Front Burner

Canadian co-author of the new UN report on extinction, Kai Chan, on how the loss of one species can ripple out to affect an entire ecosystem in ways that we often "don't know until it's too late"

Today on Front Burner, CBC Queen's Park reporter Mike Crawley on the cascade of cuts in Doug Ford's Ontario and how they might be felt in the province.

CBC defence reporter Murray Brewster on the upcoming trial of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, and why it might turn into a political circus, right before the next federal election.

As Huawei's Meng Whanzou returns to court, CBC Vancouver's Jason Proctor on the repercussions from her arrest in December.

Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya, from South Africa, has lost her appeal against proposed rules from track's governing body that require some female runners to lower their naturally high testosterone levels. It's a ruling that's expected to have huge implications on the future of women's sports. Today on Front Burner, Katrina Karkazis helps us understand why. She's a bioethicist who's been studying the regulation of hormone levels in women's elite sports for years.

Today on Front Burner - we speak to the CBC's Evan Dyer about an attempt to oust Nicolas Maduro as well as Columbia University Professor, Jeffrey Sachs, who says the United States, and others, need to stay out of this conflict.

Journalist Harvey Cashore on the revelation of SNC Lavalin employees who made illegal campaign donations worth more than $100,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada.

"We can't go through this again." Thousands of people across Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are dealing with serious floods this week. And not for the first time. Today on Front Burner, we hear from one Quebec mother on her family's difficult decision to leave their flood-ravaged home for good -- and a disaster prevention expert who thinks governments should buy homeowners out of their flood-prone houses.

Reporter Shannon Carranco got access to over 150,000 chat logs from a Canadian alt-right forum. What she found is frightening.

Twenty four years ago the Toronto Raptors were named the newest team in basketball - and the first franchise outside of the United States. In the years that followed, the team would go from widespread public indifference, to one of the most successful teams in the NBA. The Raptors are in the middle of their most successful period as a franchise; with six straight playoff berths under their belt, and a prospective finals push on the horizon. Today on Front Burner, we sit down with longtime voice of the Toronto Raptors, Jack Armstrong, to track the teams unlikely rise. For more about Armstrong visit https://hellojack.entripyshirts.com/

One year after the deadly van attack in Toronto, the misogynistic online community that inspired the attack remains unchanged, says reporter Zack Beauchamp who spent a year investigating incels.

Ever since Sri Lanka was hit by eight coordinated bomb blasts, there have been questions about who could be behind an act of terrorism that targeted churches and hotels and left more than 320 people dead. And while a local group was initially blamed, ISIS is now claiming responsibility. Sri Lanka's Prime Minister says there is some evidence linking the attacks to ISIS. Today on Front Burner, Amar Amarasingam, senior research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, breaks down what led up to this attack and explains why he fears that local divisions have been exploited by forces outside Sri Lanka's borders.

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 800 people, and infected hundreds more. The crisis has worsened due to a local mistrust of the government and aid workers. Ebola treatment centres have been burned to the ground and many people are reluctant to see a doctor. Canadian doctor Vinh-Kim Nguyen tells us what he saw on a recent mission to the DRC for Doctors Without Borders.

Across Canada, there's never been a Green Party government federally or provincially. But on Tuesday, that could all change when people on Prince Edward Island cast their ballots. If the polls are right, the P.E.I. Green Party is out in front, beating out the ruling Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. Kerry Campbell is CBC's P.E.I. provincial affairs reporter. Today on Front Burner, he joins guest host J.P. Tasker to walk us through how a Scottish-Canadian dentist leading a party that's never won before? could end up the next Premier of P.E.I.

The Mueller Report identified a series of episodes involving Trump that the special counsel considered potential obstructions of justice. But Robert Mueller chose to not charge Trump with a crime. CBC's Washington correspondent Keith Boag walks us through the long-anticipated report.

On Monday, as Parisians and tourists watched in horror, a fire ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral, destroying much of the historic church and its famous spire. Despite worries that the church will never be the same, about a billion dollars has been raised to pay for extensive renovations of the landmark. Today on Front Burner, as France mourns, French historian Paul Cohen explains how Notre-Dame Cathedral survived centuries of change in its over 850 years of history.

Jason Kenney will be Alberta's next premier after leading the United Conservative Party to a majority government in the province.Today on Front Burner, CBC Calgary's Allison Dempster breaks down last night's election results, and Maclean's Paul Wells shares a deep look at Jason Kenney's career so far, and how he came to be a driving force behind conservative political ideas in this country.

Today on Front Burner, former Conservative leader Rona Ambrose on why she thinks her bill on judges sexual assault training must pass, and soon.

HBO's Game of Thrones has just launched its eighth and final season. Since 2011, it has shaped everything from the way that television is broadcast to conversations about gender, politics, and power. Today on Front Burner, we break down the cultural significance of the show with Vox critic-at-large Todd VanDerWerff.

On Thursday, Julian Assange was arrested and taken out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Oscar winner Alex Gibney made a film about Assange in 2013, and talks to us about the Wikileaks founder's last few years.

Yet another Quebec government is proposing a bill designed to affirm the province's religious neutrality. The Coalition Avenir Quebec's Bill 21 seeks to ban public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols. Thousands of people have turned out in protest -- but the idea is popular amongst the province's francophone majority. CBC Montreal's Jonathan Montpetit explains the long fraught history of legislating secularism and reasonable accommodation in Quebec.

On Monday, NXIVM member and former Smallville actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty in a New York court to racketeering charges for her role in a cult-like group called NXIVM. Mack is one of several high-ranking NXIVM members who have been charged with manipulating women into becoming sex slaves for Keith Raniere, the group's leader, among other charges. Today on Front Burner, Josh Bloch, host of CBC podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, reports on what we've now learned about the secretive organization.

The Canadian government is considering regulating social media giants like Facebook. This comes after the release of a report by Canadians electronic spy agency, showing how Canadians are vulnerable to foreign interference in this upcoming election. Today on Front Burner, Roger McNamee, the author of "Zucked: Waking up to the Facebook Catastrophe" explains how the business model of big tech is inseparable from its most negative effects.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been the Prime Minister of Israel for ten years. If he is re-elected and stays on in the job through the summer, he'll be longest serving Prime Minister in the country's history. But he faces a tough opponent in former military general Benny Gantz. Today on Front Burner, CBC's Derek Stoffel on Benjamin Netanyahu's political staying power.

For weeks, the song "Old Town Road" by rapper Lil Nas X had been climbing the country music charts. After Billboard disqualified the hit saying it wasn't "country" enough, there's been a big conversation about genre, authorship and race. Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone breaks it down.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was protested by dozens of young women with political aspirations who were visiting the House of Commons. This came just hours after expelling Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from caucus. It's just one example of the kind of frustration that's surrounded the SNC-Lavalin controversy. CBC opinion columnist Robyn Urback and freelance journalist Jen Gerson share their thoughts on that, and what it means for Canadians' expectations of government.

This week a new federal carbon tax on fossil fuels came into effect in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. These are all provinces that took a hard pass at creating their own version of a carbon pricing plan that would meet the Liberal government's standards. They're being called "The Holdouts". Today on Front Burner, CBC's J.P. Tasker walks us through how each province proposes to fight climate change without a carbon tax.

In this season of Uncover: The Village, reporter Justin Ling reveals the history of unsolved murder and missing persons cases in Toronto's gay village.

CBC Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos breaks down the secretly-recorded phone call between former Attorney-General Jody Wilson-Raybould and former Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick - as the SNC-Lavalin controversy grows.

Since the writ dropped in Alberta, two candidates have resigned from the United Conservative Party over Islamaphobic, white supremacist, homophobic and transphobic messages on social media. This is only the latest controversy for the party. The Jason Kenney campaign has been accused of supporting a 'kamikaze candidate' to help him win the leadership race in 2017, and the RCMP is looking into allegations of voter fraud. Maclean's Alberta correspondent Jason Markusoff says the scandals may not prevent Jason Kenney from winning the premiership. "This is an economically anxious province," says Markusoff. "Albertans are frustrated and anxious, they're looking for some change to make to liberate themselves from the status quo."

When Edward Snowden showed up at her door, Vanessa Rodel had no idea who he was. Then she saw his face of the front page of the newspaper. Rodel and her daughter have just arrived in Canada as privately sponsored refugees. Vanessa tells the story of how she hid Snowden, who at the time was the subject of an international manhunt for leaking top secret information that exposed a global US spy program. She also talks about the price she paid to help him.

After the merger of Disney and Fox, one movie studio controls almost 40% of the box office. The merger puts Disney in a position to compete with big tech companies like Netflix and Apple in the streaming game. But is it good for moviegoers and TV watchers? Film critic David Sims says 'bigness' can lead to bad outcomes for less profitable content like local news and art movies, but will increase our diet of superhero blockbusters. "It seems that these companies that have always existed in the movie business are looking at this industry and saying, we can only make a few kinds of movies anymore that can make money," says Sims.

In 1982 a brutal massacre in a small farming community during the Guatemalan civil war left over 160 men, women and children dead. Over thirty years later, one of the men responsible for the horrific murders has been sentenced to more than 5000 years in prison by a Guatemalan Court. His name is Santos López Alonzo. Today on Front Burner, CBC's Nahlah Ayed explains how a little boy that Santos López kidnapped from the village after the massacre? would one day grow up and help put him behind bars.

A summary of Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 election is out. CBC Washington correspondent Keith Boag breaks down what we know so far, and the implications for the Trump administration.

