The Big Story

Asked to picture the hottest economy in the country, your mind goes to one of two places—the skyscrapers of Toronto's financial district, or the oil fields and towns of Alberta. But not this time. Over the past couple of years, and particularly since this February, global events have made certain industries more precarious; certain commodities harder to easily obtain.And into that breach has stepped an unlikely winner, a province that is now pushing to figure out how to sustain its success for the next decade and beyond ...GUEST: Jason Childs, associate prof of economics, University of Regina We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Last week, the creative AI DALL-E opened to everyone wanting to use it. The program, which returns images based on text prompts provided by the user, has created mesmerizing tableaus from the gorgeous to the obscene, and it gets better all the time. But is this art? If not, why not? Creative AI is simply the most visible aspect of an AI revolution that has taken major steps over the past couple of years. But how does it work? What else can it be used for and ... ummm ... should we be concerned?GUEST: Stephen Marche, writer and cultural critic, has reported on Creative AI for The New Yorker and The Atlantic We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

As Canada's health-care system fails, more and more people will be willing to pay up to avoid the most overcrowded and underserviced parts of it. While no politician will come out in favour of privatizing health care, you do here a lot about "looking for innovative solutions"—which can often mean a second, paid tier.Is this a viable solution to some of the system's burden? Or is it the beginning of a downward spiral we need to be very careful about?GUEST: Natalie Mehra, Executive Director, Ontario Health Coalition We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Indigenous artists are some of the world's most talented, and their unique pieces are highly valued for their creativity and culture. Unless they're not unique at all. Fraud is a huge problem, particularly in tourist areas where visitors will often want to bring home a mask or carving, and will be sold a fake duplicate of an artist's original work.Today we'll meet a man who has taken on the thankless job of trying to fight back against the fraudsters, and make people aware of how to ethically purchase real Indigenous art.GUEST: Jason Hunt, artist specializing in traditional Kwagiulth carvings We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

As stretched as our health-care system is right now, it may be nothing compared to what will test it in the years to come. Even if we've handled the worst of Covid, and no new disease emerges, Canada still has to reckon with an aging population. And a new landmark study details just what we'll be grappling with.As our elders age, many of them will develop symptoms of early dementia. And thanks to a lack of resources, many of the early signs will go unnoticed or untreated. Eventually, these people will need a lot of care, and as things stand right now, we don't have the people, or the facilities, to provide it. So how long do we have and what should we do? Unlike Covid, this is a crisis we can clearly see coming. So are we going to meet it?GUEST: Dr. Brian Goldman, Host of The Dose, ER physician, author of the foreword for the landmark study We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

When Canadians can't get family doctors, walk-in clinics are backlogged and there are no nurses available to provide long-term care in homes or facilities, it doesn't take much for a patient to arrive at an emergency room as a last resort. But even there, they may not find help, unless they're willing to wait, and wait, and wait.A doctor who works in emergency rooms describes lines of ambulances, waiting but unable to drop off patients. Patients in chairs waiting for beds. And in the middle of it all, fewer doctors and nurses to care even for the critically ill patients that do make it to a bed. Emergency rooms were in trouble before the pandemic. Now they are about to collapse. But there are solutions, if we have the courage for them.GUEST: Dr. Kashif Pirzada, emergency room physician We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

If everyone in Canada had a family doctor, we could prevent hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits before they happen. But millions of Canadians don't have one, and can't find one. And as family doctors get older and retire, while the population continues to grow, this is only going to get worse.Why are family doctors in Canada an aging population? How can we attract more young doctors to take up family practices? And what kind of strain does it put on the system when millions of us have no first option when something is wrong, other than the local ER?GUEST: Dr. Alika Lafontaine, President of the Canadian Medical Association and rural anesthesiologist We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

(This is part one of a five-part series examining Canada's health care crisis. How we got here, what comes next, and what we can do about it.)Nurses are almost everyone's first point of contact with our health care system. And if you need extensive care, they will be your most reliable caregivers. But they're quitting. In droves. And without them, well, things like hospitals and long-term care facilities don't actually work.What's causing the mass exodus? What can we do to stop it? And what do people hoping to enter the nursing profession need to make an impact when they get here?GUEST: Natalie Stake-Doucet, former practicing nurse, Faculty Lecturer and PhD, Université de Montréal We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Polls show a lot of support among Canadians for reexamining, and perhaps even ending, our relationship with the monarchy. This is clearly an opportunity to do something. But what does that something actually entail? What would happen if Canada tried to reopen the Constitution to become a republic? If that's not feasible, what other steps could we take to distance ourselves from the royal family? And in 10 years, who will be on the Toonie?GUEST: Stephen Maher, journalist and author, writing in ipolitics.ca We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

