Latest podcasts
- The A-Z of AstraZeneca science, guidance and (mis)communications
Tuesday, June 22nd 2021
COVID vaccines approved and circulated by Health Canada — Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca — are safe and effective, but one of these is not like the other. AstraZeneca is a viral vector vaccine and it has faced waves of bad press, poor communication and changing guidelines. Many question its use. In a time of reopening and specific restrictions, why is an effective vaccine that millions of Canadians have received getting short shrifted? What happens to the thousands of AZ doses Canada still has available?
Guests: May Warren and Alex Boyd, Toronto Star reporters on COVID and vaccines
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters.
- A lack of representation in the great Canadian outdoors and how we change that
Monday, June 21st 2021
Kofi Hope and Zahra Ebrahim, co-founders of Monumental and part of a team leading the AllOut campaign, join “This Matters” to talk about the systemic barriers that lead to a lack of representation of racialized communities in the Canadian outdoors, how this fuels damaging stereotypes and the growing movement to get more Indigenous, Black and people of colour outside.
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters.
- Kevin Donovan talks about his ‘Death in a Small Town’ series
Friday, June 18th 2021
In the works for almost four years, reporter Kevin Donovan’s five-part series “Death in a Small Town” explores the death of a child and the turmoil it plunged his family into. Nathaniel McLellan was 15-months-old and acting strangely at his daycare when his parents, Rose-Anne and Kent McLellan, were summoned to take him to the hospital. What followed was a tumultuous journey of a seemingly tunnel visioned investigation, conflicting medical reports and a family’s ongoing fight for justice. Kevin Donovan joins “This Matters” to discuss the story and add some personal commentary to the investigation.
- The stress test, young buyers and the housing crisis
Thursday, June 17th 2021
It was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who said “young people aren’t facing a housing problem, they’re facing a housing crisis.” The red hot real estate market has seen growth at a record pace, and many young and first-time buyers have found themselves priced out of buying a home. To address that, the government recently made changes to the mortgage stress test. We take a look at the test, and many of the issues facing those who are trying to buy a home in this market.
- Nuclear option: why Ford used the Notwithstanding Clause and what it means
Wednesday, June 16th 2021
For the first time in its history, the Ontario provincial government invoked the “notwithstanding” clause to override the courts on a campaign law that was deemed unconstitutional by an Ontario Superior Court judge. The Ford government’s critics call the usage of the clause an attack on democracy and an effort to silence Premier Doug Ford’s opposition. Today we dive into how this “nuclear option” works, why the Ontario government flexed it’s power and if it could end up paying a price for it at election time.
Guest: Robert Benzie, The Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters