tariffs to give local manufacturers a fighting chance. But is it too late?Steve LeVine, the author of The Powerhouse: America, China and The Great Battery War and editor of the Electric, joins us to talk about why China’s electric vehicle market is booming and what that could mean for western automakers.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On the weekend, more than 90 countries held a conference in Switzerland billed as a “peace summit” for Ukraine.But Russia was not in attendance. The summit failed to reach a consensus on a final statement. And the way forward on a peace process remains totally unclear, with Russia and Ukraine drawing intersecting red lines on territory and security.So after over two years of war, what do Ukrainians feel like the path is to ending it?How are they coping with mounting losses and strains on resources?And what would they – and Russia – be willing to sacrifice to finally reach peace?CBC’s Briar Stewart brings us the view from the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russia began a new offensive last month.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over the weekend, tens of thousands marched in the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against the Israeli government. This particular protest was calling for early elections and a hostage deal now. Demonstrations similar to the one over the weekend have been a regular occurrence across Israel for months now.Today on Front Burner, Amir Tibon on how representative these protests are of broader Israeli sentiment, and what that says about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power. He’s the diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz in Tel Aviv.For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2014, a U.S. brainwave scientist claimed he could increase people’s creativity and cure their traumas. And he got permission to experiment on Indigenous children in Canada, offering an all-expenses-paid trip to Victoria, B.C.But a decade later, some study participants say the testing they went through — which included staff attaching electrodes to their heads and being asked to talk about the most traumatic moments of their lives — wasn’t what they signed up for and may have left side-effects.We hear from CBC’s Geoff Leo about what his investigation turned up and why critics are demanding more accountability and transparency over how the study was approved in the first place.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

Everyone knows who Céline Dion is. You can’t forget her incredible power ballads, her iconic outfits at the Met Gala or her quirky conversations with journalists and fellow singers alike.But what fans didn’t know for years was Céline was suffering from stiff-person syndrome. It was causing her body to tense up and spasm, making it hard to use her famous vocal chords. She went public with the diagnosis a year and a half ago, and then stepped away from showbiz and the public eye.Now, she’s opening up about her story and how stiff-person syndrome has affected her life in a new documentary. Ahead of its release, we hear from CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault, who got an exclusive interview with Céline and tells us what she learned about Celine’s life and her plans to sing in the future.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

Over the past few months attacks that hit Jewish schools, community centres and synagogues have shaken Canada’s Jewish community.For some Jewish-Canadian parents, there is now a question of whether it’s safe to send their children to Jewish schools.“Right now, it's a bit fraught to be very Jewish out in the broader world,” says Kim Werker, a Jewish-Canadian mother with a 13-year-old son. We speak to Werker and another Jewish-Canadian mother about these concerns, how they’ve been coping and how challenging it has been to talk to their children about the war in Gaza and antisemitism in Canada.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

We dive into the wild story behind The Epoch Times, a fringe conservative newspaper turned right-wing propaganda machine with ties to a mysterious dissident Chinese meditation movement. What are its aims? How did it become one of the biggest pro-Trump ad spenders and a destination for the likes of Candace Owens and Conrad Black?And what will happen now that its CFO is charged in a $67-million money laundering scandal.NBC disinfo reporter Brandy Zadrozny explains.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

A new report accuses parliamentarians of aiding foreign governments to interfere in Canadian politics, which some national security experts say would amount to ‘traitors’ at the heart of our democracy.  Will we ever get the names of the MPs in question?How has it already created a chill between parliamentarians and their colleagues?And if the primary goal of interference is to destabilize Canada, is this report just another success for foreign actors?CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton returns to explain.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

An interest rate cut of a quarter of a percent might not sound like much. But as the first cut in four years following the COVID-19 pandemic and all the economic upheaval that followed, it's a big deal. And it could be the first of several in the months ahead.But what does that mean for you? How does that affect your ability to afford things like a mortgage, a car, groceries, or growing your business? And after a rocky couple of years, do people even have faith in the Bank of Canada's ability to keep things under control anymore?CBC senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong breaks it all down, including insights from an exclusive interview with BoC governor Tiff Macklem.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

Tent encampments have been around in Canada for a long time. But since the pandemic, the number of camps have grown drastically as Canadians struggle with soaring housing prices and homeless shelters often operating at full capacity.Meanwhile, cities have gotten more aggressive in removing these camps — claiming they’re lawless, unhealthy environments. So how did the city of Vancouver end up with a fully legal tent community in CRAB Park? Sarah Berman, an investigative journalist based in Vancouver, explains what the story of CRAB Park reveals about Canada’s war over encampments and the effects of cutting off these makeshift communities.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

