Front Burner

Like many places in Canada, summer felt a bit more normal in Ontario, at least by pandemic standards. But as Premier Doug Ford said earlier this week, the province is officially in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today on Front Burner, CBC's Ontario provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley on what led us to this second wave of COVID-19 cases, the government's response, and what it might take to stop it from becoming a tsunami.

While the interruptions made the debate hard to follow, it’s what U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t say that was most notable. When asked to condemn white supremacists and far-right militias, Trump would not. When asked if he would call on his supporters to remain calm if the vote wasn’t decided on election night, Trump railed against mail-in voting.

At times Trump drew insults from his exasperated opponent Joe Biden.

Today, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta walks us through the highlights of the debate, and breaks down what each candidate’s performance tells us about the race.

The story was chronicled in detail in the mega-hit New York Times podcast Caliphate: a young Canadian man who claimed he had travelled to Syria to join ISIS, committing executions on behalf of the group before becoming disillusioned and fleeing.

Now, Shehroze Chaudry, a.k.a. "Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi" has been charged by the RCMP not for being a member of ISIS, but for allegedly lying about it. He's now facing a terrorism hoax charge.

Today, terrorism and radicalization expert Amarnath Amarasingam shares his perspective on the story. He's been in contact with Chaudhry for about four years, at first as part of his research into ISIS fighters and returnees, and later as someone who works to help reintegrate former extremists.

Across Quebec, a COVID-19 conspiracy movement with ties to the far right is gaining ground — even as new cases continue to skyrocket.

Today, CBC Montreal digital reporter Jonathan Montpetit joins us to talk about what has caused this conspiracy movement to thrive in the province, and what it could mean for Quebec’s fight against COVID-19.

Brainwashed investigates the CIA’s covert mind control experiments – from the Cold War and MKULTRA to the so-called War on Terror. It’s the story of how a renowned psychiatrist used his unwitting patients as human guinea pigs at a Montreal hospital, and the ripple effects on survivors, their families, and thousands of other people around the world. It also examines the cultural impact — how the CIA brought LSD to America and inadvertently created counterculture influencers such as author Ken Kessey and poet Allen Ginsberg. It’s an exploration of what happens in times of fear, when the military and medicine collide. And what happens when the survivors fight back. More episodes are available at: smarturl.it/brainwashedcbc

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron on Wednesday said there would be no charges against Louisville police officers for the killing of Breonna Taylor back in March. Only one of three men involved, who has since been fired from the force, was indicted, and faces three counts of "wanton endangerment" for shooting into Taylor's neighbour's home. After the grand jury decision was released, protests erupted in Louisville. Today, host Josh Bloch talks to USA Today politics reporter Phillip M. Bailey about the implications of the grand jury decision, and why Taylor's name continues to be a rallying cry for those fighting against police brutality in the U.S.

On Wednesday, the Liberals laid out what they called an "ambitious plan for an unprecedented reality" in the speech from the throne, pledging to extend some COVID-19 emergency supports, boost child care spending, create a million jobs, and more.

Today, host of CBC's Power and Politics Vassy Kapelos unpacks some of the ambitious promises and the opposition's response.

This weekend, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sparked a major controversy after updating, then removing, a warning about the airborne spread of COVID-19. Today, CBC senior health writer Adam Miller joins us to explain why this has re-ignited questions about just how easily COVID-19 travels through the air and whether the CDC is being influenced by the president’s political goals.

On Wednesday, Justin Trudeau will lay out his plan to lead Canada through this next stretch of the pandemic. It comes at a pivotal moment, as CERB and other programs helping people stay afloat are winding down, more than a million Canadians are still out of work because of COVID-19, and infections are on the rise.

Today, the CBC’s economics reporter Peter Armstrong joins us to talk about the scope of the economic crisis right now, and what might be done to fix it.

This is part of our ongoing series Year K, about how COVID-19 could make Canada a more unequal place.

Just six weeks before Americans vote for their next president, the death of legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has left a gigantic hole on the U.S. top court. Today, CBC’s senior Washington editor Lyndsay Duncombe explains how the vacancy has ignited a fight for legal dominance that could shape the election’s outcome and the country for decades.