This Matters

Guest:  Star city hall reporter Mahdis Habibinia After the recent devastating vehicle attack at Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day festival, Toronto organizers are raising fresh concerns about soaring security costs and the mounting pressure to keep people safe, especially with the city's peak festival season around the corner. Toronto has been grappling with these fears for years, particularly after the 2...

Guest:  Shawn Pegg, Director at Community Living Ontario  A new report by Community Living Ontario exposes a disturbing reality faced by children with disabilities in Ontario schools. Based on interviews with over 500 parents and caregivers, it details how students, some of whom are as young as five, have been locked in rooms, physically restrained, or sent home because schools couldn't meet their...

Guest:   Ottawa bureau chief Tonda MacCharles  We're heading into the final stretch of a charged federal election campaign that's shaped not just by a critical point in affordability, housing and healthcare but also by global events and Trump's looming shadow. With election results just around the corner, on Monday; the political mood seems restless. The Star's Ottawa bureau chief Tonda MacCharles...

Guest: Toronto Star reporter Alex Boyd   As Canada heads toward a federal election, the online information landscape is getting messier, more manipulated, and harder to recognize in real time. From repurposed Facebook groups to shady digital operations selling conspiracy-laced content and merch, these tactics are designed to grab attention and slowly shift public opinion. We talk about the strange...

Guest:  Toronto Star crime reporter Peter Edwards  It's like a Netflix show in real life. A truck driving off with $24 million in gold and cash, stolen from a hangar outside Pearson International Airport in a crime so smooth it left everyone stunned. Now, two years later the investigation trail spreads across four countries from Canada to the U.S. to Dubai and India. Some of the suspects have fled...

Guests:  Jack Blum and Sharon Corder,  co-founders of National Canadian Film Day Over the past few months, the president of the United States has done more to solidify a sense of Canadian identity than anyone in the past few decades. Suddenly Canadians are examining grocery labels to see what's made here, looking at their investment portfolios to see if their dollars are working here, and an entir...

Guest:  Kate Allen, Toronto Star climate change reporter When the movie Jurassic Park was made in 1993, the technology at the heart of its plot — bringing ancient giant animals back from extinction — was in the same category as time travel and warp drives: science fiction. This week it seems it may be closer to being just plain science. After a company named Colossal Biosciences stunned the world...

Guest:  Toronto Star senior immigration reporter Nicholas Keung For years, Canada's immigration system was held up as a glowing model on the global stage. But what was once seen as a solution— to labour shortages, economic slowdown and an aging population—is now being blamed for everything from the housing crisis to collapsing healthcare. In today's episode, we try to wade through the numbers, the...

Guest:  Brendan Kennedy, investigative reporter at The Star On Dec. 20, 2023 a guard was assaulted by an inmate at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ontario. The inmate was then immediately removed from the facility. Two days later, jail guards in full riot gear carried out a violent, mass strip search of 192 inmates – none of whom were involved in the initial incident -- in a coordinated...

Guest:  Toronto Star reporter Raisa Patel  Liberal candidate Paul Chiang's remarks suggesting a political opponent could be handed over to Chinese authorities for a bounty has fuelled outrage, an RCMP probe and a political firestorm for the Liberals ahead of an election. Initially Liberal leader Mark Carney was seen as supporting him held back from dropping Chiang as a candidate Markham-Unionville...

Guest:  Toronto Star reporter Allan Woods  Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney just had their first call since Carney took office, and by all accounts, it was productive. But also, the fact that this call is making headlines is just another sign of how much Trump and the U.S. will loom over Canada's upcoming election. From Trump's political influence and the spread of disinformation to the...

Guest: Ken Greenberg, urban designer and co-founder of Elbows Up Toronto "This is not a trade war," Charlie Angus  said to a packed crowd at a church this week , "it's an attack on who we are as people." A lot of Canadians have been feeling that recently, as U.S. President Donald Trump not only imposes tariffs on us, but talks about taking our country over. The response in the public is like somet...

