Front Burner

CBC•www.cbc.ca

Front Burner is a daily news podcast that takes you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world. Each morning, from Monday to Friday, host Jayme Poisson talks with the smartest people covering the biggest stories to help you understand what’s going on. We’re Canada’s number one news podcast and a trusted source of Canadian news.

We cover Canadian news and Canadian politics, Pierre Poilievre, Mark Carney, the Donald Trump administration, the upcoming 2025 Canadian election, provincial politics from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and politicians Danielle Smith, David Eby and Doug Ford. We cover Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary as well as other municipalities across Canada.

In this Canadian election year, Front Burner will be focusing more on Canadian politics. We will take a close look at Mark Carney’s first few weeks as Prime Minister-Designate, the Conservatives and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre as well as other leaders like Jagmeet Singh from the NDP and Quebec’s Yves-François Blanchet from the Bloc Québécois during the 2025 Canadian federal election. The podcast goes beyond Ottawa and digs deeper into major election issues like U.S.-Canada relations, jobs, the economy, immigration, cost of living, housing and rental costs, taxes and tariffs, democracy and technology.

The Front Burner daily podcast covers Canadian news from every province and territory: Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon. We cover news from major cities like Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

When U.S. President Donald Trump declares he wants to make Canada the 51st state, and decides to implement tariffs, Front Burner has an analysis into what is happening. We cover Elon Musk’s DOGE. We cover the latest in technology from the rise of bitcoin and crypto, the future of TikTok, Meta, artificial intelligence, influencers, and more.

Look to our archives to see fact-checked stories about infrastructure, fascism, border security, immigration, Pierre Poilievre, Justin Trudeau, the Republican Party, American politics, Canadian politics, India, China, Trump’s tariffs, Mark Carney, Elon Musk, Toronto, technology, artificial intelligence, international students, healthcare, and inflation. We cover global news like the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the ceasefire, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the U.S. economy and U.S. politics.

Front Burner is a part of your morning news routine. Whether you’re in Toronto or Vancouver or Washington, this is the news that matters to Canadians. We take a look at the economy and break it down from the budget to interest rate hikes to inflation to recessions to jobs to the cost of living. We look at the policy around housing, Canadian housing supply, and what this means for first-time home buyers, renters, and those with a mortgage. We look at technology, from AI to the manosphere to social media like Meta, Twitter, Facebook, and more. We look at influential newsmakers like Elon Musk and influential technology industries like crypto and AI.

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Episodes

Unraveling the Winnipeg disease lab mystery

Since 2019, questions have swirled around why two scientists, originally from China, were marched out of a high-security infectious disease lab in Winnipeg. They were later stripped of their security clearances and fired, in a case that has raised suspicions about Chinese espionage, and prompted calls for the Liberal government to release more information. Now, at least some questions have been answered. Last week the federal government released hundreds of documents, largely from Canada’s spy a...

Mar 07, 2024•23 min

Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and a legion of Saudi-backed bots

The legal proceedings between ex-spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard made nonstop headlines in 2022 — and online discourse at the time seemed to be overwhelmingly in favour of Depp. The tweets in particular caught the eye of investigative reporter and Tortoise Media editor Alexi Mostrous. They seemed to be part of a coordinated effort to smear Heard. And the closer he looked, the weirder it got. What's the connection between that trial, Johnny Depp’s friendship with the crown prince of Saudi Ara...

Mar 06, 2024•26 min

As Gazans crowded for aid, Israeli troops opened fire

Gaza health authorities say 118 people were killed and 760 people were injured while trying to get food staples like flour from aid trucks on Thursday, after Israeli soldiers opened fire. The Israeli military claims most people were killed in a stampede of people around the trucks, but accounts from witnesses and medical workers say most of the victims were shot. So what precipitated this deadly search for aid? How close is Gaza to famine? And what would it take to get food to the people there w...

Mar 05, 2024•24 min

Brian Mulroney’s political legacy

Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, has died at the age of 84. He had an incredibly eventful nine-year tenure, from 1984 to 1993, at a time when the governments in the U.S. and the U.K. were shifting towards more deregulation and privatization. He was a champion of free trade, his work on the Canada-U.S free trade agreement, and NAFTA later, had an indelible impact on Canada's economy, but was also met with a lot of criticism along the way. Today, Peter Mansbri...