In recent years many conservative politicians have catered to the more extreme parts of their base to get elected, only to find that once in power they are obliged to continue to serve them. In the CPC leadership race, Pierre Poilievre managed to peel support away from would-be PPC voters and others on the fringe.He needs these votes to beat Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in the next election. But the challenge he will face is harnessing their support without falling prey to their worst tendencies. Can he do it? How?GUEST: Justin Ling, investigative journalist, author of the Bug-Eyed and Shameless newsletter We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

As they choose a new leader and prepare for a looming 2023 election, Alberta's United Conservative Party is looking ... anything but. Never mind leadership hopefuls taking shots at one another, outgoing leader Jason Kenney is still premier and is openly deriding some of the proposals from his would-be successors.Meanwhile, Albertans care about the rising cost of living more than they do about picking yet another fight with Ottawa, so who among the UCP hopefuls is ready to help them, and how? And what is the leadership fight doing to the UCP's prospects in the next election, which will come no later than next May?GUEST: Jason Ribeiro, political commentator and doctoral researcher at the University of Calgary We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Three people, including a police officer, were killed. The gunman dies as well. The crimes stretched over three cities, five police agencies and hours of the middle of a day in Southern Ontario. But more than a week after the shooter was killed by police, there still isn't much to explain why this happened.What do we know about the victims and the suspect? Why would he begin his attack by ambushing a cop in a coffee shop? What will we learn in the weeks ahead? And, once again, without a proper trial, how much of what police do eventually discover will they share with the public and the media?GUEST: Wendy Gillis, crime and police reporter, Toronto Star (Read a minute-by-minute account of the shootings right here.) We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

As September begins, many companies are making a big push to bring their employees back to the office. But new data shows that employees are getting even more comfortable working from home, and are reporting improved mental health as a result. Meanwhile, the labour market favours workers, and employers are struggling to retain talent—which leaves them with little leverage when employees say they'd rather work remotely.So what happens now? Because one thing is becoming clear: If employers can't get their workers back at the start of a new school year, with no pandemic restrictions and office space begging to be used ... they're probably not coming back to the office, ever.GUEST: Vanmala Subramaniam, Future of Work reporter, The Globe and Mail We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Queen Elizabeth II is at rest, but history is moving forward. This weekend, hundreds of thousands will say their final goodbyes to the monarch. On Monday tens of millions around the world will watch her funeral, attended by royals, world leaders and other dignitaries. And then, sometime soon, the world will have to grapple with King Charles III, the legacy of the monarchy and what commonwealth countries like Canada want to do next...GUEST: Lisa LaFlamme has covered almost every major moment in the monarchy over the past 20-plus years. She joins The Big Story from London, where she is covering the Queen's death for CityNews. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

We learned earlier this summer just how vulnerable our connected services can be. It seems like the government did, too. With a new memorandum of understanding and revisions to the competition act, it looks as if the federal government is trying to stabilize what many consider an essential service. But will new regulations have any teeth? And how could it change what services Canadians receive, and how much they pay?GUEST: Vass Bednar, executive director of the Masters of Public Policy in Digital Society program at McMaster University We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

In less than a week, Ukrainian forces have regained more than 3000 square kilometres of territory occupied by Russia, and they plan to keep pushing. Videos show Russian tanks and ammunition left behind as soldiers flee. It's been an incredible offensive—but is it enough to turn the tide of this conflict? And what happens if Russia is humiliated in front of the world? What might Vladimir Putin do then?GUEST: Balkan Devlin, Senior Fellow at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

