Front Burner

Israelis will elect a new prime minister on Tuesday for the first time since October 7th. Polls suggest that many voters are ready to turf Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing criticism at home for corruption scandals and his handling of October 7th.

He also faces isolation abroad for his military campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. But while he may be sliding in the polls, it’s not clear that his main challengers will be able to pull together a coalition to oust him.

Today, we hear from three voters as well as pollster and analyst Dahlia Scheindlin about Netanyahu’s main challenger and his vision for the country, and how the Netanyahu era has changed Israel.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada is complicated. Alberta has opinions. Ride shotgun with host Kathleen Petty on West of Centre for conversations about the state of politics in Canada, as power and influence shifts West. Whether you live here or just can't look away, you’ll get the no-nonsense analysis you need to make sense of it all.

In this episode Premier Danielle Smith joins host Kathleen Petty after a divisive Alberta referendum. Albertans are clear on their desire to remain a province of Canada. But parts of the province, and Smith’s own party, remain at odds. Separatists still hold United Conservative Party memberships. The premier says they should find a new party. But can she kick them out? And will she?

Also, Smith did not get a mandate on the four referendum questions on constitutional reform, and she failed to get a strong mandate on the other five questions on immigration. There's a clear divide between urban and rural voters. Will she push ahead with planned legislation to remove some social services for temporary residents? And how do conservatives address sagging support in the big cities?

More episodes of West of Centre are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/WoCxFB

Two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he’d struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply the world with millions of tonnes of Russian diesel. It stunned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he felt betrayed. Trump responded by saying it was time for “Ukraine to get a new president.”

Soon after, Ukraine said its access to SpaceX’s military-grade version of Starlink called Starshield was throttled. Their drones slowed to a near halt and they were no longer able to intercept all of Russia’s attacks as Russia hammered Ukrainian energy facilities and civilian areas.

Ukraine blamed the White House. The White House denied it. The Wall Street Journal reported Elon Musk gave the order. He denied it too. But the incident raised questions about the implications of the world’s richest man exercising that kind of power.

Sharon Weinberger is a longtime national security reporter and the author of several books including her latest, 'Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War'. She joins us to unpack what’s happening with this Starlink debacle and the consequences of Silicon Valley's ever growing role in global conflict.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

France is in the midst of a weeks-long, nationwide protest that began with high school students lamenting the conditions of their public schools and issues like overcrowding, teacher shortages, and deteriorating facilities. 

But these protests quickly became a national uprising, the largest the country has seen in decades — drawing in trade unions, public sector workers, and others frustrated with the conditions of life in the country. 

France is a country where street protest is part of the political culture, and for many around the world France has become a nation synonymous with uprising. 

Emile Chabal is an author, historian of Europe's political history, and professor at the University of Edinburgh. He joins the show to talk about how a student protest became a national demonstration of anger at the French state, and how France came to be viewed by many as "the land of protest."

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For more than a year, the Biden administration said it wanted to limit the destruction in Gaza, increase humanitarian aid and bring the war to an end. But as the humanitarian crisis accelerated, the U.S. continued to supply Israel with weapons and diplomatic protection.

In his book 'Crossing the Red Line: Biden, His Advisors, and Israel's War in Gaza' journalist Akbar Shahid Ahmed draws on nearly 175 interviews to reconstruct the internal debates, political calculations and decisions that shaped the administration’s response. 

Akbar Shahid Ahmed is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Sun. He's our guest today.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

After a historic referendum, Albertans have voted to remain in Canada. When we recorded this episode, just over a third of the votes had been counted, and 76 per cent of them were in favour of staying.

CBC Alberta reporter Jason Markusoff joins Jayme to break down what the result means for the future of the independence movement and for the country.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Jayme Poisson travels to Edmonton to take you inside two rallies where campaigners for a united Canada – and campaigners for Alberta independence – make their last pitch to voters before Monday's referendum. 

Plus, what we know about the deadly fire at CFB Wainwright in Alberta that left four service members dead and at least 19 in critical condition. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Alberta this week, making a final pitch for unity in the lead-up to the province's referendum on potential separation. Meanwhile, the government is threatening legal action against steel company Stelco over layoffs related to the trade war. And the U.S. Ambassador to Canada has raised concerns about potential election interference by Canadian government officials in the U.S. midterms. 

Aaron Wherry, senior writer for CBC's parliamentary bureau, joins us to break it all down.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts  

Today we are going to spend some time trying to understand the expanding front lines of two ongoing wars, where the battlefield isn't just marked by trenches, snipers and fortifications, but also by energy infrastructure, supplies and distribution.

Think of them as energy wars, currently being fought in Ukraine, and in countries around the Persian Gulf.

We're joined by Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief at Foreign Policy and host of their podcast, FP Live. Together, we’re looking at energy and how it can be used as a tool or weapon of war and why after decades without them, energy wars are back.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

Alberta's referendum is next week and advance voting is already underway. Much of the attention has centred around the separation question. But there are actually ten questions being put to a vote next week.

Today on Front Burner, Jayme Poisson speaks with CBC Calgary's Jason Markusoff about the other nine questions: what they mean, why they're being asked, and how the polling shows they could go either way.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts.