The Big Story

Western has always been known as a party school, and with that comes a culture that can lead to sexual violence. But this year's freshman orientation week ("O-week" as the school calls it) was horrifying even by that standard. Multiple accounts of sexual assault and violence are being investigated both by the school and the police. A fed-up student body led a 12,000-person walk out. And the administration has promised to take action and change the culture.How? What happened two weeks ago on campus? How inevitable was something like this? And did an influx of young students, who had spent most of the past 18 months in lockdown only to emerge on their own for the first time, lacking support, make this even worse?GUEST: Rebekah Rodrigues, news editor at the Western Gazette (You can read the Gazette's coverage 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

The province is suffering from an absolutely devastating fourth wave of Covid. Premier Jason Kenney was absent until it was too late to prevent the worst of it. Now, as hospitals blow past their capacity, Kenney is shuffling his cabinet and hoping vaccine passports can help right the ship. How did it come to this? What could have been done to prevent it? And will this cost the premier his job?GUEST: Jason Markusoff, Maclean's 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 Liberal minority government. Likely within a few seats of where we started, 37 days ago. Did this election matter? What did it reveal about Canada's political mood? About the health of our electoral system? And about the future of the two leaders who went head to head for the past six weeks? Turns out, more than you might think. GUEST: David Moscrop 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 was the shortest possible election Canada could have had — so why did it feel so long? Maybe because nobody really wanted it. As Canadians (at least those who haven't voted in advance) head to the polls today, we offer you a rapid recap of the highs and (mostly) lows of this campaign. If you have mercifully had other things to do all day, this will give you everything you need to know. If you have been paying attention this whole time, you will marvel at how long ago the beginning of a very short election feels...GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney 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 asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the climate crisis. This was our listeners' top issue, and it wasn't particularly close.For the first time in a federal election, every major party has a legitimate plan to deal with the climate crisis. But those plans are wildly different. Which plan is ambitious enough to be effective, but rational enough to be achievable? What do we know about the climate now that we didn't know in 2019? How much time do we have left to act, and where do our targets need to be to make a difference?GUEST: Fatima Syed, climate and environment reporter, The Narwhal Ontario 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 asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, truth and reconciliation. A few months ago, when news of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools was horrifying Canadians, it seemed unimaginable that dealing with Canada's legacy of racism and implementing meaningful reconciliation would not be a leading issue in the next election. Now here we are and ... is it?Every party has a plan to tackle the darkest element of Canada's history and culture — but what are those plans, and how do they sound to Indigenous people who have been promised so many things, and let down so many times? And speaking of that: How many boil-water advisories are still in effect, and why should any party that has held power in the past four decades be taken seriously on this issue while they remain?GUEST: Jaida Beaudin, Indigenous journalist, currently at the Waniska Research Centre 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 asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the economy. How far back from pre-COVID levels has Canada's economy come? What do the parties propose to take us the rest of the way? In a world as rapidly changing and volatile is the current one, should we worry about balancing the budget? Is childcare the most important economic investment? And who is best suited to watch over an economy in transition?GUEST: Ben Dachis, Director of Public Affairs for the C.D. Howe Institute 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 asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, health care. The pandemic has exposed what we thought were cracks in our health care system for the wide gaps they really are—does any party have a reasonable plan to fix it? What kind of leadership role can the federal government take in improving a system under massive pressure? Where does provincial jurisdiction end and how could a Prime Minister get around it—if they were committed to taking action?GUEST: Dr. Katharine Smart, President, Canadian Medical Association 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 asked our listeners what their key issues were in this election, and this week we'll tackle the top five. Every day we'll go deep on the major party platforms with an expert immersed in that field. Today, the housing crisis. By now it's more than a bubble, and the lack of affordable of housing has spread from cities to small towns and everywhere in between. Each of the parties claims they can solve this. Can they? How do they propose to do it? And does anyone have a real solution?GUEST: Mike Moffat, Senior Director, Smart Prosperity; Assistant Professor, Ivey Business School 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

Hate crimes have risen. Racialized Canadians have been attacked and killed. Angry protests follow the Prime Minister around the country and have come close to turning violent. Protesters scream at healthcare workers outside hospitals and, as if to quantify this anecdotal evidence, Maxime Bernier's People's Party rises in the polls—with one recent survey putting the PPC at nine percent support.Where did this anger and hate come from? How has it grown? And what is there in the platforms of the major parties that could do something about it?GUEST: Evan Balgord, investigative journalist, executive director of 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

What agents are selling around the world is the value of a Canadian education—and people are buying in droves, especially in places like Punjab, India. But they're not buying it for the value of the degree. Many international students have families who sacrifice everything to get their children into a Canadian post-secondary institution because it is seen as a pathway to permanent residency and a better life. And for some students it is—but only for some of them.Is this an ethical system? Is it regulated—and by whom? Who helps these young people and makes sure they don’t fall through the cracks? What happens to them when they do?GUEST: Nicholas Hune-Brown 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 secret that our elders were the people hit hardest by COVID-19, but all the pandemic did was shine a deadly light on a system that has been broken for years. Canada's population is aging. Our long-term care facilities are passable at best, and we don't have enough of them. And we're staring down a critical labour shortage among caregivers. So does any party have a plan for this? And are any of them realistic?GUEST: André Picard, Health 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

You thought you were helping someone when you put that bag of old clothes in a donation bin. But you probably didn't. A striking number of clothes donated in Canada and other wealthy countries end up clogging landfills in African nations. While a good suit or jacket might make a real difference to someone who needs one, the vast majority of donated clothes are cheap, fast fashion — and often totally unwearable. And the rise of disposable clothes has swamped the system, turning a process once intended to help into one fraught with inequality and pollution.GUEST: Linton Besser, Australian Broadcasting Corporation 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 week, Hurricane Ida rampaged through the gulf coast, leaving power grids and water lines strewn in its wake, and when it reached New York it caused massive flooding that has already resulted in at least two dozen deaths. Most North American cities — including Canada's — simply weren't built for the weather extremes we're now facing with regularity. And even 'safer' cities like Toronto and New York are now seeing massive floods. Can we adapt cities to handle this weather? What will it cost and do we have the will to do it?GUEST: Alex Steffen, The Nearly Now 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

For more than a year, protesters have been keeping industry away from old-growth forest on this site, and for months there have been RCMP on the scene attempting to remove them. But the story of Fairy Creek is about much more than just police against Indigenous protesters. What's really at stake as the police up their aggressiveness to attempt to clear the site, and why should all Canadians be watching closely?GUEST: Jerome Turner 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

Sunny Ways aren't going to work for Trudeau and the Liberals any longer. People are tired and angry and wondering why we're even having an election right now. Trudeau is being confronted at rallies and the Conservatives have pulled even in the polls. So what can he run on this time? Will calm leadership and a caring attitude in a crisis convince Canadians that he's the guy to look out for them when things get tough? Or has he squandered too much of his electoral goodwill?GUEST: Max Fawcett, political columnist at the National Observer(This is the third in a series of episodes examining how the major party leaders could each become Prime Minister.) 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 seemed in the spring that kids under 12 might have a chance at getting vaccinated before school started. But that didn't happen, and it turns out the timeline is still in flux even now. What changed? And is there any chance of shots before November?Meanwhile, can we still convince Canadians who are eligible but haven't been vaccinated to get their shots? Or have opinions hardened by now? And will you be getting a booster while the rest of the world waits for their first shots?GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist 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

