The Big Story

Remember when flour disappeared for a brief moment as we stocked up for the pandemic? It wasn't because we bought up all the flour in the world. Companies were just struggling to mill it, package it, and transport it to us as quickly as we were using it. Take King Arthur Flour, one of the oldest companies in the United States. It saw sales skyrocket by 2,000 per cent. When demand started to shoot up, their mills had the flour to replenish supply but had run out of packaging. So how did they cope? And will the unprecedented demand for flour continue in 2021? Guest: Meghan McCarron 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 February 2020, RCMP officers raided Wet’suwet’en camps along the route of the $6.6 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C that plans to transport natural gas through Indigenous territory. Police arrested dozens of Indigenous people, including seven matriarchs gathered to pray for missing and murdered Indigenous women, who refused to cede their land for development. The events led to protests of solidarity across the country but little has changed in the time since. So how do the people of Wet'suwet'en carry on? And what happens next in the clash between the oil and gas industry and Indigenous communities? Guest: Freda Huson 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 history of every Canadian city isn't always what we think it is. We stumble upon some of it, on plaques in parks or benches across our cities but a lot of it remains unknown, especially the contributions of Black Canadians. This is the story of Oakville, Ontario, a predominately white, affluent neighbourhood that was shaped by 400 Black people who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad in the mid 1800s. Through their entrepreneurial work, they shaped the city into what it is today. What other Canadian cities have similar unknown histories? And do we do enough to recognize those who really help create and shape the cities we live in? Guest: Genelle Levy 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 a breakaway from the pains of the pandemic, today we bring you the sappiest Canadian love story we could find. She was a master's student visiting London, searching for someone to see her favourite show with. He already had tickets. It was love at first sight. Ten months later they were engaged. Yes, the pandemic forced them to cancel their big 200-member transatlantic wedding, but a quiet elopement and a perfect first dance in their living room somehow made things even more special.Guests: Sharmin Rahman and Tom GoldsmithHost: 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

As new variants of Covid-19 spread around the world, we're all a little worried about the strength of our masks. New guidelines are now emerging from various health agencies around the world recommending that everyone should double-mask: that's a cloth mask over a medical mask. So how do we best do that? Is it a sure-fire way to keep us safe from the aerosol transmission of Covid-19? What's the difference between a mask and a respirator? And how can we know if the masks we’re buying are the real deal or counterfeit products? Guest: Dr. Jennifer McDonald 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

Earlier this month, Toronto City Council approved a plan to build its own high-speed broadband network. It’s an ambitious idea that will be tried out in three low-income neighbourhoods. The goal: to combat rising internet prices at a time when access to a good internet connection is becoming an essential need. Will it work? Guest: Vass Bednar 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 June 2020, Canada established its COVID-19 vaccine task force. The federal government recruited 11 vaccine and infectious disease experts from across the country. The task force helped make more purchasing agreements than any other country in the world, but along the way they also learned the missteps we took in our vaccine strategy. Yesterday we looked at how the Canadian government scrambled to secure millions of vaccines. Today we ask what could Canada have done to get vaccines more quickly? Guest: Dr. Alan Bernstein 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

Canada's efforts to secure vaccines started with a phone call between a trade commissioner in Boston and a senior member of Moderna. In the weeks and months that followed, the federal government has scrambled to secure the most doses per person than any other country in the world. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured us the vaccines are coming, but they're not coming as quickly as we expected. Is this another government failure? Or is this, like the pandemic, just another extremely complicated thing out of our control? Guest: Nick Taylor-Vaisey, 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

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Ryerson's school of journalism emailed students asking how to improve their program. Students responded by creating a petition demanding a Black-Canadian reporting course; over 3,000 people signed in mere hours of its release. It was the first course of its kind but will definitely not be the last. Black educators are hoping the summer of racial reckoning will mean that Canadian youth will learn about a history that has long been ignored. Guest: Eternity Martis Guest 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

