Front Burner

FBI undercover agent Scott Payne’s job was to infiltrate the most dangerous gangs of our times: outlaw bikers, drug cartels and the international neo-Nazi networks hellbent on inciting a race war. He was taking down these groups from within. And Scott was good at it — people confided in him their most audacious plans for mass violence and domestic terrorism.In the second season of White Hot Hate, host Michelle Shephard gives you an unvarnished view of a life undercover. Because after a 28-year-long career pretending to be somebody else, Agent Payne is ready to tell his side of the story. This series was produced alongside a book co-written by Scott Payne and Michelle Shephard titled Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis.More episodes of White Hot Hate: Agent Pale Horse are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/tNLnXF

Canada may have dodged the worst of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, but it didn’t emerge unscathed.U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he is going ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on "all foreign-made" automobiles – a devastating blow for the Canadian auto sector, plunging it into uncertainty.Aaron Wherry, a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau, joins the show to discuss the fallout from Trump’s latest levies, how Canada’s political leaders are responding and what it all means for the final weeks of the campaign.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the culmination of countless speeches, tweets and campaign promises, U.S. president Donald Trump has finally unveiled sweeping tariffs on goods imported into the country — from nearly every country it does business with.He dubbed it "Liberation Day," calling it the start of a new era of economic independence for the United States, saying it will bring jobs and industry back to the country. But some economists say the tariffs will throw international trade into chaos, with unpredictable knock-on effects, and possibly even cause a worldwide recession.Eric Miller is an international trade consultant and president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. He breaks down everything we know so far about the tariffs, what they'll mean for Canada and whether the free trade era as we know it is over for good.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week one of the U.S.’s leading scholars and thinkers on fascism announced his intention to leave his country, which he said was “tilting toward authoritarian dictatorship.” Jason Stanley will be leaving Yale and taking up a post at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Stanley has been warning about the threat and rise of fascism in the United States since Donald Trump’s first term – his work notes the throughline between American Jim Crow and the Third Reich, fascism’s reliance on the identification of internal enemies, and why fascism rests upon the promise of restoring a mythic past. Stanley is a longtime professor and his latest book is titled ‘Erasing History, how fascists rewrite the past to control the future.’ He joins the show to discuss his decision to come to Canada as an academic refugee, and situate fascism in the broader continuum of American history.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As the Liberals ride strong, support for the NDP is collapsing. Most polls now show their support at less than 10 per cent — half of what it was just three months ago. Some data suggest they could lose three quarters of their seats in the house, and that they’re at risk of losing official party status.How did the New Democrats get here? Why hasn’t leader Jagmeet Singh been able to turn policy wins for the party into electoral success? And where do they go from here?Today we’re joined by two people who have been following the NDP for a long time. Jordan Leichnitz is a former NDP senior strategist, and David Moscrop is a political commentator.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Just over one week into the federal election campaign and there's lots to talk about. From Mark Carney's first call with Donald Trump, after which the U.S. President pulled a dramatic change in rhetoric about Canada, to infighting and chaos in the Conservative ranks.CBC's Chief Political correspondent Rosemary Barton breaks down week one of campaigning in this pivotal election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Across the world an anti-Tesla campaign has been growing since Elon Musk began his work dismantling U.S. government institutions, and meddling in other country’s democracies. The protests, dubbed “Trash Tesla,” are seeing regular folks and former customers selling their cars, dumping stock and picketing dealerships. Others are torching Tesla vehicles.As a result the U.S. attorney general says they’re looking into the incidents as potential domestic terrorism.Today on the show, Wired writer Carlton Reid is joining us to talk about his reporting on the Tesla backlash. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The federal election has only been officially underway since Sunday, and a few stories are dominating the headlines.Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are facing allegations of foreign interference, which has once again resurfaced questions about why Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre refuses to get his security clearance to be briefed on such issues.Liberal leader Mark Carney continues to face scrutiny for his time in the private sector, in particular his role at Brookfield Asset Management, which moved its headquarters from Toronto to New York during his tenure.Meanwhile, comments from Alberta premier Danielle Smith to American conservative media, as well as a continued cold shoulder from Ontario premier Doug Ford, raise the question of whether the country's two most prominent Conservative premiers are going to be bigger liabilities than assets for Poilievre in this campaign.Catherine Cullen and Jason Markusoff — the hosts of CBC's politics podcast House Party, which you can find here — break it all down.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a 2021 speech entitled ‘The Universities are the enemy,’ Vice President JD Vance laid out a plan for America’s universities saying in part “we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.”Columbia University has become ground zero for the Trump administration's war on higher education. Following a year of pro-Palestinian protest on campus, Trump revoked $400-million in funding and has instructed federal agents to oversee raids on campus, looking to deport international students and permanent residents that have been involved in protest. Joseph Howley is a professor at Columbia and joins the show to discuss the last year and a half on campus, at a time students are being hunted, and some feel the university has capitulated to the demands of a hostile government.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With the federal election underway, Pierre Poilievre’s political opponents have intensified their accusations that the Conservative leader is like U.S. President Trump.On Sunday, Liberal leader Mark Carney said that Poilievre mirrors Trump in language and intention, and that he followed the administration’s lead in proposing foreign aid cuts.For weeks now, the party has been putting out ads focusing on the similarities between Poilievre and Trump.NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said, also on Sunday, that Poilievre is endorsed by Elon Musk, who is leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.In a country where the majority of people have negative views of Trump, this start to the campaign likely wasn’t an ideal one for Poilievre and his team.CBC parliamentary bureau reporter J.P. Tasker, who’s currently on the campaign trail with the Conservatives, outlines Pierre Poilievre’s Trump problem, and what it might mean for the campaign moving forward.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With trust in journalism eroding, disinformation — once fringe — is now mainstream. Much of it is spreading on social media. Today’s guest says the online media environment in Canada is more fragile and vulnerable to manipulation than ever before. A dangerous situation at the best of times — even more so during an election.Taylor Owen is a professor at McGill University, the Chair in Media, Ethics and Communication, the founding Director of The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and principal investigator at the Media Ecosystem Observatory.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canadian pride reached a fever pitch after the NHL 4 Nations Cup last month and it hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down since. Sales of the Canadian flags are up. American liquor and beer have been pulled off the shelves in stores throughout the country. “Elbows Up”, a war cry and tribute to Gordie Howe’s signature defensive move, has been trending on social media. But in a country that, according to polls, saw declining national pride for decades, what is our national identity? And how do you build a forward-looking and also inclusive, patriotic society? We wade through the good, the bad and the ugly of Canadian patriotism with David Moscrop, a freelance journalist and political scientist, and Jeet Heer, author and national affairs correspondent at The Nation.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On August 9th and 10th of 1969, a series of brutal murders took place in Los Angeles. Seven people were killed, including actress Sharon Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski.Members of the Manson family, a kind of cult, were found guilty for the crimes. Manson and four of his followers were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death.The prosecutor at the time said that Manson wanted to start a race war and trigger the end of the world. For decades, that was how the story went.But a new film by legendary documentary filmmaker Errol Morris asks the audience to reconsider that. It's inspired by a book called "CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties" by journalist Tom O'Neill, which makes the case that Manson might have been connected to the CIA's mind control program, MK-Ultra.Errol Morris talks to host Jayme Poisson about "Chaos: The Manson Murders", unpacking the many theories about Charles Manson, and the culture of paranoia from that era of American history. The film is out on Netflix now.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Trump administration is continuing to expand its mass deportation of immigrants, and more and more people are getting caught up in its dragnet — from green card holders to Canadians, and even U.S. citizens. Court orders to block many of these actions are mounting, but the Trump administration is pushing back hard — going so far as pushing for the impeachment of a judge involved in one case.Today, we’re speaking to Arelis Hernandez, a border reporter for The Washington Post, for a look at what separates this from previous immigration crackdowns, and where this all might lead. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week Jayme had the opportunity to interview Nobel Prize winning economist, and former staffer and advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Joseph Stiglitz.Stiglitz also worked as the chief economist at the world bank, is a bestselling author many times over and remains one of the towering economic thinkers of our time. He has long been a sharp critic of neoliberalism, and trade policies like NAFTA that he believes privileged the rich and corporations, but disenfranchised workers. This was a wide ranging conversation and dealt with Trump's tariff war, the threats towards Canada and the recent arrest and attempt to deport a Columbia student who helped lead protests against Israel's war in Gaza last year. The conversation was recorded in front of an audience. It was part of a conference put on by McGill's Media Ecosystem Observatory and the Max Bell School of Public Policy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister. He wasted no time in appointing a new cabinet, getting rid of the carbon tax, and heading off on a diplomatic trip to Europe.Today, Rosemary Barton, CBC’s chief political correspondent, joins us to talk about what Carney’s first days in office indicate about his political priorities, how the Conservatives are responding, and when we might expect an election.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On October 25th, 2023, after weeks of Israeli bombardment on Gaza, Canadian novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad posted this on X:"One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this."Israel had declared war on Hamas after the Oct 7 attack. On top of the bombardment, there was a full siege in place – civilians in Gaza were cut off from water, electricity, and food. As Omar witnessed the destruction from afar, he kept track of how the war was being framed and talked about by Western media and governments. He spoke to host Jayme Poisson about how his frustration with all of that prompted, in part, his latest book: "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This".For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

There's been a flurry of news and uncertainty around tariffs and Canada-U.S. relations lately so we thought we'd open the floor to you in case you have any burning questions. Turns out a lot of you do!So, we took some of your questions to five incredible experts: Economist Armine Yalnizyan, CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta, energy economist Andrew Leach and Ottawa Citizen national security reporter David Pugliese. Together, with Jayme Poisson, they parse through your concerns and queries and do their best to make sense of this moment.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

By the end of Tuesday, day eight of the Canada-U.S. trade war, Ontario Premier Doug Ford had backed down on a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity going to the U.S. that was supposed to go into effect that day. It came after a "productive conversation" between Ford and U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who agreed to meet Ford on Thursday. Lutnick has been making the rounds on U.S. cable networks selling Trump's tariffs and ripping into Canada's response. He was also on the call last week between Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump, and has been in constant communication with Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc.So, who is Howard Lutnick? What kind of negotiator is he? What does he believe?Dan Alexander is a senior editor at Forbes Magazine. He recently wrote a profile on Lutnick titled "The most hated guy on Wall Street: the unspoken story around Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary".

As Canadians grapple with the ongoing threat of American tariffs, south of the U.S., Mexicans are dealing with the same thing. Today we look at the similarities and differences in the situations both countries are facing, the different ways our leaders are dealing with Trump, and the surprising impacts the tariff threat may be having in Mexico’s war on drugs.Elías Camhaji, a reporter with the newspaper El País based in Mexico City, joins us.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After a two-month race, the Liberal Party of Canada chose Mark Carney as its new leader on Sunday night. It was an overwhelming win – Carney won with 86 per cent of the vote. The Prime Minister-Designate is expected to be sworn in, in the coming days.Paul Wells has written about Canadian politics for decades. He also has a substack under his own name.He looks ahead to the challenges facing Carney. From figuring out the pros and cons of calling a federal election straight away, to not having a seat in Parliament, to arguably the most significant challenge of all: managing Canada’s response in a trade war with the U.S. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Donald Trump’s first four years in office were met with protest and obstruction — a popular movement which came to be known as ‘The Resistance.’ It featured a coalition that included members of the media, establishment Republicans, figures on the left, celebrities and business leaders. Forty days into his second term, many are wondering: what happened to ‘The Resistance.’ Franklin Foer is a staff writer at The Atlantic and joins us to discuss ‘Resistance Fatigue,’ the Trump administration’s plan to overwhelm the attention of the public, and whether people are, today, too overburdened to care.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two days after U.S. tariffs were imposed on Canada and Mexico, the trade war rages on. While an exemption has been made for three major automakers, President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau still appear to be at an impasse. As Ottawa imposes counter-tariffs and the provinces announce further retaliatory measures, what are levers can Canada pull on to get the Americans to walk back? Some of the biggest include our crude oil and wide range of critical minerals.Jonathon Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, joins us to talk about the latest on how talks are going between the two governments and why he thinks the U.S. won’t be able to hold out without Canadian resources for long. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

After months of back-and-forth, will-he-or-won’t-he, it’s officially on: U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods, and 10% on Canadian energy. Canada has hit back with tariffs of its own — which Trump says will cause further retaliation.CBC Washington correspondent Alexander Panetta joins us for a look at what happens now. Will measures from the federal government, or any of Canada’s premiers, make any difference? What are the offramps? And how long could this all last?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Humiliating the president of Ukraine in the Oval Office. Admonishing European leaders about migration and free speech. Voting alongside Russia against a UN resolution to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Withdrawing from the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council. They are all signs from the Trump administration that point to a massive shift in America’s foreign policy and alignment with the very “rules-based” international order the U.S. led after WWII.But how did the world order as we know it come to be? And if it comes to an end, what could the future look like? Dominic Sandbrook, co-host of The Rest is History, takes us through the last 70 years of global politics and how we got to this turning point. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Trump has been talking about wanting to gain control of Greenland, and expand American influence in the Arctic.It’s a region rich in minerals and oil. It’s also an important potential trade route being opened up by climate change.  The U.S. is reportedly in talks with Russia about possible collaboration on energy projects there.This has a lot of people in Canada – from Northern premiers, federal politicians, and members of Canada’s military – worried about our country’s sovereignty and security.David Pugliese is the longtime military and defence reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. He explains why the Arctic is both so valuable and vulnerable, whether the region’s sovereignty is at risk, and what Canada could do about it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As a child, Alex Kurzem faced a choice: be killed or join the killers.In the midst of the Second World War, he was separated from his family and taken in by a group of soldiers as one of their own. He was made a member of Hitler’s army – a toy soldier with his own rifle and miniature SS uniform.But what the soldiers didn’t know and what no one would know for decades: he was a Jewish boy masquerading as a Nazi to save his life.Alex lives with this false identity for so long, he no longer remembers who he was before – forgetting his parents’ faces, his birthday, his own name. But before he dies, Alex is determined to find the identity and family stolen from him during the Holocaust. This is the story Alex would tell the world decades later, but doubts quickly took hold and wouldn’t let go. Could a story so unbelievable be true? Or is this a con to profit from the Holocaust? Eighty years on, is it possible to uncover who Alex really is? Host Dan Goldberg unravels the true story.Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time.More episodes of Personally: Toy Soldier are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/PVBRcQ

SUVs and pickup trucks make up more than four out of every five new cars sold in the U.S., and in Canada, they represented 86 per cent of all vehicles sold in May of last year. Lots of these vehicles bill themselves as “safe,” but safe for who? The drivers and passengers? Or everyone else?David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a contributing writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab, has coined the term “car bloat” to describe the ever-expanding size of the average automobile. He joins the show to talk about the enormous problems these cars are causing, how they got to be so huge, and whether the trend will continue.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to end all future funding to South Africa claiming that in the country, “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” Trump went on to announce a new specialized refugee program which would facilitate the entry of White South Africans — Afrikaners — into the U.S., as a result of “government sponsored race-based discrimination.”It’s left many wondering exactly why Trump has taken up this new interest in South Africa? The answer to this may lie in a group of white billionaires and political insiders from apartheid-era South Africa that have embedded themselves within Donald Trump’s orbit, a group which includes the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, the billionaire Peter Thiel, Trump donor and official David Sacks, and well known South African golfer Gary Player. Chris McGreal is a journalist with The Guardian and a former South Africa correspondent with the paper through the final years of Apartheid. He joins the show to unpack the throughline connecting apartheid South Africa to the US today.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The four Liberal leadership candidates - Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis - had a chance to make their case to voters and challenge each other over two debates this week. The winner of the race will go on to be the next Prime Minister and will head directly into a tariff war with Donald Trump and an imminent federal election. But with so many points of agreement, did any of the four prove they were up to the task? Especially Carney, the front-runner?Aaron Wherry, senior writer at CBC’s Parliamentary Bureau, joins us to talk about the highlights and takeaways from the debates and what it all means for the race and election ahead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The world marked the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal full scale invasion on Monday.This milestone in the deadliest conflict Europe has seen since World War Two comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have moved closer to the Kremlin and sidelined Europe and Ukraine. A lot happened on Monday on multiple fronts, as rival leaders scrambled to try and shape the course of this pivotal moment in Ukraine and Europe’s history.Will there be a peace deal and what could it look like?Jayme Poisson speaks to Francis Farrell, a journalist for the Kyiv Independent, who’s been covering the conflict since 2022 including time spent reporting from the frontlines.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

People in Ontario will head to the polls on Thursday, in an election that was called more than a year ahead of schedule.Doug Ford, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party is on track to win a third mandate. He says he needs the province’s confidence to deal with U.S.President Trump’s tariffs. The latest from Abacus Data puts the Conservatives at 41 per cent of the vote share.CBC Queen’s Park reporter Mike Crawley talks to host Jayme Poisson about the campaign so far, including the fight that other parties have mounted on issues like health care, and why Doug Ford is holding a steady lead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday, shortly after two in the afternoon, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis was cleared to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport. As the plane touched down, its right wing hit the ground, sparking flames. Passengers on the flight described a scene of metal scraping against cement as the wing was ripped off and the aircraft rolled, flipping onto its back and skidding before coming to a stop in a cloud of smoke and fire.   This is just the latest in a string of high profile crashes over the last few months, and with stories of the sweeping changes to U.S. aviation regulators imposed by the Trump administration, travelers’ confidence in air travel has been shaken.Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani joins us today to discuss what we know about the crashes, the problems plaguing the aviation industry and whether flying is actually getting more dangerous. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It can be hard to truly understand the motivations behind Donald Trump and his administration. But when looking at some of the countries that have found themselves in his crosshairs, there’s a throughline that binds them. Canada, Greenland and Ukraine are all rich in critical mineral resources. These metals are used in everything from cell phones to EV batteries to fighter jets.As the global race to shore up critical minerals and challenge China’s dominance heats up, could that be one of the factors driving the U.S. as they challenge and antagonize other countries on the world stage? Jacob Lorinc, mining reporter at Bloomberg, joins us to talk about the critical minerals rush and why competing could be more complicated than it seems. 

Over just a few days, senior Trump officials declared that Ukraine should prepare to cede territory to Russia and that Europe is not likely to have a seat at the table during negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. They then closed the week with a history-making address by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at this year’s Munich Security Conference in which he appeared to threaten the future of the US-Europe partnership wholesale. Richard Walker is DW’s Chief International Editor, and joins the show to discuss the deteriorating Western front, its implications on world affairs, and why an American President would want to unravel 80 years of foreign policy on the European continent.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he’s serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state, with his deputy chief of staff saying Trump has made no concessions on the topic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that threat is “a real thing”.Trump says he’d use economic force to drag Canada under America’s boot. But he’s been less delicate about other places, saying he could use military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.Howard Coombs is director of the Queen’s Centre for International Defence Policy. He’s also a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces and deployed as a civilian counter-insurgency advisor in Afghanistan.He talks to Jayme Poisson about what a theoretical takeover of Canada by the U.S. could look like. One that could include tariffs, but also boots on the ground.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats on Canadian goods have forced a hard reset on just about every aspect of Canada-U.S. relations.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre responded to that on Saturday at his party’s “Canada First” rally, where he hoped to define himself and his campaign given this new political reality.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. David Coletto is CEO and founder of Abacus Data.They joined host Jayme Poisson to talk about how the Conservatives’ big event went, and the political challenges facing Poilievre, especially in light of the Liberal party’s bump in the polls.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, Parks Canada confirmed a dead goose in a Scarborough park tested positive for bird flu, raising concerns that with more birds flying north for spring, the virus will spread. Canada saw its first and only domestically-acquired human case in November, but in the U.S., at least 68 people have been reported infected in the last year, according to CDC data. One person has died from the illness. The poultry industries on both sides of the border have been grappling with the virus for years, and outbreaks have led to the culling of millions of birds in the last year. Now, the U.S. dairy industry is being impacted as herds of cattle in several states have fallen ill. Nicholas Florko, a staff writer with The Atlantic, joins the show to talk about the virus, how it’s spreading in the U.S. and why some people are worried that it could be the beginning of the next pandemic.

Following years of disillusionment with the federal Liberal party, some of Canada’s most high profile tech CEOs are leading a movement to bring their industry in line with the Conservative Party of Canada. According to new reporting, a collection of Canada’s tech CEOs have been discussing plans to influence Canada’s future in a WhatsApp group called ‘Build Canada’. Canada’s tech sector was once closely bound to the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but many feel slighted by a government they feel failed to take their concerns seriously.Catherine McIntyre is a reporter with The Logic, and joins us to discuss Canadian Tech’s rightward drift, whether it is a product of similar trends in the United States, and the implications for Canada’s future.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Even with the tariffs on U.S. goods mostly on pause for the rest of the month, many are still doing what they can to “Buy Canadian” and switch their buying habits away from anything American-made. But how do you actually go about doing that? And should it extend into our digital and media habits too?Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University's Master of Public Policy and Digital Society program and author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians, joins us to wade through the murky waters of navigating a trade war in a country that’s so intertwined with its neighbour to the south.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

 Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau promised U.S. President Donald Trump a crackdown on fentanyl and tougher border measures in exchange for a pause on tariffs. But what could that fentanyl crackdown actually look like — and will it make things better, or worse? And as the cultural and political backlash against harm reduction increases in Canada, how could this factor into an upcoming election?Today, we’re joined by Manisha Krishnan, an Emmy award-winning journalist covering North American drug policy, for a look at what this crackdown could mean for Canada.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the latest whiplash from the White House, U.S. President Trump told reporters on Sunday that he would announce 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported to the U.S. – including from Canada – on Monday.This, of course, comes a week after he decided to give Canada a 30-day reprieve from blanket and crippling tariffs on all exports to the U.S.This is an incredibly tense and chilling time for two countries that have been allies and trade partners for a long time. But the current fear and anger over the tariffs, and annexation talk aren’t new.Asa McKercher has been studying the Canada-U.S. relationship for years. He is the Hudson Chair in Canada-U.S. relations at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, and teaches at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Super Bowl is North America's biggest sports event, and sports betting's biggest weekend. U.S. legal sportsbooks are expected to generate over a billion dollars in bets as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs. Sports betting has exploded in the seven years since it was effectively legalized. Now, the industry has taken over, inundating fans with advertisements and partnering with star athletes, sports media companies and the leagues themselves.On today's show, we speak with Danny Funt, a Washington Post contributor and the author of Everybody Loses, to chart the real winners and losers in the rise of sports betting.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Elon Musk, head of the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ has gained access to the U.S. government’s federal payment system — the system responsible for the flow of over $6-trillion in payments to American families and businesses each year. This is a level of access into government apparatus that is unprecedented for a private citizen. Musk has used this power to declare war on, and interfere with, state agencies and organizations across the federal government. This includes USAID, the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, and the General Services Administration, among others. What are the implications of giving the richest man in the world — unelected by the public, unappointed by the President and the Senate, and unanswerable to Congress — this kind of authority and access to government? Waleed Shahid is a democratic strategist and former senior advisor and staffer for the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and he joins the show to discuss Musk’s power grab, and whether it can be fairly characterized as a ‘coup.’For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Many Canadians breathed a sigh of relief on Monday, after Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump agreed to pause tariffs for at least 30 days. But how permanent is this solution? And with the clock ticking on the Liberal leadership race, a prorogued parliament, and a looming federal election, will Canada’s domestic political chaos hamper our ability to respond if the fragile tariff peace doesn’t hold?Today Rosemary Barton, CBC’s Chief Political Correspondent, joins us to break down the government’s response so far, and the rocky road ahead.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Monday, after a long phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump put a pause on the tariffs that were supposed to come into effect the next day.The tariffs, 25 per cent on Canadian goods, and 10 per cent on Canadian energy products, have been delayed for at least 30 days. In return, Canada is implementing a billion dollar border plan, including 10,000 frontline personnel, and committing to appointing a fentanyl czar.Despite the reprieve, Trump has said little about what it would take to avoid the tariffs for good.CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta talks to guest host Jonathan Montpetit about why Trump keeps coming back to tariffs, and what his endgame might be with them.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government would hit back against the U.S. after President Donald Trump launched a trade war against Canada.Starting Tuesday, the U.S. is imposing 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy products in particular. In response, Trudeau said that the federal government would levy retaliatory 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of U.S. goods.CBC senior business reporter Peter Armstrong on the consequences of a Canada-U.S. trade war, and what these tariffs might mean for the average Canadian.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A body is pulled from the ocean, and a race against time to capture one of the world's most wanted criminals begins.Uncover: Sea of LIes is the story of a con man who couldn't stop lying. A tale of murder, stolen identities, fine art, a diaper bag stuffed with gold bars, and a crime solved by a Rolex watch. From rural Canada to coastal England, he lied and deceived at every turn.Award-winning podcaster Sam Mullins (Chameleon: Dr. Dante & Wild Boys) takes you inside the world of a devious scammer whose trail of destruction crosses continents and decades. So who is he? And how did this ruthless villain finally get unmasked? More episodes of Sea of Lies from Uncover are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/kP7LAY

It’s been nearly two weeks since a ceasefire brought more than 15 months of violence in Gaza to an end, and now, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are returning to the north, or what’s left of it.Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian freelance journalist, joins us to share what he has witnessed since becoming thrust into this role of war correspondent, how Palestinians are feeling about this fragile peace, and what comes next.Warning: this episode describes upsetting accounts of war and despair. Please take care while listening.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A small Chinese tech company called Deepseek has upended the world of AI.  Deepseek recently released a large language model that rivals ChatGP called R1 and it shot almost immediately to #1 on the app charts. The interesting thing about it is that the company built their model really cheap and that has called into question this narrative that you need an endless supply of chips and data centres and money to develop AI.On today’s show we’re speaking to WIRED’s senior tech writer Zeyi Yang about the deepening AI cold war between the US and China and the lingering questions about where AI is headed and what it’s good for?For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts