Front Burner

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...

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 peopl...

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...

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...

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 presiden...

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 stre...

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 hi...

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 Demo...

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 rela...

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 r...

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 o...

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...

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 abo...

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 dow...

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 righ...

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 wha...

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 ha...

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 Dav...

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...

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 st...

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,...

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 +...