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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

34:56

The Toronto Blue Jays at the World Series, an episode...

This Matters ·

2025/10/24

Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast For the first time in 32 years, the Blue Jays have a shot at winning the World Series, with Game 1 against the LA Dodgers happening tonight. It's been a long road to get here: waiting for conditions to be just right; to have the right players in place; for hard work and alchemy to strike that optimal balance. Whether you’ve been paying attention to this team for years or just since the start of this crucial round of

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22:11

Listen: Bill C-3 and who qualifies as Canadian

This Matters ·

2025/10/21

Guest: Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star immigration reporter A federal bill that could restore citizenship to people born abroad is drawing renewed political debate over who qualifies as Canadian and what rules should apply. Bill C-3 was introduced after a court found Canada’s two-generation limit on citizenship by descent to be unconstitutional. The proposed legislation would allow Canadians born outside the country to pass citizenship to their children, even if those children are also born abroad,

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20:49

How E-bikes and scooters took over Toronto's streets

This Matters ·

2025/10/17

Guest: Ben Cohen, Toronto Star City Hall reporter Electric scooters weaving through sidewalks, e-bikes flying through intersections, and mopeds cutting into bike lanes have become a common sight in Toronto. The city is being rapidly reshaped by the rise of micromobility; fast, electric vehicles that don’t require a driver’s licence or plates and remain only lightly regulated. The result has been more collisions, rising emergency room visits and growing confusion over who belongs where. While city

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25:19

10 years ago, the Jays lost the first two games at...

This Matters ·

2025/10/14

Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast The Blue Jays are currently battling the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series (or ALCS for short), the one that precedes the World Series. Getting this far in the season has Toronto whipped into a lather at the possibility that their team may be within grasp of the big prize. A prize that likely feels a little further away after last night's game: the Jays lost, for the second time in this

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20:21

The Worst Commute

This Matters ·

2025/10/10

Guest: Andy Takagi, Toronto Star transportation reporter Many of us know this pain too well: waiting on a very late bus or crawling between subway stations with no idea when we’ll get to where we're trying to go. Long commutes can famously take a real toll on your quality of life and Andy Takagi is walking a mile - or, rather, commuting several miles - in the shoes of those who claim to have the worst commutes in the city. Andy shares insights from his written series on the subject, The Worst

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20:24

Inside Canada's biggest dark web drug bust

This Matters ·

2025/10/07

Guest: Omar Mosleh, Toronto Star reporter The RCMP says it has dismantled one of the largest dark web drug networks in Canadian history, a GTA-based group called RoadRunna that was allegedly shipping about 400 packages of drugs a week across Canada, including through Canada Post. Seven people from Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga are facing charges after officers seized 75 kilograms of cocaine, MDMA, heroin, meth, ketamine and more than 10,000 pills. But the RoadRunna bust is part of a larger

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20:09

We look at the Jays ALDS matchup against the New York...

This Matters ·

2025/10/03

In honour of the Blue Jays playoff run starting tomorrow, we’re sharing an episode from our sister podcast Deep Left Field. Guest: RUSH frontman and Blue Jays fanatic Geddy Lee The Blue Jays are on the eve of their American League division series against the New York Yankees, which begins Saturday afternoon. We talk to the Jays' most famous fan, the lead singer, bassist and keyboardist from the legendary Canadian rock band Rush, who also happens to be a massive baseball geek. Geddy Lee shares his

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27:33

Truth and Reconciliation and the reality of...

This Matters ·

2025/09/30

Guest: Steve Teekens, Executive Director, Na-Me-Res, a Toronto-based Indigenous-run non-profit that provides temporary, transitional and permanent housing Indigenous people make up less than one per cent of Toronto’s population, but about 15 percent of the city’s homeless. Nationally, they are around 5 percent of the population yet account for more than a third of those without homes. These numbers reflect the ongoing legacy of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and systems that continue to

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31:10

Has Big Tech rewired Gen Z?

This Matters ·

2025/09/26

Guest: Ava Smithing, advocacy director at the Young People's Alliance Young people today have been raised with the most powerful tools in human history at their fingertips. Entire childhoods have played out online, with algorithms acting as babysitter, therapist, and mirror through which they see themselves. And now, we’re seeing what happens when the first generation raised on smart phones comes of age; shaped by platforms designed to manipulate attention and monetize minds. Ava Smithing was just

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23:42

Why Toronto's garbage problem stinks for everyone

This Matters ·

2025/09/23

Guests: Star journalists Ben Spurr and Mahdis Habibinia The Star’s City Hall bureau has been digging deep into the garbage with its Waste Not, Want Not series, examining how Toronto handles its trash and how the choices we make shape our city. In this episode, City Hall Bureau Chief Ben Spurr explains where most of our garbage actually ends up and what options the city has next, with its main landfill nearing capacity in just over a decade. Then, reporter Mahdis Habibinia shares what she learned

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26:58

Serial vandalism of Toronto speed cameras are about...

This Matters ·

2025/09/19

Lately, speed cameras in this city and neighbouring cities have become a symbol and target of people’s rage. The Parkside Drive speed camera was erected when this spot saw a horrific and fatal crash in 2021, due to speeding. It is now Toronto’s most prolific speed cam and was recently cut down by vandals for the seventh time in eleven months. And earlier this month 16 cameras across the city were taken out in a single night. This week, three more have come down. The City of Vaughan has decided to

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25:09

Why is Canada changing its immigration policy?

This Matters ·

2025/09/16

Guest: Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star Immigration Reporter Canada is quietly but significantly changing course on immigration. As the federal government moves to reduce the number of non-permanent residents, critics warn this may signal a harder shift in policy, with growing efforts to tighten border controls and slow down immigration processing. Questions are mounting about how these changes will affect the labour market, the economy, and the people caught in the middle. In this episode, immigration

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31:20

The cycle of Toronto's gun violence that statistics...

This Matters ·

2025/09/14

Guest: Jason Miller, Toronto Star crime reporter On Aug.16, eight-year-old JahVai Roy was shot and killed in his North York apartment when a bullet pierced his bedroom window. A teenager has since been charged, and Toronto police are looking for two more teen suspects. But for JahVai’s family, the trauma didn’t end that night. They’re now displaced, grieving, and navigating a system with few real supports. In this episode, we look at how gun violence continues to disproportionately impact Toronto’s

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23:10

Listen: Are Ontario's new stricter background checks ...

This Matters ·

2025/09/09

Guests: Star reporters Amy Dempsey Raven and Megan Ogilvie A new Ontario law was meant to protect vulnerable children in care, but it may be deepening the very crisis it set out to solve. The province has expanded police background checks for people working or volunteering in the child welfare system. But under the new rules, it is not just criminal records that show up. Any documented interaction with police, including traffic stops, noise complaints or mental health calls, could be flagged.Experts

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28:53

Talking TIFF at 50 with those in the know

This Matters ·

2025/09/05

This year marks TIFF’s 50th anniversary. The festival has done many things over the years - it’s been a bellwether for industry talent along with changing how movies are made and marketed. It’s also really helped shape the identity of this city. Today we speak with two veterans who have been covering TIFF for decades. Peter Howell, long-time Toronto Star film critic remembers his first time covering TIFF in the 70’s all the way up until present day; what’s changed, what’s stayed the same (for better

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16:47

Are financial landlords reshaping Toronto's rental...

This Matters ·

2025/08/29

Guest: Manuela Vega, Toronto Star housing reporter A new study has found that financial landlords are filing eviction applications at much higher rates than other types of landlords in Toronto, especially after acquiring new buildings. In one case, more than half the tenants in a building received an eviction notice in a single year. Experts say this reflects a wider business strategy and it’s reshaping the rental market, raising concerns about affordability, and who gets access to housing in this

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24:01

Elbows in? Why Carney pulled back on tariffs with Trump

This Matters ·

2025/08/26

Guests: Star reporters Raisa Patel and Josh Rubin Prime Minister Mark Carney is pulling back on Canada’s trade fight with the U.S., dropping retaliatory tariffs on goods covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) even as Donald Trump escalates with new penalties on Canadian steel, aluminum, and hundreds of manufactured products. It’s a sharp turn from Carney’s “elbows up” campaign promise, and it’s raising questions in business and political circles alike. We unpack the

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15:53

Record enrolment, shrinking budgets. Why the math...

This Matters ·

2025/08/22

Guest: Kris Rushowy, Toronto Star reporter It’s back-to-school season and Ontario universities are packed like never before. A record number of more than 84,000 first-year students are starting this fall. But even with record enrolment, schools are facing an $80 million shortfall. For years, international students have been the financial safety net, paying up to six times the tuition of Ontario students. Now, with Ottawa tightening immigration rules and visas harder to get, those numbers are

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20:43

Young, qualified and still jobless in Toronto

This Matters ·

2025/08/19

Listen here or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can at thestar.com/subscribe. Guest: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star reporter Youth unemployment in Toronto is at its highest level in decades outside of the pandemic and it’s not just a tough job market. A new report reveals that discrimination based on race, age, gender, language, and even postal code is one of the biggest barriers

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19:55

Long COVID, the pandemic that never ended for...

This Matters ·

2025/08/15

Guest: Kevin Jiang, Toronto Star reporter Nearly one in five Canadians who had COVID—more than more than 3 million people—went on to develop long COVID, also called post COVID 19 Condition (PCC). Symptoms can include fatigue, brain fog, breathing problems and heart damage, sometimes lasting for years. In Ontario there is still no coordinated plan for care. Funding for specialized clinics has disappeared, rehab services often have to be paid for out of pocket and most patients report getting little

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1,092 results

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