Winter on the prairies is not usually a time to worry about drought, and fire. At least, it wasn't. But large swaths of the country, from BC through Ontario, are currently seeing a lack of snow and water accumulation that is "unprecedented in modern times," according to an expert. In one BC town, the drought is so severe residents are using bottled water. The Alberta government is already making water restriction plans for the spring and summer to come. The conditions will be perfect for a wildf...
Jan 15, 2024•24 min•Ep 1001•Transcript available on Metacast Kara is being asked to pay back all the money she received from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit back in 2020. But she’s making less now than she was before the pandemic and all of her expenses have gone up. She doesn't have the means to pay the Canada Revenue Agency and might have to file bankruptcy as a result. Jordan talks to Elizabeth Mulholland to find out why the CRA is going after this money now. Then speaks with licensed insolvency trustee, Doug Hoyes, to learn more about what it me...
Jan 13, 2024•54 min•Ep 998•Transcript available on Metacast If you compare us to peer countries, it's an embarrassment. Other nations have high-speed rail corridors shuttling thousands of people across distances between cities at speeds of up to 300 km/h. They are fast, sleek and almost always on time. Even the United States, which hasn't bothered to do much of anything with its vast resources, has better, faster trains than we do. If you ride Via Rail on its busiest corridors, you're planning for a delay—or at least, you should be. The trains and tracks...
Jan 12, 2024•19 min•Ep 1000•Transcript available on Metacast None of the 177 passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight was seriously hurt, despite a panel blowing out of the middle of the aircraft at 16,000 feet shortly after takeoff. The emergency landing is a credit to the people involved. What we've since learned about this series of aircraft, though, is deeply troubling. Outsourcing is a growing trend in the aircraft industry. The company the built the key part of this aircraft—as well as others that have since been grounded—was already mired in an ongo...
Jan 11, 2024•17 min•Ep 997•Transcript available on Metacast They're in every city and town in Canada—the visible evidence of overlapping crises and a lack of resources to help people in need. In the past, most governments and police have dealt with encampments by tearing them down and moving their residents on. But recently courts have become more inclined to grant injunctions against that, in some cases even requiring governments to provide working bathrooms or water. As this trend continues, one expert on the legal fight over these tent cities believes...
Jan 10, 2024•23 min•Ep 996•Transcript available on Metacast You're not supposed to be paying to be prescribed drugs in Canada. You're also not generally supposed to get those prescriptions without being examined and, you know, speaking to a real live human being. But a recent investigation found that it's possible to be prescribed the country's hottest drug, which is currently facing a shortage, by using an online portal and paying $99. Where did this loophole come from? Who's exploiting it and why? Why do government regulations allow this? And what does...
Jan 09, 2024•20 min•Ep 995•Transcript available on Metacast Conspiracy theories used to be weird, and kinda fun. Now they're everywhere, and pretty dangerous. Last year marked a significant evolution in the mainstreaming of fringe beliefs—and we're not talking about "The moon landing was faked". These conspiracy theories are often hateful, and frequently cited as a call to arms. With 2024 being a key year for elections around the globe—headlined by an American presidential campaign that will feature these theories at its core—what do you need to know abo...
Jan 08, 2024•24 min•Ep 994•Transcript available on Metacast The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy! ORIGINAL S...
Jan 06, 2024•32 min•Ep 993•Transcript available on Metacast Now that Sydney—a town of 30,000 people on Cape Breton Island—has put its toxic sludge behind it, it's looking for a fresh economic start. Many towns in Atlantic Canada have found that in tourism, which usually comes from advertising to fellow Canadians in other provinces that the east coast is affordable, beautiful and perfect for a family vacation. Sydney, however, is taking a different path. A path that hopes to encourage the 1% of the world's 1% to bring themselves, and especially their outr...
