Front Burner

Who owns the Arctic? There are several countries who think they have a right to the North Pole or the rich territory around it. Russia has a military presence close by, and recently fired two missiles from the Arctic Ocean as a show of strength. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, has called the Arctic "the forefront of opportunity and abundance" for the United States. And Canada is among th...

Today on Front Burner, with the federal election expected to be called soon, Power & Politics host Vassy Kapelos joins us to talk about Justin Trudeau’s gamble on an interview with a U.S. comedian, Andrew Scheer’s position on gay marriage and abortion, and Maxime Bernier’s tweets about teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella was the first Jewish woman to serve on Canada’s Supreme Court, has an internationally-recognized legal legacy, and is the longest-serving judge on the bench. So why don’t more Canadian’s know who she is? Pulitzer prize-winning journalist David Shribman got a rare interview with the judge, as her time on the top bench winds down. Today on Front Burner,...

The Bloc Québécois was once a powerful federal political party, forming the official opposition in 1993 and holding around fifty seats in the House in the mid to late 2000's. But the last two elections have nearly wiped the Bloc from existence, and the party has had a revolving door of leaders. This year, Yves-François Blanchet took over the reins. Today on Front Burner, as part of our series on t...

This week, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $572 million US to the state of Oklahoma, in a landmark case that saw the court find the company liable for the state's opioid crisis. Johnson & Johnson says it will appeal the ruling. Purdue Pharma is also proposing to settle thousands of cases. These developments are the beginning of a far-reaching legal effort, in both the U.S and Canada, to hold...

Over the weekend, star NFL quarterback Andrew Luck retired at the prime age of 29, citing his many injuries as the reason. The past few years have seen revelations about the physical toll NFL players face, including CTE and other potential brain injuries. Today on Front Burner, Globe & Mail sports columnist Cathal Kelly joins us to discuss how this shock retirement might shape pro football, and wh...

On Monday, Canada pledged $15 million to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest. That's on top of the $26.5 million the G7 pledged at the conclusion of this weekend's gathering in France. But why are so many of these fires ablaze in the first place? Today on Front Burner, we talk to Jake Spring. He's a Reuters correspondent based in Brazil and the host of the Foreign Correspondence podcast who...

Anna Mehler Paperny first tried to kill herself when she was 24 years old, just as she was finding success as a journalist. In her new memoir, Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person, she talks unflinchingly about her experience with depression and tries to better understand the illness.

An army reservist from a town near Winnipeg is being investigated by the RCMP and the Canadian Military for suspected ties to a shadowy militant neo-Nazi group called “The Base.” Today, we’ll talk to VICE national security correspondent Ben Makuch and VICE senior reporter Mack Lamoureux about the tactics and inner workings of the group, including its similarities to al-Qaeda. We’ll also touch on t...

Elected on a campaign of "sunny ways" and "real change," the expectations were high for Justin Trudeau when he came into power in 2015. But after a series of scandals, the public perception of Canada's prime minister might be shifting ahead of the fall election. Today, we continue our series on the federal party leaders by speaking to CBC News political reporter Aaron Wherry. He has a new book out...

Last week, a gunman in a white SUV pulled up to a restaurant on a busy Toronto street in broad daylight and shot the restaurant's owner dead. Police are saying the fatal shooting was targeted. And according to the Toronto Star's crime reporter, the victim may have had links to the mob. Today on Front Burner, Peter Edwards shares his thoughts on the brazen drive-by shooting, the connection to anoth...

This week, Elections Canada is at the centre of a firestorm over what it classifies a partisan issue during the federal election campaign period. Today on Front Burner, Elections Canada spokesperson Natasha Gauthier explains why the agency may deem climate change a partisan issue. Katie Gibbs, executive director of the non-partisan, non-profit Evidence for Democracy also shares her perspective on...

In Canada and around the world, women who’ve been struck with a rare form of cancer are joining class action lawsuits against the manufacturer of the Biocell textured breast implant. Today, on Front Burner, CBC investigative journalist Valérie Ouellet explains how this particular breast implant flew under the radar for so long.

Kenora Ontario, a small city in the province’s northwest, is in the midst of a drug crisis. In an attempt to address the situation, the city has temporarily shut down the only homeless shelter in the area. Some see it as a positive move, others see NIMBYism. Today on Front Burner, TVO reporter Jon Thompson, helps us understand the roots of the city’s drugs crisis and how it’s affecting the local p...

A report from the Ethics Commissioner Wednesday said Justin Trudeau and his office used “troubling tactics” in the SNC-Lavalin case. The CBC’s Vassy Kapelos breaks down what it all means, two months before the election.

As the United Kingdom hurtles towards the October 31 Brexit deadline, newly-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson is playing hardball with the European Union, saying the UK is leaving deal or no deal. Today on Front Burner, CBC’s senior correspondent Susan Ormiston pops by to explain what could be next for Brexit.

Joining the neo-Nazi movement was a choice that Christian Piccolini says cost him his livelihood, his wife, and his sense of self. Following the mass shooting in El Paso, he speaks out about his former community, to warn people about the wide reach of white supremacist extremism around the world.

It was already a story mired in controversy, but with the apparent suicide of accused sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, the scandal has only deepened. Today, on Front Burner, we turn to Marc Fisher, senior editor at The Washington Post, to unpack the conspiracy theories that have erupted around Epstein’s death and what the latest developments mean for his victims.

Today on Front Burner, we sit down with the CBC’s Peter Armstrong to talk about the escalating U.S.-China trade war, and how it could affect the global financial market.

He's called, "the smiling Stephen Harper," and he's known for his knack of bringing people together. But beyond his dimples, what do you really know about Andrew Scheer? Today, with the federal election fast approaching, we talk to Maclean's Ottawa bureau chief, John Geddes about the leader of the Conservative Party. We'll get insight into how he became such a unifier (hint: his favourite book is...

Toni Morrison's literary and academic career was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her writing explored, celebrated, questioned and critiqued the space of black lives in America, up until her death on Monday at the age of 88. Today on Front Burner, we speak with Halifax's former poet laureate El Jones and former poet laureate of Canada George Elliot...

This past weekend saw two back-to-back mass shootings in the United States: one in El Paso, Texas, and one in Dayton, Ohio. At least thirty-one people are dead. Dozens more injured. Today on Front Burner, we talk to writer Jennifer Mascia about gun violence and reform in America. She’s a reporter with The Trace, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to covering gun-related news.

In nine months, Front Burner has covered a lot of stories. But we haven’t had time to follow up on all of them. Today, we revisit a handful, including the mystery illness that befell Canadian diplomats in Cuba, the law in Quebec to outlaw religious garb for public servants, and the odyssey of a Syrian refugee who moved to Canada after living in an airport for months. Plus, how a country rap oddity...

Saudi Arabia's "Neom" is a planned futuristic city-state in the desert. The project is said to include flying cars, gene editing, an island of robot dinosaurs, an artificial moon — and the most comprehensive surveillance state on earth. The Wall Street Journal has viewed planning documents that provide unprecedented access into the Gulf nation's plan to turn a formerly barren strip of desert into...

A massive data breach at Capital One has led to the arrest of a Seattle-based woman who allegedly stole the private information of more than 100 million people, including 6 million Canadians. Today on Front Burner, Greg Otto, Editor-in-Chief of CyberScoop, brings us the story of accused hacker Paige Thompson and explains how the crime was done and why experts say a trail of clues was left for the...