Latest podcasts
- How Amazon is remaking the modern workforce
Tuesday, April 13th 2021
It’s Amazon’s world and we are all just living in it. The pandemic has helped the company grow even bigger and more powerful, but at what cost? The spotlight has revealed work practices, treatment of employees, COVID outbreaks and impacts on towns and cities. Alec MacGillis, reporter for ProPublica and author of “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America,” joins “This Matters” to discuss the tech and retail giant’s effect on society.
- Talking Transit: a ‘Union Station to the east’ and Metrolinx’s power moves
Monday, April 12th 2021
Ben Spurr, The Star’s Transportation Reporter, and Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park bureau chief, bring us up to speed on four huge transit projects, including a potential new massive transit hub near Toronto’s eastern waterfront, and how Metrolinx keeps increasing its powers as it tries to build transit throughout the city.
- Why Canada’s new gun bill upsets both sides of the gun control debate
Friday, April 9th 2021
Bill C-21, the controversial gun control proposal, is set for another debate next week in Canadian Parliament. The proposal, which came after the tragedy of the Nova Scotia shooting, includes a controversial buyback program of blacklisted firearms. But in a debate that is usually divisive, Bill C-21 has both gun rights and gun control advocates fuming. Neither sides see the bill as a solution to curbing gun violence. We explain why the bill is actually uniting both sides and where the buyback program may be falling short. Guest: Douglas Quan, Toronto Star reporter
- ‘It was a choice’: Bruce Arthur on how Ontario is mismanaging COVID’s third wave
Thursday, April 8th 2021
Another lockdown, another stay-at-home order in Ontario. The third wave is hitting the province hard as COVID variants spread, the vaccination rollout buckles and a paid sick leave program remains a no-go for the Ontario government. Despite all the warnings from doctors and other medical professionals, how did we get here again? Will safety measures work this time around?
Guest: Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star columnist covering COVID-19
- School’s out for COVID! School’s out for... whenever
Wednesday, April 7th 2021
With the April Break just days away, many schools in Ontario have shifted to remote learning in the face of rising case counts from the variants of concern which are spreading rapidly. Schools have not been a high factor in infection, and the province has insisted they are safe places for children, but after Peel Region’s Medical Officer of Health decided to shut down schools in the area, others followed suit including the Toronto District School Board. Who knows what come next? With Ontario moving to a new state of emergency starting Thursday, will this end up the start of summer vacation? Kris Rushowy, Queen’s Park bureau reporter and education for The Star, joins us to discuss how we got here and what comes next.