Episodios
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With the invasion of Ukraine nearing the 1000-day mark, there are questions about where Ukraine's defenders find themselves. Russia has been making a strong push to stake out more ground, and in Russian-occupied territory there a reports of its soldiers hunting civilians. Despite an offensive into Russia earlier this year, the situation seems to be dire.
And when America votes today on its next president, few countries will have as much at stake as Ukraine, which faces the possibility of being all but abandoned by America with a Trump victory. Meanwhile, would a Harris victory do anything more for Ukraine than the status quo? And is the presence of North Korean troops in Russia an indication this war is about to become more than a "regional" conflict?
GUEST: Dr. Balkan Devlen, Director of the Transatlantic Program and Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Adjunct professor at Carleton University, expert forecaster for Good Judgment Inc.
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It's been almost 30 years since a narrow vote in the 1995 referendum ended the last threat to Canadian unity. And while it's not as though there hasn't been idle talk since then from angry provinces and their citizens, there's never again been a serious question of a province seceding from Canada...
But history repeats, and as the 30th anniversary of the 1995 vote looms, a look at the underlying political conditions reveals some striking similarities—particularly if as expected the Conservatives decimate the Liberals in the next federal election. So is this idle speculation? Or is this a likely scenario that, amid all the political turmoil in Ottawa and around the world, nobody is paying enough attention to?
GUEST: Gerald Butts, vice chair of the Eurasia group and Director of the World Wildlife Fund; former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, writing about Quebec secession for The Walrus
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This week, with all of the wrappers and candy scattered around after Halloween, we're revisiting a episode from 2023 about Toronto's so-called trash bandits. Enjoy!
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One hundred years ago, raccoons were so rare in Toronto, that a mysterious creature rummaging in a garbage bin warranted a newspaper report. Today, raccoons are basically the city's mascot—literally, the creatures are on all sorts of Toronto memorabilia. The war Toronto waged on raccoons spanned decades, with no end of amusing skirmishes. But it's abundantly clear that it's over. The raccoons won, the people lost, and now we just try to protect our garbage and hope the mess isn't too bad.
This is how Toronto became the raccoon capital of the world—gradually, then suddenly.
GUEST: Amy Dempsey, senior writer, The Toronto Star
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This episode first aired on October 31, 2024 over at In This Economy?!, our sister show at the Frequency Podcast Network. The show helps Canadians understand the systems behind their money problems so they can make informed decisions about their personal finances. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a follow!
Many of us, at one point or another, have thought about changing banks. But with those thoughts comes a little uncertainty. How much time will it take? How much money will it cost? Will it impact my borrowing power? Today we tackle everything you need to know about switching banks, so you can understand your options and make a sound decision.
GUEST: Rubina Ahmed-Haq, personal finance expert and multimedia journalist.
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Two weeks from today, Taylor Swift will land in Toronto for the first of six shows in the city on the Eras Tour's Canadian leg. In December she'll play three more shows in Vancouver. And when the Eras Tour comes to a city, it makes its presence felt in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars, tens of thousands of fans, security challenges, snarled traffic, price gouging and more.
So what happens when Swift lands in Canada? What should we expect? And exactly how did a teenage country singer out of Nashville become, quite literally, bigger than the Beatles? How did Taylor Swift take over the entire music industry? And will she ever give it back?
GUEST: Rob Sheffield, American music journalist, author of Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
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In 2002, Ryan James Wedding was a member of Team Canada at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Today, if you know where he is, the police will pay you $50,000. In the 22 years in between, he's alleged to have been a part of everything from trafficking and distribution thousands of kilos of cocaine to a series of contract killings in Ontario. How did an Olympic athlete come to this? It's a story police and reporters and still trying to untangle...
GUEST: Calvi Leon, reporter, The Toronto Star
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If anyone ever tries to tell you that your vote doesn't matter, you can tell them about this election. The final results of BC's vote took a week to calculate—and even then two ridings need judicial recounts. It was as close as an election can possibly be, and that means that the government it produces will be ... precarious, to say the least.
So why was it so close? Where was the election ultimately decided? Will David Eby's NDP actually be able to form a government? If they do ... how long can it possibly last, and what could it actually get done?
GUEST: Jen St. Denis, reporter, The Tyee
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One of the tools scientists have used in autism research has been lab mice, genetically engineered to display similar behavioural characteristics as some humans with autism. But the value of those experiments, has become the subject of fierce debate amongst neuroscientists.
It's also that debate that gets at the heart of what we do and don't understand about autism: Should we be trying to "cure" it by identifying its genetic causes? How? What exactly would that look like in practice? Where should we be focusing our research efforts, and why? As you might imagine, none of those answers are easy, or without contention...
GUEST: Celia Ford, PhD, neuroscience; Future Perfect fellow at Vox
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For our guest, it was a sandwich. For you it might be a box of cereal or a favourite candy bar. It doesn't matter what it is. What matters is that it makes you mad. There are plenty of signs that things are looking up in terms of affordability: Inflation is down and interest rates are declining fast—but somehow none of that is impacting how the economy makes Canadians feel.
How has consumer rage becoming the defining issue of today's political landscape? If it brings down one federal government, what happens to the next one if things don't magically get cheaper? Why do we feel the price of a candy bar more than all the numbers that tell us things are getting better? And how are smart politicians channeling that rage?
GUEST: Ira Wells, Toronto-based journalist writing in The Walrus
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This week, in honour of Halloween, we're revisiting an episode from 2023 about a quintessentially spooky topic: UFOs. Enjoy!
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Right now, Canada is working on a process to improve our tracking and reporting of sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects. In late May, NASA and the US Department of Defence help a joint public meeting, where it was revealed that the Five Eyes—an alliance of intelligence agencies including the US and Canada—held a private forum about the sightings, which have included, specifically, metallic orbs seen all over the world.
