The Big Story

Woodrow Wilson’s hidden stroke. Franklin Roosevelt’s hidden wheelchair. John F. Kennedy’s chronic back pain. There is a historical tendency to obscure the health problems of American presidents from public view. But justifiable question surrounding how far loyal aides and the White House will go to conceal the full picture of the president’s health – and the media’s role in uncovering it – are inc...

Finding a job is difficult for anyone right now, but especially for a certain sector. Young people are having difficulty finding work. In fact, the youth unemployment rate this summer has been up to nearly 15%. A new study is taking a look at the root causes and offering some possible solutions. Host of In This Economy!? Mike Eppel speaks to L.J. Valencia, one of the co-authors of the Desjardins r...

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his inner circle gathered in Toronto this week for a two day cabinet ‘planning forum’ to set priorities ahead of the Fall sitting of Parliament. At the strategy session, Canadians learned the upcoming budget will be focused on both austerity and investment, and more developments have been revealed in our trade talks with the Trump administration. Host Cormac Mac Swee...

Your social media feeds are probably littered with back to school pictures, kids smiling ear to ear. Unfortunately, while we all hope for a positive experience for the next generation, the sad reality is that our youth are facing issues that need attention now. The newly released Raising Canada report says more than 70 per cent of Canadian youth aged 12 to 17 experienced bullying in the last year...

The Alberta government has reversed its July order for schools to remove books and other materials that contain explicit sexual content. The pause came after several critics spoke out against the Edmonton Public school board's list of the more than 200 titles it planned on pulling from its library shelves. But Premier Danielle Smith and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides didn't seem to hit th...

Canada Post is the country's crown mail courier, but year after year, Canadians seem to be seeing less and less of their prominent blue, red and white logo. And the company itself seems to be seeing less green, too, so much so they've remained in a consistent deficit since 2017. Their latest data shows a record $407 million loss throughout the second quarter, and with its 55,000 employees carrying...

Despite weeks of whirlwind American diplomacy, Russia sent wave after wave of drones and missiles across Kyiv and other cities on Thursday. It was the fiercest attack on the Ukrainian capital since President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met two weeks ago in Alaska, and the clearest indication yet of the Kremlin’s resolve to continue its bombardment of Ukraine, leaving the two...

Here we go again. Trade talks between Canada and the US are back on following a lengthy pause between the two sides. Our Canada-US Trade Minister flew down to Washington this week to resume negotiations. Canada dropped many retaliatory tariffs in order to get everyone back to the bargaining table. So what now, and will Canada be able to achieve what other countries can’t on sectoral tariffs? Host...

Dozens of online influencers are using their platform to spread financial literacy, which continues to have a growing impact on younger generations looking to get into investing, saving and making more money. And although cybercriminals have been around for decades, they're capitalizing on social media users with the help of artificial intelligence in the form of deep fakes or fraudulent advertise...

On an unannounced trip to Ukraine over the weekend, Prime Minister Mark Carney hinted at the possibility that Canada could have a military presence in Ukraine as a part of a coalition to maintain a ceasefire if Ukraine and Russia can agree to one. Host Cormac Mac Sweeney speaks with Christian Leuprecht, professor at the Royal Military College and Editor of the Canadian Military Journal about wheth...

Basking in the sun, late patio nights and the sweetest of sleep-ins. The relaxed and unstructured schedule of summer vacation is glorious…but unfortunately it’s almost time to get back to reality. Whether it’s back to school or back to your work routine, when it comes to sleep, the time is now. Host Melanie Ng speaks with Alanna McGinn, CEO of Good Night Sleep Site, about the A to Zzz’s of sleep i...

Flight attendants at Air Canada are set to vote on a tentative contract starting next Wednesday after a 3 day strike left tens of thousands of travellers stranded. This labour dispute was VERY different from some of the other recent walk outs, drawing attention to Section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code, and potentially changing the landscape for unions in the years to come. Host Kris McCusker spe...