Julian Uzielli has struggled with chronic depression for years. Like many people with mental health issues, his symptoms were exacerbated by the pandemic, and his condition eventually deteriorated to the point where he was forced to take a leave of absence from his job.Therapist appointments and regular antidepressant medications were doing little to alleviate Julian's despondency, so he began looking into alternative treatments. During his research he encountered a clinic in Toronto called Field Trip Health, who offer a service called "ketamine-assisted therapy." Having exhausted all his other options, Julian decided to give it a go, and a few months later he's feeling better than he ever has.So what is ketamine? How accessible is it to Canadian's who feel like they could benefit from its use? Could this be the miracle drug that sufferers with treatment-resistant depression have been waiting for? 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 first couple of weeks of the campaign have gone very well for the Conservative leader. He's closed a gap in the polls to a sliver, and introduced himself to Canadians who didn't really know him at all. But now comes the hard part. In the coming weeks, as more Canadians begin to follow the race, O'Toole will have to define himself in the face of Liberal attempts to define him. He'll have to weather the storm of attacks that are sure to come from his opponents after labour day and he'll have to do it while keeping his base firmly in line. If he can do all that, it seems like he's got a real shot. Can he? And if so, how?GUEST: Stephen Maher, reporter and political commentator; contributing editor at Maclean's 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

'Conscience rights' are what allow health professionals to refuse to provide treatment that goes against their morals or religion. In the past this has mostly meant abortion. But recently it's been applied to medically assisted death as well. And with a vague statement in the party platform, the Conservatives handed the Liberals a wedge issue, but also potentially did much more.Could a debate over how conscience rights are applied across the country, and who is allowed to refuse what to whom force the CPC to confront the difference between its leader's support for LGBTQ2S+ Canadians and the conservative base that has advocated for anti-LGBTQ2S+ policy?GUEST: Justin Ling, writing for Maclean's 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

After a poor showing in the 2019 election campaign—his first as NDP leader—there were questions about if Jagmeet Singh would keep his job long enough to get a second try. He has, and so far the results have been very different. What has to break right for the NDP to take aim at an upset victory? What assets do they have both in platform and personality? How should they be planning the next few weeks if they want to try to replicate the Liberals' underdog win of 2015?GUEST: Jen Gerson, The Line; Maclean's(This is the first in a series of episodes examining how the major party leaders could each become Prime Minister.) 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 years ago, cannabis stocks were the hottest things on the market. Weed was about to become legal in Canada and it seemed everyone was going to get rich in the process. Today, millions of grams sit untouched, going stale on shelves. Some of the industry's biggest names have gone through round after round of layoffs. And even now, almost half of the pot sold in Canada is on the black market. How did Canada's legal pot industry blow its opportunity?GUEST: Kieran Delamont, 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

Across the country kids are preparing to return to classrooms, and covid cases are climbing in the community. How did we manage to find ourselves in the same position this September as we did last year? What have we learned about kids and the virus since last September? How have we put that knowledge to use—or not?Is our health care system ready for a fall influx of sick kids? And what do parents need to know to keep their kids safe, and need to hear to keep their fear at bay?GUEST: Dr. Katharine Smart, paediatrician and president of the Canadian Medical Association 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 probably heard about it when it happened. It was called Project Endgame and it was a massive police bust on what they alleged was an illegal casino operating out of a 53-room mansion in Markham, Ontario. But even as the charges were being laid and the evidence put on display, something was already going sideways. Now almost a year later, the case is in tatters and police face misconduct allegations. What happened here?GUEST: Leah McLaren, reporting for Toronto Life 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 Liberal government with a big lead in the polls decides to call a snap election in the hope of securing more time in power. Then the polls start to tighten. And eventually ... it doesn't work out the way they hoped.Is the Progressive Conservative victory in Nova Scotia a sign that should worry the federal Liberals, as they try to do the same thing? How did the polls get this one wrong? And what can we learn about federal elections from provincial results?GUEST: Philippe J. Fournier, 338Canada.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

