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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

23:56

Is Doug Ford ‘excessively preoccupied’ with...

This Matters ·

2023/07/25

Guest: Noor Javed, staff reporter Ontario’s 444 municipalities are often referred to as “creatures of the province,” which has certainly proved to be true since Premier Doug Ford took over at Queen’s Park. The provincial Conservatives have repeatedly exerted authority over all aspects of local government — slashing Toronto city council, suddenly bestowing strong-mayor powers, cutting development charges and ushering in the breakup of Peel Region. This has rendered municipalities and their

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17:38

Mercury contamination linked to high youth suicide...

This Matters ·

2023/07/24

WARNING: This story contains sensitive subject matter, including suicide and self-harm, that could be triggering for some readers. Guest: Sheila Wang, investigative reporter A new study has revealed that tons of mercury dumped as industrial waste upstream of Grassy Narrows First Nations decades ago has contributed to the community’s youth attempting suicide at a rate three times higher than that of other First Nations in Canada. Residents of the community have long reported tremors, slurred speech,

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13:53

Report says minimum wage needs to be higher than $33...

This Matters ·

2023/07/21

Guest: Clarrie Feinstein, business reporter Highlighting that those trying to rent while earning minimum wage are fast losing ground, a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives paints a bleak picture of affordability in most Canadian cities. It all comes down to the “rental wage,” the hourly wage that would be required to be able to afford rent while working a 40-hour week and spending no more than 30 per cent of gross income on housing. The report highlights that across most

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18:16

Will Canada’s Mounties become the ‘FBI of the North’?

This Matters ·

2023/07/20

Guest: Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa Bureau Chief The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a $4.2-billion dollar national force looking over eight provinces, three territories, 150 municipalities and 600 Indigenous communities. But now, sources say the PMO wants Mounties to be transformed into the “FBI of the North.” The idea would pull the RCMP out of the business of front-line, day-to-day contract policing and shift focus to challenges like national security and terrorism, financial crimes, cybercrime and

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25:39

Star investigation reveals troubling tax trend...

This Matters ·

2023/07/19

Guest: Kenyon Wallace and Diana Zlomislic, investigative reporters A new Star investigation has revealed that owners of some of Toronto’s cheapest homes might be paying disproportionately more in property taxes than those living in luxurious mansions. Analyzing roughly 12,000 homes sold in 2016, Star reporters found the burden of this tax inequality is shouldered by those with the least-expensive houses, while owners of some of the city’s richest homes in fancy neighbourhoods get a break. Who

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15:43

Electric vehicles are picking up speed but have one...

This Matters ·

2023/07/18

Guest: Lex Harvey, transportation reporter As TTC service cuts and dense Toronto traffic make commuting much harder, an increasing number of people find themselves turning to alternatives like personal electric vehicles, or PEVs for short. There are all sorts of oddball versions on city streets and those who use them say they might be the answer to traffic woes and they are environmentally-friendly. There’s one speed bump — e-scooters and other PEVs (aside from e-bikes) are illegal in Toronto. We

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18:27

These nurses treat mental health patients wherever...

This Matters ·

2023/07/17

Guest: Sebastian Bron, reporter at The Hamilton Spectator Our health care systems are set up with the expectation someone struggling is functional enough to schedule, travel and arrive at appointments and be in the driver’s seat of their care. Not everyone can do that, so St. Joe’s mobile mental-health clinic in Hamilton has flipped the model on its head. Nurses and paramedics hit the road by bus to provide mobile mental health care everywhere from a Tim Hortons coffee shop, to a library, a shelter

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22:32

Why do Canadians search for proof of racism instead...

This Matters ·

2023/07/14

Guest: Shellene Drakes-Tull, contributing columnist How many racialized people calling it out does it take to fix racism? Toronto Star contributing columnist Shellene Drakes-Tull addressed this head on in a recent column, where she pointed out the Canadian trend to issue a new survey, report or article comes out every few weeks that states what any racialized person has known for years: racism exists in Canada. Any new data is never good. BIPOC representation is down, systemic racism is up,

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19:43

Toronto’s best (and worst) playgrounds? This dad has...

This Matters ·

2023/07/13

Guest: Katie Daubs, senior writer The City of Toronto manages more than 850 playgrounds, but city-provided information is lacking and children have critical questions. How fast is the slide? Will I vomit on the merry-go-round? Is there a place to play house? Parents also have questions. Is their shade? Is the space accessible? Is a bathroom close by? To get the information, one Toronto dad has taken his children to over 200 parks and built an essential guide with important information any family

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17:23

Why are newcomers seeking refuge sleeping on Toronto...

This Matters ·

2023/07/12

Guest: Victoria Gibson, affordable housing reporter Asylum seekers come to Canada hoping to find safety, refuge and the chance to build a better life. Instead, many have ended up sleeping on the streets of Toronto after being caught in a bureaucratic tug of war between Toronto and Ottawa, as the city and the federal governments are pointing at each other on who should fund the responsibility of housing refugees. According to a new policy that came into effect June 1, the city is now directing

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18:38

King’s Counsel honours stirs questions, accusations...

This Matters ·

2023/07/11

Guest: Jacques Gallant, courts and justice reporter The Ford government is facing accusations of patronage for bringing back the King’s Counsel (K.C. for short) special designation for lawyers and awarding it to numerous Tory politicians, staffers and loyalists. Meant to be “given to lawyers who have demonstrated a commitment to the pursuit of legal excellence in service to the Crown, the public and their communities,” the government’s move provoked significant reaction as the list of appointees

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20:47

Unravelling Meta’s new Threads

This Matters ·

2023/07/10

Guest: Paris Marx, author and host of “Tech Won’t Save Us” podcast Threads, Meta’s new social media app that is being called the “Twitter killer” by some experts, has now become the fastest growing app in history with 100 million new users since it was officially launched on July 5. Many see it as a sign of social media user’s disenchantment with Twitter after the platform went through a series of controversial and unpopular changes since tech giant Elon Musk took over. Threads is being marketed as

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18:40

The Star, police and racial profiling: A reporter...

This Matters ·

2023/07/07

This episode originally aired January 9, 2023. Guest: Jim Rankin, staff reporter Twenty years ago, the Star published a landmark and controversial investigation examining data that showed police interaction with racialized people occurred at a higher rate, kicking of years of stories that reinforced this initial conclusion. This past year, after looking at their own data, acting Toronto police chief James Ramer apologized for police interactions with the Black community. The problems persist through

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30:59

One on one with David Suzuki: climate change, clean...

This Matters ·

2023/07/06

This episode originally aired June 2, 2023. Guest: David Suzuki, world-renowned geneticist and environmentalist Before the Paris Agreement, before the Kyoto Protocol, before even the UN Climate Convention was signed in Rio, world-renowned geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki was ringing the alarm bell and saying that climate change is a “matter of survival.” In this episode, Suzuki joins “This Matters” guest host and climate reporter Marco Chown Oved to discuss the state of today’s

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31:15

A chief at the centre of a national reckoning on...

This Matters ·

2023/07/05

This episode originally aired April 21, 2023. Two years ago, Cowessess First Nation announced the discovery of 715 unmarked graves near the site of a former residential school. The news shocked the world and ignited a national conversation on Canada’s colonial history. At the centre was Chief Cadmus Delorme, a young and vibrant leader, who came to office wanting to show that an Indigenous world view could work with, and even improve, Western-style development. Delorme had no idea that he would

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22:11

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on getting to the...

This Matters ·

2023/07/04

This episode was originally broadcast April 18, 2023. Guest: Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Col. Jeremy Hansen, a CAF fighter pilot and Canadian Space Agency astronaut, has been named to NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first scheduled crewed mission of the Space Launch System with the Orion spacecraft. It will leave Earth’s orbit and perform a lunar flyby, the first time people have travelled by the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first time a Canadian has reached deep space

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18:52

What we know about Google’s plan to block all...

This Matters ·

2023/06/30

Guest: Raisa Patel, Ottawa Bureau Google has announced plans to block all Canadian news content from its platforms and the ramifications are huge. The move is in response to the just-passed Online News Act, which would force platforms to strike deals with Canadian media publishers for sharing, previewing and directing users to online content. Some news organizations, including Torstar, lobbied Ottawa in favour of the legislation and have had deals in place with Google and Meta (who have said they

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58:27

Olivia Chow and a new time of possibility in Toronto?

This Matters ·

2023/06/29

Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan Now that the election is done, our panel of columnists gathers one last time to assess what the heck happened and discuss Olivia Chow’s mandate, what her winning Scarborough means, what Ontario Premier Doug Ford (and others) lost by going against her and the hard work that lies ahead. This episode was produced by Paolo Marques and Edward Keenan.

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20:44

Drag has always been part of Toronto. Here’s part of...

This Matters ·

2023/06/28

Guest: Michael Oscars, talent agent and theatre producer Drag is increasingly a target of hate and criticism across the world, looped into far-right hysteria, “freedom” convoy protesting and narratives about child safety. It is an unusual turn of perspective when drag has always been part of our popular culture, including our local popular culture and arts scene in Toronto. Drag performers have also been part of causes for good, including activism and fundraising. Drag does have a place in the bar

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48:20

Pride, hope and Olivia Chow’s prospects

This Matters ·

2023/06/27

Guests: Toronto Star columnists and guest hosts Emma Teitel and Edward Keenan When Olivia Chow won the mayoral election Monday night, she ended 12 years of Conservative rule at city hall, bringing a message of hope, harnessing hunger for change and riding a bicycle festooned with flowers. Ed and Emma recap how she won the election, discuss Ana Bailão’s last-minute surge, discuss the performance and prospects of some of the other candidates, and try to assess the difficulty Chow faces now that she’s

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1,105 results

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