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is heading back to Parliament Hill after his by-election win in Alberta this week. The federal Conservative Leader won the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot with 80.4 per cent of the vote, a decisive victory that affirmed his support among rank-and-file party members and sets the stage for a showdown in the House of Commons opposite Prime Minister Mark Carney. Bu...

Canada is slowly starting to become desensitized to crime involving youth - not because it's no longer worrisome, but because it happens more often than not. Why are 13 year old's finding themselves at the centre of homicide investigations? Why are 17 year old's being held on remand and not picking out what post-secondary educational program they want to go into? Are the headlines telling a differ...

Amanda Carrasco lived through a childhood full of deep, complex trauma. She endured sexual abuse by her brother, her family was violently murdered and she was left to pick up the pieces. Instead of burying her pain, she did the opposite: Amanda sat face-to-face with her abuser and the man who killed her loved ones. Her goal? The pursuit of truth, accountability and a path to healing. Host Melanie...

Data centres are being used to power tech companies all around the world. In the U-S alone, there are more than 5-thousand facilities. And the facilities use up valuable resources, which could leave some communities without things like water – according to a new report. Host Kris McCusker speaks to Miguel Yanez-Barnuevo and Dan Bressette with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute about the...

Being a farmer in Canada isn't easy at the best of times, and there's a new big challenge ahead. This week, China announced a hefty tariff on our canola products, which happens to be this country's largest agricultural export. Billions of dollars are at stake - so how damaging could this be? Host of In This Economy?! Mike Eppel speaks with Mike von Massow, a professor in the Department of Food, Ag...

The West has long sought to make Vladimir Putin a pariah over the bloodshed in Ukraine. But the Russian leader will break out of international isolation and step foot on U.S. soil, welcomed by an American president eager to fulfill his promise of stopping the war. European leaders who held a virtual conference with Donald Trump earlier this week, say he agreed ceding land can only be negotiated by...

Air Canada is overhauling how travelers earn points and qualify for frequent flyer status in its Aeroplan loyalty program. The changes? Points will be based on dollars spent rather than distance flown. Spoiler alert? Jetsetters aren't too thrilled about what that means for the programs perks. Host Richard Southern speaks with travel, point, and personal finance expert Barry Choi about what the cha...

The numbers say it all — Canadians want flexibility when it comes to where they do their jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic opened the door to new possibilities and offered a different approach to work life balance. Fresh data from the Angus Reid Institute shows three in five Canadians would prefer to spend the majority of their time working from home, while 79 per cent say they want a schedule that allo...

https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/08/05/stay-out-of-the-woods-n-s-bans-activities-in-woods-amid-dry-spell/ We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us: Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca  Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Despite a long list of critical policy issues facing Washington today, the Jeffrey Epstein saga has dominated the national conversation for weeks, grinding the legislative business of Congress to a halt. Since Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in jail in 2019, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about his death and who was connected to him have swirled around right-wing media circles, fanned...

As we approach the end of the summer, how is the economy actually doing and what can we expect for the rest of 2025? What does the data tell us about the impact of tariffs and what's really going on for Canadian businesses and households? Host Mike Eppel speaks to Don Drummond, economist and Staufford-Dunning Fellow at Queen's University and fellow in residence at the C.D. Howe Institute. We love...

It started as an activity to release frustrations in the wake of the pandemic, and ended with an accomplishment that only three dozen Canadians can lay claim to. On July 26th and 27th, Toronto high school teacher Sam Garrison defeated the odds and made a solo swim across the English Channel. It was no easy task, as Sam faced hurdles that included jellyfish and oil tankers as he made the 58km swim....

If you've ever wondered what it's like to make money while travelling the world, you're not the only one. Digital nomadism is the kind of lifestyle that many dream of, and now more than ever, actually live, and that's thanks to the rise in remote work opportunities. You take your laptop with you from airport to train station to uber to bus, and you decide where and how you work, for whom and somet...