- Why does (most of) Canada suck at building transit?
Wednesday, August 16th 2023
By now you are likely familiar with the long, sad story of the Ottawa LRT—which just returned from being totally shut down for a month. But that project is far from the only large Canadian transit project to run into delays, mistakes, errors, sky-high budgets and everything else that can turn an ambitious idea into a headache.
Why are so many of these projects stalled or broken? How hard is it to get new transit built in Canada, and why? Are there examples in this country other cities could follow if they wanted to do things right? Are we really awful at building this stuff, or do we just love to complain about our infrastructure?
GUEST: Reece Martin, former transportation planner, creator of the RM Transit YouTube channel and substack.
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- Are our governments siding with big grocers?
Tuesday, August 15th 2023
Right now, thousands of grocery store workers are striking because, they say, they can't afford to buy food at the chain they work for. Food bank use has skyrocketed. Shopifting has increased so rapidly that stores are using it as a reason to try to check customers' bags and receipts. Food inflation still hovers near double digits, even as general inflation has cooled. And the heads of Canada's huge grocery chains have testified that billions in profits don't come from hikes to food prices.
Amid all this, the federal government has given some Canadians a one-time grocery rebate and ... so far, that's it, across all levels of government. But food inflation is here to stay and if politicians wanted to help, there are plenty of other options they could consider. So why wouldn't they? What's the hold up?
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:
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- How 'the Montreal shuffle' is destroying a city's rental market
Monday, August 14th 2023
By now everyone is aware of the strains that short-term rentals like Air BnB can place on a city's housing market. But recently Montreal has seen that problem compounded to devastating effect. A deadly fire earlier this year brought national attention to the way traditional rental units are being carved up and turned into multiple short-term rentals, and a real estate manoeuvre known as 'the Montreal shuffle' makes these moves possible at scale.
So what's happening exactly and how does it work? What is the proliferation of short-term rentals doing to a city once known for as one of Canada's best places to rent? What is the government doing to attempt to regulate the problem, and why isn't it working?
GUEST: Ethan Cox, senior editor and co-founder of The Ricochet (read The Ricochet's extensive work on short-term rentals in Montreal here.)
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- Ontario's massive greenbelt scandal, explained in full
Friday, August 11th 2023
The Greenbelt is one of Ontario's biggest environmental success stories—millions acres of protected land that capture carbon, protect at-risk species and play a huge role in feeding the province. Unless of course the land is carved up and sold to developers to create housing.
Ontario's auditor general released a report this week that found the Doug Ford's government, in choosing portions of land to be developed, was influenced by developers who now stand to make billions, their "information gathering and decision protocols were sidelined and abandoned" and did not consider environmental, agricultural or financial impacts of the move.
It's a damning report that needs to be explained in detail—how we got here, what it means and what might happen now. So we'll do that with a member of the team that led the reporting on the issue since last year.
GUEST: Fatima, Syed, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal (Read Fatima's and her colleague Emma McIntosh's full coverage of the Greenbelt scandal here.)
We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:
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- Are the federal Liberals cooked? Or not?
Thursday, August 10th 2023
The polls are not looking good for Justin Trudeau and company. The Liberals' recent cabinet shuffle failed to halt their downward slide. And even their territorial advantage in Ontario seems to be waning. But there's still likely another year-plus to go before the next election, so plenty of time...right? Well, maybe.
Canadian history tells us that governments winning a fourth straight election is rare, and that voters definitely tire of prime ministers after multiple campaigns—so what might the Liberals do to change the narrative? And will it matter if Canadians are just angry? At Trudeau, inflation, the climate and whatever else happens to be blamed on the government.
GUEST: David Moscrop, writer, author, podcaster, and political commentator, find him at: davidmoscrop.substack.com
We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:
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