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PODCAST

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered conversations that matter

Village Media Inc.

In cities and towns across Ontario — and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill — our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find. This new podcast from Village Media — ‘Closer Look’ — is all about the stories we tell. Every weeknight, hosts Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith go beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.

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All Episodes

27:34

Sign up here to get your slice of the $500M bread...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/17

Send us a text If you bought a loaf of bread sometime over the past 20 years — and really, who didn’t? — you’re entitled to some dough. Claim forms are now open for the $500-million class-action settlement over the alleged price-fixing of bread products in Canada. Any Canadian resident who purchased packaged bread for personal use between Jan. 1, 2001 and Dec. 31, 2021 — including buns, rolls, bagels, naan bread, English muffins, wraps, pita and tortilla — is eligible for compensation...

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29:17

The number of senior citizens in Canada is about to...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/16

Send us a text By every measure, our population of senior citizens is about to get a whole lot bigger. According to Statistics Canada, the number of people aged 85 and older is expected to triple by 2073 — to as many as 4.3 million. Not surprisingly, experts say the spike in elderly Canadians will put increasing pressure on many aspects of society, including the labour market and healthcare systems. Joining us on Closer Look to break down all the data is Doug Norris, one of Canada’s leading...

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13:21

Trump diplomat has ‘a hard time understanding’ why...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/16

Send us a text Pete Hoekstra, the United States Ambassador to Canada, joined our Closer Look podcast last week for a wide-ranging discussion about trade, Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump’s musings about a 51st state, and a whole lot more. In case you missed it, the full interview is HERE. Hoekstra defended the Trump Administration’s global tariff push, saying it’s a necessary step after some “not-so-bright decisions” that have contributed to America’s ever-growing deficit. “It would have been neg...

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44:17

Trump’s man in Canada stops by our podcast, insists...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/12

Send us a text Pete Hoekstra is Donald Trump’s U.S. Ambassador to Canada, which means he spends a lot of time answering questions about the pressing issue of the day on this side of the border: tariffs. The President's musings about Canada becoming the 51st state? He’s had to answer for those comments, too — but Hoekstra insists that’s all behind us. “I've told people I don't talk about it, so I'm not really going to talk about it with you either,” the Ambassador said during a wide-ranging ...

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42:22

Bonnie voyage? Liberals decide this weekend if...

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2025/09/11

Send us a text Judgment day looms for Bonnie Crombie. The Ontario Liberal leader faces a mandatory leadership review at the party’s annual general meeting this weekend, and it’s certainly not certain which way the vote will go. Although Crombie has admitted to being caught off guard by Doug Ford’s snap election call — and faced criticism for making health care the centrepiece of her party’s platform — the Liberals did win enough seats to regain official party status. We’ll know by Sunday ni...

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21:08

Is it time to ban sports gambling commercials? This...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/10

Send us a text Here’s a sure bet: If you watch a sporting event tonight, you’re going to see a gambling ad. They’ve become ubiquitous ever since the Ontario government legalized sports betting across the province in 2022. But doctors are sounding the alarm, warning parents that all those gambling commercials pose a major risk to children and teens. “Such advertising insidiously normalizes a harmful activity, and children are being exposed, to their detriment,” reads an editorial in the late...

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27:49

When did Ontario schools become so violent?

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/09/09

Send us a text By every measure, violence is skyrocketing inside Ontario schools. According to a survey released earlier this year by the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), nearly 75 per cent of education workers experience violent or disruptive incidents in their work area, with more than a third facing these incidents daily. Among educational assistants and child and youth workers, the numbers are even more alarming: 95.8 per cent — nearly every single one — say they ex...

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26:10

Where is Nicole Morin? 40 years later, there’s still...

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2025/09/08

Send us a text Forty years later, it remains one of Canada’s most perplexing unsolved mysteries: What happened to Nicole Morin? On July 30, 1985, the eight-year-old girl left her penthouse apartment in west-end Toronto to meet a friend for a swim. She was never seen again — and not a single piece of physical evidence linked to her disappearance has ever been found. Earlier this summer, the Toronto Police Service marked the 40th anniversary of Nicole’s case by announcing a $50,000 reward for...

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22:07

Hurry! Don’t miss our interview with ‘rock star’...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/22

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's 'Closer Look' podcast: One of the greatest curlers of all time stops by our house for a sweeping conversation about her legendary career and new autobiography. One of the greatest curlers of all time is in our house tonight. Jennifer Jones — six-time national champ, two-time world champ, Olympic gold medallist — is set to release an autobiography that promises to leave no stone unturned about her legendary career. The book is called Rock Star: My Li...

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22:40

Chronic concern: This Ontario town smells like pot...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/21

Send us a text Tonight on our new 'Closer Look' podcast: After multiple legal challenges, years of complaints and thousands in fines, the Town of Pelham is still grappling with the stench from local cannabis facilities. In this case, residents can be forgiven for their blunt opinions. For years, people in the Town of Pelham have lamented the incessant stench of weed in the air — the result of two large cannabis production facilities. Despite hundreds of complaints, thousands of dollars in f...