In the moment, details in a breaking story are hard to come by. So are context and understanding. But as we begin to learn the facts of what transpired last week in Saskatchewan, we start to know what questions still need to be answered.Even as reporters on the ground discover more about Myles Sanderson's possible motive, or his movements the day before the massacre, we're still trying to learn just how he ended up dead in police custody, what role, if any, his brother Damien played in the crimes... and most importantly, how the community can begin to heal, and what they need from us.GUEST: Jana Pruden, feature writer, The Globe and Mail We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Ever since Canada became a nation, we've been secretly worried about our friends to the south, just as we have been publicly supportive. Recent events in the United States have only exacerbated those concerns.So what do experts think Canada should be doing to prepare for the worst? What scenarios are we gaming out? Is this even a realistic fear? And if so ... what exactly do we think we can do about it?GUET: Ira Wells, writing in The Walrus We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

What happens in the halls of power when a monarch dies? Who will succeed Elizabeth? And what will this mean for the Royal family, and the commonwealth more generally? (This interview was recorded in 2019, and covers the protocol for the minutes, hours, days and weeks following the passing of the Queen. Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at the age of 96.)GUEST: Patricia Treble, Royal reporter at WriteRoyalty.com We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

There are the normal kinds of toxins that your body can break down over time. These are different. But they're still found in plenty of every day household items, fast food and even the water you drink. It's almost impossible to avoid them. The CDC in the United States has said they are a public health concern. But they're still being manufactured, right now, by massive companies.So what are they? Why do they stick around forever? Why are they still being made despite the fact we know they are harmful? And where, exactly, are they found and how can you best avoid them?GUEST: Benji Jones, environmental reporter, Vox We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

(As well as a note from The Big Story about covering breaking news.)On October 3, nearly everyone agrees that Premier Francois Legault and the CAQ will win another election. But after that, there's a lot in flux. The Parti Quebecois have shrunk to almost nothing, the Liberals are fighting to offer voters a vision ... and the Quebec Solidaire party has a progressive platform and an entirely different approach to sovereignty: Why should it only be for Quebec?Can they win over enough disgruntled CAQ voters to make it close? Will Quebec's younger voters come out in droves for a young leader who rose with them in university protests? And what does the future of La Belle Province look like?GUEST: Lisa Fitterman, writing in The Walrus We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

The weather's getting colder, the kids are back at school, people are returning to work, and that means we're probably going to see more Covid. How much more depends on things like the efficacy and uptake of the new Omicron-specific vaccine, and people's adherence to preventative measures. With little appetite for the reinstatement of lockdowns, school closures or mask mandates, it may now be incumbent on individuals to make good choices to protect themselves and their loved ones. So what does it mean that provincial governments seem to have unilaterally decided that the pandemic is over? Without freely available data on Covid cases and deaths, how will we even know the level of risk in the community? And with the increasing specificity of Covid vaccines, could this be the last back-to-school where we even need to ask these questions? GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist, and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at The University of Ottawa We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Every month or two, more Starbucks vote to unionize. In Canada, that fight is mostly spreading from west to east, with the first in Victoria, BC, and now others even in large Alberta cities. But why Starbucks? Why not Tim Horton's or McDonald's? What makes this coffee shop a good battleground for a labour movement that is gaining power?And how is Starbucks fighting back? Is service worker organizing inevitable, or can companies like Starbucks still halt the momentum?GUEST: Jeremy Appel, writing in Jacobin We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

They call it the "camel-toe toonie", and you will understand why as soon as you look at the front right paw of the polar bear on it. Since they were first discovered in circulation in 2020, estimates range from at least tens of thousands to likely millions of them reaching circulation.But who is behind it? How do you counterfeit toonies at scale and get them into the banking system? And ... why toonies?GUEST: Brent Mackie, creator of cameltoetoonies.ca, numismatist, treasurer of Waterloo Coin Society We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

