Front Burner

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. Orig...

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 t...

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 forw...

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 i...

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...

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...

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...

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 count...

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 pleade...

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 singl...

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 n...

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 i...

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 th...

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 lin...

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 implicat...

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 w...

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...

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...

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 u...

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,...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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 Ca...