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19:51

Homeless encampment becomes a ‘heinous’ crime scene

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/20

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's 'Closer Look' podcast: Barrie Police have charged a man with murdering and dismembering two people following an investigation inside a controversial homeless encampment. The details are still trickling out, but what’s known so far is disturbing: A Barrie man is accused of murdering and dismembering two people after a police investigation that centred around a longstanding homeless encampment. Barrie mayor Alex Nuttall called it a “completely heinous...

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19:09

Who should take the heat for sweltering classrooms?

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/08

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's new daily podcast: Amid a summer heat wave, parents are calling on the province to create new regulations to deal with scorching temperatures in daycares and classrooms. As heat waves continue to grip the province, parents are speaking out about the "sweltering" conditions inside some child-care centres. The Trillium, Village Media's bureau at Queen's Park, reported this week that some kids are being left in diapers as a way to keep cool. While some...

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19:47

CLOSER LOOK: Let’s talk about Doug Ford’s tunnel vision

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/07

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's new daily podcast: We dig a little deeper into Premier Ford's big idea to construct a massive, congestion-easing tunnel underneath Highway 401 in Toronto. For a story about boring, this one has proven to be anything but. Premier Doug Ford is determined as ever to dig a massive tunnel underneath Highway 401 in Toronto — telling reporters yesterday that he's spoken with "some tunnelling folks" and has hashed out a realistic plan to ease congestion. Ac...

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19:12

CLOSER LOOK: What happens when your mayor is under...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/07

Send us a text It's not everyday that the OPP launches an investigation targeting an Ontario mayor. But that's exactly what happened this week in North Bay, where Mayor Peter Chirico has been dogged by a spending scandal that has triggered plenty of headlines. The controversy revolves around nearly $16,000 in questionable expenses charged to Chirico's city-issued corporate credit card, including dog food, cigarettes, a golf membership and season tickets to the OHL's North Bay Battalion.&nbs...

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33:10

‘I’m not going anywhere’: Bonnie Crombie tells us why...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/08/02

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's new daily podcast: Ontario's Liberal leader concedes that 'mistakes were made' during the last election, but she has every intention of steering her party into the next campaign. Bonnie Crombie acknowledges that “mistakes were made” during the last provincial election, but the Liberal leader insists she is the best person to steer her party into the next campaign — whenever that happens to be. Crombie — who faces a mandatory leadership review at nex...

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25:07

Steve Paikin has a new agenda keeping him busy

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/07/31

Send us a text Tonight on 'Closer Look': One of Canada's most recognized and respected journalists talks to us about his beloved Red Sox, his new podcast, and why he's excited to once again team up with Village Media. Don’t use the word retired to describe Steve Paikin. He’s working as hard as ever. The longtime anchor of TVO’s The Agenda, who recorded his final show last month after 19 seasons, has shifted his journalism to the independent kind. The Paikin Podcast dropped its debut episode...

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17:29

We learned some things about the chief fundraiser for...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/07/30

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's new daily podcast: What our Queen's Park team at The Trillium discovered about the chair of the PC Ontario Fund — and how Premier Ford reacted to the investigation. "He could be the most powerful person in the province." That's the way one source described Tony Miele, the long-serving chair of the PC Ontario Fund — the fundraising arm of Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party. With Miele at the helm, the PCs have dominated other provinci...

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19:04

Car thefts are suddenly way down across Ontario

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/07/30

Send us a text Tonight on Village Media's new 'Closer Look' podcast: One month after masked men tried to steal a vehicle out of Doug Ford's driveway, a new report finds a major decline in reported auto thefts. Last year, when the provincial and federal governments announced millions of dollars in funding to crack down on car thieves, Ontario Premier Doug Ford had a stern warning for would-be criminals: “We’re coming after you.” They actually came after him, it turned out. But in the end, th...

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21:16

Lots of worry kicking around about World Cup we're...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/07/29

Send us a text Remember back in 2018, when the United States, Canada and Mexico celebrated their successful bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup? Now that the big event is less than a year away — and U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed a tariff war on his country’s closest trading partner — things have gotten a bit awkward. Offside, to borrow a soccer term. Political tensions, combined with Trump’s immigration crackdown, are threatening to overshadow the largest-ever FIFA World Cup, with...

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18:15

Major project? Maybe it’s time to finally fix...

Closer Look - Insightful, credible, unfiltered... ·

2025/07/25

Send us a text Donald Trump’s tariffs have triggered a lot of talk on this side of the border about building big — and the race is now on to kick-start major infrastructure projects aimed at strengthening Canada’s autonomy and economy. How about a massive upgrade to Highways 11 and 17? That is the pitch being made by the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), which this week called on the federal and provincial governments to invest in an innovative plan that it says would i...

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207 results

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