The Final Word

On the September 2 episode of The Final Word, Abby Hughes talks about Canada’s new luxury tax and how cars and boats over $100 000, and aircraft over $250 000, will be taxed an additional 10 per cent on their original sale price. She speaks with assistant economics professors Keyvan Eslami and Obeid Ur Rehman who delve into whether the federal government’s estimates make sense, why these items mig...

August 26, 2022 - Abby Hughes. When you think about climate change, how do you feel? Sad? Scared? Overwhelmed? Well, you’re not alone. More and more people are reporting negative feelings to do with the state of the planet. The most common is climate anxiety, but there’s others too - like eco grief and eco paralysis. Today, we’re going to talk about some ways to help temper and reckon with these f...

August 19, 2022 - Abby Hughes. Studies show that women don’t have as much leisure time as men. But board game researcher Tanya Pobuda found a deeper pattern in their doctoral dissertation. In interviews with board game enthusiasts, women reported they had not only less time, but lacked the mental energy at the end of the day to play these games. We’ll hear from Pobuda about the importance of board...

Abby Hughes - August 12, 2022. Since the very first days of the pandemic, the National Institute on Ageing based out of Toronto Metropolitan University has been crunching the COVID numbers in long term care homes. In fact, throughout the pandemic they were the only organization to keep comprehensive data on cases, deaths and outbreaks in every province in the country. But on July 28, the NIA annou...

Abby Huges - August 5, 2022. Last month, the City of Toronto bylaw on garden suites came into effect. These small, back yard units have been popping up in other major North American cities like Los Angeles and Halifax. Municipal governments see them as a way to increase housing options for residents. We’ll hear from the Executive Director of Toronto City Planning, Gregg Lintern, about bringing in...

Abby Hughes - July 29, 2022. In this special episode of segments by Toronto Metropolitan University journalism students, Abby Hughes and Thomas Publow dive into the current rise in spiritual practice. They’ll go inside the world of the modern mystic with conversations from a mystic store owner, a practicing pagan and a sociologist of religion. Then, Didhiti Kandel will talk to creatives about the...

Abby Hughes - July 22, 2022. Despite opening in June of 2020 — a time that was really hard for bars and clubs — comedy bar Nothing Fancy is thriving. They’ve just moved to a bigger location in Kensington Market, and will be part of the Just for Laughs comedy festival this year. But beyond that, they’re challenging norms in the comedy scene, with the aim of becoming more inclusive and supporting co...

Abby Hughes - July 15, 2022 In May, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a section of the criminal code. The law said that self-induced extreme intoxication was not a defence for violent crimes. At the time, there was public backlash, particularly from feminist groups and organizations that support victims of domestic violence. Since then, the Liberal government has introduced, and passed, legi...

Abby Hughes - July 8, 2022 Housing bubble! Sold-over-asking! High borrowing rates! If those words make you cringe, you’re probably one of the many Torontonians feeling squeezed by the housing market. And according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, if we want affordable housing, Canada will need to build an extra 3.5 million homes on top of what we’re on track to build by 2030. A ho...

Abby Hughes - July 1, 2022 Last week, the United States Supreme Court overruled two really important decisions. They were Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The decision removed the constitutional right to abortion for women in America. Today, we’ll hear from a reproductive rights advocate and a Canadian lawyer. They’ll tell us about the ripple effects some worry the decision could have...

Abby Hughes - June 24, 2022 Arvin Jagayat, a PhD. student at Toronto Metropolitan University, created a software that simulates a social media timeline. And while his mock social media tool is new, the software shows promise for turning out more ecologically-valid social media research. After that, Zoha Naghar speaks with Toronto R&B and funk artist, Kalisway, about her latest album, getting confi...

Abby Hughes - June 17, 2022 Andrii Zarytskyi, a queer Ukrainian and LGBTQ activist who recently came to Canada, talks about the realities for queer people in wartime Ukraine. Then, hear from a Ukrainian-Canadian who’s set up a fund that’s diverted tens of thousands of dollars to LGBTQ+ charities on the ground in Ukraine. Plus, a 2021 graduate speaks about getting the chance to cross a real stage a...

Abby Hughes-June 10, 2022 First, CJRU’s very own Daniel Centeno brings us the details on Toronto Centre’s new city councillor, Robin Buxton Potts. Then he’ll break down a long term care pilot project by the City of Toronto, called CareTO. And TMU journalism students end today’s episode with the stories of three family-run Italian restaurants in Toronto, plus the art of sports photography.

Naama Weingarten-May 27, 2022 With the annual Hot Docs Festival going down earlier this month, we chatted with Nicolas van Hemelryck, the director of the award-winning documentary Alis. The film, which was made over a period of 5 years, captures the stories of young girls living in a Columbian shelter in the rough streets of Bogotá - all told through a fictional classmate named Alis, serving as a...

Naama Weingarten-May 20, 2022 Today, we chat with Karen Steele, the winner of the 2022 Rosalie Award meant for women who paved the way in the world of radio. We’ll learn all about what it’s like to be program director at iconic stations like 99.9 Virgin Radio and Kiss 92.5, how she built her way there, and most importantly - having fun while doing it

Naama Weingarten-May 13, 2022 ​Toronto's vintage clothing show recently went down after a 2-year hiatus. And today - we get to hear from the vendors there! We'll learn about their style, what inspires them, and what it's like to be part of Toronto's iconic vintage clothing scene.

Naama Weingarten-May 6, 2022 Today, Sharon Savunthararajah builds off her previous segment on why our grocery bills are so much higher nowadays. But first - we talk about "Toronto Metropolitan" - because Ryerson is officially a thing of the past and people have a lot of opinions about the new name.