When trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down last week, one of the issues that reportedly came up was Canadian streaming rules that require platforms like Netflix to make Canadian and French-language content easier to find in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada would not compromise on protecting French culture. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said language was never the issue – rather "past discriminatory laws that target U.S. streaming companies." 

Vass Bednar is the managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, and she’s spent years studying how American tech companies shape Canadian policy. She unpacks what Big Tech wants out of these trade talks – and what this latest rupture means for Canada’s digital sovereignty.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

On Tuesday, in the ongoing trade war with our southern neighbour, Canada released details on counter-tariffs that will be imposed on a wide range of American products, matching the $28-billion worth of Canadians goods that have been tariffed since the weekend. 

It comes after days of heated rhetoric between US President Donald Trump, his officials and Canadian leaders, namely Ontario premier Doug Ford. But how is all of this registering for Americans? Especially with both parties in campaign mode ahead of the midterm elections?

White House reporter for Bloomberg and Canadian living in Washington, Josh Wingrove, joins host Jayme Poisson to parse through the American reaction to the breakdown of trade talks, the ongoing escalations between Canada and the US, and the politics behind the Trump administration’s maneuvers. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening yet more tariffs, saying he’ll increase levies on cars, trucks and steel to 50% on January 1. This latest announcement comes as new tariffs came into place on Saturday on a number of Canadian goods worth $28 billion after trade negotiations fell apart.

Peter Armstrong, CBC’s Senior Business Reporter, is back on the show to talk about what moving forward without a deal on these new tariffs means for the Canadian economy and what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promised “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs could look like.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, Canada's trade talks with the U.S. fell apart less than an hour before the deadline for new tariffs hit. While there had been positive signs earlier in the week, Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. proposed new terms in recent days that were "uneconomic, unfair" and "called into question the reliability of any deal." 

Former Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Canada–U.S. Economic Relations. He joins host Jayme Poisson to shed more light on what went wrong, and what could be coming next.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

On Thursday, Canadian trade representatives were in Washington for more talks amid a tentative trade deal with the U.S. 

Coming out of the meeting, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that they were "very close" to reaching an agreement.

Today, CBC senior parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry and Abacus Data CEO David Coletto are here to parse through what we know so far about the impending trade deal and talk about the political test Prime Minister Mark Carney will face in defending it. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2020, the politics of racial justice appeared to be everywhere: the killing of George Floyd sparked one of the largest protest movements in American history, and progressive ideas about policing, prisons, racism and inequality moved into the political mainstream.

But many of the central demands of the millions who took to the streets were ultimately not met.

Six years later, some of the politicians and activists who came of age during that period now appear to be distancing themselves from it. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently described the politics of that era as “Woke 1,” saying: “Woke 1 was crazy.”

So, what happened?

Scholar, professor and author Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor joins Front Burner to talk about the legacy of that protest movement, and what happened to the wave of progressive ideas that followed it.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would pause the implementation of the 50 per cent tariffs on a range of Canadian goods for three days, saying the two countries had reached a tentative agreement. Shortly after, Prime Minister Mark Carney put out a statement that read, in part: "Substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done."

Host Jayme Poisson spoke to senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong earlier in the night, before the announcement, about the complexity of the negotiations, the challenges in getting a deal, and the uncertainty inherent to any deal with this U.S. administration.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

This past weekend, Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry. It was the deadliest attack since a fragile ceasefire was reached in June, meant to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – though attacks continued. 

On top of airstrikes and drone attacks, residents and emergency workers in the region are accusing Israeli forces of intentionally starting wildfires which have been ripping through homes, forests and olive groves throughout the embattled area. 

All of it has people there worried about whether they’ll be able to stay and whether the hundreds of thousands displaced by the war will ever be able to return. 

Will Christou works for The Guardian based in Beirut. He’s been reporting on the fires, and the broader Israeli campaign in southern Lebanon. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

During Pete Hoekstra's tenure as U.S. ambassador to Canada, he has called Canada’s federal election campaign “un-American”, amplified one of Donald Trump’s “51st state” posts, and reportedly unleashed an expletive-laden tirade on an Ontario trade official. Now, a petition calling on him to be expelled from the country has gathered nearly 200,000 signatures.

Today, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Canada bureau chief for the New York Times, tells us who Pete Hoekstra is, why some Canadians are so upset with them, and what the push to kick him out says about the Canada-U.S. relationship. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

Prime Minister Mark Carney's message on immigration is all about control. He has repeatedly talked about how new arrivals are down. And deportations are up, too.

Today, part two of our documentary on how Canada's political class changed course on immigration, how it happened so quickly, and what it means for the country now as our population shrinks for the first time in Canada's history.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts