The Big Story

It's as ambitious as any Canadian government has been so far—but is it enough? A new climate plan rolled out by Justin Trudeau last week takes aim at some real metrics for change. So how would it directly impact your life, and your wallet? What else is the government doing to move us into the future? How much depends on cooperation from the provinces? And is this another target we make plans for b...

A moratorium on evictions in Ontario was once part of Premier Doug Ford's plan to "make sure you and your family can stay in your home during this difficult time." But that moratorium didn't last forever and the past month has seen a torrent of virtual eviction hearings, with tenants often left frustrated, confused and in tears by the process. What happened to "no Covid-19 evictions...

There will always be a group of people who flatly refuse to get vaccinated, and public health messages probably won't convince them. But there are far, far more Canadians who might get vaccinated, but are nervous of what they see as a potential risk. In some online communities, misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, as well as other common vaccinations, is rampant—and it has left a lot of people...

Welcome to the newest era of consumer capitalism. It's dominated by 'Blands' — clean, sleek, online products that bill themselves as the handcrafted little guy here to disrupt the giant corporations. They have origin stories. They care about values and design. And they're unique—except they're all exactly the same. From toothbrushes to mattresses, health insurance to hipster clothing and glasses t...

Middle Class is a term that comes from the 1950s, and while the economics surrounding it have changed fundamentally in 70 years, the goals and hopes and dreams of the people that belong to it have not. How long can that continue? What does a modern Middle Class look like? What should they aspire to? How should they be defined? How different will their lives, homes and finances be from past decades...

An investigation into an allegation of a racist game being played by hospital staff turned into a detailed report about system racism in British Columbia's health care system. The province has vowed to take action, but Indigenous people have heard those promises before. What will it take to really transform the system? How will the government even begin? And how long will it take in the middle of...

This is the time of year when Canadians traditionally up their giving. But a lot of that tends to happen in person. This year, Covid-19 has made that tough. And the big picture isn't much better: In a year of economic hardship, fewer Canadians have money to spare for charity, and more Canadians than usual need the help these organizations provide. How has the pandemic hit charities? What have they...

You probably don't have a PlayStation 5. And even if you don't want one, there's likely someone in your life who is desperate to get their hands on it. Sony—a company that once sold just about every kind of electronics imaginable—has become 'The PlayStation Company'. And this Christmas marks the first skirmish in the latest console war between it and Microsoft's X-Box. How did video games come to...

We have more doses on order per capita than any other nation. But we also have no real domestic production capacity. If you ask the Liberals, we're among the world leaders in terms of when Canadians can expect to be vaccinated. If you ask the Conservatives, we're well behind our peer countries already. Who is telling the truth? What are the facts on the Covid-19 vaccines Canada has ordered? What n...

It's a cycle that repeats itself in many ecosystems where humans live: Harmony, profit, imbalance and then a desperate need to fix things. When wild salmon runs around Wuikinuxv, BC, dwindled to almost nothing, the local grizzly bears grew hungry — and dangerous to humans. Now the salmon are returning, but the community must find a way to manage both the fish and bear populations, and keep the for...

Last week Vancouver's City Council voted unanimously to ask the federal government for an exemption that would allow the city to decriminalize small amounts of all drugs. The move comes amidst a surge in the overdose crisis that has killed more Vancouver citizens than Covid-19. The city is looking at anything it can do to save lives, and there are studies and examples around the globe that indicat...

One thing people around the game who know Kim Ng agree on is that she should have had a top job long ago. But considering baseball's legacy of promoting ex-players, many doubted the day would ever come. In November, the Florida Marlins made Ng the first female general manager in the history of the game. The questions now are around what she'll do with the team, why it took so long, and who else wi...

It seemed like a prank posted to social media—but there are witnesses who confirmed that the advertised fight night between McGill University students actually happened. Nobody was hurt, and it might have been a harmless enough story, but it illustrates the challenges first-year students are facing this year in dorms that they joke have become their prisons. GUEST: Selena Ross, digital reporter, C...

The irresponsible and illegal opening of an Etobicoke, Ontario BBQ joint this week ended Thursday when the owner was finally arrested. But in the Toronto area, it remains to be seen if he'll be the last person to defy the province's regulation. There's no excuse for breaking the law and endangering public health, but the Adamson BBQ saga is a symbol of just how angry and desperate small businesses...

For the first six months of the pandemic, Alberta was one of the best provinces in Canada at containing Covid-19. Then it all went wrong. This week alone, the province had a day in which its case count was higher than Ontario's, despite having barely a third its population. How did it all fall apart out west, and who's to blame? And what needs to happen next to salvage a dangerous situation? GUEST...

Halton Hills is just over an hour's drive from Toronto. Many of its residents have been working from home for months. Issues were first raised about its internet connectivity 15 years ago—and many households struggle to get reliable connections today. As the pandemic pushes everything online, regions in rural Canada struggle to keep up. And we all too often think of rural areas as sparsely populat...

Families have spent the past eight months in closer quarters than ever before. But what about people who share a home and aren't related or dating one another? How are roommates negotiating the many precarious situations that have arisen from sharing a house amid a pandemic? With more younger adults living in roommate situations later into their lives and careers, it's a path that millions are goi...

We want elderly Canadians, who are heightened risk from Covid-19, to be safe. For much of the past eight months, that has meant hundreds of thousands of grandparents haven't seen their grandkids, parents haven't seen their children, or their siblings — and for many of them, this has harmed them as much as a bout with the virus might. We all want our elderly loved ones to be around forever, but eve...

As you might imagine, QAnon supporters believed that Donald Trump would handily win reelection. When he didn't, it blew a hole in the conspirac--hah, of course it didn't. New theories popped up to take its place, new 'loaves' were baked. New enemies were found. What can we learn from how the world's most dangerous conspiracy adapts to overwhelming evidence to the contrary? And can we find ways to...

The proposal is called the Great Barrington Declaration, and while it's couched in lots of scientific language, herd immunity is what it boils down to. It has support from a group of scientists and is scoffed at by many, many more. But during a time when Canada's various Covid-19 regulations, thresholds, protocols and half-lockdowns can seem incredibly confusing, the Barrington approach offers a s...

At least in the spring, there was a summer to come and some sort of certainty — restaurants would stay closed until Covid-19 was under control. This Fall, in most places in Canada, neither of those things are true. Opening plans and case thresholds are constantly shifting, while cities and provinces have different opinions about what should be open and when. Beyond all that, of course, there are c...

The territory went more than seven months as the last Covid-19-free spot in North America, but the past weeks have seen one case turn into a couple of dozen. Why did the bubble work so well for so long? What are the unique dangers the virus poses to Northern communities? How will officials try to reign in spread now that the virus is here? And what can we learn from how long the bubble kept Nunavu...

Almost two weeks after the American election, leading social media platforms are inundated with false claims about the results. Claims that are supported and amplified by Donald Trump and key members of his administration. After talking tough regarding disinformation in the months leading up to the election, and even slapping warnings on the president's posts, have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and...

This is the finale of our five-part series in partnership with The Narwhal. Scientists have found protecting nature can provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions required to meet the world’s 2030 climate targets, thrusting Canada — home to 25 per cent of the planet’s wetlands and boreal forests — into the hot seat. There are more than enough challenges facing those fighting to save t...

This is part four of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. There are no viable solutions to stop the tide of selenium leaching into Canadian and U.S. water from a 100-kilometre stretch of coal mines near Elk Valley, B.C., which are owned and operated by mining giant Teck Resources. Deformed fish, a potential fish population collapse and contaminated drinking water signal more troub...