It's one thing for you or me to be skeptical of generative AI. Sure, we might not have much practical use for it, and it may keep giving us the wrong answers to questions or images of people with too many fingers ... but there are billions and billions of dollars to be made here, right? A report last month from investment firm Goldman Sachs says "Maybe not." The report takes a clear-eyed look at the promise and potential of generative AI, compared to what has actually come to fruition and how mu...
Aug 02, 2024•23 min•Ep 1186•Transcript available on Metacast American Democrats had long prided themselves on taking the high road in the face of insults and mockery from the right. But over the past week, their tone—and the vibes of the presidential campaign—have shifted. Since Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee, she and other top democrats have begun calling their Republican opponents just plain "weird" and sometimes "creepy". The response to it from the right has been fascinating. And Harris certainly appears to have wiped out the deficit she...
Aug 01, 2024•25 min•Ep 1185•Transcript available on Metacast It's not your favourite metal band's summer itinerary. It's a group of far-right extremists who are travelling the country hosting events in venues that range from auditoriums to city parks. The content is about what you'd expect, and has led to several venues closing their doors, but that only leads to claims of censorship. Why are we telling you about this and possibly raising its profile? Because it can be easy to pretend groups like this don't exist in Canada, or that stuff like Diagolon onl...
Jul 31, 2024•15 min•Ep 1184•Transcript available on Metacast The call to evacuate came late at night. Thousands had to find somewhere to go. Some of them drove for up to 12 hours. Then all they could do was watched as a massive blaze in Jasper National Park tore through the town at its core. But even as the fire continued to burn outside of the town on Monday, work was being done to save what was left, including critical infrastructure. Both the park and town of Jasper hold a special place in the hearts of so many Canadians, but was there ever a chance to...
Jul 30, 2024•22 min•Ep 1183•Transcript available on Metacast For the first time ever this summer—and on the 50th anniversary of Jaws—shark warning signs will go up on some Atlantic beaches in Canada. It's an effort to keep people informed as the shark population in the area seems to be surging, and with it the number of encounters with humans. What's driving the increase in numbers? What have we learned about shark behaviour in our waters? Should kayakers and boarders be worried? And half a century after Peter Benchley's novel turned the world against the...
Jul 29, 2024•18 min•Ep 1182•Transcript available on Metacast Recently there has been renewed talk of Canada launching a 'digital loonie' . We discussed the idea of a national digital currency on this very show almost three years ago, and with the idea gaining renewed traction, we felt now would be a good time to revisit that episode. We hope you enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------- Right now, the Bank of Canada is working on a "digital loonie" that will replace cash at some point in the future. Governments around the world...
Jul 28, 2024•26 min•Ep 1180•Transcript available on Metacast With the recent devastation in Jasper, Alberta, we wanted to revisit this episode we recorded back in April with author, John Vaillant, where he explains why wildfires have become more common, and much harder to fight. We hope you find it informative, and our hearts go out to all those affected by the current fires. ---------------------------------------------------------- ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES Today, evacuation alerts for several communities in BC and Alberta are in effect. You may not have noti...
Jul 27, 2024•25 min•Ep 1179•Transcript available on Metacast The Paris games kicks off with the Opening Ceremonies today, but the Canadian women's soccer team has already given the thousands of media covering the event something to talk about. Earlier this week, a team analyst was caught using a drone to spy on the New Zealand team's practice, sparking immediate consequences that have included removal from the team, multiple investigations and even police charges. Why would anyone associated with the team try to do this, or think they'd get away with it? ...
Jul 26, 2024•20 min•Ep 1181•Transcript available on Metacast A month ago President Joe Biden was about to debate former President Donald Trump. Everything since then has been a series of shocks that dramatically upset a race that had been static for years. Now Vice President Kamala Harris assumes the Democratic candidacy and will take on a Republican machine that had been preparing to run against the oldest candidate in history. How does Harris' ascention impact the race? How will republicans try to define her and will it work? How has she managed to rein...
Jul 25, 2024•16 min•Ep 1178•Transcript available on Metacast Last Friday, a bad update from a cybersecurity company managed to give an estimated 1 percent of the world's computers the blue screen of death. Not only that, but the initial fix was a manual procedure, meaning someone had to physically get ahold of each computer that needed a reboot. The global impact was profound, grounding airlines, halting businesses and generally providing a wake-up call to everyone who takes the digital infrastructure most of our lives are built on for granted. Why weren'...
