The Big Story

One thing people around the game who know Kim Ng agree on is that she should have had a top job long ago. But considering baseball's legacy of promoting ex-players, many doubted the day would ever come. In November, the Florida Marlins made Ng the first female general manager in the history of the game. The questions now are around what she'll do with the team, why it took so long, and who else will follow in her footsteps... GUEST: Christina Kahrl, Senior Editor, ESPN MLB 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 like a prank posted to social media—but there are witnesses who confirmed that the advertised fight night between McGill University students actually happened. Nobody was hurt, and it might have been a harmless enough story, but it illustrates the challenges first-year students are facing this year in dorms that they joke have become their prisons. GUEST: Selena Ross, digital reporter, CTV News Montreal 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 irresponsible and illegal opening of an Etobicoke, Ontario BBQ joint this week ended Thursday when the owner was finally arrested. But in the Toronto area, it remains to be seen if he'll be the last person to defy the province's regulation. There's no excuse for breaking the law and endangering public health, but the Adamson BBQ saga is a symbol of just how angry and desperate small businesses in lockdown zones are as they face what they say are unfair restrictions that allow big-box stores to remain open while they are forced to close. Did the Ontario government screw this up? What needs to change? And how can these businesses survive in the meantime? GUEST: Ryan Mallough, director of provincial affairs for Ontario, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses 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 the first six months of the pandemic, Alberta was one of the best provinces in Canada at containing Covid-19. Then it all went wrong. This week alone, the province had a day in which its case count was higher than Ontario's, despite having barely a third its population. How did it all fall apart out west, and who's to blame? And what needs to happen next to salvage a dangerous situation? GUEST: Courtney Theriault, 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

Halton Hills is just over an hour's drive from Toronto. Many of its residents have been working from home for months. Issues were first raised about its internet connectivity 15 years ago—and many households struggle to get reliable connections today. As the pandemic pushes everything online, regions in rural Canada struggle to keep up. And we all too often think of rural areas as sparsely populated lands far from big cities. But they aren't. They're often just down the road and they need help to get online. GUEST: Melanie Hennessy, Georgetown Independent Free Press 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

Families have spent the past eight months in closer quarters than ever before. But what about people who share a home and aren't related or dating one another? How are roommates negotiating the many precarious situations that have arisen from sharing a house amid a pandemic? With more younger adults living in roommate situations later into their lives and careers, it's a path that millions are going to be navigating this winter. GUEST: Kelli María Korducki 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 want elderly Canadians, who are heightened risk from Covid-19, to be safe. For much of the past eight months, that has meant hundreds of thousands of grandparents haven't seen their grandkids, parents haven't seen their children, or their siblings — and for many of them, this has harmed them as much as a bout with the virus might. We all want our elderly loved ones to be around forever, but even forgetting about Covid-19, they won't be. And as they face another four to six months without much contact or support, many of them are wondering if they might not choose to take the risk with the time they have left. GUEST: Christina Frangou, science and health writer 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 you might imagine, QAnon supporters believed that Donald Trump would handily win reelection. When he didn't, it blew a hole in the conspirac--hah, of course it didn't. New theories popped up to take its place, new 'loaves' were baked. New enemies were found. What can we learn from how the world's most dangerous conspiracy adapts to overwhelming evidence to the contrary? And can we find ways to help believers see the evidence in front of them? 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

The proposal is called the Great Barrington Declaration, and while it's couched in lots of scientific language, herd immunity is what it boils down to. It has support from a group of scientists and is scoffed at by many, many more. But during a time when Canada's various Covid-19 regulations, thresholds, protocols and half-lockdowns can seem incredibly confusing, the Barrington approach offers a simple answer. Especially as a dark winter looms and it feels easier to just give up. What do we know about herd immunity? Why is it so attractive? And if it's too dangerous to consider, what are our other options to get through the months ahead? GUEST: Andre 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

At least in the spring, there was a summer to come and some sort of certainty — restaurants would stay closed until Covid-19 was under control. This Fall, in most places in Canada, neither of those things are true. Opening plans and case thresholds are constantly shifting, while cities and provinces have different opinions about what should be open and when. Beyond all that, of course, there are climbing covid case counts, which means that even open restaurants are far from guaranteed enough business to survive. So...will they? How many will make it? And what can we (and governments at all levels) do to help them get through? GUEST: John Sinopoli, restaurateur, co-founder of savehospitality.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

The territory went more than seven months as the last Covid-19-free spot in North America, but the past weeks have seen one case turn into a couple of dozen. Why did the bubble work so well for so long? What are the unique dangers the virus poses to Northern communities? How will officials try to reign in spread now that the virus is here? And what can we learn from how long the bubble kept Nunavut safe? GUEST: Kent Driscoll, APTN National News 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

