Front Burner

It's time for Canada to pay "a very big price." That was the message from president-elect Donald Trump this week when he announced a 25 percent tariff on literally everything coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. The tariffs will come into effect January 20th, Trump said, and stay in effect until "Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! "

This isn't the first time Trump has threatened to impose major tariffs or followed through on his threats. And while previous levies didn't last - but they were around long enough to be a thorn in the side of Canadian negotiators reworking The North American Free Trade Agreement.

So, is this most recent threat a negotiation ploy, political bluster or the first salvo in a trade war that could end in economic ruin?

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

The second of two major antitrust cases against Google wrapped up this week. Earlier this year, a judge found the company holds an illegal monopoly over the internet search market. Now the U.S. Department of Justice is arguing the same thing about its grip on online advertising. This is all part of a major push of antitrust litigation against tech companies by the U.S. government — Apple, Amazon and Meta are all facing similar cases.

What's behind this push to crack down on these companies now? Would proposed remedies like breaking them up actually make a difference? And will the momentum survive the transition to a second Trump presidency? Paris Marx — author of the tech newsletter Disconnect and host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us — breaks it all down.

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

Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding, “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, who has called himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” have often taken cues from Donald Trump. But now, could he be taking cues from them?

Today we speak to Tracy Wilkinson, a longtime writer with the LA Times, and Natalie Alcoba, a journalist based in Argentina, about the “right-wing strongman feedback loop” happening between these three leaders — and what it could mean for the U.S. and the world.

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

Routine childhood vaccinations have been on the decline in recent years, with the anti-vax movement rising during the Covid-19 pandemic.


But the conversation has shifted.


What was once affiliated with left-leaning counterculture has now become increasingly right-wing, with male health influencers leading much of the conversation. 

How did the shift happen, and what implications could it have on public health? 

Timothy Caulfield is a professor at the University of Alberta, with the Faculty of Law and Public Health. He’ll go through how and why the anti-vax movement changed.

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

Christine Harron, a book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario, leaves for school in the spring of 1993 and is never seen again. A suspect emerges, confessing to her murder, but the case falls apart and Christine's family are left without answers.

In Season 9 of the award winning podcast Someone Knows Something, David Ridgen, along with Christine's mother, reopen the investigation and come face to face with the man who said he killed Chrissy.

Someone Knows Something is the investigative true crime series by award-winning documentarian David Ridgen. Each season tackles an unsolved case, uncovering details and bringing closure to families.

More episodes of Someone Knows Something are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/3PSdjpxO

For the last year, Canada’s premier literary award The Giller Prize has been embroiled in a controversy that has split the Canadian literary community. Last years gala was interrupted by protestors who rushed the stage carrying placards emblazoned with ‘Scotiabank Funds Genocide.’ 

What they were referring to was the fact The Giller’s lead sponsor, Scotiabank, was a principal shareholder of one of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturers. They also objected to a pair of Giller sponsors invested in the Israeli military and settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

Since then, a number of former Giller winners, along with hundreds of bookworkers across the country have committed to a boycott.

Winner of the 2005 Giller Prize David Bergen joins the show to discuss his decision not to attend this year’s Giller Prize – and a broader conversation about the duty of a writer, and whether it is possible for artists to reconcile their personal convictions with the interests of corporate sponsors. 

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

Earlier this week, after months of debate and hesitation, the U.S. decided to allow Ukraine to use American made ATACMS missiles on targets inside Russia. Escalations followed, such as Russia signing a new doctrine that lowered the threshold for nuclear attacks.

As the tensions ratchet up, there’s still the question of what will happen once Donald Trump takes office. 

To break down the gravity of this moment, we talk to David Sanger, longtime New York Times national security correspondent and the author of “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West”.

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

Nearly a million Canadian workers have taken job action in recent years, with Canada Post employees being the latest to do so. That included work stoppages at airlines, railways and Canadian ports.

You might assume, from the many headlines about strikes, that union power is growing in Canada. But in fact, over the last forty years, the number of workers who are members of a union has decreased by nearly 10 percent.

At the same time, jobs across many sectors have gotten worse, from stagnating wages to reduced benefits.

Barry Eidlin is an associate professor of sociology at McGill University and the author of "Labour and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada".

He'll weigh in on why work sucks, what unions can do about that, and what is and is not being done.

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

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, recently returned from a week-long trip to Canada. She was given standing ovations at sold-out speaking events, yet also faced backlash from groups who called for the Canadian government to condemn her, and advocated for the UN to remove her from her position.

Today, a wide-ranging conversation with Francesca Albanese.

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

In the past week, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has announced many members of his upcoming cabinet, giving a window into his second term’s priorities.

There’s little known about the wider implications of these appointments, but one area that Trump has emphasized as a “day one” priority is immigration.

This was Trump’s single biggest talking point throughout his presidential campaign, and heading into a second term, it’s a clear policy priority.

Nicole Narea is a senior reporter covering politics and immigration at Vox. She’ll go through what the next four years of American immigration policy could look like.

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