Front Burner

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This is the second episode of the four-part series from Understood, the anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Hosted by Thomas Leblanc. 

More episodes of Understood are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/EnVXBB

Got some money burning a hole in your pocket? You could go online and place a bet about whether or not Canada will become the U.S.’s 51st state before July, whether or not there will be an election before the New Year, or whether the U.S. will ban TikTok before May 2025. And you could do it all on a website called Polymarket.

Polymarket is a “prediction market”  that allows users to spend crypto to place bets on the likelihood of life events. The site is not without controversy. 

Polymarket is illegal to use in the US, researchers say there’s rampant “wash trading” taking place on the platform, and in November the FBI raided Polymarket CEO, Shayne Coplan’s New York apartment.

Today we speak with New York Times reporter David Yaffe-Bellany about whether Polymarket is a new more accurate way of polling, or just another gambling site.

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

People talk about Donald Trump as a singular figure. A one-of-a-kind politician who's made conservative history in the U.S. But where exactly does Trump fit in conservative history? In what eras does he stand on common ground? What are the big differences? Is he a revolutionary figure or a natural evolution of the movement?

To work though that, we've got Sam Adler-Bell and Matt Sitman. They are the hosts of the Know Your Enemy podcast, which explores the underpinnings of contemporary conservatism.

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

After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, historian and professor Timothy Snyder wrote a long post on Facebook. Here's how it started: 

"Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience."

Snyder went on to share twenty lessons about authoritarianism from the 20th century. They would lay the groundwork for his 2017 book On Tyranny. Fast forward to 2024, and Snyder's warnings about authoritarianism are being amplified once again. 

He joins the show to look ahead to the next four years of the Trump presidency, through the lens of his latest books: the just-released On Freedom and On Tyranny.

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

The fallout from Chrystia Freeland’s resignation is far from over. As more people demand Justin Trudeau’s resignation he appears to be in no hurry to heed the calls.

Meanwhile, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump pokes fun at Canada’s ongoing chaos, reprising his jokes about the country becoming the 51st state. What does the drama in Ottawa mean for Canada’s position as it prepares for a potential trade war with Washington?

We're joined by J.P. Tasker from CBC's parliamentary bureau and Alex Panetta, a Washington-based CBC News correspondent.  

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

The charge of ethnic cleansing is not, on its own, considered a crime under international law. Experts consider it to be part of the overall charge of genocide. 

In this episode we take listeners to northern Gaza and examine the words and actions of politicians, academics and settlements organizations in order to better understand whether Israel is perpetrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. 

Our guest is Meron Rapoport, a 30-year veteran of the Israeli news industry who formerly worked as the head of news at Israel's Ha’aretz newspaper. Today he’s an editor at the Israeli publication Local Call. He joins the show to discuss whether Israel is guilty of committing a program of ethnic cleansing, and the prospect of a ‘Second Nakba’ in Gaza. 

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

Chrystia Freeland's bombshell resignation as finance minister has thrown Justin Trudeau's fragile government into chaos. The decisions that led to this are raising questions about the Prime Minister's judgment, loyalties, leadership and ability to stay in power.

Paul Wells and Stephen Maher are our guests. 

Paul has a substack under his own name and has written about Canadian politics for decades. 

Stephen is a longtime federal politics reporter and author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau.

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

Late last week, federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon recommended that Canada Post workers, who have been on strike for more than four weeks, be ordered back to work until May 22, 2025. In the meantime, an inquiry would look into the roadblocks preventing the two parties from getting to an agreement.

This labour dispute has led to a lot of debate and discussion about the future of Canada Post.

Ian Lee is an associate professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and has studied Canada Post for many years. 

He walks us through the crown corporation’s grim financial situation, how its business could adapt, and its uncertain future.

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

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates again this week. Economists say wages are up, inflation is on target and the stock market is in the green.

But most everyday Canadians are living a very different story. One of insanely high grocery prices, impossible housing costs and a suffocating economic squeeze.

Recently, Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland announced a temporary GST holiday on a bunch of stuff to give relief to people feeling the pinch.

But she went on to muse that the economic pain people were feeling might be the result of a "vibecession". Think recession – but you know – only in your head.

Today, so are we in a 'vibecession'? 

Economist Armine Yalnizyan is our guest.

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

Once crypto-skeptic, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has had a change of heart over the past year. Especially, after millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency industry poured into his campaign. Now, as he embraces the online currency, even appointing a crypto czar, the price of Bitcoin and other popular tokens reach new heights. Even memecoins are seeing a boost.

But what happens if the volatile crypto market sees another crash like it did in 2022? Jacob Silverman, tech journalist and host of CBC’s The Naked Emperor, joins us to talk about why there’s so much crypto hype right now and what’s at stake if the boom goes bust.

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