Front Burner

SUVs and pickup trucks make up more than four out of every five new cars sold in the U.S., and in Canada, they represented 86 per cent of all vehicles sold in May of last year. 

Lots of these vehicles bill themselves as “safe,” but safe for who? The drivers and passengers? Or everyone else?

David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a contributing writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab, has coined the term “car bloat” to describe the ever-expanding size of the average automobile. 

He joins the show to talk about the enormous problems these cars are causing, how they got to be so huge, and whether the trend will continue.

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

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to end all future funding to South Africa claiming that in the country, “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” Trump went on to announce a new specialized refugee program which would facilitate the entry of White South Africans — Afrikaners — into the U.S., as a result of “government sponsored race-based discrimination.”

It’s left many wondering exactly why Trump has taken up this new interest in South Africa? The answer to this may lie in a group of white billionaires and political insiders from apartheid-era South Africa that have embedded themselves within Donald Trump’s orbit, a group which includes the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, the billionaire Peter Thiel, Trump donor and official David Sacks, and well known South African golfer Gary Player. 

Chris McGreal is a journalist with The Guardian and a former South Africa correspondent with the paper through the final years of Apartheid. He joins the show to unpack the throughline connecting apartheid South Africa to the US today.  

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

The four Liberal leadership candidates - Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis - had a chance to make their case to voters and challenge each other over two debates this week. The winner of the race will go on to be the next Prime Minister and will head directly into a tariff war with Donald Trump and an imminent federal election. But with so many points of agreement, did any of the four prove they were up to the task? Especially Carney, the front-runner?

Aaron Wherry, senior writer at CBC’s Parliamentary Bureau, joins us to talk about the highlights and takeaways from the debates and what it all means for the race and election ahead.

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

The world marked the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal full scale invasion on Monday.

This milestone in the deadliest conflict Europe has seen since World War Two comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have moved closer to the Kremlin and sidelined Europe and Ukraine. 

A lot happened on Monday on multiple fronts, as rival leaders scrambled to try and shape the course of this pivotal moment in Ukraine and Europe’s history.

Will there be a peace deal and what could it look like?

Jayme Poisson speaks to Francis Farrell, a journalist for the Kyiv Independent, who’s been covering the conflict since 2022 including time spent reporting from the frontlines.

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

People in Ontario will head to the polls on Thursday, in an election that was called more than a year ahead of schedule.

Doug Ford, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party is on track to win a third mandate. He says he needs the province’s confidence to deal with U.S.President Trump’s tariffs. The latest from Abacus Data puts the Conservatives at 41 per cent of the vote share.

CBC Queen’s Park reporter Mike Crawley talks to host Jayme Poisson about the campaign so far, including the fight that other parties have mounted on issues like health care, and why Doug Ford is holding a steady lead.

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

On Monday, shortly after two in the afternoon, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis was cleared to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport. 

As the plane touched down, its right wing hit the ground, sparking flames. Passengers on the flight described a scene of metal scraping against cement as the wing was ripped off and the aircraft rolled, flipping onto its back and skidding before coming to a stop in a cloud of smoke and fire.   

This is just the latest in a string of high profile crashes over the last few months, and with stories of the sweeping changes to U.S. aviation regulators imposed by the Trump administration, travelers’ confidence in air travel has been shaken.

Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani joins us today to discuss what we know about the crashes, the problems plaguing the aviation industry and whether flying is actually getting more dangerous. 

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

It can be hard to truly understand the motivations behind Donald Trump and his administration. But when looking at some of the countries that have found themselves in his crosshairs, there’s a throughline that binds them. Canada, Greenland and Ukraine are all rich in critical mineral resources. These metals are used in everything from cell phones to EV batteries to fighter jets.

As the global race to shore up critical minerals and challenge China’s dominance heats up, could that be one of the factors driving the U.S. as they challenge and antagonize other countries on the world stage? Jacob Lorinc, mining reporter at Bloomberg, joins us to talk about the critical minerals rush and why competing could be more complicated than it seems. 

Over just a few days, senior Trump officials declared that Ukraine should prepare to cede territory to Russia and that Europe is not likely to have a seat at the table during negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. They then closed the week with a history-making address by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at this year’s Munich Security Conference in which he appeared to threaten the future of the US-Europe partnership wholesale. 

Richard Walker is DW’s Chief International Editor, and joins the show to discuss the deteriorating Western front, its implications on world affairs, and why an American President would want to unravel 80 years of foreign policy on the European continent.

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

U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he’s serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state, with his deputy chief of staff saying Trump has made no concessions on the topic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that threat is “a real thing”.

Trump says he’d use economic force to drag Canada under America’s boot. But he’s been less delicate about other places, saying he could use military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Howard Coombs is director of the Queen’s Centre for International Defence Policy. He’s also a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces and deployed as a civilian counter-insurgency advisor in Afghanistan.

He talks to Jayme Poisson about what a theoretical takeover of Canada by the U.S. could look like. One that could include tariffs, but also boots on the ground.

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

Tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats on Canadian goods have forced a hard reset on just about every aspect of Canada-U.S. relations.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre responded to that on Saturday at his party’s “Canada First” rally, where he hoped to define himself and his campaign given this new political reality.

Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with the CBC’s parliamentary bureau. David Coletto is CEO and founder of Abacus Data.

They joined host Jayme Poisson to talk about how the Conservatives’ big event went, and the political challenges facing Poilievre, especially in light of the Liberal party’s bump in the polls.

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