It’s no secret the Liberal Party is Canada is unpopular. Poll after poll shows the Liberals between 15 to 20 points behind the Conservatives, led by a surging Pierre Poilievre.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t faring any better, hitting record low approval ratings after nearly ten years in power. Is it time to replace him? And if so, who can take over the sinking ship?David Herle, a partner at Rubicon Strategy and chief campaign strategist for the Liberals under Paul Martin, joins us to answer those questions and gives us his thoughts on the politicians whose names are floating around to take over the party.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.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this listener survey: https://forms.gle/JpaGc3RyiaYKqMmw6

Four years ago, George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His death sparked a massive movement in the U.S. and around the world as protestors passionately rallied against police violence and systemic racism. Not only that, but companies and politicians promised to enact change.But since that reckoning, has progress really been made? Or is there now a cultural backlash that’s cutting down progress? Washington Post journalist Tolu Olurunnipa, who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning book on Floyd’s life, joins us to talk about Floyd’s legacy.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced the province will pay at least $225 million to get beer and wine into corner stores over a year ahead of schedule. But why does the province need to pay at all, and why has Ford spent so much time and energy on this issue over his six years in power?Our Ontario provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley joins us to explain the massive payment, Ford’s political history with alcohol sales and how the new announcement may tie into rumours that an early election is on the horizon.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

A New York jury has found former U.S. president Donald Trump guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records to conceal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.This makes Trump the first American president to be found guilty of a felony.Just six months out from election day, voters are left with an unprecedented scenario in which a convicted felon could become the next President of the United States.Perry Stein is a justice reporter for the Washington Post, where she is also the co-author of the Trump Trials newsletter. She's here to talk about the conviction and what comes next for Trump and America. Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

Earlier this week, an Israeli airstrike that set off a huge blaze in a tent camp in Rafah killed dozens of Palestinians and prompted outrage around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “tragic mistake,” and promised a thorough investigation.His words echoed previous pledges of investigations and accountability, after past incidents involving the Israel Defense Forces that caused similar global outrage. But when Israel investigates itself, what happens? Who is held to account, and what kinds of changes are implemented?Today we’re speaking to Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, about the results of previous Israeli investigations, and whether he believes they are sufficient.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

You might be hearing some positive-sounding headlines about Canada's economy recently. Inflation is coming down, and we've (so far) managed to avoid the recession many were predicting following the pandemic. So why do so many Canadians still feel like they're struggling to get by?In a word: productivity. The Bank of Canada has called the country's economic productivity situation an "emergency," and economists say there's a direct link between productivity and standard of living.BMO chief economist Doug Porter explains.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

It’s been six years since Jaskirat Singh Sidhu crashed a truck into a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team — killing 16 people, injuring 13 others and forever changing the victims’ families.Sidhu, a former permanent resident of Canada, has spent years in prison. Now, he’s been ordered to be deported to India — which critics say is a systemic problem in our legal and immigration systems that leaves noncitizens facing a ‘double punishment.’The Narwhal’s Prairies Bureau Chief, Sharon J. Riley, joins us to discuss Sidhu’s case and how it's raising questions over fairness and justice, including whether Sidhu has faced enough punishment for his actions.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this audience survey.

As Alberta struggles to navigate several years of dry conditions in the province, its historic water license system has come under scrutiny. In short, whoever got water rights first has first dibs on the water today.One of the small towns that really benefits from this system is Magrath, established in 1899 by Mormon settlers from Utah and Idaho. But its senior water rights are becoming more contentious as other communities are forced to buy water amid an increasingly taxed supply.We hear from CBC Calgary reporter Joel Dryden, who visited the town and tells us what the water rights debate is like today and whether any changes to those rights are on the table.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out our audience survey.

Standing in the pouring rain, and drowned out by protest music, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood in front of 10 Downing street with an announcement: the British public would be heading to the polls for a snap election on July 4th. British Politics has been a whirlwind for the last decade, with several conservative governments, and the polarizing passage of Brexit. And after nearly 15 years in the political wilderness, the Labour Party looks primed to deliver a historic election victory. The BBC’s UK Political correspondent Rob Watson joins the show to discuss an election that stands to deliver change, however moderate, to the British public. Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this listener survey.

For months, Haiti has been ravaged by out-of-control gangs, especially in the country’s capital of Port-au-Prince. But international forces are expected to arrive any day now, led by Kenya.Getting in and out of Haiti is dangerous — and for many, impossible. But CBC’s Paul Hunter managed to go inside the gang-controlled capital and tells us what life is like for Haitians struggling to escape the brutal conditions and how they feel about the looming international intervention.Help us make Front Burner even better by filling out this listener survey.

Red Lobster used to be one of the biggest names in the world of casual dining — but now the restaurant chain is on the brink of collapse as it files for bankruptcy protection. Was its famous "endless shrimp" promotion really too much for the restaurant to handle? Or is this more about the business decisions of a private equity firm and a major Thai seafood company?Business Insider senior correspondent Emily Stewart takes us through the story of Red Lobster's years-long fall from glory — and how it joins a club of other businesses knocked out by private equity.