Mar 04, 2024•29 min

In Ukraine: a popular president, a less popular war

After two years of leading a country at war, Ukraine’s president remains popular. But as support for the fight wavers both inside and outside the country, Volodymyr Zelensky faces a new set of high-stakes challenges. Does demoting a popular general signal a shift in military strategy? Will international allies deliver the support Zelensky says he needs? If not can he negotiate a popular end peace? Today we’re joined by Tim Mak, founder of the Kyiv-based publication The Counteroffensive. For...

Mar 01, 2024•24 min

Israel’s occupation scrutinized at the Hague

This week, the International Court of Justice wrapped up a set of historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The proceedings were requested by the UN General Assembly back in 2022, and so the timing of them — almost five months into Israel’s bloody war with Hamas — is in essence coincidental. But many believe that finding a resolution to this question is fundamental to securing a lasting peace between Israel and the Palesti...

Feb 29, 2024•32 min

The Liberals’ pitch to regulate online harms

The Liberals originally promised a bill tackling online harms would come within 100 days of their re-election in 2021. Instead, Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled their new act on Monday, which aims to create a new commission and regulate content from hate, to extremism, bullying and child abuse materials. So did the Liberals learn lessons from a previous bill criticized for the risk of censorship? And will this current bill actually make the internet safer for children? CBC senior reporter Raf...

Feb 28, 2024•23 min

Law & Order Toronto and why the franchise endures

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent premiered last Thursday. The series, adapted by CityTV, features cases that are 'ripped from headlines' from Canada's largest city, Toronto. It films in Toronto neighbourhoods and has a very Canadian cast and crew. It is also part of a long-running network TV franchise that premiered back in 1990, and one that seems to have weathered the changes in TV as a medium, and changes in attitudes towards police and the justice system.  Today, Vulture TV crit...

Feb 27, 2024•23 min

The Joe Biden age problem

The debate over whether or not Joe Biden is too old to be president is getting heated. He has struggled to collect his thoughts, mumbled incoherently at press conferences, referenced recent conversations with long-dead politicians, and recently, had to be reminded of Hamas' name. It’s not a good look for any president. But it’s especially bad for the presumed Democratic nominee during an election year. Today, CBC Washington senior correspondent Paul Hunter explains why an 81-year-old with memory...

Feb 26, 2024•25 min

Could an ID law trigger a Pornhub blackout?

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says his party supports a bill from an independent senator that would require websites to verify users' ages before allowing them to see sexually explicit content — similar to laws recently passed in the U.K., several E.U. countries and numerous American states. But critics say the law would be disastrous for privacy and civil liberties — and industry titan Pornhub says it might force them to block Canadians from the site altogether, as they've already done i...

Feb 23, 2024•25 min

Is it time for an NDP, Liberal divorce?

On paper, the Liberals’ deal for the NDP’s support is supposed to prop up their minority government until next summer. But in exchange, the Liberals agreed to a bill on pharmacare, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is threatening that the deal could be done if they miss an approaching March 1st deadline. So could the coming weeks see the end of the deal? Would the Liberals really risk an election right now? And did the deal deliver wins for the NDP that voters will remember? CBC’s chief political cor...

Feb 22, 2024•22 min

Why fast-fashion garment workers' lives are still at risk

 In 2013, Rana Plaza - an eight-storey garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 11-hundred people. It's a tragedy that led to a lot of public anger towards the brands that made clothes there. Brands like Zara, Walmart, and Joe Fresh, owned by Loblaw. And at the time, Loblaw promised safe working conditions and fair wages. But ten years later has it followed through on those promises? The Fifth Estate's Mark Kelley tells guest host Daemon Fairless about the investigation....

Feb 21, 2024•26 min

AI video’s groundbreaking, controversial leap forward

 OpenAI has just introduced a new tool, Sora, which turns text prompts into short, shockingly realistic videos. Sora hasn’t been released to the public yet, but it’s already sparking controversy about its potential implications for industries like animation and video games, as well as for deepfake videos — and for democracy as a whole. Today, Gary Marcus — a cognitive scientist, AI researcher and entrepreneur, and author of the forthcoming book Taming Silicon Valley — talks to us ...

