This Matters

Guests : Rachel Mendleson, investigative reporter at The Star and Steve Buist, investigative reporter at The Spec A recent Torstar investigation found over 600 cases where a judge found police forces committed serious breaches and violations of people's Charter rights. As well, nine forces were found to have systemic breaches of not respecting these rights. It is a national problem. The consequenc...

Guest: Alyshah Hasham, courts reporter Warning: Contains graphic content. After six days of intense deliberations and being deadlocked twice, a jury has found Canadian rock star Jacob Hoggard guilty on one of three charges. Despite similarities between the accounts of his accusers, jurors were "really internally struggling" over Hoggard's charges and Hoggard was found guilty of sexually assaulting...

Guest: Justin Ling, Freelance Investigative Reporter As the Conservative leadership race continues, several leadership hopefuls are embracing conspiracy theories in order to win support. For instance, some are engaging in theories like the idea that the World Economic Forum is a deep state illuminati that runs the world. It remains to be seen whether it is a politically savvy move that helps them...

Guest: Jeremy Grimaldi , crime reporter at Yorkregion.com With other 200 charges and 20 suspects, last year's Project Platinum was hailed as a successful operation led by York Regional Police. Now, several of those charges have been dropped. It's not the only high profile case in the region that has fallen apart. From organized crime to drugs and gambling, we take a look at why and how some crimin...

Guest: Stephanie Levitz, politics reporter for The Star In the shadow of mass shootings in the U.S., and another grim look at America's lack of gun laws, Canada made a move to tighten its own. Earlier this week Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Bill C-21, which would place a national freeze on handgun sales as part of the latest move to tighten gun laws. We take a look at the content and con...

Guest: Christine Dobby, business reporter If you're a working Canadian, chances are your retirement investments are going into at least one of the country's big eight funds. But, do you really know where your money is being invested? The country's eight largest public sector pension funds collectively control about $2 trillion dollars in assets, making them a huge investing force across the world....

Guest: Lex Harvey, politics reporter On the eve of Ontario's election, we take a look at the provincial party leaders and how they fared under The Star's fact-checking process. While touting their own policies and achievements and attacking their rivals, how honest were Mike Schreiner, Andrea Horwath, Steven Del Duca and Doug Ford? Lex Harvey, Star politics reporter and fact checker, joins us to e...

Guest: Bailey Martens, Toronto Star reporter Despite 2.6 million people in Ontario being disabled, there is no policy mandating barrier-free housing for those who need it. There is not even a mention of housing in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). For many people with disabilities in this province, the search for housing is as challenging as the lack of options. Star re...

Guest: Edward Keenan, Washington Bureau Chief Despite calls to cancel, the National Rifle Association's annual meeting went ahead as planned in Houston this weekend, a mere 482 kilometres away from Uvalde, Texas where just days prior one of the deadliest school shootings in the U.S. in over a decade left 21 people dead (including 19 children). Two weeks before that, 10 people were shot dead at a g...

Guest: Robert Benzie, Queen's Park Bureau Chief With less than a week until the June 2 election in Ontario, and as most polls point to a Progressive Conservative victory, there are still plenty of questions about how things could shake out. Premier Doug Ford has been campaigning like a front-runner, as the Liberals and NDP put up a good fight. But with plenty of races expected to be close, strateg...

Guest : Moira Welsh, investigative reporter In the middle of the pandemic, when baby boomers hit the milestone age of 75, they awakened to the reality of growing old in Ontario and they're not going quietly into nursing homes. They want to age with purpose, energy and love. Their message to politicians? Get rid of the medicalized culture of nursing homes. Moira Welsh, investigative reporter and au...

Guest: May Warren, reporter for the Toronto Star As of Wednesday, the Public Health Agency of Canada says there are 15 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Quebec, and health officials are investigating more, including four in Toronto . According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 90 confirmed cases in 12 countries, including Canada. What's going on? Is it time to worry or are we j...