When CPC leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre shook hands with Jeremy MacKenzie, a founder of the Diagolon movement, he likely had no idea who he was. But he soon found himself being asked to distance himself from the man. That's because although many in the movement will tell you that Diagolon is a joke, or a meme, the values it espouses are the opposite.But is it really a call for a new nation? Is it just a way to justify being a troll online? What is it, actually, out in the real world? And why are people who cover hate groups worried about it?GUEST: Peter Smith, investigative reporter, Canadian Anti-Hate Network We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's called the Default Prevention and Management Policy. And for decades it was used to take control of budgets and finances away from First Nations leaders, and put them in the hands of "default managers" appointed by the government to supposedly better manage a community’s finances.Now an expansive investigation has examined just what happened in those communities that had financial control taken away. And in the vast majority of them...things got worse. In some cases, much worse. The government promised in 2017 to replace this policy — so far, without much action. Why?GUEST: Patti Sonntag, investigative and data journalist, working with a large team for Canada's National Observer We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Many of Canada's politicians spent their weekend condemning the behaviour of a man who angrily confronted Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Alberta on Friday. The video, which includes screamed profanities as Freeland tries to board an elevator, went viral. But what Freeland experienced is just the tip of the iceberg.There's currently a targeted hate campaign aimed at female journalists, many of them racialized. The abuse and threats they are subjected to is unprintable. There are health care workers leaving the profession in droves, tired of constant harassment. Canada has a real problem on its hands, and asking ourselves "Is this really who we are?" isn't enough to solve it.GUEST: Fatima Syed, Vice President, Canadian Association of Journalists We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

HBO is really, really hoping that you streamed House of the Dragon last night. And Amazon is desperate for you to do the same with its Lord of the Rings prequel, Rings of Power, in September. These shows cost tens of millions of dollars per episode, at a time when the future of streaming platforms has never been cloudier.This year has seen layoffs, declining subscriber numbers for Netflix, a coming merger between HBOMax and Discovery+ and many other signs that after years of upward trends, the market is saturated. And what happens when the market saturates? Well, only the strongest survive. It's a plot that wouldn't look out of place on HBO on Sunday nights.GUEST: Brian Steinberg, Senior TV Editor, Variety We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's one of the most beautiful places in Canada. It's also on a list of Places To Visit Before They're Gone Forever. But if the people who refuse to give up on their homes and businesses have anything to say about it, even soil erosion from rising sea levels won't claim their islands.They're using everything from lobster traps to sea barriers, moving what needs to be moved, to prove that even in the middle of a climate crisis, humans are adaptable and creative enough to save the places they love.GUEST: Taras Grescoe, writing in Hakai magazine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Some United Kingdom supermarkets have done away with 'best before' dates on most of their products. Others are planning to follow their lead. Research shows that best before dates lead to food waste, as still-edible items are frequently tossed in the trash. And with food inflation making waste more costly, it seems like an idea worth considering...So a new survey asked Canadians just that. Would they buy products without best before dates? Which ones? Do they ever consume products past those dates? The results illustrate Canada's culture of food safety, but also the hypocrisy in some of our food decisions.(You can find the full survey right here.)GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

You've seen the little buttons right next to your 'checkout' box when you're shopping online. Would you like to break this payment up into four or six instalments, with no interest? With no interest? It's tempting! As online shopping skyrocketed during the pandemic, so did the new way to buy now and pay later, with companies like PayBright or Sezzle receiving increasing amounts of business. But what's the catch? Why offer no-interest loans? What do you need to know about how this business works, and what's coming next?GUEST: Kelsey Rolfe, writing in Canadian Business We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's a conversation nobody wants to have with aging loved ones. But right now Canada's Long-Term Care Facilities are struggling. They are crowded, conditions can be awful, and at least in Ontario seniors waiting in hospitals for beds can now be moved far from their families. It's urgent.When we talk to older family members, they often say, "Just don't put me in a home." But unfortunately, in Canada's current system, that's the default. If we can't have honest conversations with our loved ones, we can't take our demands to the government effectively. If we really love our elders, we need to start speaking up, loudly.GUEST: André Picard, Health reporter and columnist, The Globe and Mail, author of Neglected No More. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Peacocks look beautiful. They sound horrible. They're unique and special and can bring some whimsy to a town. They're a nuisance, and they damage property, chase cars and ruin gardens. This is the story of a peacock named Pearl, who made a town fall in love with her, until she started having more chicks....GUEST: Lyndsie Bourgon, writing in The WalrusCORRECTION: In this episode, Okanagan Lake is erroneously referred to as "Lake Kelowna". We apologize for the error. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's no longer a question of if our comfortable lives will change as the climate does over the next few decades. The questions are how much will they change, and where will they change the least?People with lots of money are already buying property in places they believe will be safe from disaster. You can Google "Best places to live in climate crisis" and find a lot of listicles. But very few of us have the money to buy everything we'll need, or move across the world. So how can you prepare for whatever comes next in the safest and most sensible way possible?GUEST: Alex Steffen, climate futurist, author of The Snap Forward We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Early in the pandemic, nothing had to be perfect, governments just needed solutions. And Canada's developed the ArriveCAN app to help process returning Canadians and incoming foreigners, to ensure their compliance with what were then very strict Covid protocols. It might have been messy, but it sure seemed necessary.Today, most of those protocols no longer exist. But ArriveCAN is still going strong. In fact, the government recently expanded the app to help modernize the border process. Which is fine...for those who want to use it. But why is it still mandatory? What do we know about the data it collects and what is done with it? And what's the danger of a government requiring citizens to use a piece of digital technology?GUEST: Bianca Wylie, technology expert, partner at Digital Public, co-founder of Tech Reset Canada We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

