Podcast
The Big Story
Episodes — page 52
- Are Canada's maple syrup taps running dry?
Maple syrup isn't just a staple of Canadian culture. It's big business, especially in Quebec, where the sugary liquid is so vital to the economy that the province keeps a special s…
- Learn Something?! From This Economy?!
Frozen bank accounts, financial chaos, job loss, poverty. Those are all things Gonzalo witnessed while living through the largest foreign default in world history. Other than putti…
- TBS Listener Feedback: Objectivity, Pornography and Bagged Milk
It's time again for us to dip into our trove of listener emails and voicemails and share with you some of our favourite pieces of feedback we received over the past month or so. A…
- Ontario's government fought public workers for years. And lost billions.
In November 2019, months before the pandemic made heroes of public sector workers like teachers and (especially) nurses, Ontario's government passed Bill 124, attempting to cap the…
- How the government investigates "greenwashing" complaints
You may not know which ads meet the definition of greenwashing—but you know the type of ads in that discussion. Big corporations assuring you of how much they do for the environmen…
- How Loblaw became Canada's "company store"
You have to work pretty hard, in most of the country, to avoid spending money with a Loblaw-owned business. From its origins in groceries to market dominance there, the ubiquity of…
- How AI takes workplace surveillance to another level
We all know that companies track what we do on work devices. If, for example, you're listening to this show right now on a company phone or laptop, your boss could probably find th…
- In This Economy: How subscription fees spiraled out of control
Netflix. Disney+. Prime. Apple TV+. Spotify. Newspapers. Magazines. Video games. Substacks. A secret caller (hint: you know him!) has a minor subscription addiction and needs help…
- The past, present and perilous future of bagged milk in Canada
It's a Canadian institution. Or at least, a piece of Canadian culture. OK, fine, it's an interesting quirk that visitors to Eastern and Atlantic Canada are often flummoxed by, but…
- Measles are back. How worried should we be?
Canada has already seen more cases of measles in 2024 than in all of 2023. And rates of the disease in Europe and the United States are also rising. Meanwhile, vaccine uptake for t…
- Why has Canada's program brought zero Gazans to safety?
When announced in December, it seemed like a new immigration program would allow Canadians with extended family in Gaza to finally bring them to safety. More than three months late…
- Explaining the ArriveCan scandal
You might have used the app during the pandemic. It may have saved you time at the airport. It may have cost you an unnecessary quarantine. Either way, even if you never downloaded…
- Women are gambling, too. Why don't we see them?
With the rise in both legality and popularity of gambling, it can seem like images of both winners and losers are everywhere. Images of men, that is. Take a look at gambling advert…
- Are smartphones the new cigarettes?
Not too long ago, cigarettes were everywhere. Lighting up in a restaurant, on a flight, or even in a doctor’s office was just part of the smoky fabric of Canadian life. Until it wa…
- Change Jobs?! In This Economy?!
Cody wants to find a new job, in a new industry, but doesn't have the qualifications listed on the job postings he's seeing. Alan feels trapped in his current job by an unstable an…
- Can you still trust Google's search results?
If you've tried to use Google to research a purchase recently, you've probably encountered—right at the top of the rankings—a whole lot of extremely similar Best Of lists published…
- What we do (and don't) know about the mass killing of an Ottawa family
On March 6th, six people, including four children, were killed in their home in Barrhaven ,O.N., a suburb of Ottawa. The man accused of committing the alleged mass murder shared a…
- So, where's Kate Middleton?
Officially known as Catherine, Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton has not been seen in months, aside from a quick glimpse in a dark car. Officially, she's recovering after undergoin…
- Culture Cancelled: Are Canada's festivals destined to disappear?
Last week, Juste Pour Rire announced that it would not hold Just For Laughs festivals in Montreal and Toronto in 2024, and that it was entering creditor protection. Toronto has alr…
- How are other countries dealing with the housing crisis?
Canada is not the only country in the world experiencing skyrocketing costs and a shortage of available housing options. Across the world nations are coming up with creative soluti…