Jan 05, 2024•23 min•Ep 992•Transcript available on Metacast It certainly seems like this season has been worse for illness than most previous years. But has it? If it has, is it the pandemic? Is it the "triple-demic"? Or is it a normal pre-pandemic cold and flu season that we use to just live through, or do we know it's worse? Whatever the reasons, hospitals are crammed, polls say nurses and doctors are fleeing their professions and we're trying to figure out: Will winters just be like this now? If they are, what do we do about that? GUEST: Dr. Raywat De...
Jan 04, 2024•20 min•Ep 991•Transcript available on Metacast For the first time in years, 2023 saw Canadian voters shift their federal vote intention in a meaningful way, giving the Conservative Party a huge lead in the fall, before the Liberals clawed back a few points in December. With a federal election a year or less away, the race in more volatile than it's been in recent memory—so what might make a difference this year? Meanwhile, three provinces will also go to the polls, and we'll learn a lot from the results of those elections as well. From the m...
Jan 03, 2024•21 min•Ep 990•Transcript available on Metacast Canadian grocery giants have long claimed that they've only raised food prices to offset their increased expenses. But now, with many supply chain issues having been resolved, and energy prices coming down, the Canadian consumer still isn't feeling any relief, and the grocers continue to post record profits. With many Canadians already struggling to feed themselves and their families, and food prices projected to rise even further in 2024, restoring food affordability has become an absolute nece...
Jan 02, 2024•25 min•Ep 989•Transcript available on Metacast To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024. Happy new year! ---------------------------------------- ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: One of the biggest problems facing humans attempting to travel anywhere in space that's farther than the moon is the years it will take to get there. A small ship simply can't support normal human life fo...
Dec 29, 2023•28 min•Ep 986•Transcript available on Metacast To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024. Happy new year! -------------------------------------------------------------- ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: Over the next few months, we're likely to find out how well Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually protects marginalized groups. A divisive policy enacted in Saskatchewan w...
Dec 28, 2023•26 min•Ep 988•Transcript available on Metacast To mark the end of 2023, we're taking a look back at some of our favourite episodes from this past year. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and please stay tuned to the feed for new episodes coming in 2024. Happy new year! ----------------------------------- ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES: For the past few years, orcas off the coast of Portugal and Spain have been attacking, and sinking, small boats. At least three boats have been completely sunk, and many more have needed urgent rescue. This be...
Dec 27, 2023•20 min•Ep 987•Transcript available on Metacast Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is. Coral is disappearing across the world. As much as 50 percent of it is gone. But technology we've been working on for decades is beginning to pay off, allowing us to thaw cryogenically preserved coral and mature it...
Dec 22, 2023•19 min•Ep 978•Transcript available on Metacast Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is. Lots of companies make a tidy profit from the notion that you'll throw out their products and buy new ones every so often. This applies to everything from clothes to appliances to electronics. They don't really wan...
Dec 21, 2023•22 min•Ep 983•Transcript available on Metacast Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is. "Superbugs" are antibiotic resistant bacteria that have for years now been winning the war against medicine. Part of that is because we haven't been able to find any new drugs that work against them. But a new anti...
Dec 20, 2023•23 min•Ep 985•Transcript available on Metacast Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is. Today: A story about birds that might as well be a Netflix reality show. No spoilers here. You have to trust us. GUEST: Fatima Syed, Ontario Reporter, The Narwhal We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as sugge...
Dec 19, 2023•25 min•Ep 984•Transcript available on Metacast Before we break for the holidays, The Big Story team decided to try to end our year on a positive note with a week of good news stories. We hope this week brings you hope, light and laughter. It might be our job to often deliver bad news, but that doesn't mean that's all the world is. Today: You might have thought—based on everything you've seen and heard in the media and through your social channels—that the pandemic turned us all into angry lunatics, yelling at one another and throwing tantrum...
Dec 18, 2023•21 min•Ep 977•Transcript available on Metacast The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy! ----------...
Dec 16, 2023•38 min•Ep 980•Transcript available on Metacast In 2025, Canadian astronaut Josh Kutryk will take to the stars for a stint on the International Space Station, the latest in a long string of examples of Canada punching above its weight in space exploration. What will he be doing there? How does the ISS manage to stay above the global geopolitical fray? How on Earth (literally) do you prepare for months in space? And just how far beyond the ISS will Canadian astronauts one day travel? GUEST: Josh Kutryk, Canadian astronaut, engineer and pilot, ...
