Weekends with Ben O’Hara-Byrne

Guest Host Syd Smith talks about: The “gamble” of sports betting - ads, addiction and assessing the gambling industry Guest: Michael Naraine, Associate Professor, Department of Sport Management, Brock University  Alberta no longer calling? Calgary sees major rise in cost of living due to influx of new residents Guest: Adam Toy, online journalist, Global Calgary Dancing our way to happiness with Gu...

Guest Host Syd Smith talks about: How can Canada better prepare for natural hazards? Guest: Julie Wright, Co-investigator, Partners for Action research team, former Director of Partners for Action and a City Councillor with the City of Waterloo. The scene in Maui - after devastating wildfires  Guest: Katie O’Connor, former Calgarian living in Maui (in Kihei) The scene in Maui - after devastating w...

Guest Host Syd Smith dicusses: The new reality for drivers: Average costs of a new car “through the roof”  Guest: Jodi Lai, Editor-in-Chief, AutoTrader Journo Corner: How costs for the Trans Mountain pipeline have ballooned Guest: Kam Razavi, climate change journalist, Global News Should kids in hockey refrain from bodychecking until age 15?  Guest: Dr. Kristian Goulet, a pediatrician and assistan...

Guest Host Syd Smith discusses: A look into Canadian housing with the newest minister in charge Guest: Sean Fraser, minister of housing, infrastructure and communities What can the federal government do better for housing in Canada? Guest: Carolyn Whitzman, Housing Policy Researcher, Expert Advisor, Housing Assessment Resource Tools and Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa A disturbing new tren...

Guest host Chelsea Bird discusses: Should the Canadian government help control grocery prices? Guest: Vass Bednar, the founder of Regs to Riches, a senior fellow at CIGI, and the executive director of McMaster University’s master of public policy in digital society program The impact of Taylor Swift’s six concerts in Toronto on the Canadian economy Guest: Daniel Tsai, technology law professor at t...

Guest host Chelsea Bird discusses: Should police and family members be able to send drug users into involuntary treatment? Guest: Euan Thomson, harm reduction advocate, Each + Every How the Hollywood strike impacts Canadian actors and the Canadian film industry Guest: Julian De Zotti, Canadian actor and producer  How safe is our cannabis in Canada?  Guest: Ken Weisbrod, a licensed pharmacist What...

Guest Host Chelsea Bird discusses: Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau announce separation Guest: Joanna Siedel, Clinical Director and Founder, Toronto Family Therapy & Mediation Journo Corner: Meta blocks news in Canada Guest: Alfred Hermida, Professor, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, University of British Columbia, co-founder of The Conversation Canada  How Barbie helped a woman...

Guest host Chelsea Bird discusses: Canada becomes the 1st country to have individual cigarette warnings - but is it enough to help curb smoking? Guest: Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society How feasible is space colonization?  Guest: Kate Howells, Public Education Specialist for The Planetary Society As more parents shift to working from home - what have we learned...

Guest host Chelsea Bird discusses: The summer of strikes - what is causing an uptick of labour action in Canada? Guest: Charles Smith, president of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies and associate professor of political science at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan After a U.S. senator questions Canada, do we need to re-think our defense spending? Guest: Rob Hueb...

Why is the standard of living falling for Canadians and what can be done about it? Guest: Walid Hejazi, Associate Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto RCMP falls far short of recruitment targets right across the country Guest: Curt Griffiths, Professor and Coordinator, Police Studies Program, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser Univers...

Making the case for the four-day work week Guest: Joe O’Connor, Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence Montreal Airbnb scam quadruples rents; replaces long-term tenants with ghost hotels Guest: Zachary Kamel, freelance journalist and contributor to Ricochet Media Working to raise awareness about Canada’s role in the Korean War Guest: Guy Black, military historian Canada and the Manhattan Project...

A game of political musical chairs - 30 portfolio changes in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle Guest: Richard Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former Canada Research Chair in Public Opinion, Elections and Representation, University of British Columbia Journo Corner: Cabinet shuffle and more Guest: Nick Taylor-Vaisey, journalist, Politico The world expected more of Canada: Briti...

Who’s in, who’s out and who’s moving in the biggest cabinet shuffle of the Trudeau era Guest: Tim Powers, Chairman of Summa Strategies What goes on behind the scenes of a major cabinet shuffle Guest: Jeni Armstrong, Instructor, Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management As home prices soar, Habitat for Humanity helps higher-income Canadians buy properties Guest: Julia Deans, Presi...