Over the past several years, vulnerable men have been disappearing from communities around Vancouver Island. They walk away, and then they are never seen again. Are they running? Have they gotten lost, and perished in the woods? Is there something more sinister happening? The host of Island Crime: Gone Boys, which launches on Monday, has spent months investigating the case, speaking to the families, authorities and experts in criminology. What did she find? What happens next? GUEST: Laura Palmer, host of Island Crime (You can hear the trailer and subscribe for free to S2 of Island Crime 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

It could be a sign of the oncoming resource apocalypse. It could be a useful tool to determine the market value of regional water reserves. It could just be an experiment that goes no further than a small part of California. Or it could be the first domino to fall on the march towards commodifying the basics of life. Either way, water futures are now being traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. And as one of the most water-rich countries on the planet, it's critical that Canada is paying attention. GUEST: Diane Dupont, Economics Professor, Brock University; co-author of Running Through Our Fingers: How Canada Fails to Capture the Value of its Top Asset. 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

One of Joe Biden’s first actions as President of the United States was to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. And one of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s first reactions to Biden taking office was to get really mad about that. Alberta had a lot of money invested in this pipeline being built. They were counting on it for a lot of jobs. It’s no wonder Kenney was angry. But, considering that the Premier of a Canadian province’s anger is unlikely to shake the resolve of the new leader of the free world...it's fair to ask: What is Alberta’s Plan B? And how is the province prepping for a world far less reliant on oil and gas? 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

The past 12 months have seen a flood of scientific misinformation on social media. Some of it is lies for profit. Some of it is myths and hoaxes for engagement. And a whole lot more of it is just unintentionally wrong—complex science parsed by scared amateurs in the middle of a terrifying pandemic. But it all gets attention—a lot of attention. A new group aims to meet this bad information where it lives. Not in papers and journals and books, but in social media posts and threads and DMS. Science Up First hopes to create an army of fact-wielding social soldiers to do battle with info that needs debunking. But they'll be fighting an uphill battle every step of the way. GUEST: Science Up First co-founder Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, 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

A man in Montreal was found dead in a portable toilet. The shelter he often used had been temporarily closed for overnights due to a Covid-19 outbreak. The Canadian winter puts those without homes in danger every year—but Covid-19 has made it impossible for them to access many of the resources that can be lifesaving. How did the system fail Raphaël André? How are advocates fighting to prevent further deaths? Have we learned anything during this horrible year that could help us solve the problem? And, simply, why hasn't more been done? GUEST: Jake Kivanc (You can read Jake's reporting 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

He goes by Real Dr. 6ix. He has 140,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts before and after photos of his clients—and also graphic videos of surgeries he performs. And this is where the ethical trouble starts. There is a whole subculture of influencer surgeons who take their followers inside the operating room. Their patients sign waivers giving them permission, but some of them feel pressured, or feel that once they were on the table, the doctor went too far. What kind of rules govern this new promotional space? Does Real Dr. 6ix cross the line? What punishment is he facing, and how far is too far for reality surgery on social media? GUEST: Katherine Laidlaw 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 investors came from Reddit. They came in droves. They bought GameStop stock and sent it soaring. They cost massive hedge funds hundreds of millions of dollars. They sent shockwaves through the markets. Now a full-fledged mania is underway, with several other stocks in play as well. How did all this happen? Is it a fluke? A new strategy that will change the game? Will the people who have the power on Wall Street take steps to shut it down? And what happens if and when these bubbles burst? GUEST: Mike Eppel, Sr. Business Editor, 680 News, 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

Sometime soon, if all goes well, we'll have four or even five approved vaccines for Covid-19. Do they work differently? Is there a "best" one, and will some Canadians hold out for that brand? How many eligible people are opting out of the early doses? Are reports of allergic reactions and even deaths following vaccination worth worrying about? And what happens when rich people try to jump the queue? GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, masters in clinical pharmacology, co-founder of the Vohra Miller Foundation 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