The promises and criticisms aren't going anywhere. Neither is the partisanship. But there's a whole lot of uncertainty about the first federal election of the pandemic era. What happens if Covid hits a campaign, or a community hosting a leader? How is Elections Canada adjusting its plans? And did you know you can vote right now if you don't want to deal with any of it?GUEST: Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill Reporter 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 millions of Canadians for whom the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban has been a shock. The images coming from the country right now are disturbing and will likely only get worse in the days and weeks to come.This war was the longest in Canada's history, featuring 12 years of military efforts. For America, it was two full decades. But now that the US has left the country, it's worth asking: If this is the result, why were we there? What were we doing? What did decades of death and trillions of dollars get the people of Afghanistan?GUEST: Stephen Saideman, Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University, author of Adapting in the Dust: Lessons Learned from Canada’s War in Afghanistan 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 August. It's hot. People are on vacation. Parents are preparing for back-to-school. There's a fourth wave of COVID-19 rising. A lot of forests are on fire. And Canadians are going to the polls. Why?Is this a power grab by the federal Liberals? Or is it a critical time for Canadians to make decisions about the future of their country in the face of multiple crises? Or ... both of those things?GUEST: David Moscrop 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

Food costs more. Employees aren't returning. Pandemic protocols are costly, but necessary. Indoor dining won't be full for some time yet. COVID-19 has altered the way restaurants survive and thrive — and it looks like there's no going back to the past, even after the pandemic ends. So what does the future of your local favourite look like?GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, And What Comes After. 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

At the height of the pandemic last year, top public health officials were openly hoping that COVID-19 meant the end of the handshake. Even if the greeting doesn't effectively transmit the coronavirus, it's a very effective way to pass on other bacteria. After 18 months of non-contact greetings, will society at large return to shaking hands in casual settings? Will you? And will it become another battleground in the culture war that has already politicized masks and vaccinations?GUEST: Daniel Dumas, Editor-at-Large, Esquire 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 latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-sponsored body that periodically releases a synthesis of current climate science, doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know or experience. The Earth is hotter than it's ever been. Sea levels are rising and causing more extreme weather events. The report is a big deal for making the one conclusion no one can ever question again: climate change is human-caused and is having a tremendous impact. That impact isn't just on our planet but on us humans: our health, safety and well-being are at stake. The report tells us what actions we can take to protect ourselves. So what do governments, industries and individual citizens need to do?Guest: Rick SmithGuest-host: Fatima Syed 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 weeks, as demands for a vaccine passport grow around the world, politicians are citing our rights to life, liberty and security as a reason to allow portions of our population to not be vaccinated. They say making vaccines mandatory will erode our rights, and nothing, not even a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, is worth that.We all have rights, but we also have a duty to keep each other safe. How do we do that?Guest: Emmett MacfarlaneGuest-host: Fatima Syed 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 Liberal government has released new pay equity legislation that goes into effect on August 31. The goal is to provide all employees in a few federally regulated sectors "equal pay for work of equal value" and thus finally end a gender pay gap that hasn't been narrowed in decades.Canadian women have been waiting for this for 50 years, while many other countries have already taken proactive measures to force companies to report and correct the gender pay gap. Is this a turning point? And will we finally succeed?Guest: Andrea GunrajGuest host: Fatima Syed 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

On November 28, 2020, a 24-year-old was arrested for installing a shunt—a wire that mimics the electrical signal of a train and causes oncoming trains to derail—along the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington. She is now facing 20 years in prison and terror charges. Reports suggest she was acting in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en movement fighting to stop the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.This is a form of radical and often dangerous act of protest that people are turning towards to demand change. Are these acts effective? And how far is too far?Guest: Hilary BeaumontGuest-host: Fatima Syed 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

After nine seasons as a Toronto Raptor, Kyle Lowry is leaving for a three-year, 90 million dollar contract with the Miami Heat. He led us to our first-ever championship and along the way become the heart and soul of an entire city and country — an honour awarded to few athletes.Who was the man behind the title? How did he shape the team? And how will they go on without him?Guest: Doug Smith, Toronto StarGuest-host: Fatima Syed 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 new study by RBC found the number of people who left their jobs in June tripled compared to the same month in 2020. RBC expects 125,000 people to retire in the second half of the year as baby boomers just opt out of the daily grind. Managers are worried and trying to keep people by offering all kinds of mental health and wellness benefits. But nothing’s working because we’re still not addressing the root causes of burnout. We need a new kind of corporate workplace that doesn’t make us feel this way. How do we do that?Guest: Karen K. HoGuest-host: Fatima Syed 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 weeks, there has been disastrous flooding in Europe, India, Arizona and in China. Summer temperatures have broken records from Canada to Pakistan. Toronto had the second worst air quality in the world because of wildfires in northern Ontario.Despite all this, we are still struggling to come to grips with the fact that we are living through a climate emergency. Why can't our brains process the reality in front of us? If seeing the effects of climate change in our own backyards doesn't make us take the threat seriously then what will? Is there anything anyone can say that will wake people up to the need for serious climate action?The first step might be to stop framing it as the end of the world.Guest: Alex Steffen, The Snap ForwardGuest Host: Fatima Syed 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 pandemic's darkest months, millions of us were looking for comfort and solace. And we found it in an unlikely comedy about an American football coach going to England to coach a soccer team. But Ted Lasso's success is more than a funny script and a great cast—it's a sign that we're searching for more than an anti-hero, and as the culture gets meaner, kindness is more in demand than ever before.Why Ted? Why now? What does it mean to celebrate a privileged white man in an authority position simply for ... being nice? Will the show's second season explore the complexity of its characters? Does Ted Lasso have a dark side?GUEST: Norm Wilner, NOW 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

When Canada's intelligence agency warns about threats from foreign powers in the expected fall election, it's easy to assume they're referring to the kind of online meddling the United States saw from Russia in 2016. But they're not.Or at least, that's not all they're worried about. The latest warning from CSIS covers what might be called 'old-school' interference. The basics of blackmail, bribery and threats. So how is Canada preparing, and what should we be worried about when it comes to our election security?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing Threats To Canada's National Security 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

Over the past few weeks, Toronto police have stormed into at least three park encampments where homeless people have been living. They've been met with protesters and journalists, and police have sometimes responded with violence.In the end, not many people have ended up in homes, and the city's reputation is in tatters. How long can Toronto sustain this strategy? What could the city do differently, if it's willing to admit to its past failures? And what should other places in Canada who face similar crises, learn from this?GUEST: Leilani Farha, global director of Make The Shift 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

Since the early days of the pandemic, experts have been warning about the stress constant emergency work places on medical professionals. And after more than a year on the front lines of the pandemic, Canada has a nursing crisis. Why are nurses walking away? Why can't we recruit more quickly? And what happens in the fall if we see another wave of covid without enough nurses to keep the system running? GUEST: Tim Guest, president of the Canadian Nurses Association 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

Masking has become second nature to most of us during the pandemic. But with the end cautiously in sight, how many of us will still cover up once we're no longer forced to? In eastern nations like Japan, masking in crowded public spaces in simply part of the culture — especially during flu season. Why hasn't that taken hold here, and how can masks continue to help us stay safe without remaining a battleground in the culture wars? GUEST: Dr. Mitsutoshi Horii, professor of Shumei University in Japan 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

Their last game in Toronto was in September of 2019. Since then, the Blue Jays have been on one of sports' longest odysseys—playing home games as the road team, then in Buffalo, then Florida and back to Buffalo again, waiting for permission to enter Canada.That finally changes next week as the team comes home on July 30. The exemption that allows them to do so is the result of months of back and forth between the team and the government. And it could provide an emotional boost for a country that needs one, and a team that could use a real home crowd behind it for a pennant race.GUEST: Shi Davidi, 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

