- We don't just "hang out" anymore. And it's a problem.
Friday, March 24th 2023
Your friends and family live in your phone. Sure, you see them from time to time, but usually for scheduled events, planned well in advance, with an agenda and a timeframe. How often do you just find a friend ... and chill?
A new book illustrates the kinds of casual hangouts that are dying out, at the same time as loneliness rates are rising around the world. There's a particular kind of energy we get from just killing time, or wandering, and we're losing it. What's that doing to us?
GUEST: Sheila Liming, author of Hanging Out: The Radical Power Of Killing Time
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- Why has it become harder to get gender-affirming healthcare in Ontario?
Thursday, March 23rd 2023
Around the world, transgender people are under attack. Often legislatively, other times physically. And many of us would like to think of Canada as an oasis amidst this rise in prejudice. But we're not.
Today, a look at a clinic that provides gender-affirming care virtually to trans and non-binary people across the entire province of Ontario. Except right now it doesn't, because new legislation makes it impossible, and the provincial government has so far refused to provide an exemption. What's standing in the way? What is gender-affirming care, and why is it so important? And why is virtual health care, the only option for many communities, being trimmed by the government?
GUEST: Kai Jacobsen, steering committee, Trans PULSE Canada; co-author, The Conversation
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- The many investigations of Donald J. Trump
Wednesday, March 22nd 2023
It was thought that the former president might be arrested on Tuesday, and charged in relation to alleged hush-money payments to an adult film star. That hasn't happened, but many who have been watching the case still expect charges to come. When they do, what will happen next?
But this isn't the only investigation into Trump's potential crimes. There are more, and they involve more sinister allegations. So who exactly is investigating Donald Trump, and for what? Where do those investigations stand? What would a nomination race and potential presidential campaign look like, if one of the contenders is preparing to face a trial? Or perhaps more than one trial?
GUEST: Aaron Rupar, independent political and policy journalist, author of Public Notice
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- Why do big American retailers fail in Canada?
Tuesday, March 21st 2023
Today it's Nordstrom, fleeing Canada after failing to turn a profit in almost a decade of trying. Before them, it was Target, thought to be a sure thing in this country. So far, Walmart is the exception that proves the rule: If you're an American retailer with your eyes on the Canadian market, you better do your research and have a plan.
The loss of Nordstrom is sad for those who love its designer names, sure, but the stores themselves are a bigger loss as anchor tenants for premium locations in big cities that are slowly being taken over by empty storefronts. So what happened here? Was it them, or us? And what can we learn from the latest American brand to fail in Canada?
GUEST: Gary Newbury, retail supply chain expert, Strategic Advisor and Delivery Executive with RetailAID
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- Will we ever know Covid-19's origin story?
Monday, March 20th 2023
Even three years after it emerged, there's still no consensus on the origin of the virus that shut down the world. Last week, the US Department of Energy said that its conclusion (albeit with "low confidence") was that the virus escaped from a lab. Three days later new genetic research pointed to the presence of the virus in racoon dogs found in Wuhan at the time the virus began to spread.
So chalk up another data point for each side, and still we're searching for answers. What does the new evidence tell us about each theory? How has this debate become politicized? Will we ever know where the virus truly came from? And if we did, what would it change ... if anything?
GUEST: Umair Irfan, correspondent at Vox writing about climate change, Covid-19, and energy policy. (Read Umair's latest piece on Covid's origins here.)
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