The Christchurch mosque shooter formed his radical views online. Today, an examination of how far right communities spread their toxic messages on the Internet and how they use YouTube to do it.

This week's federal budget laid some initial groundwork for the possibility of a national pharmacare plan in Canada. But with a contentious election year ahead, there are still plenty of questions around how a strategy could be implemented. Today on Front Burner, Globe and Mail health reporter Kelly Grant explains how the pharmacare debate is unfolding and what we can expect from the Liberals in the coming year.

CBC Washington reporter Lyndsay Duncombe guides us through the growing list of Democratic presidential candidates vying to run in 2020.

Rachel Notley is expected to declare the date of the provincial election any day now. And within a matter of weeks, voters will cast their ballots to pick the next provincial government of Alberta. At the same time, one of the key parties in this race, the United Conservative Party, is at the center of a mounting political scandal. There are allegations that during the party's leadership race, Jason Kenney's campaign engaged in illegal practices. Over the weekend, Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell, investigative journalists at CBC Edmonton, reported on a cache of documents that show collaboration between Jason Kenney's campaign team and the campaign team for another candidate, Jeff Callaway. Today on Front Burner, Charles Rusnell breaks it down.

Mass shootings at two mosques on Friday evening in Christchurch, New Zealand, were felt around the globe. We hear from Adrienne Arsenault, who is in Christchurch. And from Stephanie Carvin, a former analyst for CSIS, on the steady rise of far-right extremism in Canada.

A few months ago we did an episode on Brexit. We talked about how the whole Brexit process has been a mess. Well, it's still a mess. This week there were three votes in the UK parliament. First, MPs voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's new Brexit deal with the EU. Then they said no to leaving the European Union without a deal in place. Then they voted to delay making a decision. Today on Front Burner, CBC's London reporter Thomas Daigle breaks down what is going on and what is at stake for the United Kingdom.

Canada has some of the most expensive cell phone plans in the developed world. It has to do, in part, with access to the country's wireless spectrum. As another round of wireless spectrum gets auctioned by the Canadian government, CBC National Business Correspondent Peter Armstrong helps us understand why cell phone plans are so expensive, and what can be done about it.

A growing list of countries have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 following a crash that killed 157 people, including 18 Canadians. Not even six months ago the same type of airplane plunged into the Java sea near Indonesia. Today on Front Burner, an aviation expert explains the mounting concerns over this Boeing model and CBC's Susan Ormiston reports from the Ethiopian crash site.

Reporter Alex Posadzki on how the death of a Canadian cryptocurrency entrepreneur has caused the disappearance of about $180-million in digital currency.

We've heard from the key players in the SNC-Lavalin scandal. There's former Attorney-General Jody Wilson-Raybould, who said she was subjected to inappropriate pressure by the Prime Minister's office to intervene with the corruption case against engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. On the other side, Prime Minister Trudeau, his former principal secretary Gerry Butts and the Clerk of the Privy Council, all of whom say nothing outside the normal functioning of government happened. Today, we take a step back and navigate five lingering questions about the SNC-Lavalin scandal with CBC senior reporter David Cochrane.

This week, a major milestone in HIV/AIDS research made headlines worldwide. A man known as the "London Patient" has seemingly been "cured" after receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor with an HIV-resistant genetic mutation. It's only the second time in history a procedure like this has been executed successfully. But while some doctors are inspired by this week's breakthrough, others are more cautious in their optimism. Today on Front Burner, we track the historical battle against the virus and what it means for future progress with help from Canada Research Chair in HIV Pathogenesis and Viral Control, Eric Arts.

In his much anticipated testimony Gerald Butts, the Prime Minister's former principal secretary, laid out a counter-narrative to the allegations of political interference in the SNC-Lavalin case.

On Monday, Chinese authorities accused two Canadians who have been detained since December of being spies. This news comes as Canada proceeds with a U.S. extradition request for Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou. But this isn't the first time Canadians have been caught in the middle of an escalating diplomatic dispute with China. Kevin and Julia Garratt know what it's like to live in Chinese custody under suspicion of espionage. Today on Front Burner, they describe what happened to them and share what they learned about China's judicial system during their two-year ordeal.

"It's something we'll have to grapple with in an ongoing way," says Slate music critic Carl Wilson about the challenge of coming to terms with the sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson in the HBO documentary "Leaving Neverland". He, along with Exclaim! magazine contributor A. Harmony, talk to host Jayme Poisson about what that might mean for Jackson's legacy as a pop music icon.

Reporter Nahlah Ayed discovered a private group chat where women are helping each other flee repressive regimes

The relationship between India and Pakistan has historically been troubled, but this week, tensions escalated with both countries launching airstrikes against one another. "There's of course the larger significance of these two countries being nuclear states," says UBC professor M.V. Ramana, an expert on nuclear energy in India. He traces the historical conflict between India and Pakistan, and sets up what's at stake globally.