Front Burner

Protesting truckers and their supporters have been communicating via a walkie-talkie app called Zello. On the show today, we bring you the sound of their actual conversations, which reveal a wide gulf between how they see themselves, and how their critics view them.

Erin O’Toole is no longer leader of the Conservative Party after a caucus vote on Wednesday afternoon: 73 members of the 119-member caucus voted for his removal.

Candice Bergen will take over leadership of the party in the interim.

The ouster comes just 18 months after the last Conservative leadership race brought O’Toole to power.

Today, CBC’s John Paul Tasker explains what happened, how the party got to this point, and the challenges ahead

In 2015, Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Since then, COVID-19, deteriorating relations with the West, allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and a resulting diplomatic boycott put a damper on the Games.

Yet China plowed forward, promising to put on a spectacular show while keeping out COVID-19, through the use of tight, non-negotiable safety measures.

Today, we’re talking to The National’s Adrienne Arsenault from inside the rigid operation created to keep Beijing’s 21 million residents safe from COVID-19 — and to keep the world’s athletes, journalists and Winter Olympics' staff fenced in.

Texas-based scientists Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez won't make a cent off the vaccine they developed — and they don't want to.

Dubbed "the world's COVID-19 vaccine," Corbevax is cheap and relatively easy to manufacture, and there's no patent on it. After multiple hurdles in the team's efforts to fund and develop the jab, Corbevax was recently approved for emergency use in India.

Today, we're speaking to Bottazzi and Hotez about the story behind Corbevax, what the skeptics have to say, and why they believe their shot can be a powerful tool in the fight for vaccine equity.

There were raucous protests in Ottawa this weekend as thousands of protestors converged on the capital calling for an end to vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.

The protest was loud, filling the city's centre with the sounds of honking vehicles, and disruptive: the Rideau Centre shopping mall closed early on Saturday and will remain closed into Monday as crowds of maskless protesters showed up in defiance of public health orders.

There were also some displays of disturbing imagery: swastikas and Confederate flags were spotted in the crowd, and Ottawa Police say they're investigating incidents of desecration at the National War Memorial.

Today, CBC senior parliamentary reporter Travis Dhanraj is back to break down what he heard and saw on the scene.

How do you forget your favourite person in the world? Alex remembers everything about the day a speeding police car killed his brother. But his brother, alive? Those memories are lost. And now, 30 years later, Alex wants them back. In this emotional four-part series, Alex unearths his childhood grief — with help from family, friends, and a therapist who witnessed his brother’s death. What happens when trauma and memory collide? Sorry About The Kid is a deeply personal meditation on the losses that define us. Hosted by Alex McKinnon. Produced with Mira Burt-Wintonick (WireTap, Love Me). More episodes are available at hyperurl.co/sorryaboutthekid

Across Canada this week, groups of truckers opposed to a vaccination mandate for cross-border truck drivers have been making their way to Ottawa to protest. But as the convoy has gained momentum, others — some with violent messages — have latched onto the movement.

Today, we'll first hear from Harold Jonker, a trucker leading one of the convoys to Ottawa. Then, we'll speak to CBC senior parliamentary reporter Travis Dhanraj about the broader context around this story, and how it's playing out politically.

Neil Young's music is being pulled from the streaming platform Spotify. That's after he told the platform to either remove his music, or take action on vaccine misinformation — specifically from podcast host Joe Rogan.

Spotify ultimately sided with Rogan, saying Wednesday it would begin removing Young's catalogue but that it hoped he would come back soon.

"We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users," the company said in a statement. "With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators."

The Joe Rogan Experience is the world's biggest podcast, famous for its long-format, wide-range interviews with eccentric and sometimes controversial guests. But its host has come under fire for his relentless questioning of widely shared scientific agreement about COVID-19.

Nicholas Quah, podcast critic for Vulture and New York Magazine, joins us to explain the rise of vaccine skepticism on Rogan's show — and the reasons why Spotify may have taken this side.

They looked like a family.

Four people, including a baby, were found dead in a snowy Manitoba field last Wednesday, just metres from the North Dakota border, where they were believed to be heading.

Authorities believe they had been part of a larger group travelling to the United States, in temperatures that felt like –35 C. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called their deaths "mind-blowing” and "tragic," and said he was working with the United States to crack down on people who facilitate undocumented travel over the border.

But two people who’ve travelled the route — in the opposite direction — say what the system really needs is more compassion for people who are out of options.

Razak Iyal and Seidu Mohammed, two former refugees from Ghana who now have the right to stay in Canada permanently, share their stories of making it to Canada from the United States in 2017. And CBC Manitoba reporter Ian Froese tells us what questions we’re still trying to answer about the four people who died last week.

For over a month now, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been embroiled in a scandal involving gatherings at 10 Downing Street while the country was under lockdown restrictions due to COVID-19.

One Conservative MP has crossed the floor to the Labour Party, while another has called for his resignation, saying to Johnson in Parliament, "In the name of God, go."

Senior civil servant Sue Gray has been conducting an inquiry into the alleged rule-breaking, and that report looms.

Today, CBC's Europe correspondent Margaret Evans explains what's led up to this point, and whether it could cost Johnson his job.