Front Burner

A young man in London, Ont., was recently put on life-support with a respiratory illness that's been linked to vaping. He was the first with that diagnosis in Canada, after more than 450 Americans fell ill, and eight died, also from vaping-linked respiratory illnesses. How much do we actually know about the health impacts of vaping nicotine or marijuana? Andre Picard is the health reporter for the Globe and Mail. He says the jury is still out. "Smoking is like jumping off the hundredth floor of a building," says Picard. "Vaping is like jumping out, we just don't know which floor yet."

Millions of climate strikers all across the world took to the street on Sept 20th. And there’s another strike scheduled on Sept 27th, as well. Today on Front Burner, we talk to Naomi Klein, author of the new book “On Fire: The Burning Case for the Green New Deal” about Greta Thunberg, the Green New Deal, and why she thinks mass mobilization around climate change may be the only thing that can help us avoid global warming’s most devastating effects: “If you don’t believe in social movements, and if they make you kind of queasy and they seem kind of messy, then you should feel really pessimistic, because it’s actually our only hope.”

Late last week, a director-general with the RCMP was arrested and charged with breaching Canada’s secrets law, for allegedly preparing to share a cache of classified intelligence material with a foreign entity or terrorist organization. Today on Front Burner, we speak with CBC reporter Catherine Tunney on what we know so far about what Ortis is alleged to have done, including his alleged contacts with a shady encryption company based in BC that was used by murderers and drug traffickers, and with former CSIS analyst Stephanie Carvin about what this could mean for national security.

Today on Front Burner, we talk to the National Observer’s Fatima Syed, and to doctor Ritika Goel, about Justin Trudeau’s blackface scandal, and why for so many Canadians of colour, it’s a familiar sort of racism.

A photograph of Justin Trudeau in brownface and wearing a turban at a 2001 “Arabian Nights”-themed costume party was published in TIME Wednesday night. Soon after, Trudeau apologized, saying he now realizes it was “racist.” Today on Front Burner, Vassy Kapelos, host of Power & Politics, joins us talk about the reaction to the news and political fallout for a leader who has positioned himself as a champion of diversity and inclusion.

Today on Front Burner, an intimate look at mental health struggles amongst workers in Alberta’s oilpatch with the co-producer of a new documentary on the subject, ‘Digging in the Dirt.’

Not even one week into the federal election campaign and the major parties are already struggling with controversial candidates. Today on Front Burner, host of Power and Politics Vassy Kapelos and CBC senior reporter Katie Simpson join us to break down how the leaders are reacting and go through the latest platform promises.

In Please Explain, voters come on Front Burner to ask their biggest questions about the election. First up: Marieke Walsh from the Globe and Mail explains the party platforms on climate change, and how the carbon tax is doing for Canada.

Today on Front Burner, CBC’s Moscow Correspondent Chris Brown takes us through Vladimir Putin’s decades-long grip on power, and whether or not a popular protest movement and falling approval numbers could signal change for Russia's political future.

This week, hundreds of fans gathered in London to celebrate the launch of The Testaments, the much-anticipated sequel to Margaret Atwood's best-selling novel, The Handmaid's Tale. Similar events took place around the world, and the novel has already been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Today on Front Burner, Slate's book critic Laura Miller on the political and cultural relevance of The Handmaid's Tale, and why there's been so much anticipation for its sequel.