The Big Story

This week last year, Americans made the choice of bringing Donald Trump back into the White House, electing him as the 47th President of the United States. While Trump knew what he had his eyes on, it's hard to say the rest of world adequately braced for impact. Under the guise of prioritizing the American economy, Trump came out swinging at several targets, including Democrats, Canada, undocument...

The annual Hunger Count report has been released, and the startling numbers have set yet another record. In fact, the number of people using food banks to fill the fridge has doubled since 2019. The struggles of many Canadians to handle the cost of living crisis has led to calls for the federal government to take action. Host Cormac Mac Sweeney speaks with Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Cana...

Nothing beats a good cup of coffee, but nothing also beats a good night's sleep. With the switch back to standard time right around the corner, our bodies will once again feel the disorientation of the 1 hour shift. The sun will rise and set earlier, and maybe it's time we move with the light instead of trying to ignore nature's clock. Host Maria Kestane speaks to Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, a professo...

The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, announced the fourth policy interest rate cut this year, down by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%, signaling a steadiness in inflation, while simultaneously warning of a weakening economy. It comes in the midst of a volatile U.S.-Canada trade war, and ahead of a later-than-usual federal budget, with a projected deficit of close to $70 billi...

It was a quick post-and-delete from the Ontario government, after Premier Ford's $75M anti-tariff commercial broadcasted on American televisions, pissed off President Trump, and received some harsh penalties in return. Trump said the content in the ad was fake, and went as far as suspending all trade negotiations with Canada as a result. A few days later, it seemed a new fury arose from the White...

Alternative medicine is nothing new. Although it can be risky and sometimes harmful, people with chronic pain or debilitating health complications are usually open to seeing what other treatment options can ease their pain - even if it's illegal and very much inaccessible. A recent North American study found that one supervised dose of lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD - commonly known as acid - e...

Getaway motorbikes, 7 minutes, and a crane positioned to an open balcony of the Louvre. The scene of a carefully orchestrated jewellery heist at the world's most famous museum in France, after a group of thieves stole about $143 million Cdn worth of crown jewels and fled the scene. A pair of suspects have since been arrested, one of them at the Charles de Gaulle Airport as he prepared to allegedly...

Gold is having a moment - trading above $4,000 just a few months after hitting $3,000. It's up by more than 50%t this year, on track for its best year since 1979. And volatility seems to be ticking higher too. Gold has long been viewed as a safe haven in times of uncertainty - and let's face it, there's a lot of that right now. But could that role be changing, and does crypto currency become a fac...

No one likes checking their credit score and seeing a hit to the rating - even the Canadian government. Credit rating agencies are bracing for the upcoming November 4th federal budget, and with a lack of fiscal updates since the last federal budget under the Trudeau government, economists aren't quite sure what they should expect when it comes to the deficit. So just how deep could the red ink run...

Top Trump administration officials have been in Israel this week to shore up a fragile and uncertain ceasefire in Gaza, after recent flare-ups of violence punctured the brief calm, with each side accusing the other of violations. The truce faced fresh challenges this week after a bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank passed a symbolic vote in Israel’s parliament, revealing cracks between fact...

A note to our listeners, this episode discusses sexual assault. Please take care. Prince Andrew’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein thrust the British royal family into crisis again this week, with the release of a harrowing posthumous memoir by one of Epstein’s main accusers.   For years, Virgina Giuffre has accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault, an allegation he denies. But her bo...

The Toronto Blue Jays have punched their ticket to the World Series, a feeling the team - and Toronto at large - haven't felt for 32 years. But it isn't just Southern Ontario that's feeling the pride of the Boys of Summer. Fans from all across Canada are beaming for what's now being called 'Canada's Team', as the team gears up to host the Los Angeles Dodgers on home turf in just a few days time. B...

More than 750,000 Alberta students have been spending the better part of October not in a classroom, but rather left to their own devices as a historic province-wide teachers strike heads into a third week. Although higher wages and increased staffing are among the key sticking points for the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), the thousands of educational workers currently on the picket lines are...

It won't be a quiet four-month quest for Bad Bunny to return to the Super Bowl stage, this time as the halftime show headliner. U.S. President Donald Trump, his affiliates and America's Republican diaspora have gone full-fledge meltdown over the global superstar being tapped to perform on one of the world's biggest stages. They've even gone as far as attempting to create their version of an 'all A...

Almost a year after an avian flu outbreak was detected on an ostrich farm in rural British Columbia, the fate of the flock remains in the crosshairs of a culture war over public health policy. Plans to euthanize the remaining birds by Canadian authorities are on pause as the Supreme Court of Canada considers the case. The cull order catalyzed fierce protest by the farm owners and their hundreds of...

Canada's automotive sector continues to trot along the bumpy road, after auto giant Stellantis announced its plans to relocate Jeep production from the Brampton Assembly Plant to a location in Illinois. The Brampton plant has closed its doors in 2024 in preparation for the production of the new EV model, but that's also been paused after US President Trump's tariff announcement on the automotive s...

It’s been a year of change for the world's largest and most popular coffee house, including the shuttering of hundreds of its North American retail stores. But is that a sign of trouble? Or is it an attempt by the new CEO, appointed last year, to turn inwards to its existing locations to revamp the stores they have already? Host Kris McCusker speaks to Mike Halen, the senior restaurant and foodser...

How much of your moral autonomy are you willing to sacrifice for convenience? Turning to an AI chatbot for help has become the new 'just search it up on the internet', but the robot's code is far more sophisticated and addicting than the results of a Google search. Answers become detailed, personalized and emotionally impactful, so much so that the load of our own mental rationale becomes lessened...

Hollywood is abuzz over the latest talent to hit the scene: Tilly Norwood. However, the talk isn’t centred around Tilly’s looks or acting skills, but rather who Tilly is and how it could affect the future of television and film. Tilly Norwood is a fully AI-generated actress, created by Eline Van der Velden, who is a comedian, actor, writer and CEO of AI production company Particle6. Eline says “I...

As Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and David Ortiz proclaimed “DAAAA YANKEES LOSE!”, Toronto Blue Jays fans celebrated as Canada’s team was crowned American League Division champs, beating out their New York rivals on Wednesday in Game 4. The massive series win now paves the way for the American League Championship Series, Seattle Mariners, in a best-of-seven series. This episode was recorded on Friday, bef...

Enjoy this special feed drop of The Making of Musk: Understood, from our friends at CBC Podcasts. 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-po...

Israel and Hamas edged closer this week to ending their devastating two-year war after agreeing on the initial terms of President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan. An exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners is expected this weekend, paving the way to an imminent ceasefire. But the initial agreement leaves crucial sticking points to be resolved in a future phase of negotiations – i...

It was another cheeky Oval Office media exchange between Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump, and yet another trip to Washington with no tariff deal in the books. Although the two world leaders praised the success of their second meeting, skepticism among Carney's voters - and the country at large - grows as months go by with no substantive movement on bi-lateral negotiations. Ho...

It’s been more than four months since Elon Musk stepped back from the Trump White House and his duties helming the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk’s chainsaw to federal spending is being acutely felt, amid a U.S. government shutdown that’s giving the Trump administration sway to once again slash critical jobs. Host Caryn Ceolin speaks to Jacob Silverman, author and host of the CBC po...

Instead of walking into their classrooms on Monday, some 51,000 Alberta teachers walked off the job, triggering the province's first teacher's strike in its history. It comes after more than a year of failed contract talks between the Alberta Teacher's Association (ATA) and the provincial government - including two rejected offers - with higher wages and increased staffing among the main sticking...