Latest podcasts
- Reefer Madness: How many weed shops are too many weed shops?
Monday, November 8th 2021
Guest: Jennifer Pagliaro, City Hall reporter for the Star
It’s been three years since cannabis was legalized in Canada, and you can see the results on many streets around the GTA. In Ontario, there are now just over 1,000 cannabis stores. Toronto has over 300 alone, with another 200 in the process of getting approval. The issue is that many of them are in neighbourhoods and often right next each other, creating clusters that are in direct competition with each other. With little or no regulations about distancing between stores, and several structural issues within the province’s regulations for cannabis sales, the really big question is whether all these stores can survive or if the weed boom will go up in smoke.
- Who’s going to win the Giller and what else should you read this fall?
Friday, November 5th 2021
Guest: Deborah Dundas, Star Books Editor
Canada’s prestigious literary award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize recently announced its shortlist — which is not short on diverse Canadian literature — and we’ll have a winner on Monday in an actual in-person award ceremony after nearly two years of this pandemic. The Toronto Star’s Books Editor Deborah Dundas is on “This Matters” for a breakdown of the Giller Prize 2021, the nominees and potential winners and recommends some of Canada’s best, buzzworthy book titles to add to your holiday reading list
- How the cartels from Mexico made inroads into Canada
Thursday, November 4th 2021
Guests: Peter Edwards is a reporter covering crime at the Star. Luis Najera is a journalist who covers crime, and is in exile from Mexico. They are the co-authors of The Wolfpack: The Millennial Mobsters Who Brought Chaos and the Cartels to the Canadian Underworld.
When many of us think of organized crimes, the images that endure are those of mafia movies from the 70s, or shows like The Sopranos. In their new book, The Wolfpack: The Millennial Mobsters Who Brought Chaos and the Cartels to the Canadian Underworld, author’s Edwards and Najera paint a picture of diverse, digitally savvy criminals who hook up with the Mexican cartels and help them build their beachhead into Canada. Filling in the backstory behind many crimes in Canada over the past two decades, it’s a fascinating look at how criminal organizations work now.
- Is COP26 the turning point in fighting climate change?
Wednesday, November 3rd 2021
Guest: Heather Scoffield, Toronto Star’s Ottawa bureau chief and economics columnist
COP26, the United Nations-led summit on climate change is underway in Glasgow, where world leaders and their delegates are meeting for a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change. Despite the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, many of the world’s biggest emitters have not backed up promises with concrete policies. Climate activist Greta Thunberg has accused leaders of empty words and “blah, blah, blah” when it comes to taking the threat seriously. The world is heading to a 2.7 degree Celsius increase by 2050, according to the UN’s latest report on climate change. Are countries around the world treating climate change with enough urgency? Will COP26 be a turning point or a final missed opportunity to stop the climate crisis?
- How pandemic burnout is affecting teachers and schools
Tuesday, November 2nd 2021
Guest: Nadine Yousif, reporter covering mental health issues, the Star
New data shows that the number of teachers taking sick leave during the pandemic has doubled over the past two years of the pandemic. Researchers at Brock University have done early research that shows teachers are dealing with higher levels of stress and burnout, in large part due to the disruptions to the education system brought on by COVID-19. From the demands of remote, virtual and hybrid schooling, to the ever-present threat of students and teachers catching COVID-19 in a classroom setting, it is has been an extraordinarily unsettling time for many educators, which also has an effect on the students and the system as whole.