The Big Story

Ozy was a digital publisher that claimed to have an audience of tens of millions. Had you ever heard of them before last week? Me neither. A New York Times expose began a flood of reporting that showed us all just how little most of us understand about ad fraud, digital media and the ecosystem that drives this multi-billion-dollar industry. From absurd claims, to impersonations, paid traffic and m...

When Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all vanished for hours on Monday, it wasn't a nefarious plan. It was a mistake. But what it revealed about how much the world has come to depend on Mark Zuckerberg's collection of apps was plain: Millions of people and businesses around the world—and even one nation's government—were completely cut off.  What Facebook has built has become essential to the func...

Portpass was recommended to fans by the entity that owns two Calgary sports teams. They weren't alone. According to the company's estimates, more than 500,000 Canadians were using Portpass to show proof of their vaccination status. And then a local app developer got curious about what was under the hood of this supposedly secure application and started digging around. Now the police are investigat...

In the early days of the pandemic, a conspiracy theory claimed that the virus was intentionally released from a lab. It was seized upon by the worst people and drove racist scapegoating of Asian people around the world. And if that wasn't horrific enough, it also managed to poison the well for the investigations that must be done now. Not to prove that the virus was released on purpose—that's cons...

Private-sector union membership has declined significantly in recent decades, in part due to a vast pool of foreign labour that has left many domestic workers in constant fear of being outsourced. The stresses of the pandemic, and a historically high cost of living is putting the squeeze on North American low-wage workers, but as the current labour shortage worsens and companies become increasingl...

If they were, you probably wouldn't know it. Since millions of white-collar workers began working from home during the pandemic, the demand for 'Tattleware' has rapidly increased. What does this software do? How sophisticated is it? How invasive? Is it ethical? And do employees have any option other than to suck it up, or quit? As the office vs. remote battle continues, the amount of privacy worke...

It can be daunting, as a non-Indigenous Canadian to wrestle with the enormity of the crimes committed against Indigenous people by this country.  And when we're asked to reflect upon it, the guilt can be overwhelming. But the same guilt can stop us from taking action, from making progress and from delivering results instead of symbolic gestures. On Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconci...

Most Canadian provinces now have or are planning to implement a vaccine passport. But who will have to ask for those passports? Check their authenticity? Deny service to those who refuse to show one? It'll be the same people who have already spent the pandemic bearing the brunt of anger over public health restrictions: Frontline service and hospitality industry workers who didn't sign up to enforc...

It's wonderful that two Canadians caught in the middle of geopolitics are home and safe after more than 1,000 days detained in China. It's not great that the circumstances of their return seem to imply that hostage diplomacy works. How should Canada be dealing with China? Do we have any power in this situation? Was this a win, or a capitulation? And what's to stop it from happening again the next...

The app is called Staffy and it was created to help the hospitality industry fill gaps in scheduling when a server or cook couldn't work. But when the pandemic began and shortages rose at long-term care homes and hospitals, Staffy pivoted to focus on demand. Now nurses and care workers and more are taking day gigs through the app, with no benefits, insurance, sick days or anything else. Is it ethi...

A month ago, they needed a miracle. Now they're in the final stages of a playoff push—and no team in their right mind wants to face the Blue Jays in the post-season. How did Toronto turn it all around? What will it take to bring it home this final week? And what does a thrilling September for baseball in Canada mean to a country that just trudged through a joyless election and is facing a fourth p...

Western has always been known as a party school, and with that comes a culture that can lead to sexual violence. But this year's freshman orientation week ("O-week" as the school calls it) was horrifying even by that standard. Multiple accounts of sexual assault and violence are being investigated both by the school and the police. A fed-up student body led a 12,000-person walk out. And the admini...

The province is suffering from an absolutely devastating fourth wave of Covid. Premier Jason Kenney was absent until it was too late to prevent the worst of it. Now, as hospitals blow past their capacity, Kenney is shuffling his cabinet and hoping vaccine passports can help right the ship. How did it come to this? What could have been done to prevent it? And will this cost the premier his job? GUE...

A Liberal minority government. Likely within a few seats of where we started, 37 days ago. Did this election matter? What did it reveal about Canada's political mood? About the health of our electoral system? And about the future of the two leaders who went head to head for the past six weeks? Turns out, more than you might think. GUEST: David Moscrop We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as...

This was the shortest possible election Canada could have had — so why did it feel so long? Maybe because nobody really wanted it. As Canadians (at least those who haven't voted in advance) head to the polls today, we offer you a rapid recap of the highs and (mostly) lows of this campaign. If you have mercifully had other things to do all day, this will give you everything you need to know. If you...

We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the climate crisis. This was our listeners' top issue, and it wasn't particularly close. For the first time in a federal election, every major party has a legitimate plan to deal with the clim...

We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, truth and reconciliation. A few months ago, when news of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools was horrifying Canadians, it seemed unimaginable that dealing with Canada's legacy o...

We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the economy. How far back from pre-COVID levels has Canada's economy come? What do the parties propose to take us the rest of the way? In a world as rapidly changing and volatile is the curren...

We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, health care. The pandemic has exposed what we thought were cracks in our health care system for the wide gaps they really are—does any party have a reasonable plan to fix it? What kind of lead...

We asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the housing crisis. By now it's more than a bubble, and the lack of affordable of housing has spread from cities to small towns and everywhere in between. Each of the parties claims they can s...

Hate crimes have risen. Racialized Canadians have been attacked and killed. Angry protests follow the Prime Minister around the country and have come close to turning violent. Protesters scream at healthcare workers outside hospitals and, as if to quantify this anecdotal evidence, Maxime Bernier's People's Party rises in the polls—with one recent survey putting the PPC at nine percent support. Whe...

What agents are selling around the world is the value of a Canadian education—and people are buying in droves, especially in places like Punjab, India. But they're not buying it for the value of the degree. Many international students have families who sacrifice everything to get their children into a Canadian post-secondary institution because it is seen as a pathway to permanent residency and a...

It's no secret that our elders were the people hit hardest by COVID-19, but all the pandemic did was shine a deadly light on a system that has been broken for years. Canada's population is aging. Our long-term care facilities are passable at best, and we don't have enough of them. And we're staring down a critical labour shortage among caregivers. So does any party have a plan for this? And are an...

You thought you were helping someone  when you put that bag of old clothes in a donation bin. But you probably didn't. A striking number of clothes donated in Canada and other wealthy countries end up clogging landfills in African nations. While a good suit or jacket might make a real difference to someone who needs one, the vast majority of donated clothes are cheap, fast fashion — and often tota...

This week, Hurricane Ida rampaged through the gulf coast, leaving power grids and water lines strewn in its wake, and when it reached New York it caused massive flooding that has already resulted in at least two dozen deaths. Most North American cities — including Canada's — simply weren't built for the weather extremes we're now facing with regularity. And even 'safer' cities like Toronto and New...