Front Burner

Economically, Sri Lanka is on fire. Residents are dealing with ballooning food costs, hours-long lineups for fuel and power blackouts that last half the day.

The country is facing record inflation and unemployment, the likes of which haven't been seen in 74 years. But the crisis has united a nation that's long been divided along ethnic and religious lines — all to oust the political family they blame for the disaster.

This week on Nothing is Foreign, we hear from Sri Lankans who explain how their country landed in a $51-billion debt hole and the island nation's unprecedented protests.

Featuring:

Aritha Wickramasinghe, lawyer and human rights activist.

Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo.

Nearly two years ago, denturist Gabriel Wortman, in a fake police cruiser and uniform, terrorized rural Nova Scotia and killed 22 people. Looking for answers, a public inquiry is now connecting the dots between how the killer evaded RCMP and the chaotic situation officers faced on the ground.

For weeks, the Mass Casualty Commission has shared its findings, revealed critical documents, and gathered public testimony from witnesses. Today on Front Burner we hear RCMP testimony about how officers constantly felt a step behind the gunman – and how they eventually ended the rampage.

CBC Nova Scotia reporter Elizabeth McMillan joins us to explain what happened on April 18 and 19, 2020 and what's still to come from the commission.

(This episode originally played a clip that was misattributed. We've corrected the error.)

Etsy wants a place among the giants of online commerce.

The handmade and vintage item marketplace has seen sales explode during the pandemic, doubling since 2019 and passing $12 billion US last year. CEO Josh Silverman says it's competing to be "the starting point for your e-commerce journey."

But some of the creators and sellers on Etsy say, amid this growth, the site has been shrinking their profits and devaluing their labour.

Thousands of sellers are on what they call a "strike" this week, pausing their shops to protest growing fees. Today, a conversation with an organizer behind the effort, Gothic and Victorian dress- and costume-maker Kristi Cassidy.

For weeks, most of Shanghai’s 26 million residents haven’t been able to leave their apartments, due to a strict lockdown meant to curb a massive COVID-19 outbreak.

There have been reports of food and medicine shortages, of unsanitary conditions in the city’s giant quarantine facilities, and of authorities forcibly separating parents from children who test positive. All of which is leading to rare public displays of anger against the government.

Today, Reuters reporter Engen Tham joins us to explain what life has been like in Shanghai, why China is sticking to its “dynamic zero COVID” strategy, and where things could go from here.

Almost nine months ago, an investigation was launched into the Jan. 6 insurrection, and recently some of the people closest to Donald Trump have testified, including his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.

But after hearing from more than 800 witnesses a few key questions remain — will the former U.S. president be called to testify? What happened to almost eight hours of missing phone records? Will this now move to the Department of Justice?

Today on Front Burner, we talk to congressional reporter for Politico, Nicholas Wu, on the major revelations of this committee so far, what’s left to learn and where it all goes from here.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney addressed United Conservative Party members at a special general meeting on Saturday and made his pitch to stay on as party leader. UCP members can begin voting via mail-in ballot on the future of Kenney’s leadership this week, with results expected May 18. But the lead-up to this vote has been rife with party infighting.

Today, Maclean's Alberta correspondent Jason Markusoff explains what’s preceded this leadership review, the discontent within the UCP and why Kenney may have reason to be concerned regardless of the outcome next month.

If you're sitting in the West, listening to Western politicians, the Ukraine-Russia war has a pretty clear narrative: Russia is the aggressor and should be sanctioned to the fullest extent, in solidarity with Ukraine. But how does the rest of the world view this war?

Much of the Global South and some of the most powerful nations in the world, like China, India and Brazil, don't see the war in black and white. They're refusing to sanction or officially condemn Russia over the invasion. Why aren't they taking a side and what does that mean for how this war can end?

This week on Nothing is Foreign, we speak with two geopolitical experts on the tightrope these countries are walking and whether we're witnessing a reordering of power among the biggest players on the world stage.

Featuring:

Swapna Kona Nayudu, associate at the Harvard University Asia Center and Indian foreign policy expert.

Chidochashe Nyere, post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg.

The Liberals’ new budget doesn’t come with the hefty price tag of last year’s plan for pandemic recovery. But it isn’t thrifty either, pledging about $31.2 billion in net new spending over the next five years — mainly for housing, defence, and climate change.

Today, CBC’s host of Power and Politics Vassy Kapelos joins us to break down the big-ticket items in the government's new spending plan, and look at whether it will help make life more affordable for Canadians.

Last week, a group of current and former Amazon workers in New York’s Staten Island accomplished what some of the biggest unions in the United States could not: they organized Amazon’s first successful union vote in the country.

The battle isn’t over yet: in a statement, Amazon said it is weighing whether to file objections.

But today, we speak to Chris Smalls, interim president of the newly-formed Amazon Labor Union, about how he sparked a movement that succeeded where others have failed — and where that movement is headed next.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party won their fourth consecutive victory in Sunday’s election, even after a historic effort by opposition parties to come together and defeat the autocratic leader.

Today, Justin Spike, Budapest Correspondent for the Associated Press, explains how Orbán has held onto power, changed Hungary, and what his latest victory could mean for the future.