He was known to have a fascination with the markets, court documents reveal. So when a retired officer began inviting others to join an investment group, many of them went along. And some of them saw a return on their money. For a while. What happens next offers a glimpse inside Ponzi schemes, internal investigations and how the police can be taken for a ride just as easily as anyone else. GUEST: Kevin Donovan, Chief Investigative Reporter, Toronto Star (Read Kevin's reporting on the case 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

Good morning. It’s Monday. It’s January. It’s cold. It’s dark. There’s a pandemic. If you have been following public health guidelines in many parts of the country, you probably went, roughly, nowhere this weekend. And saw nobody. And now it’s back to work. What responsibility do employers have for helping their employees with their mental health? What's the business case for taking it seriously? How can we all help our friends and coworkers make it to the spring with their mental health intact? GUEST: Liz Horvath, Manager, Workplace Mental Health at the Mental Health Commission of Canada You can find the mini-guide on MHCC’s COVID-19 Resource Hub. 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 his first day in office, President Joe Biden cancelled a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, keeping a campaign promise to Americans but bitterly disappointing Albertans and many Canadian politicians. It may be a relief to have a more stable US President in charge, but Biden wasn't elected to help Canadians. What does the new administration mean for Canada-U.S. relations? For trade? For foreign affairs, especially with China? And for Canada's chances at climbing out of a recession and into a greener economy? 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 were no mass arrests, military tribunals or public executions. Donald Trump went to Florida and Joe Biden went to the White House and nothing 'Q' said actually happened. So once Biden was inaugurated, what did the QAnon army do? What happens to a movement when ... nothing happens? Where do the followers, who have thrown away family and friends, credibility and cash, go from here? And should we pity them, or laugh and gloat? GUEST: Justin Ling 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

Joe Biden will be sworn into office today, hopefully without incident. But in the United States, proponents of democracy are analyzing how close their own came to collapsing. When one party, or even just one powerful politician, decides to disregard norms that have always held fair elections together, it creates stress on a system not designed with bad actors in mind. So how safe, by comparison, is our democracy in Canada? What checks and balances exist here that don't exist in the US? How could determined parties or politicians attempt to undermine democracy? And how much depends not on laws but on a collective belief in the democratic process? GUEST: Stewart Prest, political scientist 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

Covid-19 devastated long-term care facilities across the country in the Spring of 2020. But over the summer months, many provinces found ways to reinforce the places that care for our most vulnerable. Ontario, however, did not. What did Quebec and other provinces do to mitigate the impact of the second wave on long-term care residents? Why didn't Ontario follow suit? What's being done now? And will anyone be held accountable for this systemic failure? GUEST: Cynthia Mulligan, 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

Yes, it's worse in America. But it's not great here, either. The past few years have seen an alarming rise in hate groups in Canada—and there's nothing on the horizon that appears set to slow it down. It's a recipe for the sort of violence we've seen in Washington recently, and have seen on our own soil more frequently in recent years. So what does defuse the growth of white supremacy? What can governments do to curtail the kind of polarizing anger that leads to reactionary violence? And what can we do, each of us, when we see people we know who may be taking the first steps down a road that leads to conspiracy theories, hate and violence? GUEST: Shakil Choudhurt, Anima Leadership 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're now 10 months into a global pandemic and solidly into its second wave. And across the country, many workers are still not staying home when they're sick—because they simply can't afford to. Why don't so many businesses offer their employees paid sick days? Why haven't provincial governments mandated that they do? Why do critics say the federal government's attempt at paid sick leave is woefully inadequate? And why are we having this conversation almost a year into this pandemic? GUEST: Stefanie Marotta, 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

Most of us have spent the past year closer to home than ever before. And for a lot of Canadians part of that process has involved realizing just what their neighbourhood does and doesn't have. Maybe it's time to rethink how we create neighbourhoods, in order to maximize livability in our towns and cities. Maybe there's an easy formula we can follow to start doing that right now.... GUEST: Alex Bozikovic, staff columnist and architecture critic, 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

Our host would be fine with never seeing another Donald Trump tweet ever. But is that fair? Is it a slippery slope? Social media companies, and other service providers, have the right to refuse service to anyone breaking the rules they promised to abide by — but not even the most left-wing voters would pretend that Trump is the only politician or person flouting those regulations. Why would Facebook and Twitter finally remove Trump now? Should they have done it years ago? What precedent are they setting? And when we look back at this week in the years to come, will we be able to say it has changed anything about the way politics are done on the Internet? GUEST: Jesse Hirsh, metaviews.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

Our parents warned us that the Internet could harm us—from stalkers to kidnappers, pedophiles, the dangers of too much screen time and countless other things—but did they heed their own lessons? Boomers lead the pack as the generation most likely to share disinformation, and over the past few months we've seen some of the results play out in real time. How can those of us who grew up online help the people we love who didn't learn the nuances of the way algorithms try to seduce them? Help them tell the difference between reliable and sketchy news reports? Help them understand exactly how and why social media wants them to be so angry? Can we help our parents stay safe online the way they once tried to do for us? GUEST: Bonnie Kristian, The Week 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

Ridership is down by more than half, while costs to keep vehicles clean and employees and passengers safe are higher than ever before. Covid-19 has put an incredible strain on transit agencies across Canada. But at the same time, has the pandemic begun to change how we operate public transit—perhaps not with a break-even mentality but as a moral obligation to get Canadians where they need to go? Might more funding become available to run different routes at different times and ease crowding? Or will politicians back off as soon as the pandemic begins to ease? GUEST: Ben Spurr, Transportation Reporter, 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

At the time it seemed like it might be the worst disaster of 2020. When Flight 752 was shot down in Iran, 176 passengers and crew, including 55 Canadians, were killed. In the months to come, the cries for answers would be drowned out by the rise of Covid-19, leaving the victims' loved ones still searching for answers and justice. What can be done to get them the concrete information that might give them closure? What does justice look like? What's it like when the world forgets a tragedy that you live with every day? GUEST: Hamed Esmaeilion had family on Flight 752 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 watched as an angry mob stormed the US Capitol Wednesday. It was a scene few imagined we'd ever see—but it was also, somehow, inevitable. In the weeks since the election Donald Trump had been broadcasting his desire for his followers to take action. Then they did. The mob was cleared. Joe Biden's win was certified and it appears there will be a peaceful transfer of power. But what does an early-January insurrection attempt portend for US and global politics in 2021? And how safe are we in Canada from the sort of angry political uprising we just watched our neighbour grapple with? GUEST: Balkan Devlen, senior fellow at McDonald 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

The past year has been hard on all of us—but especially for those to whom we entrust our children. From a rush to online learning with schools closed, to a hasty back-to-school plan that was followed by rising Covid-19 numbers in schools, to the uncertainty of not knowing when or how they'll be able to teach their students this winter...many educators are close to giving up. How can we keep our education system functioning while also protecting our kids, our families and the people we need to teach them? What have we learned about our education system that could help us adapt in the future? And what happens to it if enough teachers decide they simply can't take it anymore, and leave the public system for private schools? GUEST: Inori Roy 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 some parts of Canada—especially Ontario—hospitals are close to the breaking point. At the same time, tests are finding a variant of Covid-19 that may spread much faster than the usual virus. How worried should we be about what this means for the next several weeks? What do we know, and what don't we know, about the newest version of the virus? How precarious is our current situation? Is there a way to bring numbers down before the spring thaw and what would it take to do it? This is a look inside the second wave and at the light at the end of the tunnel. GUEST: Dr. David Fisman, epidemiologist, Dalla Lana School of Public 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

This past week, Ontario broke its seven-day average Covid-19 case record. Its hospitals are nearly full. Its vaccine rollout is slow. And the government lost its finance minister, who became the first of several politicians around the country to be found travelling outside of Canada in the middle of the pandemic. When Covid-19 first hit Ontario, Premier Doug Ford's straight-talk and frank empathy drove his approval rating through the roof. Ten months later, he's facing a host of of issues that threaten not just that rating, but the wellbeing of the entire province. It's been a bad month for the Ontario government—but the next few weeks will determine if it gets worse. GUEST: Cynthia Mulligan, Queen's Park reporter, 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

Welcome to 2021! It's going to cost more to eat this year. The unprecedented events of 2020 combined with longer-term issues will lead to a massive spike in the prices the average Canadian pays for most groceries — and restaurant food, too, when dining out returns again. How much? Which foods and why? Is this a one-time increase or the start of something that will only accelerate? And where can bargains still be found in the grocery store? GUEST: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University, lead author of the Canada Food Report. 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 the ability to put ourselves in another's shoes and it's been needed more this year than ever. But what kinds of experiences teach us empathy? How do our childhoods shape the people we become? What can second-generation immigrants teach the rest of Canada about the skill? And how will Canada change when the unprecedented number of second-gen kids grow up and lead the country? GUEST: Sadiya Ansari, writer and 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

Blink and you could miss it—the Richview Memorial Cemetery sits nestled on a thin slice of land between two of North America’s busiest highways. The cemetery is guarded by one Randall Reid, but not all such places are so fortunate. Today we bring you an episode of a new Frequency podcast hosted by Big Story producer Stefanie Phillips. In this first episode of the series, Stefanie digs into the world of "cemetery hunters"— a unique special interest group that tracks down cemeteries that are forgotten and in imminent danger of being paved over to become parking lots. What does the future of our cemeteries look like—and who will save them when we’re gone? Listen to Paradigm on your favourite podcast player today. 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 ten months we've been accustomed to seeing our daily routines change in ways large and small. Covid-19 has popularized phrases from "in these unprecedented times" to X "will look a little different this year". And for many Canadian families there is no annual tradition as profound as the holidays. And for those families' children there's nothing quite like Santa Claus. So how is the Jolly Old Elf coping with Covid, keeping his workplace safe and making sure that even if Christmas is different, it's still special? Well, we asked him. (Yes, this episode is child-friendly! Happy holidays from the Big Story team.) GUEST: ... Santa! 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

Ten months into this pandemic, after so many of us rediscovered how vital local news can be, there are even fewer local newsrooms in Canada than when it began. How did we end up here? What are we losing when small-town papers die? How is it possible this virus has made local news both more necessary, and more impossible to sustain as a business, than ever before? GUEST: April Lindgren, principal investigator for the Local News Research Project 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 as ambitious as any Canadian government has been so far—but is it enough? A new climate plan rolled out by Justin Trudeau last week takes aim at some real metrics for change. So how would it directly impact your life, and your wallet? What else is the government doing to move us into the future? How much depends on cooperation from the provinces? And is this another target we make plans for but never hit, or is this a real, bold step towards climate action? GUEST: Catherine Abreu, Executive Director, Climate Action Network 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

A moratorium on evictions in Ontario was once part of Premier Doug Ford's plan to "make sure you and your family can stay in your home during this difficult time." But that moratorium didn't last forever and the past month has seen a torrent of virtual eviction hearings, with tenants often left frustrated, confused and in tears by the process. What happened to "no Covid-19 evictions" in Ontario? Why have so many been happening at once? What are the opposition at Queen's Park and activists on the ground doing to stop it? And what are the real problems with tenant rights in Canada's largest province? GUEST: NDP MPP Suze Morrison, Official Opposition Critic for Tenant Rights 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 will always be a group of people who flatly refuse to get vaccinated, and public health messages probably won't convince them. But there are far, far more Canadians who might get vaccinated, but are nervous of what they see as a potential risk. In some online communities, misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, as well as other common vaccinations, is rampant—and it has left a lot of people afraid. What are they worried about? How can governments and public health officials provide clear, concise information that allays their fears? How can you start a conversation with someone you know who might be hesitant to get vaccinated? And how much work do we have in front of us if we want enough Canadians to get their shots to put the pandemic behind us? GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist, co-founder of the Vohra Miller Foundation 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

Welcome to the newest era of consumer capitalism. It's dominated by 'Blands' — clean, sleek, online products that bill themselves as the handcrafted little guy here to disrupt the giant corporations. They have origin stories. They care about values and design. And they're unique—except they're all exactly the same. From toothbrushes to mattresses, health insurance to hipster clothing and glasses to luggage, almost every product on Earth has a Bland claiming to do it better. How did we end up here and have we reached 'Peak Bland'? GUEST: Ben Schott, Bloomberg Opinion 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

Middle Class is a term that comes from the 1950s, and while the economics surrounding it have changed fundamentally in 70 years, the goals and hopes and dreams of the people that belong to it have not. How long can that continue? What does a modern Middle Class look like? What should they aspire to? How should they be defined? How different will their lives, homes and finances be from past decades? And how should governments work to make sure they get a chance to thrive? GUEST: Max Fawcett, writer and reporter (Read Max's piece on the Middle Class 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

An investigation into an allegation of a racist game being played by hospital staff turned into a detailed report about system racism in British Columbia's health care system. The province has vowed to take action, but Indigenous people have heard those promises before. What will it take to really transform the system? How will the government even begin? And how long will it take in the middle of two separate health emergencies—both of which disproportionally impact Indigenous and racialized people? GUEST: Liza Yuzda, legislative reporter, News1130 and CityNews Vancouver 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 the time of year when Canadians traditionally up their giving. But a lot of that tends to happen in person. This year, Covid-19 has made that tough. And the big picture isn't much better: In a year of economic hardship, fewer Canadians have money to spare for charity, and more Canadians than usual need the help these organizations provide. How has the pandemic hit charities? What have they done to adjust to "these unprecedented times"? And how can Canadians who do have the means get their money where it needs to be for the holidays? GUEST: Bruce MacDonald, President and CEO of Imagine 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

You probably don't have a PlayStation 5. And even if you don't want one, there's likely someone in your life who is desperate to get their hands on it. Sony—a company that once sold just about every kind of electronics imaginable—has become 'The PlayStation Company'. And this Christmas marks the first skirmish in the latest console war between it and Microsoft's X-Box. How did video games come to dominate the future of two of the world's biggest tech companies? How did they come to dominate so much of our entertainment landscape? What's on the horizon for these new consoles? (And also: If you can find them, which one should you buy?) GUEST: Seth Schiesel, contributor at the New York Times, contributing editor at Protocol.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

We have more doses on order per capita than any other nation. But we also have no real domestic production capacity. If you ask the Liberals, we're among the world leaders in terms of when Canadians can expect to be vaccinated. If you ask the Conservatives, we're well behind our peer countries already. Who is telling the truth? What are the facts on the Covid-19 vaccines Canada has ordered? What needs to happen next? And when will needles start going into arms on Canadian soil? GUEST: Matt Gurney 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 cycle that repeats itself in many ecosystems where humans live: Harmony, profit, imbalance and then a desperate need to fix things. When wild salmon runs around Wuikinuxv, BC, dwindled to almost nothing, the local grizzly bears grew hungry — and dangerous to humans. Now the salmon are returning, but the community must find a way to manage both the fish and bear populations, and keep the forest healthy. GUEST: Jimmy Thomson, Beside.media 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 Vancouver's City Council voted unanimously to ask the federal government for an exemption that would allow the city to decriminalize small amounts of all drugs. The move comes amidst a surge in the overdose crisis that has killed more Vancouver citizens than Covid-19. The city is looking at anything it can do to save lives, and there are studies and examples around the globe that indicate decriminalization can help. Will the federal government grant the exemption? Will this move become a political football? What would a Canadian city that decriminalized drugs look like on the street? Where do the police stand? And how soon might it happen? Because the crisis has advocates close to the breaking point... GUEST: Travis Lupick, journalist and author of Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction 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