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PODCAST

This Matters

The world is changing every day. Now, more than ever, these questions matter. What"s happening? And why should you care? This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, aims to answer those questions, on important stories and ideas, every day, Monday to Friday. Hosts Saba Eitizaz and Ed Keenan talk to their fellow journalists, experts and newsmakers about the social, cultural, political and economic stories that shape your life.

news documentary

All Episodes

26:20

The Ultimate Choice: A family's journey reveals the...

This Matters ·

2024/02/29

This Matters is pleased to publish the first episode of the Toronto Star, TVO and IJB collaborative podcast, The Ultimate Choice. The podcast follows the journey of Michael and his wife, Ann. Michael, housebound by pain and incurable disease, sees his choice for a medically assisted death (MAID) as a powerful solution to his suffering. The series explores Michael's motivations and how his decision affects his family, friends, and longtime doctor. Hosted by Toronto Star investigative reporter Rob

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24:42

The first cobalt refinery in North America is in Canada

This Matters ·

2024/02/24

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, Road Trip: Electric Avenues, every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. In episode 2, we visit a cobalt refinery in Cobalt, Ont. that’s running on renewable power and doubling as a battery recycling plant. Electra Battery Materials bought the plant in 2018 and five years on, they’ve got the first cobalt refinery in North America, the only alternative for EV

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27:09

Facing our smartphone addiction

This Matters ·

2024/02/21

Guest: Richard Warnica, Toronto Star feature writer Richard Warnica sees it everywhere – business meetings, the subway, even at his own dinner table – the blank-eyed stare of someone mindlessly scrolling their smartphone. These devices, despite their increasingly documented negative effects on our mental health, have us firmly in their grips, and their utility and ubiquity makes it hard to envision how we’ll ever kick the habit. But once upon a time, most of us smoked, too, and virtually everywhere

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19:47

Can EV batteries be made with Canadian minerals?

This Matters ·

2024/02/17

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, Road Trip: Electric Avenues, every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV)

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34:12

What we saw on Toronto budget day

This Matters ·

2024/02/16

On Valentine’s Day, hours before the Toronto women’s hockey team continued its rise in the standings, city council met to debate the mayor’s budget. Police got the money they were demanding: was that a good move or bad move by the mayor? And who knew plowing out the end of driveways would be the cause that united everyone? Meanwhile, a tax increase that was for years considered the third rail of Toronto politics seems less electric now that it’s done. PLUS: Emma’s most controversial architecture

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29:10

Taylor Swift and the dystopian world of AI deepfakes

This Matters ·

2024/02/15

Guests: Angelyn Francis and Kevin Jiang Deepfakes are the latest manifestation of artificial intelligence-generated technology. They are false, but very lifelike, AI generated images of real people. Last month, deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift were viewed tens of millions of times on X, formerly known as Twitter, before being removed. The incident is raising serious concerns among experts who say the technology is being misused and often fuelled by misogyny, flooding the internet

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36:20

Lies, damn lies and statistics about police budgets

This Matters ·

2024/02/14

Guest: Jennifer Pagliaro, staff reporter When the proposed city budgets were announced (first by city staff and later by the mayor), the police chief and the association representing officers went on the offensive, threatening that funding levels would leave them unable to answer emergency calls and protect Torontonians. In the end, the cops got what they were asking for with the cooperation of the mayor, but the Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro looked into the claims being made and answers our questions

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40:23

Road Trip: 2,300km up north in the dead of winter, in...

This Matters ·

2024/02/12

In a cross-over episode of Toronto Star podcasts, This Matters' Ed Keenan interviews Road Trip: Electric Avenues' Marco Chown Oved, the Star's climate change reporter. He and photographer (and EV owner) Steve Russell embarked upon a week-long road trip – in an EV, of course – to visit sites around the province that will figure in this cleantech future.

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35:02

One year after John Tory

This Matters ·

2024/02/09

It’s been one year since John Tory announced his surprise resignation and what difference those 12 months have made at city hall, never more in evidence than in the budget scheduled to be passed next week. We discuss what’s changed, why Mayor Olivia Chow seemed so pleased with the federal refugee funding, a prebudget meeting of council and more. As well, Premier Doug Ford deserves (partial) credit where it is due. What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and

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21:04

Is Canada prepared for an impending dementia epidemic?