Feb 20, 2024•26 min

With Navalny dead, is Putin absolute?

The Kremlin says Alexei Navalny died Friday in an Arctic prison. After surviving a poisoning and still making the decision to return to Russia, President Vladimir Putin's most significant opposition figure was serving 19 years on extremism charges. What do we know about how Navalny died? Amid accusations that he was murdered, what motivations would Navalny's enemies have for acting against him now?  Not long after a number of Western commentators predicted Putin's demise over the Ukraine wa...

Feb 19, 2024•25 min

Jon Stewart is back. Does America still need him?

When Jon Stewart stepped down as host of the Daily Show in 2015, it seemed pretty conclusive. For nearly 16 years, he guided the show through 9/11, the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis and more, becoming a voice of reason for many amid growing political divisions — but it was time to move on. This week saw him back in the host's chair once again, where he'll now be every Monday. But things have changed a lot in the last nine years — especially politics. Does Stewart's brand of Bush-era both-s...

Feb 16, 2024•29 min

Overdoses and a small city state of emergency

Last week, paramedics in Belleville, Ontario responded to 13 drug overdoses in a single hour. By the time the city declared a state of emergency two days later, the total had reached almost two dozen. So how did these near-simultaneous overdoses unfold? What caused them? And how can we stop the spikes of drug poisonings that have been happening in cities across Ontario? Dan Taekema is CBC’s reporter covering eastern Ontario communities from Belleville, to Kingston, and beyond. For transcripts of...

Feb 15, 2024•23 min

As assault looms, Palestinians are trapped in Rafah

Rafah, a tiny city at Gaza’s border with Egypt, is currently sheltering more than half of the territory’s population. Many, crammed together in tent cities, have already relocated multiple times, as Israel’s war with Hamas has pushed them further and further south. Now, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to move ahead with a major assault on Rafah, the civilians sheltering in the city say there’s nowhere else to go. Today our guest is Haaretz reporter Yarden Michaeli. He and hi...

Feb 14, 2024•27 min

The unknown cost, and political price of the ArriveCan app

Canada’s Auditor General has found the government overpaid for the ArriveCan app. And poor record keeping has made it impossible for her to figure out that final total. Catherine Cullen, the host of “The House” joins Front Burner to talk about how an app that was supposed to make pandemic travel easier has ended up costing millions. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workda...

Feb 13, 2024•23 min

Organized crime's system for stealing cars

Auto thefts have been spiking in Canadian cities, with criminals using and disposing of the vehicles or selling them to fund organized crime, even exporting them overseas. . Why have cars become so easy for thieves to steal? What systems are organized crime using to take vehicles in large quantities? Will the federal Liberal’s national summit on auto theft last Thursday provide lasting solutions? Peter Edwards is a crime reporter with the Toronto Star and the author of numerous books on organize...

Feb 12, 2024•20 min

Down the Super Bowl conspiracy rabbit hole

The Super Bowl is this Sunday, and the teams on the field are no surprise. What is surprising is that the off-field mania around Taylor Swift dating a Chiefs player has gotten deeply, deeply weird. Some American networks have been stirring up conspiracy theories that Swift and Kelce’s relationship is a deep-state psy-op. The Super Bowl has morphed into a sort of singularity-level conspiracy, pulling in everything: vaccines, the CIA, light beer, billionaire investor George Soros, and President Jo...

Feb 09, 2024•21 min

Why did Trump tank a border bill Republicans fought for?

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate was set to vote on a sweeping national defense bill. It included reforms to immigration, in reaction to a surge in migration across the U-S southern border. It also included military support for the war in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It came together through months of bipartisan meetings. But the vote failed. Why? The CBC’s Alex Panetta is here with the answers. He’s a reporter with our bureau in Washington D.C. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https:/...

Feb 08, 2024•23 min

Are trans youth a 'political football' in Alberta?

