The Current

Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Stephen Marche reflect on what it means to be Canadian during a trade war, and what we need to consider when it comes to our culture, identity and politics in this moment.

Former UN Ambassador Bob Rae and former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt reflect on what it means to be Canadian in the midst of a trade war with the US, and what the stakes are for our country as retaliatory tariffs come into effect.

Our national affairs panel, CBC's Rosemary Barton, the Toronto Star's Ryan Tumility and Stephanie Levitz from the Globe and Mail, join us to unpack the latest, and what they'll be watching for from the Prime Minister in the coming weeks.

It seems like chatting-it-up is part of Maritime culture. People love to talk, even with strangers. So, Jax Irwin has made a delightful gig of this friendly way of life. She’s a Toronto broadcaster who is originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. On her social media, she calls random East Coast phone numbers,  numbers in the 902 area code, and chitchats with whoever answers. We talk to her abou...

We speak with Heidi Pyper, the wife of the late bestselling author of The Demonologist and The Killing Circle, Andrew Pyper, about his latest book releasing posthumously this week and a new prize for thriller and horror writers is launching this week in his honour.

The Saint John container port in New Brunswick is drawing attention from all over the world. The people there are positioning the place as one answer to our tariff troubles. A growing number of companies are shipping through the port, to and from places, other than the US. Saint John is one of the most tariff-affected Canadian cities. So ,we talk about one of the success stories we found there as...

Can't concentrate? What about thinking deeply? Attention spans are shrinking rapidly. Cal Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and author of the bestselling book 'Deep Work,' says we're facing a crisis—an attack on our ability to think. He's calling for what he calls a revolution in defence of thinking. He outlines the steps for reclaiming your attention.

This Sunday Germans head to the polls.  And the far-right Alternative for Germany party—or the AfD—is surging in the eastern state of  Saxony-Anhalt.  If they win, it’ll mark the first time a far-right party has held state power in Germany since the Nazis. The CBC’s Jessica Singer has been on the ground in Saxony-Anhalt, following the campaign and speaking with voters in the state c...

With fewer colds and flus, ER doctors used to care for fewer patients in the summer. Not anymore. Patients are waiting longer than ever. We hear from Dr. Noam Katz in Winnipeg and Dr. Brittany Ellis in Saskatoon about what their patients have been dealing with all summer and what needs to change. Then, we speak with Dr. Mayoorendra Ravichandiran, the Deputy Chief of Emergency Medicine at the...

Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario has caused a stir, but experts say the controversy is distracting from more serious threats facing the Great Lakes. We speak with McMaster University professor emeritus Gail Krantzberg about how the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental protections is putting the lakes’ water quality and security at risk. We also speak with Western Michigan...

For the past four decades, world renowned biologist Nalini Nadkarni has risked her life studying trees. In 2015, she fell from a 50-foot bigleaf maple tree in the Olympic Peninsula. She tells The Current host Matt Galloway what her recovery from that catastrophic fall taught her about resilience and trees.

These are unnerving times, sitting here at the beginning of September in 2026. The US-Iran war continues… Ukraine is heading into its fifth winter of a full-scale war with Russia. Under Donald Trump, the United States has taken a hammer to norms and institutions at home and abroad.  Margaret MacMillan says a new world order is coming, why we aren’t ready for it and how we can adapt.

While the trade war continues to heat up, the Made-in-Canada movement is surging. We speak with former CBC broadcaster and social media influencer, Tod Maffin, about his online Canadian marketplace, Main Street Canada. We also speak with Jacquelyn Corbett, owner of the Toronto-based children' s clothing brand, Mini Mioche, and Ashley Chapman, the COO of Chapman's icecream, about the challenges ahe...

There’s no getting around it - life is more expensive as a single person than it is when you’re in a couple. With singles in Canada now making up almost 40% of the population, The Current producer Cece Armstrong looked into the so-called singles 'tax' and how it’s hitting people’s wallets and life choices.

“Hands Off Our Great Lakes” is the name of a new bill from Democratic Congressman, Tim Kennedy who represents Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The bill aims to undo Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

More than a week after the U.S.-Canada talks collapsed, our national affairs panel —the CBC's Rosemary Barton, the Toronto Star's Ryan Tumilty, and Joël-Denis Bellavance of La Presse—  unravels what we know about what happened, how the Carney government has responded, and how all this might affect the Conservatives' fortunes, the Quebec election, and the federal byelections happening Monday.

The new book “London Falling” tells the true story of Zac Brettler, a 19-year-old Londoner who falls to his death in the Thames after living a double life pretending to be the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. We speak with bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe about mystery, money and police inaction as he searches for answers about Zac’s death.

Hundreds are dead and thousands are missing in Nepal, including 30 Canadians and permanent residents, after catastrophic flash floods struck the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday. Climate scientists say as global warming continues to melt glaciers in the Himalayas, disasters like this in the mountainous region are increasing in scale and frequency. We speak with a local aid worker on the grou...

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, will pay up to $18 billion US in a landmark U.S. case. The tech giant will also make big changes to how youth use its platforms, including time limits. What does this settlement mean for the future of social media, and the effort to keep kids safe?  We're joined by Clare Duffy, a tech reporter for CNN Business who breaks down the settlement, Taylor O...

As the tariff disputes between Canada and the U.S. reverberate across both countries, we check in with three Americans for their perspectives on the trade fight. We'll hear from a retired autoworker who agrees with Trump, a former trade negotiator who thinks U.S. tariffs are necessary, and a professor who says the U.S. tariffs are 'galactically stupid'.

Princeton professor Thomas Levin has collected the world's only collection of 'voice letters' — small records that could be recorded on-the-spot in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and then sent through the mail to friends and loved ones. From passionate love notes, to messages home from soldiers, to tourist diaries from world travellers...these notes allowed many people to record their voices for the firs...

The federal government announced their response to the new U.S. tariffs on Canada. We’ll hear from the Mayor of Sarnia about the impact this escalating trade war will have on the city, former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney on the politics of this war, and what he wants to see from his province. And Randall Bartlett, the deputy chief economist at Desjardins Group, joins us to talk about the possible...

Dolly Parton's death on Tuesday left a hole in the hearts of adoring fans worldwide. The country music legend is being remembered for her songs and unmistakable voice, but also for her philanthropy. Through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library initiative, she put books in the hands of more than 130 million children. We speak with the director of Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion at SickKids H...

Baby puffins, also known adorably as pufflings, are leaving their nests for the first time and heading out to sea… but artificial lights can send them off track. We’ll find out how the Puffin Patrol is steering them right.

Lindsay Clancy has admitted to killing her three young children. She's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was experiencing postpartum psychosis. As her trial enters its fifth week, we look at the global conversation this tragedy has sparked about postpartum mental health care and education.