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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

27:52

Penalties for impaired driving just got tougher —...

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

2026/01/10

Send us a text If you’re going to drink and drive in Ontario, be prepared to face some harsher penalties. New provincial rules that took effect Jan. 1 include lifetime licence suspensions for anyone convicted of impaired driving causing death, and mandatory remedial education for first-time offenders caught behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Time will tell if the stricter regulations make a difference, but this much is certain: sadly, plenty of people are still drinking...

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27:11

Is the Ford government actually going to scrap school...

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

2026/01/09

Send us a text As of today, the Ford government has taken control of six school boards across the province — using words like “incompetence,” “mess” and “off the rails” to describe how things were going before the province seized the wheel. The passage of Bill 33, which came into force in November, made it even easier for Ontario to intervene. The Near North District School Board learned that lesson the hard way on Dec. 1. Now that we’ve reached 2026, an even bigger question looms: Will the F...

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38:43

‘Canada is not for sale’: How a patriotic hat became...

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

2026/01/08

Send us a text Even now, months later, Liam Mooney has a hard time believing just how fast everything came together. One day, he and his wife, Emma Cochrane, were watching Premier Doug Ford on television, talking about Donald Trump’s 51st state rhetoric and how Canada would never be for sale. A few days later, the Ottawa-based couple had stitched together a hat bearing Ford’s patriotic message — a hat that Ford himself would soon be sporting. From there, the design went viral: “CANADA IS NOT ...

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24:14

Will new grocery code of conduct actually help lower...

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

2026/01/07

Send us a text Years in the making, Canada’s new “grocery code of conduct” is finally in place. The enforcement powers officially kicked in on Jan. 1. Supported by the country’s five largest grocery chains — Empire, Loblaw, Metro, Walmart and Costco — the code of conduct is designed to promote fair dealing between grocers and their many suppliers. What does that actually mean? What will change? Who will benefit? And most importantly, will the new code translate into smaller grocery bills for ...

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20:42

This story about a lost sweater is the sliver of hope...

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

2026/01/06

Send us a text Have you seen this missing sweater? The family that’s desperately trying to find it has done everything possible to track it down — tracing the cherished heirloom from Oregon to Ontario to a pop-up market in the small community of Meaford. From there, the trail has gone cold. Crafted in the 1950s, the letterman sweater belonged to an American high school teacher named Walter Skowhede, who passed away last summer. Only after he died did his loved ones realize his beloved artic...

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31:39

From unsolved crimes to cloned meat, our new podcast...

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

2025/12/20

Send us a text 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 daily podcast — Closer Look — is all about the stories we tell. Launched in September, our mission is to go beyond the headlines with in-depth, eye-opening conversations featuring Village Media reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and major newsmakers. Tonight, as we begin a two-wee...

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31:26

Australia is banning kids from social media — should...

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

2025/12/18

Send us a text Australia has become the first country in the world to ban social media for kids under 16 — a move welcomed by plenty of parents and child advocates. As of last week, popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat were ordered to block all Australian kids from using their sites or face hefty fines. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it "a proud day" for the country, saying the ban will “make an enormous difference” on the well-being of millions of children. "It's a...

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29:54

How police tracked down a serial killer they didn’t...

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

2025/12/17

Send us a text For decades, a serial killer in Ontario went completely unnoticed. No one had any idea he even existed. His victims — Christine Prince, Claire Samson and Gracelyn Greenidge — were sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in Toronto between 1982 and 1997. But for years, not a single piece of evidence led police to suspect their killings were connected. That all changed last week. Using an emerging forensic technique known as investigative genetic genealogy, Toronto Police and ...

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29:14

'What everyone at Queen's Park can't stop talking about'

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

2025/12/16

Send us a text The Ontario Legislature has adjourned for the Christmas break — until March 23. (Yes, you read that right.) But don’t expect our team of political journalists at The Trillium to slow down as a result. Their work never really stops. Throughout the fall sitting, The Trillium’s exclusive reporting on the Ford government’s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund (SDF) led the conversation at Queen’s Park. One company at the centre of the controversy is now under OPP investigation. A...

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27:34

Not even gift cards are safe from scammers

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

2025/12/15

Send us a text Buying some gift cards for Christmas? Don’t get scammed. Like so much else these days, gift cards have become a prime target for fraudsters, costing Canadian shoppers millions of dollars a year. (The Retail Council of Canada reported $5.7 million lost to gift card scams in 2024 — up from $3.8 million 2021.) Last week alone, police in both Hamilton and Waterloo Region announced major busts involving fraudulent gift cards. In the Hamilton case, police allege a man was “manipula...

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20:19

Tip of the iceberg’: Human trafficking in Canada much...

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

2025/12/14

Send us a text How widespread is human trafficking in Canada? Two new reports offer the clearest evidence yet. According to Statistics Canada, more than 5,000 incidents of human trafficking were reported to police between 2014 and 2024, for a national average of 1.2 per 100,000 people. Among the provinces and territories, Ontario recorded the second-highest rate. The StatsCan analysis comes on the heels of another alarming report from The Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, which reveal...

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23:03

Beware: These billboards are watching you

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

2025/12/12

Send us a text Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers. Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed — and on the show’s dedicated website: closerlookpodcast.ca. Of course, you can also find us whereve...

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20:11

Should Ontario sell its stash of U.S. booze and give...

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

2025/12/12

Send us a text Cheers to charity? That’s what the Ford government is being urged to do. For months, the LCBO has been sitting on an $80-million stockpile of U.S. booze — all of it yanked off store shelves back in March as retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The Ontario Liberals are now calling on the province to sell all that bourbon, wine and spritzers and donate the money to charitable causes — following the lead of other provinces, including Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince ...

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34:24

Holy Mackinaw! Leafs broadcasting legend Joe Bowen...

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

2025/12/11

Send us a text For more than four decades, Joe Bowen’s unmistakable voice has been the soundtrack of Leafs Nation. But this season will be the last of his legendary career behind the mic. Bowen — the pride of Sudbury — is retiring from the broadcast booth after more than 3,800 NHL games and countless magical calls. And next Tuesday night, the Maple Leafs have a special on-ice tribute planned during their game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the same team on the opposing bench when Bowen fir...

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25:44

Do you play in a lottery group? Keep good records

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

2025/12/08

Send us a text This lottery winner will need to spend a portion of his prize on a defence lawyer. A 70-year-old Toronto man is facing theft and fraud charges after allegedly claiming a $1-million Lotto Max prize that was actually intended to be split among three people. Ontario Provincial Police say they launched an investigation in September and confirmed that the winning ticket was part of a group play arrangement. For the many Canadians who play the lottery with a group, this case is a tim...

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22:31

How is it even possible to shoplift $1.3M worth of...

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

2025/12/06

Send us a text Earlier this year, the Retail Council of Canada released an alarming report about a "national crisis" facing its members: skyrocketing rates of theft, violence and organized criminal activity. This week, police in Halton Region added to the long list of examples. Three people were arrested for their role in what the cops described as a “large-scale liquor trafficking operation” that moved more than $1.3 million worth of stolen booze across the Greater Toronto Area. Police say...

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23:01

Your grocery bill is going to keep climbing

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

2025/12/04

Send us a text Don’t expect the new year to ring in lower grocery bills. The latest edition of Canada’s Food Price Report, produced annually by several universities, projects that an average family of four will pay close to $1,000 more for food in 2026 than this year — for a total bill of $17,571.79. The report pegs the rate of food inflation at somewhere between four and six per cent, with items such as meat, baked goods and vegetables seeing the biggest price jumps. What’s driving the eve...

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22:39

'500 patients a day? Audit uncovers some fishy...

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

2025/12/03

Send us a text Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers. Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed — and on the show’s dedicated website: closerlookpodcast.ca. Of course, you can also find us wherever...

en-us

13:36

Pet raccoon? Don’t trash the idea until you watch this

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

2025/12/02

Send us a text Raccoons as pets? Don’t laugh. A new study has found that urban raccoons have shorter snouts compared to their rural counterparts — a sign they're heading down the same path of evolutionary domestication that dogs and cats did tens of thousands of years ago. TorontoToday reporter Emma Johnston-Wheeler dug a little deeper into the research, seeking out reaction in a city where the raccoon has risen to the status of de facto mascot. Johnston-Wheeler is our guest on tonight’s epis...

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18:20

What we discovered about the long-term care homes in...

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

2025/12/02

Send us a text The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a harsh truth about Ontario’s long-term care homes: many were woefully understaffed, a factor that helped fuel the rapid spread of the deadly virus. Doug Ford’s government promised a major overhaul, including this key goal: by the end of 2024-25, LTC homes would have enough staff that each resident would receive an average of at least four hours a day of direct “hands-on care” from nurses and personal support workers (PSWs). As it worked toward t...

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218 results

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