Guests: Sylvain Charlebois is a Canadian researcher and professor in food distribution and food policy at Dalhousie University. A recent Angus Reid poll showed that almost half of Canadians are finding it difficult to feed their families due to rocketing inflation of food prices at the grocery store. In April, food prices rose on average of 9.7 percent, the highest jump in over 30 years. Experts s...

This Matters would like to let you know about another Toronto Star podcast, 'Death in a Small Town,' hosted by Kevin Donovan. We are broadcasting episode 1, Just Another Day. Episode 2 is available at thestar.com/deathinasmalltownpodcast or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Episode 1: Just Another Day Roll out of bed, get the kids to school, then off to work. Just before noon, disaster. A myst...

Auto thefts are soaring in the GTA, which is now punctuated by a carjacking spree that saw several incidents in the past week, including one involving Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner. There have already been more carjackings in Toronto in 2022 than in all of the previous year, and police warn that some of these are turning violent. By looking at the data, we look at where it's happening acro...

Guest: Karon Liu , Food writer at The Star. The Michelin Guide to restaurants is coming to Toronto. This dining guide is known around the world for its three star rating system which highlights some of the best restaurants in the world. That said, it also has its critics as many believe it caters to higher end restaurants and there have been unintended consequences with many establishments after t...

Guest: Brendan Kennedy, social justice reporter on the Star investigations team A Toronto Star investigation has revealed that Canada confines hundreds of non-citizens in conditions meant for a criminal population. On any given day, there will be roughly 200 to 300 immigrants in Canadian detention. Immigration detention is not supposed to be punitive, so why are nearly half of these detainees bein...

Guest: Richard Warnica , Business feature writer Plastic recycling in Ontario has been called a "green lie." For instance, Canada produced about 1.9 million tonnes of plastic packaging in 2019, according to a recent report commissioned by the Canada Plastics Pact. Of that, the authors estimate just 12 per cent was sent for recycling. Now, things might be changing. Ontario is modernizing the recycl...

Guest: Martha Paynter, registered nurse and author of "Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada." The U.S. Supreme Court may soon strike down its 50-year-old landmark ruling ending constitutional protections for abortion, according to a draft decision leaked to Politico. The ruling would mean U.S. states decide whether and how to restrict abortion or ban it outright. In Can...

Guest: Rosa Saba, Business Reporter Leaving on a jet plane, don't know if I'll be making my flight out of the airport? That's not how the song goes, but it's a reality for many people in Canadian airports right now, as they face long lineups, wait times and other issues caused by an uptick of travellers and staff shortages at many flight terminals. As some passengers even are missing their flights...

Guest: Noor Javed, Star reporter Did you know that Toronto used to be a leading city for cricket a few decades ago? As the sport continues to be one of the fastest growing sports in Canada, with an increasing number of immigrants from cricket-loving countries, the city is looking to regain lost cricketing glory and become a premiere city for the sport. There is a 20-year strategy to get there, but...

Guests: Nadine Yousif and Cristina Selva As the pandemic surged in Ontario, the opioid crisis hit another peak. While opioid related deaths increased by 60 per cent in 2020, nearly one in three employed people who died were construction workers. To address the disproportionate impact of the opioid crisis on the construction workforce, Ontario passed a law mandating that naloxone, the drug that tem...

Guest: Christine Dobby, Business Reporter You don't have to look far to see those who experienced terrible financial hardship over the past two years. We don't talk about our finances. But a recent report has painted a harsh picture just the same. The report published by ACORN, a non-profit organization advocating for moderate to low-income Canadians has revealed that more and more people were for...

Guest:  Jacques Gallant , Political Reporter A yearlong review by a panel of former military personnel has recently concluded that military leadership failed to tackle  systemic racism and discrimination  within its ranks for the past two decades, despite numerous calls to action. The panel that was created to identify racism, discrimination and hate within the forces also concluded that the milit...

Guests: Ben Spurr and Jim Rankin, Star Reporters At the beginning of the pandemic, bikes became a hot commodity as people looked for ways to enjoy the outdoors. Cities like Toronto added more bikes lanes and even shut down streets for events like ActiveTO, so people could enjoy it. But now looking at the data, emergency room visits from cyclists were up across Ontario with many young people injure...