A retired RCMP officer charged in an alleged Chinese foreign interference case Guest: Stephanie Carvin, associate professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University A former Toronto principal bullied over accusations of racism dies from suicide Guest: Greg Brady, host of Toronto Today, 640 Toronto Floods in Nova Scotia - a mayor of a hard-hit municipality speaks to the...

Move to attract tech workers from the U.S. to Canada is an instant success Guest: Benjamin Bergen, president, Council of Canadian Innovators The saucy details of the donair costume taking Alberta by storm Guest: Catherine Griwkowsky, Alberta Legislature reporter for AB Today Remembering the incomparable Tony Bennett Guest: David Evanier, author, All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett Oce...

40th anniversary of the Gimli Glider: A first-hand account of one of the most dramatic events in Canadian aviation history   Guest: Bob Pearson, Gimli Glider pilot and Pearl Dion, Gimli Glider passenger Review finds transfer of notorious killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison was done by the book, do the rules need changing?  Guest: Rodney Stafford, father of Tori Stafford a young murder...

The B.C. port strike is withdrawn, for now - how has the federal government handled the situation? Guest: Lisa Raitt, Managing Director and Vice Chair, Global Investment Banking at CIBC Capital Markets, former deputy leader of the Conservative Party, former minister of labour Should you be friends with your co-workers? Guest: Stephen Friedman, Adjunct Professor of Organizational Studies, Schulich...

Looking back at successes and challenges at the helm of the CMA Guest: Dr. Alika Lafontaine, outgoing president, Canadian Medical Association Extreme weather; the world swelters in record-breaking heat Guest: Kristie Ebi, professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Washington 2026 host bows out: Is it curtains for the Commonwealth Games?  Guest: Cheri Bradish. Director,...

Two Canadian firefighters die fighting wildfires in under a week - reviewing firefighter training and safety Guest: Bruce Blackwell, owner, B.A. Blackwell & Associates Ltd. How is Canada handling the immigration process for Ukrainians entering the country? Guest: Joel Sandaluk, immigration lawyer, Mamann, Sandaluk & Kingwell LLP Russia quits grain deal critical to global food supply. What happens...

CREA downgrades sales forecast as interest rates weigh on buyers Guest: Shaun Cathcart, Director and Senior Economist, Housing Data and Market Analysis, Canadian Real Estate Association  Would you share houses with a family you don’t know? A unique way some are buying real estate Guest: Noam Dolgin, realtor, and Elizabeth Wilcox, mother of two One year of the James Webb Telescope, what has it show...

 Why protestors continue to blockade a Winnipeg-area landfill Guest: Melissa Robinson, cousin of Morgan Harris Suspect arrested in shooting death of Toronto mother was out on bail  Guest: Ian McCuaig, criminal defense lawyer, McCuaig Law A tentative deal reached to end the B.C. port strike - what did we learn? Guest: Peter Hall, Professor, Urban Studies and Geography, Simon Fraser University EV in...

How the B.C. port strike is impacting Canadian businesses Guest: Will Routley, owner, Functional Beverage Group  Journo Corner: Fallout from NATO, military spending, and more Guest: David Pugliese, military affairs reporter, Ottawa Citizen Backlash builds as Japan prepares to release wastewater from Fukushima nuclear plant Guest: Jay Cullen, professor, department of oceanography, University of Vic...

A Toronto landlord sues AirBnB and the city of Toronto for allowing approval of a stranger to rent her condo out to others Guest: Allison Rasquinha, condo owner Is an emoji enough to make a contract binding? A Saskatchewan judge puts both “thumbs up”  Guest: Elizabeth Kirley, a law professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School True Crime: A new collection of Canadian true crime stories Gu...

Extreme Weather and high heat Guest: Anthony Farnell, chief meteorologist, Global News Why strategies to cope with higher temperatures aren’t keeping pace with global warming Guest: Jennifer Baumbusch, professor, School of Nursing, UBC  Gap between Canada’s rich and poor increasing at record speed Guest: Jim Davies, professor emeritus, department of economics, Western University Interest rate late...

The RCMP raids a neo-nazi terror group in Quebec Guest: Peter Smith, investigative reporter, Canadian Anti-Hate Network NATO summit preview Guest: David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Why do we develop allergies later in life? Guest: Dr. Angeliki Barlas, allergist and clinical immunologist Is Meta’s just launched Threads really the “Twitter-killer”? Guest: Ca...