This Matters

Guest: Jeremy Nuttall, staff reporter The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) organization remains a symbol of Canadian history and national pride, even though the recent history of the police force is littered with internal scandals including racism in hiring and sexism within the ranks, in addition to heavy criticism for their handling of high profile crimes. Does the force need a revamp? A rec...

Guest: Lex Harvey, transportation reporter As TTC ridership is down, violent incidents are up. As the service still recovers from the pandemic, a spate of violent crimes on TTC vehicles and in and around stations is making many riders worry about their safety while riding the transit system. More security is planned to help the problem, along with a fare hike and service cuts in the proposed 2023...

Guest: Jim Rankin, staff reporter Twenty years ago, the Star published a landmark and controversial investigation examining data that showed police interaction with racialized people occurred at a higher rate, kicking of years of stories that reinforced this initial conclusion. This past year, after looking at their own data, acting Toronto police chief James Ramer apologized for police interactio...

Guest: Katie Daubs, feature writer There have been an increasing number of coyote sightings and attacks across the GTA. Often portrayed as smart, dangerous animals, the truth is that there is another animal to blame for the their encroachment into urban areas — humans. This episode was produced by Brian Bradley, Paulo Marques and Raju Mudhar. Audio Sources: CTV News

Guest: Robert Cribb, investigative reporter Imagine having your license suspended and you didn't know it was in jeopardy? It all comes down to medical condition reports (MCRs), widely used forms that some medical professionals must file when patients have potentially dangerous conditions that "warrant a licence suspension," according to the ministry. Doctors are paid to submit the form and sometim...

Guest: Tess Kalinowski, real estate reporter 2022 was a roller coaster year in the GTA's real estate market and, just as we hit a peak, things are now speeding downhill. Falling prices, a lack of inventory and rising interest rates all contributed to the downturn in the market and will continue to be factors moving forward. Don't fret. There are experts who feel that as the weather warms up, peopl...

This episode originally aired January 4, 2022. Guest: Christine Sismondo, author of "America Walks Into a Bar" and the upcoming "Cocktails: A Still Life" Happy New Year! By now, hopefully your hangover from new year celebrations are long gone and you are focusing on the year ahead. One thing that many people do after holiday season is decide to cut alcohol intake for the month of January as a way...

This episode originally aired on February 11, 2022. John Honderich, who has served as both editor and publisher of the Toronto Star, as well as chair of Torstar, died on Saturday, February 5, at 75. "This Matters" spoke to some of John's former friends and colleagues about his positive impact to journalism and the people around him. Any charitable donations be made to the John Honderich City Build...

This episode originally aired on November 7, 2022. Guest : Moira Welsh, investigative reporter The devastation faced by Ontario's long-term care residents during the pandemic may have fuelled a reckoning and a collective question: how do you want to spend the final years of your life? That's the focus of The Third Act, an ongoing series produced by the Star in collaboration with Toronto Metropolit...

This episode originally aired on November 15, 2022.  Guest: Lex Harvey, staff reporter The Arctic town Svalbard is about as remote as you can get. It's an archipelago located on top of the world. Residents carry guns and live alongside polar bears, they can see the northern lights during the day and they're not allowed to give birth or die there. It is also the fastest warming place on Earth and e...

This episode originally aired on November 29, 2022. Guest: Wendy Gillis, crime and policing reporter The Toronto police cold case unit has announced the arrest of Joseph George Sutherland, 60, for allegedly committing the murders of local women Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice in 1983. After 2008 testing of evidence confirmed one man was responsible for both murders, advances in genetic sequencing and...

Guests: Katie Daubs and Kris Rushowy, staff reporters Holiday romance movies are everywhere. They started as a staple of the Hallmark brand, but now have spread to others like Lifetime, Netflix and more. Many of these new holiday films are filmed right here in Ontario and, beyond spreading the spirit of the season, they also provide a beneficial economic impact to this region. This episode was pro...

