A lot has happened over the past 15 months, certainly here in Canada, and not much of it good. We’ve endured being stuck indoors, with many of us forced to work from home or learn remotely. Stores were closed or limited to curbside offerings; restaurants had to settle for serving takeout.

Lives and jobs have been lost. Businesses have collapsed. Hospitals and personal-care workers have been constantly on the verge of being overwhelmed. The last thing we want is to take a step back into that nightmare, especially since all that was wrong before the pandemic is still wrong: Social inequality has been further exposed, and financial inequality has been only exacerbated under the pandemic. And let’s face it: We are not done with the virus, and the virus is not done with us.

So how do we square the circle of the joy we’re feeling now, as we return to near-normal life, as a new semester in institutions of higher learning looms?

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GUEST: Mark Lautens, JB Jones Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto and Contributor to the Globe and Mail

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Canada's relationship with China has taken another hit.

A day after a Chinese court upheld a death sentence for convicted of drug smuggler Robert Schellenberg….another Canadian, Michael Spavor, who was taken into custody in December of 2018 has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in a spying case

He and fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig were detained shortly after an executive with Huawei was arrested at the Vancouver airport at the request of the U.S government. Although Chinese officials deny there's a direct link, they have repeatedly demanded she be released.

Prime minister Justin Trudeau calls the decision, unacceptable and unjust.

GUEST: Steven Chase, Senior Parliamentary Reporter for the Globe and Mail

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Ontario is facing growing calls to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for non-essential activities and health-care workers as infections rise, but the government is urging people to focus less on daily case counts and more on hospitalizations.

Health Minister Christine Elliott held the line Tuesday on her government’s staunch opposition to both mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers and requiring a vaccine certification system for places such as bars and gyms, as seen in some other jurisdictions. Saying "... We are not mandating vaccines for anyone."

ALSO: Canada should consider Beijing Olympics boycott, O’Toole says

GUEST: Andrew McDougall, Professor of Political Science with the University of Toronto

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday over a barrage of sexual harassment allegations in a fall from grace a year after he was widely hailed nationally for his detailed daily briefings and leadership during some of the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By turns defiant and chastened, the 63-year-old Democrat emphatically denied intentionally mistreating women and called the pressure for his ouster politically motivated. But he said that fighting back in this "too hot" political climate would subject the state to months of turmoil.

"The best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing," Cuomo said in a televised address.

GUEST: Wayne Petrozzi, Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University

Owner Bob Young is back in Hamilton for the first time in awhile! He joins Bill Kelly to talk about the return of the CFL, hosting the Grey Cup and more!

GUEST: Bob Young, Caretaker of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats