PressProgress Sources

Mark Carney is billing his first budget as an "investment budget," but with plans to eliminate 40,000 jobs in the federal public service and cut $60 billion in program spending, is this really an "investment budget" or is it an austerity budget?

The 2025 federal budget gives Canadians a first look at the details behind Carney's plans to have federal departments cut 15% in spending, reduce the federal workforce by 10% and spend tens of billions of dollars on so-called "nation-building projects."

On this episode of Sources, Canadian Labour Congress Senior Economist DT Cochrane joins PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun live inside the federal budget media lock-up to share his first impressions on the Carney government's first budget.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

An ostrich farm in rural British Columbia keeps making national and international headlines.

It's the subject of a federal cull order, after 69 birds were found dead from an H5N1 or avian flu outbreak — routine procedure to stamp out further spread. But that's not entirely why they've caught the attention of U.S. politicians.

On this episode of Sources, virologist and University of Saskatchewan professor Dr. Angela Rasmussen joins PressProgress health reporter Brishti Basu to talk about the very real health risks of zoonotic diseases and the political circus surrounding this particular flock of ostriches.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

As the housing crisis persists throughout Ontario and across Canada, more and more municipalities are struggling with how to manage vulnerable residents in need of support.

In Barrie, the mayor declared a state of emergency, so the city could more aggressively move to take apart encampments. But in Kitchener, a recent court decision concerning a longstanding encampment blocked the forcible removal of its residents, at least for now.

On this episode of Sources, Ontario reporter Eric Wickham speaks to Ashley Schuitema, executive director and lawyer at Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, about the unfolding situation in Kitchener and beyond.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

One of the top news stories in Canada this week was the tense stand-off between Air Canada and its 10,000 flight attendants.

The Air Canada flight attendants' strike saw planes grounded across Canada as flight attendants demanded better pay, including an end to unpaid ground work. Then Mark Carney's government intervened and invoked a controversial section of the labour code to order flight attendants back-to-work, leading the flight attendants to announce they would be defying the Carney government's orders.

On this episode of Sources, PressProgress' Labour Reporter Emma Arkell joins PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun to unpack one of the most charged labour disputes in recent Canadian history.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

In the months since winning its third consecutive majority, Doug Ford’s government has proposed or passed a flurry of laws with the potential to reshape Ontario.

But with aggressively vague names like the “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act,” it can be hard to keep track of which bill does what — let alone all the ways they’ll impact the lives of the people who call the province home.

On this episode of Sources, PressProgress Ontario reporter Eric Wickham asks The Trillium’s Jack Hauen to speak to all the bills beloved by Ford. He also goes on a walk with associate editor Jonathan Goldsbie, to try to ground the reforms in Toronto’s physical reality.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

Racialized immigrant women are some of the most disadvantaged workers in Canada, with an employment rate significantly lower than racialized immigrant men and non-racialized immigrant women. Often, certifications and work experience from their home countries aren’t recognized, pushing many into low-wage, precarious jobs. If they experience harassment or unsafe working conditions, reaching out for help is made more complicated by language barriers, systemic racism and unfamiliar bureaucracy.

Community-based researchers with City in Colour Cooperative, based in Surrey, BC, created the Safer Workplaces project to better understand the unsafe and exploitative working conditions many racialized immigrant women face, and how unions and workers' compensation boards can better support them.  

In this episode of Sources, you’ll hear directly from Safer Workplaces participants who shared their stories. Then, Rahil Adeli, community-based researcher for City in Colour, joins PressProgress Labour Reporter Emma Arkell to discuss the systemic barriers to workplace justice encountered by racialized immigrant women in Canada.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

Alberta separatism is making headlines again, this time driven largely by figures associated with far-right politics and the Freedom Convoy who are disgruntled about the federal election results.

Groups within the province are now organizing a petition for a referendum and it looks increasingly like they may succeed at putting a question about Alberta independence on the ballot in some form or another next year.

How likely is it that the Alberta independence movement could achieve its goals? How seriously should they be taken? And what are the origins of Alberta's independence movement? Mount Royal University professor Roberta Lexier joins PressProgress' Alberta Reporter Stephen Magusiak to explore the roots Alberta's separatist movement.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

Far-right parties are on the rise across Europe.

Germany’s recent federal election saw a dramatic and concerning rise in support for the Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, a far-right party that is considered a right-wing extremist organization and a threat to democracy. The AfD’s recent campaign was emboldened following endorsements by foreign billionaire Elon Musk and words of support from US Vice President JD Vance.

As European far-right political parties like the AfD grow and build organizational power, the international far-right is increasingly looking across the Atlantic and building bridges with Canadian conservatives and far-right political actors.

On this episode of Sources, Matthias Ecke, a German Member of the European Parliament with the EU’s Socialists and Democrats group, talks to PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun about the AfD and the threat the far-right poses to democracy.

Additional reading:

• German AfD party labeled ‘extremist’ by intelligence agency  (Deutsche Welle)

• German court finds far-right AfD pursues goals ‘against democracy’ (Reuters)

• German member of the European Parliament ‘seriously injured’ in Dresden assault (Politico Europe)

• Why are attacks  and incitement on the rise in Germany? (Der Spiegel)

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

Who is lobbying Pierre Poilievre? An interactive map from DeSmog shines a light on the links between Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and various corporate lobbying interests and right-wing advocacy groups.

The map connects the dots between top figures in Poilievre’s Conservative party, including Poilievre's top advisor Jenni Byrne and Campaign Chair John Baird, with big names like Elon Musk, Stephen Harper and Koch Industries -- no wonder top Conservative Party officials voted down a resolution that would ban lobbyists from seeking top positions in the party.

Journalist Geoff Dembicki from DeSmog joins PressProgress' Alberta Reporter Stephen Maguisak on this episode of Sources to talk about his interactive map that pulls back the curtain on the lobbying connections inside Poilievre's inner-circle.

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

As Justin Trudeau announced that he’s stepping down as Liberal leader, and many are saying that a federal election is just around the corner, one community is getting organized to make sure they’re needs are heard by politicians.

A Mass Organizing Call for members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community in Canada is taking place on March 9. Its organizer is hoping that this event will help people push back against rising hate, and make sure their concerns are heard by politicians before the next federal election. 

On this episode of Sources, Fae Johnstone, Executive Director of Momentum joins PressProgress' Ontario Reporter Eric Wickham to talk about why the time is right to build organizing infrastructure for the LGBTQ+ community. 

Also discussed in this episode:

Mass Call to Action Meeting - Mar 9, 3pm ET

Send us a note!

Support the show

PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.