Almost two weeks after the American election, leading social media platforms are inundated with false claims about the results. Claims that are supported and amplified by Donald Trump and key members of his administration. After talking tough regarding disinformation in the months leading up to the election, and even slapping warnings on the president's posts, have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok lived up to their promises? And the big question: Will Twitter ever ban Donald Trump? Where would their business be without him? GUEST: Jesse Hirsh, researcher and futurist, 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

This is the finale of our five-part series in partnership with The Narwhal. Scientists have found protecting nature can provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions required to meet the world’s 2030 climate targets, thrusting Canada — home to 25 per cent of the planet’s wetlands and boreal forests — into the hot seat. There are more than enough challenges facing those fighting to save the climate, but there are some solutions right in front of us, too. GUEST: Emma Gilchrist, Editor-in-Chief of The Narwhal You can learn more at thenarwhal.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

This is part four of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. There are no viable solutions to stop the tide of selenium leaching into Canadian and U.S. water from a 100-kilometre stretch of coal mines near Elk Valley, B.C., which are owned and operated by mining giant Teck Resources. Deformed fish, a potential fish population collapse and contaminated drinking water signal more trouble to come... GUEST: Carol Linnitt, Managing Editor You can learn more at thenarwhal.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

This is part three of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Alberta’s oil and gas workers can be underrepresented — or even maligned — in conversations about an energy transition in Canada. The Narwhal met with former oil and gas workers to learn more about their lives and personal reasons for transitioning to solar, and look at the process as a whole. GUEST: Sharon J. Riley, Alberta investigative journalist You can learn more at thenarwhal.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

This is part two of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Canada’s westernmost province markets itself as 'Super, Natural, B.C.,' but more than 2,000 species of animals and plants are at risk of disappearing — and unlike six other provinces, British Columbia still has no endangered species law, despite the NDP's election promise to introduce one GUEST: Sarah Cox, environmental reporter You can learn more at thenarwhal.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

This is part one of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Two communities — one in Canada, one in the U.S. — share both a border along the St. Marys River and a toxic legacy that has contributed to high rates of cancer. Now the towns are banding together to fight a ferrochrome plant planned to process chromite from Ontario’s Ring of Fire, in turn generating the so-called ‘Erin Brockovich contaminant’ hexavalent chromium. GUEST: Hilary Beaumont You can learn more at thenarwhal.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

Almost everything the President of the United States has been saying since election day is false. His family and supporters are following suit. How is the internet handling a flood of misleading claims and outright lies? What makes the post-election disinfo so hard to debunk? How did we end up so far down this rabbit hole and is it even possible to climb back out? GUEST: Jane Lytvynenko, Disinformation Reporter, BuzzFeed News 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 of Wednesday night, things looked relatively positive for Joe Biden's bid for the presidency. But Donald Trump's team is filing lawsuits, demanding recounts, or halted counts, and looks like it plans to scrap tooth and nail to win the election in the courts no matter the results on the ground. How successful that attempt will be depends on the judges themselves—but either way it puts the leaders of democracies around the world, including Canada, in a tough position until someone concedes. How would a protracted court battle for the American presidency impact Canada? What changes if Biden wins cleanly? What will Trump's mark on America's international reputation be if he is a one-term president? And what if he actually manages to find his way to a victory? 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

No, the US election is not what spawned this question. New research in a field called 'simulation theory' pegs the odds that we're just AI creations in somebody's supercomputer at about 50-50. Really? How can we possibly determine this? What does simulation theory propose? What evidence do we have? Will we ever really find out? And could humanity one day create a simulation of our own? GUEST: Anil Ananthaswamy, Scientific American, author of Through Two Doors At Once 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

Is Democracy on the ballot in the American election tonight? How real is the threat of violence at the polls? What happens if Donald Trump squeaks out a reelection victory? What happens if Joe Biden blows him out but Trump refuses to concede? What could the courts do with a close election? And what does America's election mean for democracies around the world, like Canada's, where millions will be watching and waiting to see what happens to their ally? GUEST: David Moscrop, political scientist, 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

Why don't more Canadians know about the criminal masterminds behind some of Canada's most legendary capers? A new audiobook, True North Heists, tells the tales of some of the most outlandish capers ever committed on Canadian soil. Actor Colm Feore (Bon Cop Bad Cop, Trudeau) dramatically weaves together “in the moment” storytelling with interviews with those with deep knowledge of the heists themselves, including law enforcement officers, writers and the criminals themselves. You might know the stories of some legendary American thefts, but you might not know these ones. And yes, there's maple syrup involved. GUEST: Geoff Siskind, executive producer, True North Heists. 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 normal year, the start of November would mark the beginning of the prestige movie push, with award hopefuls, franchise films and feel-good family flocks crowding theatres. This year though, there's almost nothing left on the calendar and the top-grossing box office list features rereleases of films from the 1990s. Hollywood has been hoarding its blockbusters in preparation for a vaccine and a return to normal life in 2021...but what if that doesn't happen quickly enough? How long can studios sit on their biggest films in hopes of a return? Why is the system built to rely so much on a handful of megamovies that need to earn billions in order to be worth making at all? And when will our host finally get to see Dune and Black Widow? GUEST: Norm Wilner, senior film writer at NOW Magazine, host of Someone Else's Movie 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 was perfect timing, really, for OnlyFans. The website was growing in popularity because it allowed people to charge followers for exclusive content, and it didn't forbid pornography. And then the pandemic hit, and basically every mainstream porn studios had to shut down, and the performers flocked to OnlyFans as a way to keep their income afloat without professional work. Once again, a digital tool not intended for pornography had become a purveyor of it. Once again, the porn industry has adapted more quickly than any other entertainment medium. But how much of this change is permanent? And how much can other entertainment industries learn from pornography's lead? GUEST: Lina Misitzis, producer of The Last Days of August and The Butterfly Effect 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 might think that it's gang-related shootings in Toronto that drive gun-violence statistics in the province. You'd wind up surprised. A new study examined in detail firearms-related injuries and deaths in Ontario for 15 years, from 2002-2016. What the authors found was that while urban gun violence drives headlines, a larger part of the problem happens outside of the spotlight, outside of the cities, in quiet, lonely places... GUEST: Dr. Natasha Saunders, co-author of Firearm-related injuries and deaths in Ontario, Canada, 2002–2016: a population-based 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

Our government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars supporting Canadians through this pandemic. They're deep in debt—but how worried should they be? Traditional economic policy would have the Liberals reign in spending and make some cuts as soon as they can to try to mitigate the damage. Otherwise we might find ourselves hit by massive inflation. A newer economic theory, however, would urge the government to spend as much as needed as long as Canadians are struggling and simply print money as necessary to pay for it. OK, that's a simplification of modern monetary theory, but it gets at the basic point. Maybe we don't need to worry about how much debt we rack up? GUEST: Max Fawcett, 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

Annamie Paul made history earlier this month when she became the first Black woman to lead a Canadian party when she became the successor to Elizabeth May. Now that the party is hers though, where is she going to take it? How can she bring the Green Party's branding beyond "the environment"? How will her party hold the Liberals to account without forcing an election Canada doesn't need? And how does she hope to snap Canadian voters out of their Liberal-versus-Conservative approach? GUEST: Annamie Paul, leader of the Green Party of 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

It's called Six Mile Beach, and it sits in a remote part of British Columbia. It’s not on any of the tourism brochures. You need to know how to find it to get there, but once you do, it’s stunningly beautiful. You can stand well out from shore and a sand bar makes it feel like you're walking on top of the water. It's a secret spot worth savouring. And every so often, someone dies. And no level of government wants to be responsible for those deaths. GUEST: Tyler Harper, Nelson 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

Not your pocket change, either. We're talking about thousands of dollars in a no-strings-attached payment. A project in British Columbia did just that, and then followed 50 homeless people (as well as a control group that received nothing at all) for a year to discover what came next. The results of the study are making headlines and forcing us to confront both our own biases and policy decisions that might be costing taxpayers money without solving any problems. GUEST: Dr. Jiaying Zhao Associate Professor, Psychology, UBC, research lead for the New Leaf Project Research lead NLP 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

Trick or Treating is cancelled in some Ontario hotspots, and it's easy to be upset on behalf of the kids and wonder why. After all, we've been told the safest things are done outside, wearing masks. This seems like something that kids—who are also in closed school rooms all week—should be allowed to do. And this is the problem of communication during this pandemic—when numbers in Ontario and elsewhere have been climbing for a month but death rates and hospitalizations haven't kept pace with the spike. The more we learn about COVID-19, the more our understanding of risk and recommended best practices evolve. But the more you change the messaging, the less people can follow it. So when we're in the middle of a spike and we're hearing we should all be extra cautious, holding off on Halloween may be more of a communications problem than a safety issue. GUEST: David Fisman, epidemiologist, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto 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 almost two years an investigative team has been digging into into claims of child sexual assault by priests who belong to a Canadian Catholic order known as the Basilian Fathers. The results of their work form Unrepentant, a film that includes firsthand accounts from victims of abuse, the near-murder of an accused pedophile, the mystery death of a priest after he is exposed, secret church files that show a pattern of shuffling around known abusers and a victim’s journey to Vatican City to confront church leaders…and more. The project's lead reporter joins us for a look at how it came together. GUEST: Adrian Ghobrial, 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

In the early days of the pandemic, it was fun to compare crude work-from-home setups. Eight months later, with no end in sight, the novelty is long gone. What's changed about the traditional career over the past year? How can workers do more than try to get through the day and move on with their careers? What does every manager need to be doing to support them? And how the hell are you supposed to network over Zoom? GUEST: Dr. Sonia Kang, Canada Research Chair in Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Toronto; Host of For The Love of Work 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

Amir Omidvar left Iran during the revolutionary crisis in 1982. For twenty months after leaving his home, Amir did everything he could to cross the Atlantic ocean. While taking refuge in Spain, he made three failed attempts to enter the US; a fake passport in Heathrow, a Mexican jail, and a beating by customs officers in Milan — until a fourth and final attempt brought him to Canadian shores. Amir speaks to his daughter, Shayda, about why he decided to leave and how arriving in Canada has impacted his life and the life of his family. Listen and subscribe to The Hopeful wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Canadians didn't learn much about slavery in Canada in history class. Curriculums in this country have mostly focused on the Underground Railroad and largely glossed over the fact that slavery was legal here. That history explains much about the blatant racism that still exists in this country today, but it also explains far less obvious things about the everyday lives of many Black Canadians. We're starting to confront that history now, but we have a long way to go. GUEST: Charmaine A. Nelson is the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Transatlantic Black Diasporic Art and Community Engagement at NSCAD University. She will direct the first-ever institute for the study of Canadian Slavery. 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

Unless you’re lucky enough to live in some of the areas of Canada that are largely free of Covid-19, you’re likely staring down a long few months spent isolated from most of the community, and spent largely inside your house. The case numbers are rising. We’re told it’s not safe to socialize indoors and we’re just weeks away from the first deep freeze and snow storm. It can feel like a lot—if you let it. That’s not us pep-talking you. It’s science. There are people who live so far north that winter dominates their lives; who live with darkness during the day for weeks at a time. And if you survey those people about winter, well, you’d find they’re better at dealing with it than you are. So what's their secret? GUEST: David Robson, science journalist and author of The Intelligence Trap 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 don’t have to look as far as New Zealand to find examples of how the battle against COVID-19 can be won. We have a success story right here in Canada, where the so-called Atlantic Bubble has held up very well over the past several months, and where life is mostly back to normal. There is even hockey, with fans in the stands and everything. So how can the rest of Canada follow the Atlantic Bubble's example? Is it even possible for larger provinces? How have they managed to stamp out COVID-19, and what kind of price have they paid for doing so? GUEST: Greg Mercer, Atlantic Canada 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 have heard plenty of dire predictions and seen hundreds of horrible photographs. The Earth is in trouble, there's no doubt. But when coverage of climate change always focuses on so-called "disaster porn", it can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. How can reporters covering the very real danger we're facing avoid fostering a sense of inevitability among the people we need to make changes? GUEST: Sheril Kirshenbaum, host of NPR's Serving Up Science 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 neighbour is in trouble. Whatever the results of the American election on November 3, there's only a small chance they won't be contested. The upheaval could last for months. It could get violent. It could fracture America. All of this obviously impacts Canada, so what are we doing to prepare? What should we be doing? How can our government gameplan for whatever happens in the coming months, and what are the best-case and worst-case scenarios for Canada if chaos reigns to the south? 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

Many of us take pride in Canada's diversity—but not all of us embrace it. And critics cite large numbers when discussing immigration policy. What that does is take the power of individual stories out of the equation. A new podcast examines the refugee journey through one man's harrowing journey across borders and an ocean to his new home, and what it can tell us about our country and what drives the Canadian Dream. GUEST: Shayda Omidvar, host of The Hopeful 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 mid-September, commercial fishers began to protest and threaten First Nation lobster fishermen who were exercising their treaty rights to make a moderate living out of season. Traps were cut, boats burned and flares were fired. But it's not a new story. This is a decades-old problem that's never been solved. Why is a supreme court ruling from more than 20 years ago still largely ignored? Why do Indigenous communities face so much anger over such a relatively small catch? And what are the authorities—from the fisheries department to the RCMP—doing to protect a group that's just trying to take what Canada's courts have already granted them? GUEST: Trina Roache, APTN Investigations 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 federal government may not be working towards decriminalization of banned substances, but if you follow the proper procedures, as some churches have, you can receive permission to import and use them. Recently a church in Winnipeg became the latest organization to receive permission to use daime tea, a psychedelic substance also known as ayahuasca. How did they receive permission? What is the drug and how do they use it? And what does the growing number of these exemptions say about the future of Canada's drug policy? GUEST: Rachel Browne 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 all goes well, sometime in the next six months, one of the many Covid-19 vaccine candidates will receive approval for human use. It will be a day to celebrate. The end of the pandemic will at long last be in sight. But what happens next? Who gets the first doses? The second batch? How do you actually vaccinate billions and billions of people, quickly and safely? A vaccine isn't the end of the road, as today's guest will tell us, it's more like an off-ramp. GUEST: Danielle Groen 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're a good citizen, so you probably toss your plastic into the recycling bin. Especially if it has those little recycling arrows on it. Why wouldn't you? Public service campaigns have been telling you to do this forever. But what if those campaigns were a lie, designed to make you feel better about the plastic you use? What if plastic recycling was never going to be effective, except at selling more plastic? GUEST: Laura Sullivan, NPR News investigative correspondent 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

September was a month for rising COVID-19 case counts in British Columbia. October will be a month for an election. Why now? That depends on who you ask. The NDP claim they need a mandate to govern more responsively during a pandemic. Their opponents say it's a power grab because the NDP's poll numbers are high. What will British Columbians think? Will they punish the NDP for forcing them to the polls? Will they lock in a government they appear to approve of? And how do you run an election in a pandemic anyway? What will be different about this one, and how can other provinces learn from what happens in B.C. this October? GUEST: Liza Yuzda, Legislative Reporter, News 1130 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

Cases are increasing exponentially. Hospital admissions are beginning to follow them. The doctors who oversee ICUs are nervous. And the public is looking for clear rules they can follow—only those seem to vary by public health unit. Dr. Michael Warner runs an ICU in Toronto. He can see the line from his hospital's COVID-19 assessment centre stretching down the road from his office. Along with other doctors and epidemiologists, he's been sounding warning bells about how close COVID-19 is to being out of control all over again. So what needs to happen now? GUEST: Dr. Michael Warner 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 played zero games in Toronto. They spent the first three weeks on the road. They lost their best hitter for half the year. Their ace welcomed a baby during a pandemic. They were written off as young but not ready. They ended up in the playoffs, by clinching a spot that had never existed until this season. The Blue Jays are a bunch of talented kids of former big leaguers, a South Korean ace and a handful of fireball arms out of the bullpen. They are flawed, but they don't care. They're not supposed to be here and they don't care about that, either. This is an unlikely team in the most unlikely of circumstances. So what do they do with it? GUEST: Arden Zwelling, Senior Writer, 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

If you think that parents are nervous about Back To School, imagine how the kids are feeling. You’re going back to school, or maybe trying to learn from home. You’re not allowed to hang out with your friends except with masks and at a distance, yet you’re still supposed to share rooms with them. Your teachers are masked. They’re measuring space between your desks. You're worried about a virus you could spread to your parents and grandparents. And you’re supposed to go on with your school year as best you can. That’s...not easy. So how are kids coping? We spoke to one, and got some advice. GUEST: Andy Binau 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, an unlikely research project made a startling discovery: Phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. That's something that, as far as we know, is created by living organisms. Our efforts to find signs of life on other worlds, and a lot of our space dreaming in general, tend to focus on Mars. But all of a sudden we need to take a closer look at our other planetary neighbour. So how can we find out if there's really life right next door? What do we know about Venus and why has it been so hard to figure out so far? What else could possibly cause the presence of Phosphine and what would it mean, to space exploration and everything else, if this is really true? GUEST: Neel Patel, space reporter, MIT Technology Review 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

Because the coffee bean is in danger. A rapidly spreading fungus is threatening both the plants themselves and the farmers who make a living from them. The fungicides that used to stop it no longer work in many cases and climate change is making life easier for the fungus every day in areas where coffee grows. How long until there's a coffee shortage? Or until we start losing some of the more unique varieties? We don't know, but there is still time to fight the problem. GUEST: Maryn McKenna, science journalist and author 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 beginning of the pandemic, Quebec police estimate threats made against public officials are up about 400 percent. Most of the people arrested for making those threats show evidence of believing in conspiracy theories. In fact, belief in these theories, as well as distrust in the mainstream media, is rising quickly in the province. And not all of these theories are coming from the United States. Some of them are coming from inside the province. So what should police and governments be doing? Because things seem to be getting dangerous quickly. GUEST: Jonathan Montpetit, CBC Montreal 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