Front Burner

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced new measures to get more police “boots on the ground,” including covering the costs of mandatory training and scrapping the post-secondary education requirement to be hired as an officer. Ford has also been making headlines for his plans for the redevelopment of a parcel of public land on Toronto’s waterfront which include a sprawling private spa.

Today, provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley brings guest host Alex Panetta up to speed on both issues, and discusses the role Ford could play in Toronto’s upcoming mayoral election.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Pras Michel, the rapper known for being one third of the famed ‘90s-era group, the Fugees, has been convicted of 10 criminal counts connected to a web of international political influence, conspiracy, and embezzlement.

As Front Burner guest Michael Ames wrote for Rolling Stone magazine, the wild story of includes former U.S. president Barack Obama, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and a wealthy Malaysian fugitive.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two women who have both served as Alberta premier are the leading candidates in a tight race to run the province. The United Conservative Party’s Danielle Smith, is facing rival Rachel Notley of the NDP. Elise von Scheel, provincial affairs reporter for CBC Calgary, explains why the race is shaping up to be a very close one. And how the changing demographics of Calgary could be a huge factor.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For more than a year the possibility of peace in Ukraine has seemed out of reach. But this week, a new world leader stepped in with an offer to mediate.

After months of waiting, this week Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone. Zelensky described the call as "meaningful" and as a potential step toward the elusive goal of peace. China says it plans to help facilitate communication between Russia and Ukraine.

Emma Graham-Harrison is the senior international affairs correspondent for The Guardian and The Observer. She has lived in China and is currently reporting from Ukraine. Today, she takes us through what Xi Jinping is proposing, whether China could bring peace to Ukraine and whether there is reason to be skeptical.

Two years ago, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the creator and star of the show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, bought Wrexham AFC. The small Welsh soccer team had been languishing in the lowest possible division of football in the U.K. This week, the team celebrated a triumphant victory that earned it promotion out of the game’s backwater.

On this episode, Richard Sutcliffe, a writer for The Athletic covering Wrexham AFC, discusses how the Hollywood touch has helped turn the relatively obscure team into a global sensation.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For over seven years on Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight leveraged immigration, vaccines and racial tensions to divide viewers’ worlds into “us” and “them”. Carlson became a kingmaker who could make or break Republican primary campaigns or set the policy agenda.

Then, this week, the show’s incendiary reign atop cable news ended, when Fox News sent him packing.

Today on Front Burner, New York Times political and investigative reporter Nicholas Confessore explains the political transformation that informed the world of Tucker Carlson Tonight, and what could be next for one of the most powerful voices in right-wing politics.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This episode deals with details of violence.

In August 2015, 33-year-old Myles Gray was making a delivery for his wholesale florist business in B.C. when he confronted a woman who was watering her lawn in the midst of an extended drought. The police were called. Within an hour, Gray – who was unarmed – was dead. His list of injuries – including a fractured voice box, several broken bones, brain hemorrhaging and a ruptured testicle – was so extensive that forensic experts could not pinpoint the exact cause of death.

The officers involved are speaking publicly for the first time since Gray’s death at a coroner’s inquest. CBC’s Rhianna Schmunk joins guest host Alex Panetta to explain what we’re learning about what happened to Myles Gray, and his family’s hopes for answers and accountability.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

According to new reporting on the trove of leaked documents known as the ‘Pentagon Leaks,’ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau privately told NATO officials that Canada will never meet a two per cent defense-spending target. A secret document, accessed by the Washington Post, also details criticisms leveled at Canada by its NATO allies.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On this episode, Amanda Coletta, who covers Canada for the Washington Post, discusses what the leaks mean for Canada’s military standing among its peers, and what shortcomings have been identified by those allies.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The concept of 15-minute cities — where a person’s daily needs in a city are accessible within a 15-minute walk, bike or transit ride from their home — is a few years old. It’s been picked up by many cities to guide urban planning and design. But in recent months, the 15-minute city idea has also been seized on by people who fear it’s an elaborate conspiracy to limit individual freedoms, mobility, and to create barricaded sectors to keep them trapped.

In this episode, Tiffany Hsu, a reporter who covers disinformation for the New York Times, breaks down the actual idea, where it came from, and how it got twisted into a dystopian conspiracy.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Picket lines have been set up at major government buildings and ministers' offices across the country as more than a hundred thousand public servants go on strike.

After nearly two years of bargaining without a contract, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says Ottawa has failed to propose a reasonable agreement and wage increases that keep apace with inflation. But the government says the union's demands are untenable. Meanwhile, Canadians could see delays in accessing government services as passport office workers, immigration processing staff and most Canada Revenue Agency employees will be off the job in the biggest labour action the federal government has seen in nearly 20 years.

Today, J.P. Tasker, a reporter with CBC's parliamentary bureau, walks us through the points of contention, how the government is responding and the possible consequences.

For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts