- Political parties are getting ruthlessly efficient at finding votes. Is it bad for democracy?
Monday, November 22nd 2021
In September's election, the federal Liberals won the right to govern with the support of less than a third of voters, a record low for a ruling party. They achieved this by hyper-targeting ridings they knew could change the result, and ignoring ones that couldn't. With the example of the past two elections to go on, other parties are following suit in aiming for maximum vote efficiency.
What happens when the best strategy to win involves ignoring most of the population? Is this a natural outcome of a longstanding strategy, or a warning that our governments are getting less representative every time we go to the polls?
GUEST: Stephen Maher, journalist and writer
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- Why the car of the future might be more dangerous to cities
Friday, November 19th 2021
Everyone knows that in order to save the planet, electric vehicles need to replace internal combustion engines. And it's happening, at a more rapid pace than we might have expected. But something else is happening, too: As companies race to grab market share in the EV space, they are replicating recent trends that have made fuel-powered cars more dangerous to everyone not inside them. And since EVs are even heavier than traditional vehicles, that could be very bad news for pedestrians.
What if the car of the future ends up just as bad as the cars of the present? Or worse?
GUEST: Tim Querengesser, journalist and writer, CityHack
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- Why Abbotsford, BC faces crushing floodwaters
Thursday, November 18th 2021
A little more than a century ago, Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie was actually Sumas Lake. It might be about to return to that state, as massive storms, lake overflows and a pumping station threaten to fill the plains once again, covering homes, fields, crops, cattle and any humans who failed to heed the evacuation order.
Why did Sumas Lake become Sumas Prairie in the first place? How did the complex conditions around Abbotsford combine to create a potentially lethal danger? How has it (so far) been averted? And what is it like living in and reporting on British Columbia, a province that is quickly becoming the front line of the climate crisis?
GUEST: Tyler Olsen, Managing Editor, Fraser Valley Current
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- Why Doug Ford thinks the PC's road to reelection is a highway
Wednesday, November 17th 2021
You may remember that focusing solely on transit and road messaging is something of a Ford family trademark. Ontario Premier Doug Ford's late brother Rob put it succinctly: "Subways, subways, subways!" Now that his party is staring down the barrel of a 2022 provincial election, Doug Ford has similarly put a laser-like focus on one message: Highways.
The Conservatives want to build two new ones, long discussed but never actually paved: The 413 and the Bradford Bypass. How much will it cost? How much time will they really save commuters? What's with the whispering around Ford and his relationship with area developers? And can Ontario's Greenbelt deal with the environmental impact of these new roads?
GUEST: Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal
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- How did Yukon become Canada's latest Covid hotspot?
Tuesday, November 16th 2021
You would think we'd have learned this lesson by now—but alas. Yukon had one of the best records in Canada for managing the pandemic. Then they tried to go back to normal, and it didn't work so well. What happened to lead them down this path? What does a packed concert with no masks, distancing or capacity limits feel like? And what happens if a territory without a real ICU suddenly needs dozens of those beds?
GUEST: Jackie Hong, CBC North
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