Dec 15, 2023•20 min•Ep 982•Transcript available on Metacast Even if you didn't know his name, you knew Daniel Langlois' work. Everyone who likes movies did. Langlois was the man who ushered Hollywood into an era of 3-D special effects, including on films like Jurassic Park and The Matrix. On Dec. 1 he and his partner, Dominique Marchand, were found dead in Dominica, in a burnt out car. Police say they had been shot. Their neighbour and another man have been charged with the crime, and court documents reveal a previous dispute between Langlois and the nei...
Dec 14, 2023•24 min•Ep 981•Transcript available on Metacast It started as a way to earn a few extra bucks on the side—or at least that's how Uber was pitched to potential drivers when it came to Canada in 2014. But now for many it's way to (try to) earn a living, one that's been getting tougher for years, and streets become crowded with empty Ubers hunting their next fares. That's one of many reasons Toronto placed a cap on handing out new rideshare licenses this fall, a move that's prompted Uber to sue the city. The fight between Toronto an Uber offers ...
Dec 13, 2023•25 min•Ep 979•Transcript available on Metacast If you've been fooled by a viral photo or video out of Gaza in the past two months, you're far from alone. In fact you're in the company of journalists and media outlets as well, that's how fogged with mis and disinformation this conflict has become. You may not even know you were fooled, because the debunking of the information didn't travel nearly as far and wide as the initial report. Why is Israel's invasion of Gaza more difficult to parse than even the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia? ...
Dec 12, 2023•25 min•Ep 976•Transcript available on Metacast If you know one food that's bad for the planet, it's probably beef. It's one of the worst polluters in the entire food industry, and its popularity means the scale of the beef industry is enormous. So much so that convincing people to give up beef has been a staple of the climate movement. But people who like beef don't want to forego their steaks and hamburgers, so one of the world's largest producers is now selling "climate-friendly" beef, and its been USDA approved. But how "friendly" is it? ...
Dec 11, 2023•20 min•Ep 974•Transcript available on Metacast The Big Story has been telling the stories that matter to Canadians for over five years, and through all of our coverage, one thing has become abundantly clear: A growing percent of the population can't afford to live basic, comfortable lives — and they want answers. In Frequency's newest show, In This Economy?! Jordan attempts to get to the bottom of how we got to this point, and share tips for how to achieve your goals despite living in a time of extreme economic uncertainty. Enjoy! ----------...
Dec 09, 2023•35 min•Ep 975•Transcript available on Metacast Most of you probably at least glanced at it. And many of you were excited and eager to share your Spotify Wrapped details with your friends and followers. After all, isn't that the whole point? To show off your musical taste, connect with others who share it and provide free marketing for a streaming behemoth? Spotify's Wrapped is the biggest and most popular of algorithmically created personal year-end lists, but it isn't alone. Why do these things always suck us in? How has Spotify managed to ...
Dec 08, 2023•23 min•Ep 973•Transcript available on Metacast "The pill" has been around for more than 60 years now. And while it changed society, sparked a sexual revolution and helped reshape the workforce ... it still kind of sucks for a lot of people who take it. The past six decades have seen incredible medical advancements, but somehow hormonal birth control remains the go-to for a lot of people who menstruate—even though we keep discovering new side effects even today. Why hasn't the pill gotten much better over six decades? Why haven't better alter...
Dec 07, 2023•20 min•Ep 972•Transcript available on Metacast Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doesn't think the federal government's proposed clean energy regulations are fair, and last year she gave herself the tool she needs to fight them. The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is designed to allow the province to refuse to enforce specific federal laws or policies "that violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta." Of course, the act hasn't been tested in court, and it's difficult to know if Smith is doing this because she intends to fight t...
Dec 06, 2023•21 min•Ep 971•Transcript available on Metacast 