Jul 24, 2024•27 min•Ep 1177•Transcript available on Metacast Canada's dental plan, the first national model in the country's history, opened earlier this year. And it's already quite different than it was at launch. For starters, it's expanding eligibility—most recently to children under 18. But the government is also tweaking it on the fly, in the hopes of getting more dentists and dental associations on board. Why has it been so hard to convince dental practitioners to sign up? Are their concerns valid and what's the government doing about them? Who doe...
Jul 23, 2024•24 min•Ep 1176•Transcript available on Metacast If you get outside to enjoy Canadian nature, you've probably been warned about ticks and their potential to spread Lyme disease. But you may not have been warned about the other illnesses ticks can spread, like Anaplasmosis, which is currently on the rise in Canada. The tick problem this year, is worse than last year, and much much worse than even a decade ago. Is there anything we can do to curb their spread? And what can you do to keep yourself safe? GUEST: Dr. Laura Ferguson: Biologist and As...
Jul 22, 2024•22 min•Ep 1175•Transcript available on Metacast No we haven't been hacked—today's story has all of these things and more. It's a tale about what happens when a Canadian crypto company wants to add to its portfolio, an American sex doll manufacturer wants to be taken more seriously and artificial intelligence progress convinces everyone involved that this is possible. Welcome to Canada's strangest business tech story of the year. Burt it's not fiction, it has investors and prototypes and big plans for everything from hospitals to research to ....
Jul 19, 2024•19 min•Ep 1174•Transcript available on Metacast Five years ago, the City of Toronto sounded a warning about an explosive growth in its rat population. The city planned to ... study it. Now, both Toronto and Ottawa are desperate for a plan to tackle highly visible rodent problems. But nothing's worked yet. Meanwhile, Alberta has been "rat-free" for decades, and the woman in charge of keeping the province that way has some thoughts about more experimental methods that might be considered. So how does Alberta do it? Why can't Ontario cities emul...
Jul 18, 2024•20 min•Ep 1173•Transcript available on Metacast If you own a property, you're not allowed to kick tenants out just to raise the rent. You are, however, allowed to evict them if you've purchased the property and plan to live in the home yourself. But what happens if they...just don't leave? A woman who recently purchased a home in Hamilton, is now living in her car and on friends' couches after she bought a home and made plans to move in—only to find herself homeless. It's been more than six weeks, and she's planning for months to come. How do...
Jul 17, 2024•19 min•Ep 1172•Transcript available on Metacast Its mechanics were officially off the job only 29 hours. But more than a week after they returned to work, WestJet was still struggling with cancelled flights and stranded passengers. Travelers impacted by the strike reported almost no customer service, including no efforts by WestJet to rebook them on other airlines, as the company is required to do. On the busiest travel weekend of the summer, and for a week afterwards, Canadians were left up in the air. Now they're trying to figure out what t...
Jul 16, 2024•21 min•Ep 1171•Transcript available on Metacast For 32 years a moratorium on cod fishing was in place in Newfoundland. When it hit, it cost tens of thousands of jobs, decimated the economy and changed the identity of the province. But now the ban has been lifted. Sort of. At least a little. And everyone is wondering what happens next... Should the ban have been lifted? How far back have the cod come in 32 years? What will this mean to Newfoundland's economy? And why are so many experts worried about how and why this decision was made? GUEST: ...
Jul 15, 2024•23 min•Ep 1169•Transcript available on Metacast It's summer, and parents across Canada are desperately looking for things to occupy their children. So why not take a trip to your local mall? That is, while you still can. In this episode from 2022, we examine what our society loses, as more and more malls across the country decide to close their doors. We hope you enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All across North America, malls are vanishing. Some are simply being demolished, others are tu...
Jul 14, 2024•28 min•Ep 1170•Transcript available on Metacast A winter hike was the way his father, then prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, decided he was through with politics and would not run again. Inflation was high, Canadians were struggling and he was deeply unpopular and likely to lose the next election. Sound familiar? After a devatstating loss in a byelection that was thought to be a safe win last month, the calls for Trudeau to follow his father's footsteps are getting louder, including from some in his own party. Will he heed them? Wy does he want ...
Jul 12, 2024•19 min•Ep 1168•Transcript available on Metacast Political collapse is an order of magnitude different than, say, "a trouble democracy" or even "a hard right government". It means the end of democracy, a massive reordering of what life in that nation—and when that nation is America, by extension, the world—looks like. This is a conversation that's very difficult to have. It's hard to wrap your mind around it, especially for those of us who have lives, and families and jobs and not a lot of time to ruminate on the future of democracy. But if it...
Jul 11, 2024•24 min•Ep 1167•Transcript available on Metacast Learning that legendary Canadian writer Alice Munro was complicit in ignoring the sexual abuse of her daughter by her husband has shocked the country and forced us all to grapple with the progress we have—and haven't—made since the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017. In an essay for The Toronto Star, Andrea Robin Skinner detailed how her mother ignored her reports of abuse by her stepfather, even when he acknowledged it in writing. It's not the only high-profile literary sex abuse scandal of the...
Jul 10, 2024•24 min•Ep 1166•Transcript available on Metacast Ontario's liquor distribution workers are on strike for the first time in their history. The reason? The government's plan to open up places like corner stores for beer, wine and mixed cooler sales. It's the latest chapter in a strange history of alcohol policy in the province that dates back to prohibition. The LCBO brings in billions in revenue each year for the government, but Premier Doug Ford has long pushed for more convenience in alcohol retail. Meanwhile, the rest of the country wonders ...
Jul 09, 2024•24 min•Ep 1161•Transcript available on Metacast Eight years ago, the Prime Minister was welcoming Syrian refugees to Canada at the airport, to international acclaim. Canada was viewed as one of the world leaders in accepting asylum claimants from war-torn or dangerous countries. We were good at it. Last year, asylum seekers were camped out in the streets, begging for a spot in shelters. They sat on months-long waitlists for basic documents that would allow them to work. There is no space in shelters, and we're cramming them into hotels. Safe ...
Jul 08, 2024•20 min•Ep 1158•Transcript available on Metacast On Sundays, we revisit some of our favourite episodes. If you're new to the show, we hope you enjoy hearing these for the first time, and if you've been with us a while, enjoy this trip down memory lane! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: When you were a child, did you have limits on the amount of TV you could watch? Or video or computer games you could play? Too much of that stuff "would rot your brain", right? It was universally accep...
Jul 07, 2024•23 min•Ep 1159•Transcript available on Metacast First the Ontario Science Centre was to be moved in a year or two, and that was enough to spark a protest movement to keep the iconic building designed by a renowned architect right where it was. Then, out of nowhere, it was simply closed for good, with Ontario's government citing a report that the roof would pose a danger in winter. In the wake of its sudden closure, there have been offers of private donations to fix the roof, the architectural firm that designed it has offered to lead those re...
Jul 05, 2024•20 min•Ep 1157•Transcript available on Metacast By the end of this weekend, two of Canada's G7 allies could each have new governments, on opposite sides of the political spectrum. While the Labour party is expected to end 14 years of Conservative government in the UK on Thursday, France may well end up in the hands of the hardline National Rally party. Is this a case of two countries headed in opposite directions? Or is it simply the same anti-incumbent sentiment that has impacted democracies across the world, with Canada no exception? Are pe...
Jul 04, 2024•20 min•Ep 1156•Transcript available on Metacast Right now, the federal government is in the middle of a consultation period in which they may decide to jack up tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. In announcing the consultation, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland called Chinese EVs "unfair competition" and said China was undermining Canada's EV sector's ability to compete. How is China's EV approach "unfair"? Why are Canadian EVs having trouble competing? Why aren't more Chinese EVs making their way overseas? And why can't you buy a sim...
Jul 03, 2024•19 min•Ep 1155•Transcript available on Metacast Microplastics are everywhere—and for the first time they've been found in penises of men suffering from erectile dysfunction. Does this mean there's a link between the two? Why have rates of infertility and ED been rising around the world? And why does it take a study that finds them in a penis to drive so much media than previous studies that have found these things in other places in the body? GUEST: Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, reproductive urologist, study lead We love feedback at The Big Story, as...
Jul 02, 2024•21 min•Ep 1153•Transcript available on Metacast They are majestic flying in a "v" overhead. A symbol of fall and spring. A true National treasure. And also, Canada geese can be...just total jerks. They flock to cities and universities, nesting and aggressively defending those nests, and leaving metric tons of goose poop just about everywhere. And you don't want to get on their bad side. This is the story of the many and varied efforts Canadian institutions have made to figure out how to live in peace with these creatures. If it's possible. GU...
Jun 30, 2024•21 min•Ep 1154•Transcript available on Metacast This is our last episode until the fall, so we thought we'd use the time to reflect on what we've learned so far, answer some of your feedback and talk about what's coming up next. In the meantime, we'll be revisiting a few of our earlier episodes and providing occasional news updates on events that matter to your wallet. Another Interest rate cut?! In this economy?! Thanks for listening and talk to you in September! Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or em...
Jun 29, 2024•18 min•Ep 1151•Transcript available on Metacast 