Guest: Noor Javed covers 905 municipal politics for the Star According to the findings of a Star co-investigation with The Narwhal, documents show that the government is quietly considering expanding the Bradford Bypass from four to eight lanes. This highway is already controversial because the planned route threatens many ecologically sensitive areas and now, could potentially double in size. Thi...

Guest: Kate Allen, climate change reporter Will the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) be a "Montreal moment" in the fight to save the planet's biodiversity? That's how Steven Guilbeault, the federal minister of environment and climate change, described the conference while announcing what some are calling a historic and transformational agreement. While it takes Indigenous and global...

Guest: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter Car jackings and pharmacy thefts are on the rise, with many of the crimes committed by younger people. With a stolen luxury car fetching up to $10,000, it is believed the high risk, high reward is driving the increase of these types of criminal activities. As more teenagers commit these crimes, the bigger question is how to help and support youth, and preve...

Guest: David Rider, City Hall bureau chief Ontario Place is in the news as the plans for a massive spa on the site move through City Hall. While the 155-acre site on Toronto's waterfront is an urban park now, the new plan includes a five-level subterranean parking lot for more than 2,000 vehicles that taxpayers might be on the hook for. The place where many made memories might look very different...

Guests: Nichelle Laus, former police officer, business owner and TikTok creator, and Stephen Lautens, an author, lawyer and podcaster Deck the halls for holiday times, fa la la la la, la la la la. Keep an eye out for these crimes, fa la la la la, la la la la. These are scams for the season, fa la la la la, la la la la. Play this podcast for that reason, fa la la la la, la la la la! This episode wa...

Guest: Jeremy Nuttall, investigative reporter Chances are, like most Canadians, you have no idea how the country's big pension funds are investing your money. A report is revealing that multiple federal and provincial funds are investing in Chinese companies complicit in human rights abuses and pension funds of several other Western countries have done the same. Jeremy Nuttall, an investigative re...

Guest: Lex Harvey, transportation reporter Public transit is something that is always difficult to get built in the Toronto area. Case in point: several transit lines are to be built in the next decade, and already skirmishes are happening. There have been complaints about the state of the years-delayed and overbudget Eglinton Crosstown, concern about the fate of mature trees at Osgoode Hall and q...

Guest: Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter It has been five years since the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. The police say it is an active investigation, but there are have been no arrests and only one very mysterious suspect. Noting a lack of progress, family members have increased the cash reward up to $35 million for information that leads to the culprit or culprits. What do we know...

Guest: Victoria Gibson, affordable housing reporter Hundreds of people looking for a place to stay are being turned away from Toronto's shelter system every night. As winter arrives and the weather gets colder, encampments are being cleared, temporary shelters in hotels are closing and the shelter system is operating at or near full capacity. It is a cold, desperate situation for many. Affordable...

Guest: Kelsey Piper, senior writer at Vox.com ChatGPT by OpenAI and Lensa AI are two generative artificial intelligence tools that have been going viral. There are fun uses of artificial intelligence (AI) that show the possibilities of how these might start to influence and change the world as the technologies continue to improve and get better. That said, there's a good reason that AI and the mac...

Guests: Brian Rosborough and Colin Best, Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) The Ontario government's new housing bill has many municipal politicians upset about the removal of development charges, as they are typically used to build the necessary infrastructure in communities. There have been huge estimates for that funding shortfall, and while the province told some municipalities the...

Guest: Isabel Teotonio, education reporter After months of neglect and violent incidents, the situation at York Memorial Collegiate Institute has reached its breaking point. Students staged a walkout last week to point to the number of issues at their school that they say has made for an unsafe learning environment. Students, parents, teachers and the Toronto District School Board are focused on f...

Guest: Susan Clairmont, Hamilton Spectator justice columnist How long should offenders with more than one murder conviction stay in prison before they are eligible for parole? According to the Supreme Court, the answer is 25 years. Earlier this year, the court found the practice of consecutive life sentences (serving more than 25 years before parole eligibility) to be cruel and unjust. While this...