The former US President once said he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and his supporters would never waver. After a week in which it was revealed that his Florida property was searched by the FBI in an ongoing investigation related to classified documents—including some pertaining to nuclear weapons—that statement looks prophetic. Trump's base and the Republican party have rallied around him, with escalating threats of violence against the departments conducting the investigation.But it does seem like the FBI and DOJ may be closing in. So what happens now? How far are we from an indictment, if one ever comes? Could a former president actually find himself under arrest? And if it does happen, what mayhem will it spark in a country that feels like a political powder keg?GUEST: Aaron Rupar, independent political and policy journalist, author of Public Notice We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's tempting to see Romana Didulo and her followers as a big joke. No, she's not the "Queen of Canada", or the world, so have a laugh. Why not?The answer to that question was on display in Peterborough, Ontario this weekend, when her followers attempted to perform citizens' arrests on members of the police force. Of course it didn't work, but things very nearly got out of hand. And if there were more people there, it might have.In the meantime, her followers have lost money, homes and freedom following her various directives, and it's proving difficult to help them find reality once again.GUEST: Kurt Phillips, founder of and former lead writer for Anti-Racist Canada, board member at the Canadian anti-hate network We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

It seems like a problem half a world away that doesn't concern us. But it's not. Strict new targets for fertilizer emissions have Dutch farmers fighting back, saying they will be forced to close. Canada's targets are not nearly as aggressive, but they have been poorly explained and may be badly implemented, causing a lot of fear among Canadian farmers worried they won't be able to care for their crops.This fear is being preyed upon by some people, who would like to stoke anger against the government, and radicalize Canadians towards their ideology. Here's what you need to understand about the difference between the emissions targets, the fear of fertilizer restrictions and the bad actors taking advantage of it.GUEST: Kelvin Heppner, field editor for RealAgriculture, family farmer in Manitoba We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Kitsault was a mining town of 1,200 or so people in one of the most remote areas of British Columbia. It opened in 1981. It was empty by 1982. That was its first lifetime.Since then, however, something has happened to Kitsault. Unlike other abandoned towns, Kitsault has been maintained. First by the mining company, later by a private owner. So today it sits, almost perfectly preserved, ready for a small town's worth of people to show up and move in. Will they?GUEST: Justin McElroy, CBC reporter, personal Kitsault investigator We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

There's a lot of money in creating and patenting new drugs. Like, tens of billions of dollars. But the field is crowded, competitive and dominated by large pharmaceutical companies. So some new startups are looking elsewhere.For decades psychedelics have been illegal, taboo and largely considered the drugs of hippies. The past decade, though, has changed that, as psilocybin, ketamine and others have been increasingly used therapeutically. So now the race is on to create brand new psychedelics, that can be approved, patented and ... yup, marketed to you. Welcome to the psychedelic arms race.GUEST: John Semley, writer and researcher (Read John's piece in WIRED, right here.) We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Ontario's health minister wants regulators to figure out a way to expedite the licensing of internationally trained doctors and nurses to help staff the province's ICUs, ERs and long-term care facilities. She hasn't said much about how, but it's a first step.There are thousands of people who would like to work in the province's hospitals, but can't. It takes money, patience and years to become licensed. Why? Why have other countries figured this out but we can't?GUEST: Dr. Shafi Bhuiyan, assistant professor at the Dalla Lana school of Public Health, founder and board member of the Canadian Association of Global Health We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

