- Untouchable: How COVID-19 hit organized crime
Monday, April 20th 2020
From drugs to gambling to theft and more, COVID-19 has also had an adverse effect on the criminal organizations and gangs that run these illegal enterprises. To discuss how organized crime has been affected by COVID-19, Raju Mudhar talks with Peter Edwards, a reporter on the Star’s Courts Crime and Justice team, who has also written 15 non-fiction books on organized crime, many of them becoming national bestsellers.
- Fraught properties: COVID-19 and the real estate market
Friday, April 17th 2020
"If you don’t need to buy or sell you should be staying home right now," John Pasalis, president or Realosophy, a brokerage that takes a data driven approach to the market. For most, buying a home is the single largest purchase most people will make in their lifetimes, and like with everything in our society, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the real estate market in a number of ways.
- Indigenous communities, systemic racism and COVID-19
Thursday, April 16th 2020
Many Indigenous communities face big challenges: fewer doctors, inadequate housing and water that isn’t safe to drink. All of those issues, alongside systemic racism, can lead to especially bad health outcomes during a pandemic, Canadian public health officials say. Adrian Cheung talks to Dr. Janet Smylie, one of Canada’s first Métis doctors and a lead researcher on the inequities of health care for Indigenous people in the era of COVID-19. Dr. Smylie explains why First Nations, Inuit and Métis people are at a disproportionate risk and what must be done to fix the problem now.
- Pandemic politics: A different Doug Ford
Wednesday, April 15th 2020
Just as COVID-19 has changed almost every aspect of society, it is also definitely not politics as usual. Leaders are being forged in the crucible of a pandemic, and there is plenty of criticism and kudos to go around. But since COVID-19 has become a serious issue, Premier Ford has drawn praise from many corners for the way that he has handled this ongoing crisis. Raju Mudhar is joined by Martin Regg Cohn, political columnist based at Queen’s Park for the Star, to talk about how Ford style of leadership has changed, how he compares with Donald Trump and Winston Churchill and whether we might expect this to last.
- All about CERB (Canadian Emergency Relief Benefits)
Tuesday, April 14th 2020
Saba Eitizaz speaks to employment lawyer Hermie Abraham to help answer some of the questions around the emergency help--who is eligible, how they can apply and who might still be left behind, although the government is moving fast to expand the umbrella of financial protection-and with Star journalist, Rosa Saba about why some Canadians might have to pay it back.