All of this could sounds like the opening of a blockbuster, or just a conspiracy theory. But it's neither. It's a serious attempt by some of the world's biggest military and intelligence agencies to figure out exactly what's going on in our skies, be it natural phenomena, secretive new aerospace technology or, yes, something out of this world...
GUEST: Daniel Otis, freelance journalist reporting on UFOs
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This episode first aired on October 23, 2024 over at In This Economy?!, our sister show at the Frequency Podcast Network. The show helps Canadians understand the systems behind their money problems so they can make informed decisions about their personal finances. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a follow!
You may have seen recent headlines about Canada's economy adding 47,000 new jobs in September and full-time employment seeing the largest gain in two years. These numbers sound positive, but do they tell the full story? What does this mean for people currently looking for work? And how does it help, or hinder, those who are currently employed but hoping for a raise or promotion?
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You've walked past them or through them. They're in every Canadian city and town. The result of the housing crisis colliding with the opioid crisis and slamming into a pandemic. And for all the reporting has been done on them, for all the politicization of the camps themselves and what they do to a neighbourhood, perhaps not much is understood about the people inside them. Who they are, how they got there, what they need to get back on their feet and where they might get it.
Today's episode, whatever you think of that encampment in your neighbourhood, is a chance to understand the phemomenon a little bit better.
GUEST: Brennan Doherty, reporting for The Local
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For years, advocates have been citing the damage open-net salmon farming does to the environment off the BC coast. And in recent years the government has agreed with them. But salmon farming is a key part of BC's identity, and economy. Now a deadline has manufacturers looking for ways to sustainably farm the lucrative fish, but many are skeptical there's a way to make the switch in time without going bankrupt.
What does the future hold for BC's salmon farming industry? What's so wrong with the industry's current practices? And is there a way to thread the needle and find a sustainable future that satisfies everyone?
GUEST: Shannon Waters, B.C. politics and environment reporter at The Narwhal
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Stop us if you've heard this one before: Liberal MPs are voicing concerns about Justin Trudeau's ability to lead the party in the next election, saying that he should step down for the good of the party. No, this isn't June. Or August. The difference this time is in the sheer numbers of them, and that they've apparently drafted a formal letter ahead of Wednesday's caucus meeting.
Will this be the shove that finally begins the exit process for the Liberal's longtime leader? If not, just how bad would the polls have to get? Does the party even have a mechanism to remove Trudeau without his consent? And if not, what would the next few months look like in Ottawa, as a leader attempts to govern without the support of some of his own party?
GUEST: Glen McGregor, Parliament Hill reporter
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With two weeks to go before America votes, it may seem that nothing at all can possibly move the polls. But what about a story about the size of a dead golfer's genitals? No? How about appearances on popular podcasts from Barstool to Call Her Daddy? Still nothing? Can I offer you some McDonald's served up by a candidate who refuses to promise to raise the minimum wage?
As the US election enters its final stages, all signs point to a nail-biter. But how accurate are polls at this stage anyway? Is there anything left out there that could actually swing this race? What should America, and the world, expect from these final weeks and the ones to follow?
GUEST: Aaron Rupar, political commentator, creator of Public Notice
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The stories of crimes committed by people out on bail are horrific. And they hit close to home. So of course they get outsized attention. But they're also perfect fuel for a political fire that has been burning hotter and hotter in Canada for years.
Bail reform is complicated. It's not as simple as locking up the "thugs" that commit these crimes. Nor is it as simple as ensuring nobody is held in custody before a guilty verdict. So...what is it, then? Let us explain.
GUEST: Nicole Myers, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Queens University, researcher focused on the Canadian bail system
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Two years ago, the host and creator of Island Crime, Laura Palmer, appeared on The Big Story to detail the case of a missing young woman named Amber Manthorne, from Port Alberni, BC. This week, the police held a press conference that explained the end of the mystery. Mostly.
Laura was there, and has all the details. Here's the end of the story.
You can listen to Island Crime right here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Amber's case is season four.
We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:
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This episode first aired on October 17, 2024 over at In This Economy?!, our sister show at the Frequency Podcast Network. The show helps Canadians understand the systems behind their money problems so they can make informed decisions about their personal finances. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a follow!
Credit card debt has been skyrocketing among many Canadians, basically since the pandemic began. And while it would be nice to be able to go without it, that's not a reality for many of us. So how do you sort through the hundreds of cards out there—and their various rewards, annual fees and interest rates—and choose one that actually works for you? We speak to Shannon Terrell, who's sifted through every card out there for NerdWallet, to find out how you can end up in a better financial place.
We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:
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At this point, so many facets of old science fiction have become reality, from AI to robots and gene editing technologies. But one classic sci-fi signifier of technological advancement has remained stubbornly elusive — where are all the flying cars?
As it turns out, they are out there. In fact, if you have the money, you can buy one right now. What you can do with that flying car, however, is another story. And what happens if you crash your flying car? That's where it gets really complicated.
GUEST: Jeff Wise, Science Journalist, writing in New York Magazine, host of Finding MH370
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We all watched in horror as America was pummelled by two massive storms in the span of ten days, the second of which gained intensity incredibly quickly before making landfall. Many experts have said this is the future of storms in the climate era—regardless of whether you believe climate change influences individual storms.
In Atlantic Canada, it's hurricane season now, and our meteorologists watched Helene and Milton closely, trying to determine if the factors that created two storms so close together and so destructive might apply to our own Eastern coast. So what did they learn from what Americans suffered through? How do you separate hyperbole and conspiracy from calm, rational science? And is Canada ready for the storms of the future, whatever they might look like?
GUEST: Chris Fogarty, Meteorologist, program manager at the Canadian Hurricane Center
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