Podcast
The Big Story
Episodes — page 91
Teachers are doing their best. But they’re at the breaking point.The past year has been hard on all of us—but especially for those to whom we entrust our children. From a rush to online learning with schools closed, to a hasty back-to-school pla…
How worried should you be about the new Covid-19 variant?In some parts of Canada—especially Ontario—hospitals are close to the breaking point. At the same time, tests are finding a variant of Covid-19 that may spread much faster than the…
Covid? Rising. Vaccines? Slow. Politicians? Travelling. Inside a bad month for OntarioThis past week, Ontario broke its seven-day average Covid-19 case record. Its hospitals are nearly full. Its vaccine rollout is slow. And the government lost its finance minister,…
You’re going to pay more for food this year. A lot more.Welcome to 2021! It's going to cost more to eat this year. The unprecedented events of 2020 combined with longer-term issues will lead to a massive spike in the prices the average…
How do we learn to be empathetic?It's the ability to put ourselves in another's shoes and it's been needed more this year than ever. But what kinds of experiences teach us empathy? How do our childhoods shape the…
What happens when we run out of space to bury our dead?Blink and you could miss it—the Richview Memorial Cemetery sits nestled on a thin slice of land between two of North America’s busiest highways. The cemetery is guarded by one Rand…
“Christmas is a little different this year”: An interview with SantaOver the past ten months we've been accustomed to seeing our daily routines change in ways large and small. Covid-19 has popularized phrases from "in these unprecedented times" to…
A pandemic makes local news more critical, but also more endangeredTen months into this pandemic, after so many of us rediscovered how vital local news can be, there are even fewer local newsrooms in Canada than when it began. How did we end up h…
Is Canada’s new climate plan finally getting serious?It's as ambitious as any Canadian government has been so far—but is it enough? A new climate plan rolled out by Justin Trudeau last week takes aim at some real metrics for change.…
‘Tis the season for mass evictions?A moratorium on evictions in Ontario was once part of Premier Doug Ford's plan to "make sure you and your family can stay in your home during this difficult time." But that morator…
As vaccination begins, how can we convince hesitant Canadians to take the shot?There will always be a group of people who flatly refuse to get vaccinated, and public health messages probably won't convince them. But there are far, far more Canadians who might…
Have you ever purchased a ‘Bland’?Welcome to the newest era of consumer capitalism. It's dominated by 'Blands' — clean, sleek, online products that bill themselves as the handcrafted little guy here to disrupt the…
What will the ‘Middle Class’ of the 2020s look like?Middle Class is a term that comes from the 1950s, and while the economics surrounding it have changed fundamentally in 70 years, the goals and hopes and dreams of the people that b…
Will BC’s government fix the racism in its health care system?An investigation into an allegation of a racist game being played by hospital staff turned into a detailed report about system racism in British Columbia's health care system. The…
Covid-19 has hit Canadian charities where it hurtsThis is the time of year when Canadians traditionally up their giving. But a lot of that tends to happen in person. This year, Covid-19 has made that tough. And the big picture isn…
How the PlayStation took over Sony, and games took over the worldYou probably don't have a PlayStation 5. And even if you don't want one, there's likely someone in your life who is desperate to get their hands on it. Sony—a company that once sol…
What we do and don’t know about Covid-19 vaccines for CanadiansWe have more doses on order per capita than any other nation. But we also have no real domestic production capacity. If you ask the Liberals, we're among the world leaders in terms…
A delicate balance between humans, bears and fishIt's a cycle that repeats itself in many ecosystems where humans live: Harmony, profit, imbalance and then a desperate need to fix things. When wild salmon runs around Wuikinuxv, B…
Vancouver wants to decriminalize all drugs. Will it happen? Will it help?Last week Vancouver's City Council voted unanimously to ask the federal government for an exemption that would allow the city to decriminalize small amounts of all drugs. The move…
Who is the woman who broke baseball’s glass ceiling?One thing people around the game who know Kim Ng agree on is that she should have had a top job long ago. But considering baseball's legacy of promoting ex-players, many doubted th…