Guest : Michelle Shephard, former Toronto Star reporter and co-author of "Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis" Scott Payne spent his career deep undercover in the drug trade, criminal networks and among racist terrorists — and despite some harrowing close calls that saw him stripped naked and almost exposed, he lived to tell the tale. The woman he told it to — fo...

Guest:  Toronto Star journalist Janet Hurley  Ontario's colleges and universities are facing a financial crisis. Millions in deficits, staff layoffs, and program cuts have become the norm. In the midst of all this, at George Brown College, one expense is fuelling controversy. A former president receiving over a million dollars in retirement payouts while the college suspends programs and tightens...

Guest:  Amira Elghawaby,Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia  Islamophobia and hate is on the rise in Canada. Political rhetoric is growing more divisive. Statistics show a surge in reported hate crimes against visible minorities. And in the middle of it all is Amira Elghawaby, Canada's Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.   Since taking on the role, she has faced relent...

Guest:  Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuck Between the professional hockey leagues, a new professional soccer league and the new franchise in the professional basketball league, women's sports is flourishing in Toronto. Girls sports too — especially hockey, where enrolment of young girls is single-handedly driving growth in the sport. Today's girls, at the elite level, face future prospects thei...

Guest:  Toronto Star reporter Abby O'Brien On Friday, March 7 — opening night at the Piper Arms pub in the historic Old Scott House building in Scarborough — three assailants with guns opened fire on a crowd indiscriminately, shooting seven people and injuring 12. What's certain at this point, is that it was a horrifying scene and that, as a police investigator said, "it's simply incredible nobody...

Guest:  Toronto Star reporter Kenyon Wallace  Ontario's ER crisis is pushing patients to the brink. A recent report by the Ontario Patient Ombudsman reveals a record-breaking 4429 patient complaints—the highest since the office was created. Almost 20 percent of the complaints were about emergency room experiences, highlighting growing concerns about patient care in hospital emergency departments....

Guest: Toronto Star Senior Immigration Reporter Nicholas Keung  Every year, unaccompanied minors seek refuge in Canada, from war, violence and worse. But when they get here, they face a new struggle; trying to find safety, shelter and support. With no dedicated housing or settlement services, many end up in a possibly unsafe adult shelter system, emergency hotels, or even on the streets. Now Toron...

Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor, trounced the competition Sunday winning the Liberal leadership   with   nearly 86 per cent   support. Carney will become prime minister in the days ahead. He will appoint a new cabinet. And is widely expected to call a federal election campaign next week. In this bonus episode of "It's Political," the Toronto Star's national columnist Susan Delacour...

Guest:  Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau Chief Tonda MacCharles Canadians have been bracing themselves for a potential trade war for over a month, and on Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump actually launched it, imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports. And that appears just to be the beginning.  The Star's Tonda MaCharles talks us through the immediate aftermath, including Prime Minister Justin...

Guest:  Toronto Star Queen's Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie On the one hand, Doug Ford won a third straight majority (the first such feat by a premier in Ontario since the 1950s). On the other hand, he doesn't seem happy about it, because he wanted more seats. The Star's Robert Benzie explains why, and looks at the similar dark cloud/silver lining result faced by  other parties (and shares former...

Guest: Toronto Star affordable housing reporter Victoria Gibson  Ontario is racing towards a snap election on Feb.27 and for a lot of voters, two issues loom well above the rest:  housing and healthcare. Both are at breaking point, and both are dominating party platforms. As part of our pre-election coverage, we're delving into these issues. Where do things really stand, are any of the candidates...

Guests : Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner Star's political columnist Martin Regg Cohn also leads the TMU Democracy forum, where he recently sat down with Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to discuss what they might do for Ontarians if their party wins the upcoming election. Doug Ford...

Guests : Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner Star's political columnist Martin Regg Cohn also leads the TMU Democracy forum, where he recently sat down with Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner to discuss what they might do for Ontarians if their party wins the upcoming election. Doug Ford...