The World Junior Championships begin today in Edmonton. And the summer date is not the reason they'll be different this year. The past few months have seen disturbing accusations of sexual assault against several members of two team Canadas — 2003 and 2018. Hockey Canada has spent decades of time and energy turning its world juniors into a Canadian myth, and lots of people have profited from that. These accusations, and revelations from Hockey Canada itself to a government committee have shattered that. Can it ever be put back together? And finally, why did it take so long to get here? It's not as though there haven't been plenty of warning signs ignored along the way...GUEST: Michael Grange, Sportsnet We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

When 40-year-old Amber Manthorne fails to show up to work on Friday, July 8th, 2022, her friends immediately believe something is wrong. At first, it is thought that Amber is with her boyfriend, Justin Hall, but then Justin surfaces days later, without Amber, leaving more questions than answers.In this episode, host Laura Palmer outlines the timeline of events surrounding Amber's disappearance and sits down with Amber's friend, and family spokesperson, Kristie St. Claire.Listen to the rest of the series here. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

We've known about fast radio bursts (or FRBs) for 15 years now. But nobody had seen one quite like this. A Canadian telescope detected an FRB that not only was much longer than usual, it had a distinct repeating pattern.We learn more and more about the universe every year, and we're finding more and more things we can't quite understand. What are FRBs? Why was this one so special? And what's at the end of the discovery trail?GUEST Marina Koren science writer, The Atlantic We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

You may have missed the final Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate Wednesday night. No worries! Pierre Poilievre missed it, too. The frontrunner has such a huge lead according to every report, that he had nothing to gain by attending.How did this race go from competitive to ... not? Will Poilievre be different as CPC leader than he was as a candidate? How will this change both the Conservative party and the landscape of the next election, whenever that is?GUEST: David Moscrop, political analyst, columnist, author of Too Dumb For Democracy We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

A seminal 2006 research paper on Alzheimer's has been cited more than 2000 times over the past decade and a half. Its conclusions have informed much of the direction the field has taken since then. And recently an investigation concluded that critical images in the paper may well have been fabricated.Alzheimer's is already something of a mystery of a disease. We know so little about it. And now it appears we may not even know what we thought we knew. What happened? And what does it mean for so many years of work by so many doctors and scientists?GUEST: Charles Piller, investigative journalist, Science Magazine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Now that the Pope has left Canada, it's worth looking at what he's leaving behind. It's complicated. Was the Papal Apology a sincere expression of regret and compassion and a promise to do better? Or was it checking off call to action #58 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list?Will his visit help to heal the pain of survivors and the grief of their families? Or will it be seen as an unsatisfying end to a story that once hoped for so much more real change? Or ... both? What needs to come from this historic apology to make it meaningful?GUEST: Patty Krawec, Anishnaabe writer from Lac Seul First Nation, co-host of the podcast Medicine for the Resistance, and author of the upcoming book, Becoming Kin. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Even if you haven't been there, you've heard the stories. Every airport is troubled this summer, but Toronto's may literally be the worst in the world. While blame is passed from the federal government to the airlines to the airport authority and back again, one reporter decided to find out what was really behind the utter collapse of the complex systems that keep planes and passengers moving on time. It's not as simple as anyone would have you believe...GUEST: Richard Warnica, business feature writer at The Toronto Star We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

And how to listen to people you disagree with, so they'll listen to you.It feels like we're more stubborn than ever before. More likely to dig in our heels, refuse to listen to facts and in general hold tight to our positions no matter what. But is that true, or is that just a function of the new ways of communication that we're still learning to use?Regardless, if we can't figure out how to find solutions together, we may not have the time to figure it out. So the next time you're inclined to blow up at someone for believing in something dumb, or refusing to listen to reason, ask yourself if there's a better way to convince them.GUEST: David McRaney, author of How Minds Change We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

As the world continues to hope for the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of monkeypox a "global health emergency". But what makes this monkeypox virus different from ones that have been under control for decades?As numbers rise around the world and here in Canada, public health messaging needs to walk a fine line between informing the public of the realities of the outbreak, while not contributing to the stigma attached to an outbreak that appears to centre on men who have sex with men. Oh, and monkeypox won't be the last outbreak the globe has to worry about. If you're curious, look up the Marburg virus...GUEST: Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor in Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba, Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky