The Big Story

With back to school mere days away, we thought it would be an opportune time to revisit this episode, which serves as a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of underfunding and neglecting education.

We hope you're having a restful long weekend, and that you enjoy revisiting this old favourite.

Happy labour day!

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:

After a fire forced their high school to close, the Toronto District School Board decided to relocate the roughly 900 students and teachers from York Memorial Collegiate Institute to the nearby George Harvey Collegiate Institute. But George Harvey wasn't equipped to absorb all those new kids, and students showed up in September to find a school that was over-crowded, under-staffed and unsafe for them and their teachers.

The York Memorial fiasco isn't just a one-off, either. The school's struggles highlight systemic challenges across Canada's largest school board, namely staffing shortages, crumbling facilities and the lack of funding to properly address those issues. And the situation may only get worse as thousands of children lag behind socially and academically after the pandemic kept them home for nearly two years.

At York Memorial, it took an outcry from students, teachers and staff to spark meaningful change. What will take to get those in power to give schools the money and resources they desperately need?

GUEST: Danielle Groen, Toronto-based writer and editor, wrote about York Memorial for Toronto Life

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Quebec isn't the only province facing a teacher shortage, but it may be the most severe, with more than 8,000 educators missing from classrooms. Where did they go, and where are their replacements?

In the meantime, the government has tried to get creative by lowering standards required to preside over a classroom. Sometimes to as low as "an adult." As shortages in general become more pronounced every year, what's happening to classrooms left without a teacher, or children learning from an under-qualified adult?

GUEST: Toula Drimonis, writing for CultMTL.com 

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The places that most rely on tourism to support their economy are some of the world's most vulnerable areas when it comes to climate disasters. As we saw after the tragically devastating fire that ripped through Maui, in the wake of extreme weather all a city's resources are needed to support those who have lost loved ones and homes. And tourism isn't an option.

But as these events become more common, the way we travel, and the places we travel to, will change. Tourism is one of the most valuable industries on the planet, and as the crisis worsens it's poised to become one of the most volatile as well. What will tourism look like in the climate era?

GUEST: Daniel Scott, Professor of Geography and Environmental Management at Waterloo University, researching climate change and tourism

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For a year now, various economic predictions have marked Canada down for a looming recession. With more economic data due on Friday, that's expected to show some positive signs, it doesn't look like we're getting what we were promised. And that's a good thing, right?

Why have some experts said that Canada needs a recession? How have we managed to avoid this one, at least so far? If inflation keeps falling, will the Bank of Canada stop raising interest rates? What can you expect from Canada's rollercoaster of an economy this fall and beyond?

GUEST: David Macdonald, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office

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Barely two weeks ago, a scathing auditor general's report sent shockwaves through Ontario's political class—detailing how acres of greenbelt land were to be handed over the developers who stand to make more than $8 billion from the move. Since then...things have only gotten stranger.
We've seen the RCMP get involved, a chief of staff resign, both the Integrity Commissioner and Information and Privacy Commissioner the join the list of departments examining the scandal and a week-ending confrontational news conference from Premier Doug Ford. All this, and new stories surface every day. So what's at the bottom of this mess? And will it get even uglier before the end?
GUEST: Emma McIntosh, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal

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In 2015, three women were murdered in rural Ontario, by a former partner who had been stalking them. Last summer an inquest into the murders was held and came back with more than 80 recommendations. This month, the federal government joined Toronto and other municipalities in Canada in following one of them: Declaring intimate partner violence "an epidemic" in this country.

Is this declaration meaningful? Just ask the advocates and activists who have been fighting for it, including today's guest. It's a massive step. But what comes next will truly define how seriously we're willing to take an escalating danger to women across the country...

GUEST: Julie Lalonde, educator, advocate, expert on intimate partner violence (find Julie's resources on stalking and harassment here.)

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It's an issue that sits at the intersection of Canada's identity and reality. Our country is extremely diverse and pro-immigration, but a massive housing crisis means we simply don't have enough homes for everyone who needs one.

This week, Canada's housing minister said the government would consider a cap on the number of international students who can enter the country, in hopes this might ease the housing crunch. Would it? What are the trade-offs to such a move? And is there a risk that the housing crisis pushes more Canadians towards anti-immigration sentiment?

GUEST: Laura Dhillon Kane, Ottawa bureau chief, Bloomberg News

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There's always a question after tragedies like the December, 2022 shooting at a condo in Vaughan that left six people dead, including the shooter: "How did nobody see this coming?!"

In this case, the killer had long held a grudge against the members of the condo board he fired upon. He was known around the property as an angry man, and had a history of domestic abuse and violence. In hindsight, all the signs were there—but that's what makes mass shooters so easy to see in the rearview mirror, but almost impossible to see coming...

GUEST: Michelle Henry, reporter, The Toronto Star (Read Michelle's investigation here.)

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Would it shock you to know that a significant number of homes in Canada are already uninsurable for flood damage? And as the impact of the climate crisis creates more extreme and unpredictable weather, that number is likely to climb sharply? The insurance companies are in the risk-reward business, and if there's too much risk, they'll simply say, "Nope."

So what makes a home uninsurable? How rapidly is the risk-reward equation changing? How can we adapt our homes and buildings to mitigate the worst impacts of extreme weather? And what does the future of property insurance look like in the years to come?

GUEST: Kathryn Bakos, Director of Climate Finance and Science at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo

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Canada's housing crisis is bad and getting worse, and a huge part of it is a lack of rental units in major cities. Every government has its own proposed solutions, but none of them work without the others.

A detailed report last week outlines ways that every level, from federal to municipal, can work together to speed up the process, eliminate lengthy delays and actually get shovels in the ground. The only catch is it requires everybody in power to get on the same page. How likely is that? And what happens if they can't?

GUEST: Dr. Mike Moffatt, co-author of A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis; Assistant Professor in Business, Economics, and Public Policy at Ivey Business School, Western University; Senior Director of Policy at the University of Ottawa's Smart Prosperity Institute

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

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