The International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor is requesting arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister. Officials on both sides are being accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity — claims they strongly deny and argue benefit their enemies.Could these requests make a difference in the war? And what goes into building a war crimes case at the ICC? Michael Lynk, a former UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories, breaks down what comes next.

Europe has a reputation as a place that is generally ahead of the curve on things like social housing. So it might surprise some Canadians to learn that much of the EU is well into the throes of a full-blown housing affordability crisis — and the general patterns bear a striking resemblance to our own.Senior Politico reporter Aitor Hernandez-Morales explains just how bad things are getting, and what we might learn from how it's unfolding.

How did Narendra Modi, the son of a humble tea seller rise up the political ranks to become one of the most powerful leaders India has ever seen? And did bloody religious riots damage his political future, or turbocharge it? This is episode 1 of Modi's India: Understood. Hosted by Salimah Shivji.More episodes are available here.

OpenAI is showing off the latest version of its ChatGPT software in a new set of promotional videos, sounding almost human in the way it talks to users, inviting all sorts of sci-fi comparisons. But AI chatbots are already here, using large language models to simulate human speech, emotion — and even relationships.As this technology goes increasingly mainstream, what will it mean for our "real life" relationships? Can you actually have a meaningful relationship with a computer program? And if you can… is that something you want to trust a tech company with? Philosophy instructor Jill Fellows tackles the big questions about the future of AI companions.

CBC’s chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, returns to explain the latest dust-ups in Ottawa.Will the tax changes the Liberals are promising impact only Canada’s richest?Why is a fight over public service workers returning to the office three days a week leading to threats about government services?And why are the NDP accusing the Conservatives of attacking women’s reproductive health?

The Women's National Basketball Association has been around for 30 years now, but has long struggled to stand out in an increasingly busy marketplace. The league has also struggled with viewership, and pay equity. But they may have finally found a star transformative enough to break out of the pack. Her name? Caitlin Clark. Just before Clark's professional debut with the Indiana Fever, CBC's Shireen Ahmed joins the show to discuss the WNBA's talismanic star, what some are referring to as a 'golden age' for women's basketball, and Canada's role in it all.

Eurovision might best be described as “the Olympics meets American Idol”: a singing contest where countries face off for the number one spot in musical glory. It’s incredibly campy, silly, and mostly very fun.But this year’s Eurovision — which wrapped on the weekend — was dogged by controversy, as organizers faced protests for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing war in Gaza.The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, insists the contest is “non-political”. But our guest today argues that geo-political ideals and tensions have coursed through this competition since its inception in 1956.Tess Megginson — a PhD candidate studying central and eastern European history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — explains.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.

There were scenes of celebration in Gaza last Monday, as word spread that Hamas had accepted the terms of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.But the same day, Israel rejected the deal. Its military has since ordered more evacuations and pushed further into Rafah, considered a last refuge for over 1 million Gazans displaced by the war.  So what would it take for Israel to agree to a ceasefire? If it wants the safety of hostages, why didn’t it take a deal to release them? And what could the human cost of this last push for Israel’s “total victory” be? Julian Borger is the Guardian's world affairs editor.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.

Whether it’s a complex network of fake online designer shops set up to get your credit card details, a scammer impersonating your bank’s fraud department to get more personal information, or a simple “How are you today?” text that might lead to asking you to invest in a crypto scheme…scams are on the rise. And they are getting more sophisticated.Today on the show, David Reevely, who covers cybersecurity for The Logic, on the evolution of scamming and what you can do to guard against 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.

On Friday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre published an op-ed criticizing Canadian businesses’ use of lobbyists. He’s also called out the Liberals for high-priced fundraisers and "undue handouts” to the business lobby.But since Poilievre became leader, dozens of federal lobbyists have also paid to attend the roughly 50 private fundraising events he’s spoken at.So despite all the critiques of big money and lobbying in politics, why do they still seem to be everywhere? How has lobbying shifted power in our democracy? And if parties are concerned, why haven’t any of them made bigger efforts to reform it? Duff Conacher has been pushing for MPs to close lobbying loopholes for almost three decades. He’s a co-founder of Democracy Watch, a non-profit advocating for government accountability. 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 June of 2023, Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., after evening prayers. Three men have now been arrested and charged with his murder, and all three are affiliated with a gang with ties to Punjab. But sources close to the investigation believe these men were just hired guns, acting on orders from the top levels of the Indian government's intelligence service.CBC senior reporter Evan Dyer breaks down his exclusive reporting on this story and the increasingly blurring lines between organized crime and Indian foreign policy.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.