Justin Trudeau has made no secret of his desire to see Canada occupy one of the rotating seats on the UN Security Council, but are his efforts contrary to Canadian values? Columnist Brian Lilley says the Trudeau government is taking pains to distance Canada from Israel in order to woo the UN, and is also heaping praise on the highly-questionable United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Lilley joins Gormley to discuss Trudeau's bid for the seat, and what he's willing to do to get it.

Will humans need to be deliberately infected with COVID-19 during our search for a vaccine? Bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan says the scientists testing the effectiveness of vaccines on humans may need to employ "challenge studies," where volunteers are deliberately infected and then given a test vaccine or placebo. Caplan says it may be abhorrent to deliberately infect humans with a pathogen, "but asking volunteers to take risks without pressure or coercion is not exploitation but benefitting from altruism." Caplan joins Gormley to discuss some of the ethical questions that arise as scientists search for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Saskatchewan Government's 2020/21 budget is sitting at a $2.4B deficit, largely due to the pandemic. $700M has been allocated for pandemic spending, but the largest shares of the budget's $16.1B in expenses go to health ($6.18 billion), education ($3.36 billion) and social services ($1.49 billion). How long will it take to dig ourselves out of the COVID-19 financial hole? Is the province spending too much during a big deficit year, or should they be stimulating as much growth as possible? Call 1-877-332-8255 and let us know what you think of the fiscal plan for the upcoming year.

The Hour of Big Stories…open session

The Saskatchewan Government tabled its budget Monday, but COVID means things look very different this year. Finance Minister Donna Harpauer joins Gormley to go over all the details.

How are people in this province feeling about the COVID-19 pandemic and the major restrictions affecting how everyone lives and works? Research director Lang McGilp joins Gormley to discuss the findings from Insightrix' twelfth weekly "Saskatchewan Mental Health Barometer."

From NASCAR banning the Confederate flag to the International Olympic Committee reconsidering its stance on political protests and symbols, sporting organizations are doing their best to get on board with the anti-racism movement sweeping the world. But are they serious about eliminating racism, or just bowing to public pressure? Will the trend continue? Sports columnist Scott Stinson says it's easy to put out a statement, but it's much harder to actually follow through.

Author and lawyer Philip Slayton says Canadians may be polite and deferential, but does that make us virtuous or just sheep? In his new book “Nothing Left to Lose: An Impolite Report Into the State of Freedom in Canada" (published June 1), Slayton argues that individual freedom is taken for granted in Canada, and we are frittering away our liberties while giving too much power to politicians and unelected judges. Do we still fight for what we believe in? Do we believe in anything anymore? Slayton joins Gormley to discuss his book and the state of Canadian freedom.

The Hour of the Big Stories… Open Session.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, fashion icon and chief medical health officer for Saskatchewan, joins Gormley to share his thoughts on the latest steps in the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan and how we're doing in the fight against COVID-19.