Recent polls from across the spectrum show the Conservative Party of Canada struggling to mount a meaningful challenge to the Liberals in the next election—which seems to be fast approaching. More concerning than the low polling numbers is another statistic: The percentage of Canadians who would be willing to consider voting conservative. That’s at 41 percent, down seven points since 2019. The Conservative party’s current pool of voters is shrinking. Who are they losing, and why? What might bring them back into the fold? Are their other groups who might be drawn to a more centrist party and is the CPC willing to take the short-term pain of alienating a hard-right base to chase votes in the centre? GUEST: Max Fawcett 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 probably thrown something out when it was past the date on the package—even if it didn’t really seem like it had gone bad. Better safe than sorry, or as the campaign used to tell us, “When in doubt, throw it out.” But best before dates are not the same as expiry dates, and this misunderstanding is behind millions of kilograms of food wasted every year. Where did best before dates come from and what was their initial intention? Why does everything have a best before date now, even things like candy or chips … or water? How can we reverse decades of conditioning and teach people to use common sense and good judgement, rather than an arbitrary date, to determine when to toss otherwise edible food? GUEST: Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest 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 public is currently being told to venture into the crown jewel of Vancouver’s park system “at their own risk” as dozens of people, including a two-year-old child, have been attacked by wild coyotes this year. And Stanley Park is not the only green space in Canada dealing with the newly-aggressive animals attacking human visitors. Something seems to have shifted in the way coyotes and humans are usually able to coexist in places like this, but what? How should cities deal with these animals? Are there options besides extermination? If given enough time, will the coyotes’ behaviour revert to form? And what will become of these parks if it doesn’t? GUEST: Colleen Cassady St. Clair, Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Alberta 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, retired general Jonathan Vance, former chief of the defence staff, was charged with obstruction of justice related to an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. That sounds like a shocking piece of news, but really it was an almost inevitable conclusion of the latest scandal that put Canada’s military justice system, or lack thereof, on the front pages. This has been a story for decades now, and various governments and the armed forces have frequently vowed to fix it. Committees are formed. Reports are written. Recommendations are made. And then we end up here. Again. Why? GUEST: Marie-Danielle Smith, Maclean’s 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

Most vaccines in Canada are administered by family doctors, so when Covid-19 vaccinations began to receive approval late in 2020, those physicians got ready to roll up their sleeves and dive in. But the call never came. While a few pilot projects let a relative handful of doctor’s offices receiving doses, the vast majority of family physicians were left out. And now that Canada’s vaccine uptake has plateaued and begun to decline, those doctors could be the key to reaching the holdouts. They want to leverage their relationships with patients to get results that mass clinics can’t. Will provincial governments let them into the game? GUEST: Dr. Elizabeth Muggah, President, Ontario College of Family Physicians 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

On Friday Canada’s largest province enters stage three of reopening—by far the biggest move since early this year, before the third wave of Covid-19 hit. Other places around the world have had varying degrees of success as they’ve come out of restrictions, but perhaps the best example to reassure anxious Canadians is out west, where Alberta has been almost back to normal for two weeks now, and—so far!—there has been no cause for concern. Is this really what back to normal feels like? What’s it like to realize you can remove your mask indoors if you want to? And is there a plan if cases do start to climb again? GUEST: Darcy Ropchan, video journalist, CityNews Edmonton 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 why were the police so focused on the 15-month old’s parents in the wake of his death? Nathaniel died in 2015, after sustaining a severe brain injury. And in the weeks and months and years to come, the investigation narrowed to his parents as the prime suspects. It was a preoccupation that, in hindsight, many observers thought was strange. But then a reporter started asking questions about the investigation, and what happened that day, and how police conducted their work … and weeks later a charge was laid. Not against Nathaniel’s parents, but his babysitter, who is facing one count of manslaughter. What happened to Nathaniel, and what went so wrong with the investigation into his death? GUEST: Kevin Donovan, Chief Investigative Reporter, Toronto Star (Read Kevin’s five-part investigation 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