Front Burner

A report from the Ethics Commissioner Wednesday said Justin Trudeau and his office used “troubling tactics” in the SNC-Lavalin case. The CBC’s Vassy Kapelos breaks down what it all means, two months before the election.

As the United Kingdom hurtles towards the October 31 Brexit deadline, newly-appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson is playing hardball with the European Union, saying the UK is leaving deal or no deal. Today on Front Burner, CBC’s senior correspondent Susan Ormiston pops by to explain what could be next for Brexit.

Joining the neo-Nazi movement was a choice that Christian Piccolini says cost him his livelihood, his wife, and his sense of self. Following the mass shooting in El Paso, he speaks out about his former community, to warn people about the wide reach of white supremacist extremism around the world.

It was already a story mired in controversy, but with the apparent suicide of accused sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, the scandal has only deepened. Today, on Front Burner, we turn to Marc Fisher, senior editor at The Washington Post, to unpack the conspiracy theories that have erupted around Epstein’s death and what the latest developments mean for his victims.

Today on Front Burner, we sit down with the CBC’s Peter Armstrong to talk about the escalating U.S.-China trade war, and how it could affect the global financial market.

He's called, "the smiling Stephen Harper," and he's known for his knack of bringing people together. But beyond his dimples, what do you really know about Andrew Scheer?

Today, with the federal election fast approaching, we talk to Maclean's Ottawa bureau chief, John Geddes about the leader of the Conservative Party. We'll get insight into how he became such a unifier (hint: his favourite book is the self-help classic How to Win Friends and Influence People) and how that squares with his more divisive moments, such as his hardline stance on the United Nations migration pact.

This is the first in a series of pre-election profiles we'll do about Canada's federal party leaders.

Toni Morrison's literary and academic career was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her writing explored, celebrated, questioned and critiqued the space of black lives in America, up until her death on Monday at the age of 88.

Today on Front Burner, we speak with Halifax's former poet laureate El Jones and former poet laureate of Canada George Elliott Clarke about the importance of her work, both as a source of art, and form of activism.

This past weekend saw two back-to-back mass shootings in the United States: one in El Paso, Texas, and one in Dayton, Ohio. At least thirty-one people are dead. Dozens more injured. Today on Front Burner, we talk to writer Jennifer Mascia about gun violence and reform in America. She’s a reporter with The Trace, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to covering gun-related news.

In nine months, Front Burner has covered a lot of stories. But we haven’t had time to follow up on all of them. Today, we revisit a handful, including the mystery illness that befell Canadian diplomats in Cuba, the law in Quebec to outlaw religious garb for public servants, and the odyssey of a Syrian refugee who moved to Canada after living in an airport for months. Plus, how a country rap oddity became the biggest song of 2019.

Saudi Arabia's "Neom" is a planned futuristic city-state in the desert. The project is said to include flying cars, gene editing, an island of robot dinosaurs, an artificial moon — and the most comprehensive surveillance state on earth. The Wall Street Journal has viewed planning documents that provide unprecedented access into the Gulf nation's plan to turn a formerly barren strip of desert into the most lucrative plot of land on earth.

Today we'll talk to the Wall Street Journal's Justin Scheck, who broke the story about the Saudi Crown Prince's vision for the future, and what it tells us about the kingdom's place on the world stage.