The Big Story

Over the past few weeks, Toronto police have stormed into at least three park encampments where homeless people have been living. They've been met with protesters and journalists, and police have sometimes responded with violence. In the end, not many people have ended up in homes, and the city's reputation is in tatters. How long can Toronto sustain this strategy? What could the city do different...

Since the early days of the pandemic, experts have been warning about the stress constant emergency work places on medical professionals. And after more than a year on the front lines of the pandemic, Canada has a nursing crisis. Why are nurses walking away? Why can't we recruit more quickly? And what happens in the fall if we see another wave of covid without enough nurses to keep the system runn...

Masking has become second nature to most of us during the pandemic. But with the end cautiously in sight, how many of us will still cover up once we're no longer forced to?   In eastern nations like Japan, masking in crowded public spaces in simply part of the culture — especially during flu season. Why hasn't that taken hold here, and how can masks continue to help us stay safe without remaining...

Their last game in Toronto was in September of 2019. Since then, the Blue Jays have been on one of sports' longest odysseys—playing home games as the road team, then in Buffalo, then Florida and back to Buffalo again, waiting for permission to enter Canada. That finally changes next week as the team comes home on July 30. The exemption that allows them to do so is the result of months of back and...

Recent polls from across the spectrum show the Conservative Party of Canada struggling to mount a meaningful challenge to the Liberals in the next election—which seems to be fast approaching. More concerning than the low polling numbers is another statistic: The percentage of Canadians who would be willing to consider voting conservative. That’s at 41 percent, down seven points since 2019. The Con...

You’ve probably thrown something out when it was past the date on the package—even if it didn’t really seem like it had gone bad. Better safe than sorry, or as the campaign used to tell us, “When in doubt, throw it out.” But best before dates are not the same as expiry dates, and this misunderstanding is behind millions of kilograms of food wasted every year. Where did best before dates come from...

The public is currently being told to venture into the crown jewel of Vancouver’s park system “at their own risk” as dozens of people, including a two-year-old child, have been attacked by wild coyotes this year. And Stanley Park is not the only green space in Canada dealing with the newly-aggressive animals attacking human visitors. Something seems to have shifted in the way coyotes and humans ar...

Last week, retired general Jonathan Vance, former chief of the defence staff, was charged with obstruction of justice related to an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. That sounds like a shocking piece of news, but really it was an almost inevitable conclusion of the latest scandal that put Canada’s military justice system, or lack thereof, on the front pages. This has been a stor...

Most vaccines in Canada are administered by family doctors, so when Covid-19 vaccinations began to receive approval late in 2020, those physicians got ready to roll up their sleeves and dive in. But the call never came. While a few pilot projects let a relative handful of doctor’s offices receiving doses, the vast majority of family physicians were left out. And now that Canada’s vaccine uptake ha...

On Friday Canada’s largest province enters stage three of reopening—by far the biggest move since early this year, before the third wave of Covid-19 hit. Other places around the world have had varying degrees of success as they’ve come out of restrictions, but perhaps the best example to reassure anxious Canadians is out west, where Alberta has been almost back to normal for two weeks now, and—so...

And why were the police so focused on the 15-month old’s parents in the wake of his death? Nathaniel died in 2015, after sustaining a severe brain injury. And in the weeks and months and years to come, the investigation narrowed to his parents as the prime suspects. It was a preoccupation that, in hindsight, many observers thought was strange. But then a reporter started asking questions about the...

Right now, across Canada, there are questions around the names of places, institutions and even streets. The debate about whether or not we should rename something that honours problematic and sometimes racist historical figures is a question all sorts of organizations, from governments to companies to school boards are wrestling with. But more interesting questions come afterward. So you’ve decid...

If you spent time outdoors this weekend, we hope you did a thorough tick check when you got back inside. The creatures have been on the rise in Canada for years, and this summer is no exception. The increase is not just in numbers, but in wide swaths of habitat which used to be tick-free. Why is this happening? How can you spot them? Where are you likely to encounter them? And most importantly, if...

As the United States winds down its involvement in Afghanistan, things are becoming more and more dangerous for Afghan citizens who have aided soldiers over the past two decades. And nobody is in more danger than those who worked as interpreters for Canadian and allied forces. Years ago, Canada had a program to fast-track visas for Afghan interpreters, but it’s long gone. Now, veterans who served...

Two people are dead, a town is all but destroyed and more than a thousand people have essentially become climate refugees. And that is the toll of just one of the hundreds of forest fires raging in British Columbia at the moment. But it's in the future of Lytton that we can get a glimpse of what Canada must grapple with. Do you rebuild a town in the hottest place in Canada, at a time when fire sea...

The heated discussion over a full return to business as usual versus an embrace of remote, flexible work is often couched in language of productivity, creativity and efficiency. But as more and more corporations announce their post-pandemic plans, it's becoming clear that there's a bigger, deeper issue at stake: Control. What makes companies feel like in-person office work is essential? Why are wo...

Now that vaccines are widely available to almost any Canadian who wants one, the focus turns to convincing people who haven't had one yet to get their needle. It's easier said than done, for more reasons than just hesitancy. And if our inbox is any indication, after months of mixed messaging, Canadians have a lot of questions. What does the science say about mixing mRNA vaccines? When will we have...

Traditionally, Ontario (and parts of Quebec) would see outbreaks of the creature known as the Gypsy Moth every decade or more. But the past two years have seen back to back outbreaks, each of them much larger than what we'd seen in the past. And we're currently not sure if this is an anomaly, or the new normal. What are these creatures and how did they get here? What do they do to the trees they a...

A lot of us are lucky enough that we've never thought of Canada Day as anything but a day off to enjoy all the country has to offer, and to celebrate the story we tell ourselves about this land. It's a good story, honestly. But as so many of us have learned over the past year—it's not true. So today we'll hear some perspectives on Canada Day from people whose stories don't often get heard on July...

First of all, what is a heat dome? How rare is it? How deadly? Are the all-time high temperatures the Pacific Northwest experienced this week an anomaly, or a terrifying glimpse of the new normal? Can we pin this all on a warming climate? Or is some of it an unlucky combination of weather systems? And if this is a sign of things to come, what do Canadians, and governments across the country, need...

Right now, the Bank of Canada is working on a "digital loonie" that will replace cash at some point in the future. Governments around the world are either following suit or way ahead of us. While banks have been giving their customers access to digital wallets for years, cryptocurrencies are attempting to corner the market on the next generation of money. The only thing that's clear to e...

Last week, Core Development Group announced its intention to spend a billion dollars buying family homes in hot markets across Canada and converting them to rental units. On the surface, this would seem to bring badly needed family rentals into markets that are in desperate need of them—but there's a lot more going on here than just that. What does a billion dollars in corporate money do to an alr...

Her real name is Romana Didulo, and over the past few months her following has grown to tens of thousands. And she's putting them to use in real life—handing out cease and desist "orders" to authorities and businesses across the country. The penalty she promises for not complying and removing all Covid-19 restrictions is death. Obviously, Didulo's claims are ridiculous, and completely fa...

Too bad, you're likely getting one anyway! Over the past few weeks there have been unmistakeable signs that the governing Liberals as well as opposition parties are getting ready to send Canadians to the polls—whether they want to go or not. From fundraising to renting rooms, passing bills that will look great in campaign literature and reminding voters how long they waited for their vaccines, it'...

One year after being singled out—first by Premier Blaine Higgs, then by members of his own community—as "Patient Zero" for a New Brunswick Covid-19 outbreak, Dr. Jean-Robert Ngola is still putting his life back together. Last May an outbreak in Campbellton, NB, was blamed by Higgs on an "irresponsible medical professional", and online Dr. Ngola was identified less than an hour...