This Matters ·

2024/02/08

Guest: Dr. Saskia Sivananthan, neuroscientist and health data scientist A new landmark study predicts that the number of Canadians living with dementia will increase by 187 per cent by 2050. That would mean more than 1.7 million Canadians with dementia, nearly three times the estimated 650,000 today. More than a quarter of them will be people from South and East Asia. The report also looks at a major shift in dementia demographics in Canada. Experts say we’re at a pivotal moment. This might be the

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42:58

Why your Toronto neighbourhood needs to change

This Matters ·

2024/02/07

Guest: Richard Warnica, staff reporter The housing crisis in Toronto, and in Canada, has become the dominant issue for politicians at all levels of government and for voters up and down the income spectrum. Star reporter Richard Warnica took a deep dive into the many facets of the issue, from the lack of public housing and the shortage of rentals to zoning and development delays, NIMBY objections to multiplexes, and construction that can’t keep up with population growth. Experts told him we need to

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29:24

‘You have to survive. Stay safe. I'm doing what I...

This Matters ·

2024/02/06

Guests: Maryam Affana, Mirvat Al-Sharafi and immigration lawyer Aidan Simardone Last month, Canada launched a new emergency program permitting up to 1,000 Palestinians who are extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to apply to come to Canada. Members of the Palestinian-Canadian community say they are struggling with delays, logistical issues and what some experts say is an unprecedented and invasive level of personal information requirements. They wait with the clock

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41:37

Lower tax (hikes), Scarborough buses and jerks on the...

This Matters ·

2024/02/02

Mayor Olivia Chow’s version of the city budget was released this week, and one of us was there in person at the Scarborough Town Centre to hear about it. The tax rate’s a bit lower, the feds came through with some money, the police still didn’t get as much as they want. So what do we think? And what’s left to fight about? Also, some jerk disrupted a women and trans shinny game in a Toronto park, something Emma says she’s experienced as a disturbing trend this year. And one of us explains why we're

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20:19

How to grow your nest egg when no one taught you how...

This Matters ·

2024/01/27

"This Matters" would like to share an episode of the third season of the Toronto Star podcast "Millennial Money." The show includes millennials speaking about relatable financial dilemmas that are often taboo or embarrassing but that many are grappling with behind closed doors. Like many of us, Amy learned about trigonometry in school but nothing about the basics of financial literacy of investing. And she didn’t have any financial models growing up; no one she knew really had any money. But

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39:12

Budgets, toboggans and other ups and downs

This Matters ·

2024/01/26

The city budget moves from committee to mayor’s office, though tax rates, federal funding commitments and other big questions are still in flux. Ed and Emma met with Budget Chief Shelley Carroll this week to discuss, and share some of her thoughts, alongside some of their own. And while Ed was recently sounding the alarm on a toboggan ban in Toronto, Emma is not so sure there’s all that much to be alarmed about. Maybe a bigger issue is how much time kids spend on phones (including in classrooms),

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17:36

Canada’s new restrictions on international students:...

This Matters ·

2024/01/25

Guest: Nicholas Keung, immigration reporter On Monday Canada’s immigration minister Marc Miller announced the federal government’s move to introduce a temporary cap on foreign students as part of an ongoing set of measures to limit and curb the abuse of Canada’s international student program. While the government is framing it as a solution to exploitation and a burgeoning housing and affordability crisis, there are also some concerns that international students are being made into scapegoats for

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33:39

More Greenbelt scandal, but no MPP pay hike

This Matters ·

2024/01/24

Guest: Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Yet another wrinkle emerged in the Greenbelt scandal with the revelation of an email showing the Premier’s office might have been engaged with the matter earlier than it has previously said (under oath, even). Is this a big “net new” deal, or a nothingburger? Is it significant that this government can’t seem to read a calendar or that personal emails were used here? On another front from Queen’s Park, elected officials haven’t had a raise since

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26:37

Fight or flight? Options in the threat of eviction...

This Matters ·

2024/01/20

"This Matters" would like to share an episode of the third season of the Toronto Star podcast "Millennial Money." The show includes millennials speaking about relatable financial dilemmas that are often taboo or embarrassing but that many are grappling with behind closed doors. jes sachse has been fighting an eviction for about two years. And they’re not alone. As rent and property prices soar, eviction is a threat for many Torontonians. Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro

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31:20

Another season of the Trump show roars to life in 2024

This Matters ·

2024/01/18

Guest: Toronto Star reporter Richard Warnica, reporting from the U.S. Amid criminal trials, civil convictions, and courts ruling him ineligible to serve again, Donald Trump remains the dominant force in American politics, as shown again with a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses that kick off the presidential nominating contest. The Star’s Richard Warnica is on the scene, and talks to host Edward Keenan about the cartoonish former president’s enduring appeal to his supporters, the prospects for

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1,105 results

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