Alberta premier Danielle Smith has frequently said that she doesn't want to politicize issues around the rights and personal decisions of transgender youth. But then, last week, she unveiled the toughest set of policies affecting trans teens in the country. The proposed rules would have wide-ranging impacts for gender-affirming medical care, sports, sex education and the use of preferred pronouns in schools. Today, CBC Calgary's Jason Markusoff joins us for a look at the reaction in Alberta to t...

Feb 07, 2024•23 min

What’s going on at Neuralink, Musk’s brain implant company?

Elon Musk says a person has had a computer chip implanted in their brain as part of Neuralink’s first human trial. The billionaire’s company is racing to develop a device, in an attempt to catch up to competitors in the brain-computer interface industry. Marisa Taylor, an investigative journalist with Reuters, joins Front Burner to separate fact from fiction, as Neuralink tries to revolutionize brain implants. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/tr...

Feb 06, 2024•23 min

Why are men fleeing Ukraine, and the war?

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly two years ago, most men have been banned from leaving Ukraine. That hasn’t stopped thousands from making illegal border crossings to escape. Why are so many Ukrainian men risking these journeys? How is Ukraine trying to stop them? What could the crossings signal about Ukrainians’ attitudes toward a new phase of this war? CBC’s Briar Stewart went to neighbouring Moldova to find answers. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/rad...

Feb 05, 2024•24 min

Weekend Listen: Hollywood Exiles

From the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts comes Hollywood Exiles. Host Oona Chaplin tells the story of the decades-long campaign to root out communism in Hollywood. It’s a campaign that eventually drove her grandfather, Charlie Chaplin, and many others out of tinseltown. Hollywood Exiles is a tale of glamour, duplicity and political intrigue that reverberates to this day. It’s the story of how Tinseltown became an ideological battleground. The toll of the fight was enormous – reputations, care...

Feb 03, 2024•36 min

Former Canadian world junior hockey players face sex assault charges

Four NHL players, and one pro European player, are charged with sexual assault, in a troubling story that began years ago. The charges relate to the alleged group assault of a woman in 2018, that took place when the accused were members of Canada’s world junior hockey team. Katie Strang is a senior investigative writer with The Athletic and walks us through these new charges — and whether anything has actually changed in hockey since this scandal first came to light. For transcripts of Front Bur...

Feb 02, 2024•21 min

Is $10 daycare in trouble?

The Trudeau government’s announcement in 2021 that they would bring daycare fees down to $10 a day within five years was a massive relief to many parents across the country. But two years after all the provinces signed on, this extremely popular program is clearly facing some bumps in the road: staffing shortages, massive wait lists, and daycares that can’t cover their costs. Today, Martha Friendly, executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, speaks to us about the growing pa...

Feb 01, 2024•22 min

Oilsands pollution 'vastly underestimated': study

According to a new study published in Science, operations in Alberta’s oilsands are pumping out as much as 64 times more air pollutants than officially reported. How could industry estimates be missing these huge amounts of chemicals? What could the health and environmental consequences be? How does this study add to other concerns that don't we truly understand the impact of the oil sands? Drew Anderson is the Prairies reporter for The Narwhal, whose team of investigative journalists report on ...

Jan 31, 2024•20 min

Is Palworld more than ‘Pokémon with guns’?

Pokémon is the single biggest grossing media franchise on the planet. So when a game best described as "Pokémon with guns" was released earlier this month, it's perhaps no surprise that it quickly became one of the most played — and talked about — video games in the world. Washington Post video game critic and reporter Gene Park explains why the game has blown up, and whether the developers might find themselves in Nintendo's legal crosshairs for copying their homework. For transcripts of Front ...

Jan 30, 2024•19 min

What’s at stake with Canada’s foreign interference inquiry

The public inquiry into foreign electoral interference begins today. The independent commission was sparked by allegations that China had interfered in Canadian elections — a bombshell accusation that ignited a major political battle in Ottawa. The inquiry is already facing hard questions about who gets to take part and how, and how much of the findings can actually be shared with the public. CBC parliamentary reporter Catharine Tunney on what’s ahead, and what’s at stake with the inquiry. For t...

Jan 29, 2024•23 min

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