Well, you probably shouldn't call them that. They may kill—but they don't intend to murder, which is what passes for good news in 2020. Since a New York Times headline vaulted the asian giant hornet onto the list of everyone's nightmares last weekend, it may seem like a new plague is almost upon us.

But these hornets—at least a few of them—have been in Canada since last year. So what have we learned about their behaviour? How did they get here? What is British Columbia doing to find and extinguish them? How big a threat are they, really, to humans and to our ecosystem?

GUEST: Paul Van Westendorp, provincial apiarist for British Columbia

Oh great…now Murder Hornets?

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This is one that even the police say will be a Netflix miniseries someday. On April 17, 2023, more than $20 million in gold was stolen from Pearson airport in Toronto. Nobody was hurt, and the crooks got away. It was one of those kinds of thefts. You can picture the scene in your head.

Exactly one year later though, police announced arrests, including those of two Air Canada employees, making clear they believe it was at least partly an inside job. How did the crooks pull off the initial caper? How did the cops catch them? What happened to the gold, and who will play whom in the  adaptation?

GUEST: Andy Takagi, reporter, The Toronto Star

How the cops cracked the $24M Pearson gold heist

By far the biggest part of the federal budget is an ambitious plan that the Liberal government claims will not only hit the targeted estimate of homes Canada needs, but will blow right past it. You'd be forgiven some skepticism, since the Prime Minister stated less than a year ago that housing "isn't a primary federal responsibility." A lot has changed since then, especially the government's polling numbers.

But politics aside, what's in this plan? How exactly does the government think it can hit its targets? What does one of the country's leading housing policy analysts think of those solutions? What's in this plan that will or won't solve the housing crisis in the next decade? And what's in it to help people afford homes right now?

GUEST: Mike Moffatt, Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute; Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at Ivey Business School, Western University

Can Canada really build 3.9 million homes by 2031?

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's budget announcement, the federal government has been hammering a message that this document would make life more affordable for Canadians. 

Does it accomplish that? What's in here that will matter to your wallet in the months to come? What takes aim at trying to bring down the cost of living over the next several years? And who's going to end up paying for all this?

GUEST: Jim Stanford, economist and Director of The Centre for Future Work

What the federal budget means for you

The former Calgary mayor is beloved by many in the province. He might well be the favourite in the race to succeed Rachel Notley as leader of the Alberta NDP. But he's never really been involved with the party, and his trademark 'purple' comes from blending Liberal red and Conservative blue. No orange in sight.But his campaign will force some fascinating questions onto the party, both in Alberta and nationally. Questions that have been bubbling just below the surface for the past couple of elections, and are making insiders wonder about the future of a unified national NDP...

GUEST: Graham Thomson, Alberta-based political analyst

Could Naheed Nenshi cause an NDP divorce?

It can be easy, given our changing climate, not to worry much about events that aren't extreme. It's not flooding? No hurricanes or heat waves or wildfires? Just a little rain?! Well, we can live with that. And maybe we can, but in the Arctic, a lot of things can't.

In recent years, snowfall has been replaced with rainfall more and more often. And sure, they're just different types of moisture, but the impact is fascinating and profound. And has a ton of implications for both Canadians in the region, and every other creature that makes its home up there.

GUEST: Ed Struzik, writing in The Tyee

Oh great…now Murder Hornets?

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