- Why has Canada deported thousands of frontline workers during a pandemic?
Tuesday, April 12th 2022
Very early in the pandemic, Canada put a pause on deportations. Conditions were unsafe, the world had stopped, and a lot of these workers were doing jobs Canadians badly needed done. But the pause didn't last long, and since deportations have resumed more than 18,000 people have been sent back to their country of origin, even as frontline labour is at a premium and some of them face health and safety risks upon their return.
What's the rationale behind this? What options do these aspiring Canadians have? And could we have found a different way?
GUEST: Isabel Macdonald, researcher and writer based in Montreal, writing for The Walrus
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- What does the federal budget mean for you? And for Canada's future?
Monday, April 11th 2022
The housing crisis is one of Canadians' biggest concerns, and in last week's federal budget it got some top-line attention. But inflation didn't receive nearly as much attention, and the cost of everything is rising. How will the plans unveiled by the government make your own budget easier or harder to balance?
And beyond personal finances, what's in store for the environment, defence and other critical national issues? And did the Liberals deal with the NDP make this budget bigger and better, or buy the government time to plan for the long term?
GUEST: Mike Eppel, senior business editor at CityNews
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- Should your salary be public? Should mine?
Friday, April 8th 2022
Every year, most Canadian provinces release lists of the top wages among public servants. And every year, lots of people get mad about them. It's easy to say that it's unfair to publish these names and salaries, as it inevitably makes some people a target. But what if instead, we made more salaries public, not less?
Secrecy around salaries is just another part of Canada's lack of transparency as a country. From government records to police investigations to any number of things, we prefer to keep things in the dark. And the darker things are, the easier it is for them to remain unequal. There are places in the world where everyone's salary is public. What would this country look like if your co-workers knew what you made, or vice versa?
GUEST: Robyn Doolittle, investigative reporter, The Globe and Mail
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- Will Jason Kenney's career survive in Alberta?
Thursday, April 7th 2022
He returned to the province as a conservative saviour, uniting the right under one banner and vanquishing the NDP. But just a few short years later, Jason Kenney's own party—or at least a substantial chunk of it—wants him gone. A leadership review attracted so many interested voters that it was moved from an in-person event to a mail-in ballot, which has only furthered the cries of skullduggery from his opponents within the UCP. It also probably didn't help that Kenney was taped referring to them as "kooks" and "lunatics" in a leaked audio clip.
What happened to Kenney's conservative support in Alberta? And what happens next if his party ousts him?
GUEST: Jason Markusoff, Alberta-based staff writer, Maclean's
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- Everything you need to know about the (sigh) sixth wave of Covid
Wednesday, April 6th 2022
Hospitalizations are climbing again in parts of the country, and cases are rising in others. It's deja vu all over again. It's clear we're in for at least some sort of Spring rise in Covid-19, driven by the BA.2 subvariant, but how bad could it be? Is it possible this is a sign of a virus playing itself out? What can people who are worried do to protect themselves?
And ... haven't we done this enough by now? Will we ever figure this out?
GUEST: Colin Furness, infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto
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