Wednesday, July 26th 2023

Last year, a man was arrested and charged with the murder of four Indigenous women in the Winnipeg area. When the charges were laid police said they believed the remains of two of the women would be found at the Prairie Green landfill, but that they wouldn't be searching for them.

This sparked outrage from the victims families and the Indigenous community, and a push for a search began. Experts weighed in, the federal government was petitioned, costs and concerns were cited and last week Manitoba's provincial government decided not to allow a search, and the protests began. Why would the government prevent a search? What impact could this have on the case, and on families and community? And with protests not stopping anytime soon, what happens next?

GUEST: Brittany Hobson, reporter, The Canadian Press

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Tuesday, July 25th 2023

Every so often, federal and provincial governments reexamine plans they have made in the event of a nuclear accident or missile exchange, which have existed in one form or another since the beginning of the cold war. Last week, we learned those plans had been updated very recently, at least in part due to Russian control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

These plans cover everything from trying to protect Canadians overseas who may be impacted by an accident, to more classified documents working out emergency preparations in the event of nuclear missiles being fired. How likely is either the former or latter? What do these plans entail? What would happen should Russia sabotage the plant? And should we really worry about an actual nuclear exchange?

GUEST: Ed Waller, Professor in the Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science at OntarioTechU, NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Health Physics and Environmental Safety

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Monday, July 24th 2023

Reaching net-zero emissions by 2035 will require major overhauls to Canada's national power grid. One of the major challenges to doing so is the patchwork of power-generation methods across different provinces, making it impossible to implement a one-size-fits-all approach to decarbonization. And political differences between provincial leaders and the federal government will only complicate things further. 

So what will it take to develop a clean national grid in Canada? What are the feds doing to bring resistant provinces on-side?

GUEST: Adam Radwanski, climate change columnist and feature writer for The Globe and Mail  

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Friday, July 21st 2023

Last week, after negotiations with studios and streaming giants failed to yield an agreement, the 160000 performers represented by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) decided to go on strike. They're joined on the picket lines by Writers Guild of America members — the first time both unions have been on strike simultaneously since the 1960's. 

Their demands differ, but both group's grievances boil down to two things: revenue decreases in the age of streaming, and concern about AI-induced job losses. And with their collective actions bringing many major productions to a screeching halt, and leaving thousands of people out of work, the pressure is on both sides to come up with a reasonable compromise. 

So what's  really at stake here? And who might blink first? 

GUEST: Barry Hertz, Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor for The Globe and Mail

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Thursday, July 20th 2023

Drug busts have long been a go-to tactic for law enforcement in the so-called 'war on drugs', but with the ubiquity of powerful narcotics like fentanyl, it's doubtful that they do much to actually stem the flow of substances to the street. And a new study out of the United States demonstrating a link between drug seizures and overdose deaths, suggests the approach may actually be making things worse. 

So what does this new research show, exactly? And if these old tactics don't seem to be working, then why are governments and law enforcement agencies so hesitant to try something new?

GUEST HOST: Manisha Krishnan, Senior Reporter at Vice News

GUEST: Grant Victor, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, co-author of the study on overdose deaths 

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