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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.

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All Episodes

21:30

A four-day work week? (REBROADCAST)

This Matters ·

2021/12/29

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published July 30, 2021. GUEST: Professor Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour at McGill University A recent study in Iceland involving thousands of workers has brought back the buzz around a shorter four-day work week. As the pandemic has accelerated the movement to work smarter and not longer, we explore the tantalizing possibilities — and

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21:05

How sportsmanship brought two nations and the...

This Matters ·

2021/12/28

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published January 12, 2021. The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team are ranked as one of the top teams in the world, but were passed over for the upcoming World Games likely in part due to their fight for sovereignty. This slight inspired an act of sportsmanship that has helped bring two nations closer together. Rex Lyons is a former player and board member of the Iroquois

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18:37

Why you miss (and need) casual friendships (REBROADCAST)

This Matters ·

2021/12/27

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published February 9, 2021. The pandemic has shrunk people’s lives. We’ve been limited to seeing the people in our homes, some family and maybe close friends. What happens when lose contact with acquaintances and serendipitous interactions in the world? The loss of this engagement and relationships can have a detrimental effect on our lives. Amanda Mull, staff writer for “The

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19:46

Should the end of Ontario’s liquor server wage mean...

This Matters ·

2021/12/24

Guest: Rosa Saba, business reporter for the Star Ontario, unlike elsewhere in Canada, has had a much lower minimum wage for liquor servers leading to a culture of tipping, not just for great service but to help balance the wage disparity. Now, starting in 2022, front-of-house workers in hospitality will see a $2.45 hourly pay increase to align closer to the minimum wage. But Ontario’s minimum wage is still far from the $20 per hour living wage needed, according to the Living Wage Network. So,

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13:24

Nurses are leaving the profession in worrying numbers

This Matters ·

2021/12/23

Guest: Patty Winsa, data reporter for the Star We have all seen the huge price that front-line workers have paid during COVID-19. Nurses have been at the forefront of this battle in clinics, hospitals and long-term care homes. Nearly two years into the pandemic, nurses are now leaving the profession in worrying numbers. While COVID-19 has added to burnout and pushed nurses off the job, the shortage has actually been inching its way into hospitals across Ontario and Canada for years. Data

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22:00

Ontario doctors fight virus, system that exposes the...

This Matters ·

2021/12/22

Guest: Dr. Gaibrie Stephen, ER physician and member of the Decent Work and Health Network (DWHN) We all remember the haunting posts on social media — doctors across the province sharing stories of their patients who caught COVID-19 at work and fell seriously ill, or spread it to their families. As a result, the Ontario government implemented a temporary three-day paid sick leave program that’s now being extended till the summer of 2022. Nurses, doctors and health care providers say it’s not

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18:20

How a massive bitcoin robbery ended up with an arrest...

This Matters ·

2021/12/21

Guest: Nicole O’Reilly, courts and crime reporter for The Hamilton Spectator It was a story that has become infamous within the cryptocurrency community. In early 2020, an early bitcoin investor reportedly had $46 million worth of the cryptocurrency stolen through a phone hacking attempt. After reporting it to the authorities, an international investigation led police to Hamilton, Ont., where an arrest was made and $7 million in bitcoin recovered but plenty of questions remained unanswered. Now, the

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20:25

The Night Walker: Kevin Donovan on the suspect in the...

This Matters ·

2021/12/20

Guest: Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter at the Star, and author of The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman It has been four years since the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman were found murdered in their Toronto home. Despite the fact the that couple were very wealthy and high profile, there have been few updates from the police and no arrests made in this crime. Recently, the Toronto Police gave an update on the case, and released a short video with

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18:03

Costs and benefits of virtual health care

This Matters ·

2021/12/17

Guest: Carine Abouseif, features editor at The Walrus Editor's note: This episode was recorded in November 2021, before the Omicron variant made in-person meeting a much higher risk. There are at this time no lockdowns but please note this conversation took place before case counts were rising exponentially. COVID-19 has brought a massive shift in the way we interact with our health care system. Since the lockdowns began, health care professionals and governments scrambled to create a telehealth

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15:29

Food prices rise amidst COVID-19, supply chain issues...

This Matters ·

2021/12/16

Guest: Rosa Saba, business reporter for the Star If you've been feeling price sticker shock at the checkout counter lately, you're not alone. Canada is bracing for what experts are calling a "perfect storm" as inflation hits the food aisles and prices skyrocket. The latest Food Price Report, released from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab says Canadians should expect to see the biggest annual increase in food bills on record as the world reels from COVID-19, supply chain issues and

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17:09

How health professionals plan to spend their holidays...

This Matters ·

2021/12/15

Guests: May Warren and Lex Harvey, reporters at The Star Hark! The Omicron variant threatens to put a damper on holiday plans as many people are trying to balance seeing their loved ones with a now what seems to be a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 spreading rapidly. With that in mind, The Star reached out to dozens of health care professionals to ask how they feel about the holidays and how they plan to spend them. They shared ideas of how to mitigate spread and talked about precautions

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23:13

Inside Brampton truckers’ fight against wage theft

This Matters ·

2021/12/14

Guest: Sara Mojtehedzadeh, work and wealth reporter for the Star A recent Star investigation has revealed a tangled thread of wage theft, threats and intimidation, all a systemic pattern of abuse within Canada's long-haul trucking industry. Now, truck drivers from Brampton, Ont. are mobilizing and fighting back through a public campaign, as the trucking companies facing allegations have denied any wrongdoing. Work and wealth reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh joins "This Matters" to talk about her

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16:47

Alcohol sales are changing. Will The Beer Store survive?

This Matters ·

2021/12/13

Guest: Josh Rubin, business reporter at The Star Is it time to say a final "cheers" to The Beer Store? The provincial government wants to change alcohol sales in Ontario are and has already loosened some things during the pandemic. The Beer Store is losing money with a continually dropping market share as beer retails in more outlets outside their stores. The contract between the province and The Beer Store's owners is up in 2025, and with that deadline looming and little news of negotiations, the

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19:34

How Canadian Olympians are being unearthed at a...

This Matters ·

2021/12/10

Guest: Kerry Gillespie, sports reporter for the Star Are Olympians born or are they created? While Canada has a big athletic talent pool to choose from, there are athletes flying under the radar who have world-class abilities but perhaps not the sport to match them. The RBC Training Centre is aiming to find “diamonds in the rough” of Canadian athletes, putting them through tests and trials of their athletic prowess to see if one day they could become Olympians for Team Canada. It’s not just a

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17:56

How the ‘Grinch Bots’ are stealing Christmas

This Matters ·

2021/12/09

Guest: Jake Roach, senior writer, computing at Digitaltrends.com If you've tried to buy a hot ticket item online like a new video game console, PC graphics cards or high end sneakers, you know that it is a race against the bots to purchase it. Now, as the holiday season approaches, these programs are spreading to other highly sought after items like toys, prompting members of U.S. Congress to table the Stopping Grinch Bots Act. Building on legislation that first targeted concert tickets which have

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21:11

How a 13-year-old faced anti-Black violence at...

This Matters ·

2021/12/08

Guests: Natasha Shakespeare, mother of a 13-year-old girl facing bullying and harassment at school, and Shree Paradkar, The Star's race and gender columnist Warning: Graphic content outlining anti-Black racism and antisemitic abuse. There has been an explosion of anti-Black racism in schools across Ontario, often intersecting with other forms of hate, including antisemitism. Black parents are now reaching out to advocacy groups, media and legal experts in a desperate bid for the safety of their

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16:04

Who gets to decide how Toronto grows and changes?

This Matters ·

2021/12/07

Guest: Danica Samuel, reporter for the Toronto Star With hundreds of ethnicities, cultures and unique neighbourhoods, one of the great points of pride for Toronto is its diversity. The City of Toronto wants to define what exactly this is through a "cultural districts" program that would identify different cultural enclaves as being worthy of being preserved. Who gets to decide what should be preserved? Would a "cultural district" designation make these places more secure or is it more red-tape? We

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18:30

The Fast and Nefarious: How thieves steal cars

This Matters ·

2021/12/06

Guest: Kevin Donovan, The Star's chief investigative reporter With films like "Gone in 60 Seconds" to "The Fast and The Furious," the world of car theft has been portrayed as a glamorous life full of high stakes and rollicking action. In fact, the modern car thief has high tech tools and they usually work in groups. Cars stolen in the middle of the night and are often on their way to being shipped out of the country before you even wake up. That's what happened to journalist Kevin Donovan's car, and

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18:46

The Omicron Variant: what we know and what we don’t

This Matters ·

2021/12/03

Guest: Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, infectious diseases physician at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga News and serious worry over the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spread almost as quickly as the virus itself. The World Health Organization says the newest, potentially more contagious variant poses a “very high” global risk. The UK’s Health and Security Agency calls it “the most worrying we’ve ever seen.” In the span of a week and a half, the Omicron variant has been detected in more than a dozen

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23:09

Omicron, the travel ban and getting home to Canada...

This Matters ·

2021/12/02

Guest: Alex Boyd, Calgary-based reporter for the Toronto Star The latest Omicron variant has starkly reminded the world about what global health advocates have been shouting about for more than a year – if vaccines aren't shared, the virus and its variants will spread. Canada has followed dozens of other countries in announcing more travel bans on African countries, and many in South Africa are feeling like they're being punished for alerting the world about Omicron. And just as it came made its

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1,105 results

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