The Big Story

Alberta's renewable energy sector is one of the province's great success stories. It's been growing rapidly, attracting top industry talent and becoming the envy of Canada for its size and innovation. SO naturally, the Alberta government has paused all new approvals for renewable projects for six months.

So ... why? And especially, why now, with the impact of the climate crisis truly hitting home at the same time the province is actively recruiting workers from other provinces? What does this move do to the province, the industry as a whole, and Canada's plans to hit aggressive renewable energy targets?

GUEST: Bob Weber, reporter, The Canadian Press

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A recent report found that 6.6 million cars are being driven in Canada that have been recalled by a manufacturer for one reason or another. Some issues are minor, some could be deadly, and in many cases, the owners simply don't know the issue exists.

How does this happen? Well, the world of automotive recalls is changing fast, technology is taking leaps that make some vehicles less reliable and the recall system itself is ... a little convoluted. Today, a look inside the world of getting your car fixed, for free. Or not.

GUEST: Lorraine Sommerfeld, columnist at driving.ca 

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(UPDATE: Late Wednesday night, the government of the Northwest Territories announced a phased evacuation order for Yellowknife as the fires closed in.)

There are hundreds of fires burning in the Northwest Territories right now. Some are threatening Yellowknife, leaving parts of the city under evacuation watch. Others have already forced evacuations by plane in remote communities without road access. The challenge is immense. The area is vast, much of it is on fire, and communication can be unstable.

How bad is this season compared to seasons past? How much has already been destroyed and how tense is the situation? Is any relief in sight? And why can't the local radio station that's been a lifeline during this emergency post to Facebook, where much of its audience is desperate for up-to-date information?

GUEST: Emily Blake, reporter and assistant editor, Cabin Radio (Find Cabin Radio’s up to date reporting here: https://cabinradio.ca/category/news/)

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By now you are likely familiar with the long, sad story of the Ottawa LRT—which just returned from being totally shut down for a month. But that project is far from the only large Canadian transit project to run into delays, mistakes, errors, sky-high budgets and everything else that can turn an ambitious idea into a headache.

Why are so many of these projects stalled or broken? How hard is it to get new transit built in Canada, and why? Are there examples in this country other cities could follow if they wanted to do things right? Are we really awful at building this stuff, or do we just love to complain about our infrastructure?

GUEST: Reece Martin, former transportation planner, creator of the RM Transit YouTube channel and substack. 

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Right now, thousands of grocery store workers are striking because, they say, they can't afford to buy food at the chain they work for. Food bank use has skyrocketed. Shopifting has increased so rapidly that stores are using it as a reason to try to check customers' bags and receipts. Food inflation still hovers near double digits, even as general inflation has cooled. And the heads of Canada's huge grocery chains have testified that billions in profits don't come from hikes to food prices.

Amid all this, the federal government has given some Canadians a one-time grocery rebate and ... so far, that's it, across all levels of government. But food inflation is here to stay and if politicians wanted to help, there are plenty of other options they could consider. So why wouldn't they? What's the hold up? 

GUEST: Corey Mintz, food reporter, author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After

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By now everyone is aware of the strains that short-term rentals like Air BnB can place on a city's housing market. But recently Montreal has seen that problem compounded to devastating effect. A deadly fire earlier this year brought national attention to the way traditional rental units are being carved up and turned into multiple short-term rentals, and a real estate manoeuvre known as 'the Montreal shuffle' makes these moves possible at scale.

So what's happening exactly and how does it work? What is the proliferation of short-term rentals doing to a city once known for as one of Canada's best places to rent? What is the government doing to attempt to regulate the problem, and why isn't it working?

GUEST: Ethan Cox, senior editor and co-founder of The Ricochet (read The Ricochet's extensive work on short-term rentals in Montreal here.)

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The Greenbelt is one of Ontario's biggest environmental success stories—millions acres of protected land that capture carbon, protect at-risk species and play a huge role in feeding the province. Unless of course the land is carved up and sold to developers to create housing. 

Ontario's auditor general released a report this week that found the Doug Ford's government, in choosing portions of land to be developed, was influenced by developers who now stand to make billions, their "information gathering and decision protocols were sidelined and abandoned" and did not consider environmental, agricultural or financial impacts of the move. 

It's a damning report that needs to be explained in detail—how we got here, what it means and what might happen now. So we'll do that with a member of the team that led the reporting on the issue since last year.

GUEST: Fatima, Syed, Ontario reporter, The Narwhal (Read Fatima's and her colleague Emma McIntosh's full coverage of the Greenbelt scandal here.)

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The polls are not looking good for Justin Trudeau and company. The Liberals' recent cabinet shuffle failed to halt their downward slide. And even their territorial advantage in Ontario seems to be waning. But there's still likely another year-plus to go before the next election, so plenty of time...right? Well, maybe.

Canadian history tells us that governments winning a fourth straight election is rare, and that voters definitely tire of prime ministers after multiple campaigns—so what might the Liberals do to change the narrative? And will it matter if Canadians are just angry? At Trudeau, inflation, the climate and whatever else happens to be blamed on the government.

GUEST: David Moscrop, writer, author, podcaster, and political commentator, find him at: davidmoscrop.substack.com

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A new report looks at the circumstances that led to the convoy's arrival in Ottawa (and other places across Canada) in early 2022, and finds that it stems from a series of events that began in 2015. It took years before efforts at forming a convoy and rolling to Ottawa actually came together—and there were several failed tries along the way.

So what changed during the pandemic? How were far right Canadians able to band together long enough to organize the event, and why were so many more relatively moderate citizens drawn to their cause? Was this an example of lightning in a bottle, or the new face of extremism in Canada?

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, national security expert, author of Polarization and Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada since 2015

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It's almost time for what will likely become your annual covid shot—assuming you're one of the people who will actually get it. Canada's vaccine advisory committee updated its guidelines to urge everyone in the authorized age groups (which are still to be determined) to get the new booster when it arrives this fall.

What is the booster and who needs it? What will the fall bring in terms of covid and other respiratory viruses? Why are so many people still refusing to get an annual shot, when so many more get the flu shot every year, and how should public health be tackling that problem?

GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, masters in clinical pharmacology

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